Beverley Carter

Introduction

The barrage of new trends and new foci in language teaching and learning can create a sense of unease among language educators, pulling them in many directions, as linguistic, cultural, technical, and educational considerations compete for time and space in their conceptual frameworks. It is a feeling shared by all those who are engaged in second language acquisition (SLA). Indeed, the burgeoning of knowledge in this discipline has made the field “virtually impossible to ‘manage’ ” (Brown, 2000: ix), as the profession tries to integrate findings from testing, bilingual education, discourse analysis, sociolinguistics, pragmatics, and intercultural communication—just to name a few of the sub-disciplines that enrich SLA.

A second issue that arises when we focus on trends in the field is the question of whether it is all a matter of bandwagons, fads, and crusades: all promising, but not always delivering, greater efficacy in classroom-based learning. A clear consequence of this is that a fair degree of scepticism attends new claims for instructional effectiveness. Kumaravadivelu (1994) suggests however, that the profession’s resolve to move beyond the search for a panacea has led to a new dynamic which he labels the “post-method” condition, namely, the choice of principled eclecticism over any single method. Brown’s contention that, “our research miscarriages are fewer as we have collectively learned how to conceive the right questions” (2000:ix) also addresses the field’s concern with adopting more critical approaches to research and application in foreign language education.

Reviewing the trends in foreign language education promises to be a rather complex matter. In order to keep the discussion to manageable proportions, this article has opted to examine three areas that are among the most discussed in the literature: the integration of technology, the role of affect, and the role of metacognition in language learning. Although the article devotes considerable attention to the literature on technology in foreign language education, technology is but one trend deserving of our attention. No review of current trends and issues can fail to address the place of technology in the current foreign language education curriculum. The article argues, however, that as we try to keep pace with new research and curricular innovations, adopting a stance of principled electism requires us to look at some other trends and issues likely to impact on classroom practice. While the article will look at technology, affect and metacognition as separate strands in enhancing student learning, it is their incorporation in an approach to language learning premised on learner autonomy that is ultimately advocated.