The Grammar- Translation Method of Teaching English

The grammar-translation
method of teaching dates
back to the 1500s when it
was widely used for
teaching latin. Nowadays,
the grammar-translation
method of teaching
English is not widely
adopted, although hybrid
forms of the method can
be found in some places.
According to Jack
Richards and Theodore
Rogers in their 2001 book,
Approaches and
Methods in Language
Teaching, this method is
still used in some
countries but has been
rejected by a number of
educational scholars.
During the 18th and 19th
centuries in Europe, it
was believed that the
body and mind were
separate and that
teaching modern
languages was not useful
to the development
mental discipline and
therefore was not taught
in schools. When modern
languages did start to be
taught in schools they
used the same grammar-
translation method as
what was used for
teaching Latin.

This method was also
widely used in the United
States at this time too.
The goals of the
grammar-translation
method is two-fold. Firstly,
it set out to give the
student a reading ability
to a level where they can
read literature in the
target language and
secondly it was used to
develop student’s general
mental discipline.

Methodology

Grammar-translation
classes are commonly
conducted in the native
language of the students.
Students learn the
vocabulary and grammar
rules from the teacher or
a book and practice by
doing drills and
translation exercises both
to and from the target
language. The content is
not so important and
most attention is paid to
the form of the
sentences.
Translation is the key to
this methodology as is
reading and writing. There
is not normally any
listening or speaking
practice carried out
moreover, there is
virtually no pronunciation
practice for the students.
Pros and Cons
Well there are very few
advantages of the
grammar-translation
method of teaching
English, if any at all. There
are, on the other hand,
many disadvantages.
There is absolutely no
speaking involved in this
method and therefore
students might be able to
read and write in English,
but would never have the
skills required for holding
a conversation.
Moreover, this very rigid
method also removes any
creativity from the class,
rendering the class very
dull and somewhat
boring for most students.
Finally, because of this
rigidity and lack of
speaking practice,
students may well
understand the written
language well, but have
absolutely no working
knowledge of English. For
these reasons, this
method has largely been
replaced by other
methods, but it is still
used in hybrid forms in
some parts of the world.

The
Grammar-Translation
method has a number of
disadvantages insomuch
that it lacks speaking
practice (one of the 4
main skills alongside
reading, writing and
listening), reduces
creativity in the class and
leaves students with very
little working knowledge
of the spoken language.
Where this style of
teaching might be
appropriate, however, is
where a student is
seeking to translate text
from one language into
English or vice versa.
Moreover, it would also
be effective for students
to learn grammar, which
is essential for most ESL
students.