The Series Method
In the late 1800s, François Gouin travelled to Germany and attempted to learn German purely through memorization, reading, and translation. However, he was repeatedly frustrated by his inability to speak and comprehend the language. Upon returning to his native France, he began to consider how children acquire their native language. He developed the Series Method to teach directly, without translation, series of connected sentences related to a task or activity (Brown & Lee, 2015). The method employed a vast vocabulary as well as complex grammatical properties. However, students were able to understand, recall, and speak the language based on real-world experiences (Brown & Lee, 2015)
Pros:
Cons:
Pros:
- focuses on learning how to speak and comprehend the spoken second language (L2)
- emphasis on connecting the language to reality
- attempts to mimic natural language acquisition.
Cons:
- sentences series are not natural
- requires an instructor with significant skill and fluency