By
Enrique Rojas R.
It is said that all social animals are able to
communicate with each other, whether you refer to insects, like ants or bees;
birds, like pigeons or parrots; or mammals like dolphins, dogs or apes. They do
it through a set of prearranged signals. Those signs or gestures do transmit
certain information. But if we refer to communication as the sending or
exchanging of thoughts and opinions by speech, writing or signs, then we are
denoting human exchanges and pointing to an exclusively anthropological
creation: language.
It
is thought that men were using it a million years ago, although little we know
about its origins and we probably never will. What we do know is that different
human groups spoke diverse languages. The socialization process then made it
necessary for some people to learn the language of others.
To
learn the language of the parents and the own human group has always seemed to
be a natural process that pretty much takes care of itself without requiring
much science or methodological development. But learning a “foreign” language
demanded extra effort and perhaps the elaboration of certain methods. It is
interesting to mention that about five thousand languages are spoken in the
world today, though they can be grouped in some 20 families.
Since
then the humanity has been developing methods to learn and teach foreign
languages. A. P. R. Howatt & Richard Smith make reference to the history of foreign
language teaching as a rather lengthy and complex sequence of schemes, within
which it seemed each one replaced the one before. They also mention “the large
number of named ‘methods’ of language teaching that appear in some sources and
the way in which they are sometimes strung together as in a necklace of beads.”
We
have been following the Communicative Language Teaching Approach for over half
a century now, although we can distinguish that the way this methodology was
perceived in the 1960’s and 70’s is quite dissimilar to how we understand it
today.
Linguists,
psychologists and educators continue formulating theories and methods to
improve the practices employed in the teaching of foreign languages. Our team
of researchers has decided to take a look at which are today the most interesting
and debatable issues in second or foreign language teaching. In our eagerness
to deal with topics of relevance for our colleagues, we are beginning today a series
of articles on The Hottest Issues of Language Learning.
Reference:
Howatt , A & Richard Smith. 17 Sep 2014. The History of Teaching
English as a Foreign Language, from a
British and European Perspective. Retrieved from https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1179/1759753614Z.00000000028.
BIODATA
Graduated in Journalism at the PUCP, Peru, Enrique Rojas R. holds a MA in Journalism and MA in Inter American History from Southern Illinois University, USA; a MA in Linguistics from Universidad Iberoamericana del Atlántico, Spain; a MA in Literature from University of the Americas, Puebla, Mexico, all the coursework for a MA in TEFL at Universidad de Piura, Peru and BA in Education from Universidad Federico Villarreal. He has also obtained Certificates of Proficiency in English both from Cambridge University and the University of Michigan and the Diploma for EFL Teachers from Universidad del Pacifico. He is an Oral Examiner for the Cambridge University exams and has been awarded the title Expert in E-Learning from Asociacion Educativa del Mediterraneo and Universidad Marcelino Champagnat. He has worked as a professor in universities in Peru, Mexico and the United States; as a newscaster and a producer in radio and television stations in the United States and Mexico, and as a writer and editor in daily newspapers of the same countries. He has been in the staff of CIDUP for 20 years teaching English and Spanish specializing in International Exams, English for Business, ESP and Teacher Training. He has been a speaker in every Congress of English for Special Purposes organized by Centro de Idiomas de la U.P. He is also a member of its Research Area
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