Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends [622843]

Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends
in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The communicative approaches.
1.INTRODUCTION.
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. 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.
2.THE ORIGINS OF LANGUAGE
TEACHING.
It was around the fifth century B.C that in ancient India the early states of language were
written down as a set of rules. This was, in fact, a grammar of Sanskrit whose effects went far
beyond the original intentions of the authors.
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.
3.THE EVOLUTION OF EFL TEACHING FROM EARLY TO CURRENT TRENDS.
3.1.Up to the eighteenth century: the spread of the English language
teaching in Europe.
As previously stated, language teaching traces back to ancient civilizations. According to
Richard & Rodgers (1992), the function of the earliest educational systems was primarily to
teach religion and to promote the traditions of the people.
Although there is no hard evidence of learning language procedures in ancient civilizations,
it is thought that some of them –Egyptians, Babylonians, Assyrians- sent bilingual delegates,
the equivalent to modern day ambassadors.

For centuries, and mostly up to the end of the Middle Ages (14th – 15th centuries) Latin was
the dominant language of education, commerce, religion and government in the Western
World. Therefore, it was only natural for Latin to be the most widely studied foreign
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). The
communicative approaches.
language. The chief storehouse of learning were the monasteries, in whose archives many
manuscripts of the preceding classical cultures were preserved; during this period
universities were established in several countries, such as Italy, Spain, France and England.
Latin was taught mainly through rote learning of grammar rules, study of declensions and
conjugations, translation and practice in writing sample sentences. Such methodology, as
will be seen below with the Grammar-Translation method, would remain largely unmodified
until the mid-twentieth century. When the need of learning Latin as a means of
communication diminished, the study of classical Latin and the analysis of its grammar and
rhetoric became the model for foreign language study from the seventeenth to the nineteenth
centuries.
When modern languages began to enter school curricula 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. The goal of language teaching was to enable
students to read Latin, hence oral practice was inexistent. The sentences and texts used for
education had no relation to the language of real communication., especially if we take into
account that nobody spoke Latin any longer.
3.2.The nineteenth century: approaches and methods on language
teaching.
3.2.1.The Grammar-Translation Method.
As we have stated before, 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. The emphasis was set on learning grammar rules, lists of
vocabulary, and sentences for translation which usually had little relationship to the real
world. Speaking the foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited to
students reading aloud the sentences they had translated. This method came to be known as
the grammar-translation method.
The grammar-translation method was the dominant foreign language teaching method in
Europe from the 1840s to the 1940s, and a version of it continues to be widely used in some
parts of the world.
The main failures of the method are that it does not sound natural to a native speaker;
produces difficult mistakes to eradicate; tedious experience of memorizing endless lists of
unusable grammar rules and vocabulary; and little stress on accurate pronunciation; and
often creates frustration for students.
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The communicative approaches.

3.2.2.Individual reformers: Marcel, Pendergast and Gouin.
In the mid-late nineteenth century, increased opportunities for communication among
Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages. The Grammar
Translation method was challenged by new approaches to language teaching developed by
individual language teaching specialists. Some of these specialists, like C. Marcel, T.
Pendergast, and F. Gouin, did not manage, according to Richards & Rodgers (1992), to
achieve any lasting impact, though their ideas are of historical interest. The Frenchman
Claude Marcel (1793-1896) emphasized the importance of meaning in learning, proposing
a rational method, and referring to child language learning as a model for language teaching.
The Englishman Thomas Pendergast (1806-1886) created a mastery system on a
structural syllabus to work on basic structural patterns occurring in the language. He was
one of the first to record the observation of children in speaking. The Frenchman François
Gouin is perhaps the best known of these reformers. Gouin’s approach to teaching was
based on his observations of children’s use of language. They recognized the need for
speaking proficiency rather than reading or writing, and there was an interest in how
children learn languages.
3.2.3. The Reform Movement: Sweet, Viëtor and Passy. The role of phonetics.
Towards 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.
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
Viëtor (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 Viëtor, 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 form.
None of these proposals assumed the status of a method, although they reflect the
beginning of the discipline of applied linguistics. Parallel to these ideas there was a growing
interest in developing principles for language teaching from naturalistic principles on
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). The
communicative approaches.
language learning, such as are seen in first language acquisition. All this led to natural
methods and to what was to be known as the Direct Method.
3.2.4. The Direct Method. Natural methods – Sauveur and Berlitz.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, An increasing attention to naturalistic principles of
language learning was given by other reformers, In fact several attempts to make second
language learning more like first language learning had been made throughout the history of
language teaching. These ideas spread, and these natural language learning principles
consolidated in what became known as the Direct Method , the first of the "natural
methods”, both in Europe and in the United States. It was quite successful in private
language schools, and difficult to implement in public secondary school education. Among
those who tried to apply natural principles to language classes in America were L. Sauveur
(1826-1907) and Maximiliam Berlitz who promoted the use of intensive oral interaction in
the target language. Saveur’s method became known as the Natural Method and was
seriously considered in language teaching. In his book “An Introduction to the Teaching of
Living Languages without Grammar or Dictionary” (1874), Saveur described how their
students learnt to speak after a month on intensive oral work in class, avoiding the use of the
mother tongue, even for grammar explanations.
Berlitz, however, never used the term “natural” and named his method “ the Berlitz
method” (1878), and it was known for being taught in private language schools, high-
motivated clients, the use of native-speaking teachers, and no translation under any
circumstances. In spite of his success, this method lacked a basis in applied linguistic theory,
and failed to consider the practical realities of the classroom.
3.3.The twentieth century: a communicative approach.
During the twentieth century, different methods have resulted from different approaches
to language and language learning, and also to the influence of fields such as sociology and
psychology on the study of language.
3.3.1.The Communicative Language Teaching Approach.
In 1971 a system in which learning tasks are broken down into “units” is launched into the
market by a British linguist, D.A. Wilkins. It attempts to demonstrate the systems of
meanings that a language learner needs to understand and express within two types:
notional categories (time, sequence, quantity or frequency) and categories of communicative
function (requests, offers, complaints). The rapid application of these ideas by textbook
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The communicative approaches.

