Pre-twentieth-Century Trends:
A Brief Survey
Prior to the twentieth century, language teaching methodology vacillated between two types of approaches: getting learners to use a language versus getting learners to analyze a language.
Both the classical Greek and medieval Latin periods were characterized by an emphasis on teaching people to use foreign languages. The classical languages, first Greek and then Latin, were used as lingua francas. During the Renaissance, the formal study of the grammars of Greek and Latin became popular through the mass production of books made possible by the invention of the printing press. In the case of Latin, it was discovered that the grammar of the classical texts was different from that of the Latin being used as a lingua franca – the letter subsequently being labeled vulgate Latin.
Czech scholar and teacher, who published books about his teaching techniques between 1631-1658, some of the techniques that Comenius (the most famous teacher and methodologist at that time) used and espoused were the following: