CHAPTER 2 The Grammar-Translation Method

Introduction

The Grammar-Translation Method was called the Classical Method. This method has been used for many years. Teachers used this method to help their students in read and appreciate foreign language literature. With this method in the class students would become more familiar with the grammar of native language so it would help them speak and write their native language better. With foreign language learning, teachers hope that it would help their students grow intellectually.

Experience

With used the Grammar-Translation Method the teacher told the students to read the passage which entitled ‘The Boys’ Ambition’. Each student must read a few lines from the passage. After they have finished it, they are asked to translate into Spanish the few lines they have just read. The teacher asks them one by one with Spanish language. If the student confuse with the grammar, the teacher will help them. If the students have no question anymore, the teacher would give the exercise to them to write the answers to the comprehension questions. They are two types answer from students. The first type, they have to make inferences based on their understanding of the passage and the second type, the students must requires to relate the passage to their own experience.

With used this method would help the students to write out the translation of reading passage into Spanish, state the rule for the use of a direct object with two-word verbs, and apply it to other phrasal verbs, remaining exercises in the chapter that include practice with one set of irregular past participle forms, help to write a composition in the target language, memorize the remaining vocabulary items and write sentences for each.

After they have finished their exercise, the teacher asks them to read a question and answer it. If the answer incorrect, the teacher would select the other student to answer it or the teacher would give the right answer herself.

Thinking About The Experience

The Grammar-Translation Method is not new method. To use this method, the teacher give the student exercise to reading an excerpt. Than the teacher wants the student to translate the passage into Spanish, this is important because it is can help them to translate each language into the other. This method would help the student to write, memorize, and read. If they need help to perform their exercise, the teacher would help them.

Reviewing The Principles

The goals of teachers who use The Grammar-Translation Method, a fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read literature written in the target language. The teacher is the authority in the class and the students should do what she says so they can learn what she knows. The Grammar-Translation Method have characteristics of the teaching/ learning process they are, students are taught to translate from one language to another, students study grammar deductively, they also learn grammatical paradigms such as verb conjugations, and they also memorize native-language equivalents for target-language vocabulary words. If the students make errors or do not know an answer, the teacher supplies them with the correct answer.

Reviewing The Techniques

They are some of the techniques of The Grammar-Translation Method such as translation of a literary passage, in this technique the students must translate a reading passage from the target language into their native language. The second technique is reading comprehension questions, in this technique the students should answer questions in the target language based on their understanding of the reading passage. The third is antonyms/synonyms, in this technique the students are given one set of words and are asked to find antonyms in the reading passage.

The fourth is cognates, in this technique the students are taught to recognize cognates by learning the spelling on sound patterns that correspond between the languages. The fifth is deductive application of rule, in this technique the grammar rules are presented with examples. The sixth is fill-in-the-blanks, in this technique the students are given a series of sentences with word missing. The seventh is memorization, in this technique the students are given lists of target language vocabulary words and their native language equivalents and are asked to memorize them. The eighth is use words in sentences, in this technique show that students understand the meaning and use of a new vocabulary item, they make up sentences in which they use the new words. The last technique is composition, in this technique the teacher gives the students a topic to write about in the target language.