Late in the nineteenth century, around 1880, the first language learning methodology was formally described and named the “Grammar Translation Method”, which was essentially formalization of the Classical Method. Studying a foreign language back then was still connected with Latin and Greek, which were not thought for oral communication. Students concentrated on grammatical rules, syntactic structures, vocabulary memorization, and literary text translation.
The rules of this method can be summarized as follows:
- Understanding the literary language is more important than being able to speak. Therefore, reading and translating are the main tasks. The ultimate goal was to teach students how to read and write.
- The teacher is in the center of the classroom. The teacher provides guidance and corrects all the mistakes.
- Students are focused on grammar rules outside the practical context and application. All the rules must be memorized.