METHODOLOGY

Week Three &week Four

Prepared by :
Afrah Mahmood & Raghad Qaidar
 Methodology

A seminar on:

"Methods in Language Teaching "

Part one

Course Instructor:
Dr. Omar ILYAS

Prepared by:
Raghad Qaydar

Contents:
* Grammar-Translation Method
* Direct Method
Week 3
 The Grammar-Translation Method
Introduction
The Grammar-Translation Method is traditional. It has been used by
language teachers for many years. This is because tests of grammar rules
and of translations are easy to construct and scored. It is a method for
which there is no theory and no literature that gives reasons to relate it
to issues in linguistics, psychology or educational theory .

Once it was called the classical method as it was used firstly in the
teaching of the classical languages, Latin and Greek. The heritage of
language was written in Latin. Also It was the principal language of
commerce and politics. That is why they needed to learn Latin. GTM
method was invented to teach this language. But this method was
unsatisfactory; therefore it failed and another methods appeared after
that although it was the corner stone of teaching language.

Language skills are either receptive (listening & reading) or productive

(speaking & writing). Since language is oral, we can say that speaking is
the most important skill in teaching language. For this reason GTM
,which has no focus on speaking, failed to be a successful method of
teaching language. It cannot fulfill the needs of learners to speak and
communicate using the target language.

Q_ what were the main purposes behind GTM?

The purposes behind this approach were :

1_ to help students read the foreign language literature through learning

grammatical rules and vocabulary in order to get benefit from the
intellectual development that results from foreign language study
although students would probably never use the target language. Target
language learning was considered as a beneficial mental exercise of
learning which helps to develop their mind.
2_ to help students become more familiar with the grammar of their
native language through studying target language grammar. It was
thought that this familiarity would help them speak and write their
native language better.

This method involves teaching the target language through analysis of its
grammar rules and translating sentences and texts of the target
language into native language. It depends on memorizing rules in order
to learn morphology and syntax of the foreign language. Thus, the native
language is considered the reference system to acquire the foreign
language.

Q-On which aspects does GTM focus?

GTM focuses on the following aspects:

1_ grammatical rules.

2_ memorization of vocabulary and grammatical Paradigms such as

conjugations.

3_ translations of texts.

4_ doing written exercises.

These aspects show that there is no communication, so that is why it is

failed.

Q _what are the main characteristics of GTM ?

The main Characteristics of Grammar- Translation method are:

1_ Major focus is given to reading and writing skills, while little

attention is given to speaking and listening. Vocabulary and grammar
are emphasized while pronunciation is neglected .

2_ Vocabularies are selected through reading texts, they are taught

through bilingual word lists. Students should memorize them .
 3_ Translation each language into the other is one of its important goal.
If students can translate from one language into another, they are
considered successful language learners.

4_ Grammar is taught deductively. Rules are presented, they should be

memorized and then they are applied to examples.

5_ Students' native language is used in class as a medium of instruction

and explaining the meaning of new items of foreign language .So, there
is no interaction in the target language. Most of the interaction in the
classroom is from the teacher to the students. There is little student-
student interaction.

6_ Literary language is taught and it is considered superior to spoken

language .Culture is viewed as consisting of literature and the fine arts.

7_ The teacher is the authority in the classroom. He decides whether an

answer is correct or not. If it is incorrect, he selects another student to
give the correct answer or the teacher himself gives the correct answer.

8_ Learning is done through showing similarities between the two

languages. They memorize native language equivalents for target
language vocabulary words.

9_ There is a focus on grammar of form of the target language. Students

should be conscious of the grammatical rules of the target language.
Grammatical rules and verb conjugations should be memorized.

Q What are GTM teaching techniques?

Teaching is done through the following techniques:

1_ Reading passage:

Students are given a reading passage in which they focus on vocabulary

and grammar rules. This passage is either taken from the target
language literature or designed by the teacher to include particular
grammar rules and vocabulary. The passage is translated into students'
native language. The translation may be written or spoken or both.
Idioms are not translated literally, but in a way that shows their
meanings.

2_ Cognates:

One feature of GTM is to show similarities between the two languages

and "cognates" is one of the ways of showing similarities. Cognates
mean the words that have correspondence in the spelling or sound
patterns between the two languages. Students should memorize words
that look like cognates but have different meanings in the target
language from those in the native language. This technique is only useful
in languages that share cognates.

3 _Reading Comprehension Questions:

Students answer questions in the target language according to their

understanding of the reading passage. These questions can take many
forms:

_ questions ask for information given within the reading passage.

_ questions depend on the students' inferences of the passage.

