Essay On Self-Learning English Language

English as a foreign language in Germany has a long history and tradition. Since the 18th century English has been taught through various changes within teaching methods. People were searching for “access to certain fields of knowledge and educational institutions” (Doff 8). In that case, “self-learning” (Doff 9) was a method to gain access to an educated and professional world of sophisticated adults and readers who were able to “read formative works like politics, science, philosophy, theology and art” (Doff 8). In response, English has developed into a school subject within the 19th century and expanded on a large scale in the 20th century. Regarding the history of ELT theories and methods one can say dealing with these aspects aids to “contribute a deeper understanding of the present with its strengths and weaknesses” and that

The so-called “Direct Method” attracted notice by focussing on spoken language. The importance of written language was neglected for the purpose of gaining oral skills. For teaching spoken language teachers used dialogues and monolinguals for the learners as examples of everyday situation which was the main aspect of this approach. During the reform period people were demanding methods which focused more on the spoken language (cf. A. P. R. Howatt and Richard Smith 81). The approach of inductive learning was especially helpful for those students who were not as good in written language and translations. As a result of the Direct Method teachers had the opportunity like introducing new topics through images or vocabularies. The learners were given the chance to read out loud and to be corrected if necessary. The problem of this method was the expectation of the results being the same as of the first language. People did not immanent the different language acquisition of different