INVESTIGATING THE AGE APPROPRIATENESS OF THE DIRECT METHOD FOR BEGINNER-LEVEL LEARNERS
Keywords:
Method, methodology, Direct Method, age effect, pronunciation, grammar, speaking, translation, target language, L1, Critical Period Hypothesis (CPH).Abstract
The appropriateness of the Direct Method (DM) in teaching English is reviewed based on scientific research. Firstly, academic articles, research, and approaches which were conducted on the effectiveness of this method on various age groups, psycholinguistic basis and the impact on language learning process are analyzed. Then, as a practical step of the research, observations and short experimental tasks were conducted with 10 students whose ages differed from one another. The result of the experiment shows that the connection of the effectiveness of DM and the age; in younger learners, higher motivation and quicker speech responses were observed due to the creation of a natural language environment, whereas in older learners, the effectiveness of the method may be limited by the need for additional explanations. The conclusion of the research points the importance of the age effect in choosing an appropriate method in teaching English.
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