_ questions require students to relate the passage to their own

experience.

4_ Antonyms/Synonyms:

Students can be asked to give antonyms or synonyms of particular set of

words presented in the reading passage. Or students are asked to define
a set of words according to their understanding of the reading passage.

5- Deductive application of rules:

Grammar rules are presented, memorized and then applied to examples.
Exceptions should be noted.

6_ Fill-in-the-blanks exercise:

Students are given a number of sentences with words missing and are
asked to fill each blank with new vocabulary items or items of a
particular grammar type, such as prepositions or verbs with different
tenses.

7_ Memorization:

Students are asked to memorize vocabulary words, grammatical rules

and grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugation of the target
language.

8_ Using words in sentences:

Students are asked to use the new vocabulary words in sentences to

show that they understand the meanings and uses of these new words.

9_ Composition:

Students may require to write about a topic relating to the reading

passage, or to write a précis of the reading passage.
 The Direct Method
Introduction
The Direct Method is not new. It appeared as a result for a need to
communicate using the target language. Translation is not used at all.
This method is called "Direct" because meaning is conveyed directly in
the target language without using the students' native language, but
through the use of :

1_ Demonstration

2- Visual aids (pictures, realia, maps, etc. )

3- Pantomime

These three ways are used to teach concrete vocabularies; while

abstract vocabularies are taught by association of ideas.

Also it is called "natural method" as it assumes teaching the foreign

language in the same way the child acquires his mother tongue.

Q_ what is the main purpose behind the Direct Method?

The main purpose behind the Direct Method is communication by using
the target language.

Q- On which aspects does the Direct Method focus?

The Direct Method focuses on the following aspects:

1- Lots of oral interaction.

2- Spontaneous use of the language.

3- No translation between first and second languages.

4- Little or no analysis of grammatical rules.

These aspects show that communication in the target language is the
corner stone of this method.

Q- What are the main characteristics of the Direct

Method ?
They are:

1_ Major focus is given to speaking. Reading, listening and writing in the

target language should be taught from the beginning of language
instruction and reading will be developed through practice with
speaking. Pronunciation is given a great attention from the beginning of
language instruction.

2_ Vocabularies are acquired naturally through using them in full

sentences rather than memorizing them. This can be done through
thinking in the target language.

3_ Translation is not allowed. The native language should not be used in

the classroom.

4_ Grammar is taught inductively. No rule is given or memorized.

Examples are presented and students realize the rule from the
examples.

5_ Objects (e.g. realia or pictures) are used to help students understand

meaning. The teacher should demonstrate, not translate. So students
make a direct association between form and meaning of the target
language. The interaction in the classroom can be from teacher to
students or from students to teacher. Students can also interact with
each other.

6_ Language is primarily spoken, not written. Therefore, students study

everyday speech in real contexts in the target language. Culture is
viewed as consisting of:

_ the history of the people who speak the target language.

_the geography of the country/-ies where the language is spoken.

_ and the information about the daily lives of the speakers of the foreign
language.

7_ The teacher directs the class activities. The teacher and students are
partners in the teaching – learning process. The purpose of language
learning is communication; therefore, students ask and answer
questions. If the student's answer is incorrect, the teacher tries not to
correct the answer, but to get students to self-correct whenever
possible.

8_ No reference is made for the native language. It should not be used in

the class.

9_ There is a focus on vocabulary over grammar. There should be

conversational activity , therefore, the syllabus is based on real
situations (e.g. the language used at bank , at airport, etc.) or topics (e.g.
money, weather, customs, etc.) not on linguistic structures.

Q- What are the factors that determine the success of

the Direct Method?
A number of factors play an important role in the success of the Direct
Method, such as:

1- Small classes.

2- Individual attention.

3- Intensive study; all of these factors beside the personality and

background of the teacher.

The Direct Method is considered rather unsuccessful in public education

because of the constraints of budget, classroom size and time.
Q- What are the Direct Method teaching techniques?
Teaching is done through the following techniques:

1_ Reading aloud:

Students take turns reading aloud sections of a passage or a dialogue. At

the end of each student's turn, the teacher explains the meaning of the
section using pictures, realia or other means.

2_ Question and answer exercise:

Students are asked questions and answer in full sentences in the target
language, so that they practise new words and grammatical structures.

3_ Getting students to self-correct:

The teacher has to get students to self-correct. This is done by some

ways:

1- Making a choice between what they said and an alternative answer

the teacher supplied.

2- Repeating what a student said, using a questioning intonation to

indicate that there is something wrong.

3- Repeating what a student said, stopping just before the error to

indicate that the following word was wrong.

