Background
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Grammar-translation method began in Germany (Prussia),
at the end of the 18th century and became popular in early years of the 19th
century
Situation:
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Traditional Scholastic Approach - to acquire a reading knowledge of
foreign langauges by studying a grammar & applying this knowledge to the
interpretation of texts with the use of a dictionary
·
Scholastic Methods did not fit group teaching in classrooms for young
school pupils
Solution: Grammar-Translation Method (G.M.) attempted to adopt these traditions to the requirements and circumstances of schools. It preserved the basic framework of grammar and translation because they were already familiar to teachers and pupils from their classical studies.
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Feature:
o to replace the traditional texts with
sample sentences
o entences for translation into and out
of the foreign language
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The concept of "practical" appeared in 19th century language
course. For us, practical means "useful," but in the 19th century a
practical course was one required "practice"
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Purpose:
o to pass the formal written
examinations
o to present the grammar in a more
concentrated and clear way
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Grammar
Translation Method started out as a simple approach to language learning for
young school children. The real bad grammar translation coursebooks were not
those written by well-known names such as Ahn & Ollendorff, but
those specially designed for use in secondary schools by ambitious
schoolmasters, Tiarks & Weisse (German).
Tiark: "Introductory Grammar"
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took out parts of speech in German with their declensions &
conjugations (short reading texts, rules of grammar)
Weisse: "A Complete Practical Grammar of the German Language"
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the test is densely packed, crammed with facts, lists, cross-references
to other parts of the book
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Weissie's book is not a reference book, but a textbook for use in class.
The children were expected to learn all of these nonsense
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Ahn and
Ollendorff
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Background
o Emigration from Europe to the United
States
o Industrialization
·
They adopted a grading system that"rationed" the learner to one
or two new rules per lesson and generally tried to keep the detail of explanation under some control
o Learners could not expect to learn
FLs by traditional methods, unlike academic "grammar school"
learner
o A new approach was needed to suit
their particular circumstances and it emerged in the form of
"direct" methods which require no knowledge of grammar at all
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Frans Ahn
(1796-1865): A new practical and easy method
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Pronunciation and learning materials: each odd-numbered section (1, 3,
5…) gives grammar summary, new vocabulary items, sentences to translate into
the mother tongue; each even-numbered section (2, 4, 6…) contains sentences
to translate into foreign language and no new teaching points
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Ahn's grammar requires a minimum knowledge of grammatical terminology:
singular, plural, masculine, feminine, etc.; useful vocabulary; practice
sentences are short and easy to translate
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Ahn's textbooks follow his feeling for simplicity; proceed one step at a
time, with not too many words in each lesson, plenty of practce
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H.G.
Ollendorff (1803-1865)
"A new method of learning to read, write, and speak, a language in six months." - taught German to French and English speakers
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Features of his course
o obscure theory of interaction: In
this exercise, the structure of declarative sentences ('answer') is closed to
the structure of interrogatives ('question').
o He is the first textbook writer to
use a graded linguistic syllabus seriously; his grading system is heavily
influenced by convention and logic
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Ahn and Ollendorffs' practical aims were appreciated, but they were
criticized for the lack of profundity
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D.N.Aloysius
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