The weak points of this

The weak points of this


1. The learners are kept busy with the futile task of memorizing lists of words with their meanings. This certainty does not lead to the learning of the foreign language, since language is not a collection of words, but a system , i.e, a set of patterns. Words are comparatively unimportant in the early stages of learning so that teachers and textbook writers are faced with the task of minimizing their use until the learners have mastered the system and the grammatical system of the language or the notions or language functions as the case may be.

2. The insistence on the use of native equivalents of foreign words and expressions leads to the complete equation in the learner s mind of the a foreign expression with a fixed " meaning" . Since different languages dissect nature differently, it is rare to find that a foreign expression has an exact native equivalent. If one forces foreign expression to have native equivalents, one makes a series of mistakes when one speaks or writes in the foreign language. This should not be constructed to mean that no vocabulary explanation should be done in the native language. It rather means that learners are to be warned that the native equivalent given fits a specific meaning in which the foreign expression is used only.

3. Translation is useless as a teaching device in the early stages

Best Regards
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