In Foreign Language Policies, Research, and Educational Possibilities: A Western

Perspective Patricia A. Duff begins her article explaining than APEC member countries
understand the importance of English as a language for communication in the different
fields more than we don in North America.
Duff presents an overview about the History of ELT where she makes reference to the first
method in ELT which emphasized the importance of grammar and translations; however,
she explains that it is still used in many classrooms due to the view about knowledge many
teachers have. According to Duff, the development in ELT seems to be slow; nonetheless,
promising changes are expected as: the inclusion of technology, project, content, and task
based learning among others. The changes in the future have to do with the political and
economic adjustments governments implement for instance, the decisions made in
educational policies. Some countries invest more money in bilingualism while others like
The United Sates consider proficiency in other languages as a threat for the nation since the
terrorist acts against the nation.
Preparation of teacher is important for changes and developments in Language proficiency;
programs to train teachers are more rigorous in Europe than in North America, by working
abroad, and by participating in internships, FL teachers develop proficiency and selfconfidence.
Age issue is of great importance, and sometimes responds to economic and social
pressures, in some countries in one of the policies to attain the desired objective in foreign
languages due to the critical period and its cognitive reasons to optimize learning as well as
the number of hours for language instruction. It has been recommended that language
should be the central core of curriculums as math and other subjects are. Unfortunately, in
spite of the fact of the deliberated related to age, there is not a clear articulated teaching
across kindergarten through post-secondary curriculum.
It is quite common that the policies taken do not correspond to the appropriate assessment,
for instance in some countries the necessity of oral interaction is often measured through
written exams by reflecting traditional methods. This negative mismatch or backwash
undermines the efforts for educational reforms. In some countries like Canada, the United

States and England there is a problem of articulation between FL in elementary, secondary

and post-secondary school. In Asian countries communicative language teaching has been
introduced in elementary levels; nonetheless, they revert to very traditional methods such as
grammar based tasks.
Language election has to be with political and demographic issues.
Technology and distance learning in the past were traditional and expensive; now a
computer can connect students with speakers from different parts of the world and provide
access to authentic materials by motivating students to learn. Technology is considered for
TESOL International as one of the most important priorities. Doughty and Long as (cited in
Duff 2014) provide rich input to produce language (output): Pragmatic aspects are ignored
in EFL education (politeness, speech acts, making requests, complaints, apologies, etc.).
In many EFL curriculum designs in many countries, the importance of oral interaction is
often recognized as well as the use of content related to different areas engaging students in
creative works. Also the use of project-based tasks emphasizes content of different topics
and gives the opportunity of integrating language learning; textbooks designed for contentbased instruction offer wider educational contexts to be discussed.
Immersion programs which have been implemented in countries like Canada have proved
efficacy by producing graduates with more proficiency in FL than regular programs, but
these conditions are reached when teachers are well trained and are able to go beyond FL
syllabi.
The use of the first language has been advised as not helpful when constructing in
curriculum design of FL programs. FL relevant activities are encouraged to be carried out
to make learners perceptions of the language they are learning meaningful and
transcendent.
Research is undoubtedly important in FL, through research is possible to determine what is
functioning or what needs to be analyzed.
TESOL international has urged to focus on these important issues: learners age, teachers
FL proficiency, and technology.

Finally, Duff discusses that it would be worthless to concede importance to only one
method, since not all the methods fit in all the cultures; Policy and curriculum designed
must be decided and analyzed according to the local needs and educational realities. It is
important to recognize that languages are quite important in contemporary societies and
that they offer people more horizons and opportunities.