The approach to syllabus design outlined in Chapter 1 was largely sufficient to support language teaching up to the 1950s. This consisted of a focus on general English using materials graded for their vocabulary level and linguistic difficulty. English was taught through its structure and vocabulary. Darian (1972, 94), commenting on the influential Michigan materials produced at the University of Michigan, complains:

There is little in the way of “contextual material.” Sentences chosen for exercises are perfectly normal utterances, but they seldom have any relation to one another…In addition, almost all responses are complexly controlled, and there is little provision for students to generate any utterances different from the controlled responses being practiced.

Other approaches to language teaching were also available at this time, such as travel and commercial English books that were organized around topics, situations, and phrases as well as some that focused on technical English or the English used in specific occupations. But the latter type of book or language course was incidental to the main trend in language teaching, which focused on the teaching of general English, or, as it has sometimes been referred to, English for No Specific Purpose.

The quest for new methods

The teaching of English as a second or foreign language became an increasingly important activity after World War II. Immigrants, refugees, and foreign students generated a huge demand for English courses in the United Kingdom, Canada, the United States, and Australia.