FL Teaching in the High School: The Decade of the Seventies

Abstract

ties with the introduction of the audio-lingual method of teaching. For six to eight years, the entire profession was intensively committed to a conversion from the traditional grammar-translation approach to the new method. However, in the early sixties, concern for the effectiveness of this method for the average teacher arose, and, as a result, many teachers developed programs which combined elements of the grammar-translation and audio-lingual approaches. This trend was exemplified in the second generation audio-lingual textbooks which have appeared since the late sixties. The major benefit of the audio-lingual method was the reintroduction of and emphasis on the spoken language in the FL classroom. During the late sixties and in the first few years of this decade, a new trend appeared: individualization. Early definitions (See Howard B. Altman, ed., Individualizing the Foreign Language Classroom: Perspectives for Teachers [Rowley, Mass.: Newbury House Publishers, Inc., 1972], pp. 1-14) delineated a strict methodology much the same as for the audio-lingual method. An examination of the column on Individualized Instruction in recent issues of the Foreign Language Annals indicates, however, that the term individualization is assuming a much broader meaning. The increasing interest in this approach is shown by the large number of conferences and local and national workshops dealing with individualization held in the last two years, and from all indications, interest in individualization will probably increase for the next few years. I do not believe, however, that this approach is going to be a panacea for our profession since the implementation of individualized programs brings with it several new problems for the average teacher, not the least of which are the difficulty in providing adequate speaking practice, the impersonal nature of some programs, and the lack of motivation to achieve evidenced by some students. Individualization is not the final answer, but I feel that the profession will ultimately benefit from an increased awareness of the individual student and of the necessity to provide in some manner for individual differences in the FL program.