The field of second (or foreign) language teaching has undergone many fluctuations and dramaticshifts over the years. As opposed to physics or chemistry, where progress is more or less steady untila major discovery causes a radical theoretical revision (Kuhn, 1970), language teaching is a fieldwhere fads and heroes have come and gone in a manner fairly consistent with the kinds of changesthat occur in youth culture. I believe that one reason for the frequent changes that have been takingplace until recently is the fact that very few language teachers have even the vaguest sense of history about their profession and are unclear concerning the historical bases of the manymethodological options they currently have at their disposal. It is hoped that this brief andnecessarily oversimplified survey will encourage many language teachers to learn more about theorigins of their profession. Such knowledge will give some healthy perspective in evaluating the so-called innovations or new approaches to methodology that will continue to emerge over time.