During the early part of the 20th century, literature was the primary object of study and the ultimate goal of FL study, in part because of the nearly exclusive focus on reading and writing. As a result, literature held a place of prestige in the academic community and served as a source of moral and ideational inspiration and content. Yet, with the advent of audiolingualism in the postwar years, the onset of communicative language teaching in the 1970s, and the increased focus on oral competence that resulted, the role of literature in FL study began to shift.