Page "Language education" Paragraph 7

Innovation in foreign language teaching began in the 19th century and became very rapid in the 20th century.

It led to a number of different and sometimes conflicting methods, each trying to be a major improvement over the previous or contemporary methods.

The earliest applied linguists included Jean Manesca, Heinrich Gottfried Ollendorff ( 1803 – 1865 ), Henry Sweet ( 1845 – 1912 ), Otto Jespersen ( 1860 – 1943 ), and Harold Palmer ( 1877 – 1949 ).

They worked on setting language teaching principles and approaches based on linguistic and psychological theories, but they left many of the specific practical details for others to devise.