Descriptive analysis of Vaughan systems, assets and pitfalls of an audiolingual method

Abstract

This article explores the advantages and disadvantages of English language immersion courses, subsidized by the Spanish Ministry of Education and organized by the International University Menendez Pelayo, which hires the services of the American company Vaughan Systems. These immersion courses, called “Immersion for Verbal Agility”, follow the “Vaughan Method” - a language learning methodology based, according to the author, on the well-known Audiolingual and Grammar Translation methods. The present study, based on observation and participation in one of the mentioned intensive courses, analyses the assets and pitfalls of what it is now a traditional language teaching method, providing a theoretical discussion on Second Language Acquisition and a brief review of the corresponding second language teaching methods.