Trabalho em grupo Methodology 1

FlugêncioTivane
Israel Jovo Júnior
Lourenço Tovela


Didactics of English 4
Exercise 1: Grammar Translation Method Vs Direct Method



Licenciatura em ensino Inglês com Habilitações em ensino de Português


English Course – EAD
3rdYear

Universidade Pedagógica - Gaza
Xai-Xai
2016

FlugêncioTivane
Israel Jovo Júnior
Lourenço Tovela


Didactics of English 4
Exercise 1: Grammar Translation Method Vs Direct Method

The present work is done for evaluation effects on the subject of Didactics of English 4 by the guidance of Tutor Helder Tomás Chilaule.

Licenciatura em ensino Inglês com Habilitações em ensino de Português

English Course – EAD
3rdYear


Universidade Pedagógica - Gaza
Xai-Xai
2016
Index
Introduction 1
Method 2
Language Teaching Methods 2
Grammar Translation Method 3
Principles and goals of the Grammar Translation Method 3
The Direct Method 4
Principles of Direct Method 5
Direct Method vs Grammar Translation 5
Conclusion 7
References 8












Introduction
The Teaching of a language either as a foreign or second language has always been
a measure concern for language teachers for centuries and to accomplish this teaching and learning process, many methods and techniques have been developed and used to reach the goals of teaching the language. Therefore, in the present work we will look in a partial way at the methods that have been used in the course of teaching foreign languages whereby our main focus will be on detailing the Grammar Translation Method versus Direct method, where we will focus on their purposes and principles, features, advantages and disadvantages.















Method
From the point that a Method is a particular procedure for accomplishing something or a way by which people use to achieve a certain goal and as defined by CHASTAIN (1988:27) in a teaching environment, it is a strategy used by teachers to fulfill a goal of the learning process.
Arguing with the definitions above on what is a method, we can assure that it is used by language teachers to help learners to learn and understand the language and to have a complete command in the scope of it.
Language Teaching Methods
Historically, language teaching was the field of only Scholar generally written and done in the church as it was seen as a way of exercising the human intellect. These activities of exercising the human intellect involved the translating and copying of religious texts from Greek, Latin, Hebrew and Gonskrist to other languages as a way of mastering literature. By that it was believed that linguistic and psychology theories would uncover the secrets of second language learning and the problem on how to teach a second or foreign language would be solved once and for all although because of many factors that have to do with the circumstances in which language is learnt, learners difference, learning objectives, resources available and age of learners, there was and is still being a great deal on knowing how people learn a second or foreign language and what methods do teachers used or what are being used nowadays in order to accomplish the goals of language learning and teaching process. To mention that many theories and methods existed for this purpose although one contradicting another. The methods and approaches that were used and influenced language teaching practice over the past years are; Grammar Translation, Direct method, Audio-lingual, Natural approach, Total physical response, communicative language teaching, Eclectic approach, Silent way, Humanistic approach and Suggestopedia.
In all these methods we will only focus of the first two (Grammar Translation and Direct Method) detailing the differences and similarities among them, purposes, their principles and features.


Grammar Translation Method
The grammar translation method is a method of teaching foreign languages derived from the classical (sometimes called traditional) method used in the teaching of classical languages such as Greek and Latin. CHASTAIN (1988) says that this method was used for the purpose of helping learners to read and appreciate foreign language literature with the hope that trough the study of the grammar of the target language, students would become more familiar with the grammar of their native language and that familiarity would help them speak and write better in their native language.
The grammar translation method gives much emphasis on translation which starts from reading the text or scriptures in a certain language then translate it to another language. For instance, is to say that there is no focus on the communicative aspect of the language in this method because what is done most is translation rather than developing the ability to communicate in a language.
In grammar translation classes, students learn grammatical rules and then apply those rules by translating sentences between the target language and the native language.

