Chapter II elt methods: a basic Appraisal 1 Humanistic Approaches

In-class reflection
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2. The Silent Way
The Silent Way was founded in the early 1970s and shared many of the same essential principles as the cognitive code and made good use of the theories underlying discovery learning.
A prominent feature of the Silent Way is the behaviour of the teacher who typically stays "silent" most of the time, as part of his/her role as facilitator and stimulator because it is believed that the learner discovers and creates language rather than just remembers and repeats what has been taught.
Language learning is usually seen as a problem solving activity to be engaged in by the students both independently and as a group, and the teacher needs to stay "out of the way" in the process as much as possible.
Students should make use of what they already know. They are responsible for their own learning. They actively take part in exploring the language.
There is no linear structural syllabus. The teacher starts with what students already know, and builds from one structure to the next. The syllabus develops according to the students' learning needs.
The learning hypotheses underlying the Silent Way are stated by Richards and
Rodgers (1986:99):
1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers or creates rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned.
2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying (mediating) physical objects. [rods and color-coded pronunciation charts].
3. Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned. . . . [This hypothesis is] represented in the words of Benjamin Franklin:
Tell me and I forget,
Teach me and I remember,
Involve me and I learn
The Silent Way commonly uses small colored rods of varying length (Cuisinere rods) and color-coded word charts depicting pronunciation values, vocabulary and grammatical paradigms. It is a unique method and the first of its kind to really concentrate on cognitive principles in language learning.