Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1989. 19/3. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 19)

Budai, László: Some Basic Assumptions Underlying Foreign Language Teaching Strategies

- 09 budai. lászló some basic assumptions underlying foreign language teaching strategies The history of foreign language teaching has been and continues to he (narked by controversy rattier than by consensus about the best way, "ttie one true way" to teach a foreign language. Linguists and inethodologists

, traditionally grouped into two battalions — ttie rationalists and the empiricists — tiave been attempting to convince one another about the way foreign languages ought to be taught. Those who have become disillusioned by the failure of the absolutists have written 'eclecticism' on their flag. With this new "one true way" came a new kind of diversity within the foreign language teaching profession. Without having a common yardstick, however, against which ttie outcomes of the various language teaching strategies could be measured no consensus can be arrived at about the future directions of our profession (Umaggio 1983) and we are working with only a set of working hypotheses for ourselves as foreign language teachers (Strasheim 1976). instead Of presuming to identify some "organizing principle" for language teaching which would have the potential to revolutionize foreign language education in some enduring way (Omaggio 1903), I will attempt to clarify ttie basic assumptions underlying some major foreign language teaching strategies. Being aware of the diffuseness of the notion 'strategy' in ttie recent literature on various foreign language teaching methodologies

, I do not venture to give a viable definition of it. Throughout ttiis contribution, 'strategy' will, be used as a cover term for both 'method' and 'approach', as something that largely determines the why, ttie what., and ttie how of foreign language instruction. Methods of and approaches to foreign language teaching and learning have been constantly swayed by trends and developments in allied