a. Discuss the differences between the Grammar Translation Approach and the
Direct Approach.
b. Which approach most closely aligns with your current teaching style?
a. It was an interesting and also enlightening journey that we made through the
“time machine” wherein we saw the striking differences between these two
approaches. While the Grammar Translation Approach focuses on the historical and
cultural aspects and penetrate the world of literature, the Direct Approach
concentrates on the “world” itself. It supports the idea of “child acquisition”, in other
words, the Direct Approach form basis to learn the language directly from the real
life as a child learn the native language, to immerse ourselves in culture, not classic
literature. If the purpose of the first approach is to teach young men to speak
correctly in order not to be an “ignorant” person, on the other hand, the purpose of
the second approach is to teach students who really want to travel through the
language.
There are also differences in the materials, these approaches use. As making
dialogues, conversations, reading passages about geography, culture, history was the
main features in the beginning of the 20th century, translating the literary works in
different genres, from the writers like Homer, Cicero, Aristotle, learning language
in a disciplined and systematic way was dominant in the approach of late 19th
century. From the point of their tecniques, one can see the main difference in the
large amount of materials that are required. The Grammar Translation Approach
presents reading books again and again, giving students long lists of vocabulary
(maybe 500 words), using “back” translation, etc. In contrary, the Direct Approach
mainly presents conversation practice, question and answer sessions, visual aids etc.,
which leads to improvement of speaking and listening skills.
b. Between these two approaches, the Direct Approach is the one that most relate to
my teaching style. Because we all learn, as children learns the language, we point
out the things we want to learn. As being explorers of the world surrounding us, it’s
like there is no way for us, but to “speak”, communicate in order to be a part of the
community. First, we listen, then we produce the information we recorded in our
mind. All of these can be transferred to the process of teaching language. Students
can use role-play activities in different themes, which using of gestures, pictures,
videos can help to immerse themselves in an unknown culture. In addition, with the
help of Self-Correction technique and using maps and information gaps which
makes students interacts with each-other, can strengthen their speaking skills.