Module

1, Task 9a: Transcript for “Communicative Approach”

Diane Larson Freeman: You may have noticed that originators of the methods demonstrated on these
videotapes take as their primary goal students communicating in the target language. Many of these
same methodologists emphasize the acquisition of linguistic structures, or vocabulary. In the last
method we will observe – the communicative approach – it is acknowledged that structures and
vocabulary are important; however, adherents of the communicative approach feel that students must
master the functions, or purposes, to which language is put before they will be able to truly use the
language. Watch how this view of language influences the way the teacher designs the lesson. The
communicative approach with be demonstrated by my colleague Alex Silverman.

Alex Silverman: Anyway, today we’re going to start a brand new unit and this unit will be focusing on
new function: persuasion. How do you convince people to believe in your point of view? Okay, I think
this will be a useful skill for you to have both in your academic work and as you function in the larger
world in everyday life. And the topic that we’ll be using to work on this art, or skill, of persuasion will be
“the best place to live.” We’re going to talk about different kinds of living situations, okay. Now, it so
happens that my family is facing an important decision on this topic, the best place to live, and I’ll tell
you the reason why. Like many American families, maybe some that you know, my family we all started
out together. I grew up in New York City and of course everyone was together, and then as the children
grew up, we spread out all over the country, and now we live hundreds or thousand of miles from each
other. Why do you think, can you guess maybe why the children moved to different places?

Audience: [Making suggestions]

AS: For work. Studies. They got married and they moved away. Vacation? Yeah, well, my parents went
on vacation to Florida once and they liked it and they decided to move there. Okay, so now the situation
is this: my parents, Bill and Sarah, live in south Florida. I live in western Massachusetts in the country
with beautiful hills and streams and fields all around. My brother Charlie moved to a big city,
Philadelphia. How many people have been to Philadelphia? Just a few. Okay. It’s not too far from
Washington. And my sister went to Wisconsin, to Madison, which is a small city, for her studies and she
liked is and she stayed there. Now, here is the problem: my parents are tired of living so far from the
children. They would like to get back together, at least for awhile, with one of the children. The question
is, which place to go to? Since they love each of the children equally, their decision is going to be based
on which is the best place to live: a big city, the country , or a small city or town, right. And we are
having a family meeting , family council we call it, to make that decision and you’re going to decide
which is the best place as if you were my family and I’ll be very interested to see what your decision is.

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Okay, now we’re going to do a little bit of work before the role play on the structure of persuasion. And
to start that off, I’d like to talk with you a little bit about where you live and what you like about where
you live. How many people here live in a big city? At home in your own country. Most of you. How many
live in what we would call a small city/town? Just two or three. And how many live in the country? Just
one in the country? Okay, alright. Well, let’s talk about the big city then since so many of you are from a
big city. What are the reasons that you like living in a big city? What are some of the advantages that
you find in big city life?

Audience member: Better jobs.

AS: Better jobs. Okay.

DLF: After the students give all their reasons, the teacher gives an example of how one might make a
case for living in a big city.

AS: Finally, there’s a wider variety of people that you can meet in a big city. Now what I just did was
structure my persuasion in a certain way that we like to do in English. And one term you can use for this
structure is “making a case.” Okay, and if we look at this structure, it’s what I just did. We open citing
one reason and we say something like “To begin with” or “First of all.” And then we strengthen, or build,
the argument. We cite additional reasons and we use some of these expressions to make a transition
from one reason to another. “Besides that,” “In addition,” “Moreover,” “Furthermore.” And the third
part of the argument, or making the case, is perhaps a summary of the main reason or a final reason,
right? Now, who can, working with this structure, who can make a case for, let’s say, South Florida?
Many of you know about Florida. How many people have been to Florida? A few of you. But you’ve all
heard of it. Who can make a case for living in Florida using that kind of a formula? Who can start off?
Marta?

Marta: Well, okay, I should try to convince…in short, I think that the place convenient for you, it has a
very good weather, too. All the way around. You should go there.

AS: Absolutely. I’m ready to go. Goodbye. Yes, who’s going to teach you? Okay, well, that’s very good.
That’s the idea and that’s the type of argument you can make in a written form or when you’re, for
example, at a business meeting and you’re trying to present your point of view, you might use this kind
of structure. Okay, now we’re going to go to the role play that I mentioned before and you’re each going
to get a chance to practice making a case, okay. Now here is what we’re going to do in the role play.
First of all, you’re going to divide into groups of four and you will each receive a card. On the card is your
identity for the role play. Each of you will be one of the children: me, Alex; Charlie, who lives in
Philadelphia; or my sister Lynn, who lives in Madison, a small city in Wisconsin. The fourth person in the
group will be one of my parents and it will say this on the card, Bill or Sarah. Here is how it’s going to
work. When you get the card, you will see information about your home – Madison or Philadelphia or
Massachusetts. These will give you hints about how to make a case for your place, okay. What you will
do is, first, take a couple of minutes to study the card, see the information, think up additional reasons
besides the ones on the card for living in your place, okay. You are free to ask me any questions you may
have about any of these places because I’ve been to all of them. I know them all pretty well. Okay, then
once those two minutes are up and you’ve prepared your case, the family council will start. And what
you will do is try to convince Bill or Sarah, the parents, that your place is best. So you make a case in
front of Bill or Sarah about your place and everyone else will listen, okay. Follow the formula for making
a case. Once each of the children has made his or her case, the parent in the group, the person playing

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administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

my father or mother, Bill or Sarah, will decide which is the most convincing argument and will state the
reasons why, okay. So each child makes the case, Bill or Sarah listens, thinks about the arguments and
decides which is the best one. The most convincing one. Then after that, we’ll come back in the large
group and I’ll ask the Bills and Sarahs to report on what they decided, okay. Any questions about the
procedure? Okay, could you move into groups of four and I will give you your cards.

[Groups talking.]

AS: Can I have your attention? The parents in the group need to decide now, so please decide and tell
everyone your reasons, right now. Who was a parent here? Victor? What did you decide?

Victor: Yes, I listened carefully what Lynn, Charlie, and Alex said about Wisconsin, Philadelphia,
Massachusetts. I think that I was confused at first, but I think that Charlie have the reason and I decided
to go to Philadelphia because it’s a big city, it has a [?], good technologies, library, and I like to research.

AS: So libraries are important to you?

Victor: Yes. And I like to swim in the sea.

AS: And the sea isn’t too far.

Victor: But it has his own boat, too.

AS: Oh, he has his own boat? Oh, that’s great. Okay, great, so we have one vote for Philadelphia. Okay,
one vote for Philadelphia. Okay, parent Ibrahima.

Ibrahima: I decided to do [?] in Massachusetts.

AS: Oh, thank you.

Ibrahima: First of all, I have an opportunity to do my job correctly in a town which is not polluted. In
addition, I have an opportunity to visit Boston, which is a good city. It’s not too far.

AS: Yeah, it’s not to far, just a couple of hours, that’s all.

Ibrahima: Finally, I think for the fun and for the job and for all other activities I decided on [?].

AS: Okay, so we have one vote for the country, in Western Mass. Great. Who else was a parent?

Another parent 2: Three family. First of all, I think I like all of my children. Besides that, we are retired.
We have a lot of time to go out to look around. It’s a good fall for our house. So, I finally decided to go to
the three family. This year I will go to the Philadelphia, next year I will go to the Western Massachusetts.

AS: That’s a clever solution. So one family each year. Now how do I count that kind of vote? I think I’ll
give one to everyone. Yes, and it will make Lynn feel good because she doesn’t have any votes yet.

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administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning

Another parent: My wife and me have a lot of problem because Alex is my first son and Lynn is my wife’s
last daughter and she likes to live with Lynn and I’d like to live with my first daughter. This is a real
problem.

AS: So what did you decide?

Another parent 2: So I am retired, I have 90 years old, and when I die, Alex can take my place and take
care of his brothers and sisters. So we decided to live with Alex and when we die Alex can take care of
his brother and sister.

AS: Another very creative solution. I can’t wait to call my parents and tell them. So we have another vote
for Western Mass, the country. Let’s count up the votes. Four for the country, three for the big city, and
only one for the small city. So I am the winner. Thank you for helping me decide that. Okay, I will see you
tomorrow. For homework, I’d like you to write a one-page composition in which you follow this formula
and make a case for your own place where you live in your own country. Okay? One page. See you
tomorrow. Have a good day.

DLF: In the lesson we just observed, we saw the students learning to make a case. The vehicle the
teacher used to have students practice making their cases was a role play. This gives the language they
are to use a social context, a characteristic of all communicative events. It also gives the communication
a purpose. Moreover, the role play gives the students an opportunity to practice using language forms
that are not only linguistically accurate, but socio-linguistically appropriate, as well. Appropriate to the
setting, topics and participants. By working in small groups, communicative interaction and cooperative
relationships are encouraged. Such occasions give students an opportunity to work on negotiating
meaning or trying to make themselves understood. They thus learn to communicate by communicating.
As the students role play, the teacher moved from group to group acting as an advisor or facilitator
instead of as a director. During the last activity the parents were given the opportunity to report their
decision. Students are thus given an opportunity to express their opinions and to share their ideas on a
regular basis. When they do so, errors of form are tolerated by the teacher and are seen as a natural
outcome of the development of communication skills. The teacher may choose to draw attention to
common errors in subsequent lessons, but for now, the focus is on fluency and reinforcing the message
that communication is primary.

This concludes the second tape of this two-tape video series on language teaching methodologies. You
may wish to spend a few minutes reflecting on what you have seen. Try to identify techniques or
principles which you find helpful and think about how you might adapt them to your own teaching
situation. Of course, even those techniques and principles which you did not find useful can help you to
clarify your own beliefs about the teaching-learning process. For instance, what does your rejection of
them tell you about your own teaching practice? Being clear about why you do what you do will give you
a firm foundation from which to sift through the methods demonstrated here. We have presented some
options, now it is your responsibility to hold them up to the filter of your own beliefs, experience, and
the needs of your students. I wish you well.

This is a program of the U.S. Department of State

administered by FHI 360 and delivered by World Learning