The Development Of Psychological Theories And The Formation Of The Teaching Methods Of Foreign Languages

The present economic and cultural globalization demands a great number of comprehensible talented college graduates who are both proficient in English and in international communications so as to contribute to our international cooperation and high-lighten our international image. However, the insufficient research into foreign languages' teaching and blindly imitating western theories make China's foreign languages teaching be at a lower level than the other advanced countries. Therefore, the proper use of correct methods which meet the needs of Chinese students is of great importance.Looking back on the formation and development of the teaching methods that have appeared in linguistic history, each of them has played an important role in the teaching of foreign languages at that time. They all more or less drew lessons form some advanced and scientific philosophical, psychological and pedagogical theories at that time. The ideas and principles advocated by the psychological theories such as Associationism, Behaviourism and Coginitivism can be seen in the following teaching methods of foreign languages as Direct Method, Audio-lingual Method and Cognitive Method respectively which were analysed in details in this paper.Based on the introduction and comparisons between the psychological theories and teaching methods and also connected with my teaching practices, I propose the views of conducting a "whole person" and learner-centred education aiming at cultivating the college students into comprehensive talents by developing their potentials and the qualities.