Foreign Language Education in Myth and Reality

Throughout today's educational process, the key word is “relevance.” Secondary school students find a great disparity between much of what goes on in the classroom and their daily life activities, and they are not reluctant to voice their dissatisfactions. Thus, much of the success of the programs in today's curriculum may be in direct proportion to student relevance. Foreign language programs are no exception. In spite of the fact that foreign language often masquerades as an elective subject, many students still choose it to fulfill college entrance or college prep requirements. Those who do not are often disillusioned when the initial pleasurable experience of the new language and culture gives way to the necessity of abundant hard work for continual success. As audiolingual foreign language enters its teen years, we must reexamine our aims and objectives and grapple with adolescent problems. To do this, we must first examine the present status of foreign language teaching and realize the disparity between some of the prevalent myths and realities, in order to be in a more tenable position for revising our goals to assure relevance of our field, and for defending or justifying our place in the curriculum of our present‐day schools

Curriculum · First language · Foreign language · Linguistics · Mathematics education · Mythology · Pedagogy · Political science · Relevance (law · Sociology · Subject (documents · Computer Science · EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning · History · Law · Linguistic Education and Pedagogy · Psychology · Second Language Learning and Teaching