Review – October 17, 2006 THE GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD Derived from the Classical Method, means of teaching Latin since 15th century, the GrammarTranslation Method shares all its characteristics: focus on grammar rules, memorization of vocabulary and of various declensions and conjugations, translation of text, doing written exercises With grammar translation, English is taught as an isolated object, out-of-context, thus, makes it impossible for learners to use it in real life Prator and Celce-Murcia (19979:3) listed the major characteristics of Grammar Translation: Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the target language Much vocabulary is taught in the form of listed of isolated words Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue Little or no attention is given to pronunciation (Brown, 1994:53) Key Facts Translation Memorization of vocabulary and equivalents Memorization of grammar rules Elaborate grammar explanations Students’ abilily of reading foreign language literature Exercise Purpose: Check understanding of the techniques of the Grammar-Translation Method and their rationales for being out carrying in the class Instruction: Refer to the principles of the Grammar-Translation Method, can you tell what the purposes are for a teacher to carry out each of these activities Activities Students translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language Purpose ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students answer questions in the target language based ……………………………………… on their understanding of the reading passage ……………………………………… Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonym/synonym in the reading passage ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students learn grammar rules with examples and are asked to apply them to some other examples ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students are given sentences with blanks and are asked to fill in the blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of particular garmmar type ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students are given a list of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memeorize them ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students make up sentences in which they use the new words ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students are given a topic to wrtie about in the target language ……………………………………… ……………………………………… ... understanding of the techniques of the Grammar- Translation Method and their rationales for being out carrying in the class Instruction: Refer to the principles of the Grammar- Translation Method, can... learning the spelling or sound patterns that correspond between the languages ……………………………………… ……………………………………… Students learn grammar rules with examples and are asked to apply them to some other... questions in the target language based ……………………………………… on their understanding of the reading passage ……………………………………… Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonym/synonym in the reading