OVER the last six to seven decades, a wide range of approaches to teaching English to speakers of other languages have evolved. Some have endeavoured to capture the way primary English speakers acquire the language as very young children, that is, by absorbing the language around them – free of direction or formal instruction and in the absence of imposed grammatical rules.
Others have focused on the learning processes of self-discovery and trial and error, with practise and exposure to varying language situations being the keys to accuracy, fluency and competency.
