| Apart from its strength in structuring instruction, | | | | in the 1960s. The National Defense Education Act |
| the audio-lingual method has its limitations. Because | | | | of 1958 was the funding mechanism, and the |
| the basic teaching method is repetition, students | | | | impetus for increased interest in foreign language |
| learn to reproduce many things but never create | | | | study to ensure national security came about |
| anything original or use patterns fluently in natural | | | | during the post-Sputnik, cold-war era. |
| speech situations. Mechanical drills of the | | | | Language students used the language laboratory |
| audio-lingual method have been criticized as boring | | | | for drill-and-practice sessions that were |
| at all levels and judged to be counterproductive | | | | characteristic of the audio-lingual method's |
| when used beyond initial introduction to a new | | | | behaviorist and structurallinguistic-oriented |
| structure. | | | | approach to good language habit formation via |
| Additional methods were needed to transition | | | | imitation and memorization. The language |
| students from imitators to initiators of spoken | | | | laboratory generally consisted of rows of stations, |
| communication, a detail that was often | | | | each equipped with a headphone and a |
| overlooked by teachers in the audio-lingual | | | | microphone. Students listened, responded, listened |
| tradition. There was also a tendency to disregard | | | | to their recorded responses, and compared their |
| content while manipulating language. | | | | responses with a model response. |
| Because the method also relied heavily on | | | | The teacher sat at a console at the front of the |
| advanced technologies of the time, including | | | | room, where he or she could listen in on individual |
| reel-to-reel tape recorders, movie projectors, and | | | | students and offer additional feedback or |
| language labs, the method created logistical | | | | guidance. The audio-lingual method also introduced |
| problems for teachers in setting them up for | | | | important language learning tools, including visual |
| instruction and during occasions when the | | | | presentations and the use of visual cues to elicit |
| equipment failed to function during instruction. Its | | | | language. |
| weaknesses notwithstanding, the audio-lingual | | | | In addition, it ushered in the use of a foreign |
| method introduced the technological age to | | | | language in the classroom by both teacher and |
| bilingual education, ESL, and foreign-language | | | | pupil, and the language employed was of greater |
| instructional practice, especially through the | | | | use for practical purposes than for understanding |
| introduction of the language laboratory. | | | | the great masterpieces of the target language |
| Language laboratories were installed in many high | | | | culture in the target language. |
| schools and colleges throughout the United States | | | | |