In this method the two
things which pre-dominate the teaching of English are:
1. Translation
2. Teaching of
grammar
Hence this method is also
known by the name Translation-cum-Grammar
Method. This method, perhaps, has enjoyed the largest tradition in the
teaching of English in India. Not only in India, but this method had been
followed everywhere where the necessity of learning a second language had been
felt. Latin, Greek, German and French had also been taught by this method in
the West.
According to this method,
the first and foremost principle of learning a language is to learn the
meanings of the new words, phrases and sentences of the target language in the
mother tongue of the learner. This method is based on the belief that a foreign
language like English can be easily and conveniently learnt through
translation. While using this method the teacher translates the English words,
phrases and sentences into the vernacular through translated words into the
meaning of a complete sentence.
The German scholar Storm emphasizes the significance of
translation in the following words. “It is not till one can translate the word
that one has complete mastery over it so that one not only understands it, but
can use it”.
Principles
Underlying the Method
1. Translation interprets
foreign phraseology in the best manner.
2. In the
process of interpretation, the foreign phraseology is assimilated.
3. The
structure of a foreign language is best learnt when compared and contrasted
with that of the mother tongue.
Characteristics
of the Method
1. The unit of teaching is word. The method
employs word-for-word translation.
2. The method
requires the wholesale translation of English into the mother tongue of the
learner. As such the mother tongue
dominates the teaching of English.
3. The language
material presented for study is graded according to a grammatical plan. As such
it is believed that a comparative and contrasting study of the mother tongue
grammar and that of the English grammar helps in mastering the grammar of
English.
4. During the
process of translation and comparative study of grammar, the structure of
English can be best understood.
Advantages
of Method
1. It is an
easy method for, here , we proceed from the known to the unknown. The unknown
or new language is learnt with the help of the known language viz., the mother
tongue.
2. The method
helps the learners in getting the needed vocabulary. Here they learn the
English vocabulary with the help of the mother tongue vocabulary. As such they
remember these words pairing with the mother tongue words.
3. Teaching
through this method is economical in the sense that it doesn’t require the use
of any expensive teaching-learning material for explaining the meanings of the
foreign words and phrases. Instead the mother tongue equivalents are given. It
is again time-saving for here in using this method there is no need to create
situations verbal or pictorial to explain the meanings of the words. Above all
it is effective because the learners can easily understand the meanings of words
when translated into their mother tongue. Due to all the above reasons learning
through this method is easy.
4. English
words and phrases can be best interpreted and assimilated with the help of the
mother tongue.
5. By comparing
and contrasting English grammar with that of the mother tongue grammar, English
grammar can be easily and effectively taught and learned.
6. It gives a
clear insight into the structure or syntax of English. During the process of
integrating the mother tongue equivalents of the English words into a
meaningful whole the learners will get a clear understanding of the structure
of English.
7. The
comprehension of the learners can be quickly tested through this method. They
may be asked to translate a word or phrase or sentence into their mother tongue.
Disadvantages
of the Method
Translation, no doubt,
is essential in the early stages of learning a foreign language. The beginners
can’t understand if an explanation is given in the foreign language itself.
They must be told in the mother tongue what has been said in the foreign
language. However the Translation Method suffers from the following
disadvantages:
1. There are
thousands of words in English for which there are no exact equivalents in other
languages. Words like ice, field, ‘key’
in music, drawing room etc. as quoted by Champion cannot be translated into most of the Indian languages.
Further the difference between ice and
snow can hardly be understood by
Indian children through translation. The shades of meaning and secondary
meanings of words cannot be explained through translation. For instance, the
subtle differences in the meanings of words like happiness, joy, gladness, rapture, trance and ecstasy cannot be made clear through translation. As such the
method fails to communicate differences in language and spirit.
2. This method
stress on reading and writing. It makes no provision for training in speech.
Reading and writing come before speaking. It is like “keeping the horse in
front of the cart” which is quite unnatural. Actually reading and writing
should follow speech. As such it is unnatural method.
3. Grammar
plays an important role in this method. The lessons based on grammatical
principles may appear logical to an adult mind but the grammatical bias doesn’t
make the lesson interesting for the young learners.
