The direct method group: 2035 name : halimova nigina the Direct Method and its Background

The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Direct Method

The general goal of the direct method is to provide learners with a practical useful knowledge of language. They should learn to speak and understand the target language in everyday situation.

a. Advantages

Direct method has some advantages, as follow:

1. In teaching learning process, the teacher uses variety strategies, for instance using picture, gesture, action, demonstration. So that, it can make the students feel enjoyable and active.

2. Students can enlarge their vocabularies.

• In the learning process, the teacher and the students are like partners.

The special quality of direct method as follow]:

• Preparing language knowledge which has advantages for speech in context.
• Suitable and appropriate for linguistic stages of students
• Some presentation and display for spontaneity speech.

In other source, Nababan and Subyakto (1992: 17) state the strengths of direct method generally. They are:

• The learner skilled in listening
• The learner knows much of vocabulary
• The learner has pronunciation like or close to native speaker
• The learner gets some practice in conversation, especially about topic that has been taught in the class.

Muthoharoh (n.d, Online) states the advantages of direct method, which sees from its efficiency:

• Students are motivated to say and understand the words and sentences in foreign language that taught by their teacher, moreover the teacher use instrument and some satisfying media.
• The teacher begins teach simple words and sentences that can be known and understood by the students in daily life such as (pen, pencil, chair, desk, etc), so that students can catch symbols in foreign language that are taught by their teacher easily.
• This method is relatively having much use instruments like video, film, radio cassette, tape recorder, and other media/instruments that can made by the teacher, so this method can attract students’ interest. If the students are interested, the lesson will fell not difficult.
• The students get direct and practical experience, although in the beginning the sentences that are said are have not much understood yet.
• Students’ speech organs will trained by saying and getting utterances that is often heard.

In other aspects, there are also disadvantages of using direct method, they are :

• The first, the learning can be passive, if teacher can not motivate the students. Moreover, the students might be feel bored because they do not understand the words and sentences that are pronounced by teacher, because the teacher use target language in interpreting the meaning of vocabulary in teaching and learning process.
• The second, in early stage this method seems difficult to be practiced, because students have not much vocabulary yet that they have been understood.
• The third, the teacher is not always consistent to speak in English in whole teaching and learning process because teacher is forced, for example to translate difficult words into students’ native language.