36 CHAPTER 2 which o en adopt an explicit and deductive approach to grammar, emphasize lexical and grammatical accuracy and impose the use of the L1 as the language of instruction. is SB approach is not only re ected in the adopted coursebooks but in classroom practices as well. Recently, West and Verspoor (2016) looked more closely at foreign language teaching practices in the Netherlands and showed that the predominant approach was still grammar-translation-based in most schools, with an emphasis on written language, and that target language use was poor. is was also found by Kaal (2018), who investigated teacher and teacher trainer beliefs on SLA and reported a predominant focus on structural aspects. However, in a number of schools, West and Verspoor (2016) found di erent methods that are in line with strong versions of CLT and DUB principles: Teaching Pro ciency through Reading and Storytelling (TPRS), rst developed in America by Blaine Ray, which focuses on comprehensible input (Krashen, 1982) and the Accelerative Integrated Methodology (AIM), rst developed in Canada by Wendy Maxwell (Maxwell, 2001), which focuses on exposure to and active use of the L2. Both approaches re ect a natural ( rst) language learning design as they start with oral skills and introduce written skills later in the program. Both approaches have been reasonably successful in their implementation in a number of schools, but they only conquered a niche without in uencing foreign language teaching practice at large, according to Hulshof et al. (2015, p. 401). ere are two factors in particular that seem to contribute strongly to the status quo in Dutch foreign language teaching practices: the educational reforms at the end of the previous century and the relative workload of teachers in the Netherlands. In his description of foreign language teaching and learning in the Netherlands until 2000, Wilhelm (2018) mentions the growing in uence of experts from di erent disciplines, such as educationists, on teaching practice towards the end of the previous century” (Wilhelm, 2018, p. 26). EDUCATIONAL REFORMS AT THE END OF THE 20TH CENTURY In the nineties, major educational reforms were initiated by policymakers and implemented in Dutch secondary schools. A new, learner-centered curriculum was designed and implemented. In this curriculum, a strong emphasis on active and independent learning was viewed as crucial: students were expected to take responsibility for their own learning progress, assisted by the teacher, acting as a coach, or by a teacher assistant. Since this new curriculum was implemented in 1997, a rough trend or movement can be discerned by which the role of the student in the learning process increased, while the role of the teacher decreased. Teachers had to design detailed study guides with which students were able to take agency over their own learning process and carry out the learning activities by themselves. e role of the teacher changed from
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