Wilga Marie Rivers (13 April 1919 – 23 June 2007) was an Australian linguist and Professor of Romance Languages. While she taught at both the secondary-education and college level throughout her life, she spent the majority of her career on the faculty of Harvard University.[1] There, she served as a Professor of Romance Languages and Coordinator of Language Instruction in Romance Languages, fulfilling these roles until her eventual retirement in 1989.[1]
Rivers was best known for her work in the field of foreign language acquisition and foreign language pedagogy, promoting and popularizing a number of methods used in modern language teaching. In opposition to the popular audiolingualism in her contemporary era, Rivers advocated for a shift towards an interactive and communication-based method of language teaching. She also promoted the use of technology and integration of psychology in language teaching, stances that were not wide spread at the time.[2]