The Grammar Translation And The Direct Method example essay topic

INTRODUCTION First of all I want to give a brief history of what language teaching was through the nineteenth century where reading comprehension and writing instead of speaking and listening were in fashion; just following the classical languages as a model to be followed. Very few schools taught foreign languages, and in general the learning of foreign languages was more in a private way. It was only by 1900 that most secondary schools incorporated one or more of their major European languages. By the middle of the century many European countries came into closer and more frequent commercial relations, so it was created the necessity to learn foreign languages according to practical needs and interests.

Due to all these, some teachers, specially from Germany and France, began to think on how to create methods that could help to learn foreign languages in the easiest way. As market among European countries improved, writers like Ahn and Ollendorff, had an enormous success with their books, unless they were not used in schools because they were too easy and too practical. The demand for utilitarian language teaching increased specially in Germany, and textbooks and methods by Germans got into use. This approach to foreign language teaching, became known as the Grammar Translation Method in which the immediate aim was for the student to apply the given rules by means of appropriate exercises in order to translate sentences in a mechanical way. There were some leading exponents like J. Seidenstucker. K. Plot, H. Ollendorff, J. Mei dinger, etc. Grammar Translation dominated European and foreign language teaching from 1840's to the 1940's, and in a certain way it continues to be widely used in some parts of the world today.

As this method created frustration in students, in the mid and late 19th century opposition to the Grammar Translation Method developed, and foundations for new ways of teaching languages raised with the name of the Reform Movement. This movement created a demand for oral proficiency, so some specialists turned their attention to the way modern languages were taught in secondary schools. France was well represented with writers like Jaco tot, Marcel, and Gouin; England was represented by Prendergast whose ideas, based on children's observations, were later developed in the 20th century by men like Palmer and West. Parallel to the reformers' ideas, was an interests in developing principles for language teaching in a naturalistic way and all this led to the development of what was known as the Direct Method, which became widely known in the United States through its use by Sauveur and M. Berlitz in commercial language schools. This method required teachers who were native speakers and it was largely dependent on the teacher's skill, rather than on a textbook. THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD This method was called the grammar school method, because it was developed for use in secondary school.

The method did not attempt to teach languages by grammar and translation, its real motivation was reformist; due to that the traditional scholastic approach of the time was individual, and had been to acquire a reading knowledge of foreign languages by studying classical grammar and applying it to the interpretation of texts in new languages with the use of a dictionary. As these were self-study methods, that were not appropriate for group-teaching, the grammar-translation method, was an attempt to adapt these traditions to the requirements of schools but preserving the framework of grammar and translation due that they were already familiar to both teachers and students from their classical studies. Its principal aim was to make language learning easier by the replacement of the traditional texts by sentences that could make grammar easier and clearer. Grammar-translation textbooks were graded and presented new grammar points in organized sequence and with appropriate examples and sentences that were simpler than the traditional books from reputable authors. The principal characteristics of the Grammar-Translation Method were: 1-The goal was to learn a language in order to read its literature or benefit from mental discipline. 2-Reading and writing were major focus.

3-Vocabulary based on the reading texts. 4-The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. 5-Students are expected to attain high standards in translation due to moral value and increasing written examinations. 6-The students' native language is the medium of instruction. 7-Grammar is taught deductively. (Richard & Rodgers.

1986. Pag. 3) There were some contrasts between patterns of change in England and Germany, partly because Germany was considered the model of advanced educational thought at the time due to its state-run system, and England, trying to bring some order into the chaos of middle class education and maintaining academic standards, as well as trying to avoid state involvement in anything like the Prussian model, established in 1850 a system of public examinations controlled by the universities in order to lever modern languages on to the secondary curriculum so as to determine both the content of the language and the methodological principles of the teacher responsible for preparing children to take them. Approaches were made to Oxford in 1857 and then to Cambridge, establishing a system known as Oxford and Cambridge Local Examinations in 1958, working in separate ways. Later on, Cambridge established the Overseas Examinations in the 1860's, that eventually led to a famous world-wide service. The Locals increased the status of both modern languages and English by including them on the curriculum alongside de classical languages.

There was a split among the universities and the 'great" schools Eaton and Harrow creating a separate examinations board; due to that, the schools complained that the universities did not teach modern subjects; so modern languages and English lost academic prestige though their association with the Locals and social prestige by their exclusion from the 'best's schools; hence the universities came round to the notion of instituting modern language degrees, requiring in this way academic respectability from the modern languages and from the late 19th century reformers who put much attention to the universities and the examination system. (Howatt A.P. 1984) Sweet and Widgery alleged that present methods need a change and stated that reform had to come from above, from the university system. All this forced modern language teachers and text book writers to ape the methods of the classics. French has to be made as demanding as Latin, and German as intellectually disciplined as Greek.

