Language Teaching for the Future

Language Teaching for the Future
Andrew Littlejohn
Reviewed by Ryan Andhika Pratama
Sanata Dharma University

Article by Andrew Littlejohn is about social changes may be influencing language teaching in the future, especially for secondary school aged material. In his article said that social changes is now begin to affecting language teaching. McCoursebook was one of many “McDonaldisation of Society” just like in his article. McCoursebook standardize the content in learning and make it simple to use, so interaction in the class has no variation at all.

As we can see, McCoursebook is not appropriate to be use in teaching secondary school aged material (Littlejohn, 1998), especially for language teaching. I am not an expert in educational system. In fact I am just a student in my second year in college, but I think I can give a method which perhaps might be useful to be used in secondary school aged material for language teaching.

According to Franke, a language could best be taught by using it actively in the classroom. Rather than using analytical procedures that focus on explanation of grammar rules in classroom teaching, teachers must encourage direct and spontaneous use of the foreign language in the classroom. Learners would then be able to induce rules of grammar. The teacher replaced the textbook in the early stages of learning. Speaking began with systematic attention to pronunciation. Known words could be used to teach new vocabulary, using mime, demonstration, and pictures (Franke, 1884). In these days, we have known that natural language learning principles as the Direct Method.

Direct method often use in commercial language school. It was introduced in France and Germany, and it became widely known in the United States. Direct Method barely known in the United States by Sauveur and Maximilian Berlitz in successful commercial schools.

In addition, Littlejohn said “the future is one we shape. There may well be developments that seem unstoppable, but it is incumbent upon us to look in these developments” (Littlejohn, 1998). So, we should take a look back to our ancestors who successfully brought Direct Method as one of great method to use in teaching language. Then we shape a future of our language teaching to become easier for the students to learn, because if you want to learn a language, use it and not learn it.

References:
Littlejohn, A (1998). Language Teaching for the Future.

Franke, F (1884). Die Praktische Spracherlernung auf Grund der Psychologie und der Psychologie der Sprache. Leipzig: O. R. Reisland.

References: Littlejohn, A (1998). Language Teaching for the Future. Franke, F (1884). Die Praktische Spracherlernung auf Grund der Psychologie und der Psychologie der Sprache. Leipzig: O. R. Reisland.