The grammar
translation method is an old method which was used to teach dead languages. It was
used during the mid-19th to the mid-20th century to teach
a foreign language. Since there were no justifications for teaching oral skills
in the classical language, the Grammar Translation method was the only way to
develop the ability to read and translate classical text. By the
mid-19th century, the method has been adopted for teaching and
learning by German scholars and then it slowly spread to US and Europe.
The Grammar Translation
method was criticized by those direct method scholar saying that language supposed
to be learned by speaking and listening. However, the GTM was used as one of
the primary method in US classrooms.
After some
time, it became evident that GTM was not producing students capable of speaking
foreign language well to communicate or to understand the opposite party’s
communications. The U.S. government therefore turned to methods that were
grounded in the linguistic and psychological theories of the time, which were
later adapted for use in public schools as the Audio-lingual Method. By the
1960s the Audio-lingual Method had replaced the Grammar-Translation Method for
teaching foreign languages in most U.S. classrooms. However,
grammar-translation techniques continue to be used throughout the world in
teaching classical languages and occasionally modern languages, especially less
commonly-taught languages.
What is
Grammar Translation Method (GTM?)
The major
characteristic of the grammar-translation method is, precisely as its name
suggests, a focus on learning the rules of grammar and their application in
translation passages from one language into the other. Vocabulary in the target
language is learned through direct translation from the native language. There will
be very little teaching is done in the target language. Instead, readings in
the target language are translated directly and then discussed in the native
language, often precipitating in-depth comparisons of the two languages
themselves. Grammar is taught with extensive explanations in the native
language, and only later applied in the production of sentences through
translation from one language to the other.
The key
feature of GTM:
- · Use of mother tongue
- · Vocabulary items are taught in the form of word lists.
- · Elaborate explanations of grammar.
- · Focus on the morphology and syntax.
- · Reading of difficult texts early in the course.
- · Practice focuses on exercises translating sentences or texts from mother tongue to the target language and vice verse.
Advantages of GTM (Languages, 2014)
ô The native language is maintained as the main reference. The translations to the second
language enable students to understand the differences between both languages
quickly, especially in abstract word and complicated sentences.
ô The
phraseology of the target language is quickly explained.
Translation is the easiest way of explaining meanings or words and phrases from
one language into another. Any other method of explaining vocabulary items in
the second language is found time consuming. A lot of time is wasted if the
meanings of lexical items are explained through definitions and illustrations
in the second language. Furthermore, learners acquire some sort of accuracy in
understanding synonyms in the source language and the target language.
ô ESL learners will understand how their mother tongues function, in order to have the capacity to communicate
their thought since GTM focuses on phraseology of the targeted language.
ô Save teacher’s work load. Since the textbooks are taught through the medium of the
mother tongue, the teacher may ask comprehension questions on the text taught
in the mother tongue. Students will not have much difficulty in responding to
questions in the mother tongue. So, the teacher can easily assess whether the
students have learned what he/she has taught them. Communication between the
teacher and the learner does not cause linguistic problems. Even teachers who
are not fluent in English can teach English through this method. That is
perhaps the reason why this method has been practiced so widely and has
survived so long.
Disadvantages
(Sayeh S, 2013)
ô No scope
for effective communication and very tedious for learners. Direct translation
is an inefficient way of teaching other important skills in a language. For example,
translating a sentence word for word from German to English might not have the same
meaning because there is so little attention is paid to other skills. With GTM,
students would not be able to hold a proper and fluent conversation in English or
other language because teacher speaks more in students’ native language rather
than English.
ô It is an unreliable and ineffective method. The natural
order of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading and writing. That
is the way a child learns his mother tongue in natural surroundings. GTM
is a teaching method of second language starts with teaching of reading and pay
very little attention to context of texts which are treated as exercise in
grammatical analysis. The learning process in reversed.
ô Slow learning rate and making
learners to think L1.
It does not give a pattern of practice. A person learn a language by
internalizing the patterns to the extend they form its habit. But GTM does not
provide such practice. It only teaches rules of the language and not utilizing it.
Research shows that just by relying on the rule of the language, a person can’t
speak that language. Language learning is a process of acquiring certain skills
by practicing and not memorizing the rule.
References
Ø Languages, T. (2014). The Comparison
of Various Methods of Teaching Languages. Academia.edu. Retrieved 18 December
2014, from http://www.academia.edu/7344790/The_Comparison_of_Various_Methods_of_Teaching_Languages
Ø Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S.
Rodgers (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and
analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
Ø Sayeh S, A. (2013). A Contrastive
Study of the Grammar Translation and the Direct Methods of Teaching (1st ed.).
Hong Kong: 3rd International Conference on Business, Economics, Management and
Behavioral Sciences. Retrieved from http://psrcentre.org/images/extraimages/ICECEBE%20113900.pdf
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