4. In this
method the unit of teaching is word and
not sentence. As such the learners
break up the sentence into words in order to understand its meaning instead of understanding the meaning of the
sentence as a whole. This prevents cultivating the habit of rapid reading on
the part of the learners.
5. This method
doesn’t create a direct bond between thought and expression. In this book, ‘Modernism in Language Teaching’, Moore writes, “Children begin thinking
in their mother tongue and then they convert their ideas into English. They
form the habit of using their mother tongue in excess and the result is having
done the translation, the pupil is almost as far from the goal as always”. In
the words of Morris, “The child who
is brought upon this method is like the would-be-swimmer who fears to let go
his hold on the bath rail and if employed to do so, either makes spasmodic
attempts at swimming in shallow waters or soon gets out of his depths with
disastrous consequences”.
6. Word-for-word
translation often results in a meaningless jumble of words. For example, idioms
like 1. It rained in cats and dogs. 2.
He was born with a silver spoon in his mouth. 3. You have to do it by hook or
crook., when translated into the mother tongue look awkward.
DIRECT
METHOD
It is a sort
of reaction against the traditional method of teaching a foreign language viz.,
The Translation Method. In the beginning it was known as The Natural Method. It is because this method tries to make the
learners learn a foreign language like English as naturally as that of learning
their own mother tongue.
Meaning and
Definition
It is called
as Direct Method because it aims at teaching English or any
other foreign language directly without the assistance of any other language
especially that of the mother tongue. It seeks to establish a direct link or
bond between experience and expression; between the English word or phrase or
idiom and its meaning. That is, this method tries to make the learners express
in the target language what they think, feel of experience. Felix Franke defined the Direct Method in the following words.
“The moment a concept (meaning) and a foreign word are intimately brought into
contact without the intervention of the native word we have the Direct Method”.
Features of
the Method
According to H.E. Palmer the following are the
important features of the Direct Method
1. Translation
in any shape or form is banished from the English class including the use of
the mother tongue and the bilingual dictionary.
2. Grammar,
when taught, is taught inductively.
3. Oral
teaching precedes any form of reading and writing.
4. The use of
disconnected sentences is replaced by the use of connected texts.
5. Pronunciation
is to be taught systematically on a more or less phonetic basis.
6. The meaning
of words and forms are taught by means of objects or by natural contexts.
7. The
vocabulary and structure of a language are inculcated to a large extent by
questions asked by the teacher and answered by the pupils.
Principles
of the Method
1.
Oral
Approach
The method
lays emphasis on the oral aspect of teaching English. According to this method
the best way of establishing a direct bond between experience and expression is
to make the learner constantly listen to and speak English. Thus speech comes
first in this method.
2.
Inhibition
of the Mother Tongue
The method
tries to create and establish an English atmosphere while teaching English.
This means using only the target language namely English and avoiding the use
of the mother tongue as far as possible. When the pupils learning English any
unnecessary use of the mother tongue is injurious or harmful to listening and
speaking English. Every effort is made in the Direct Method to make learners express themselves in English and to
understand directly what is said in English.
3.
Sentence as
the Unit of Expression
Unlike the
Translation Method which makes the word as unit of expression, the Direct Method makes sentence as unit of
expression. For it is believed that mere lists of words do not convey any
meaning. One learns to convey one’s ideas only in sentences or at least in
groups of words that convey the meaning of a sentence. As such sentence is the
unit of expression in this method.
4.
Inductive
Teaching of Grammar
Whereas
grammar is taught deductively in the Translation
Method, it is taught inductively in the Direct Method. Strictly speaking, there is no place for theoretical
grammar in the Direct Method. That is, grammar is not taught for its own sake.
However, the method makes use of grammar as a means to an end, as a tool for
learning the correct use of language. The Translation Method involved the
formal study of grammar, the memorizing of rules and examples. But according to
the Direct Method learning to speak, read and write precede the inductive study
of grammar.
5.
Teaching New
Vocabulary
The new
vocabulary is taught in this method after careful selection and gradation.
Controlled vocabulary is taught in definite stages. New words are taught by
means of association, explanation or using in a suitable context or situation.