4_ Conversation practice:

The teacher asks students questions in the target language which they
have to answer correctly.

The teacher asks students individually questions containing a particular

grammar structure about themselves. Then the students can ask each
other using the same grammatical structure.
5_ Fill-in-the-blanks exercise:

Students are given a number of sentences with missing items and are
asked to fill each blank with items of a particular grammar structure. The
students have to induce the grammar rule that they need to fill the
blanks from examples given at earlier parts of the lesson.

6_ Dictation:

The teacher reads a passage three times doing the following:

- At the first time, he reads it at normal speed while the students just
listen.

- At the second time, he pauses at the end of each sentence in order that
the students write what they have heard.

- At the third time, he reads it at normal speed while the students check
their writings.

7_ Map drawing:

It is a listening comprehension exercise. The students are given a map

with geographical features unnamed. The teacher gives the students
directions in order to find one geographical feature. Then students can
exchange turns with their teacher asking him for directions.

8_ Paragraph writing:

The teacher can ask the students to write a paragraph by using their
own words on a certain topic. They can do this from memory or by using
a relating reading passage as a model.
References:

- Brown, H. D. (2000). Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to

language Pedagogy. California: Longman.

- Larsen-free man, D. & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniques and Principles

in Language Teaching (3rd Ed.). Oxford; New York: Oxford University
Press.

- Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in

Language Teaching. (2nd Ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
 Methodology
A seminar on:

Course instructor
Prepared & to be presented by Afrah Mahmood

Contents of the seminar:

(week 4)
• Audio-Lingual Method.
• A comparison among the three methods (GTM,
DM, ALM).
Introduction
The increased attention given to foreign language teaching in the U.S
in the 1950s , led to the emergence of the Audio-Lingual
Method(ALM).(Richards&Rodgers,2010:53).After the World War II
America became an international power, so thousands of students entered
the U.S to study in universities and many of them required training in
English before starting their studies.So America felt the need to teach
foreign languages in order not to be isolated from scientific advances in
other countries.The language was taught by given systematic attention to
pronunciation,and by intensive oral drilling of its basic patterns with none
of the grammar and translation found in traditional methods.It is also
known as the “army method” and as the “Michigan method” as it was
developed by Fries at Michigan University.(Brown,2001:22-23)

Design
In this method a complete reorientation of the foreign language
curriculum is demanded .like when the nineteenth-century reformers
support a return to speech-based instruction with the primary objective of
oral proficiency and dismissed the study of grammar or literature as the
goal of foreign language teaching.(Richards&Rodgers,2010:58)

Objectives
According to Brook there are two types of objectives:

1. Short –range objectives which involve training in listening

comprehension, accurate pronunciation,recognition of speech
symbols on the printed page and the ability to reproduce these
symbols in writing .there are three other objectives within these
immediate objectives :

•control the structures of sound,form and order the new language;

 •acquaintance with content vocabulary;
•meaning in terms of the significance these verbal symbols have for
those who speak the language natively.

2. Long-range objectives that is to use the language as native speakers

do.This means that oral skills are focused from the very beginning
of learning, with gradual links to other skills as learning
develops.Reading and writing may be taught, but they are
dependent on prior oral skills.(Richards&Rodgers,2010:58)

The syllabus
Audio-lingual Method is Linguistic approach to language
teaching.Its syllabus contains key items of phonology, morphonology,
and syntax arranged according to their presentation .So the order of
the skills which are taught is that of listening,speaking,reading and
writing.At first language may be presented only orally.Later when
reading and writing are introduced,students are taught to read what
they have alredy learned to say orally.(Richards and Rodgers,2010:59)

Q/What were the main purposes behind ALM?

•The main purpose of this method is to enable students to use the
target language communicatively.In other words to use it automatically.

•To help students to overcome the habits of their native language and
to form new ones in the target language by using only the target
language in the classroom.Learning process is similar to the
acquisition of the native language.(Larsen & Anderson,2011)

Q/Which aspects does ALM focus on?

•ALM focuses mainly on sound system (oral skills);

•acquiring the structural patterns;

•vocabulary also are presented(but they are kept to minimum).

The main Characteristics of ALM :

1.New material is presented through a dialogue.

2.It depends mainly on imitation and repition (memorization)of a set

of phrases.

3.The main focus is given to pronunciation.

4.Grammar is taught inductively rather than deductively,which means

no direct rules are given.

5.Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogues.

6.Vocabulary is limited and also presented in context.

7.Only the target language is used in the class.

