I’ve never quite understood why more people don’t teach using comprehension methods, and why it’s not mandated in more districts. But I just got an insight into it.
I think it’s for the same reason that they don’t hire slide rule scientists from the 1950’s to work in the space industry of today – they don’t have the expertise. It all kind of makes sense to me now.
Most if not all language teachers were four percenters in school. They could flat out memorize a verb or recite a grammar rule – they are the slide rule scientists. (Some younger teachers reading this might want to look up what a slide rule is). But now in language education we aren’t studying space with slide rules anymore, we are studying with high powered computer programs.
The high powered computer programs of today in foreign language education are the Three Modes of Communication of ACTFL. It’s not slide rule/verb conjugation stuff, it’s a lot more than that – a lot more.
So the slide rule scientist language teachers, suddenly aware that their skills are no longer required in the new area of undersea exploration, naturally have resisted. Anyone would. But that resistance, which lasted about fifteen years, is now wearing out. Many of the old guard have left or are leaving the profession in droves right now.
Bless their hearts. They didn’t want things to change. But now there are many new teachers, younger ones especially, who are bringing the new comprehension based skill set to their jobs.
They want to learn this way of teaching and many will, even if they were four percenters. They know that their job security depends on it. That’s a good motivator. They get the new model and they are willing to work to master it.
The others? The ones with the expertise in the old way of teaching languages? They will be out of jobs soon. Hey, things change. No blame. God bless all of us. Everything is changing these days, and our profession is no exception.