Theoretical Orientations to L2 Methods & Approaches
There are four general orientations among modern second-language methods and approaches:
1. STRUCTURAL/LINGUISTIC: Based on beliefs about the structure of language and descriptive or contrastive linguistics. Involves isolation of grammatical and syntactic elements of L2 taught either deductively or inductively in a predetermined sequence. Often involves much meta-linguistic content or "learning about the language" in order to learn the language.
2. COGNITIVE: Based on theories of learning applied specifically to second language learning. Focus is on the learning strategies that are compatible with the learners own style. L2 content is selected according to concepts and techniques that facilitate generalizations about the language, memorization and "competence" leading to "performance".
3. AFFECTIVE/INTERPERSONAL: Focuses on the psychological and affective pre-dispositions of the learner that enhance or inhibit learning. Emphasizes interaction among and between teacher and students and the atmosphere of the learning situation as well as students' motivation for learning. Based on concepts adapted from counseling and social psychology.
4. FUNCTIONAL/COMMUNICATIVE: Based on theories of language acquisition, often referred to as the "natural" approach, and on the use of language for communication. Encompasses multiple aspects of the communicative act, with language structures selected according to their utility in achieving a communicative purpose. Instruction is concerned with the input students receive, comprehension of the "message" of language and student involvement at the students' level of competence.
The Grammar-Translation Approach
This approach was historically used in teaching Greek and Latin. The approach was generalized to teaching modern languages.
Classes are taught in the students' mother tongue, with little active use of the target language. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists. Elaborate explanations of grammar are always provided. Grammar instruction provides the rules for putting words together; instruction often focuses on the form and inflection of words. Reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of study. Little attention is paid to the content of texts, which are treated as exercises in grammatical analysis. Often the only drills are exercises in translating disconnected sentences from the target language into the mother tongue, and vice versa. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
The Direct Approach
This approach was developed initially as a reaction to the grammar-translation approach in an attempt to integrate more use of the target language in instruction.
Lessons begin with a dialogue using a modern conversational style in the target language. Material is first presented orally with actions or pictures. The mother tongue is NEVER, NEVER used. There is no translation. The preferred type of exercise is a series of questions in the target language based on the dialogue or an anecdotal narrative. Questions are answered in the target language. Grammar is taught inductively--rules are generalized from the practice and experience with the target language. Verbs are used first and systematically conjugated only much later after some oral mastery of the target language. Advanced students read literature for comprehension and pleasure. Literary texts are not analyzed grammatically. The culture associated with the target language is also taught inductively. Culture is considered an important aspect of learning the language.
The Reading Approach
This approach is selected for practical and academic reasons. For specific uses of the language in graduate or scientific studies. The approach is for people who do not travel abroad for whom reading is the one usable skill in a foreign language.
The priority in studying the target language is first, reading ability and second, current and/or historical knowledge of the country where the target language is spoken.Only the grammar necessary for reading comprehension and fluency is taught. Minimal attention is paid to pronunciation or gaining conversational skills in the target language. From the beginning, a great amount of reading is done in L2, both in and out of class. The vocabulary of the early reading passages and texts is strictly controlled for difficulty. Vocabulary is expanded as quickly as possible, since the acquisition of vocabulary is considered more important that grammatical skill.Translation reappears in this approach as a respectable classroom procedure related to comprehension of the written text.
The Audiolingual Method
This method is based on the principles of behavior psychology. It adapted many of the principles and procedures of the Direct Method, in part as a reaction to the lack of speaking skills of the Reading Approach.
New material is presented in the form of a dialogue. Based on the principle that language learning is habit formation, the method fosters dependence on mimicry, memorization of set phrases and over-learning. Structures are sequenced and taught one at a time. Structural patterns are taught using repetitive drills. Little or no grammatical explanations are provided; grammar is taught inductively. Skills are sequenced: Listening, speaking, reading and writing are developed in order.Vocabulary is strictly limited and learned in context. Teaching points are determined by contrastive analysis between L1 and L2. There is abundant use of language laboratories, tapes and visual aids. There is an extended pre-reading period at the beginning of the course. Great importance is given to precise native-like pronunciation. Use of the mother tongue by the teacher is permitted, but discouraged among and by the students. Successful responses are reinforced; great care is taken to prevent learner errors. There is a tendency to focus on manipulation of the target language and to disregard content and meaning.
