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New Approaches to Language Learning

During the 19th century, new developments in transportation allowed closer access to European countries, and people were able to travel from one continent to another with greater ease. For example, many Europeans migrated to the United States. This created a demand for learning languages for the purpose of communicating rather than for reading and appreciating literary texts. In addition, during the late 19th century, industrialization created a new class of language learners who did not have academic training for language learning, but had a need for oral proficiency in languages other than their own. The grammar-translation method was not an effective tool for meeting their needs. In the mid- and late 19th century, as the grammar-translation method was questioned and rejected, textbook writers and language teachers had to look for new approaches to language teaching. Some of the new ideas about how to teach a language were the following:

 Spoken language should be primary; listening and speaking should come earlier than reading and writing.

 Grammar can be taught better through an inductive approach, which means that students should practice the grammar rules in context before the teacher explains it explicitly.

 Translating the text from the target language to the native language should not be encouraged because students learn a language better when they associate new meanings within the target language.

These ideas led to the development of naturalistic approaches to language learning. Learning a foreign language was considered the same as acquiring a first language, and the natural method and the direct method developed out of that principle.

 Source: SAGE REFERENCE ONLINE