What direction will second-language teaching take in the future? Predictions are always hazardous and often foolhardy, and anticipating future trends is perhaps more difficult now than at the writing of the first edition of this text. Much depends on the future economic conditions of the nation. The economic situation depends in turn upon the availability of large quantities of low-cost energy. If the energy crisis can be solved, current trends in second-language teaching will probably continue. If the economy worsens, society's interests will turn inward, and language learning will be less important than at present. The scarcity of positions for graduates of higher education has already fostered a more serious student attitude and intensified pressure for high grade-point averages. This trend may spread to the high schools as well. Although the tendency in recent years to encourage everyone to seek a college education seems to have reached its peak, for those who do plan to attend college, however, the desire to do well in "academic" subjects may provide an incentive to enroll in second-language classes. Too, both society and education are now in an extreme position with regard to individuality and permissiveness. If the pendulum swings toward greater emphasis on socialization and more rigid requirements and stricter discipline, the schools of tomorrow may resemble those of yesterday more than what present trends would indicate.
Based on present conditions and trends, one would expect the following developments:
1. Instruction will become more student centered. Chosen teaching-learning
objectives and activities will be based on student attitudes and feelings as
well as on cognitive abilities. Prime consideration will be on both the learner as a person and the person as a learner.
2. The teacher will attempt to relate the course content to student experience, interests, and goals.
3. As the teaching procedures are developed, the teacher will attempt to match instruction with cognitive style, personality, attitudes, and social characteristics of the students. Meanwhile, the choice of methods will be based on what works in a given situation with a given objective.
4. A second language is an asset in many different fields of work and study. Already some schools are offering courses geared toward the acquisition of specific expressions and specialized vocabulary. If the trend toward a pluralistic society continues, more courses of this type will be offered.
5. Values and group dynamics activities will provide a bridge to relating to the students and to stimulating their interest in second-language learning.
6. Teachers will seek to introduce the students to the culture of the second language. However, before they can do this well, they will need much assistance from textbook authors and publishers of classroom materials.
7. Teachers will stress communicative competence as the goal of language classes.
8. Second-language teachers will continue to seek ways to stimulate interest in their subject. One way will be to concentrate on public awareness of the need for the contributions gained from the study of second languages. A definite asset in support of the profession's efforts to sell their product is the increasingly interdependency among nations. Hopefully, in the profession's efforts to maintain interest and enrollments it will not sacrifice quality programs in favor of "warm bodies."
9. The public will be in favor of more stability and fewer innovations than in the past. There will still be a desire for improvement, but the public cannot be stimulated continuously by the expectation of new trends without becoming skeptical of the similarity between the new promises and those of previous proposals, which were eagerly adopted only to be abandoned when a new cure-all for educational ills appeared on the scene.
10. The public will insist that both subject matter and socialization be emphasized in school. Teachers will be obliged to insist upon achievement and to demonstrate that it has been accomplished. To do so, teachers will need to insist upon cooperation and effort in the classroom. Permitting students not to learn or to be undisciplined and uncooperative is a disservice to them and to society. Teachers must accept the fact that their responsibility extends beyond the mere scope of the subject they are teaching.
Perspectives 39