The,Application,of,Audio,Lingual,Method,to,Sixth—grade,Primary,School,English,Teaching

　　【Abstract】The audio lingual method is a distinctive teaching method centering on listening and speaking， which is widely used in English teaching for many years. I analyze the sixth-grade primary school English textbooks with the application of this method. Through analysis， I consider that the audio lingual method is suitable for English teaching of primary school students since oral practice is their main teaching aim.
　　【Key words】the audio lingual method； listening and speaking； primary school
　　Introduction
　　The audio lingual method is an appropriate one for the primary school students. Sixth-grade primary school students who are about 12 years old， are still in an elementary level of language learning. And children have the great ability of imitation and memories.
　　1. Basic Principles of the Audio Lingual Method
　　1.1 Listening and Speaking- Oriented Teaching Method Auxiliaried by Reading and Writing
　　Language is at first a vocal phenomenon and writing is only the symbol which records the speech. The audio lingual method claims listening and speaking as the most prior and first parts when mastering English. Teachers have to select specific grammatical patterns in the dialogues.
　　1.2 Habit Formation through Repetitive Drills
　　Learning a language is developing a habit. Language acquisition is a process as which concludes stimuli and response. Learners require more and more drills to obtain a language. Through pattern drills， the verbal behavior can be learned.
　　1.3 Centering on Sentence Patterns
　　Under the influence of structuralism， it emphasizes that language is the structural system combined by small language unites through grammatical rules. Sentence patterns possess not only structural meaning but also the lexical， social and cultural meanings. The structure of the language is identified with its basic sentence patterns.
　　1.4 Mother Tongue Excluded or Restricted
　　Structural linguistics insisted that we should interpret directly by using the method of directing， situation and context. For the primary stage learners， this method is too difficult to grasp. The audio lingual method aims at training students’ oral English. Using the mother tongue and translation method will absolutely hinder students’ learning of English.
　　1.5 Comparing the Structures of Language
　　The audio lingual method deems that learners should compare English with the mother tongue， so as to find differences between the two languages and explore the difficulty of English learning. Teachers should train students to aim at the specialized difficulty.