Technocratic and Revolutionary Designs: Three Illustrations

Abstract

Three responses to the limitations of applied linguistics are discussed: the audio-lingual method, mainstream communicative language teaching, and ‘humanistic’ approaches. The first gives priority to scientific principles; the second abides by technical analyses; the third takes the road of revolutionary freedom. However interpreted or understood, communicative language teaching constitutes a watershed in language intervention design: its history illustrates that the creativity, flexibility and pedagogical fantasy in such design take precedence over theoretical justification.