Problems for language method

Press, Volume CXII, Issue 33034, 29 September 1972, Page 10

Problems for language method

The introduction of the successful Credit audiovisual method of teaching French would encounter two main problems if introduced into New Zealand, said Professor R. ! Vives, a visiting French professor, in Christchurch yesterday. Professor Vives said that the size of New Zealand classes and the lack of suitable audio-visual equipment were two barriers which would have to be overcome if the method was to be used successfully in New Zealand. Professor Vives works at an educational research centre —Ecole Normale Superieure de Saint-Cloud—in Paris, established by France’s Ministry of Education in

1915 to study problems in teaching French as a foreign language. The Credif method, which i can be applied to the teach- < ing of any modem language ' was pioneered at this centre. 1 It treats French as a “living I language.” encouraging stu- ' dents to do away with books i and pens. There should be no more <

than between 25 to 30 students in a class if the method was to be used successfully. It would not be practical to have as many as 40, which was common in New Zealand, Professor Vives said. Suitable equipment, such as tape-recorders, projectors,

and other specially adapted material was not available in New Zealand, but this could be easily obtained at little cost, he said. The Credif method was pioneered in 1950, and level one was perfected in 1968. Level two will be published next year, and much of Professor Vives’s visit has been concerned with explaining this second stage to teachers. In the Credif method, audiovisual equipment is used to make students become totally involved in the language. The object of the method is to make the particular country “come alive” in the classroom. The language laboratory is still used, but to a lesser extent than in the traditional language-teaching methods. Professor Vives said that in Britain children aged eight .were being taught French by a similar method. I Professor Vives was brought to New Zealand by > the universities’ Vice-Chan-i cellor’s Committee. He has . given several lectures, and has visited many language i classes at both secondary and ( tertiary level.