DIFFERENT LANGUAGE TEACHING METHODS
There is more than one method to teach a language and these different methods have been used to teach languages in different periods of time, according to the circumstances and different aims. Or because the previous methods did not work as it was supposed.
We see it in our daily life; we learn from different teachers but, although they are allteachers, we understand the explained things better or worse depending on who is teaching us, and how is the teacher trying to make us understand the given information. We must remember that being a teacher requires a lot of responsibility, because we will play, as teachers, an important role in the new generation’s lives.
If we pretend to be future English teachers, it is necessary to makesure that we know which the different methods for teaching a second language are.
1- THE GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD
INTRODUCTION
It is also known as the “Classical Method” because it has been used to teach classical languages as Latin and Greek. It consists basically on reading and translating literature paragraphs from the target language into the mother language of thestudents, and vice versa (in our case English–Basque/Spanish).
GOAL OF TEACHER
The goal of the teachers is to make the students be able to read literary texts in the target language and memorize grammar rules and vocabulary lists. Another goal is to learn as much syntax as possible so as to form and analyze sentences.
ROLE OF TEACHER AND STUDENTS
Theteacher is the leader and the authority in class. Students have to learn what he says and the way he says in order to learn what the teacher already knows. Students are mere passive receptors of the lesson.
CHARACTERISTICS OF THE TEACHING/LEARNING PROCESS
Students are taught to translate texts from one language to the other with this method, and after being given the grammar rulesand examples they study deductively memorizing them. They are asked to apply what they have learned into other examples. Vocabulary is learnt by heart, writing the equivalent of the foreign vocabulary words in the native language.
LANGUAGE SKILLS THAT ARE EMPHASIZED
It is given more importance to vocabulary and grammar, although reading and writing are also valuated. On theother hand, speaking ( pronunciation ) and listening are in a secondary level.
ROLE OF THE STUDENTS´NATIVE LANGUAGE
Students’ native language is very meaningful in class because of the translations, and it is the most used language in class.
TREATMENT OF ERRORS
If a student makes an error or does not know the answer, the teacher is the one that gives thecorrect answer or asks another student to give it, because it is considered very important that the student gets the correct answer.
EVALUATION
Teachers evaluate their students with written tests where they are asked to translate from their native language to the target or the other way. Questions about the foreign culture or questions where grammar rules have to be applied are alsocommon.
ADVANTAGES/DISADVANTAGES
|Advantages |Disadvantages |
|Students learn cult vocabulary and complex forms and structures. |Autocratia of the teacher |
|Understanding is improved.|Learning is limited to the knowledge of the teacher. |
|Errors or doubts are corrected rapidly and properly. |The process might be boring. |
| |Communication skills (speaking/listening) ared not developed. |
2- THE AUDIO-LINGUAL METHOD…
