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The Grammar-Translation Method was the standard classroom approach. It focused on grammatical rules, syntactic structures, memorisation of vocabulary and translation of literary texts.
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During this period, ‘The Natural Method’ was developed by a German immigrant to the USA, Gottlieb Heness, an educationalist, and his French colleague Lambert Sauveu, which was a conversation-based method which taught the meaning of new words by objects, pictures,mime and context. The direct method of teaching was developed as a response to the Grammar-Translation method. It sought to immerse the learner in the same way as when a first language is learnt.
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The behaviorist theory was one of the most important for the period. The learner is passive, responding to environmental stimuli in the process of learning. Palmer elaborated his Oral Method of Teaching Languages, which consisted in teaching conversation independently of texts. Most of the exercises were in drill form and followed what later became known as a stimulus-response model. Moreover, the Situational Approach was the dominant approach in British TEFL in the 1960s.
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Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. Linked to the Communicative language teaching, Task-based Language Teaching designed a syllabus made up of tasks consisting in solving daily real-life problems, like visiting a doctor or ordering food. Also emerged Project-based learning(PBL) which is a method in which students learn by actively engaging in real-world and meaningful activities.