grammar translation
Grammar translation
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In applied linguistics, the Grammar-Translation method is a foreign language teaching method derived from the classical or sometimes called traditional method of teaching Greek and Latin. The method requires students to translate whole texts word for word and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as enormous vocabulary lists. The goal of this method is to be able to read and translate literary masterpieces and classics.
Contents [hide]
1 History and philosophy
2 Method
3 Criticism
4 Conclusion
5 References
[edit] History and philosophy
Throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the education system was formed primarily around a concept called faculty psychology. In brief, this theory dictated that the body and mind were separate and the mind consisted of three parts: the will, emotion, and intellect. It was believed that if the intellect could be sharpened enough and eventually control the will and the emotions. The way to do this was through learning classical literature of the Greeks and Romans, as well as mathematics. Additionally, an adult with such an educational was considered mentally prepared for the world and its challenges. In the 19th century, modern languages and literatures begin to appear in schools. It was believed that teaching modern languages was not useful for the development of mental discipline and thus were left out of the curriculum. As a result, textbooks were essentially copied for the modern language classroom. In America, the basic foundations of this method were used in most high school and and college foreign language classrooms and was eventually replaced by the audiolingual method among others.
[edit] Method
Classes were conducted in the native language. A chapter in a typical textbook of this method would begin with a massive bilingual vocabulary list. Grammar points would come directly from the texts and be presented deductly in the textbook, to be explained elaborately by the instructor. Grammar thus provided the rules for assembling words. Tedious translation and grammar drills would be used to exercise and strengthen the knowledge without much attention to content. Sentences would be deconstructed and translated, for example. Eventually, entire texts would be translated from the target language into the native language and tests would often ask students to replicate classical texts in the target language. Very little attention was placed on pronunciation or any communicative aspects of the language. The skill exercised was reading, and then only in the context of translation.
[edit] Criticism
The method by definition has a very limited scope of objectives. Because speaking or any kind of spontaneous creative output was missing from the curriculum, students would often fail at speaking or even letter writing in the target language. A noteworthy quote describing the effect of this method comes from Bahlsen, who was a student of Plötz, a major proponent of this method in the 19th century. In commenting about writing letters of speaking he said he would be overcome with "a veritable forest of paragraphs, and and impenetrable thicket of grammatical rules." Later, theorist such as Vietor, Passy, Berlitz, and Jespersen began to talk about what a new kind of foreign language instruction needed, shedding light on what the grammar translation was missing. They supported teaching the language, not about the language. Moreover, teaching in the target language, and that language is not only writing, but speech as well. Students lacked an active role in the classroom, often correcting their own work and regimentedly following the textbook.
[edit] Conclusion
The Grammar-Translation method stayed in schools until the 1960s, when a complete foreign language pedagogy evaluation was taking place. In the meantime, teachers experimented with approaches like the direct method post war and depression classrooms, but without much structure to follow. The trusty Grammar-Translation method set the pace for many classrooms for many decades.
Monty Python made fun of the Grammar-Translation method in their film Life of Brian.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jump to: navigation, search
In applied linguistics, the Grammar-Translation method is a foreign language teaching method derived from the classical or sometimes called traditional method of teaching Greek and Latin. The method requires students to translate whole texts word for word and memorize numerous grammatical rules and exceptions as well as enormous vocabulary lists. The goal of this method is to be able to read and translate literary masterpieces and classics.
Contents [hide]
1 History and philosophy
2 Method
3 Criticism
4 Conclusion
5 References
[edit] History and philosophy
Throughout Europe in the 18th and 19th centuries, the education system was formed primarily around a concept called faculty psychology. In brief, this theory dictated that the body and mind were separate and the mind consisted of three parts: the will, emotion, and intellect. It was believed that if the intellect could be sharpened enough and eventually control the will and the emotions. The way to do this was through learning classical literature of the Greeks and Romans, as well as mathematics. Additionally, an adult with such an educational was considered mentally prepared for the world and its challenges. In the 19th century, modern languages and literatures begin to appear in schools. It was believed that teaching modern languages was not useful for the development of mental discipline and thus were left out of the curriculum. As a result, textbooks were essentially copied for the modern language classroom. In America, the basic foundations of this method were used in most high school and and college foreign language classrooms and was eventually replaced by the audiolingual method among others.
[edit] Method
Classes were conducted in the native language. A chapter in a typical textbook of this method would begin with a massive bilingual vocabulary list. Grammar points would come directly from the texts and be presented deductly in the textbook, to be explained elaborately by the instructor. Grammar thus provided the rules for assembling words. Tedious translation and grammar drills would be used to exercise and strengthen the knowledge without much attention to content. Sentences would be deconstructed and translated, for example. Eventually, entire texts would be translated from the target language into the native language and tests would often ask students to replicate classical texts in the target language. Very little attention was placed on pronunciation or any communicative aspects of the language. The skill exercised was reading, and then only in the context of translation.
[edit] Criticism
The method by definition has a very limited scope of objectives. Because speaking or any kind of spontaneous creative output was missing from the curriculum, students would often fail at speaking or even letter writing in the target language. A noteworthy quote describing the effect of this method comes from Bahlsen, who was a student of Plötz, a major proponent of this method in the 19th century. In commenting about writing letters of speaking he said he would be overcome with "a veritable forest of paragraphs, and and impenetrable thicket of grammatical rules." Later, theorist such as Vietor, Passy, Berlitz, and Jespersen began to talk about what a new kind of foreign language instruction needed, shedding light on what the grammar translation was missing. They supported teaching the language, not about the language. Moreover, teaching in the target language, and that language is not only writing, but speech as well. Students lacked an active role in the classroom, often correcting their own work and regimentedly following the textbook.
[edit] Conclusion
The Grammar-Translation method stayed in schools until the 1960s, when a complete foreign language pedagogy evaluation was taking place. In the meantime, teachers experimented with approaches like the direct method post war and depression classrooms, but without much structure to follow. The trusty Grammar-Translation method set the pace for many classrooms for many decades.
Monty Python made fun of the Grammar-Translation method in their film Life of Brian.
posted by david at 6:19 PM
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