Hints for Using Audio-lingual Drills in L2 Teaching
1. The teacher must be careful to insure that all of the utterances which students will make are actually within the practiced pattern. For example, the use of the AUX verb have should not suddenly switch to have as a main verb.
2. Drills should be conducted as rapidly as possibly so as to insure automaticity and to establish a system.
3. Ignore all but gross errors of pronunciation when drilling for grammar practice.
4. Use of shortcuts to keep the pace o drills at a maximum. Use hand motions, signal cards, notes, etc. to cue response. You are a choir director.
5. Use normal English stress, intonation, and juncture patterns conscientiously.
6. Drill material should always be meaningful. If the content words are not known, teach their meanings.
7. Intersperse short periods of drill (about 10 minutes) with very brief alternative activities to avoid fatigue and boredom.
8. Introduce the drill in this way:
a. Focus (by writing on the board, for example)
b. Exemplify (by speaking model sentences)
c. Explain (if a simple grammatical explanation is needed)
d. Drill
9. Don’t stand in one place; move about the room standing next to as many different students as possible to spot check their production. Thus you will know who to give more practice to during individual drilling.
10. Use the "backward buildup" technique for long and/or difficult patterns.
--tomorrow
--in the cafeteria tomorrow
--will be eating in the cafeteria tomorrow
--Those boys will be eating in the cafeteria tomorrow.
11. Arrange to present drills in the order of increasing complexity of student response. The question is: How much internal organization or decision making must the student do in order to make a response in this drill. Thus: imitation first, single-slot substitution next, then free response last.
Community Language Learning
Curran, C.A. (1976). Counseling-Learning in Second Languages. Apple River, Illinois: Apple River Press, 1976.
This methodology created by Charles Curran is not based on the usual methods by which languages are taught. Rather the approach is patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to the peculiar anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages. Consequently, the learner is not thought of as a student but as a client. The native instructors of the language are not considered teachers but, rather are trained in counseling skills adapted to their roles as language counselors.
The language-counseling relationship begins with the client's linguistic confusion and conflict. The aim of the language counselor's skill is first to communicate an empathy for the client's threatened inadequate state and to aid him linguistically. Then slowly the teacher-counselor strives to enable him to arrive at his own increasingly independent language adequacy. This process is furthered by the language counselor's ability to establish a warm, understanding, and accepting relationship, thus becoming an "other-language self" for the client. The process involves five stages of adaptation:
STAGE 1
The client is completely dependent on the language counselor.
1. First, he expresses only to the counselor and in English what he wishes to say to the group. Each group member overhears this English exchange but no other members of the group are involved in the interaction.
2. The counselor then reflects these ideas back to the client in the foreign language in a warm, accepting tone, in simple language in phrases of five or six words.
3. The client turns to the group and presents his ideas in the foreign language. He has the counselor's aid if he mispronounces or hesitates on a word or phrase. This is the client's maximum security stage.
STAGE 2
1. Same as above.
2. The client turns and begins to speak the foreign language directly to the group.
3. The counselor aids only as the client hesitates or turns for help. These small independent steps are signs of positive confidence and hope.
STAGE 3
1. The client speaks directly to the group in the foreign language. This presumes that the group has now acquired the ability to understand his simple phrases.
2. Same as 3 above. This presumes the client's greater confidence, independence, and proportionate insight into the relationship of phrases, grammar, and ideas. Translation is given only when a group member desires it.
STAGE 4
1. The client is now speaking freely and complexly in the foreign language. Presumes group's understanding.
2. The counselor directly intervenes in grammatical error, mispronunciation, or where aid in complex expression is needed. The client is sufficiently secure to take correction.
STAGE 5
1. Same as stage 4.
2. The counselor intervenes not only to offer correction but to add idioms and more elegant constructions.
3. At this stage the client can become counselor to the group in stages 1, 2, and 3.
The Silent Way
Gattegno, C. (1972).Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools: The Silent Way. New York City: Educational Solutions.
Procedures
This method created by Caleb Gattegno begins by using a set of colored rods and verbal commands in order to achieve the following:
To avoid the use of the vernacular. To create simple linguistic situations that remain under the complete control of the teacher To pass on to the learners the responsibility for the utterances of the descriptions of the objects shown or the actions performed. To let the teacher concentrate on what the students say and how they are saying it, drawing their attention to the differences in pronunciation and the flow of words. To generate a serious game-like situation in which the rules are implicitly agreed upon by giving meaning to the gestures of the teacher and his mime. To permit almost from the start a switch from the lone voice of the teacher using the foreign language to a number of voices using it. This introduces components of pitch, timbre and intensity that will constantly reduce the impact of one voice and hence reduce imitation and encourage personal production of one's own brand of the sounds.
To provide the support of perception and action to the intellectual guess of what the noises mean, thus bring in the arsenal of the usual criteria of experience already developed and automatic in one's use of the mother tongue. To provide a duration of spontaneous speech upon which the teacher and the students can work to obtain a similarity of melody to the one heard, thus providing melodic integrative schemata from the start.
Materials
The complete set of materials utilized as the language learning progresses include:
A set of colored wooden rods A set of wall charts containing words of a "functional" vocabulary and some additional ones; a pointer for use with the charts in Visual Dictation A color coded phonic chart(s) Tapes or discs, as required; films Drawings and pictures, and a set of accompanying worksheets Transparencies, three texts, a Book of Stories, worksheets.
The Communicative Approach
What is communicative competence?
- Communicative competence is the progressive acquisition of the ability to use a language to achieve one's communicative purpose.
- Communicative competence involves the negotiation of meaning between meaning between two or more persons sharing the same symbolic system.
- Communicative competence applies to both spoken and written language.
- Communicative competence is context specific based on the situation, the role of the participants and the appropriate choices of register and style. For example: The variation of language used by persons in different jobs or professions can be either formal or informal. The use of jargon or slang may or may not be appropriate.
- Communicative competence represents a shift in focus from the grammatical to the communicative properties of the language; i.e. the functions of language and the process of discourse.
- Communicative competence requires the mastery of the production and comprehension of communicative acts or speech acts that are relevant to the needs of the L2 learner.
Characteristics of the Communicative Classroom
- The classroom is devoted primarily to activities that foster acquisition of L2. Learning activities involving practice and drill are assigned as homework.
- The instructor does not correct speech errors directly.
- Students are allowed to respond in the target language, their native language, or a mixture of the two.
- The focus of all learning and speaking activities is on the interchange of a message that the acquirer understands and wishes to transmit, i.e. meaningful communication.
- The students receive comprehensible input in a low-anxiety environment and are personally involved in class activities. Comprehensible input has the following major components:
a. a context
b. gestures and other body language cues
c. a message to be comprehended
d. a knowledge of the meaning of key lexical items in the utterance
Stages of language acquisition in the communicative approach
1. Comprehension or pre-production
a. Total physical response
b. Answer with names--objects, students, pictures
2. Early speech production
a. Yes-no questions
b. Either-or questions
c. Single/two-word answers
d. Open-ended questions
e. Open dialogs
f. Interviews
3. Speech emerges
a. Games and recreational activities
b. Content activities
c. Humanistic-affective activities
d. Information-problem-solving activities
Functional-Notional Approach
Finocchiaro, M. & Brumfit, C. (1983). The Functional-Notional Approach. New York, NY: Oxford University Press.
This method of language teaching is categorized along with others under the rubric of a communicative approach. The method stresses a means of organizing a language syllabus. The emphasis is on breaking down the global concept of language into units of analysis in terms of communicative situations in which they are used.
Notions are meaning elements that may be expressed through nouns, pronouns, verbs, prepositions, conjunctions, adjectives or adverbs. The use of particular notions depends on three major factors: a. the functions b. the elements in the situation, and c. the topic being discussed.
A situation may affect variations of language such as the use of dialects, the formality or informality of the language and the mode of expression. Situation includes the following elements:
A. The persons taking part in the speech act
B. The place where the conversation occurs
C. The time the speech act is taking place
D. The topic or activity that is being discussed
Exponents are the language utterances or statements that stem from the function, the situation and the topic.
Code is the shared language of a community of speakers.
Code-switching is a change or switch in code during the speech act, which many theorists believe is purposeful behavior to convey bonding, language prestige or other elements of interpersonal relations between the speakers.
Functional Categories of Language
Mary Finocchiaro (1983, p. 65-66) has placed the functional categories under five headings as noted below: personal, interpersonal, directive, referential, andimaginative.
Personal = Clarifying or arranging one’s ideas; expressing one’s thoughts or feelings: love, joy, pleasure, happiness, surprise, likes, satisfaction, dislikes, disappointment, distress, pain, anger, anguish, fear, anxiety, sorrow, frustration, annoyance at missed opportunities, moral, intellectual and social concerns; and the everyday feelings of hunger, thirst, fatigue, sleepiness, cold, or warmth
Interpersonal = Enabling us to establish and maintain desirable social and working relationships: Enabling us to establish and maintain desirable social and working relationships:
- greetings and leave takings
- introducing people to others
- identifying oneself to others
- expressing joy at another’s success
- expressing concern for other people’s welfare
- extending and accepting invitations
- refusing invitations politely or making alternative arrangements
- making appointments for meetings
- breaking appointments politely and arranging another mutually convenient time
- apologizing
- excusing oneself and accepting excuses for not meeting commitments
- indicating agreement or disagreement
- interrupting another speaker politely
- changing an embarrassing subject
- receiving visitors and paying visits to others
- offering food or drinks and accepting or declining politely
- sharing wishes, hopes, desires, problems
- making promises and committing oneself to some action
- complimenting someone
- making excuses
- expressing and acknowledging gratitude
Directive = Attempting to influence the actions of others; accepting or refusing direction:
- making suggestions in which the speaker is included
- making requests; making suggestions
- refusing to accept a suggestion or a request but offering an alternative
- persuading someone to change his point of view
- requesting and granting permission
- asking for help and responding to a plea for help
- forbidding someone to do something; issuing a command
- giving and responding to instructions
- warning someone
- discouraging someone from pursuing a course of action
- establishing guidelines and deadlines for the completion of actions
- asking for directions or instructions
Referential = talking or reporting about things, actions, events, or people in the environment in the past or in the future; talking about language (what is termed the metalinguistic function: = talking or reporting about things, actions, events, or people in the environment in the past or in the future; talking about language (what is termed the metalinguistic function:
- identifying items or people in the classroom, the school the home, the community
- asking for a description of someone or something
- defining something or a language item or asking for a definition
- paraphrasing, summarizing, or translating (L1 to L2 or vice versa)
- explaining or asking for explanations of how something works
- comparing or contrasting things
- discussing possibilities, probabilities, or capabilities of doing something
- requesting or reporting facts about events or actions
- evaluating the results of an action or event
Imaginative = Discussions involving elements of creativity and artistic expression
- discussing a poem, a story, a piece of music, a play, a painting, a film, a TV program, etc.
- expanding ideas suggested by other or by a piece of literature or reading material
- creating rhymes, poetry, stories or plays
- recombining familiar dialogs or passages creatively
- suggesting original beginnings or endings to dialogs or stories
- solving problems or mysteries
Total Physical Response
Asher, J.C. (1979). Learning Another Language Through Actions. San Jose, California: AccuPrint.
James J. Asher defines the Total Physical Response (TPR) method as one that combines information and skills through the use of the kinesthetic sensory system. This combination of skills allows the student to assimilate information and skills at a rapid rate. As a result, this success leads to a high degree of motivation. The basic tenets are:
Understanding the spoken language before developing the skills of speaking. Imperatives are the main structures to transfer or communicate information. The student is not forced to speak, but is allowed an individual readiness period and allowed to spontaneously begin to speak when the student feels comfortable and confident in understanding and producing the utterances.
TECHNIQUE
Step I The teacher says the commands as he himself performs the action.
Step 2 The teacher says the command as both the teacher and the students then perform the action.
Step 3 The teacher says the command but only students perform the action
Step 4 The teacher tells one student at a time to do commands
Step 5 The roles of teacher and student are reversed. Students give commands to teacher and to other students.
Step 6 The teacher and student allow for command expansion or produces new sentences.
