There is a method that in English that mostly teacheruse to teach their foreign student its called

Grammar Translation Method, or GTM . GTM focused on translation and memorizing verbconjugations
and forms, and given in native language. The primary skills are reading and writing. This familiarity
would help them speak and write their native language better. Grammar-Translation Method is still
widely practiced, it has no advocates. It is amethod for which there is no theory. There is no literature
that offers a rationale orjustification for it or that attempts to relate it to issues in linguistics, psychology,
or educational theory.

GTM aims at helping students to read literature written in  the target language, help them to translate
from one language to another and make sure that they develop their reading and writing skill.

According to Prator and Celce-Murcia in Teaching English as a Second

Foreign Language (1979:3), the key features of the Grammar Translation Method are

as follows:

1. Classes are taught in the mother tongue, with little active use of the targetlanguage.
2. Much vocabulary is taught in the form of lists of isolated words.
3. Long elaborate explanations of the intricacies of grammar are given.
4. Grammar provides the rules for putting words together, and instruction often focuses on the
form and inflection of words.
5. Reading of difficult classical texts is begun early.
6. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises ingrammatical
analysis.
7. Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target
language into the mother tongue.
8. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.

The descriptions of some common/typical techniques closely associated with the

Grammar Translation Method:
1) Translation of a literary passage
In this techniq student translate their reading passage from the target language into their
native language. The reading passage focuses on several classes,vocabulary and
grammar.noted that student shouldn’t translate idioms instead they should understand the
meaning.
2) Reading comprehension questions
Students answer questions in the target language based on their understanding
reading section. The questions are sorted so that they become the first group questions
request the information contained in the reading section.
3) Antonyms/synonyms
Students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading
passage. Students could also be asked to find synonyms for a particular set of words.
 Students might be asked to define a set of words based on their understanding of
them as they occur in the reading passage.
4) Cognates
Students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling or sound
patterns that correspond between the languages. Students are also asked to
memorize words that look like cognates but have meanings in the target language
that are different from those in the native language.
5) Deductive application of rule
Grammar rules are presented with examples. Exceptions to each rule are also noted. Once
students understand a rule, they are asked to apply it to some different examples.
6) Fill-in-the-blanks
Students are given a series of sentences with words missing. They fill in the
blanks with new vocabulary items or with items of a particular grammar type, such
as prepositions or verbs with different tenses.
7) Memorization
Students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native
language equivalents and are asked to memorize them. Students are also required to
memorize grammatical rules and grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations.
8) Use words in sentences
In order to show that students understand the meaning and use of a new
vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words.
9) Composition
The teacher gives the students a topic to write about in the target language. The
topic is based upon some aspect of the reading passage of the lesson. Sometimes,
instead of creating a composition, students are asked to prepare a précis of the
reading passage.

The Advantages (Merits)

1. The target language is quickly explained in GTM.
With the GTM method it can make it easier for students to translate vocabulary
easily and it is not difficult when compared to other methods, students get some lack
of accuracy in understanding synonyms in the source language and target language.
2. Teacher and students are easy to communicate/It does not need native
language Teacher’s labour is saved.
Since the textbooks are taught through the medium of the mother tongue, the
teacher may ask comprehension questions on the text taught in the mother tongue.
Pupils will not have much difficulty in responding to questions on the mother tongue.
So, the teacher can easily assess whether the students have learnt what he has
taught them. Communication between the teacher and the learners does not cause
linguistic problems. Even teachers who are not fluent in English can teach English
through this method. That is perhaps the reason why this method has been practiced
so widely and has survived so long.
3. The students easy to understand because of grammatical lessons. ESL students
taught successfully under the grammar translation method will have the ability to
translate even difficult texts from their native language into English. They possess a
thorough knowledge of English grammar, including verb tenses. These students will
be familiar with several classical pieces of English literature, which are used for
grammatical analysis and exercises.

Disadvantages (Demerits)
Every Method must have advantages and disadvantages. The advantages of
Grammar Translation Method have been explained on the passage above. Here are
the disadvantages:
 No Scope for Effective Communication and Very Tedious for LearnersDirect
translation is widely regarded as an inefficient way of becoming fluent inany
language. For example, translating a sentence word-for-word from Spanish to English
might not result in a sentence with the same meaning because so little attention is
paid in class to listening and speaking. Students with years of Englishlessons through
this method are often unable to hold even a basic conversation in English because
classes with this method are usually taught in a lecture style, with the teacher mostly
speaking the students’ native language rather than English, class can be dull and
cause students to lose interest.
 Ineffective Method

 It is a teaching method which studies a foreign language in order to read its
literature focusing on the analysis of its grammar rules, and to translate sentences
and texts into and out the target language. In the Grammar Translation Method the
teaching of the second language starts with the teaching of reading. Little attention is
paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis.
Thus, the learning process is reversed.
 More Importance on Grammar Rules than on Meaning
Exact translation is not possible. Translation is, indeed, a difficult task and exact
translation from one language to another is not always possible. A language is the
result of various customs, traditions, and modes of behavior of a speech community
and these traditions differ from community to community. There are several lexical
items in one language, which have no synonyms/equivalents in another language.
For instance, the meaning of the English word ‘table’ does not fit in such expression
as the ‘table of contents’, ‘table of figures’, ‘multiplication table’, ‘time table’ and
‘table the resolution’, etc. English prepositions are also difficult to translate. Consider
sentences such as ‘We see with our eyes’, ‘Bombay is far from Delhi’, ‘He died of
cholera’, He succeeded through hard work’. In these sentences ‘with’, ‘from’, ‘of’,
‘through’ can be translated into the Hindi preposition ‘se’ and vice versa. Each
language has its own structure, idiom and usage, which do not have their exact
 counterparts in another language. Thus, translation should be considered an index of
one’s proficiency in a language.
 Slow Learning Rate and Making Learners Think in L1
It does not give pattern practice. A person can learn a language only when he
internalizes its patterns to the extent that they form his habit. But the Grammar
Translation Method does not provide any such practice to the learner of a language.
It rather attempts to teach language through rules and not by use. Researchers in
linguistics have proved that to speak any language, whether native or foreign entirely
by rule is quite impossible. Language learning means acquiring certain skills, which
can be learnt through practice and not by just memorizing rules. The persons who
have learnt a foreign or second language through this method find it difficult to give
up the habit of first thinking in their mother tongue and then translating their ideas
into the second language. They, therefore, fail to get proficiency in the second
language approximating that in the first language. The method, therefore, suffers
from certain weaknesses for which there is no remedy.

Teacher’s role

Teachers are just guides because grammar Translation deals with the
memorization of rules, manipulation of the morphology and syntax of the foreign
language. It requires few specialized skills on the part of teachers because test of
grammar rules and translation are easy to construct and be objectively scored. The
facilitator main function is that of observation rather than corrective intervention in
regards to the learners.
Students’ role
Students are expected to memorize endless lists of grammar rules and
vocabulary, and produce almost perfect translations. This method means a tedious
experience and often creates frustration for students. Main activities and controls are
stated by the students, he or she is the one who provides the course of the learning
process and the status of knowledge as well. Collaborative work is of s great
importance, a real cooperative behavior from the learner, is required for the lessons.
Conclusion
The Grammar Translation Method was developed for the study of “dead”
languages and to facilitate access to those languages’ classical literature.  That’s the
way it should stay.  English is certainly not a dead or dying language, so any teacher
that takes “an approach for dead language study” into an English language classroom
should perhaps think about taking up Math or Science instead.  Rules, universals and
memorized principles apply to those disciplines – pedagogy and communicative
principles do not.