Evolution of Approaches and Methods in Teaching Foreign Languages

Foreign language teaching is a complex process, in addition to involving the main subjects of teaching -students and teachers- as well as the teaching and learning activities generated between them, it also includes an extremely complex element: language. Since it encompasses aspects of complexity, human knowledge about it necessarily depends on the level and general methods of understanding the world. The question of the nature of language is essential for foreign language teaching, as it directly influences the principles, objectives, and design of teaching. Language teaching methods have evolved, from traditional approaches to communicative methods. In this study, we briefly present some of the main methods and approaches to language teaching so that we can understand better their nature and to adopt a panoramic and scientific perspective on our teaching.