Explain merits and demerits of Direct Method
1. This method eradicates the use of mother tongue in teaching of a foreign language, thus enabling the students to think originally in the target language, English in this case.
2. This method enables the students to express their thoughts and feelings in English freely as adequate opportunities are afforded to them for practice. The students hear and speak without the" intervention of their mother tongue. The pupils rely on their ears to learn English since emphasis is on reading and speaking.
3. This method facilitates the understanding of English by enabling tr|j student to grasp its sense in the same manner as he has learnt mother tongue. Direct association between word and meaning to improve expression in writing as well.
4. Since it lays emphasis on the spoken part, the reading of English becomes easy and pleasant. It is based on the interaction of the teacher and the students, and increased use of pictures, diagrams, models, makes reading more interesting and joyful. It aims at the practical aspect of mastering the language from an early stage itself. Moreover, being based on activity, the method keeps the students attentive to the proceedings of the classroom.
5. The method is based on psychology, and follows its maxims in practice from easy to difficult, from simple to complex, from particular to general, from concrete to abstract.
6. The students do not simply mug up words and their meanings. Rather they are able to give it a practical aspect in its expressive manifestation.
7. This method helps in bringing those words lying in the mind on a passive note, taking an active seat and playing a role in expression of thoughts, which the students generally know but find it difficult to make use of.
From the above discussion, we can see that the use of the direct method is a revamp of the traditional methods of teaching a foreign language. This method emphasises on conditioning of the mind without the use of the mother tongue and grammar.
Demerits of Direct Method
While there exist a number of advantages of the direct or natural Method, it is not fully devoid of some demerits. We can list them as follows:
1. The direct method wholly pays attention to the oral aspect, conveniently overlooking the written and reading aspects. In this regard.
2. Grammar takes a backseat in this method and is not taught systematically. The students who have been taught using this method are seen to be quite fluent in the speech part, but they lack in the use of writing according to the established rules of grammar.
3. Some scholars, such as P. Gurrey and Dr. The West are of the direct or natural method is a method, but a principle which can be made use of in conjunction with some other method.
4. The teacher has to spend much of his energy in forming real life situations in the classroom resulting in hot being able to complete the syllabus, or hastening to do it at a later stage, thus upsetting the whole purpose of the method.
5. In most schools, a teacher has to teach more than one subject, one of which can be English. It implies, if he teaches a subject which requires the use of the mother tongue, he is bound to bring the habit of using the mother tongue into the English classroom as well, thus defeating the very purpose of this method.
6. This method requires the number of students be limited so that effective steps can be taken to teach using this method. However, it does not seem to be applicable in India as most classrooms are overcrowded. Students scarce find comfortable seats to sit, leave alone sitting in a proper atmosphere conducive to the learning of a foreign language.
7. Some scholars are of the opinion that this method may be suitable for a few children, but most children would find it difficult. According to Huse, visual presentation is more effective than purel vocal methods in the case of many students.
8. This method is time consuming and expensive as suitable teaching aids are required.
9. This method can succeed only where a proper atmosphere has been created. It may not be possible to create an exclusive atmosphere for learning English in this way.
10. It may be difficult at times to bridge the gap between the actual meaning of a word and its interpretation by the delicate mind of the student. He may assiolate an altogether different meaning.
11. Making use of this method becomes increasingly difficult because OP Inthe concept of inductively teaching grammar. It requires that there should be such Readers which closely related text (reading material) and grammar. However, finding such a Reader will end on a sore note failing the very purpose of this method.
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