Introduction
As with the Grammar-Translation Method, the Direct Method is not new. Its principles have been applied by language teachers for many years. Most recently, it was reviewed as a method when the goal of instruction became learning how to use a foreign language to communicate. Since the Grammar-Translation Method was not very effective in preparing students to use the target language communicative, the Direct Method became popular.
The Direct Method has one very basic rule: No translation is allowed. In fact, the Direct Method receives its name from the fact that meaning is to be connected direct with the target language, without going through the process of translating into the students' native language.
We will now try to come to an understanding of the Direct Method by observing an English teacher using it in a scuola media (lower-level secondary school) class in Italy. The class has thirty students who attend English class for one hour, three times a week. The class we observe is at the end of its first year of English language instruction in a scuola media.