A historical perspective

Abstract

This chapter sets out to offer a historical background to modern languages teaching from a European perspective. I want to cover the period from what is known as the reform to the present. Such an undertaking can only ever be partial. I shall also have to restrict my primary sources to only a selection of the most important works, viz. those publications which were used by teacher trainers and classroom practitioners. Nevertheless, it is possible to identify distinct periods of pedagogic trend and development. Such periods are, of course, a product of their time. However, we shall see the unfolding search for an effective methodology for teaching second languages. I shall supplement this account with my own observations as a learner, a teacher, and a participant in some of the European developments described over the past fifty years or so.