grammar translation

 As a result, textbooks were essentially copied for the language classroom & GTM, or the Prussian Method as known in US, Richards & Rogers 1986: 3 predominated in language teaching fro

Grammar-Translation Method

Contents:

1 Background

2 Principal Features & Theoretical Assumptions

3 Objectives, Syllabus, Teacher & Learner Roles

4 Key Features

5 Typical Techniques

 Faculty Psychology, a core concept of education in Europe in 18-19 th

centuries:

– body & mind were separate; the mind consisted of three parts or faculties:

the will, emotion, & intellect

– the intellect could be sharpened enough to eventually control the will and emotion

– The way to do this was through learning classical literature of the Greeks and Romans, as well as mathematics

 As a result, textbooks were essentially copied for the language classroom &

GTM, or the Prussian Method as known in US, (Richards & Rogers 1986: 3) predominated in language teaching from the mid 1840s to the mid 1940s

 The Traditional Grammar lays emphasis on correctness, literary excellence,

the use of Latin models, and the priority (uu tien) of the written language.

 The text books take prominent (loi lac) writers as language models They

concentrate on detailed points and favor the formality of language.

Principal Features & Theoretical

Assumptions

 Principal Features: emphasizes the teaching of the second

language grammar; its principal practice technique is translation from and into the target language.

 Theoretical Assumptions:

 L2 primarily viewed as a system of rules to be observed in texts

and sentences & to be related to first language rules and meanings

 Language learning regarded as intellectual activity which

provides students with good mental exercises to develop their minds It consists of little more than memorizing rules and facts

by means of massive translation practice in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the second language

Objectives, Syllabus, Roles

 Objectives: Reading and writing are the major concern; little or no

systematic attention paid to speaking or listening

 Syllabus: based on grammar & vocabulary Grammar rules

presented, illustrated & practiced through translation exercises

Vocabulary selection based solely on the reading texts used and a list of vocabulary items are presented with their L1 equivalents.

 Learner & Teacher Roles: Wholly teacher-centered The teacher

is the authority of the classroom Learners viewed as passive

receivers of knowledge They can learn only what the teacher

knows.

 Roles of First Language: L1 is the medium of instruction; used to

explain new items and to enable comparisons to be made between the foreign language and the learner’s first language.

Key Features

 L2 learning seen as an intellectual activity: deductive (pp dien dich)

explanations of intricate grammar given and then practised through translation exercises

 Strong emphasis on accuracy and form, fluency & meaning neglected

 little interaction between the learners and the teacher; almost no

interaction between students

 Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words

 Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction

often focuses on the form and inflection of words

 Reading of difficult classical literary texts right in early stages

 Common drills include exercises in translating disconnected

sentences from L2 into L1

Typical Techniques

 Translation of a Literary Passage (Translating target language to

native language)

 Reading Comprehension Questions (Finding information in a

passage, making inferences and relating to personal experience)

 Antonyms/Synonyms (Finding antonyms and synonyms for words or

sets of words)

 Cognates (Learning spelling/sound patterns that correspond between

L1 and the target language)

 Deductive Application of Rule (Understanding grammar rules and

their exceptions, then applying them to new examples)

 Fill-in-the-blanks (Filling in gaps in sentences with new words or items

of a particular grammar type)

 Memorization (Memorizing vocabulary lists, grammatical rules and

grammatical paradigms-mo hinh, he bien hoa).

 Use Words in Sentences (Students create sentences to illustrate they

know the meaning and use of new words)

Criticisms of GTM

 Even if GTM trained mind in logical thought, there is little evidence

that this faculty is transferable to other walks of life beyond the

language

 GTM gives the wrong idea of what language is and of the relationship

between languages: Language seen as a collection or words which are isolated and independent and there must be a corresponding

word in the native tongue for each foreign word learned

 GTM assumes that language is only acquired through translation

skills, and this at the expense of oral skills

 Low translation standard - caused by grammatical techniques which

force learner to deduce L2 sentences by selecting from a multiplicity

of rules and exceptions and individualized words.

 The average school child not mentally mature enough to cope with

General Comments

 Though GTM has received fierce attacks, it has its own advantages

+ First, the use of first language facilitates learning, e.g in grammar.

+ Secondly, the systematic learning of grammar is very important for those learners who want to understand the grammatical system of the language

+ Finally, the formal features of the second language and translation

as a practice technique put the learner into an active problem-solving situation.

 The main weakness of GTM lies in its overemphasis on rules and its

limitations of practice techniques which never free learners from the dominance of the first language Besides, this method often creates frustration for learners since they tend to forget lists of words and

rules of grammar.

 Fails to develop communicative skills: very frustrating for learners

when it comes to using it for real-life purposes

 “It is a method for which there is no theory There is no

literature that offers a rationale or justification for it that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology,

or educational theory.”

Richards and Rodgers (1986:5)

 “It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers

Tests of grammar rules and of translations are easy to construct and can be objectively scored Many

standardized tests of foreign languages still do not

attempt to tap into communicative abilities, so students have little motivation to go beyond grammar analogies,

 Brown, H Douglas, 2001: Teaching by Principles: An

Interactive Approach to Language Pedagogy (2nd Edition), Pearson Longman

 Larsen-Freeman, Dianne, 2000: Techniques and

Principles in Language Teaching (2nd Edition), New York: Oxford University Press

 Prator, Clifford H & Celce-Murcia, Marianne, 1979: “An

outline of language teaching approaches.” In

Celce-Murcia, Marianne & McIntosh, Lois (Ed.), Teaching English

as a Second or Foreign Language, Newbury House

 Richards, Jack & Rodgers, Theodore, 1986: Approaches

and Methods in Language Teaching, New York:

Cambridge University Press