[4] Although developed in the 1950s, in recent years, the MLAT has been sometimes associated with a language teaching methodology known as the audiolingual method, largely popular in the mid and late1960s and characterized by repetitive drills.
The MLAT, although still used successfully in a number and variety of different contexts and countries, did not reflect the latest thinking in how language is acquired, developed and maintained in the mind of the learner, so a new tool was desired which could better address the revised theories of language, especially insofar as cognitive theory is concerned.
[5] While based on Carroll's theoretical work, the CANAL-F takes a slightly different approach to assessing foreign language aptitude.
The test aims to measure: all in the context of the major underlying feature of language aptitude being an ability for the learner to cope with novelty and ambiguity.
[4] Rod Ellis points out that despite CANAL-F using a new formulation of language aptitude as its base, the results it gets are very similar to those of the MLAT.