The gravity of tradition

A significant barrier to progress in language teaching is the gravity of tradition. Even if you have the best methods, and best materials, if this is handed over to another teacher, the methods will usually morph into something more closely resembling traditional methods. Most people have only experienced traditional listen-and-repeat, or focus on limited sets of words to memorize, so their instinct in a teaching environment is to repeat this. Unless someone has been raised with properly-executed good (and non-traditional) methods, there is tremendous gravity to fall back to the listen-and-repeat, memorize word lists kind of approach.

A couple implications:

1. You can't simply "hand-over" a curriculum based on innovative approaches and expect that the approaches will retain their unique and powerful advantages in the hands of a nauvice or experienced teacher. (Indeed, if the teacher is experienced only in traditional methods, the curriculum will usually more thorougly and rapidly morph into a traditional curriculum than in the hands of a nauvice.)

2. Teacher training in innovative methods is not just an introduction to new methods, but a battle against the gravity of tradition.