Innovation in Language Learning

Exploring the ups and downs of teaching foreign languages in Iran , is not very much different from turning round a vicious circle; it will not be very easy to decide on a starting point! As an FLT context, it has not been quite what it could be, and cannot therefore be described as the very picture of a successful environment for learning foreign languages. An amalgamation of reasons- both linguistic and non-linguistic- have led the profession to a side road. A close scrutiny of these reasons, seems to reveal that a number of constraints, though not explicitly and openly discussed, have substantially affected the foreign language teaching and learning in Iran. The existing combination of cultural, political, social, and at times religious constraints, might be the end product of the relationship between ideological orientation of educational institutions, and international and/or foreign policies of the  country. The history of hostility against teaching and learning foreign languages probably goes back to some three decades ago, when in 1979, a fundamental socio-political change in the country, reshaped most of the values and criteria of the society and a trend against all that had a trace of foreign color to it, soon overshadowed fields which on the surface did not have any connection to politics. The focus of the present paper will be an overview of the non-linguistic factors which predominantly impede the application of the latest language  teaching methods in the Iranian context, and how language teachers and educators have tried to overcome these obstacles by glocalized solutions. 

Keywords: FLT, Linguistic Constraints, Non-Linguistic Constraints, Glocalization