Methods of Teaching English (0402529)

The book: Teaching English As A Second Or Foreign Language 4th

edition By Marianne Celce Murcia, Donna M Brinton, Marguerite
Ann Snow, David Bohlke
Unit 1: Teaching
methodology
Language Teaching
Approaches: An
Overview Marianne Celce-Murcia
Communicative
Language Teaching for
the Twenty-First Century
Sandra J. Savignon
 This course aims at developing students’ skills and
competencies in teaching English as a foreign language. The
course intends to introduce students to the nature of English, goals
of teaching English, and the methods of teaching English. Students
will learn the theory and practical skills for teaching the four
English language skills (listening, speaking, reading and
writing) in addition to other skills such as teaching vocabulary
and grammar. Furthermore, this course addresses questioning
and discussion techniques. Students will plan, evaluate, and
practice teaching English learning tasks. Microteaching is an
integral part of this course.
 English as a global language
•the place of English: as a lingua franca
•the number of English speakers: 600-700 million speak English;
in Asia alone, 100 million children are learning English.
•How English got there: a colonial history, economics
(globalization), travel, information exchange (academic discourse;
the Internet), popular culture (music, movies)
•Varieties of English: inner circle, outer circle, and expanding
circle; for specific or general purposes
•Nowadays English is the common language for all countries… so
we have to learn it to communicate with others well

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Reasons of learning a 2nd/foreign
language
• Academic: to pursue degrees or certificates (* only a small portion in fact)
• Non-academic:
(a) to survive in Target Language community e.g. talking to neighbors,
helping children at school, or carrying out daily functions effectively
(b) English for specific purpose (ESP): to learning the lg as to apply in
work
(c) Culture: to know about the target community. It helps you to see things
from a different perspective, or get a deeper understanding of another culture
• Mixed: to learn for pleasure, for integrating into a culture or to be forced to
To understand students’ need and motivation of learning a language is
crucial for successful learning and teaching.

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Advantages children benefit from
learning a foreign language:
•Children’s greater potential for developing accurate
pronunciation, accent and fluency before puberty
•Children’s favorable attitude towards a language and its culture,
either their mother tongue or a second language.
•Children’s less mental barriers of learning than adults
•Children’s learning two languages simultaneously without
suffering from inter-lingual interference
•Listening along with speaking, a preliminary and preferable role
in the natural order of language acquisition for children

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•But “learners of different ages have different characteristics” is
more preferable than the critical hypothesis.
•Besides, accurate pronunciation is not the most important goal
of language learning but a necessary or desirable goal.
•There are also other factors that determine the effectiveness of
one’s language learning such as teacher’s language competence,
the learning environment and so on.

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 Important Terminologies

The study of any new discipline involves familiarizing

oneself with the specific terminology of that field.

In this section, we present some basic terminologies

common to the field of second language acquisition

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Language
• A language is a system of visual or auditory symbols
of communication and the rules used to operate
them.
• A set of symbols and words people used to
communicate with each of them
• It is considered to be a system of communicating with
other people using sounds, symbols and words in
expressing a meaning, idea or thought.
• The language can be used in many forms, primarily
through oral and written communications as well as
using expressions through body language.

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Second language vs. Foreign language

Second language
•It is the language a person learns after the first language.
•People may use it for communicative purposes besides his/her
mother tongue.
•It may have some official status in the country.
•e.g. English is the second language in India
Foreign language
•Foreign language refers to a language used abroad.
• It has no role in one’s native country.
• A person learns it for using in countries where it is used as the
first language or to use in his own country when guiding
tourists coming from regions of this language.
• For example Chinese is a foreign language in India.
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Foreign Language Learning
VS. Second Language Acquisition

•Foreign Language Learning: refers to the process of

learning of a nonnative language in the environment of one’s
native language (e.g., French speakers learning English in
France.
• This is most commonly done within the context of the
classroom.
•Second language acquisition: SLA, generally refers to the
process of learning of a nonnative language in the environment
in which that language is spoken (e.g., German speakers
learning Japanese in Japan).

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 the Acquisition-learning hypothesis by Stephen Krashen-
(1941-)

• Acquisition vs. learning

Acquisition--the processes by which people naturally develop
proficiency in a language
Learning-- the processes by which people formally develop
language proficiency.

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Second Language Acquisition (SLA):

The process of learning another language after the

native language has been learned.

