The Direct Method

The Direct Method
The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids with no recourse to the students’ native language (Diller 1978).
The teachers who use the direct method intend that students learn how to communicate in target language. Although the teacher directs the class activities, the student role is less passive than in Grammar-Translation Method. The teacher and the students are more like partners in the teaching/ learning process. Teachers who use the Direct Method believe students need to associate meaning and the target language directly. In order to do this, when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of realia, pictures, or pantomime; he never translates it into the students’ native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations. In fact, the syllabus used in the Direct Method is based upon situations or topics. Grammar is taught inductively; that is, the students are presented with examples and they figure out the rule or generalization from examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given. Students practice vocabulary by using new words in complete sentences. The initiation of the interaction goes both ways, from teacher to students and from student to teacher, although the latter is often teacher directed. There are no principles of the method which relate to this area. Language is primarily spoken, not written. Therefore, students study common, everyday speech in the target language. They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language. Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Although work on all four skills (reading, writing, speaking, and listening ) occurs from the start, oral communication is seen as basic. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students practice orally first. Pronunciation also receives attention right from the beginning of a course. The students’ native language should not used in classroom. In Direct Method, students are asked to use the language, not to demonstrate their knowledge about the language. They are asked to do using both oral and written skills. For example, the students might be interviewed orally by the teacher or might be asked to write a paragraph about something they have studied. The teacher, employing various techniques, tries to get students to self-correct whenever possible.
The Techniques of Direct Method
Reading Aloud
Students take turns reading sections of a passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn, the teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.
Question and Answer Exercise
This exercise is conducted only in the target language. Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences so that they practice new words and grammatical structures. They have the opportunity to ask questions as well as answer them.
Getting Students to Self-Correct
The teacher of this class has the students self-correct by asking them to make a choice between what they said and an alternative answer he supplied. There are, however, other ways of getting students to self-correct.

Conversation Practice
The teacher asks students a number of questions in the target language, which the students have to understand to be able to answer correctly. In the class observed, the teacher asked individual students question about themselves. The question contained a particular grammar structure. Later, the students were able to ask each other their own questions using the same grammatical structure.
Fill In the Blank Exercise
This Technique has already been discussed in the Grammar-Translation Method, but differs in its application in the direct method. All the items are in the target language; furthermore, no explicit grammar rule would be applied. The students would have induced the grammar rule they need to fill in the blanks from examples and practice with earlier parts of the lesson.
Dictation
The teacher reads the passage three times. The first time the teacher reads it at normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by phrase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.
Map Drawing
The class included one example of a technique used to give students listening comprehension practice. The students were given a map, then the teachers gave the students directions. The students then instructed the teacher to do the instructions.
Paragraph Writing
The teachers in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major of the study. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage the lesson as a model.