BackgroundBackgroundThe Silent Way is the name of a method of language teaching devised by Caleb Gattegno. It is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom but the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. Elements of the Silent Way, particularly the use of color charts and the colored Cuisenairerods, grew out of Gattegnos previous experience as an educational designer of reading and mathematics programs. The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and educational philosophies. Very broadly put, the learning hypotheses underlying Gattegnos work could be stated as follows: 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. 3.Learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned. Let us consider each of these issues in turn. 1. The Silent Way belongs to a tradition that views learning as a problem- solving, creative, discovering activity, in which the learner is a principal actor rather than a bench-bound listener (Bruner 1966). Bruner discusses the benefits derived from “discovery learning” under four headings: (a) the increase in intellectual potency, (b) the shift from extrinsic to intrinsic rewards, (c) the learning of heuristics by discovering, and (d) the aid to conserving memory (Bruner 1966: 83). Gattegno claims similar benefits from learners taught via the Silent Way. 2. The rods and the color-coded pronunciation charts (called Fidel charts) provide physical foci for student learning and also create memorable images to facilitate student recall. In psychological terms, these visual devices serve as associative mediators for student learning and recall. 3. The Silent Way is also related to a set of premises that we have called “problem-solving approaches to learning.” These premises are succinctly represented in the words of Benjamin Franklin: Tell me and I forget, teach me and I remember, involve me and I learn.Approach:Approach: TheoryTheory ofof languagelanguage andand learninglearningGattegno takes an openly skeptical view of the role of linguistic theory in language teaching methodology. He feels that linguistic studies “may be a specialization, that carry with them a narrow opening of ones sensitivity and perhaps serve very little towards the broad end in mind” (Gattegno 1972: 84). Considerable discussion is devoted to the importance of grasping the “spirit“ of the language, and not just its component forms. By the “spirit” of the language Gattegno is referring to the way each language is composed of phonological and suprasegmental elements that combine to give the language its unique sound system and melody. The learner must gain a “feel” for this aspect of the target language as soon as possible. By looking at the material chosen and the sequence in which it is presented in a Silent Way classroom, it is clear that the Silent Way takes a structural approach to the organization of language to be taught. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching, and the teacher focuses on propositional meaning, rather than communicative value. Students are presented with the structural patterns of the target language and learn the grammar rules of the language through largely inductive processes. Gattegno sees vocabulary as a central dimension of language learning and the choice of vocabulary as crucial. The most important vocabulary for the learner deals with the most functional and versatile words of the language, many of which may not have direct equivalents in the learners native language. This “functional vocabulary” provides a key, says Gattegno, to comprehending the “spirit” of the language. In elaborating a learning theory to support the principles of Silent Way, like many other method proponents Gattegno makes extensive use of his understanding of first language learning. He recommends, for example, that the learner needs to “return to the state of mind that characterizes a babys learning - surrender” (Scott and Page 1982:273). Having referred to these processes, however, Gattegno states that the processes of learning a second language are “radically different” from those involved in learning a first language. The second language learner is unlike the first language learner and “cannot learn another language in the same way because of what he now knows” (Gattegno 1972:11).The “natural” or “direct” approaches to acquiring a second language are thus misguided, says Gattegno, and a successful second language approach will “replace a natural approach by one that is very artificial and, for some purposes, strictly controlled” (1972: 12). The “artificial approach” that Gattegno proposes is based on the principle that successful learning involves commitment of the self to languag