The Celce-Murcia article was one of great interest for me because it looked at the history of teaching a second language; honestly, this field is still very new to me, so gaining some background on it is always a wonderful benefit. What struck me most was the ever-evolving meaning for second language acquisition. Obviously the approaches, methods, and techniques changed over time, but their purpose was equally as changed with the inception of new perceptions about TESOL. I almost laughed aloud when it said that the earliest forms of second language teaching could be done by those who have no working knowledge of how to speak the target language- it just didn't make sense.
I suppose that is the natural progression of, well, things, though. Because these are human thoughts, human inventions, they are constantly being adapted to different human thoughts and being packaged as new human inventions. Improvement is bound to be made form one point to another, whether for better or worse. I feel, though, that we are nearing a point where a sort of culmination of each of the 4 most recent approaches should be achieved. It's like with technology; you always assume something better is coming, and soon. It's an ever-changing, ever-evolving entity. So, too, should this field, which has so many great minds constantly thinking, thinking in it; so, too, should this field find its change (or evolution or whatever you want to call it) in something so important. Maybe that's the "perfect method" we're all looking for? Who knows.
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