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The Grammar – Translation Method
Introduction
The grammar – translation Method is not new it had different names, but it has been used by language teachers for many years. At one time it was called the classical method since was first used in the teaching of the classical language, Latin and Greek (Chastain 1988).
The Study of the grammar of the target language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and this familiarity would help them speak and write their native language better.
Try to understand grammar- translation method by observing a class where the teacher using it. The class is high – intermediate level English class at a University in
Experience
As we enter the classroom, the class is in middle of reading a passage in their textbook. The passage in excerpt entitled ‘the boys’ Ambition’ from Mark Twain’s Life on the Mississippi. Each student is called on to read a few line from a passage. After they have finished reading, they are asked to translate into Spanish the few lines they have just read. The teacher helps them with new vocabulary items. When the students have finished reading and translating the passage, the teacher asks them in Spanish if they have any questions. Since the students have no more questions, the teacher asks them to write the answers to the comprehension questions which appear at the end of the excerpt. The questions are in English, and the students are instructed to write the answer to them English as well. They do first one together as an example.
In addition to questions that ask for information contained within the reading passage, the students answer two other types of questions. For the first type, they have to make inferences based on their understanding of the passage. for example “do think the boy was ambitious? why or not why?”.
The other type of questions requires the students to relate the passage to their experience, for example, one of the questions based on this excerpt asks them, “have you ever thought about running away from home?.
The teacher can speaking Spanish, asks the students to stop and check their work.
One by one each students reads a question and then reads his or response. If it is correct the teacher calls on another students to read the next question. If the answer is incorrect the teacher selects a different students to supply the correct answer, or the teacher herself gives the right answer.
When they have finished this exercise, the teacher reminds them that English words that look like Spanish words called ‘cognates’.
Thinking about the Experiences
This has been just a brief introduction to the grammar – translation method, but it is probably true that this method is not new to many of you.
Whether this is true or not, let us see what we have grammar- translation method.
Our observations will be listed in the left column, from them we will try to identify the principles of the grammar-translation method.
Reviewing the Principles
1. What are the goals of teachers who use the grammar-translation method? According to the teachers who use the grammar-translation method, a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language. To do this, students need to learn about the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language.
2. What is the role of the teacher? what is the role of the students ? The teacher is the authority in the classroom. The students do as the says so they can learn what she knows.
3. What are characteristics of the teaching/learning process? Students are taught to translate from one language to another. They also learn grammatical paradigms such as conjugations. They memorize native-language equivalents for target-language vocabulary words.
4. What is the nature of students-teacher interaction? what is the nature of student-student interaction? most of interaction in the classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student the interaction and little student-student interaction.
5. How are the feelings of the students dealt with? There are no principles of the method which relate to this area.
6. How is the English viewed? how is culture viewed? Literary language is considered superior to spoken language and is therefore the language that students study. Culture is viewed as consisting of literature and the fine arts.
7. What areas of language are emphasized, reading and writing are the primary skills that the student work.
8. What is the role of the students ‘native language’? the meaning of the target language is made clear by translating it into the student ‘native language’. That language is used in class.
9. How is evaluation accomplished? written test in which student are asked to translate from their native language to the target languages or vice versa are often used and to apply grammar rules are also common.
10. How does the teacher respond or student errors? If the students make errors or do not know an answer, the teacher supplies them with the correct answer.
Reviewing the Techniques
Ask yourself if any of the answers to the about questions make sense to you. You may find that you agree very little with the answers to these questions, but that there are still some useful techniques associated with the Grammar translation Method. Below is an expended description of some of these techniques.
Translation of the literary passage
Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language. The reading passage then provides the focus for several classes : vocabulary and grammatical structures in the passage are studied in subsequent lessons. Students should not translate idioms and like literally, but rather in a way that shows that they understand their meaning.
Reading Comprehension questions
Students answer the questions in the target language based on their understanding of the reading passage. often the questions are sequenced so that the first group of questions asks for information contained within the reading passage. in order to answer the second group of questions, students will have to make inferences based on their understanding of the passage. This means they will have to answer questions about the passage even though the answer are not contained the passage it self. The third group of questions requires students to relate the passage to their own experience.
Antonyms / Synonyms
A similar exercise could be done by asking students to fine synonyms for a particular set of words or students might to define a set of words based on their understanding of them as they occur in the reading passage.
Cognates
Students are also asked to memorize words that look like cognates but have meanings in the target language that are different from those in the native language.
This technique of course would only be useful in languages that cognates.
Deductive application of rule
Exceptions into each rule are also noted, once students understand a rule, they are asked to apply it to some different examples.
Fill-in-the-blanks
Students are given a series of sentences with words missing. They fill in the blank with new vocabulary items or with items of particular grammar type, such as prepositions or verbs with different tenses.
Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them.
Use words in sentences
In order to show that students understand the meaning and use of a new vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words.
Composition
The teacher gives the students a topic to write about in the target language. The topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson.
Conclusion
You have now had an opportunity to examine the principles and some of the techniques of the Grammar-Translation Method. Try to make a connection between what you have understood and your own teaching situation and beliefs.
Activities
1. Check your understanding of the Grammar-Translation Method
2. Apply what you have understood about the Grammar – Translation Method.
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