Treść książki

Przejdź do opcji czytnikaPrzejdź do nawigacjiPrzejdź do informacjiPrzejdź do stopki
28
1.Foreignlanguageteachinginahistoricalperspective
Toconcludethesectiononhistoricaldevelopmentsinforeignlanguage
teaching,weshouldacknowledgeaconsiderablegrowthanddiversificationof
ideasatthisstage.Thenotionofgrammarasthekeytoforeignlanguagelearning
isjuxtaposedbytheideathatforeignlanguagelearningshouldbedirect,i.e.it
shouldaimtoreplicatethewaychildrenlearntheirmothertongue.TheDirect
andNaturalMethods,outlinedabove,areinspiredbyfairlyrandomandinformal
insightsintotheprocessoffirstlanguageacquisition.Nevertheless,theyaresig-
nificanttothedevelopmentofthefieldinthattheyenrichthespectrumofpossi-
bilitiesinlanguageteachingwithanimportantalternativetosentence-basedand
explicitgrammar-orientedstrategies.TheDirectandNaturalMethodsaretime-
consumingbecausetheirimpactdependsonthesheerquantityofthelearning
materialandcontacthours.Thisremainsinsharpcontrastwiththequalitative
grammar-basedstrategieswhichstrivetoprovidethelearnerwiththematerialfor
languagelearninginacondensedform.
ThedemiseoftheGrammarTranslationMethodiscertainlyacceleratedby
thechangingsocialdemandsregardingforeignlanguagemastery.Theworldis
shrinking.Greaterpossibilitiesoftravelaswellasitsamazingspeedbynewmeans
oftransportation,suchasthesteamship,thetrain,theautomobileasopposedtothe
horse-drawncarriage,migrationwavesfromEuropetotheUnitedStates,theinten-
sityofinternationalcontactsandthedynamicdevelopmentofmasscommu-
nication,i.e.thegrowthofthepressandjournalism,necessitatearedefinitionofthe
goalsofforeignlanguageteachingfromtheformal,academicskillsingrammarand
translationofclassicaltextstothecommunicativeabilitiesofdirect,fluentface-to-
-faceinteractionintheforeignlanguage.Foreignlanguagesareintroducedtoschools
onaregularbasis,whereastheeducationalsystembecomesmoreandmoreaccessi-
bletoyounggenerationsoflearners.Unquestionableprogresshasbeenmadeinvar-
iousareasofforeignlanguageteaching;manyactivitieswhichareusednowadays
havebeenwell-knownandestablishedintheforeignlanguageclassroomforquite
alongtime,asdocumentedbyKelly(1969),e.g.drill,guideddialogue,dictation,
freecomposition,letterwriting,projects,drama,etc.Nevertheless,thestateofthe
fieldofforeignlanguageteachinginthefirsthalfofthe20thcenturyisconsidered
farfromsatisfactorytomeetthechallengesoftherealworld.
1.6.Thecurrentviewontheroleofgrammar
Followingawaveofstudiesoftherelationshipbetweenlanguagelearningand
grammarinstruction,itisnowadayspossibletoformulateratherspecificexpecta-
tionsregardingthefunctionofgrammaticalruleinforeignlanguageteaching.
Firstofall,wemustrecognizetheironyoftheexplicitpresentationoftherule:the
learnerendsuplearningwhatheorshehasbeentaught,thatisinformationabout
language,expressedasasentenceexplainingsomeprinciplewhichgovernstheuse
ofthegivenforms.Technically,thisisanobservation,athoughtexpressingareg-
ularityinthegrammaticalsystem,butnottheabilitytobehavecommunicatively