The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in schools has had a history of conflicting arguments, interesting innovations and some very positive methodological changes. To understand the present situation, it is necessary to consider the past and the wider educational context which has a hearing on it.
Until quite recently, approaches to ESL work have been strongly influenced by methods developed to teach English as a foreign language to older learners. These methods placed much emphasis on drills, exercises and remedial programs that focus on language in abstraction. 46) The prescriptive nature of such methods and the demands they made on the teacher’s time developed the belief that ESL work could be tackled only by the specialist ESL teacher working with small groups of children. Such an approach does not fit comfortably into current notions of learning and teaching in the primary school, nor does it sufficiently equip ESL learners in the secondary
The teaching of English as a second language (ESL) in schools has had a history of conflicting arguments, interesting innovations and some very positive methodological changes. To understand the present situation, it is necessary to consider the past and the wider educational context which has a bearing on it.
Until quite recently, approaches to ESL work have been strongly influenced by methods developed to teach English as a foreign language to older learners. These methods placed much emphasis on drills, exercises and remedial programs that focus on language in abstraction. 46) The prescriptive nature of such methods and the demands they made on the teacher’s time developed the belief that ESL work could be tackled only by the specialist ESL teacher working with small groups of children. Such an approach does not fit comfortably into current notions of learning and teaching in the primary school, nor does it sufficiently equip ESL learners in the secondary
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