8.Positive reinforcement help students to develop correct

habits.(Brown,2001:23)

Q/What are the types of activities and drills used

in ALM?
The basis of audio-lingual classroom practices are dialogues and
drills.Dialogues are used for repetition and memorization.Also correct
pronunciation,stress,and intonation are emphasized.After memorizing
the dialogues, specific grammatical patterns in the dialogue are
selected to become the focus of various kinds of drills:

1)Repetition: means repeating an utterance as accurately and as

quickly as possible so students memoeize the dialogue through
mimicry.

2)Transformation: students are given a certain kind of sentence

pattern.atahen they are asked to transform this sentence into a negative
or interrogative or through changes in tense ,mood,voice, aspect,or
modality.

3)Replacement: the student is asked to replace one word in an

utterance by another.

e.g:They gave their teacher a present.

-They gave him a present.

4)Question and answer drill:students should answer the teacher’s

questions very quickly.

5)Restatement:the student rephrases an utterance and addresses it to

someone else according to instructions

e.g:Tell him to wait for you.

-Wait for me.

6)Completion:the student hears an utterance with a missing word ,then

he repeats the utterance in a completed form.

e.g:I’ll do my homework and you do........ .

-I’ll do my homework and you do yours.

7)Expansion: a word is added to its correct place in the sequence.

e.g:He plays tennis(always)

-He always plays tennis.

8)Contraction: a single word stands for a phrase or clause.

e.g: He wears his jacket.

-He wears it.

9)Single/ Multiple-slot Substitution drills: the student repeat the line

the teacher has given them ,substituting the cue (a new word/words)
into the line in its proper place.(Richards & Rodgers,2010:16)

Theory of Language
 By the 1930s,the scientific approach to the study of language was
thought to consist of collecting examples of what speakers said and
analysing them according to different levels of structural organization
rather than according to categories of Latin grammar.(Richards &
rodgers,2010:54)

Q/What did the term structural refer to?

It referred to these characteristics:

a)Elements in a language were thought of as being linearly produced

in a rule-governed way;

b)Language samples could be described at any structural level of

description(phonetic,phonemic,morphological,etc.)

c)Linguistic levels were thought of as systems within systems.

According to structural linguistics , the primary medium of language

is oral: speech is language. It was assumed that speech had a priority
in language teaching because many languages do not have a written
form and we learn to speak before we learn to read or write.Language
is a set of habits, teach the language ,not about the language also a
language is what its nativte speakers say, not what they out to
say.(Richards & Rodgers,2010:55)

Comparison:
1_ Theories underlying these methods of teaching

Each method appeared with its own underlying theoretical basis.GTM

relied heavily on structural theory which assumed teaching grammar
and practising translation. This theory focused on reading and listening
while little attention was given to writing. For DM, it relied on functional
theory as it mainly focused on communication.

• While (ALM) borrowed principles from behavioral psychology or we

can say that it exists as a result of the behaviourist models of
learning.According to behaviorist theory language was seen as a system
of habits that can be taught and learned depending on three elements:

•a stimulus, which serves to elicit behavior;

•a response triggered by a stimulus;

•reinforcement, which serves as a feed back to mark the answer as

appropriate or not.

2- Did these methods fail or not? and why?

Although they were used for many years to teach foreign languages and
each one had its own advantages that made it spread and widely used
,yet each had certain disadvantages that made it fail and cause another
method to appear. GTM, for example, failed because it was
unsatisfactory. It did not enable the students to speak the foreign
language. It did not cover enough aspects of language, it was limited to
enable the students to read the foreign language literature and to learn
grammar.

Concerning DM, it failed because it is conditioned by certain constraints

as : (small classes, individual attention, intensive study, the personality
and background of the teacher). Thus it is difficult to be applied to
teaching in public schools. The other reason is that it claimed that it is
based on speaking the target language while if we look at its techniques,
we find that a few number of techniques (may be only question and
answer exercise & conversation practice) depend on speaking. This
contradiction may be considered as a weak point about this method.

• Although ALM gained popularity for years yet it failed to continue. One
of several reasons is that it viewed the learner as a passive entity .It
dismissed the possibility that learners can add any useful contribution
from their mind to the learning process, when it prevented them from
committing mistakes and using only the correct forms of language. This
is in contrast to many theorists beliefs that to acquire a new language it
is preferable to let the learners making errors. The other point is that
ALM failed to teach long-term communicative aspects as the structural
linguistics tell us only a part of what we want to know about certain
language .

3_The use of native language:

Almost, it is better to avoid using native language in teaching foreign

language. Although communication in the target language is preferable
most of the time, it is sometimes better to translate in the cases in which
it is difficult to explain a complex issue that students cannot catch when
it is explained in the target language. So in this case it is better to use the
native language, i.e., to translate, in order to ensure that students
understand that issue as well as to save time and effort.

