The Dynamics of Methodological Change
While it is true, as was mentioned at the beginning of this book, that all of these
methods are being practiced today, it is also true that they are not equally distributed
in classrooms around the world. In some parts of the world, certain older language
teaching methods, such as the Grammar-Translation Method, have endured for years.
Similarly, the Direct Method has been preserved in particular commercial language
teaching enterprises, such as the Berlitz Schools.
In other parts of the world, some of these methods have had more influence during
certain times than at others. For instance, in the USA in the 1950s and 1960s, although
other language teaching methods were practiced, the Audio-Lingual Method was
clearly dominant. When Noam Chomsky challenged the view that language was a set
of patterns acquired through habit formation, its influence began to wane. Following
its decline, the field entered into a period of great methodological diversity in the
1970s and early 1980s (Larsen-Freeman 1987), a period in which a number of
‘innovative methods’ emerged, such as the Silent Way (1972), Community Language
Learning (1976), Total Physical Response (1977), Suggestopedia (1978), and the
Natural Approach (1983).
Interest in developing students’ communicative competence reunified the field in
the 1980s. Although certainly the Communicative Approach has not been universally
adopted (Ellis 1996; Li 1998), many teachers around the world report that they use
CLT, even if their interpretation of its principles varies greatly. It seems then that it is
primarily evolving conceptions of language that spurred change.
By way of contrast, innovation in the language teaching field in the late 1980s and
1990s has been stimulated by a special concern for the language learning process.
New methods propose that language learning is best served when students are
interacting—completing a task or learning content or resolving real-life issues—
where linguistic structures are not taught one by one, but where attention to linguistic
form is given as necessary. These views of language learning have been informed by
research in second language acquisition. Also giving learning a special focus are
methodological innovations of the late 1980s and 1990s. These include teaching
learning strategies, using cooperative learning, and planning lessons in such a way
that different intelligences are addressed.
In the 2000s so far, it seems that changes in the language teaching field have been
made in response to two influences from outside the field. One is the continuing
development of technology. Much of the language learning in the world takes place in
classrooms, though this may be changing with the possibility for more autonomous
learning, aided by technological advances. For example, in a new study conducted in
Austria, it was reported that 15 percent of Austrians over the age of 15 have learned
one or more foreign languages outside of high school or university in the last 10