Content area
This research was designed primarily to determine the effectiveness of intensive Audio-Lingual language programs as implemented with high school and college students in the United States and China. Twenty studies of intensive Audio-Lingual language programs were analyzed by using two methods of meta-analysis, Rosenthal's combining t's method and the vote counting method.
A survey of the literature on foreign language (FL) teaching indicated that there seemed to be no one method that had emerged to prominence in FL teaching. Examination of foreign language teaching in China showed that there were many problems relating to teachers, textbooks, class size, teaching method, and other aspects, which suggested that improvement in the field was necessary. The review of literature also revealed that various intensive Audio-Lingual language programs which emphasized students' communicative abilities were being implemented in many institutions. These programs provided intensive exposure to the language within a relatively short time. They also made the students learn the target language exclusively without being distracted by other subjects. These intensive programs used the Audio-Lingual Method which evolved from the Army Method developed during the Second World War.
The results of this meta-anaysis research showed that the combined t value was positive and statistically significant which indicated that the intensive Audio-Lingual language programs were more effective than the non-intensive traditional language programs. In addition, the results of the vote counting method showed that the effect size of the twenty studies with the average sample size = 135 implied that for the best scenario, 68% of the students in the intensive Audio-Lingual language programs did better than those in the traditional non-intensive programs; for the worst scenario, 54% of the students in the intensive programs did better than those in the non-intensive programs; and for the average scenario, 59% of the students in the intensive programs did better than those in the non-intensive programs.
The effectiveness of the intensive Audio-Lingual language programs implied that in order to enhance Chinese students' communicative competence, this language program may be used as a better alternative to the regular language programs in colleges and universities in China.