Saturday 20 March 2010

The Grammar – Translation Method

INTRODUCTION
The Grammar – Translation Method is not new. It has had different names, but it has been used by language teachers for many years. It was also hoped that, through the study of the grammar of the target language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and that this familiarity would help them speak and write their native language better.

EXPERIENCE
One girl raises her hand and says, ‘ what is paddle wheel?’ the teacher replies, ‘una rueda de paletas. Then she continues in Spanish to explain how it looked and worked on the steamboats which moved up and down the Mississippi River during Mark Twain’s childhood. Another student student says, ‘No understand “gorgeous.”’ The teacher translates, ‘primoroso’
After one-half hour, the teacher, speaking in Spanish, asks the students to stop and check their work.
Announcing the next activity, the teacher asks the students to turn the page in their text. There is a list of words there.


Exercise 2A
These word are taken from the passage you have just read. Some of them are review words and others are new. Give the Spainish translation for each of them. You may refer back to the reading passage.

ambition gorgeous
career loathe
wharf envy
tranquil humbly

Exercise 2B
These words all have antonyms in the reading passage. Find the antonym for each:

love ugly
noisy proudly


in the two remaining lessons this week, the students will be asked to :

1. write out the translation of the reading passage into Spanish.
2. state the rule for the use of a direct object with two-word verbs, and apply it to other phrasal verbs.
3. do the remaining exercises in the chapter that include practice with one set of irregular past participle forms. The students will be asked to memorize the present tense, past tense, and past participle forms of this irregular paradigm :
dring drang drung
sing sang sung
swim swam swum
ring rang rung
begin began begun

4. write a composition in the target language about an ambition they have.
5. memorize the remaining vocabulary items and write sentences for each.
6. take a quiz n the grammar and vocabulary of this chapter. They will be asked to translate a Spanish paragraph about steamboats into English.

THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE

This has been just a brief introduction to the Grammar-Translation Method, but it is probably true that this method is not new to many of you. Whether this is true or not, let us see what we have learned about the Grammar-Translation Method.

REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
We will list all the questions, however, so that a comparison among the methods we will study will be easier for you to make.
 What are the goals of teacher who use the Grammar-Translation Method?
To do this, students need to learn about the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language.
 What areas of language are emphasized? What language skills are emphasized?
There is much less attention given to speaking and listening.
 What is the role of the students’ native language?
The language that is used in class is mostly the students’ native language,

REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
If so, you may choose to try some of the techniques of the Grammar-Translation Method from the review thet follows.

Reading comprehension questions
The third group of questions requires students to relate the passage to their own experience.

Antonyms/synonyms
A similar exercise could be done by asking students to find synonyms for a particular set of words.

CONCLUSION
You have now had an opportunity to examine the principles and some of the techniques of the Grammar-Translation Method. Try to make a connection between what you have understood and your own teaching situation and beliefs.

The Direct Method

INTRODUCTION
The Direct Method has one very basic rule: no translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to students’ native language (Diller 1978).

EXPERIENCE
The teacher is calling the class to order as we find seats toward the back of the room. He has placed a big map of the United states in the front of the classroom. The lessons is entitled ‘looking at a map.’ As the students are called on one by one, they read a sentence from the reading passage at the beginning of the lesson.

THINKING ABOUT THE EXPERIENCE
The principles of the Direct Method that can be inferred from our observations will be listed in the column on the right.


REVIEWING THE PRINCIPLES
Now let us consider the principles of the Direct Method as they are arrange in answer to the some questions posed earlier:
 What are some characteristics of the teaching/learning process?
In order to do this, when the teacher introduces a new target language word or phrase, he demonstrates its meaning through the use of realia, picture, or pantomime ; he never translates it into the student’ native language. Students speak in the target language a great deal and communicate as if they were in real situations.
 How is language viewed? How is culture viewed?
They also study culture consisting of the history of the people who speak the target language, the geography of the country or countries where the language is spoken, and information about the daily lives of the speakers of the language.

REVIEWING THE TECHNIQUES
The following expanded review of techniques provides you with some details which will help you do this.

Reading aloud
Students take turns reading section of a passage, play, or dialog out loud. At the end of each student’s turn, the teacher uses gestures, pictures, realia, examples, or other means to make the meaning of the section clear.

Conservation practice
The teacher asks students a number of questions in the target language, which the students have to understand to be able to answer correctly. In the class observed, the teacher asked individual students questions about themselves. The questions contained a particular grammar structure. Later, the students were able to ask each other their own questions using the same grammatical structrure.

Dictation
The teacher reads the passage three times. The first time the teacher reads it at a normal speed, while the students just listen. The second time he reads the passage phrase by phrase, pausing long enough to allow students to write down what they have heard. The last time the teacher again reads at a normal speed, and students check their work.

Paragraph writing
The teacher in this class asked the students to write a paragraph in their own words on the major geographical features of the United States. They could have done this from memory, or they could have used the reading passage in the lesson as a model.

CONCLUSION

Now that you have considered the principles and the techniques of the Direct Method somewhat, see what you can find of use for your own teaching situation.