Grammar Translation Method

Also known as: Classical method

Theoretical Background: Psycholinguistic theory from which it arises

 Originally used to teach “dead” languages like Ancient Greek and Latin
 Intellectual exercise of learning a language is useful, even if the students don’t use the language
 Reading literature in the target language will improve the students’ character
 Through the study of the grammar of the target language, the students would understand the grammar of
their native language
 The only aspect of the culture of the target language that the students are introduced to are the fine arts
(literature, painting, classical music)

Summary of Method and techniques

 Emphasis on literature
 Emphasis on reading, writing and grammar
 Training in grammar rules
 Very little speaking, listening or pronunciation practice
 Translating texts into native language
 Native Language used by teacher and students to communicate in class
 Reading comprehension exercises
 Translating vocabulary items into native language
 Cognates emphasised (words which have a common origin in target and native language)
 Grammar rules given explicitly
 Memorization of vocabulary and grammar rules
 Communicating in the target language is not a goal of the method

Strengths / Advantages

 Vocabulary can be explained easily and quickly using native language

 Grammar rules can be explained using the native language, so students are more likely to understand the
grammar rules
 Awareness of cognates and other similarities between native language and target language can be very
useful to language learners
 Even teachers who are not fluent in the target language can teach using this method
 Helps reading skills

Weaknesses / Limitations / Disadvantages

 Speaking and listening are largely neglected

 Pronunciation is completely neglected
 Students will not learn to communicate in the language using this method
 Everyday culture of target language not discussed
 Since teacher speaks in native language, many opportunities for genuine target language input are missed
 Students have no control over what they learn, no creative input
 The Audio-Lingual Method

Also Known as: The Oral Method, Aural-Oral Method, Structural Approach

Theoretical Background: Psycholinguistic theory from which it arises

 Charles Fries (1945) used structural linguistics to develop the method

 Principles from behavioural psychology (Skinner 1975) were added
o Conditioning, shaping, reinforcement
o Helping student produce correct response to stimuli
 The students native language can “interfere” with learning English, so translation should not be used
 Good habits are formed through repetition
 Each language has a finite number of grammatical patterns, learning these patterns is the key to learning the
language
 The learning of a second language should be like learning your native language, no grammar rules are given
 Natural order of skills in child language acquisition is: listening, speaking, reading, writing, second language
tuition should follow this sequence
 Everyday culture is important
 Sentence patterns are to be acquired through conditioning

Summary of Method and techniques

 Drills students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns

 Memorizing dialogues
 Drills
o substitution drill, backward build-up drill, chain drill, transformation drill, question-and-answer drill
 Teacher provides correct models which students must repeat
 No grammar rules are given

Strengths / Advantages

 So much repetition helps students remember structures “and get a feel for” the language.

Weaknesses / Limitations / Disadvantages

 Exhausting for the teacher

 Very mechanical
 Not much genuine communication
 Students cannot easily transfer the habits they formed in the classroom to actual situations
 Might get boring

 Since it is based on drilling, learners have little or no control over their own output
 Passive role for learners
 Chomsky criticized the method saying that language cannot just be habit formation because people can
construct and understand sentences they have never heard before

Youtube videos demonstrating method

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVkaGw_M5mA&feature=related
 Communicative Language Teaching

Theoretical Background: Psycholinguistic theory from which it arises

 Social Constructivism (Piaget); everyone makes their own sense of the world
 Previous approaches which tried to teach students to communicate in English didn’t succeed in getting them
to be able to communicate in real life situations outside the classroom, this led to a shift in approach from
the linguistic structure centred approach to the communicative approach
 Functions are important “predicting, promising, inviting, asking for permission etc.”
 There should be a genuine information gap, a purpose to the exchange
 We should not be asking questions to which we all know the answer (display question)
 Real communication involves choice, so drills are not used
 Social Interactionsim: language is for interacting (communicating) with people

 Worthwhile learning does not entail the reception or memorization of ready-made facts
 Speaking is most important
 Social roles and social context are taken into account
 Language is for communicating, so fluency is as important as accuracy, the most accurate student might not
be the best communicator
 Truly communicative activities have 3 elements: genuine information gap, choice and feedback

Summary of Method and techniques

 There is not one set rigid method or technique, CLT is very flexible
 Authentic material is used (magazine articles etc.)
 A class is built around a certain function that is practised in various contexts
 The various ways the function can be performed are presented together, not as separate or isolated
linguistic structures
 Role plays, games
 Small group work maximizes speaking practice
 Students are encouraged to communicate with each other as much as possible
 Personalised activities give students opportunities to express their individuality by expressing their opinions
and thoughts often
 English should be used to give instructions as much as possible, although the native language is permitted
occasionally

Strengths / Advantages

 Students experience “real-life” communication in the classroom that they can easily transfer to outside the
classroom
 Students get a lot of speaking practice
 The approach is flexible enough to be used for all levels, ages and linguistic areas
 Student-centred

Weaknesses / Limitations / Disadvantages

 Most authentic material is too difficult for students to understand

 May not be appropriate for all teaching contexts (studies in China and Korea)
 Three sources of difficulty in using CLT in many parts of the world:
1. The educational system itself in which large classes, grammar-based examinations, insufficient funding, and
lack of support for teacher education undermines the implementation of this approach
2. The students’ low English proficiency, lack of motivation for developing communicative competence, and
resistance to class participation
3. Many teachers believe that their own inadequacies contribute to the problem. They feel that their deficiency
in spoken English and sociolinguistic competence, along with their lack of relevant training and limited time
to develop materials, add to their difficulties
Task-Based Language Teaching

Theoretical Background: Psycholinguistic theory from which it arises

 Second Language Research shows that an analytic syllabus (one not based on grammar items, but on other
content) is good for learning
 Learners do not learn linguistic items one at a time, instead they induce grammar rules from the input given
 Students acquire the language they need when they need it in order to accomplish a task
 Constructivism, John Dewey (1913), students are actively involved in constructing their own knowledge
through experience and problem solving

Summary of Method and techniques

 The syllabus is based on a series of tasks, not grammar or other linguistic points
 The tasks must be meaningful and must need communication to complete
 The tasks are not necessarily designed to practice a certain grammar point or function, the focus is on
completing the task
 Tasks have a clear purpose and outcome
 The difficulty of the task should be just above what students could do without help
 Jigsaw tasks common (each student has a bit of the information)
 While students work on the task, the teacher does not interrupt them to correct errors, he notes them down
to deal with later
 Students are given freedom in how they decide to complete a task; negotiating this in a group gives more
opportunities for communication
 There are pre-task and post-task activities
 Students could be involved in choosing tasks
 Project work
 Information gap, opinion gap, reasoning gap

Strengths / Advantages

 Student-centered
 Is supported by second language acquisition research
 Enjoyable and motivating for students
 Tasks can be chosen for students specific needs and interests

Weaknesses / Limitations / Disadvantages

 Absence of grammar (although tasks can be structure based communicative activities)

 In order to perform the task, the students might not use the new grammar or vocabulary, instead they might
stay within the narrow confines of familiar words and forms