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CHAPTER 3

One of the most pregnant sentences in history of language teaching was Fries' dictum that 'a person has "learned" a foreign language when he has…mastered the sound system…and…made the structural devices…matters of automatic habit.' (1947, p. 3). Even though the person who has done these things may not be a fluent speaker, 'he can have laid a good accurate foundation upon which to build' through the acquisition of 'content vocabulary' (ibid.). Since its publication, the last half of this formulation has determined the strategy of much 'scientific' language teaching, just as the first half has determined the tactics. The priority, both logical and chronological, of the basic structural habits goes unchallenged in many circles, and we sometimes act as though we think the best way to 'internalize' the 'structures' is to concentrate on them to the virtual exclusion of everything else.

A relatively recent and sophisticated representative of this tradition is the series, by John Kane and Mary Kirkland (Thomas Y. Crowell, 1967). The first lesson of Volume 1 contains two short dialogs (total approximately 2 pages), pronunciation, rhythm and intonation drills (7 pages) and grammar drills (10 pages). The dialogs, which consist of simple introductions and greetings, have no integral relation to the drills, which concentrate on present affirmative statements with. Most of the substitution drills may be summarized in three tables: