Silent Way

This article is about the language-teaching approach. For the jazz album, see In a Silent Way.
A teacher and student sit opposite one another in a small language classroom
A Silent Way classroom with teacher and students working on English

The Silent Way is a language-teaching approach created by Caleb Gattegno that makes extensive use of silence as a teaching method. Gattegno first described the method in 1963, in his book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way.[1] Gattegno was critical of mainstream language education at the time, and he based the method on his general theories of education rather than on existing language pedagogy. It is usually regarded as an "alternative" language-teaching method; Cook groups it under "other styles",[2] Richards groups it under "alternative approaches and methods"[3] and Jin & Cortazzi group it under "Humanistic or Alternative Approaches".[4] Gattegno continued to develop and describe the Silent Way until his death in 1988.[5][6]

The method emphasizes learner autonomy and active student participation. Silence is used as a tool to achieve this goal; the teacher uses a mixture of silence and gestures to focus students' attention, to elicit responses from them, and to encourage them to correct their own errors. Pronunciation is seen as fundamental to the method, with a great deal of time spent on it each lesson. The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus and concentrates on teaching a small number of functional and versatile words. Translation and rote repetition are avoided, and the language is usually practiced in meaningful contexts. Evaluation is carried out by observation, and the teacher may never set a formal test.

One of the hallmarks of the Silent Way is the use of Cuisenaire rods, which can be used for anything from introducing simple commands ("Take two red rods and give them to her.") to representing objects such as clocks and floor plans. The method also draws on color associations to help teach pronunciation; there is a sound-color chart which is used to teach the language sounds, colored word charts which are used for work on sentences, and colored Fidel charts which are used to teach spelling. While the Silent Way is not widely used in its original form, its ideas have been influential, especially in the teaching of pronunciation.

  1. ^ Gattegno 1963, available as Gattegno 1972.
  2. ^ Cook 2008, pp. 266–270.
  3. ^ Richards 1986, pp. 81–89.
  4. ^ Jin & Cortazzi 2011, pp. 568–569.
  5. ^ Gattegno, Caleb (1985). The Science of Education (Chapter 13). New York: Educational Solutions Inc. ISBN 0-87825-186-3. Retrieved 25 September 2024.
  6. ^ Gattegno, Caleb (1983). Oller, J; Richard-Amato, P (eds.). The Silent Way. Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House. pp. 72–88. Retrieved 25 September 2024.