2.2 The Evolution of Second- and Foreign- Language Teaching

2.2.1 Introduction

In his treatment of the historical developments in language pedagogy, Stern (1992, p.6) isolates three ways in which language pedagogy has aimed to renew and improve itself:

1. Innovation through change in teaching methods;
2. Innovation through language-related sciences and research;
3. Technological innovation.

Stern's perspective is a useful one for the purposes of this review since it encompasses both the evolution of language methods, theory and the use of technology. Any discussion of the evolution of methods in language pedagogy will, by necessity, incorporate a discussion of linguistic and learning theory. While changes in methods reflected to a large degree social, economic, political, or educational circumstances, they were also significantly impacted on by changes in language theories and in new psychological perspectives on language learning (Stern, 1983). The use of technology in language learning has evolved somewhat, although not entirely independent of linguistic and learning theory. For the purposes of this review it will be more practical to provide a separate discussion of the evolution of technology use in second- and foreign- language teaching.

The evolution of second- and foreign- language teaching has been clearly chronicled and delineated by researchers and theorists and has been largely discussed and debated in a "methods' framework. Stern (1983) describes a method as a "theory of language teaching" or school of thought resulting "from practical and theoretical discussions in a given historical context" (p. 452). Although new methods or approaches signify a certain 'break from the old', they nonetheless maintain a link with the past by incorporating positive aspects of previous paradigms (Brown, 1980). It is not surprising then, that as Stern (1992) observed, "one of the main features of the development of language pedagogy has been the continuous attempt to renew language teaching through changes in teaching method" (p. 6). These attempts at renewal begin essentially during the final decades of the 19^th century at which time the Grammar-Translation Method came under fire.