One of the most used and conventional method: Grammar Translation Method
Grammar Translation Method is a non-scientific method that appeared at the half of the 19th century with no practical theory. Leading experts of this method are Seidentücker, Plötz, Ollendorf and Meidinger.
In the method, the central focus is on grammatical system rather than communication. Also, it was used to teach the languages of Latin, Greek and was particularly vogue during the 16th century. As a result of politic changes, Latin was said to develop intellectual abilities and it lost it’s central importance both in spoken and written language.
Typical features of a GTM lesson:
- mother tongue
- teacher-centred
- vocabulary taught through wordlists and translation
- reading of literary passages even at low levels, with reading comprehension questions
- practice based on translation of texts to and from MT
- elaborate presentation of grammar rules
- memorization of grammar rules and vocabulary
- vocabulary exercises include antonyms and synonyms, definitions etc based on words in reading text
- composition exercises based on topics from reading texts
Why Grammar Translation Method was rejected?
- Increased opportunities for communication among the Europeans created a radical demand for speaking.
- This created the need of market for conversation books and phrase books for private studies.
- Also, language specialists turned their attention to the different way where language were taught in secondary schools, so increasingly public education system was seen to be falling.