One of the challenges encountered by FL supervisors is FL teachers' inability to justify their teaching practices, which can be attributed to insufficient awareness of theory-grounded practices. For example, a teacher who follows a deductive approach to teaching grammar is unlikely (but not necessarily though) to be aware of the other option, inductive teaching. This teaching practice would be less likely to implement in a vibrant language learning environment.

What matters here is not just why this or that teacher sticks to this way of teaching but whether the teacher is AWARE of the OTHER options. Language educators' responsibility, accordingly, lies in realizing the different options a teacher has at his/her disposal in a given teaching situation. The difference between deductive or deductive--according to the scenario I presented--becomes less significant in comparison to whether the teacher has a justification for using this or that option.

Thanks a lot, Sahail, for your answer. You certainly hit the target. In the end, it is all about finding new ways not to repeat the same mistakes from the past. Here in Spain, we still largely draw on a deductive way of FL Teaching which has solidly rubbed off on Spanish people since the late 18th century. A lot has happened in our field since then even though some teachers seem to be UNAWARE of the different stages in FL teaching/Learning.

Our profession is very prone to fashions, most of them with hardly any scientific evidence about their efficiency. Our profession demands innovative teachers, open to a myriad of classroom tasks which lead to a successful FL Learning. Somehow, we need to re-invent our teaching style so that students get more motivated and commited. Which scientific discipline could manage to evolve without knowing its past? It is precisely thanks to our present knowledge of the past that scientific disciplines can move forward and make our lives a bit easier. As a science, Applied Linguistics depts at Universities should also include some experts on the history of FLT so that history may have its say as well. In fact, the history of our profession still has many blank pages that need filling.

Alberto,

It would be great if all foreign language learners started with lessons in phonetics to learn the range of sounds and the subtleties of pronouncing them. Then, the different sounds for a new language are not so foreign. In addition, some study of syntax from a variety of languages would be a help so students have an appreciation for the variety in language. Then the process of getting the right word order in the target language builds from the list of possible configurations rather than from trying to reconstruct each sentence of one language from a sentence of the other.