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M Dolores Prez Raja, 2002
UNIT 1
THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE TEACHING. CURRENT
TRENDS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN
LANGUAGE. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES.
OUTLINE
1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.
2. THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE TEACHING.
3. A HISTORY OF THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE.
3.1. Key issues: approaches vs. methods.
3.2. Up to the eighteenth century: The spread of English language teaching in
Europe.
3.2.1. Ancient Times.
3.2.2. Europe in Early Times. The decline of Latin.
3.3. The nineteenth century: Approaches and Methods on language teaching.
3.3.1. The Grammar-Translation method.
3.3.2. Individual reformers: Marcel, Prendergast and Gouin.
3.3.3. The Reform Movement: Sweet, Vitor and Passy. The role of phonetics.
3.3.4. The Direct Method. Natural methods from Montaigne to Berlitz.
3.4. The twentieth century: A communicative approach.
3.4.1. The Communicative Language Teaching Approach.
3.4.2. The influence of sociology and psychology on language teaching.
3.4.3. Approaches and theories of language and language learning.
3.4.3.1. Approaches of language and language learning.
3.4.3.2. Influential theories on language learning.
3.4.4. Language teaching methods.
3.4.4.1. The Oral Approach and Situational Language teaching method.
3.4.4.2. The Audiolingual method.
3.4.4.3. Total Physical Response.
3.4.4.4. The Silent Way.
3.4.4.5. Community Language Learning.
3.4.4.6. Suggestopedia.
4. NEW DIRECTIONS ON LANGUAGE TEACHING.
5. CONCLUSION.
6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
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1. INTRODUCTION.
1.1. Aims of the unit.
The present work aims to provide a detailed account of the evolution of language from its origins,
as an object of study, to a theory of language teaching . As Albert C. Baugh (1993) states, the basis
for an understanding of present-day English and for an enlightened attitude towards questions
affecting the language today is a knowledge of its origins.
A historical and cultural setting links the nature of language to a theory of language teaching and a
tradition in teaching English as a foreign language from ancient roots to present-day trends. In
order to do so, subsequent sections will enable us to become better informed about the different
methods, approaches and language acquisition theories on English teaching as a foreign language at
different periods, where special attention is paid to present-day communicative approaches. For
extensive comments, within the framework of different research fields, new directions on language
teaching are offered to reflect the learners need within the current educational system. In a final
section, a conclusion examines the strengths and weaknesses of methods and approaches from a
broad perspective.
1.2. Notes on bibliography.
Numerous sources have contributed to provide an overall basis for the development of the unit. A
valuable introduction to the study of language is given by Otto Jespersen, Language: Its Nature,
Development and Origin (1922); David Crystal, Linguistics (1985); and Baugh and Cable, A
History of the English Language (1993). For a historical overview of the tradition of language
teaching, see Jack C. Richards and Theodore S. Rodgers, Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching (1992) and Howatt, A History of English Language Teaching (1984). Among the many
general works that incorporate the teaching of English as a foreign language, see especially and
Wilga M. Rivers, Teaching Foreign-Language Skills (1981) and on theories of language
acquisition, see Krashen, S. D., and T. D. Terrell, The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in
the Classroom (1983). The most complete record of current publications on new directions in
language teaching is published by Asociacin Espaola de Lingstica Aplicada (AESLA) and its
annual supplements. For a comprehensive overview, see the following collections: Universidad de
Alcal, La Lingstica Aplicada a finales del Siglo XX. Ensayos y propuestas (2001); Universidad
de Barcelona, Trabajos en Lingstica Aplicada (2001); and Universidad de Len, Perspectivas
Recientes sobre el Discurso (2001). Bibliography is fully presented at the end of this work.
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only of the acquisition of knowledge, but the phys ical, mental, emotional, moral, and social
development of the individual. Hence, the early Greek aim was to prepare intellectually young
people to take leading roles in the activities of the state and of society, and Romans considered the
teaching of rhetoric and oratory important, with particular attention to the development of character.
In the seventeenth century, Jan Amos Komensky (1592-1670), commonly known as Comenius, is
often said to be the founder of the Didactics of Language; for him, the word didactics means the
art of teaching. Language study and therefore, language teaching was to be promoted in
subsequent centuries through the fields of philosophy, logic, rhetoric, sociology, and religion,
among others, providing the framework for the main task of linguistic scholars. This was basically
to study and understand the general principles upon which all languages are built and in doing so,
teach them better. Some of those methodological and theoretical principles and ideas are still used
in modern linguistics nowadays.
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3.2. Up to the eighteenth century: The spread of English language teaching in Europe.
3.2.1.
Ancient Times.
As we have stated previously, language teaching traces back to ancient civilizations. As Richards &
Rodgers (1992) state, the function of the earliest educational systems was primarily to teach religion
and to promote the traditions of the people. Thus, in the Old Testament, one of the aims and
methods of education among the ancient Jewish traditions was to teach their children a foreign
language.
During the Middle Ages (15th-16th century), the early educational systems of the nations of the
Western world emanated from the Judea-Christian religious traditions, which were combined with
traditions derived from ancient Greece philosophers like Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle. According
to Howatt (1984), Christianity in the Middle Ages became a powerful force in the countries of the
Mediterranean region and other areas in Europe. Many monastic schools, as well as municipal and
cathedral schools, were founded during the centuries of early Christian influence. Teachings, then,
centered on grammar, rhetoric, logic, arithmetic, geometry, astronomy, and music, and the chief
storehouse of learning were the monasteries, which maintained archives that preserved many
manuscripts of the preceding classical culture, and during this period universities were established
in several countries, such as Italy, Spain, France and England. Medieval education also took the
form of apprenticeship training in some craft or service. As a rule, however, education was the
privilege of the upper classes, and most members of the lower classes had no opportunity for formal
learning.
3.2.2.
During the Renaissance period educators emphasized such subjects as history, geography, music,
and physical training, and taught mostly in Latin grammar schools. Montaigne, among others, in the
sixteenth century and Comenius and John Locke in the seventeenth century, promoted alternative
approaches to education, making specific proposals for curriculum reform and for changes in the
way Latin was taught (Howatt 1984), but since Latin had for so long been regarded as the classical
and therefore most ideal form of language, the role of language study in the curriculum reflected the
long-established status of Latin.
Beginning around the 16th century, French, Italian, and English gained in importance as a result of
political changes in Europe, and Latin gradually became displaced as a language of spoken and
written communication.
During the 17th century there was a rapid growth of scientific knowledge, which gave rise to its
inclusion in courses in the universities of the European countries and led to the exchange and spread
of scientific and cultural ideas throughout Europe. Children entering grammar school in the
sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries in England were initially given a rigorous
introduction to Latin grammar (Howatt 1984) and were often met with brutal punishment. Latin was
said to develop intellectual abilities, and the study of Latin grammar became an end in itself.
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first to record the observation of children in speaking. The Frenchman Franois Gouin is perhaps
the best known of these reformers.
Gouins approach to teaching was based on his observations of childrens use of language. They
recognized the need for speaking proficie ncy rather than reading or writing, and there was an
interest in how children learn languages. Attempts to develop teaching principles from observation
of child language learning were made but these new ideas did not develop into an educational
movement as there was not sufficient organizational structure in the language teaching profession
(i.e., in the form of professional associations, journals, and conferences). However, this would
change toward the end of the nineteenth century, when a more concerted effort arose in which the
interests of reform-minded language teachers, and linguists, coincided.
3.3.3. The Reform Movement: Sweet, Vitor and Passy. The role of phonetics.
As the names of some of its leading exponents suggest (C. Marcel, T. Prendergast, and F. Gouin),
the Grammar Translation method was challenged, and eventually, with no success due to a lack of
the means for wider dissemination, acceptance and implementation of their new ideas on language
teaching. However, toward the end of the nineteenth century, teachers and linguists began to write
about the need for new approaches to language teaching, and through their pamphlets, books,
speeches, and articles, the foundation for more widespread pedagogical reforms was set up. This
Reform Movement, as it is known, laid the foundations for the development of new ways of
teaching languages within the Direct Method and raised controversies that have continued to the
present day.
From the 1880s, an intellectual leadership gave greater credibility and acceptance to reformist ideas
thanks to linguists like Henry Sweet (1845-1912) in England, Wilhelm Vitor (1850-1918) in
Germany, and Paul Passy in France. Among the earliest goals of the association, we find the
leading role of phonetics within the teaching of modern languages; Sweet (1899) set forth
principles for the development of teaching methods based on sound methodological principles (an
applied linguistic approach). For Vitor, whose name is directly associated with a phonetic
method, speech patterns were the fundamental elements of language, stressing the value of training
teachers in the new science of phonetics . In general the reformers believed that grammar had to be
taught inductively, translation avoided, and a language learning based on hearing the language first,
before seeing it in written forms.
These principles provided the theoretical foundations for a principled approach to language
teaching, one based on a scientific approach to the study of language. However, none of these
proposals assumed the status of a method. They reflect the beginnings of the discipline of applied
linguistics. Parallel to the ideas put forward by members of the Reform Movement was an interest
in developing principles for language teaching out of naturalistic principles of language learning,
such as are seen in first language acquisition. According to Rivers (1981), this led to natural
methods and ultimately led to the development of what we know as the Direct Method.
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linguists systematized the principles stated earlier by the Reform Movement and so laid the
foundations for what developed into the British approach to teaching English as a foreign language.
This would led to Audiolingualism in the United States and the Oral Approach or Situational
Language Teaching in Britain. These models are the aim of next sections.
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communicative competence, that is, the knowledge and ability a learner needs to be
communicatively competent in a speech community. Halliday (1970) elaborated a functional theory
of the functions of language, and Canale and Swain (1980) identified four dimensions of
communicative competence: grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence.
Chomsky leveled some criticisms at structural linguistic theory in his book Syntactic Structures
(1957). He demonstrated that the fundamental characteristics of language creativity and
uniqueness of individual sentences- were not part of the structural theories of language.
This communicative view is considered an approach rather than a method which provides a
humanistic approach to teaching where interactive processes of communication receive priority. Its
rapid adoption and implementation resulted from a strong support of leading British applied
linguists and language specialist, as well as institutions, such as the British Council. However, some
of the claims are still being looked at more critically as this approach raises important issues for
teacher training, materials development, and testing and evaluation (Richards & Rodgers 1992).
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3.4.3.
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The third, the interactional view, sees language as a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal
relations and for the performance of social transactions between individuals. Its main tenet is the
creation and maintenance of social relations focusing on the patterns of moves, acts, negotiation,
and interaction found in conversational exchanges.
In the words of Rivers (1981), the eclectic approach must be included on language teaching theory
due to its prominence on our present educational system. For her, some teachers experiment with
novel techniques for more successful teaching, retaining what they know from experience to be
effective. This approach is supported by an honorable ancestry, thus Henry Sweet and Harold
Palmer. Its main tenets seek the balanced development of all four skills at all stages, while retaining
an emphasis on the early development of aural-oral skills. Their methods are also adapted to the
changing objectives of the day and to the types of students who pass through their classes.
Moreover, to be successful, an eclectic teacher needs to be imaginative, energetic and willing to
experiment. This approach is being currently applied to language teaching as part of our present
educational system, LOGSE, based on communicative methods.
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speak before they are ready; and thirdly the fact that the course syllabus consists of communicative
goals, thus classroom activities are organized, by topic, not grammar (Krashen & Terrell 1983).
Chomskys view of linguistics is another important contribution to the study of the human mind, as
a branch of cognitive psychology. Apart from showing the weaknesses of structural grammar,
Chomsky demonstrated that creativity and individual sentences formation were fundamental
characteristics of language, not part of the structural theories of language. His approach provides a
humanistic view of teaching where priority is given to interactive processes of communication.
We also find other less influential theories reflected on methods, thus the Counseling-Learning
and Silent Way method which focus on the conditions to be held for successful learning without
specifying the learning processes. James Ashers Total Physical Response (1977) centers on both
processes and conditions aspects of learning. Thus coordinating language production with body
movement and physical actions is believed to provide the conditions for success in language
learning.
Charles A. Currans approach, the Counseling-Learning (1972), focused mainly on creating the
conditions necessary for successful learning, such as a good atmosphere of the classroom, where
intimacy and security are a crucial factor together for students when producing language. The
Silent Way method, developed by Caleb Gattegno , is also built on a conscious control of learning
to heighten learning potential. We also observe some fringe methodologies sharing certain theories
of language and theories of language learning. For instance, the linking of structuralism and
behaviorism which produced Audiolingualism.
3.4.4.
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for students of English as a foreign language, and some grammatical guides which became a
standard reference source for textbook writers.
The Oral Approach was the accepted British approach to English language teaching by the 1950s,
but in the sixties, another active proposal from Australia and termed situational, entered this
approach developing an influential set of teaching materials based on the notion of situation,
linking structures to situations. Its main leader was George Pittman, and its main characteristics
were as follows: material is taught orally before it is presented in written form; introduced and
practiced situationally; and reading and writing are introduced only when sufficient lexical and
grammatical basis is established. The skills are approached through structure.
This third principle became a key feature characterized as a type of British structuralism, in which
speech was regarded as the basis of language, and structure was viewed as being at the heart of
speaking ability. In the words of Richards & Roberts (1992), this theory that knowledge of
structures must be linked to situations has been supported by British linguists, giving a prominent
place to meaning, context, and situation. Prominent figures such as M.A.K. Halliday and Palmer
emphasized the close relationship between the structure of language and the context and situations
in which language is used.
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This method works effectively to promote small group discussion. Students are encouraged to
produce as much language as possible and to self-correct their pronunciation errors through manual
gesticulation on the part of the instructor. The greatest strength of this method lies in its ability to
draw students out orally, while the teacher listens. This inner criteria allow learners to monitor and
self-correct their own production. It is here where this method differs notably from other ways of
language learning.
