It took surprisingly long for language teachers and researchers to admit that listening skills are of vital importance. It happened as late as the mid-1970s.

A historical perspective

Up to the 1970s listening practice was rare in schools. There were no recordings available and tape and cassette players were new inventions in those days. Towards the end of 1970s a major improvement took place in Finland as a backwash effect of the change in the construction of the senior high school final exam: translation skills were not tested any more but they were replaced by the testing of reading, writing and listening skills.

The old truth ‘What is tested is also taught’ is maybe the most powerful tool for change in schools. The 1970’s were also the time when teachers started to wonder how various foreign language skills ought to be taught. In those days there was little practical knowledge of these things and this gave rise to the development of communicative language teaching principles in the late 1970’s.

C-cassettes on the left, Lingua Phone records and VHS cassettes on the right