Reviews the main issues involved in foreign language teaching methodologies. Particularly discusses how the learner may be affected by the metalanguage used in instruction, when it is composed of traditional grammar terminology or modern linguistic terminology or when none is used. (Text is in French.) (TL)

RATHER THAN TEACHING PRESCRIPTIVE GRAMMAR OR LINGUISTICS, NEITHER OF WHICH IS LIKELY TO INCREASE THE ABILITY TO WRITE, SPEAK, OR LEARN A FOREIGN LANGUAGE, THE ENGLISH TEACHER SHOULD GUIDE THE STUDENTS INTO AN INQUIRY ABOUT THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE. SUCH AN INQUIRY WOULD ACKNOWLEDGE THAT LANGUAGE USAGE IS DETERMINED BY THE SOCIAL SITUATION AND THAT…

A study of the relative effectiveness of three approaches to teaching selected aspects of English grammar to 299 10th-grade students of average ability (17 class-size groups) was made in Lane County, Oregon. Five groups were taught using structural linguistics concepts; six groups employed traditional methods, materials, and approaches; and six…

This study investigated (1) whether teaching applied linguistics can help high school students learn to write more effectively, and (2) which approach, linguistic or traditional, is more effective in teaching composition. Twelfth grade male students (188) in a private metropolitan high school were randomly assigned to six sample groups, fairly…

Several Latin textbooks are described and evaluated in terms of their affectiveness in teaching language mastery. These are: (1) "Using Latin," Scott, Foresman, (2) "Latin for Americans," Macmillan, (3) "Lingua Latina," by Burns, Medicus, and Sherburne, and (4) "A Basic Course in Latin,""An Intermediate Course in Latin--Reading," and "An…

The recent history and present state of linguistics in the English classroom present a dismal prospect. The structural-grammar textbooks of the forties and fifties were inadequate, and the grammars of the sixties, although improved by the influence of Chomsky and his colleagues, are still not as good as they should be. Also of questionable value…

The approaches of traditional grammar, descriptive linguistics, and generative grammar are largely complementary rather than exclusive. Traditional grammar defines eight parts of speech according to meaning or function and concerns itself almost wholely with the written language. Descriptive linguistics postulates that English has a set of unique…

Seemingly conflicting points of view concerning language instruction which are expressed in various teaching methodologies are reconciled in this paper. Key issues discussed include: (1) the nature of linguistic rules and their relation to the "habits" of language use, (2) the role of grammatical theory in language teaching, (3) the nature of…

This article reviews the historical development of applied linguistics in foreign language instruction. Five major principles influencing early applied linguistic theory are summarized, emphasizing the oral nature of language. Central to the article are discussions of: (1) prescriptive or normative grammar, (2) transformational grammar, (3)…