writers and its acceptance by teaching specialists gave prominence to what became the
Communicative Approach or simply Communicative Language Teaching.
Beginning in the mid-1960s, there has been a variety of theoretical challenges to the audio-
lingual method. Scholars such as Halliday, Hymes, Labov and the American linguist Noam
Chomsky challenged previous assumptions about language structure and language learning,
taking the position that language is creative (not memorized by repetition and imitation) and
rule governed (not based on habits). For Hymes (1972), the goal of language teaching is to
develop a “communicative competence”, that is, the knowledge and ability a learner needs to
be communicatively competent in a speech community.
3.3.2. The influence of sociology and psychology on language teaching.
Since language is not an isolated phenomenon, we are committed to relate it to other aspects
of society, behavior and experience through the development of a theory between linguistics
and other fields of study. Among all of them, two have strongly contributed to the
development of the study of language teaching, thus, sociology and psychology. The former,
sociolinguistics studies the ways in which language interacts with society in relation to
race, nationality, regional, social and political groups, and the interactions of individuals
within groups. The latter, psycholinguistics , focuses on how language is influenced by
memory, attention, recall and constraints on perception, and the extent to which language
has a central role to play in the understanding of human development.
Main researchers on the field of sociolinguistics are the American linguists Edwar Sapir
and Leonard Bloomfield. These grammarians claimed that every language consists of a
series of unique structures and that the construction of sentences follows certain regular
patterns. However, Sapir points out how linguistics and anthropology reflects the social
aspect of language when dealing with race, culture and language, whereas Bloomfield’s
contribution is more scientific, clearly influenced by psychology theories.
In the field of psychology, behaviorism has had a great effect on language teaching.
Theorists as Ivan Pavlov and Skinner, believed that languages were made up of a series of
habits, and that if learners could develop all these habits, they would speak the language well.
From these theories arose the audio-lingual method.
3.3.3. Approaches and theories of language and language learning.
Within the study of language different methods resulted from different approaches as
responses to a variety of historical issues and circumstances. Linguists such as Palmer,
Skinner, Chomsky, and Krashen among others, have contributed to this development of
present-day approaches which developed in current methods. Within a theory of language, at
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). The
communicative approaches.
least three different theoretical views provide current approaches and methods in
language teaching.
The first, the structural view, is the most traditional of the three. Within its theory,
language is a system of structurally related elements for the coding of meaning, and is
defined in terms of phonological and grammatical units, grammatical operations and lexical
items. Some methods have embodied this particular view of language over the years. Thus
Audiolingualism, and contemporary methods as Total Physical Response and the Silent Way,
share this view of language. Supporters of this view are linguists such as Edwar Sapir and
Leonard Bloomfield.
From the second, the functional view, language is seen as a vehicle for the expression of
functional meaning. A main tenet within this view is the notion of communication within a
theory that emphasizes the semantic and communicative dimension rather than merely the
grammatical characteristics of language. Content is also organized by categories of meaning
and function rather than by elements of structure and grammar.
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.
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 Henry Sweet and
Harold Palmer. Its main tenets seek the balanced development of all four skills at all stages.
Their methods are also adapted to the changing objectives of the day and to the types of
students who pass through their classes.
But these four approaches are incomplete in themselves and need to be completed by
theories of language learning. Now we shall introduce some theories mostly based in the
acquisition of language by children. The most prominent figures in this field are, among
others, Stephen Krashen, Tracy D. Terrell and Noam Chomsky.
Stephen D. Krashen distinguishes two concepts: acquisition and learning, where
acquisition is the unconscious development of the target language system as a result of
using the language for real communication. Learning would be related to the conscious
representation of grammatical knowledge and non spontaneous processes. He developed the
Monitor Model on which the Natural method was built.
Another theorist, Tracy D. Terrell is closely related to Krashen, since they both wrote a
book named The Natural Approach (1983). Their learning theory is supported by three main
principles. Firstly, they claim that comprehension precedes production; secondly, they state
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The communicative approaches.