The Natural Approach
The Natural Approach and the Communicative Approach share a common theoretical and philosophical base.The Natural Approach to L2 teaching is based on the following hypotheses:
1. The acquisition-learning distinction hypothesis
Adults can "get" a second language much as they learn their first language, through informal, implicit, subconscious learning. The conscious, explicit, formal linguistic knowledge of a language is a different, and often non-essential process.
2. The natural order of acquisition hypothesis
L2 learners acquire forms in a predictable order. This order very closely parallels the acquisition of grammatical and syntactic structures in the first language.
3. The monitor hypothesis
Fluency in L2 comes from the acquisition process. Learning produces a "monitoring" or editor of performance. The application of the monitor function requires time, focus on form and knowledge of the rule.
4. The input hypothesis
Language is acquired through comprehensible input. If an L2 learner is at a certain stage in language acquisition and he/she understands something that includes a structure at the next stage, this helps him/her to acquire that structure. Thus, the i+1 concept, where i= the stage of acquisition.
5. The affective hypothesis
People with certain personalities and certain motivations perform better in L2 acquisition. Learners with high self-esteem and high levels of self-confidence acquire L2 faster. Also, certain low-anxiety pleasant situations are more conducive to L2 acquisition.
6. The filter hypothesis
There exists an affective filter or "mental block" that can prevent input from "getting in." Pedagogically, the more that is done to lower the filter, the more acquisition can take place. A low filter is achieved through low-anxiety, relaxation, non-defensiveness.
7. The aptitude hypothesis
There is such a thing as a language learning aptitude. This aptitude can be measured and is highly correlated with general learning aptitude. However, aptitude relates more to learning while attitude relates more to acquisition.
8. The first language hypothesis
The L2 learner will naturally substitute competence in L1 for competence in L2. Learners should not be forced to use the L1 to generate L2 performance. A silent period and insertion of L1 into L2 utterances should be expected and tolerated.
9. The textuality hypothesis
The event-structures of experience are textual in nature and will be easier to produce, understand, and recall to the extent that discourse or text is motivated and structured episodically. Consequently, L2 teaching materials are more successful when they incorporate principles of good story writing along with sound linguistic analysis.
10. The expectancy hypothesis
Discourse has a type of "cognitive momentum." The activation of correct expectancies will enhance the processing of textual structures. Consequently, L2 learners must be guided to develop the sort of native-speaker "intuitions" that make discourse predictable.
Source: Krashen, S.D. , & Terrell, T.D. (1983). The Natural Approach. Hayward, CA: The Alemany Press.
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Language teaching methodolgies
Listed below are brief summaries of some of the more popular second language teaching methods of the last half century. For a more detailed analysis of the different methods, see Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching Richards, J. and Rodgers, T (1986) CUP Cambridge.
The Direct Method
In this method the teaching is done entirely in the target language. The learner is not allowed to use his or her mother tongue. Grammar rules are avoided and there is emphasis on good pronunciation. [More]
Grammar-translation
Learning is largely by translation to and from the target language. Grammar rules are to be memorized and long lists of vocabulary learned by heart. There is little or no emphasis placed on developing oral ability. [More]
Audio-lingual
The theory behind this method is that learning a language means acquiring habits. There is much practice of dialogues of every situations. New language is first heard and extensively drilled before being seen in its written form. [More]
The structural approach
This method sees language as a complex of grammatical rules which are to be learned one at a time in a set order. So for example the verb "to be" is introduced and practised before the present continuous tense which uses "to be" as an auxiliary.
Suggestopedia
The theory underlying this method is that a language can be acquired only when the learner is receptive and has no mental blocks. By various methods it is suggested to the student that the language is easy - and in this way the mental blocks to learning are removed. [More]
Total Physical Response (TPR)
TPR works by having the learner respond to simple commands such as "Stand up", "Close your book", "Go to the window and open it." The method stresses the importance of aural comprehension. [More]
Communicative language teaching (CLT)
The focus of this method is to enable the learner to communicate effectively and appropriately in the various situations she would be likely to find herself in. The content of CLT courses are functions such as inviting, suggesting, complaining or notions such as the expression of time, quantity, location. [More]
The Silent Way
This is so called because the aim of the teacher is to say as little as possible in order that the learner can be in control of what he wants to say. No use is made of the mother tongue. [More]
Community Language Learning
In this method attempts are made to build strong personal links between the teacher and student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher for repetition by the student. [More]
Immersion
This corresponds to a great extent to the situation we have at our school. ESL students are immersed in the English language for the whole of the school day and expected to learn math, science, humanities etc. through the medium of the target language, English.
