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Methodology: the grammar translation method
By Jonathan Marks
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A discussion on the use of the grammar translation method in English teaching.

There are many books mentioned that grammar translation is a out of date teaching method and there isn't any theory behind it. Personally, I know that it still be used in some fields, such as engineering. Is it true that there isn't any theory behind it? If not, what is the theory that grammar translation belong to? When is better to use grammar translation approach?

Introduction

Grammar translation (hereafter GT) was originally associated with the teaching of Latin and – to a much lesser extent - ancient Greek. Interestingly, as Howatt (1984:131) points out, 'grammar' and 'translation' are actually not the distinctive features of GT, since they were already well-accepted as basic principles of language teaching. What was new was the use of invented, graded sentences rather than authentic(!) literary texts in order to make language learning easier.
The aim of teaching Latin and Greek was (and is) obviously not so that learners would be able to speak them. The aims were/are rather: to develop logical thinking to develop intellectual capacities and to have a generally educational and civilizing effect to develop, at least in the better learners, an ability to read original texts in the languages concerned to improve the standard of learners' L1
(This last point is certainly true for English. There's a long tradition of setting Latin up as a model for English, and trying to squeeze English into the framework of Latin grammar, even among those professionally engaged in working with languages - as recently as a few years ago, one correspondent seriously suggested in a letter to The Linguist (“the official journal of the Institute of Linguists”) that a