Grammar-Translation Method

Origin and Development

According to Anthony Howatt, the grammar-translation method was developed to teach classical languages to secondary schoolchildren at Prussian Gymnasien, in Germany, or, more accurately, in Prussia; hence, Prussian method is another name for this methodology. The classical method was not considered appropriate for young children because it was a scholastic approach to language learning for highly educated individuals who were trained to read foreign-language texts by applying grammar rules to their reading. However, because people were familiar with this traditional method, it became the basic framework of the grammar-translation method, with some slight modifications. One such modification is that the literature texts used in teaching classical languages were replaced with sentences containing grammar rules that were the focus of each lesson. Inevitably, some sentences were made up artificially and became less meaningful, which became one of the drawbacks of the method.

In England, a change in the educational system enhanced the distribution of the grammar-translation Method. In the mid-19th century, a public examination system was created and justified as a way to maintain the educational standards of the middle class and the universities that controlled the system. As local schools introduced modern European languages into their curriculum, they had to demonstrate that learning those languages was as demanding and mentally beneficial as learning Latin or Greek. This pressure forced language teachers and textbook writers to follow the methods for the classical languages, and this meant that the grammar rules became thoroughly listed; accuracy in the rules of grammar was emphasized, and oral skills were not a focus in the teaching of a foreign language.

Howatt explained that the earliest textbook of the grammar-translation method was a French series for German speakers, written by Johann Valentin Meidinger, whose work became a model for the foreign-language textbooks published during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Some characteristics of this book were the inclusion of several exercises at the sentence level, translating into and out of the foreign language. Sample sentences with grammar rules were presented, and it was thought that the language learners understood the grammar rules in a clearer way in this format. Also, the grammar points were presented one by one, in a sequential, systematic order. Although Meidinger's framework was altered by successive textbook writers for teaching various languages, the general framework of those books in the grammar-translation method were the following: (a) one or two grammar rules per lesson, (b) an explicit explanation of the rules, (c) a vocabulary list from the sentences used in the lessons, and (d) phrases and sentences for practicing translation by applying the grammar rules in the lesson.

...