GTM depends totally on translation. It involves using the native language

in teaching explaining and interacting in the class. Oppositely DM
depends totally on communication in the target language, i.e., no
translation at all. It includes teaching, explaining and interacting in the
class using the target language only.

•In ALM while students keep trying to acquire the target language,
native language should not be used in the classroom so as to avoid the
possible interference of the habits of the students’ native language with
the target one. This means that no translation is used, they
communicate only in the target language after they induced the
necessary rules from examples.

4_Language and Culture

Culture has a great influence on the way of teaching.When GTM viewed

culture as consisting of literature and fine arts, they limited teaching
foreign language to read literature without any interest to speak that
language. In contrast, the Direct Method viewed culture as consisting of
the history of the people speaking the foreign language, the geography
of their country and the information about the daily lives of the
speakers. Thus this method depends on teaching the target language in
real situations and topics taking from everyday life speech. As a result
communication and speaking become the base of this method.

• In ALM language is seen as having a finite number of patterns or a

system of systems and the system of one language is different from
others.Each system can be subdivided into different
levels:phonological,morphological ,and syntactic.Culture is seen as
consisting mainly of everyday behavior and lifestyle of people who use
the target language in addition to literature and the arts.

5_ Memorization

One may ask if memorization is useful in teaching language! We can say

that it is useful in the case of memorizing vocabulary. The more
vocabulary you memorize the more able you are to understand and
communicate in the target language. But this is not applicable to
grammatical rules. It is not useful to memorize them. It is useful to teach
them inductively. The thing which helps students to think and infer rules
by themselves; therefore, they will have critical mind.

As for GTM, it depends on memorizing both of vocabulary and

grammatical rules.

DM has no memorization, it depends on demonstrating vocabulary and

inferring grammatical rules.

In ALM the learners should memorize the introduced dialogue by

immitating the teacher or the tape through repetition. There is no lists
of vocabulary to memorize, but the new words are introduced within
phrases to understand their meaning before memorizing them.
6_ Deductive vs Inductive

One could claim that teaching grammatical rules inductively is better

than teaching them deductively. Deductive way implies memorizing
rules and apply them to examples. The thing which makes students away
from thinking. This way is followed in GTM.

While inductive way implies inferring rules from examples. This helps
students to think, infer and analyze things critically away from just
memorizing without understanding. This way is followed in DM.

• while learning a new language no rules are given at all in ALM and if
they are needed the learners will figure them out from the given
examples.In this way(inductive) rules will be stick in their minds easily.

7_ Errors correction

It is better to make the students correct their errors by themselves. The

thing which is called self-correction. One advantage of this way is that
the students will be conscious of their errors and never repeat them at
other time. They will think fussily in order to find and correct their
errors. Also the students will be more self-reliant and self-confident. This
way is followed in DM.

Concerning GTM, the student's error is corrected by the teacher or by

another student. This way is not preferred in teaching. It makes the
students away from thinking carefully. It makes them dependent on
others. In addition, they will be rather careless about their errors and
will not learn from them, as a result they will be reoccurred later.

• For those who follow ALM, errors are to be avoided from the
beginning as it leads to the formation of bad habits .And if they occur,
they should be immediately corrected by the teacher.

To sum up, we can say that each of the three methods (GTM,DM ,ALM)
specific goal in a certain period of time and each of achieved its
them had its merits and demerits. So it is not a matter of which one is
better than others as each one of them focused on a particular area of
language teaching depending on the theory it followed.It is necessary to
understand that each of them when appeared,it tried to avoid the
difficulties of the previous one to discover later that its theory was also
inadequate to satisfy the learners’ needs.

Aspects GTM DM ALM

Theory structural functional Behavioral
Affective Somehow not Somehow not Somehow not
Native Used Not used Not used
language
Culture Literature/fine History of Everyday
arts people/geograph behaviour/lifestyl
y e
Memorizatio used Not used Limited to context
n
Deductive deductive inductive Inductive
/Inductive
Errors Teacher’s/other Self-correction Avoided/teacher’s
correction s correction correction

References:

- Brown, H .D. (2001). Teaching by principles: An interactive

approach to language pedagogy. White Plains , NY:Longman.

-Larsen-Freeman , D ., & Anderson, M. (2011). Techniquies and

principles in language teaching (3rd Ed). Oxford : New York: Oxford
University press.

-Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2010) . Approaches and methods in

language teaching. Cambridge :Cambridge University press.