Sometimes the term refers to the learning of a third,

fourth or even a fifth language. The important aspect is
that SLA refers to the learning of a nonnative language
after the learning of the native language.
 Age and the Efficiency of Acquisition VS. Learning

•The majority of studies as well as the experience of those in the

field of SLA indicate that the lower the age the easier, the faster
and the more complete language learning will be.

• Not considering individual differences like personality,

motivation, hearing, and taking the normal learner as a sample,
we can say that the lower the age, the more efficient acquisition
will be over learning.
 The Effect of Acquisition Vs. Learning On
Motivation
•Acquisition-inspired approaches are normally more geared
towards the learner’s needs and individual goals.

•As a result, they will produce more readily useful knowledge

and raise the level of motivation as the learner builds up his
communicative skills.
The Critical Period
•A linguist called Lenneberg came up with the idea of a critical
period for language acquisition. The biological basis
responsible for language development can establish the
critical period for the language acquisition, between the age of
18 months and early puberty.

•After the critical period is over, children find it very difficult

to learn a language, and if they do succeed, their success will
be limited - they'll never have the full mastery.

•The Critical Period Hypothesis is based on the proposition

that the child’s capacity to acquire language is a ‘genetically
triggered, and a biologically driven process’ that ceases
around the age of puberty.
Important terms in TESOL
• TESOL, TEFL, TESL
• TESOL—an acronym for teaching English to speakers of other
languages, used, particularly in the USA, to describe the teaching of
English in situations where it is either a second language or a
foreign language.
• TEFL—an acronym for teaching English as a foreign language,
used to describe the teaching of English in situations where it is a
foreign language.
• TESL—an acronym for teaching English as a second language,
used either to describe the teaching of English in situations where it
is a second language or to refer to any situation where English is
taught to speakers of other languages.

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ESL—an abbreviation for English as a second language such as in
Singapore
EFL— an abbreviation for English as a foreign language such as
Japan
ESP_ (English for Special/Specific Purposes) can involve teaching
English to professionals working in literally any field - airline
pilots or cabin crew, air traffic controllers, bankers, doctors…
EAP_ stands for English for Academic Purposes and often involves
teaching the sort of (fairly high level) English students from
abroad might need to cope with a university course in Britain or
the US.
• CALL-- computer-assisted language learning
• CAI: computer-assisted instruction
• 3 P- a traditional classroom teaching procedure derived
from the Situational Approach of presentation, practice
and production

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•Deductive learning of grammar— is an approach to language
learning in which learners are taught rules and given specific
information about a language. They then apply these rules when
they use the language. For example, in the grammar translation
method, specific grammar rules are given to learners and practice
subsequently follows to familiarize students with the rule. The
features of it are time-saving and suitable for adult learners who can
afford abstract thinking. Besides it is widely used in EFL contexts
where exposure to the target language is limited and the length of
instruction time is short. (e.g. GTM, adult learners, FI/analytic
learners, EFL contexts)

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•Inductive learning— is an approach to language learning in
which learners are not taught grammatical or other types of rules
directly but are left to discover or induce rules from their
experience of using the language. Language teaching methods
which emphasize use of the language rather than presentation of
information about the language include the direct method, the
communicative approach and counseling learning. The features
of it are time-consuming and applicable to young learners in
natural settings such as ESL contexts.

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 Performance and Competence

• Performance-- a person’s actual use of language; how a

person uses his knowledge of a language in producing and
understanding sentences.
• Competence-- a person’s knowledge of a language .People
may have the competence to produce a long sentence but when
they actually try to use this knowledge, there are reasons why they
restrict it. For example, they may run out of breath or their
listeners forget what has been said if the sentence is too long. Due
to performance factors such as fatigue, lack of attention,
nervousness or excitement, their actual use of language may not
reflect their competence. The errors they make are described as
examples of performance.
•Competence involves “knowing”. Performance involves
“doing”.

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•Teacher-centered vs. learner-centered teaching
Teacher-centered (fronted) teaching— a teaching style in
which instruction is closely managed and controlled by the
teacher, where students often respond in unison to teacher
questions, and where whole-class instruction is preferred to
other methods.
Learner-centered teaching— methods of teaching which
emphasizes the active role of students in learning, tries to give
learners more control over what and how they learn and
encourages learners to take more responsibility for their own
learning. It is encouraged by many current teaching approaches.

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 Target language vs. native language

•Native Language (NL):

This refers to the first language that a child learns. It is
also known as the primary language, the mother tongue,
or the L1 (first language) which is acquired first.
•Target Language (TL):
This refers to the new language being learned.
 Native Vs. Non-Native Instructor

•Native and non-native teachers have different talents

•For teaching, non-native teachers with the experience of

"already having walked down the same path," may have an
advantage over native speakers.

