The Purpose of Learning a Foreign Language

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The purpose of learning a foreign language is communication and this can be achieved by communicating in the foreign language (Walia, 2012). Therefore, thorough practise in grammatical exercises or memorizing dialogues and phrases do not provide the required results as actual attempts at spontaneous conversation in the foreign language. The Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Approach were replaced by the Communicative Method as the former two were insufficient in certain ways as primary language teaching methods. Although both the Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Approach have their merits, they do not satisfy the primary requirements of learning a language: allowing learners to practise communicating in the foreign language. The Communicative Approach provides learners with the opportunity to explore and practise the foreign language in social and cultural contexts, which allows learners to eventually master the L2. The reasons as to why the Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Approach were considered largely unsuccessful will be discussed below. The Grammar Translation Method focused primarily on two skills: reading and writing (Iravani, 2014) with greater emphasis on grammatical principles. This is no surprise as at the time this method was very popular as a primary method in language teaching, language learning was limited to absorbing knowledge of the foreign language’s literature (Iravani, 2014) and language learning itself was considered an intellectual pastime. Therefore, no importance is given to speaking and listening (Iravani, 2014), which rules this method out as an effective approach to foreign language teaching. L1 was used as the medium of instruction (Shengxi, Lei, Huan & M... ... middle of paper ... ...en using the Grammar Translation Method and the Audiolingual Approach in isolation and using the Communicative Approach is that the latter employs many methods to provide learners with a through and well-rounded language learning experience. Works Cited Walia, D.N. (2012). Traditional Teaching Methods vs. CLT: A Study. Frontiers of Language and Teaching, Vol. 3, 125-131. Shengxi, L., Lei, L., Huan, M. and Min, Y. 2014. Second Language Teaching Methods. [online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/guest0c02e6/second-language-teaching-methods# [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014]. Larsen-Freeman, D. and Anderson, M. 2011. Techniques and principles in language teaching. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press. Cited in Iravani, H. 2014. Teaching methods. [online] Available at: http://www.slideshare.net/ghost45/teaching-methods-5772546 [Accessed: 28 Jan 2014].

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