3.4.3.6. Suggestopedia.
In the 1980s and 1990s, an extremely esoteric method was developed by a Bulgarian psychiatristeducator called Georgi Lozanov. The most outstanding features of this mystical method are,
according to Rivers (1981), its arcane terminology and neologisms, and secondly, the arrangement
of the classroom to create an optimal atmosphere to learning, by means of decoration, furniture, the
authoritative behavior of the teacher and specially, through the use of music. Therapy theories are
the reason of using music in the classroom as Lozanov calls upon in his use to relax learners as well
as to structure, pace, and punctuate the presentation of linguistic material.
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Lozanov acknowledges following a tradition on yoga and Soviet psychology, borrowing techniques
for altering states of consciousness and concentration, and the use of rhythmic breathing. In fact,
teachers are trained in a special way to read dialogues, using voice quality, intonation, and timing.
Lozanov also claims that his method works equally well whether or not students spend time on
outside study and promises success to the academically gifted and ungifted alike.
In the own words of Lozanov (1978), Suggestopedia prepares students for success by means of
yoga, hypnosis, biofeeback or experimental science. Its main features such as scholarly citations,
terminological jargon, and experimental data have received both support and criticisms. However,
Suggestopedia is acknowledged to appear effective and harmonize with other successful techniques
in language teaching methodology.
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5. CONCLUSION.
On revising the literature on language teaching theories, it is possible to get a sense of the wide
range of proposals from the 1700s to the present, with their weaknesses and strengths, from
grammar-based methods to more natural approaches. There is still present a constant preoccupation
for teachers and linguists to find more efficient and effective ways of teaching languages. This
proliferation of approaches and methods is a relevant characteristic of contemporary second and
foreign language teaching, and is only understood when the learners need is approached from an
educational perspective. These approaches have been called natural, psychological, phonetic, new,
reform, and direct, among others.
In the middle -methods period, a variety of methods were proclaimed as successors to the then
prevailing Situational Language Teaching and Audio-Lingual methods. These alternatives were
promoted under such titles as Silent Way, Suggestopedia, Community Language Learning, and
Total Physical Response. In the 1980s, these methods in turn came to be overshadowed by more
interactive views of language teaching, which collectively came to be known as Communicative
Language Teaching. These CLT approaches include The Natural Approach and Community
Language Learning.
Special attention has also been paid to the role of the teacher as a commander of classroom activity
(e.g., Audio-Lingual Method, Natural Approach, Suggestopedia, Total Physical Response) whereas
others see the teacher as background facilitator and classroom colleague to the learners (e.g.,
Communicative Language Teaching, Cooperative Language Learning).
Language learning theories have approached second language learning on adults and children
around first language acquisition model. Schools such as Total Physical Response and Natural
Approach claim that second language learning must be developed in the same way as first language
acquisition although this is not the only model of language learning we have. However, the Silent
Way and Suggestopedia schools claim that adult classroom learning must be developed in a
different way children do, due to different cognitive and psychological features.
Bibliography, in a final section, will provide a source for readers to detail differences and
similarities among the many different approaches and methods that have been proposed
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6. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Introduction to the study of language
- Jespersen, O. 1922. Language: Its Nature, Development and Origin . London: Allen and Unwin.
- Crystal, D. 1985. Linguistics. Harmondsworth, England. Penguin Books.
- Baugh, A. & Cable, T. 1993. A History of the English Language. Prentice-Hall Editions.
On origins and evolution of language teaching
- Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. 1992. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd ed.).
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Howatt, A. (1984). A history of English Language teaching . Oxford: Oxford University Press.
On approaches to language teaching and the teaching of English as a foreign language
- Rivers, W. 1981. Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. Chicago: The University of Chicago Press.
- Krashen, S. D., and Terrell, T. D. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the
Classroom. Oxford: Pergamon.
New directions in language teaching
- Revistas de la Asociacin Espaola de Lingstica Aplicada (AESLA): De la Cruz, Isabel;
Santamara, Carmen; Tejedor, Cristina y Valero, Carmen. 2001. La Lingstica Aplicada a finales
del Siglo XX. Ensayos y propuestas. Universidad de Alcal.
- Celaya, M Luz; Fernndez-Villanueva, Marta; Naves, Teresa; Strunk, Oliver y Tragant, Elsa.
2001. Trabajos en Lingstica Aplicada . Universidad de Barcelona.
- Moreno, Ana I. & Colwell, Vera. 2001. Perspectivas Recientes sobre el Discurso. Universidad de
Len.
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