Grammar Translation Method - A comprhensive view

1. The Grammar –
Translation Method
Dr. Shaheen Altaf Shaikh
Associate Professor
Maulana Azad National Urdu University

2. Historical Background
❑ “A Classical & Oldest method of teaching
a foreign or second language.
❑ The philosophy behind this method is that the
foreign language can be taught or learnt through
translation.
❑ The Grammar-Translation Method is derived from
traditional approaches to the teaching of Latin and
Greek.
❑ It was the predominant method in Europe in the
19th century.
❑ It was rather widespread for learning foreign
languages.

3. Original Purpose
❑ Helping students read and
appreciate foreign language
literature
❑ Students can become more familiar
with the grammar of their native
language
❑ Write and speak their native
language better
❑ Helpful for mental exercise

4. Theoretical Background
❑Language is for understanding literature.
❑Translation is the way to learn the language.
❑Oral communication is not primarily important.
❑Written language is superiortospoken language.
❑Studentsalso learn the structureof their
own native language and Foreign language.
❑Thosewho studya foreign language become
more cultured and intellectual.

5. Principles of Grammar
Translation Method
1. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice. It is this
emphasis on the sentence that is a distinctive feature of the method. Emphasis
on the sentence rather than on the text as in the earlier approaches / methods
was an attempt to make language learning easier.
2. The dominant language is the mother tongue (vernacular) / Native Language
as all explanations are done using it and not the target language. The student's
native language is the medium of instruction and used to compare with English.
3. There is a comparative study of sentence structures, meanings, words, etc.
between the two languages and this comparison makes learning more clear and
firm.
4. This method follows the maxim of “known i.e. mother tongue to unknown
i.e. English”.
5. There is greater emphasis on the knowledge of rules rather than using the
language.

6. Principles of Grammar Translation
Method
6. It emphasizes the study and translation of the written
language, as it is considered superior to spoken language.
7. Reading and writing are the main language skills.
8. Successful learners are those who translate each language
into the other, even if they cannot communicate orally.
9. Students have to know verb conjugations and other
grammatical paradigms.
10. The knowledge of rules helps the learners to avoid any
types of mistakes.
11. Teachers play an authoritarian role in the classroom and
the predominant interaction is between teacher-student.

7. Goals and Objectives
❑ to teach translation,
❑to read and understand literary texts inthe English
language
❑to make students aware of theirnative
language structure andvocabulary
❑to improve students’ mental capacities with
grammarexercises.

8. Syllabus
❑ Structural syllabus (i.e., list ofstructures
to be taught during the course) is used.
❑ The order of structures starts from
the easiest.
❑ Comparison of Structures of English
Language to Structures of Mother
tongue

9. Teaching Of Grammar
❑The teaching of grammar is deductive. (Explicit
teaching of grammar).
❑The teacher introduces the rules explicitly and the
students to apply these rules to new examples in
exercises.
❑Students are supposed to memorize the rules.
❑In order to explain the rules, the teacher uses
comparison and contrast between the grammar of
students’ native language and target language.
❑Translation is a common way to clarify the
meanings of the new grammar patterns in the target
language.

10. Teaching of Vocabulary
❑Vocabulary selection is based
solely on the reading texts used
❑Words are taught through bilingual
word lists, dictionary study, and
memorization of long lists of
vocabulary with their Meanings
/Synonyms/ Antonyms in the
students’ native language.

11. Emphasis on Skills
❑ Reading and writing are the major focus;
little or no systematic attention is paid to
speaking and listening (oral language).
❑ Most Important Skills to be improvedare
“reading”, “writing” and “translation”
❑ Little importanceis given to speaking and
listening
❑ Almost no importance to pronunciation.

12. Role of Mother Tongue – L1
❑ First language is maintained as the Reference
System in acquisition of the Second / Foreign
Language
❑ L1 Students’ Mother Tongue has an important
function in teaching vocabularyand grammar.
❑ L1 is used to clarify and explain English language
grammar patterns.
❑ L1 is also used to teach the meanings of unknown
words in the English language.
❑ Since oral communication in theEnglish
language is not important, classroom
instructions are given in L1.

13. Role of Teacher
❑ Teacher is the strict authority.
❑ Classes areteacher-centered
❑ Teacher directs the Teaching Learning
Process

14. Role of Student
❑ Students are the passive receivers of the new
information.
❑ The teacher starts the activities and directs
them.
❑ Students are supposed to memorize the rules and
the new vocabulary with their meanings in their
nativelanguage.
❑ There is no information about how GTM deals with
students’ feelings, needs and wants.Therefore,
we cannot consider this method as a humanistic
approach.

15. Classroom Interactions
❑“Teacher –Student” interactions occur
Very often.
❑“Student – Student” interactions occur
rarely.

16. Materials
❑Texts from the targetlanguage &
literature areused.
❑The teacher may either write the text or
use an authentic literary text.

17. Errors
❑The teacher corrects the errors strictly.
❑Errors are nottolerated.
❑Accuracy is emphasizedstrictly.
❑Accuracy means grammatical
correctness.
❑Accuracy is emphasized over fluency as
this was a prerequisite for passing the
increasing number of formal written
examinations.

18. Evaluation
❑ Translation is an important technique to test
students’ progress in the English language.
❑ Additionally , “fill-in-the-blank” type testitems
are also used.
❑ Synonyms and antonyms can be asked to test
vocabulary in formal tests.
❑ Reading passages and comprehension questions
about the passages arealso used in tests.