The Direct Method is more
systematic than the Translation Method. Its main objective is to make the
learner think in the foreign language and use it as early as possible with the
same facility as the native speakers of the language would display. In this
method speech rather than reading receives greater emphasis. For it is believed
that influency in speech paves the way for fluency in reading and facility in
writing. Kitson has rightly
observed. Learning to speak a language is by far the shortest road to learning
to read and write it.
Advantages
of the Method
1. Unlike the
Translation Method which emphasizes only the reading comprehension and written
expression of the target language, the Direct Method aims at giving a real
command over the target language viz., English. The direct association between
the English word and its meaning facilitates the comprehension of English as
well as expression in speech and writing. Learners acquire fluency of speech.
They learn to think directly in English without the intervention of the mother
tongue. They are quick at understanding spoken English. They also acquire good
pronunciation. Learners taught through this method converse with facility.
2. The
Translation Method advocates a liberal use of the mother tongue. But there is
restriction on the use of the mother tongue in the Direct Method. This
restriction encourages and forces the learners to express their thoughts
directly in English. This in turn, ensures fluency of speech and care in
writing. Mcnea believes that the Direct Method is the
quickest way of learning and expanding vocabulary.
3. Fluency of
speech and facility in writing, in turn, makes the reading of English easy and
pleasant. Champion is of the opinion
that it even assists in the critical study of literature as it imparts a
feeling for the language.
4. The Direct
Method makes use of different kinds of aids or teaching-learning material in
order to explain the meaning of words or structures as it bans the use of the
mother tongue in teaching English. The use of the different kinds of
teaching-learning material like pictures, models, objects etc. make the lesson
real and interesting. It motivates the pupils to learn.
5. This method
is psychologically sound as it follows the basic principles of learning namely
“proceed from particular to general, proceed from concrete to the abstract and
practice must precede theory.
Disadvantages
of the Method
1. Like the
Translation Method, the Direct Method too is an incomplete method. The weakness
of the method is obvious more in practice theory than O. Grady points out, “There is not enough writing, not enough
progress in the type of writing, there is not enough reading”. Reading and
writing don’t receive due attention. It is observed that the pupils who are
good at speech commit many mistakes in writing.
2. This method
doesn’t suit all kinds of learners. The average and below average learners are
not benefited by this method. By making active command of English all
important, the method make the learning of English more difficult than it need
be. In the opinion of Dr. Bretton¸only
the clever child can profit by this method.
3. The Direct
Method believes that in fixing the foreign phraseology the aural-oral approach
is stronger than the visual. No doubt, it is psychologically sound, but the
fact that all learners are not linguistically minded is ignored by this method.
Many learn better by seeing than by listening.
4. This is a
difficult and expensive method. The success of the method depends on the
extensive use of the audio-visual material which is rather expensive. Our
schools, in general, cannot provide proper facilities and sufficient equipment
for practicing the method successfully.
5. This method
requires ample space for the free and independent movements of the teacher and
the learners. But our class room, wherever they are, fall short of proper
accommodation and are over-crowded.
6. According to
this method grammar is to be taught inductively in connection with reading and
composition lessons. This requires such readers wherein the reading material
and grammar are closely associated. But in practice such readers are not
available. As such this method cannot be practiced at large.
BILINGUAL METHOD
What is
Bilingual Method?
Bilingual
Method is a sort of compromise between the two traditional methods namely the Translation Grammar Method and the Direct Method, and combines in itself
the chief advantages of both the methods. Meanings of difficult words are
quickly and speech is emphasized as in the Direct Method. The Translation
Method advocates a liberal use of the mother tongue in teaching a foreign
language while the Direct Method completely inhibits the use of the mother
tongue. But the Bilingual Method believes that it is a waste of time to
recreate the situations while teaching a foreign language which were originally
learnt by the children while learning their mother tongue. The teaching-learning
process will be facilitated if only mother tongue equivalents are given to the
pupils without duplicating or recreating the situations. Instead a through
pattern drill and practice are advised. Thus the Bilingual Method is nothing
but using the mother tongue to a minimum extent while teaching a foreign
language.
