The Grammar Translation Method is the oldest of teaching in India. It is as old as the international of English in the country. A number of methods and techniques have been evolved for the teaching of English and also other foreign languages in the recent past, yet this method is still in use in many part of India. It maintains the mother tongue of the learner as the reference particularly in process of learning the second/foreign language. The main principles on which the Grammar Translation Method is based are the following:
1. Translation interprets the words and phrases of the foreign languages in the best possible manner.
2. The phraseology and the idiom of the target language can best be assimilated in the process of interpretation.
3. The structures of the foreign language are best learned when compared and contrast with those of mother tongue.
In this method, while teaching the text book the teacher translates every word, phrase from English in to the mother tongue of learner. Further, students are required to translation sentence from their mother tongue into English. These exercises in translation are based on various items covering the grammar of the target language. The method emphasizes the study of grammar through deduction that is through the study of the rules of grammar. A contrastive study of the target language with the mother tongue gives an insight into the structure not only of the foreign language but also of the mother tongue.