IN THE LAST 20 YEARS, SCIENTIFIC STUDY OF THE NATURE OF LANGUAGE AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF LANGUAGE LEARNING, RESEARCH IN STRUCTURAL LINGUISTICS, AND NEWLY-DEVELOPED TECHNOLOGY HAVE BROUGHT ABOUT REVOLUTIONARY CHANGES IN LANGUAGE-TEACHING METHODS. TO ACHIEVE AN IDEAL METHOD, THE POSSIBILITIES INHERENT IN THIS PROGRESS MUST BE EMPLOYED, AND THE…

The initial chapter of this volume is concerned with determining the variables involved in language learning. The procedures and results of experiments conducted in order to formulate learning and teaching principles are described. Experiments include testing different approaches used to help students acquire sentence meaning, discovering the most…

Trends, developments, and special needs in foreign language instruction are discussed in this speech. Priority is given to a definition and evaluation of the language skills, and suggestions are included for mastering listening, speaking, reading, and writing aspects of second languages. Related topics of culture, literature, linguistics, language…

This review of the state of foreign language education in the United States notes that early grammar-translation methods gave way to the Army Method during World War II. Students learned both inductively and deductively and acquired primarily oral-aural competence, with reading and writing as secondary goals. Not until the late 1950s did the…

Presents a history of the use of technology in second-language instruction, beginning with the 1960s and the grammar translation method; through the audiolingual movement and language laboratories; into emerging use of tape recorders, videotapes, and computer-assisted language learning; and up through computer-assisted instruction, distance…

Implying the need for a reexamination of the theoretical bases for second language learning in the secondary school environment, this final report of a 2-year experiment, funded by the U.S. Office of Education and conducted in public secondary schools of Pennsylvania, involved 1,090 students of French or German in 1965-66 and almost 700 in…

This review of research in foreign language instruction summarizes and interprets selected studies produced during the period 1963-66. Topics covered include the psychology of learning, comparisons o f methods, language skills, visual-auditory relationships, vocabulary, grammar, and FLES, as well as programed instruction, technological media,…