Principles and goals of the Grammar Translation Method
A fundamental purpose of learning a foreign language is to be able to read and appreciate foreign literature as it was believed that literary language was superior to spoken language. Then, the important goal is for students to translate each language into another so that if they can translate on e language into another, they are considered successful language learners.
There are two main goals to grammar translation classes where one is to develop students' reading ability to a level where they can read literature in the target language. The other is to develop students' general mental discipline. The users of foreign language wanted simply to note things of their interest in the literature of foreign languages. Therefore, this method focuses on reading and writing followed by translation and has developed techniques which facilitate more or less the learning of reading and writing only in the context of translation.
In classes where Grammar translation is used, lessons are usually conducted in the students' native language. Grammar rules are learned deductively; students learn grammar rules by rote, and then practice the rules by doing grammar drills and translating sentences to and from the target language. More attention is paid to the form of the sentences being translated than to their content. When students reach more advanced levels of achievement, they may translate entire texts from the target language. Tests often consist of the translation of classical texts.
The other aspect is that in those classes, the teacher functions as authority and the students are always expected to get the correct answers as they are expected to make similarities between the target and native language.
The Direct Method
Also called as Natural method, this method came into use when teachers thought that learning how to use a foreign language for the purpose of communication was the goal of instruction. This method surged as an answer to the constrains found in Grammar translation method and became very popular because it focuses on one basic rule: No translation is allowed. The direct method receives its name simply from the fact that meaning is conveyed directly in the target language by demonstration and by the use of visual aids (Diller 1978).
This method encourages that as teachers we must teach language the way we learn our target language. On the other hand, But KOCAMAN (1983; 4) refers that in learning a foreign language or a second language, the acquisition is different because it only happens after having had a command of the mother tongue. However, teachers who use the Direct Method, are interested in teaching students to communicate in the target language, but in order to be successful, they also have a challenge to teach their students to think in the target language.
Contrary to the Grammar Translation Method, in the Direct method there is no translation is
allowed in the classroom. Through the use of visual aids and demonstrations meaning is conveyed in the target language without using the native language.



Principles of Direct Method
The direct method, takes into account that the purpose of language learning is to be able to communicate therefore learners need to learn how to think in the target language which means that the native language should not be used in the classroom, they teacher should try in all its means to involve and make students communicate in the target language, where lessons should contain some conversational activities to provide an opportunity for students to use the target language in real context where students are encouraged to speak as much as possible, it is also important to teach reading in the target language from the beginning of language instruction where reading skills will be developed trough practice with speaking, pronunciation will also be included in the beginning of the language instruction including the writing skill. It is important to remember that learning another language, also means or involves learning how speakers of that language live.
Direct Method vs Grammar Translation
The two methods are used in teaching of foreign or second language though they both have differences, advantages and disadvantages, which are listed in the table bellow:
Grammar Translation
Direct Method
Differences
Mother tongue involved
No use of mother tongue
The vocabulary are taught in a form of word list
Emphasis on orals aspects of the language
Focus on Morphology and Syntax
Grammar is taught inductively rater than deductively
Reading of difficult texts
Focuses on everyday vocabularies
The practice focuses on translating of texts from L1 to TL or vice verse.
Visual aids are used to teach vocabularies
Disadvantages
Students dont express themselves
Time consumption in trying to explain some abstract words.
No space for creative writing
Ignores written and reading
It neglects speech
Not useful in large classes
It causes the teacher to appear boring to students
Expressive as it requires many aids
It builds language in grammar rules


Advantages
Time saving
Gives chance for learners to participate
Easy method for children to learn through mother tongue
Students easily understand what they learn
It is a practical method
Students easily understand what they learn
No use of aids like audio visual
Fluency, pronunciation are developed
Allows learners to compare languages and memorize easily
Language acquisition done systematically.





Conclusion
During the compiling of the present work, we have seen what a method is where we have defined a method as a particular procedure used to achieve a certain goal. We mentioned the methods that existed in the teaching of languages since the 19th century though our main focus has been on two of the; grammar translation and direct method where has been detailed their principles and purposes. We have seen that the grammar translation method was the first method being used to teach classical languages and it consists on reading and translating the foreign languages into the target language meanwhile the direct method originated as a response to the lack of communicative aspect in the grammar translation method, and de natural method focuses on mastering the target language. Finally, we underlined the differences of the two methods mentioning their advantages and disadvantages.













References
Asher,James. Los Gatos, CA: SKY OAKS production Learning another language through actions: the complete teacher's guidebook (1996-p: 142);
Chastain, Kenneth. Developing second language skills. San Diego, CA: Harcourt
Brace Jovanovich. 1988.
Diller, Philly. The language teaching controversy. Rowley, Massachusetts: New House. 1978.
Gatenby, E.V. English course: A direct method 3rd edition. London, Longman. 1958.
Hermer, Jeremy. The practice of English Language Teaching. 3rd edition. Longman. 2001.
Kocama, Bahar. Theories on the Move: Translation's Role in language learning environment. Japan. 1983.