Challenges of the grammar-translation method for learning english.

Abstract

In this research, the difficulties and limitations of the Grammar-Translation Method and the students’ experiences in learning English as a second foreign language were explored. As different authors and theories were reviewed, it was determined that this method, in current education, is not highly effective for developing communicative competences at a global level. To conduct an in-depth analysis, an appropriate population was selected within the Universidad Estatal Peninsula de Santa Elena. The sixth-semester students of the Pedagogy of National and Foreign Languages program stated in the interviews that, at the beginning of their learning process, they felt limited and bored by traditional teaching. They concluded that this method is effective for beginners who need to acquire vocabulary and grammatical rules; however, they considered it necessary to implement new strategies to complement language learning.