Silent Way

The Silent Way is a language-teaching approach created by Caleb Gattegno that is notable for the "silence" of the teacher. (Who is not actually mute, but who rarely, if ever, models language for the students.) Gattegno first described the approach in 1963, in his book Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way. Gattegno was critical of mainstream language education at the time, and he based the Silent Way on his general theories of education rather than on existing language pedagogy. It is usually regarded as an "alternative" language-teaching method; Cook groups it under "other styles", Richards groups it under "alternative approaches and methods" and Jin & Cortazzi group it under "Humanistic or Alternative Approaches". Gattegno continued to develop and describe the Silent Way until his death in 1988. Others have continued to develop the approach, particularly for intermediate and advanced students.

The method emphasizes learner autonomy and active student participation. Silence is used as a tool to achieve this goal; the teacher uses a mixture of silence and gestures to focus students' attention, to elicit responses from them, and to encourage them to correct their own errors. Pronunciation is seen as important, with time spent on improving pronunciation as needed in each lesson. The Silent Way uses a structural syllabus and concentrates on teaching the uses of the functional vocabulary of the language. Translation and rote repetition are avoided, and the language is practiced in meaningful contexts. Evaluation is carried out by observation, and the teacher may never set a formal test.

One of the hallmarks of the Silent Way when used with beginners is the use of Cuisenaire rods, which can be used for anything from simple commands ("Take two red rods and give them to her.") to representing objects such as clocks and floor plans. The approach also employs a color code to help teach pronunciation; there is a sound-color chart which is used to teach the sounds of the language, colored word charts which are used for work on sentences, and colored Fidel charts which are used to teach spelling. While the Silent Way is not widely used in its original form, its ideas have been influential, especially in the teaching of pronunciation.

Gattegno was an outsider to language education when Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools was first published in 1963. The book conspicuously lacked the names of most prominent language educators and linguists of the time, and for the decade following its publication Gattegno's works were only rarely cited in language education books and journals. He was previously a designer of mathematics and reading programmes, and the use of color charts and colored Cuisenaire rods in the Silent Way grew directly out of this experience.

Gattegno was openly sceptical of the role that the linguistic theory of his time had in language teaching. He felt that linguistic studies "may be a specialization, [that] carry with them a narrow opening of one's sensitivity and perhaps serve very little towards the broad end in mind". The Silent Way was conceived as a special case of Gattegno's broader educational principles, which he had developed to solve general problems in learning, and which he had previously applied to the teaching of mathematics and of spelling in the mother tongue. Broadly, these principles are:

These principles situate the Silent Way in the tradition of discovery learning, that sees learning as a creative problem-solving activity guided by a teacher.

The general goal of the Silent Way is to help beginning-level students gain basic fluency in the target language, with the ultimate aim being near-native language proficiency and good pronunciation. An important part of this ability is being able to use the language for self-expression; students should be able to express their thoughts, feelings, and needs in the target language. In order to help them achieve this, teachers emphasize self-reliance. Students are encouraged to actively explore the language, and to develop their own 'inner criteria' as to what is linguistically acceptable.

The role of the teacher is that of a coach. The teacher's task is to focus the students' attention, and provide exercises to help them develop language facility; however, to ensure their self-reliance, the teacher should only help the students as much as is strictly necessary. For example, teachers will often give students time to correct their own mistakes before giving them the answer to a question. Teachers also avoid praise or criticism, as it can discourage students from developing self-reliance. As Gattegno says, "The teacher works with the student; the student works on the language."