Critical Review:  “The break with the method concept”do livro: “Fundamental Concepts of language teaching” by H. H. Stern.

          No capítulo 21: “The break with the method concept” do livro: “Fundamental Concepts of language teaching” by H. H. Stern mostra os novos pensamentos sobre os métodos de ensino.

          Os métodos que o autor se refere são os utilizados para ensinar a segunda língua. O texto propõe uma nova abordagem sobre a definição de método através da análise dos princípios fundamentais. Além disso, essa análise visa definir o que há de melhor em cada método.

          A aprendizagem dos métodos de ensino tem grande importância para o professor, pois é através delas que o professor tem a oportunidade de associar as orientações teóricas com a prática no ensino de línguas.

          Além disso, vale ressaltar que o ensino de língua envolve as reflexões das experiências do professor e de outros conhecimentos como: lingüística, sociologia, psicologia e educação. Essa construção do conhecimento do professor sobre os métodos de ensino irá determinar se ele irá utilizar somente um método especifico ou se fará a combinação de todos eles.

          A Mudança de pensamento sobre o ensino de língua envolvendo a nova concepção de métodos foi construída através dos estudos de Mackey e de outros lingüistas. Esses teóricos afirmaram que o ensino de língua envolve materiais, professor e aluno. Eles conceituaram diferentes etapas para ensino de línguas no que se refere e inclui formação profissional e a aplicação do conhecimento e a avaliação que envolve reflexão do conhecimento que foi aplicado.

          Bosco e Di Pietro identificaram e definiram onze aspectos distintos que são divididos em: oito aspectos psicológicos e três lingüísticos. Esses autores classificaram os métodos de acordo com os aspectos semelhantes e diferentes. Essa visão de método ocorre através da interpretação intuitiva dos aspectos, porém é uma grande descoberta para a pedagogia da língua.

          Krashem e Seliger também identificaram e classificaram oito aspectos para analisar os métodos, porém tais aspectos são menos compreensíveis do que os de Bosco e Di Pietro.

          Todas essas análises apresentam características comuns e divergentes quanto as teorias e práticas no ensino de língua, dos conceitos das categorias analíticas de cada método. Dessa forma, cabe ao professor interpretar o que há de bom em cada método para aplicar no ensino de uma língua.

THE GRAMMAR-TRANSLATION METHOD

-          First half of the 19^th century;

-          Teaching classical languages: Latin, Greek;

-          Appreciation of foreign language literature. 

PRINCIPLES

1. The study of the grammar of the target language helps students speak and write better in the native language;
2. Learning a foreign language helps students grow intellectually;
3. Enabling students to read literature written in a foreign language: the fundamental purpose;
4. Enabling students to translate each language into another: the idea of success and the central goal;
5. Reading and writing are superior to speaking and listening;
6. The teacher is the authority in the classroom: traditional roles;
7. Correct answers are very important;
8. Similarities between target and native languages are emphasized;
9. Form of the target language is superior to content;
10. Deduction over induction;
11. Memorization of vocabulary, grammatical rules, verb conjugations and other grammatical paradigms;
12. Communication is not emphasized.

TECHNIQUES  

1. Translation of a literary passage;
2. Reading and answering comprehension questions in the target language;
3. Antonyms and synonyms;
4. Cognates;
5. Deductive application of rule;
6. Fill-in-the-blanks;
7. Memorization;
8. Use words in sentences;
9. Composition.

ADVANTAGES:

• The acquisition of the skill of translating each language into the other in both writing and reading;
• Translation is the easiest way of explaining meanings or words and phrases from one language into another. Any other method is found time consuming. A lot of time is wasted if the meanings of lexical items are explained through definitions and illustrations in the second language.
• Teacher’s labour is saved. The lesson is taught in the mother tongue as well as the texts. The students make questions and the teacher answers in the first language. The instructions are also given in the first language. So the only difficulties students face, besides memorizing many things, are reading and answering comprehension questions in the target language and writing a composition also in the target language;  
• So, because of the use of the mother tongue almost all the time, the teacher can easily know if the students have learnt what he has taught.
• Therefore, communication between the teacher and the learners does not cause linguistic problems.
• Even teachers who are not fluent in the target language can teach it through this method. That is perhaps the reason why this method has been practiced so widely and has survived so long.

                                           DISADVANTAGES

• Students become very dependent on translation, and, as we know, exact translation from one language to another is not always possible. People who have learnt a foreign or second language through this method find it difficult to give up the habit of first thinking in their mother tongue and than translating their ideas into the second language. Therefore, they fail to get proficiency in the target language, which is frustrating. Thus, students can get really unmotivated with this method.
• Besides, translation is a difficult task. There are several lexical items in one language, which have no synonyms/equivalents in another language. For instance, the meaning of the English word ‘table’ does not fit in such expression as the ‘table of contents’, ‘table of figures’, ‘multiplication table’, ‘time table’ and ‘table the resolution’, etc. Each language has its own structure, idiom and usage, which do not have their exact counterparts in another language.
• The Grammar-Translation Method gives students the wrong idea of what language is and of the relationship between languages. Language is seen as a collection of words which are isolated and independent and there must be a corresponding word in the native language for each foreign word.
• The method does not follow the natural order of learning a language, which is listening, speaking, reading and writing. That is the way how the child learns his mother tongue in natural surroundings. But in the Grammar Translation Method the teaching of the second language starts with the teaching of reading. Thus, the learning process is reversed. This poses problems.
• Speaking and listening are neglected. The Grammar Translation Method lays emphasis on reading and writing. Thus, the students who are taught English through this method fail to express themselves adequately in spoken English. Even at the undergraduate stage they feel shy of communicating through English. It has been observed that in a class, which is taught English through this method, learners listen to the mother tongue more than that to the second/foreign language. Since language learning involves habit formation such students fail to acquire habit of speaking English. Thus, they have to pay a heavy price for being taught through this method.
• In the Grammar-Translation Method the learning of the target patterns do not focus the ability to communicate in the foreign language. Researchers in linguistics have proved that it is quite impossible to speak any language, whether native or foreign, entirely by rule. Language learning means acquiring certain skills, which can be learnt through practice and not by just memorizing rules.
• The activities proposed by this method do not have the purpose to be fun or bring some joy to the students. They are usually boring.
• Teachers who are not fluent in English can teach English through this method. The teacher may ask comprehension questions on the text taught in the mother tongue.

BY: Ana Paula e Mayara