Topic: Effectiveness of the Audio-Lingual Method in English Language Teaching at the Middle School Level in Pakistan: An experimental study

Introduction and background:

The language of English, like the English language, is a massive communal medium in the world that can be seen in every aspect of life. Now, it is used lasso language in science, technology, business, and education. English is an international language since, apart from nation-to-nation interaction, it is the language that everyone uses for global communication. As suggested by Vallera (232), the fulcrum and foundation of Education worldover lies in English language. The language of education field change a lot not only students in the face-to-face courses, but also the remote direct instruction, on-demand lecture, and others formats of learning since childhood. Teachers often go through the same process when teaching a foreign language and use it in their entire career. Besides, the diverse ways of the language usage is applicable towards those willing to study or learn the second one.

English is of common importance in the educational sector all over the world as it is in our everyday life. These days, it is a part of the course since students start to learn it from childhood; school authorities and students interfere with the use of digital technology on a daily basis. Among these tools, there are easy-to-use equipment. Good communication is vital for English learners since this aspect of the language supports speaking without hesitation, pronouncing correctly, learning new words and so on.

The reason why language learning is hard for many foreign language learners is because the teaching methods are no longer up-to-date which are not interesting to many students enough to motivate them to continue learning. As a result, a specific language skill — to-speaking like many others—are overtaken by others in chance to develop it as they are not able to do it in class by some reason. This is notwithstanding the fact that minor exposure to Language outside the classroom usually strengthens the notion of the fear of speaking and lack confidence, which is generally are the factors that block skills development.

The Audio-Lingual Method is a technique for teaching speaking skills. It's a significant advancement in language teaching that focuses on effective communication. Skilled teachers using this method often produce highly proficient students.Furthermore, the main aim of this method is for students to use the target language naturally in communication. This requires students to thoroughly learn the language until they can use it without having to pause and think. They achieve this by developing a new habit in the target language, replacing their old habits from their native language (Larsen-Freeman, 2000).

Also, this method mainly involves learning new vocabulary and sentence structures using dialogues. Students learn these dialogues by copying and repeating them. They also practice drills based on the patterns in the dialogues. The purpose of these drills is to help students speak English effectively.

Statement of the problem:

In the current face of the change of time the audio-lingual method has not really been taken into consideration for teaching English to middle schools in Pakistan while there had been not many recent research conducted about its effectiveness. Since there is no new research it means that we simply don't understand how this method of teaching English comparing to the other methods of instruction. Besides, there aren't a lot of researches about how it influences students' English skills and student language attitudes which are particular for middle schools. Perhaps, we need to broaden our research criteria to investigate the Audio Lingual Method and to find out what the pros and cons of it are as well as its future impact on middle schools in Pakistan.

Purpose of the study:

Here, in this research, the experimental evaluation of Audio-Lingual Method is intended to be done in the English language teaching at middle school level in Pakistan.This assessment aims to determine the role of ALM in improvement of students' language skills in speaking, listening, reading, and writing. Moreover this study seeks for the understanding whether students are having a favorable attitude toward learning English with the method Audio-Lingual. Ultimately, the research is undertaken to arrive at the most advantageous outcomes that can contribute to the improvement of language teaching methodologies that is being used in Pakistani secondary schools.

Research Questions:

1_How effective is the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) in enhancing language proficiency among the middle school level students?

2_How does the effectiveness of the Audio-Lingual Method compare to traditional teaching methods in improving English language proficiency among middle-level students in Pakistan?

3_ To what extent does the Audio-Lingual Method influence students' attitudes towards learning English in middle-level education in Pakistan?

Objectives of the study:

The objectives of this study are:

We can further the effectiveness of this method by clearly stating the influence of the Audio-Lingual method on language proficiency achievement among middle school students .

2_ Audio-Lingual Method effectiveness vs that of the traditional teaching methods to find out whether classes belonging to middle level of school students in Pakistan have improved their proficiency level of English language.

3_Hence the paper will examine the degree of the Audio-Lingual Method to affect the learners' attitudes towards English in the middle-level education in Pakistan.

The significance of the study:

Throughout the study teachers in Pakistan will be told if the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) is more helpful or not for both listening and speaking skills when it comes to teaching English to middle school students. Through his research, ALM allows for teachers to find whether he conducts this method well or not, which in turn improves their way of teaching English. Lastly, by listening to what different students opinion of ALM, we can find out if it is an effective program to be implemented in schools in Pakistan. Therefore, the study's findings may hopefully, shape the structure of teaching the English in the Pakistani' middle school level.

Literature Review:

The developers of Audio-Lingualism were guided by a robust understanding of language and were influenced by behaviorism, a major school of thought in American psychology. Behaviorism relied on empirical evidence rather than mental processes to comprehend human learning, including language acquisition (Richards & Rogers 2001).

According to behaviorists, humans are organisms with a diverse range of behaviors. Learning depends on three main factors: a stimulus that prompts a behavior, the response to that stimulus, and reinforcement, which signals whether the response was correct or incorrect and encourages its repetition or suppression in the future(Skinner, 1957; Brown,1980).

The Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) originated in the United States around 1940, aligning with the British "structural-situational method" as noted by Rilling (2018).The Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) remained a structured teaching approach until the 1970s, with certain techniques still utilized in English as a Second Language instruction (Sharpe, A.E. 2018).The Audio-Lingual Method, which drew from Skinner's stimulus-response psychology, was applied with variations by the education departments overseeing white education in the four provinces. In this method, students are required to develop proficiency in four key skills: listening, speaking, reading, and writing (Ekawati 2017).

During World War II, the Audio-Lingual Method was employed to train soldiers to quickly acquire language skills for covert operations, earning it the nickname "army method." This method, characterized by its military-like aspects, contains both strengths and weaknesses. According to Abu-

Melhem (2009), one drawback is the potential lack of student motivation associated with the ALM approach.

Nunan (2003) explains that audiolingual repetition drills are designed to help students become accustomed to the sounds and grammatical structures of the target language they are learning. Additionally, the audiolingual method emphasizes the use of repetition to reinforce language patterns. Repetition allows students to easily remember the target language in a systematic manner. For students struggling to grasp language patterns, repetition helps them become familiar with the language structure. Moreover, memorizing language forms through repetition drilling is effective for students, as it helps them develop a habit of using the language correctly. Overall, the audiolingual method facilitates language use by familiarizing students with language sounds and structures.

Research Methodology

Research Type: Experimental research (pre-test post-test research design)

Population: Population will consist of middle school students enrolled in two comparable schools

Sampling: Purposive sampling will be used in selection of schools and students.

Study Duration: 6 months after Approval of synopsis

Sample Size: 30 to 40 students of middle school level

Tools: Pre-Test Post-Test

Data Collection: Questionnaire Form

Data Analysis:

Data will be entered clean and analyze using SPSS version 27

Frequency table will be generated for all possible variables

Means and other parameters of central tendency will be calculated

Means will be compared using T- test

Limitation of the study:

The study may not represent all middle schools in Pakistan due to the small sample size, and the short duration of the study might not capture any long-term effects of the Audio-Lingual Method.

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