Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Historical Background
During World War II it became evident that neither the Grammar-Translation Method
nor the Reading Method was producing students capable of speaking foreign
languages well enough to communicate with allies or to understand enemy
communications. The U.S. government therefore turned to methods that were
grounded in the linguistic and psychological theories of the time, which were later
adapted for use in public schools as the Audiolingual Method. By the 1960s the
Audiolingual Method had replaced the Grammar-Translation Method for teaching
foreign languages in most U.S. classrooms. However, grammar-translation techniques
continue to be used throughout the world in teaching classical languages and
occasionally modern languages, especially less commonly-taught languages.
The goals of the method are to develop the ability to read literature in the target
language, as well as to develop "an excellent mental discipline, a fortitude of spirit
and a broad humane understanding of life" (Titone, 1968, p. 26). "Mental discipline"
is thought to be fostered through the analysis of complex grammatical structures. A
secondary goal is to improve students' understanding of their native language through
practice in grammatical analysis.
Classroom Activities
The lesson culminates in a series of exercises that require students to translate from
their native language to the target language and vice-versa. The exercises may involve
excerpts of literary texts, or they may simply consist of individual sentences designed
to illustrate the grammar points at hand. Emphasis is placed on grammatical accuracy.
The lesson in the video shows a first-year class in Attic Greek (a dialect of ancient
Greece) taught by Dr. Bill Tortorelli of Brigham Young University. As the lesson
consists partly of a review of verb forms, it does not depict all the phases of a
"typical" grammar-translation lesson; nevertheless, it illustrates how some of the
method's techniques may be effectively used when the goal is to develop grammatical
understanding and translation skills. The lesson begins with a review of tense and
aspect, followed by a discussion of verb conjugation and practice translating sentences
that exemplify the verb forms being studied.