Immigrant students who attend local schools find themselves in an immersion situation; for example refugee children from Bosnia attending German schools, or Puerto Ricans in American schools. Click here for many links to information about bilingual/immersion programs.
Task-based language learning
The focus of the teaching is on the completion of a task which in itself is interesting to the learners. Learners use the language they already have to complete the task and there is little correction of errors.
(This is the predominant method in middle school ESL teaching at Frankfurt International School. The tasks are subsumed in a major topic that is studied for a number of weeks. In the topic of ecology, for example, students are engaged in a number of tasks culminating in a poster presentation to the rest of the class. The tasks include reading, searching the internet, listening to taped material, selecting important vocabulary to teach other students etc.)
The Natural Approach
This approach, propounded by Professor S. Krashen, stresses the similarities between learning the first and second languages. There is no correction of mistakes. Learning takes place by the students being exposed to language that is comprehensible or made comprehensible to them. [More]
The Lexical Syllabus
This approach is based on a computer analysis of language which identifies the most common (and hence most useful) words in the language and their various uses. The syllabus teaches these words in broadly the order of their frequency, and great emphasis is placed on the use of authentic materials.
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Communicative Approach
The Communicative Approach, also known as communicative language teaching (CLT), emphasizes interaction and problem solving as both the means and the ultimate goal of learningEnglish - or any language. As such, it tends to emphasise activities such as role play, pair workand group work.
It switched traditional language teaching's emphasis on grammar, and the teacher-centredclassroom, to that of the active use of authentic language in learning and acquisition.[1]
Contents
[hide]Outline[edit]
CLT is interested in giving students the skills to be able to communicate under various circumstances. As such, it places less emphasis on the learning of specific grammatical rules and more on obtaining native-speaker-like fluency and pronunciation. Students are assessed on their level of communicative competence rather than on their explicit knowledge.
It is more of an approach or philosophy than a highly structured methodology. David Nunanfamously listed five key elements to the communicative approach:[2]
- An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
- The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
- The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on thelearning process itself.
- An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.
- An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.
History[edit]
Communicative language teaching has been the centre of language teaching discussions since the late 1960s (Savignon & Berns, 1984, p.4). Over the years it had become clear to its proponents that mastering grammatical forms and structures did not prepare the learners well enough to use the language they are learning effectively when communicating with others. As a result, situational language teaching and its theoretical conjectures were questioned by British linguists. Some of the linguists had the task of providing the Council of Europe with a standardized programme for foreign language teaching. D. A. Wilkins was one of them, and his work has had the greatest impact on current materials for language teaching (Savignon & Berns, 1984, p.10). He analyzed the existing syllabus types (grammatical and situational) and the communicative meanings that a language learner needs to understand.
In place of the existing syllabus Wilkins proposed a notional syllabus. This syllabus was not organized in terms of grammatical structures but rather specified what meanings the learners needed in order to communicate. What began as a development only in Britain has expanded since the mid 1970’s. Now it is seen as an approach that pursues two main goals.
The first one is “to make communicative competence the goal of language teaching” and the second one, “to develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.155). Another important name associated with communicative language teaching is A. P. R. Howatt. He differentiates between a “strong” and a “weak” version of communicative language teaching.
Howatt states that “a strong version is the development of a language through communication” (1984, p.279) doesn’t mean reactivating existing knowledge of the language but rather prompting the development of the language system itself. However, the “weak” version focuses on providing the learner with sufficient opportunities to speak the language and to put that in the centre of language teaching (Howatt, 1984, p.279).
Theory and characteristics[edit]
As the name implies, the central concept in communicative language teaching is “communicative competence” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.159). This covers both the spoken and written language and all four language skills. As Oxford states, the “development of communicative competence requires realistic interaction among learners using meaningful, contextualized language” (1990, p.8).
Learning strategies, like allowing learners to become more self-directed and more independent in learning the new language help them to participate actively in communication. In her book “Interpreting Communicative Language Teaching: Contexts and Concerns in Teacher Education” Savignon includes a useful summary of the eight characteristics of communicative language teaching by the linguist M. Berns:
1) Language teaching is based on a view of language as communication. That is, language is seen as a social tool that speakers use to make meaning; speakers communicate about something to someone for some purpose, either orally or in writing.
2) Diversity is recognized and accepted as part of language development and use in second language learners and users, as it is with first language users.
3) A learner’s competence is considered in relative, not in absolute, terms.
4) More than one variety of the language is recognized as a viable model for learning and teaching.
5) Culture is recognized as instrumental in shaping speaker’s communicative competence, in both their first and subsequent languages.
6) No single methodology or fixed set of techniques is prescribed.
7) Language use is recognized as serving ideational, interpersonal, and textual functions and is related to the development of learner’s competence in each.
8) It is essential that learners be engaged in doing things with language – that is, that they use language for a variety of purposes in all phases of learning (2002, p.6).
One major feature of communicative language teaching is pair and group work. This type of work “is suggested to encourage students to use and practice functions and forms” (Richards& Rodgers, 2001, p.171). That helps the students to become more independent and to accept responsibility.
Learner and teacher roles[edit]
Communicative language teaching emphasizes “self-direction for the learners”. (Oxford, 1990, p.10) As the teacher won’t be around to guide them the whole time, especially not when the learners speak the language outside the classroom they are expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning. According to Oxford, “this is essential to the active development of the new language” (1990, p.4). The learner should enter into situations where communication takes place as much as possible to increase his or her communicative proficiency.
Teachers no longer rely on activities that require repetition, accuracy and the memorization ofsentences and grammatical patterns; instead, they require the learners to negotiate meaning and to interact meaningfully in the new language. Learners have to participate in classroom activities based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning; they need to listen to their peers in order to carry out group work successfully.
The teacher adopts different roles. On the one hand she is a “facilitator, a guide and a helper” and on the other hand a “coordinator, an idea-person and a co-communicator” (Oxford, 1990, p.10). She talks less and listens more to the students’ output. In addition to that, the teacher also identifies the students’ learning strategies and helps the students to improve them if necessary and shows them how to work independently. Instructional tasks become less important and fade into the background. That doesn’t mean that they aren’t used at all, but with less significance.
These changes give the teacher more scope for variety and creativity and she gives up her status as a person of authority in a teacher-learner hierarchy. It is the teacher’s responsibility to be creative and prepare appropriate material at home. The teacher can also assume other roles, for example the needs analyst, the counselor or the group process manager (see Richards & Rodgers, 2001).
Materials and how they can be used[edit]
Materials play an important role in communicative language teaching. They provide the basis for communication among the learners. According to Richards & Rodgers, there are three basic types of material (2001, p.168). These are text-based materials, task-based materials and realia.
Text-based material like textbooks will, if designed on CLT principles, offer the learners many kinds of prompts on which they can build up conversations. They will typically contain visual cues, pictures and sentence fragments which the learners can use as a starting point for conversation. Other books consist of different texts the teacher can use for pair work. Both learners get texts with different information and the task is to ask each other questions to get to know the content of the missing piece.
Task-based material consists of exercise handbooks, cue cards, activity cards, pair-communication practice materials and student-interaction practice booklets.
Pair-communication practice material contains material contains two sets of material for a pair of students. It is similar to a task using text-based material. Both students have different kinds of information and through communication they need to put the parts together. Other pair-work tasks involve one student as an interviewer and the other one the interviewee. Topics can range from personal experience and telling the other person about one’s own life and preferences to talking about a topic that was discussed in the news recently or is still up-to-date.
Using realia in communicative language teaching means using authentic material, for example newspaper articles, photos, maps, symbols, and many more. Material which can be touched and held makes speaking and learning more concrete and meaningful. Maps can be used to describe the way from one point to another and photos can be used for describing where things are placed, in front of, on top of or underneath something, and so on.
A classic example of a communicative classroom activity is the “jigsaw-activity”: As Richards points out, “functional communication activities require students to use their language resources to overcome an information gap or solve a problem” (2006, p.18). Usually the class is divided into several groups and each group has a different piece of information needed to complete an activity. The task of the class is to fit all the pieces together to complete the whole. They must use their language resources and communicative strategies to communicate with each other in order to get the information the groups do not have.
An example of a “jigsaw-activity” would be the following: The teacher prepares a topic that’s interesting for the students and fits into the curriculum. For example the students could learn about Britain when introducing the country. The teacher splits the class into four to five groups, depending on the number of students. He/she does this by counting from A- D/E and afterwards all the A’s, B’s, and so on sit together. Every group gets a text containing information on Britain, for example about politics, sights or differences to Germany. The learners take notes and help each other when questions arise. They are then rearranged into groups containing a person from group A, one from B, one from C, and so on. Now the learners discuss and exchange the information they worked on in the first groups so that everyone has all the information about Britain and is able to answer questions the teacher could ask. This activity forces the pupils to talk, even the ones who do not normally speak that much in class, because they are all dependent on the information another student has.
Advantages and disadvantages[edit]
The most obvious advantage in communicative language teaching is that of the increase of fluency in the target language. This enables the learners to be more confident when interacting with other people and they also enjoy talking more. The approach also leads to gains in the areas of grammatical/sociolinguistic/discourse/strategic competence through communication.
One major disadvantage might be that it is difficult for the teacher alone to check the language use of every student, especially in a big class. The students are allowed to make mistakes but they need to be corrected – preferably not whilst in the middle of a conversation - by the teacher in order to improve and so as not to make the same mistake again and again. Therefore it is not helpful if there’s only one teacher for one class.
Another point concerning the teacher might be that it depends on the teacher how motivating or boring the lesson will be. The teacher needs to prepare the material at home and needs to make it as motivating and creative as possible so that the students find the tasks meaningful and motivating, and are eager to communicate with each other.
A critical look[edit]
In 1985, Michael Swan published his "A critical look at the Communicative Approach" in the ELT Journal (Parts 1[3] and 2[4]) to which Henry Widdowson, the leading guru of the communicative approach, replied.[5][6]
In the first part of his "Critical look", after acknowledging the major contributions the Communicative Approach has made to modern foreign language teaching, Swan points out two, complementary, drawbacks, based on what he perceives is its dogmatic approach: the apparent "belief that students do not possess, or cannot transfer from their mother tongue, normal communication skills" and "the 'whole-system' fallacy" which "arises when the linguist, over-excited about his or her analysis of a piece of language or behaviour, sets out to teach everything that has been observed (often including the metalanguage used to describe the phenomena), without stopping to ask how much of the teaching is (a) new to the students and (b) relevant to their needs."[3]
In his second article, Swan states that the "real issue is not which syllabus to put first: it is how to integrate eight or so syllabuses (functional, notional, situational, topic, phonological, lexical, structural, skills) into a sensible teaching programme" and that "A good language course is likely to include lessons which concentrate on particular structures, lessons which deal with areas of vocabulary, lessons on functions, situation-based lessons, pronunciation lessons, lessons on productive and receptive skills, and several other kinds of component... reconciling a large number of different and often conflicting priorities...".[4] He goes on to point out that students already know how to "convey information, define, apologize and so on" in their own languages and that "what they need to learn is how to do these things in English". He argues that once they know how to "carry out the main communicative functions", according to the course, students still need to learn most of the language, i.e. the vocabulary.[4]
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There are various English teaching methodologies that you can use while in the classroom. We will quickly show you how to use the most simple and common one, the PPP Approach to Communicative Language Teaching. The 3Ps stand for Presentation, Practice, and Production. Presentation The presentation stage involves explaining to your students what the goals of the lesson are so that they can understand what it is you are teaching and why. This is the stage where you, as the teacher, will explain/introduce the new vocabulary/key expressions to your students. Practice The practice stage involves students practicing the target language in a controlled manner (by themselves, in pairs, or in a group setting). Activities meant for drilling the language may be used to guide the students in a more productive manner. Activities may include repeating the target language after the teacher either individually or in chorus, completing sentences or dialogues, asking and answering questions, and matching sentences. Production Students are encouraged to make use of the language in a less controlled manner. The aim is for them to make the language “their own” by providing a suitable context for usage. Typical activities for this stage are role play, communications task, and Q&A games.
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