Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching

Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching

Grammar Translation Method (Prussian, the Ciceronian)

“To know everything about something rather than to know the thing itself. “

The Principal characteristics of The Grammar-Translation Method were these (Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodger: 1992):

1. The goal of foreign language study is to learn a language in order to read its literature or in order to benefit from mental discipline and intellectual development that result from foreign language study.

2. Reading and writing are the major focus; little or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or listening.

3. Vocabulary selection is based on solely on the reading texts used, and words are taught through bilingual word list, dictionary study, and memorization.

4. The sentence is the basic unit of teaching and language practice.

5. Accuracy is emphasized.

6. Grammar is taught deductively.

7. The student’s native language is the medium of instruction.

The purpose of using Grammar-Translation Method (Dianne Larsen-Freeman: 2002)

® To help students read and appreciate foreign language literature.

® To make student be more familiar with the grammar of their native language and this familiarity would help them speak and write their native language better.

® It was thought that foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial anyway.

The Principles of GTM (Dianne Larsen-Freeman: 2002)

1. A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in it.

2. An important goal is for students to be able to translate each language into the other.

3. The ability to communicate in the target language is not a goal of foreign language instruction.

4. The primary skills to be developed are reading and writing.

5. The teacher is the authority in the classroom.

6. Learning is facilitated through attention to similarities between the target language and the native language.

7. Language (grammar) is taught deductively.

The Direct Method (Natural Method)

The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed.

This method is called natural method because it is used naturalistic principles of language learning (Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodger: 1992). This term also derived from the school which L Sauveur had opened in Boston in the late 1860s. Sauveur and other believers in the Natural Method argued that a foreign language could be taught without translation or the use of the learner’s native tongue if meaning was conveyed directly through demonstration and action.

According to Franke, a language could best be taught by using it actively in the classroom.

In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed directly in the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students’ native language (Diller 1978).

Principles and Procedures (Jack C. Richard and Theodore S. Rodger: 1992:

1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language.

2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.

3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question and answer exchanges between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

4. Grammar was taught inductively.

5. New teaching points were introduced orally.

6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects, and pictures; abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.

7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.

8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized.