Why there are so many English learning methods?

It is not easy to take stock of the achievements of progressive English learning methods in the last 3 decades: these methods are too diverse both in aims and in mode of conduct. In one respect, this is as it should be: it indicates there is no cut-and-dried program to follow, that English learning methods are free to grow along the lines of special needs and conditions of local communities and social classes, and that innovating English teachers can express their variant ideas. The existing diversity of English learning methods testifies also to the fact that the underlying motivation is so largely a reaction against the traditional English education that the watchwords of the progressive methods can be translated into inconsistent practices.The common creed of progressive English learning methods is the belief in freedom, in opportunity for individual development, and in learning through activity rather than by passive absorption. Such aims give the methods a certain community of spirit and atmosphere. The rebellion against formal English studies and lessons, however, can be effectively completed only through the development of a new subject matter, as well organized as was the old subject matter. We should avoid the one-sidedness of the idea of "active learning” for instance.