b. Dynamic; there are a number of different people to react it, to share ideas
with and so on; exchange of information is sometimes more ‘natural’ in smaller-scale interaction.
c. Positive atmosphere; collaborative learning can promote a positive
atmosphere or ‘affective climate’. Motivation is improved if learners feel less inhibited and more able to explore possibility self expressions;
therefore collaboration in the classroom is encouraged. One of the important aspects of collaborative learning is that it is
helping promote collaborative behavior and better group relations among students. It is simultaneously helping students with their academic writing.
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The disadvantages of collaborative learning are: a.
It takes much time to organize the group. The teacher should make the groups that combine all the students that have different intelligences
heterogeneous groups. b.
The class becomes noisy. It could annoy other students. c.
The learners become confuse at the beginning. When the role of teacher just as the mediators, the learners is expected to learn with their groups.
The learners are confused about the learning goal. They must take the conclusion and opinion based many different discussions and minds.
C. Grammar Translation Method
5. The Definitions of Grammar Translation Method
The Grammar Translation method is a method of foreign or second language teaching which uses translation and grammar study as the main teaching and
learning activities. At one time The Grammar-Translation Method was called
32
Jo Mcdonough and Cristopher Shaw, Materials and Method in ELT: a Teacher’s Guide, Massachusets: Blakwell Publishing, 2003, 2
nd
ed, p. 203
Classical Method since it was first used in the teaching of the classical languages of Latin and Greek.
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Grammar Translation was in fact first known in the United States as the Prussian Method.
34
The Grammar Translation method, or classical method emerged when people of the western world wanted to learn foreign languages
such as Latin and Greek. Its focus was on grammatical rules, the memorization of vocabulary and of various declensions and conjugations, translations of texts,
doing written exercises. Mean while Richards and Rogers defined the Grammar Translation
Method as a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this
knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language.
35
The related argument that studying Greek and Latin helped to further a certain intellectual discipline: the mind being trained, it was asserted, by logical analysis
of the language, extensive memorization of complicated rules and paradigms, and the application of these rules and paradigms in translation exercises.
36
By this explanation Grammar-translation method is also called the ‘traditional method’.
This does not mean that it is the oldest method. It has been, and still is used in language teaching and learning.
As we know, while teaching the text books the teacher translates every word into the mother tongue of students. Further, students are required to translate
sentences from their mother tongue into English. These exercises in translation
33
Article “Grammar Translation method” assessed at 10 June 2007 http: en. wikipedia.org wiki Grammar_translation
34
Jack C. Richard Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, a Description and Analysis.
New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986, p. 3
35
Richards and Rodgers, Approaches and Methods., p. 3.
36
Roger Bowers, Applied Linguistics and English Language Teaching, London: Macmillan Publishers, 1991, p. 147.
are based on various items covering the grammar of the target language. The method emphasizes the study of grammar through deduction that is through the
study of the rules of grammar. A contrastive study of the target language with the mother tongue gives a view into the structure not only of the foreign language but
also of the mother tongue.
Classes are taught in the students mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists.
Explanations of grammar are always provided. Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting words together; instruction often focuses on the form and
inflection of words. Reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of study. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises
in grammatical analysis. Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue, and vice
versa. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
From the explanation above, the writer interprets the Grammar Translation method as a traditional method that emphasizes in writing and reading skill. The
translation to mother tongue is needed to support language teaching and learning. Learning literary is main focus in this method.
6. The Theories Underlying Grammar Translation Method
