This paper describes and compares six models for teaching second languages developed and adopted since 1840 (grammar-translation, direct, structural, situational, audiolingual, and communicative methods), and proposes a seventh, the cognitive-linguistic method, incorporating Noam Chomsky's theory of learning. The model takes both extralinguistic and intralinguistic factors into consideration, and is seen as: being more learner-oriented; promoting autonomous rather than dependent learning; teaching linguistic knowledge and behavior based on the student's cognitive system; balancing language skills better than previous methods; decreasing the discrepancy between second language knowledge and behavior; and incorporating better an understanding of interlanguage and how it functions. Contains 39 references, seven in Chinese. (MSE)