Grammar Translation Method (beginning of the nineteenth
century)
¨ Focuses on
written communication
¨ Translation
into target langauge through the application of rules of grammar.
¨ GTM focuses
on translating grammatical forms, memorizing vocabulary, learning rules.
GTM
¨ The first concern with language teaching method had
to do with the teaching of Latin and Greek grammars. The methods used at that
time were mostly designed to enable people to speak, read and write Latin
¨ The fundamental purpose people learned a foreign
language was to be able to read literature that was written in the foreign
language so that the students were provided with exercises to read and write in
the foreign language
Asumption about language and Language
Learning (GTM)
¨ Through the GTM language is believed to consist of
written words and of words which exist in isolation; they are individual words
which can be translated one by one into their foreign equivalents and then
assessed according to grammatical rules into sentences in the foreign language.
¨ In language teaching what should be taught is not
the language itself but the faculty of logical thought and provided valuable
mental discipline. This is often criticized because IQ of average school children
is not high enough to cope with this method. Through this method teaching the
target language relies very much on cognitive ability.
¨ The medium of instruction is the mother tongue,
which is used to explain conceptual problems and to discuss the use of
particular grammatical structure
¨ Learning a foreign language needs feeling secure and
this
¨ condition may take place whenever language learners
know
¨ how to say in the .ta4get language.
The
principles of the GTM
¨ Grammar rules are presented and studied explicitly.
Grammar is taught deductively and then practiced through translation exercises.
¨ The primary skills to be developed are reading and
writing.
¨ Hardly any attention is paid to speaking and
listening skills.
¨ Teacher correction is the only way to make students
produce the right forms of the foreign language
¨ The goal of foreign language learning is the ability
to understand the texts written in the foreign language
¨ Mastering the grammar of the foreign language is
essential in order for students to understand the written target language
¨ Vocabulary is learnt from bilingual word lists
¨ The mother tongue is used as the medium of
instruction.
¨ A paramount use of translation exercises is given.
