Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative language teaching (CLT) is best understood within the broader historical spectrum of methods or approaches to language teaching. Seen from a 20th century modernist perspective that views teaching as rather more science than art, the theoretical grounding for the epistemology of practice offered by CLT can be found in (1) the second or foreign language acquisition research that began to flourish in the 1970s and (2) a long standing functional view of language and language use as social behavior. The interpretation or implementation of practice in language teaching contexts around the world is of course yet another matter. A consideration of these various influences highlights the major issues that confront CLT on the threshold of the 21st century.