Grammar–translation method

BRIEF DESCRIPTION

The Grammar Translation method embraces a wide range of approaches but, broadly speaking, foreign
language study is seen as a mental discipline, the goal of which may be to read literature in its original
form or simply to be a form of intellectual development. The basic approach is to analyze and study the
grammatical rules of the language, usually in an order roughly matching the traditional order of the
grammar, and then to practice manipulating grammatical structures through the means of translation
both into and from the mother tongue. In grammar–translation classes, students learn grammatical
rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native
language. The method is very much based on the written word and texts are widely in evidence. A
typical approach would be to present the rules of a particular item of grammar, illustrate its use by
including the item several times in a text, and practice using the item through writing sentences and
translating it into the mother tongue. The text is often accompanied by a vocabulary list consisting of
new lexical items used in the text together with the mother tongue translation.

PERIOD OF TIME

The grammar–translation method originated from the practice of teaching Latin. In the early 1500s,
Latin was the most widely studied foreign language due to its prominence in government, academia,
and business. However, during the course of the century the use of Latin dwindled, and it was gradually
replaced by English, French, and Italian. After the decline of Latin, the purpose of learning it in schools
changed. Whereas previously students had learned Latin for the purpose of communication, it came to
be learned as a purely academic subject. Throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the
education system was formed primarily around a concept called faculty psychology. 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.
SKILLS AND SUBSKILLS

– Reading and writing are the primary skills compares to listening and speaking.
-Pronunciation is considered a little.

TECHNIQUES

- Students will be asked to read a literary passage and the translate the target language into their
native language.
- Translation may be written or spoken.
- Translation made by the students can show that they understand their meaning.
- Grammar rules are presented with examples.
- Reading comprehension questions.
- Deductive application of rules.
- Memorization.
- Teacher as the authority.
- Fill in the blanks.
- Composition.
ACTIVITY

Students must fill in the blanks with adverbs of frequency of sentences given by the teacher in a page.

COMPLETE THE FOLLOWING SENTECES WITH ADVERBS OF FRECUENCY

Example: He____________ plays on the computer.

(always)

1. He______________ listens to the radio.

2. They____________ read a book.

3. Pete____________ gets angry.

4. Tom is __________ very friendly.

5. I___________ take sugar in my coffee.

6. Ramon is_________ very hungry.

7. I____________ go to school.

8. She____________ goes to church.

The audio-lingual method, is a style of teaching used in teaching foreign languages. It is based
on behaviorist theory, which postulates that certain traits of living things, and in this case
humans, could be trained through a system of reinforcement. The correct use of a trait would
receive positive feedback while incorrect use of that trait would receive negative feedback. the
audio-lingual method advised that students should be taught a language directly, without using
the students' native language to explain new words or grammar in the target language.
However, unlike the direct method, the audio-lingual method did not focus on teaching
vocabulary. Rather, the teacher drilled students in the use of grammar.

PERIOD OF TIME

The method is the product of three historical circumstances. For its views on language, it drew
on the work of American linguists such as Leonard Bloomfield. The prime concern of American
linguists in the early decades of the 20th century had been to document all the indigenous
languages spoken in the US. However, because of the dearth of trained native teachers who
would provide a theoretical description of the native languages, linguists had to rely on
observation. For the same reason, a strong focus on oral language was developed.

At the same time, behaviorist psychologists such as B.F. Skinner were forming the belief that all
behavior (including language) was learnt through repetition and positive or negative
reinforcement. The third factor was the outbreak of World War II, which created the need to
post large number of American servicemen all over the world. It was, therefore, necessary to
provide these soldiers with at least basic verbal communication skills. Unsurprisingly, the new
method relied on the prevailing scientific methods of the time, observation and repetition,
which were also admirably suited to teaching. Because of the influence of the military, early
versions of the audio-lingualism came to be known as the “army method.
SKILLS AND SUBSKILLS

The theory emphasizes the listening-speaking-reading-writing order.

