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Skill Acquisition Theory is not just a theory of the development of language, rather it is a general theory of learning ranging from cognitive to psychomotor skills (Mystkowska-Wiertelak & Pawlak, 2012). This theory, which is based on Adaptive Control of Thought model (ACT), claims that adults commence learning something through mainly explicit processes, and, through subsequent sufficient practice and exposure, proceed to implicit processes (Vanpatten & Benati, 2010). Considering the fact that each one of the SLA theories illuminates one aspect of SLA (VanPatten & Williams, 2007), this paper attempts to investigate this Theory and its basic constructs.

The BICS/CALP dichotomy, proposed by Cummins, has attracted the attention of many educators, syllabus designers, and various educational systems involved in the education of minority migrant children. Though not immune to criticism, this distinction has solved some of the enigmas concerning the education of such children. Nevertheless, its relationship with SLA on the whole is rather under-researched. To meet such an end the researchers of this paper, following Kumaravadivelu’s (2006, p. xiii) suggestion concerning creating a “pattern which connects”, have tried to investigate the status of this dichotomy in the SLA literature.

Postmethod is the offspring of language teaching methods failure in meeting their objectives, a failure which led to disillusionment with the concept of method. To solve this pedagogical challenge, postmethod stigmatized those taking the initiative to develop new methods as making a futile attempt. Therefore, it exerted a deterrent effect on the developmental trend of language teaching methods. All these measures were taken following postmethodism’s major precept: it is the concept of method which should be to blame. True, the concept of method, as grasped so far, is both “limited and limiting” (Kumaravadivelu, 2003, p. 1). But what if there is another possibility? What if future methods can surpass the boundaries of the past methods? By making an analogy between the developmental trend of assessment and that of language teaching methods and by referring to the potentials of Artificial Intelligence, especially those of intelligent computer assisted language learning (ICALL), this study attempts to provide compelling evidence about the inevitability of a methodism resurgence in the language teaching profession and the emergence of dynamic methods as a new generation of methodism.

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