English for speakers of other languages

Abstract

This chapter explains range of perspectives on the development of methods in our field, narratives which, at times, diverge and offer conflicting accounts of the past and present. Consequently, there are a number of differing accounts of the recent history of methods in English Language Teaching (ELT), each with its own emphases and each having implications for the way we might make sense of contemporary debates and practices within ELT. All professional communities of practice draw upon shared understandings of key concepts, as expressed through terminology. Yet method, and the associated terms methods and methodology, are used in variety of ways within ELT. Arguing for a shift in the way we understand teaching, its proponents argue that post-method pedagogy attends not only to issues which we might readily identify with method, but also to the range of historical, political and sociocultural experiences that influence language education.