An article discussing the
grammar-translation approach to language learning.
At the height of the Communicative
Approach to language learning in the 1980s and early 1990s it became
fashionable in some quarters to deride so-called "old-fashioned"
methods and, in particular, something broadly labelled "Grammar
Translation". There were numerous reasons for this but principally it was
felt that translation itself was an academic exercise rather than one which
would actually help learners to use language, and an overt focus on grammar was
to learn about the target language rather than to learn it.
As with many other methods and
approaches, Grammar Translation tended to be referred to in the past tense as
if it no longer existed and had died out to be replaced world-wide by the fun
and motivation of the communicative classroom. If we examine the principal
features of Grammar Translation, however, we will see that not only has it not
disappeared but that many of its characteristics have been central to language
teaching throughout the ages and are still valid today.
The Grammar Translation method embraces
a wide range of approaches but, broadly speaking, foreign language study is
seen as a mental discipline, the goal of which may be to read literature in its
original form or simply to be a form of intellectual development. The basic
approach is to analyze and study the grammatical rules of the language, usually
in an order roughly matching the traditional order of the grammar of Latin, and
then to practise manipulating grammatical structures through the means of
translation both into and from the mother tongue.
The method is very much based on the
written word and texts are widely in evidence. A typical approach would be to
present the rules of a particular item of grammar, illustrate its use by
including the item several times in a text, and practise using the item through
writing sentences and translating it into the mother tongue. The text is often
accompanied by a vocabulary list consisting of new lexical items used in the
text together with the mother tongue translation. Accurate use of language
items is central to this approach.
Generally speaking, the medium of
instruction is the mother tongue, which is used to explain conceptual problems
and to discuss the use of a particular grammatical structure. It all sounds
rather dull but it can be argued that the Grammar Translation method has over
the years had a remarkable success. Millions of people have successfully learnt
foreign languages to a high degree of proficiency and, in numerous cases,
without any contact whatsoever with native speakers of the language (as was the
case in the former Soviet Union, for example).
There are certain types of learner who
respond very positively to a grammatical syllabus as it can give them both a
set of clear objectives and a clear sense of achievement. Other learners need
the security of the mother tongue and the opportunity to relate grammatical
structures to mother tongue equivalents. Above all, this type of approach can
give learners a basic foundation upon which they can then build their
communicative skills.
Applied wholesale of course, it can also
be boring for many learners and a quick look at foreign language course books
from the 1950s and 1960s, for example, will soon reveal the non-communicative
nature of the language used. Using the more enlightened principles of the Communicative
Approach, however, and combining these with the systematic approach of Grammar
Translation, may well be the perfect combination for many learners. On the one
hand they have motivating communicative activities that help to promote their
fluency and, on the other, they gradually acquire a sound and accurate basis in
the grammar of the language. This combined approach is reflected in many of the
EFL course books currently being published and, amongst other things, suggests
that the Grammar Translation method, far from being dead, is very much alive
and kicking as we enter the 21st century.
Without a sound knowledge of the
grammatical basis of the language it can be argued that the learner is in
possession of nothing more than a selection of communicative phrases which are
perfectly adequate for basic communication but which will be found wanting when
the learner is required to perform any kind of sophisticated linguistic task.
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