Bilingual
Method versus Translation Method
The
question, as to how the Bilingual Method different from the Translation Method
for in both the mother tongue is used, may arise. No doubt, the Bilingual
Methods is nothing but a modification of the Translation Method. However, the
Bilingual Method differs from the Translation Method in the following respects.
1. In the
Bilingual Method, the mother tongue is used by the teacher only, that too, for
explaining the meaning of the difficult words and usages. But in the
Translation Method, mother tongue is used both by the teacher and the pupils
and is used continuously.
2. Translation
of the word or sentence is supplemented by the teacher explaining it in English
in the Bilingual Method. The teacher quickly begins to explain things in
English after using the mother tongue. But this does place in the Translation
Method.
3. A through
structure drill and practice is provided in the Bilingual Method which is
absent in the Translation Method.
Advantages
of the Method
1. Te use of
the mother tongue facilitates quick and easy understanding of the subject on
the part of the pupils.
2. Even an
average teacher of English can teach successfully through this method for he
need not construct situations in order to convey the meanings in English only.
3. The method
promotes both accuracy and fluency.
4. It does not
require any special facilities or expensive equipment and such suited to all
types of schools, rural and urban.
5. Unlike the
Direct Method which ignores the linguistic habits already acquired by the
pupils in learning the mother tongue, the Bilingual Method makes use of them.
Disadvantages
1. In the hands
of an unimaginative teacher, the Bilingual Method may degenerate into the
Translation Method with all its attendant drawbacks.
2. The English
teacher who has to use this method should necessarily be a bilingual himself
that he should have mastery in both the languages. Or else he will have to cut
a sorry figure.
DR.
WEST’S METHOD
Dr. Michael West spent many years in West
Bengal and he studied the way in which English was taught in India and was
dissatisfied. He came out with a new method of teaching English which is named
after him as Dr. West’s New Method.
Just as the Direct Method is a reaction against the Translation Method and
suggested improvements on it, so also Dr. West’s Method is a reaction against the Direct
Method and suggested improvements on it.
Principles
of the New Method
Dr. Michael West is of
the opinion that by far a majority of the Indian learners of English require
only a passive knowledge of the language. He feels that the Direct Method has
laid too much importance on the development of speech on the part of the
learners and Dr. West tries to lessen this excessive importance given to speech
by stressing Reading. His new Method
is based on the following principles.
1. Reading
comprehension should be given priority in the teaching of English.
2. Separate
readers with carefully selected and graded vocabulary should be provided.
3. Mother
tongue should be judiciously used while teaching English.
Place of the
Reader
In the
opinion of Dr. West the reading ability on the part of the learner can be
improved in solitude without the help of the teacher. For this the pupils
should be initiated to read with care and derive pleasure from his reading. Dr.
West developed a series of readers with controlled vocabulary containing
interesting reading material. The vocabulary used in these readers was
non-technical in nature. The readers were amply illustrated with pictures which
would explain the meaning of the reading material. In addition frequent use of
the mother tongue for explaining the meanings of the English words was allowed.
It was believed that these readers would serve as introduction for the later
reading of adult life.
Dr West kept the size
of the vocabulary as small as possible. He distributed the new words evenly
among all the lessons to facilitate reading comprehension on the part of the
learners. The vocabulary included common place words. Whenever a new word was
introduced, it was repeated a number of times in the course of the lesson so as
to make it familiar to the reader. To know whether the learners have learnt the
vocabulary or not the teachers has to test their comprehension.
Importance
of Oral Reading
Dr. West
believed that oral reading is preparatory to silent reading. In addition oral
reading strengthens silent reading. In the opinion of Dr. West reading involves
some inner speech habits and the learner will have to do some oral reading from
the beginning.
Salient
Reading and Surrender Value
West
believed that Indian pupils require the ability to read English more than the
abilities of speaking and writing. This reading in his opinion, should be
silent, not oral. Oral reading is considered as preparatory to silent reading.
Speaking and writing of the language are only secondary to pupils and
practically they do not have any opportunities for speaking for speaking or
writing English.