•However, in language acquisition, where the primary goal is

human interaction, the presence of genuine representatives of
the language and culture that one intends to assimilate is
fundamental
Form vs. function

• Form— the physical characteristics of a thing-> in

language use, a linguistic form is like the
imperative
• Function— a linguistic form can perform a variety
of different functions:
1. Come here for a drink-> invitation
2. Watch out-> warning
3. Turn left at the corner-> direction
4. Pass the salt-> request

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 Part A: Language Teaching Approaches: An
Overview

 In “ Language Teaching Approaches; An Overview," Celce-

Murcia gives some historical background, then outlines
the principal approaches to second and foreign language
teaching that were used during the twentieth century.
 She previews the book as a whole and projects some trends
for language instruction.
 Language History
 Changes in language teaching methods throughout history
have reflected recognition of changes in the kind of
proficiency learners need, such as a move toward oral
proficiency rather than reading comprehension as the
goal of language study; they have also reflected changes in
theories of the nature of language and of language
learning.
 It is fair, then, to say that throughout history foreign
language learning has always been an important practical
concern. Whereas today English is the world's most widely
studied foreign language as a language of spoken and
written communication.
 Language History
Pre-twentieth-Century Trends:
• Popular approaches in Language Teaching in 20th
Century
• Teachers’ choice of best approaches, materials and
techniques for students
• Prior to the twentieth century, language teaching
methodology hesitated between two types of
approaches:
1. getting learners to use a language versus
2. getting learners to analyze a language.
 Pre-twentieth-Century Trends:

 Scholar and teacher, who published books about his teaching

techniques between 1631-1658, some of the techniques used were
the following:
– Use imitation instead of rules to teach a language
– Have your students repeat after you
– Use a limited vocabulary initially
– Help your students practice reading and speaking
– Teach language through pictures to make it meaningful
 By the end of ninetieth century, the Direct method (became very
popular in France and Germany), which one more stressed the ability
to use rather than to analyze a language as the goal of language
instruction, had begun to function as a workable alternative to
Grammar-Translation.
 Pre-twentieth-Century Trends:

Some phoneticians (Henry Sweet, Wilhelm Vietor, and paul Passy),

they made some of the first truly scientific contributions to
language teaching when they advocated principles such as the
following:
1. The spoken form of a language is primary and should be taught
first
2. The findings of phonetics should be applied to language
teaching
3. Language teachers must have solid training in phonetics
4. Learners should be given phonetic training to establish good
speech habits
 Nine Twentieth-Century Approaches to Language Teaching

In addition to the Grammar-Translation Approach, the Direct Approach,

the Reading Approach, the Audiolingual Approach, and the Oral-
Situational Approach there are four other discernible approaches to foreign
language teaching that developed and were widely used during the final quarter
of the 20th century.

1. Grammar-Translation Approach
2. Direct Approach
3. Reading Approach
4. Audiolingualism (United States)
5. Oral-Situational Approach (Britain)
6. Cognitive Approach
7. Affective-Humanistic Approach
8. Comprehension-Based Approach
9. Communicative Approach
 Nine Twentieth-Century Approaches to Language Teaching

1. Grammar-Translation Approach: It is an extensive of the approach used to teach

classical languages to the teaching of modern language.
2. Direct Approach: It is a reaction to the Grammar-Translation Approach and its
failure to produce learners who could communicate in the foreign language they had
been studying.
3. Reading Approach: It is a reaction to the problems experienced in implementing
the Direct Approach.
4. Audiolingualism: It is a reaction to the reading Approach and its lack of emphasis
on oral-aural skills. Adds features from the Direct Approach and Behavioral
psychology.
5. Oral-Situational Approach: It is a reaction to the reading Approach and its lack of
emphasis on oral-aural skills. Adds features from Firthian linguistics and the
emerging professional field of language.
6. Cognitive Approach: It is a reaction to the behaviorist features of the Audiolingual
Approach; influenced by cognitive psychology and Chomskyan linguistics.
7. Affective-Humanistic Approach: It is a reaction to the general lack of affective
considerations in both Audiolingualism and Cognitive Approaches.
8. Comprehension-Based Approach: It is an out-growth of research in first language
acquisition at led some language methodologists to assume second foreign language
learning is similar to first language acquisition.
9. Communicative Approach
Some terms in ELT: approach, method, technique
What is the difference between method and methodology in
teaching?
Methodology informs teachers about different ways to organize
teaching practices. Harmer (2001), for example, suggests that there
are four levels of organization at the level of methodology, namely,
approach, method, procedure, and techniques.

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Approach
An approach refers to the general assumptions about what
language is and about how learning a language occurs (Richards
and Rodgers, 1986). It represents the sum of our philosophy about
both the theory of language and the theory of learning. In other
words, an approach to language teaching describes:
1. The nature of language,
2. How knowledge of a language is acquired,
3. And the conditions that promote language acquisition.

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Method
A method is a practical implementation of an approach. A theory is
put into practice at the level a method. It includes decisions about:
 The particular skills to be taught,
 The roles of the teacher and the learner in language teaching and
learning,
 The appropriate procedures and techniques,
 The content to be taught,
 And the order in which the content will be presented.
It also involves a specific syllabus organization, choices of the
materials that will boost learning, and the means to assess learners
and evaluate teaching and learning. It is a sort of an organizing plan
that relies on the philosophical premises of an approach.

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Procedures
Jeremy Harmer (2001) describes ‘procedures’ as “an ordered set of techniques.”
They are the step-by-step measures to execute a method. A common procedure
in the grammar-translation method, for example, is to start by explaining the
grammar rules and exemplifying these rules through sentences that the students
then had to translate into their mother tongue. According to Harmer, a procedure
is “smaller than a method and larger than a technique.”

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Technique
Implementing a procedure necessitates certain practices and behaviors that
operate in teaching a language according to a particular method. These practices
and behaviors are the techniques that every procedure relies on. Techniques, in
this sense, are part of procedures. They are the actual moment-to-moment
classroom steps that lead to a specified outcome.
Every procedure is realized through a series of techniques. They could take the
form of an exercise or just any activity that you have to do to complete a
task. For instance, when using videos, teachers often use a technique called
“silent viewing” which consists of playing the video without sound and asking
students to figure out what the characters were saying.

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 1.Grammar-Translation Approach

Background
The grammar-translation method of foreign language teaching is one of the most
traditional methods, dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth
centuries. It was originally used to teach 'dead' languages (and literatures) such
as Latin and Greek, and this may account for its heavy bias to-wards written
work to the virtual exclusion of oral production.
 1.Grammar-Translation Approach

Characteristics
1. Classes are taught in the students' mother tongue.
2. Vocabulary is taught in the form of isolated word lists.
3. Elaborate explanations of grammar are always provided.
4. Reading of difficult texts is begun early in the course of
study.
5. Little attention is paid to the content of texts.
6. Often the only drills are exercises in translating
disconnected sentences.
7. Little or no attention is given to pronunciation.
 2. The Direct Method

Background:
a reaction to the grammar-translation approach in an attempt
to integrate more use of the target language in instruction.
The Principal Characteristics
1. Only use the target language in class.
2. The learner should be actively involved in using the
language in realistic everyday situations.
3. Students are encouraged to think in the target language.
4. First speaking is taught and then only reading and writing.
 2. The Direct Method

Drawbacks
1. L2 should be learned in way in which L1 was acquired -
by total immersion technique.
2. It rejects use of the printed word - but this objection is
illogical since L2 learner has already mastered his
reading skills.
3. Later disciples of Direct Method took it to extremes and
refused to speak a single word of English in lessons.
4. Also Direct Methodists failed to grade and structure their
materials adequately - no selection, grading or controlled
presentation of vocabulary and structures.
 2. The Direct Method

Strategies Using Direct Method

1. Q & A: The teacher asks questions of any nature and the
students answer.
2. Dictation: The teacher chooses a grade appropriate passage and
reads the text aloud.
3. Reading Aloud: Students take turn reading sections of a
passage, play or dialog out loud.
4. Getting Students to Self-Correct: The teacher should have the
students self-correct by offering them a choice between what
they said and the proper pronunciation.
5. Map Drawing
 3. Reading Approach

3. Reading Approach
It is like Grammar Translation Approach since it also stressed on
written skills. But, it was flexible approach as far as the teaching is
concerned.
a. Only the grammar useful for reading comprehension is taught.
b. Vocabulary is controlled at first (based on frequency and usefulness)
and then expanded.
c. Translation is once more a respectable classroom procedure.
d. Reading comprehension is the only language skill emphasized.
e. The teacher does not need to have good oral proficiency in the target
language.
 4. Audio-lingualism (United States)

