MELISA VAZQUEZ – ROCIO RODRIGUEZ

TOTAL MARK: 5

FIRSTPARTIALEXAM

Choose ONE of the following methods or approaches and briefly explain

the main ideas.
Grammar translation, Audiolingual, Communicative

The Grammar-Translation Method: The Grammar Translation Method

involves studying a foreign language by first analysing its grammar rules and
then applying this knowledge to translate sentences and texts. It was originally
known in the United States as the Prussian Method. The primary objective of
this method was to learn a language in order to read its literature or to benefit
from the mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign
language study.
According to this method, language learning involves memorizing rules and
facts to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign
language. The first language is used as a reference system in acquiring the
second language. This approach to language learning is often criticized for its
lack of emphasis on speaking and listening skills, which are essential for
effective communication in a foreign language.
The Grammar-Translation Method places a strong emphasis on reading and
writing skills, while speaking and listening skills are often neglected. Vocabulary
is selected based on the reading texts used, and words are taught through
bilingual word lists, dictionary study, and memorization. In this method,
grammar rules are presented and illustrated, vocabulary items are listed with
their translation equivalents, and translation exercises are assigned.

Explain briefly the teaching of grammar according to Nasaji and Fotos and
the Curriculum Design.
Nasaji and Fotos say that grammar is important for language because without it,
language wouldn't even exist. But there's been a big debate in the language
teaching world about whether grammar should be taught directly with rules or
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learned naturally through using the language in real situations. This debate has
been going on for a long time, since the beginning of language teaching, as
Kelly (1969) pointed out. No matter what you think about teaching grammar, it's
important to know how it's been taught in the past because that affects how
people think about it nowadays. So, to give some background for the book, we'll
talk a little bit about how grammar teaching has changed over time.
Over time, people have changed how they teach grammar. These changes
have been influenced by new ideas and research in the field, but they have not
been consistent and have gone back and forth. Generally, there have been
three ways to teach grammar: only focusing on grammar, focusing on
communication, and balancing both grammar and communication.
On the other hand, the importance of teaching grammar in a communicative
and meaningful way is emphasized in the curriculum design for first year
secondary school. It suggests that the grammar of a language is processed and
acquired when students have the opportunity to formulate hypotheses and test
them based on examples of their use in context. Some of the conditions of this
approach are as follows:

 Students must be exposed to authentic language examples in a variety of

contexts so that they can discover the grammatical rules themselves.
 Students' activities should not be limited to practicing a grammatical
structure automatically (Drills), as this type of exercise may facilitate learning
its form but does not guarantee the acquisition of its meaning for
communicative use.
 Understanding the grammatical principles of a foreign language is
progressively acquired through the structuring and restructuring of language
that students carry out when faced with learning situations that encourage
them to explore the functioning of contextualized grammar.

Connect The Changing World of English, World Englishes,Communicative

Competence and Intercultural CommunicativeCompetence to the teaching
of English in Argentina.
When English became global a lot of factors were taken into account. For
example: colonialism, economic factors like global commerce, because it is one
the main mediating languages of international business. Another factor is the
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information exchange which is an important part of the academic discourse

around the world and takes place in English. Then travel and tourism are
carried out around the world in English, for example in airports will reveal not
only signs in their own language but also in English. And The last factor is the
popular culture that it has to be with the language being dominating through
music, movies, awards ceremonies, television series with subtitles, etc. Due to
this worldwide spread in 1985 Kachru described the world of English in terms of
three circles. In the inner circle he puts countries where English is their primary
language like Britain, the USA, Australia. In the outer circle we can find
countries where English has become an official or widely- used as a second
language, for example India, Nigeria, or Singapore. And for the last it is the
Expanding circle which is represented by those countries where English is
learnt as foreign Language, Poland, Japan, Mexico, etc.
In consequence of this spread the majority of English speakers nowadays are
non-native speakers, and as language is constantly changing, when a country
takes English and starts to adopt it and make it their own, every aspect of its
culture influence to create a new variety of that language, therefore we don't
need to refer to just one English but, “World Englishes”.
Teachers even though they have to use the language to transmit knowledge,
they need to have their own identity when teaching. In some cases, people tend
to think that to teach English, you need to be a native speaker, and have the
perfect accent otherwise you are not competent enough. It also happens that if
you're a native speaker you get paid more. This is perhaps a wrong idea
because it could happen that you are excellent in speaking and an expert in the
field but you don't have the competence to convey all that knowledge. Teachers
must have good communicative competence, that is to say that they must know
how to transmit knowledge in communication, how to explain things and how to
describe things. Use the language according to the context or the situation the
teachers are. Teaching English is not only teaching grammar, vocabulary and
how to complete sentences, teaching English in a clear way to help students to
operate in the real world, to use the language in communication within the class
and with the outside world.
According to Melina Porto. In her article “Intercultural citizenship in the (foreign)
language classroom”,it is important to develop intercultural citizenship in
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education to help students to be critical, to be reflexive and in some cases to be

able to transform and to adapt the knowledge of the language to real things.
In conclusion, teaching in Argentina in the last years has been changing, trying
to give a different approach to the language, not only focusing on grammatical
aspects, or maybe applying grammar in context. Involve our own culture in
teaching, adapt it to our own identity.