The child who is
properly trained in reading the language, however early he may leave the
school, will certainly benefit from this purposeful reading. Dr. West expressed
this view based on the fact that most Indian children withdraw from the school
without completing the prescribed years of study. Hence he proposed that they
must learn something of English which might be of permanent value to them in
their later life. This he calls as the surrender
value. According to Dr. West, “Surrender value is the proportionate amount
of benefit which a pupil derives from attending an incomplete course of
instruction”.
Reading and
Language Learning
In the
opinion of Dr West learning to read a language, perhaps, is the shortest road
to learning to speak and write it. According to him much passive work should
precede and lay the foundation for active work. Efficiency in reading will
enable the pupils acquire proficiency in speech and writing.
Speech
In the
opinion of Dr West reading a language is much easier than speaking it. In
accordance with the principle of specific practice, the four-fold skills of
language learning viz., listening, speaking, reading and writing should not be
taught simultaneously through a composite reader.
Learning to read is
different from learning to speak. Speech is spontaneous whereas reading is
deliberate. But this is true in the case of the mother tongue only, that too if
the learner lives in the environment of the target language. But it is not so
when it comes to the question of Indians learning English. Neither do they live
in the environment of the language nor do they have the natural incentive to
learn English. While teaching English both the skills viz., speaking and
reading have to be taught deliberately.
Again both these skills
namely reading and speaking are not acquired in the same manner. They are
different from each other and each skill requires a different kind of
vocabulary. Speaking requires wholly active vocabulary whereas reading requires
a large amount of passive vocabulary. While speaking we use only those words
which we know very well in terms of meaning and context of use. But it is not
so in case of reading. While reading we don’t have an option to choose our own
vocabulary. We have to be familiar with the vocabulary commonly used by the
writers. In the words of Dr West, “The ideal speaking vocabulary is the most
easily used set of words capable of expressing the largest number of ideas”.
West has arranged words
under two main categories. It is by a process of elimination of the larger
number of words that he feels that a minimum of 1158 words are adequate for
day-to-day ordinary speech. The two main categories of words are:
1.
Structural
Words: These
are the words popularly known as the words with which we speak. They are known
as the form (structural) words which
make up the form (structure) of the
language. For example, prepositions,
auxiliaries, articles and pronouns.
2.
Content
Words: These
are popularly known as the words about which we speak. They make up the content or subject matter of the language and consist largely of nouns, adjectives, verbs and adverbs.
Advantages
of the Method
1. The method
stresses on the development of reading skill which is an essential part of
language learning. It emphasizes silent part of the learners and improves their
reading comprehension.
2. As silent
reading is free from phonetic difficulties the learners find it easy to read
the language and thus encouraged to read further.
3. Facility in
reading develops a feeling for the language. In turn, it develops a taste for
the study of literature, especially short stories.
4. As the
vocabulary of the reading material is very much controlled reading
comprehension skill is developed very easily. Frequent repetition of the words
increases the vocabulary of the learners.
5. Even a
learner who withdraws from the school before the completion of the prescribed
course of study gets the relative benefit out of it due to the surrender value
that is stressed by this method.
Disadvantages
of the Method
1. Dr West has
overestimated the value of passive work as an aid to active work. His assertion
that silent reading paves the way for speech training and skill in writing is
not corroborated by modern investigation into language learning. On the
contrary it is now agreed that the best way of learning a language is by
speaking it.
2. This method
doesn’t help in acquiring the correct pronunciation of English for it lays
undue emphasis on silent reading. The key to right pronunciation is to listen
to and speak the language, not reading the language.
3. This is not
a complete method as it doesn’t give equal importance to all the skills of
language learning. It lays emphasis only on reading. And reading alone makes language
learning dull and monotonous. Psychologically it is not a sound method as
listening and speaking are not learnt first which should be transferred to
reading and writing.
4. The readers
planned by Dr West also present a problem. They are bulky in the early stages
and light in the advanced stages. Actually the reverse of this would have been
meaningful and fruitful. The vocabulary, being graded, necessitates the
completion of the reader before a new reader is commenced.
5. Want to
teachers properly trained comes in the way of the successful utilization of the
method.
