TheGrammar-TranslationMethodisamethodofforeignorsecondlanguageteachingwhichusestranslationandgrammarstudyasthemainteachingandlearningactivities.TheGrammartranslationmethod,orclassicalmethodemergedwhenpeopleofthewesternworldwantedtolearn"foreign"languagessuchasLatinandGreek.Itsfocuswasongrammaticalrules,thememorizationofvocabularyandofvariousdeclensionsandconjugations,translationsoftexts,doingwrittenexercises.
AclassworkingwiththeGrammartranslationMethodwouldlooklikethat:1.Classesaretaughtinthemothertongue,withlittleactiveuseofthetargetlanguage.2.Muchvocabularyistaughtintheformoflistsofisolatedwords.3.Longelaborateexplanationsoftheintricaciesofgrammararegiven4.Grammarprovidestheruleforputtingwordstogether,andinstructionoftenfocusesontheformandinflectionofwords.5.Readingofdifficultclassicaltextsisbegunearly.6.Littleattentionispaidtothecontentoftexts,whicharetreatedasexercisesingrammaticalanalysis.
TheadvantagesoftheGrammar-TranslationMethod:(1).InGrammar-TranslationMethod,thefirstlanguageismaintainedasthereferencesysteminthelearningofthesecondlanguage.Translationfromonelanguagetoanotherplaysacertainpartinlanguagelearning.intheGrammar-TranslationMethod,comparisonbetweentwolanguageshelpsstudentstohaveabetterunderstandingofthemeaningofabstractwordsandcomplicatedsentences.(2).Systematicstudyofgrammaticalrulesplaysanimportantroleinfosteringstudents’abilityofreadingcomprehensionandproducinggrammaticallycorrectsentences.Ithasspecialimportanceforstudentsinteachers’collegesforwhomagoodmasteryofthegrammarsystemofthetargetlanguage.Understandingandmanipulatingthemorphologyandsyntaxwilldevelopstudents’abilityofanalyzingandsolvingproblems.(3).Thefocusonunderstandingliterarytextsprovidesthesituationinwhichreadingandwritingabilitiesarewelltrained.(4).TheGrammar-Translationmakesfewdemandsonteachersalthoughitoftencreatesfrustrationforstudents.
Disadvantages:First,overemphasisontranslationcanneveremancipatethelearnersfromdependenceonthefirstlanguage.Second,TheGrammar-Translationputstoomuchemphasisonreadingandwritingandneglectslisteningandspeaking.Knowingalargenumberofgrammaticalrulescannotensurethatstudentscanusethemappropriatelyinrealcommunicativesituation.Third,intheGrammar-TranslationMethod,thetextsaremostlytakenformliteraryworks.Thelanguagelearnedoftendoesn’tmeetthepracticalneedsofthelearners.Last,memorizinggrammarrulesandbilingualwordlistsdoesnotmotivatestudentstoactivelycommunicateinthetargetlanguage.
ThebasicpremiseoftheDirectMethodwasthatsecondlanguagelearningshouldbemorelikefirstlanguagelearning.Themethodwouldincludelotsoforalinteraction,spontaneoususeoflanguage,notranslationbetweenfirstandsecondlanguages,andlittleornoanalysisofgrammarrules.
TheadvantagesoftheDirectMethod:(1).Theuseofthetargetlanguageasameansofinstructionandcommunicationintheclassroomcontributesgreatlytoformingthehabitofthinkinginthetargetlanguage,whichisnecessaryinefficientrealcommunication.(2).Theemphasisonpracticewithnewlanguageitemsandonlanguageskills,ratherthanonlanguageknowledge,isimportantinachievingautomaticityofusingthetargetlanguage.(3).Theemphasisonspokenlanguageconformstotheobjectivesofmodernlanguageteaching.Specialattentionpaidtopronunciationandintonationisdesirableinteachingspokenlanguage.(4).Regardinglisteningandspeakingasthebasisofreadingandwritingisstrategicinfosteringthefourskills.(5).Usingfullsentencesasteachingunitsmakesforeignlanguagelearningmorenaturalandefficientforstudentstounderstandanewtextandacquirealanguage.
ThedisadvantagesoftheDirectMethod(1).Overemphasizingthesimilaritiesbetweennaturalisticfirstlanguageacquisitionandclassroomforeignlanguagelearningresultsintheexclusiveuseofthetargetlanguage.TheabsoluteavoidanceofthenativetongueoccasionallytroublestheDirectMethodinteachingthemeaningofabstractconcepts.(2).Withoutexplicitgrammarexplanation,studentslackanecessaryknowledgeofthetargetlanguage.Asaresult,theytendtoproduceutteranceswithalotofgrammaticalmistakesinthem.Itisdifficultforthemtosafeguardagainstmistakesandself-correctthemwithouttheguidanceoftherulesofthetargetlanguage.(3).TheDirectMethodplacesahighdemandontheteacher.Itrequiresnative-speakerteachersorteacherswhohavenative-speaker-likefluencyinthetargetlanguage.
TheAudiolingualMethodisamethodofforeignorsecondLanguageteachingwhichemphasizestheteachingofspeakingandlisteningbeforereadingandwriting.IntheAudiolingualMethod,mothertongueisdiscouragedintheclassroom.TheAudiolingualMethodusesdialoguesasthemainformoflanguagepresentationanddrillsasthemaintrainingtechniques.
Thereislittleornogrammaticalexplanation.Grammaristaughtbyinductiveanalogyratherthandeductiveexplanation.
Fluency.Fluentspeechinvolvestheabilitytotalkwithnormallevelsofcontinuity,rate,rhythmandeffort.Fluencyinvolvesthesmoothnesswithwhichunitsofspeech(sounds,syllables,words,phrases)flowtogether.Fluentspeechflowseasilyandisusuallymadewithouteffort.Abnormallybroken,slow,oreffortfulspeechisnotfluent.TheNotionalFunctionalSyllabusisdistinguishedbyitsattentionto"functions"astheorganizingelementsofEnglishlanguage.TheNFSfocusedstronglyandexclusivelyonthepragmaticpurposestowhichweputlanguage.Itisneitheramethod,noranapproachtolanguagepedagogyforitdoesnottellhowtoteachasecondlanguage.Whatitdoesistogivewhatsecondlanguagelearnersshouldfocuson.Atypicalunitofsuchatextbookwouldincludepresentationofdialogues,conversationpracticewithclassmate,situationsinwhichthestudentfiguresout"whatwouldIsay,"roleplays,etc..TheNotionalFunctionalSyllabuswasaprecursorofCommunicativeLanguageTeaching,butitdidnotteachcommunicativecompetenceassuch.
Thegoalofcltistohavestudentsbecomecommunicativelycompetent.Communicativecomppetenceinvolvesbeingabletousethelanguageapropriatelyinagivensocialcontext.Theyneedtoknowthatmanydifferentformscanbeusedtoperformafuncitonandthatasingleformcanoftenserveavarietyoffunctions.Theymustbeabletochoosefromamongthesethemostappropriateform,giventhesocialcontextandtherolesoftheinterlocutors.Theymustalsobeabletomanagetheprocessofnegotiatingmeaningwiththeirinterlocutors.(舒,2005:350)