19. Procedure
Activity 1 – Reading Comprehension
❑ The class begins with reading a passage
from the foreign language literature.
❑ Each student is called upon to read a few
lines from the passage, then they translate
into their mother tongue the few lines they
have just read.
❑ The teacher helps them with suitable
translations in case the students lack
required vocabulary

20. ❑ After finishing reading and translating the
passage, the teacher asks them in their mother
tongue if they have any questions. Questions
and answers are communicated using the
mother tongue.
❑ The teacher asks students to write down
answers to the comprehension questions at the
end of the passage. The questions are in
English and answers should be in English as
well.
❑ The written mode is dealt with in English
while the spoken mode questions are dealt
with in the mother tongue.

21. ❑ Questions on the passage include three
types of questions.
❑ The first is " right here" or direct questions.
These are the simplest type whose answer is
stated directly in the passage.
❑ The second is the inference questions
whose answers are not explicitly stated in
the passage, students have to make
inferences based on their understanding of
the passage.
❑ The third type is the application questions
that require students to relate the passage to
their own experiences.

22. ❑ After answering the questions, the teacher
asks students one by one to read the question
and their answer to that question. If the
answer is not correct, the teacher selects
another student to supply the correct answer,
or the teacher himself gives the right answer.

23. Activity 2 - Vocabulary
❑ Students turn to a list of words taken from the
passage, and are asked to give the mother
tongue equivalent for each one of them. This is
conducted as a whole class activity. If no one
knows the equivalent of a certain word, the
teacher provides it.
❑ Students are given another list of words from
the passage and are asked to provide the
opposites of these words (antonyms).

24. Activity 3 - Grammar
❑ Example – Phrasal verbs –separable and
inseparable
❑ The teacher reads a list of two-word verbs (phrasal
verbs- check in, dress up, calm down, etc). He begins
with phrasal verbs that are familiar to them, then
moves to new phrasal verbs in the passage.
❑ students are asked to translate them into their
mother tongue.
❑ Then, they are given the rule of a direct object
with two- word verbs (separable vs. inseparable
phrasal verbs).
❑ after reading over the rule and examples, students
are asked to tell which of the following two-word
verbs are separable and which inseparable= all these
verbs are taken from the passage.
❑ they are asked to fill in the blanks with one of
these phrasal verbs.

25. Activity 4 - Writing
❑ Students are asked to write a
composition in the target language
applying the information in the passage
to some similar topic.

26. Activity 5 – Assessment & H.W.
❑ At the end of the chapter, there is a list of
words that appeared in the passage. The list is
divided into two parts: the first contains separate
words and the second includes idioms.
❑ These words and idioms are translated into the
students' mother tongue.
❑ Students are asked to memorize them
❑ To write sentences in English using each word.
❑ Students are asked to write out the translation
of the reading passage into their mother tongue.
❑ State the grammatical rule and apply it to
examples of their own.
❑ Take a quiz on the grammar and the vocabulary
of this chapter.

27. ❑ Translation of literary passages.
❑ Reading comprehension questions
❑ Antonyms/ synonyms
❑ Deductive application of grammatical rules
❑ Fill in the blanks
❑ Memorization (of grammar and
vocabulary)
❑ Use words in sentences
❑ Composition writing
Summary of Techniques used in
Grammar Translation Method

28. Merits of Grammar Translation
Method
1) Easy – as it does not require any preparation and
hardly any teaching aids.
2) Economical – as time, money, efforts are saved.
3) Useful and very suitable for a large crowd
4) Helps in the testing and increasing the
comprehension of the students of the content of the
passage or lesson though not about the English
language itself.
5) Known to unknown – Follows an important maxim
for better understanding and effective learning.

29. Merits of Grammar Translation
Method
6) It is one the fastest and quickest methods of teaching
English
7) By telling the meaning of the word or sentence in
mother tongue, the teacher can at once make the students
understand.
8) The students are able to learn many items of English by
comparison with mother tongue.
9) Knowledge is acquired gradually, by traversing the facts
of language and the syntactic mechanisms, going from
simplest to the most complex.
10) Learning grammar, the students examine the texts
developing awareness that language constitutes a system
which can be analyzed.

30. De-Merits of Grammar
Translation Method
❑ It is largely dependent on the text.
❑ Listening and Speaking skills are ignored.
❑ It is not applicative based as does not emphasis the
practical use of the language.
❑ It helps to develop the vocabulary of the mother tongue
but not the target language.
❑ Communication is a longer process since –
❑ Idea expressed in English -> translated to mother
tongue - > answered in Mother tongue –
translated in English > expressed in English

31. De-Merits of Grammar
Translation Method
❑ Students are passive learners and not active
learners as they are mainly only listening.
❑ More importance is given to theoretical
knowledge than practical knowledge.
❑ Translation is limited to the vocabulary of the
mother tongue.
❑ May lead to confusion as the sentence
formation in the two languages would be
different.

32. Conclusion
 We find that this method has both merits and draw-
backs.
 It can be successfully used at higher educational
institutions for teaching foreign languages for
professional communication, but it must be
combined with other methods.
 The teachers should use a variety of methods to
teach a second language as each student is unique
and will respond well to a particular method.
 A good teacher should make use of the items that
he or she has and the learning styles of the students.
 Adapting your style to your class can be an
effective teaching method.

33. References
❑ Brown, D. H. (1987). Principles of Language Learning and
Teaching. New Jersey: Prentice Hall, Regents.
❑ Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Language Teaching Approaches. In M.
Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign
Language (pp. 3-10). Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle.
❑ Ellis R. (1985) Understanding Second Language Acquisition / R.
Ellis. – Oxford: Oxford University Press. – 1985. – 285 p.
❑ Larsen-Freeman, D. (1993). Techniques and Principles in Language
Teaching. Hong Kong: Oxford UniversityPress.
❑ Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T.S. (1990). Approaches and Methods
in LanguageTeaching: A descriptionand analysis. New York:
Cambridge UniversityPress.