Listening is important in developing speaking proficiency and so receives particular emphasis.

Speaking is effective through listening. By hearing the sounds, articulation is more accurate,
with differentiation of sounds, memorization and internalization of proper auditory sounds
images. Development of a feel for the new language gains interest for the language.

– Listening and speaking skills take the most attention.

– Vocabulary is taught within the dialogues.

– They mainly learn the pronunciation of the word.

TECHNIQUES

The Audiolingual method uses the following techniques for teaching a foreign language:

Repetition. The student repeats an utterance aloud as soon as he has heard it. He does this
without looking at the printed text. The utterance must be brief and small so that the ears of the
student must retain them and may repeat it because sound is more important than form and
order. For example:

This is the seventh month.

This is the seventh month.

After the student repeats an utterance, the teacher may add two words and after repeating it
teacher can add more two words and so on.

Inflection. One word in an utterance appears in another form when repeated. For example:

I bought the ticket. I bought the tickets.

I called the young man. I called the young men.

Replacement. One word in an utterance is replaced by another. For example

He bought it cheap.

Restatement. The student rephrases an utterance and addresses it to someone else, according
to the instructions. For example:

Tell him to wait for you.

Wait for me.

Completion. The student shear an utterance that is complete except on word, then he repeats
the utterance in complete from. For example:

I will go my way and you...

I will go my way and you yours.

Contraction. A single word stands for a phrase or a clause. For example:

Put your hands on the table.

Put your hands there.

Transformation. A sentence is transformed by being made negative or interrogative or through

He knows my address.

He does not know my address.

Does he know my address?

He used to know my address.

Integration. Two separate utterances are integrated into one. For example:

They must be honest. This is important.

Students will hear a model dialogue trough an audio.

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign
languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a
language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign
languages” or simply the “communicative approach”.
Its origins are many, insofar as one teaching methodology tends to influence the next. The
communicative approach could be said to be the product of educators and linguists who had
grown dissatisfied with the audiolingual and grammar-translation methods of foreign language
instruction.
This method aims at developing procedures for the teaching of the four skills that acknowledge
the interdependence of language and communication. It aims at having students become
communicatively competent.
A set of principles about teaching including recommendations about method and syllabus where
the focus is on meaningful communication not structure, use not usage. In this approach,
students are given tasks to accomplish using language, instead of studying the language.

PERIOD OF TIME

It was Noam Chomsky's theories in the 1960s, focusing on competence and performance in
language learning, that gave rise to communicative language teaching, but the conceptual basis
for CLT was laid in the 1970s by linguists Michael Halliday, who studied how language functions
are expressed through grammar, and Dell Hymes, who introduced the idea of a wider
communicative competence instead of Chomsky's narrower linguistic competence. The rise of
CLT in the 1970s and early 1980s was partly in response to the lack of success with traditional
language teaching methods and partly due to the increase in demand for language learning. In
Europe, the advent of the European Common Market, an economic predecessor to the
European Union, led to migration in Europe and an increased population of people who needed
to learn a foreign language for work or for personal reasons. At the same time, more children
were given the opportunity to learn foreign languages in school, as the number of secondary
schools offering languages rose worldwide as part of a general trend of curriculum-broadening
and modernization, and foreign-language study ceased to be confined to the elite academies. In
Britain, the introduction of comprehensive schools, which offered foreign-language study to all
children rather than to the select few in the elite grammar schools, greatly increased the
demand for language learning.
SKILLS AND SUBSKILLS
Communicative language teaching is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes
interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of study.
This approach is also emphasized in compression speaking and listening.

TECHNIQUES

Authentic materials.
Recent newspaper article.
Assign the homework to listen to a live radio or television broadcast.
Interact with other.
Authentic text.

ACTIVITY

Students will read news which will contain authentic text of the target language, the students
will discuss what the understood in groups of four or five. After that one student for each group
will explain what his/her group discussed.