that production may emerge in stages and students are not forced tospeak before they are
ready; and thirdly the fact that the course syllabus consists of communicative goals.
Chomsky demonstrated that creativity and individual sentences’ formation were
fundamental characteristics of language and priority is given to interactive processes of
communication.
3.3.4.Language teaching methods.
The Oral Approach and Situational Language teaching method.
This approach dates back to the 1920s and 1930s. Its most prominent figures are the British
applied linguists Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby.
It includes the following principles:
•language learning is habit-formation
•mistakes are bad and should be avoided, as they make bad habits
•language skills are learned more effectively if they are presented orally first, then in
written form
•analogy is a better foundation for language learning than analysis
•the meanings of words can be learned only in a linguistic and cultural context
The Audiolingual method.
Towards the end of the 1950s a new approach emerged under the name of
Audiolingualism. It is based on structural linguistics (structuralism) and behaviouristic
psychology (Skinner’s behaviourism). The audio-lingual method aims at teaching the
language skills in the order of listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Students are given a
stimulus, which they respond to. If their response is correct, it is rewarded, so the habit will
be formed; if it is incorrect, it is corrected, so that it will be suppressed.
Total Physical Response (TPR).
This method is built around the combination of speech and action and was
developed by James Asher, a professor of psychology. For him, including movements
within the linguistic production reduces learner stress, creating a positive mood which
facilitates learning. The basic principles are:
•Second language learning is parallel to first language learning and should reflect the
same naturalistic processes
•Listening should develop before speaking
•Children respond physically to spoken language, and adult learners learn better if they
do that too
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL). The
communicative approaches.
•Once listening comprehension has been developed, speech develops naturally and
effortlessly out of it.
•Delaying speech reduces stress.
The Silent Way
Caleb Gattegno introduced this classroom technique wherein the teacher remains silent
while pupils output the language through simulated experiences using tokens and picture
charts as central elements. 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.
Community Language Learning (CLL)
It was developed by Charles A. Curran. It is known as Counselling-Learning, and it
redefines the roles of the teacher (counsellor) and learners (the clients) in the language
classroom. One of its main tenets is for the student to develop his relationship with the
teacher. This process is divided into five stages and compared to the ontogenetic
development of the child. Thus, 1. feelings of security are established; 2. achievement of
independence from the teacher; 3. the learner starts speaking independently; 4. a sense of
criticism is developed; and finally, 5. the learner improves style and knowledge of linguistic
appropriateness.
Suggestopedia
In the 1980s and 1990s, an extremely esoteric method was developed by Georgi Lozanov.
The most outstanding features of this mystical method are, 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 behaviour of the
teacher and specially, through the use of music.
3.CONCLUSION.
As we have seen, many approaches and methods have been proposed through history to
reach the perfect way to learn a second language, many of them based on the way children
learn their mother tongue, that is, based on first language acquisition. Some of them have
proved to be partly successful, some others not so much. The conclusion is that none of these
methods has proved to be the best one, and the only one we should use. Maybe the best
method to use when teaching a second language might be a mixed method that would “pick
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Unit 1. The evolution of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL).
The communicative approaches.

up” the most successful aspects of the methods we know nowadays always introducing
innovations that might help to reach the goal of making our students proficient in the second
language.

4.BIBLIOGRAPHY
.
– Richards, J., & Rodgers, T. 1992. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching.
– Howatt, A. (1984). A history of English Language teaching .
– Rivers, W. 1981. Teaching Foreign-Language Skills .
– Krashen, S. D., and Terrell, T. D. 1983. The Natural Approach: Language Acquisition in the
Classroom.
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