A BRIEF HISTORY OF

LANGUAGE TEACHING

based on Richards and Rodgers
(Pages 3-16)
Changes in language teaching methods
throughout history have reflected
recognition of changes in the kind of
proficiency learners need.
In the XVI, XVII and XVIII century,
Latin became the foreign language
studied in England.
Children were taught through
grammar rules, study of declensions
and conjugations, translation, and
practice in writing simple sentences.
As modern languages began to enter
the curriculum of European schools in
the eighteenth century, they were
taught using the same basic
procedures that were used for
teaching Latin.
Textbooks consisted of statements of
abstract grammar rules, lists of
vocabulary, and sentences for
translation. Speaking the foreign
language was not the goal, and oral
practice was limited to students
reading aloud sentences they had
translated.
Knowledge of Latin was needed for
the study of the bible and for academic
purposes like the study of medical
books and legal documents. In Latin
studies the focus was, therefore, on the
study of written texts.
Knowledge of Latin distinguished
educated people from ordinary folks.
Study of the canon of classical texts
from well-known ancient authors like
Ovid and Cicero was considered
morally and aesthetically edifying and
superior to anything which the study
of modern languages could afford.
Grammar Translation Method
Appeared in The United States.
Dominated European and foreign
language teaching from the 1840s to the
1940s
Goal: To learn a language in order to
read it or in order to benefit from the
mental discipline and intellectual
development that result from foreign
language study.
Reading and writing are the major focus; little
or no systematic attention is paid to speaking or
listening.
Grammar rules are presented and illustrated, a
list of vocabulary items is presented with their
translation equivalents, and translation
exercises are prescribed.
Accuracy is emphasized.
Grammar is taught deductively
The students native language is the medium of
instruction.
Increased opportunities for
communication among Europeans
created a demand for oral proficiency
in foreign languages.

Marcel, Prendergast and Gouin
developed new approaches of
language teaching.
Marcel- importance of meaning in learning. He
proposed that reading should be taught before other
skills.
Prendergast- he proposed the first structural syllabus
advocating that learners should be taught the most
basic structural patterns occurring in the language.
Gouin- his method used situations and themes as ways
of organizing and presenting oral language.
Toward the mid-nineteenth century
several factors contributed to a
questioning and rejection of the
Grammar-Translation Method.

The Reform Movement

What was it about?
Vitor, Sweet, and other reformers in
the late XIX century shared many
beliefs about the principles on which a
new approach to teaching foreign
languages should be based.
What were those beliefs?
1. The spoken lg is primary and it should be reflected in
an oral-based methodology.
2. The findings of phonetics should be applied to teacher
and to teacher training.
3. Learner should hear the language first, before seeing
it in written form.
4. Words should be presented in sentences, and
sentences should be practiced in meaningful contexts
and not be taught as isolated, disconnected elements.
5. The rules of grammar should be taught only after the
students have practiced the grammar points in context.
6. Translation should be avoided, although the native
language could be used in order to explain new words.
The Direct Method, also called the
Natural Approach, developed towards
the end of the 19th century.

It was introduced in France and
Germany.
Principles and procedures (only some of
them):
1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in
the target language.
Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.
Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration,
objects, and pictures.
Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.
Drawbacks???
Some of them were that

-It required teachers who were native
speakers or who had nativelike fluency
in the foreign language.
-It was largely dependent on the
teachers skill, rather than on a
textbook, and not all the teachers were
proficient enough in the foreign
language to adhere to the principles of
the method.
Sauveur and other believers in the
Natural Approach argued that a
foreign language could be taught
without translation of the learners
native language if meaning was
conveyed directly through
demonstration and action.
The general goal of the Direct Method
is to provide learners with a
practically useful knowledge of
language. They should learn to speak
and understand the target language in
everyday situations.
The Methods Era
The most active period in the history of approaches and methods was from the
1950s to the 1980s. The following are some of the approaches that have existed
for almost 60 years.
The Audiolingual Method
The Situational Method
The Silent Way
The Natural Approach
The Total Physical Response
Content-Based Instruction
Task-Based Language Teaching
Competency-Based Instruction
Cooperative Language
Whole Language Approach
Multiple Intelligences
The study of approaches and methods provides
teachers with a view of how the field of language
teaching has evolved.

Approaches and methods can be studied not as
prescriptions of how to teach but as a source of well-
used practices, which teachers can adapt or
implement based on their own needs.

Experience in using different teaching approaches
and methods can provide teachers with basic
teaching skills that they can later add to or
supplement as they develop teaching experience.