ABSTRACT
There is no tradition of pedagogy in the history of compulsory education in England and Wales. From Victorian times, when MFLs first appeared on the school curriculum, no formal teacher training was required, and native speakers were employed to service the perceived needs of the British upper middle classes. In a mood of desperation, and in face of pedagogical studies emerging from their home countries, native speaking teachers resorted to self help by forming their own ‘Société Nationale des Professeurs de Français en Angleterre’. This legacy of eclecticism has remained a striking feature of education in the form of conflict and confusion of thought as theorists have striven to relate aims and purposes of education to teaching, learning and pedagogy (Simon, 1994 in Moon and Mayes). Judge (1974) states that the tensions between a traditional academic emphasis and a notion of communication and international understanding have never been more at odds than in discussions centring around MFLs. Undoubtedly there has been a series of trends and recommended methodologies, and within the field of MFL teaching and learning more than in most other subject disciplines. The pragmatic alternative to following a stipulated pedagogy has led to a polarisation of teaching and learning styles, linked inextricably to the perceived purposes of teaching and learning MFLs in secondary schools. Richardson (1981) asserts that recommended approaches to teaching foreign languages have always been linked to the perceived purposes. With no formal direction until 1988, teachers have been able to determine their own aims and objectives, resulting in the view that ‘…there is no such thing as a new idea in language teaching’ (Swarbrick, 1994:1).