Germany was more open to reforming influences, and one reason was the structure of its state-run education system. French was included as a compulsory subject but English was optional and rarely taught. The industrialization of the second half of the 19th century created a new class of language learner, one that had not followed an academic grammar school education and therefore could not be expected to learn foreign languages by traditional methods. A new approach was needed to suit this particular circumstances and it eventually emerged in the form of ' direct' methods which required no knowledge of grammar at all.

Ahn and Ollendorff included grammar in their courses but in a rationed way of about one or two new rules per lesson, reason which explains why some teachers and reviewers considered them lightweight with lack of improvement and in the need of improvement. (Howatt. A.P. 1984) Toward the mid -19th century Europeans demanded for oral proficiency in foreign languages. Initially this created a market of conversation and phrase books intended for private study, but teaching specialists turned their attention to the way modern languages were taught in secondary schools. The Frenchman C. Marcel (1793-1896) referred to child language learning, as a model for language teaching; proposed that reading be taught before other skills and propose to locate language teaching within a broader educational framework.

The Englishman T. Prendergast (1806-1886) was one of the first to record the observation that children use contextual and situational cues to interpret utterances and that they use memorized phrases and routines in speaking. (Richards & Rodgers. 1986). He proposed that learners be taught the most basic structural patterns occurring in the language. The Frenchman F. Gouin (1831-1896) developed an approach to teaching a foreign language based on his observations of children's use of language. (Richards & Rodgers 1986).

His method used situations and themes as ways of organizing and presenting oral language. All these specialists were writing at the time when there were no organizational structure in the language teaching profession in the form of professional associations journals and conferences to enable new ideas to develop into an educational movement. (Richard & Rodgers. 1986.

Pag. 6) In 1986 was founded the International Phonetic Association and its International Phonetic Alphabet. One of its goals was to improve the teaching of modern languages. It advocated: 1-The study of spoken language.

2-Phonetic training in order to establish good pronunciation habits. 3-The use of conversation text and dialogues. 4-An inductive approach to the teaching of grammar. 5-Establishing associations with the target language rather than with the mother tongue... (Richards & Rodgers.

Pag. 7) Viet or and Sweet and other reformers shared many beliefs about basic approaches to teaching, but differed considerably in the specific procedures Parallel to the ideas put forward by members of the reform movement was an interest in developing principles for language teaching out of naturalistic principles of language learning that were termed Natural Methods and that led to the development of the Direct Method. THE DIRECT METHOD. Attempts have been made to make second language learning more like first language learning; one of them was Montaigne in the 16th century who described how his father trained his servants in order to speak in Latin to him so that he could learn Latin in the natural way. In the 19th century was L. Sauveur (1826-1907) who employed questions as a way of presenting and eliciting language in the target language. He argued that foreign language could be taught without translation or the use of the learner's native tongue.

According to the German F. Franke, a language could be best taught by using it actively in the classroom. Teachers must encourage direct and spontaneous use of the foreign language in the classroom. (Richards & Rodgers. Pag. 9) These principles provided the foundations of the Direct Method, which is the most widely known of the natural methods. It was introduced and officially approved in France and Germany at the turn of the century and became widely known in the United States through its use by Sauveur and Maximilian Berlitz in successful commercial language schools.

In general it stood for the following principles: -Classroom instruction in the target language. -Only everyday vocabulary and sentences. -Oral communication in a graded progression. -Grammar taught inductively. -New teaching points introduced orally. -Concrete vocabulary through demonstrations and the abstract through association of ideas.

-Speech and listening comprehension. -Correct pronunciation and grammar. (Richards & Rodgers. Pag. 10) This method was quite successful in private language schools of the Berlitz chain. The use of native speaking teachers was the norm; its method was difficult to implement in public secondary school education.

It lacked a rigorous basis in applied linguistic theory so it was criticized by the proponents of the Reform Movement. Teachers were required to great lengths to avoid using the native language, when sometimes a simple explanation in the student's native tongue would have been more efficient to comprehension. By 1920 this method in noncommercial schools in Europe declined. In France and Germany was modified through introduction of some grammar aspects. A study held in 1923 concluded that no single method could guarantee successful results. PSYCHOLOGICAL AND SOCIOLOGICAL ASPECTS It is well known that since interest in the learning of modern languages began, specialists and linguists are always trying to find ways on how to learn a second language in the most effective and easiest way; methods, theories and methodologies are everyday being tried in order to facilitate this matter that has different grades of difficulty in each learner, but from my own point of view, it is a matter that we as teachers and researchers must work with, trying to give our best, so as to help the increasing number of learners that are and are going to be under our responsibility and the confidence that they have of our work with them and their achievements.

I also consider that in some way we are still using the Grammar-Translation Method in schools, specially when the large number of students in the classroom is the matter, and the Direct Method as well, when the school's philosophy is to speak only English, ignoring our own teaching methodologies.