Marzieh Izadi

This article sets to embark on a journey into the history of language teaching with particular attention given to the ebb and flow of translation as one of the most controversial elementin language teaching. The ideas and statements in this article are firmly anchored in the belief that movements in language teaching are more driven by extrinsic factors such ascommercialism and politicization rather than intrinsic academic ones. This article dividesthe course of the history of language teaching, based on the leading methodology practiced in each era, into three phases. The first phase is the time when Grammar-Translation Method reigned over the language schools under the Roman Empire, Renaissance and the beginning of the 19thcentury. The second phase is characterized by the dawn of the direct method and the dust of translation at the end of the 19th century.The third phase bears witness the first tentative steps toward reinstating of the role of translation in language teaching. In the end, the study tries to put the reasons causing theswift of pendulum in language teaching into perspectives and discuss their pedagogical implications.

History; Language Teaching, Reinstating, Translation