Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1989. 19/3. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 19)

Kovács, Éva: The History of Teaching Vocabulary

- 146 4. Should he make a mistake when repeating it, tie could look at the witten form. Before expounding his blligual method supported hy empiric experiments Dodson points out the essence of the two contrasting methods i. e. the indirect-grammatical and the direct-oral method in a historic restrospection. He states that all the other methods in between can be regarded only as eclectic. Dodson rejects the indirect-grammatical method as it reguires too much of the pupils intellectually, but also objects to the direct-oral method as it neglects the differences between the mother tongue and the foreign language. No wonder he disapproves of the monolingual semanticizing regarding it only as a waste of time as it can cause misunderstanding. He is convinced that beginners can recognize and systemize concepts only in the system of the mother tongue. The only parallel Dodson discovers between learning a foreign language and the mother toogue and which is wise to imitate in foreign language teaching is that the young child learns his mother tongue through constant contact with people around him who speak this language; primarily ho learns through his own active speaking responses. In this process lie will listen to hundreds different sentences in a day, yet tie will select nnly a few for imitation purposes while casting aside all the others as being of little use at a given time. He will select normally those sentences which are in habitual use, with which he can cope from the point of view of pattern complexity, and which tie needs to express his desires and aversions. (Dodson 1967: 48/49). Therefore Dodson approves of such a method which puts the main emphasis on freguent contacts while no time is wasted on the monolingual way of conveying the meaning. He is convinced that the more time is wasted on the direct-method procedure of meaning conveyance, the less time will be available to establish a level of direct association which is dependent on the number of active and meaningful contacts the learner is given with the foreign language sentences (Dodson 1967: 52). Dodson's requirements of the bilingual method are as follows: 1. The new method should enable the average as well as the less - than - average teacher to teach the language well 2. There should be a balance between ttie spoken and ttie written