Beyond communicative language teaching: What's ahead?

The emergence of English as a global language, technological innovation and a growing need for learner autonomy are changing the contexts of language learning rapidly and profoundly. Recognition of the current complexity and diversity of these contexts has led some to suggest that we have moved ‘beyond methods’ to a postmethod condition (Kumaravadivelu, 2002), that the quest for a better method has been or should be abandoned in favor of the identification of practices or strategies of teaching designed to reflect local needs and experiences. This paper considers the professional consequences of the challenges facing the language teaching profession in the years ahead. How will the needs and goals of the next generation of learners be met? Will applied linguists continue to assert an expert or authority status in the determination of practice? Or will a postmethod era lead to the recognition of teachers as the professional decision-makers and theory builders that they in fact could be?