Diane Larsen-Freeman

12 Conclusion
A SUMMARY CHART
Now tha t we have considered the methods individua lly, it will be useful to
view them co llecti vely. Th e followi ng cha rt has been compiled to summarize
each meth od/approa ch with rega rd to which aspec ts of language/culture
arc focused upon, how the method seeks to promote language
learning, and the assoc iated language teaching practices. What is in the
chan is selective, highlighting only major features of each method or
approach.
Whi le this chart provides a useful sum ma ry of the methods/approaches
concerning the global categories of language/culture, learn ing, and reaching,
there arc three limitat ions ro presentin g infor mat ion in th is form.
One is that this chan fails to ca pture the dynami cs of methodological
change. Second, it obscures the similarities that ex ist among the meth od s.
T hird, there arc certa in areas of di fference that arc not revealed by treating
the categories globally. Each of these three areas will be discussed in
turn.
THE DYNAMICS OF METHODOLOGICAL CHANGE
W hile it is true, as was ment ioned at the beginning of th is book, tha t all of
these methods arc being prac ticed tod ay, it is also true that they are not
equally distributed in classrooms around the world. In some par ts of the
world, certain older lan guage teaching meth ods, such as the Grammar­
Translation Meth od, have endured for years. Similarly, the Direct
Method has been preserved in particula r commercial language reaching
enterprises, such as the Berlitz Schools,
In oth er parts of the worl d, some of these methods have had more intluencc
during certai n times than at others. For insmn ce, in the United States
in the 1950s and 1960s, although oth er language reachin g met hod s were
practiced, the Audio-Lingua l Meth od was d early dominant. When
Noam Chomsky challenge d the view that language was a set of patterns
acquired through habit formation, its influence began to wa ne. Following