B. Direct Method
1. Understanding Direct Method
People can learn vocabulary through many methods. One of the methods is through direct method. The direct method is not new. Its principle has been
applied by language teachers for many years. Most recently, it was revived as a method when the goal of instruction became learning how to use a foreign
language to communicate. Since the grammar translation method was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicatively. The
direct method becomes popular.
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The direct method, which arrived at the end of the ninetieth century, was the product of reform movement which was reacting to the restrictions of grammar
translation. Translation was abandoned in favour of the teacher and the students speaking together, relating the grammatical forms they were studying to objects
and pictures, etc. in order to establish their meaning. The sentence was still the main object of interest, and accuracy was all important.
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The direct method has one very basic rule. No translation is allowed. In fact, the direct method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be conveyed
directly with the target language through the use of demonstration and visual aids, with no recourse to the students’ native language.
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The direct method, in rejecting the use of translation developed as a reaction to such highly intellectual
approaches to language learning as grammar translation method
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. As Schmitt state, direct method emphasized exposure to oral language, with listening as the
primary skill. Meaning was related directly to the target language without the step
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Diane Larsen Freeman, Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000,p. 23
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Jeremy Harmer, The Practice of English Language Teaching. London: Pearson Education, 4
th
ed, 2007, p.63
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Freeman, Techniques and Principles.., p. 23
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Jeremy Harmer, How to Teach Vocabulary.London: Longman.2002, p.78
of translation, and explicit grammar teaching was done played. Direct Method had its problem. It required teacher to be proficient in the target language.
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2. Characteristics of Direct Method
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