Communicative Language

Teaching
Set of Principles about:
•Goals of Language Teaching
•How Learners Learn a Language
•Classroom Activities that best Facilitate
Learning
•Roles of Teachers and Learners.
Goal of Language Teaching
• Develop Communicative Competence
• Communicative Competence Contrasted with
Linguistic Competence
 Linguistic Competence
• Rules for creating grammatically correct
sentences
 Communicative competence
• How Sentences are Used in Communication
• Implications for English as an International
Language
• Not Necessarily Based on Native-speaker
Norms
 View of Second Language
Learning
• Interaction between the Learner and Users of the
Language
• Collaborative Creation of Meaning
• Creating Meaningful and Purposeful Interaction
through Language
• Attending to Feedback
• Paying Attention Input
• Incorporating New Forms into Communicative
Competence
• Experimenting with Different Ways of Saying Things
• Traditional Approaches to Language Teaching
(up to the late 1960s)
• Priority given to grammatical competence
• Accurate Pronunciation and Mastery
• Grammar Learned Through:
– Direct Instruction
– Repetitive Practice
– Drilling
– Memorization of Dialogs
– Question and Answer Practice
– Substitution Drills
– Guided Speaking and Writing Practice
• Traditional Approaches to Language Teaching
(up to the late 1960s)

Methodologies:
– Audiolingualism
– Structural-Situational Approach
 Communicative Language Teaching
(1970s to 1990s)
• Alternative Model of a Syllabuses to
Replace Grammar Syllabuses
– Functional Syllabus
– Skills Syllabus
– ESP Approach
• • Alternative Classroom Procedures
 Implications for Classroom
Methodology
• Real communication the Focus of
Language Learning
• Opportunities to Experiment
• Tolerant of Errors
– Building Communicative Competence
• Opportunities to Develop Accuracy and
Fluency
 Implications for Classroom
Methodology
• Link Different Skills Together
• – Speaking, Reading, Listening and Writing
• Students Induce or Discover Grammar Rules
• Emphasis on Pair Work and Group Work
• Push for Authenticity
 Typical Classroom Activities in
CLT
• Fluency Activities:
• – Information-gap Activities
• – jig-Saw Activities
• – Task-Completion Activities
• – Information-Gathering Activities
• – Opinion-Sharing Activities
• – Information-Transfer Activities
• – Reasoning-Gap Activities
• – Role plays
 Ten Assumptions of Current
Communicative Language Teaching
• 1. Learners Engaged in Interaction and
Meaningful Communication
• 2. Effective Classroom Learning Tasks:
• Negotiate Meaning
• Expand Language Resources
• Notice How Language is Used
• Meaningful Intrapersonal Exchange
 Ten Assumptions of Current
Communicative Language Teaching

• 3. Meaningful Communication from Relevant,

Purposeful, Interesting, and Engaging Content
• 4. Communication a Holistic Process
• • Use Several Language Skills or Modalities
• 5. Language Learning Facilitated by Activities
• involving:
• • Inductive or Discovery Learning
• • Language Analysis and Reflection
 Ten Assumptions of Current
Communicative Language Teaching
• 6. Language Learning is Gradual
• Creative Use of Language and Trial and Error
• Errors are Normal while Learning
• Goal is to Use New Language Accurately and Fluently
• 7. Learners Develop their own Routes to Language
Learning, Progress at Different Rates, and Have
Different Needs and Motivations for Language
Learning
 Ten Assumptions of Current
Communicative Language Teaching
• 8. Effective Learning and Communication Strategies
• 9. Teacher is a Facilitator:
• Climate Conducive to Language Learning
• • Opportunities for Ss to Use and Practice Language
• • Opportunities for Ss to Reflect on Language Use &learning
• 10. The Classroom is a Community where Learners
Collaborate and Share
 Two Directions in Current
Methodology
• Processed-based Approaches
– Content-based Instruction
– Task-based Instruction
• • Product-based Approaches
• – Text-based Instruction
• – Competency-based Instruction
 Two Directions in Current
Methodology
• Processed-based Approaches
– Focus on Creating Classroom Processes that Facilitate
language learning
• • Product-based Approaches
– Focus on Learning Outcomes
 Content-based Instruction
• Use Language as a Means of Acquiring
• Information, rather than as an End in Itself
• • Better Reflects Learners’ Needs
• • Provides a Coherent Framework to link
and Develop Language Skills
• • Content Can be from School Curriculum
or Related to Learners’ Interests and Needs
 Content-based instruction
• Language is integrated into the broad curriculum.
• • Learning is improved through motivation and the
• study of natural language in context.
• • CLIL is based on language acquisition rather than
• enforced learning.
• • Language is seen in real-life situations.
• • CLIL is long-term learning.
• • Fluency is more important than accuracy.
• • Reading is essential.
 Task-based instruction
• a) Key Characteristics of a Task:
• – Something Learners Do Using Existing Language
• Resources
• – Outcome Not Simply Linked to Learning Language
• Language Acquisition May Occur
• – Focus on Meaning
• – Use Communication Strategies and Interactional Skills
 Task-based instruction
• b) Two Kinds of Tasks:
• – Pedagogical Tasks
• – Real-world Tasks
 Task-based instruction
• c) Learning Claims
• – Grammatical Syllabus not Needed
• – Grammatical Knowledge Built around Task
• Performance
• – Reverses the Standard P-P-P Lesson Format and
• Replaces it With one Consisting of:
• Task - Language Awareness - Follow Up Activity
 Task-based instruction
• a) TBI is Based on an Approach to Teaching
• Language that Involves:
• – Teaching the Structures and Grammatical
Features of Spoken and Written Texts
• – Linking Spoken and Written Texts to the Cultural
• Context of their Use
• – Designing Units of Work that Focus on Developing
Skills in Relation to Whole Texts
• – Providing Students with Guided Practice
 Competency-based instruction
• Characteristics of CBI:
• – A Focus on Successful Functioning in Society
• – A Focus on Life Skills
• – Task- or Performance-oriented Instruction
• – Modularized Instruction
• – Outcomes are Made Explicit
• – Continuous and Ongoing Assessment
• – Mastery of Performance Objectives
• – Individualized, Student-centered Instruction