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210 SUSAN FEEZ2.1 .-! The challenge to structural upfr@i~he~Despite the innovations outlined almvc, t.hc situational approach retained the follotvinglimitations:Language forms \vert learnt in isolation antl in a fixed progression irrespective of thelearner’s necds and goals.Language learning was f,roduct-orientecI, teacher-centred, concerned with accuracymore than fluency, antl atomistic, that is, concentrating on individual isolated phrasesand structures.Grammar and vocabulary \\ere taught in isolation from thc \vay language \vas used inreal life situations (sccYaltlen 19873).2.2 Leaner-centred, needs-based communicative approachesFrom the end of the 1970s the AMEP lqan to move akvay from a ccntraliscd, structuralapproach towards an indivitlualiscd syllahus in \\-hich classroom teachers were responsiblefor syllabus dcsign. Teachers constructed their syllahuscs from a diverse repertoire ofsyllabus elements and methodologies. These can be roughly grouped according to whetherthcy were informed by:12second language acquisition antl progrcssiw pcdagogiescommunicative and social theories of languagc. antl language learning.2.2. 1.\aturn1longtiage learning i7nd progrewre pcclqogie.sApproaches Lvhich were dcscrild as more ‘natural’ lvays of lcarning a language cmergedafter thc American linguist Chomsky claimed that language use was ‘not imitated bchaviourbut . . . creatcd anew from untlcrlping kno\vlctlge of alxtract rules’ (Richards and Rodgers,1986: 59). Following Chomsky, sccontl language acquisition (SLA) theorists began todescribe language learning as a proccss in lvhich learners actively test their emerginginterpretations of the new language.Influenced by SLA, AMEI’ teachers began to understand that a learner’s non-standardapproximation of the target languagc,, or interlanguage, was not mcrelp ‘incorrcct’ but ratherrevealed how the learner \vas progressing (Corder, 198 1 ; Sclinker, 1991). AMEP teachersfelt that, if language learners were in an environment rich in language input just beyondwhat thcy 1vei-e able to produce themselves in a stress-frcc cnvironmcnt, they would acquirethe target language unconsciously, effortlessly and flucntly (Krashcn, 1 988).A stress-free learning environment m-as achicved by drawing on the progressivepedagogics which had emcrgcd in Wcstcrn education by the end of the 1960s. Progressivcpcdagogies cncouragcd teachers to abandon their traditional authoritarian role in ordcr to:tlcvclop more equal antl respectful rclationships with learncrsfacilitate humane, interesting and interactivc educational settingsrecognise and respond to the individual needs, interests antl motivations oflearnersencourage learners to takc responsibility for their omm learning, to takc risks and todiscover knowledge as they need it.AMEP teachers were especially concerned with learning principles appropriate to adultsincluding, for example, self-directed antl contract learning (Kno\vlcs, 1 990). Some AMEP