Interesting topic. I wanted to mention that while the traditional classroom focuses on the structure of the language, the rules, and tries to provide a coherent logic for "why" native speakers use the language the way they do, there are classroom environments that try to provide more exposure to natural language and remove the focus from the rules. When implemented well, with an instructor who identifies where the students are and meets them there, they are very successful. Of course, there is resistance both from some students and from some more classically trained instructors who think that one needs to know <em>how</em> a language works to speak it well, which is simply untrue.

Professor Jeff Brown, a Spanish teacher, made an interesting video about this topic, documenting his experience and progress learning Arabic in a year:

(not a fan of the cheesy background music, but I like his enthusiasm and agree with the message)