thegrammartranslationmethodisaforeignlanguageteachingmethodderivedfromtheclassical(sometimescalledtraditional)methodofteachingGreekandLatin.Themethodrequiresstudentstotranslatewholetextswordforwordandmemorizenumerousgrammaticalrulesandexceptionsaswellasenormousvocabularylists.Thegoalofthismethodistobeabletoreadandtranslateliterarymasterpiecesandclassics.Classeswereconductedinthenativelanguage.Achapterinadistinctivetextbookofthismethodwouldbeginwithamassivebilingualvocabularylist.Grammarpointswouldcomedirectlyfromthetextsandbepresentedcontextuallyinthetextbook,tobeexplainedelaboratelybytheinstructor.Grammarthusprovidedtherulesforassemblingwordsintosentences.Tedioustranslationandgrammardrillswouldbeusedtoexerciseandstrengthentheknowledgewithoutmuchattentiontocontent.Sentenceswouldbedeconstructedandtranslated.Eventually,entiretextswouldbetranslatedfromthetargetlanguageintothenativelanguageandtestswouldoftenaskstudentstoreplicateclassicaltextsinthetargetlanguage.Verylittleattentionwasplacedonpronunciationoranycommunicativeaspectsofthelanguage.Theskillexercisedwasreading,andthenonlyinthecontextoftranslation.AnumberofmethodsandtechniqueshaveevolvedfortheteachingofEnglishandalsootherforeignlanguagesintherecentpast,yetthismethodisstillinuseinmanypartsofIndia.Itmaintainsthemothertongueofthelearnerasthereferenceparticularlyintheprocessoflearningthesecond/foreignlanguages.ThemainprinciplesonwhichtheGrammarTranslationMethodisbasedarethefollowing:Translationinterpretsthewordsandphrasesoftheforeignlanguagesinthebestpossiblemanner.Thephraseologyandtheidiomofthetargetlanguagecanbestbeassimilatedintheprocessofinterpretation.Thestructuresoftheforeignlanguagesarebestlearnedwhencomparedandcontrastwiththoseofmothertongue.Inthismethod,whileteachingthetextbooktheteachertranslateseverywordandphrasefromEnglishintothelearnersmothertongue.Further,studentsarerequiredtotranslatesentencesfromtheirmothertongueintoEnglish.Theseexercisesintranslationarebasedonvariousitemscoveringthegrammarofthetargetlanguage.Themethodemphasizesthestudyofgrammarthroughdeductionthatisthroughthestudyoftherulesofgrammar.Acontrastivestudyofthetargetlanguagewiththemothertonguegivesaninsightintothestructurenotonlyoftheforeignlanguagebutalsoofthemothertongue.AdvantagesThegrammartranslationmethodhastwomainadvantages.Thephraseologyofthetargetlanguageisquicklyexplained.Translationistheeasiestwayofexplainingmeaningsorwordsandphrasesfromonelanguageintoanother.Anyothermethodofexplainingvocabularyitemsinthesecondlanguageisfoundtimeconsuming.Alotoftimeiswastedifthemeaningsoflexicalitemsareexplainedthroughdefinitionsandillustrationsinthesecondlanguage.Further,learnersacquiresomesortofaccuracyinunderstandingsynonymsinthesourcelanguageandthetargetlanguage.Teacher’slaborissaved.Sincethetextbooksaretaughtthroughthemediumofthemother1tongue,theteachermayaskcomprehensionquestionsonthetexttaughtinthemothertongue.Pupilswillnothavemuchdifficultyinrespondingtoquestionsinthemothertongue.So,theteachercaneasilyassesswhetherthestudentshavelearnedwhathehastaughtthem.Communicationbetweentheteacherandthelearnerdoesnotcauselinguisticproblems.EventeacherswhoarenotfluentinEnglishcanteachEnglishthroughthismethod.Thatisperhapsthereasonwhythismethodhasbeenpracticedsowidelyandhassurvivedsolong.[edit]DisadvantagesAlongwithitsadvantages,thegrammartranslationmet...
