In applied linguistics, the grammar translation method is a
foreign language teaching method derived from the classical (sometimes called
traditional) method of teaching Greek and Latin. The method requires students to translate whole texts word-for-word and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as enormous vocabulary lists. The
goal of this method is to be able to read and translate literary masterpieces
and classics.
History and philosophy
Throughout
Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the education system was formed
primarily around a concept called faculty psychology. In brief, this theory dictated that
the body and mind were separate and the mind consisted of three parts: the will, emotion, and intellect. It was believed that the intellect could be sharpened
enough to eventually control the will and emotions. The way to do this was
through learning classical literature of the Greeks and Romans, as well as
mathematics. Additionally, an adult with such an education was considered
mentally prepared for the world and its challenges. In the 19th century, modern languages and literature began to appear in schools. It was
believed that teaching modern languages was not useful for the development of
mental discipline and thus they were left out of the curriculum. As a result,
textbooks were essentially copied for the modern language classroom. In the
United States of America, the basic foundations of this method were used in
most high school and college foreign language classrooms and were eventually
replaced by the audio-lingual method among others.
Method
Classes were
conducted in the native language. A chapter in a distinctive textbook
of this method would begin with a massive bilingual vocabulary list. Grammar
points would come directly from the texts and be presented contextually in the
textbook, to be explained elaborately by the instructor. Grammar thus provided
the rules for assembling words into sentences. Tedious translation and grammar
drills would be used to exercise and strengthen the knowledge without much
attention to content. Sentences would be deconstructed and translated.
Eventually, entire texts would be translated from the target language into the native language and tests would often ask
students to replicate classical texts in the target language. Very little
attention was placed on pronunciation or any communicative
aspects of the
language. The skill exercised was reading, and then only in the context of
translation.
Criticism
The method by
definition has a very limited scope of objectives. Because speaking or any kind
of spontaneous creative output was missing from the curriculum, students would
often fail at speaking or even letter writing in the target language. A
noteworthy quote describing the effect of this method comes from Bahlsen, who
was a student of Plötz, a major proponent of this method in the 19th century.
In commenting about writing letters or speaking he said he would be overcome
with "a veritable forest of paragraphs, and an impenetrable thicket of
grammatical rules."[1] Later, theorists such as Vietor, Passy, Berlitz, and Jespersen began to talk about what a new kind of foreign language
instruction needed, shedding light on what the grammar translation was missing.
They supported teaching the language, not about the language, and teaching in
the target language, emphasizing speech as well as text. Through grammar
translation, students lacked an active role in the classroom, often correcting
their own work and strictly following the textbook.
Grammar Translation Method
A number of
methods and techniques have evolved for the teaching of English and also other
foreign languages in the recent past, yet this method is still in use in many
parts of India. It maintains the first language of the learner as the reference
particularly in the process of learning the second/foreign languages. The main
principles on which the grammar translation method is based are the following:
- Translation interprets the words and phrases of the foreign languages in the best possible manner.
- The phraseology and the idioms of the target language can best be assimilated in the process of interpretation.
- The structures of the foreign languages are best learned when compared and contrast with those of first language.
In this method,
while teaching the textbook the teacher translates every word and phrase from
English into the learners' first language. Further, students are required to
translate sentences from their first language into the target language. These
exercises in translation are based on various items covering the grammar of the
target language. The method emphasizes the study of grammar through deduction, that is, through the study of the
rules of grammar. A contrastive study of the target language with the first
language gives an insight into the structure not only of the foreign language
but also of the first language.
Advantages
The grammar
translation method has two main advantages.
- 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. Further, learners acquire some sort of accuracy in understanding synonyms in the source language and the target language.
- Teacher’s labor is saved. Since the textbooks are taught through the medium of the first language, the teacher may ask comprehension questions on the text taught in the first language. Pupils will not have much difficulty in responding to questions in the first language. So, the teacher can easily assess whether the students have learned what he has taught them. Communication between the teacher and the learner does not cause linguistic problems. Even teachers who are not fluent in the target language can teach it using this method. That is perhaps the reason why this method has been practiced so widely and has survived so long.
Disadvantages
Along with its
advantages, the grammar translation method comes with many disadvantages.
- It is an unnatural method.[citation needed] The natural order of learning a language is listening, speaking, reading, and writing[according to whom?] That is the way a child learns his first language in natural surroundings; but, in the grammar translation method the teaching of the second language starts with the teaching of reading. Thus, the learning process is reversed. This poses problems.[examples needed]
- Speech is neglected. The grammar translation method places emphasis on reading and writing, neglecting speech. Thus, the students who are taught through this method fail to express themselves adequately in spoken English.[citation needed] Even at the undergraduate stage they feel shy of communicating using English. It has been observed that in a class which is taught English through this method learners listen to the first language more than that to the second/foreign language.[by whom?] Since language learning involves habit formation such students fail to acquire a habit of speaking English.
- Exact translation is not always possible. A language is the result of various customs, traditions, and modes of behavior of a speech community, and these traditions differ from community to community. There are several lexical items in one language which have no equivalents in another language. For example, the meaning of the English word "table" does not fit in such expressions as "table of contents", "table of figures", "multiplication table", "time table", or "table the resolution". English prepositions are also difficult to translate. Consider sentences such as "We see with our eyes", "Bombay is far from Delhi", "He died of cholera", "He succeeded through hard work". In these sentences "with", "from", "of", and "through: can be translated into the Hindi preposition "se" and vice versa.
- It does not give pattern practice. A person can learn a language only when he internalizes its patterns to the extent that they form his habit. But the grammar translation method does not provide any such practice to the learner of a language. It rather attempts to teach language through rules and not by use. Researchers in linguistics have proved that to speak any language, whether native or foreign, entirely by rule is quite impossible.[citation needed] The persons who have learned a foreign or second language through this method find it difficult to give up the habit of first thinking in their first language and then translating their ideas into the second language, therefore failing to become proficient in the second language at a level near that of the first language.
Conclusion
The grammar
translation method stayed in schools until the 1960s, when a complete foreign language
pedagogy evaluation was
taking place. In the meantime, teachers experimented with approaches like the direct method in post-war and Depression era classrooms, but without much structure to follow. The
trusty grammar translation method set the pace for many classrooms for many
decades.
Sources: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grammar_translation-02.09.2012
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