Background
 This method is based on the principles of behavior psychology
or behaviorism . It adapted many of the principles and procedures
of the Direct Method, in part as a re-action to the lack of speaking
skills of the Reading Approach.
 It emphasizes the teaching of listening and speaking before
reading and writing.
 4. Audio-lingualism (United States)

Characteristics:
1. Dependence on mimicry and memorization of set phrases
2. Teaching structural patterns by means of repetitive drills
3. No grammatical explanation
4. Learning vocabulary in context (active vocabulary)
5. Use of tapes and visual aids
6. Focus on pronunciation
7. Immediate reinforcement of correct responses
 4. Audio-lingualism (United States)

Strategies /Techniques :
1. Dependence on imitation and memorization of set phrases
2. Teaching structural patterns by means of repetitive drills
3. No grammatical explanation
4. Learning vocabulary in context (active vocabulary)
5. Use of tapes and visual aids
6. Focus on pronunciation
7. Immediate reinforcement of correct responses
5. Oral-Situational Approach (Britain)
A cousin of the Audio-Lingual Approach.
a. The spoken language is primary.
b. All language material is practiced orally before being presented in
written form (reading and writing are taught only after an oral base in
lexical and grammatical forms has been established).
c. Only the target language should be used in the classroom.
d. Efforts are made to ensure that the most general and useful lexical items
are presented.
e. Grammatical structures are graded from simple to complex.
f. New items (lexical and grammatical) are introduced and practiced
situationally (e.g., at the post office, at the bank, at the dinner table).
6. Cognitive Approach
It may be said to be a modern approach for it views language learning to be a
natural process. It centers on teaching all four skills: in a natural process, it overlooks
errors as inevitable happening.
a. Language learning is viewed as rule acquisition, not habit formation.
b. Instruction is often individualized; learners are responsible for their own
learning.
c. Grammar must be taught but it can be taught deductively (rules first, practice
later) and/or inductively (rules can either be started after practice or left as
implicit information for the learners to process on their own.
d. Pronunciation is de-emphasized; perfection is viewed as unrealistic and
unattainable.
e. Reading and writing are once again as important as listening and speaking.
f. Vocabulary instruction is once again important, especially at intermediate and
advance levels.
g. Errors are viewed as inevitable, to be used constructively in the learning
process.
h. The teacher is expected to have good general proficiency in the target language
as well as an ability to analyze the target language.
7. Affective–Humanistic Approach
 Humanism is described in applied linguistics as ‘language teaching respecting the
integrity of learners, allowing for personal growth and responsibility, taking
psychological and affective factors into account, and representing “whole person
learning”’. The roots of humanism in language teaching are various. One central one is
the ‘discovery-learning’ movement.
 It is actually a modification of Cognitive Approach. Learning a foreign language is a
process of self-realization and of relating to other people.
a. Respect is emphasized for the individual (each student, the teacher) and for his or her
feelings.
b. Communication that is meaningful to the learner is emphasized.
c. Instruction involves much work in pairs and small groups.
d. Class atmosphere is viewed as more important materials or methods.
e. Peer support and interaction are viewed as necessary for learning.
f. Learning a foreign language is viewed as self-realization experience.
g. The teacher is a counselor or facilitator.
h. The teacher should be proficient in the target language and the student’s native
language since translation may be used heavily in the initial stages to help students feel
at ease; later it is gradually phased out.
 7. Affective–Humanistic Approach
Characteristics
 The students have to be fully alert to make the most of what the teacher says to
play the major part in the learning.
 Various aids are used as simple pointers, or to make shapes, helping the
learners deduce the meanings for themselves.
 The method has many traditional aspects, including use of traditional structural
syllabuses.
 8. Comprehension–Based Approach/Task-based teaching

Task-based teaching
 It has become a subject of keen contemporary interest, and different task-based
approaches exist today. One underlying principle holds for all the approaches –
to place the emphasis firmly on activities or tasks that learners do in class. One
thing should be mentioned is that, there are a number of features that will make
tasks more or less difficult. So that we can progressively give our learners tasks
where there are more and more things to think about, and consequently less
and less attention available for form.
 It tried to teach through a more natural process, i.e., it offers a great deal of
listening and does not force to activate speaking from learner. In fact, it is a
step forward on the Cognitive Approach.
 8. Comprehension–Based Approach

Characteristics
a. Language acquisition occurs if and only if the learner comprehends meaningful input.
b. Listening comprehension is very important and is viewed as the basic skill that will
allow speaking, reading, and writing to develop spontaneously over time, given the
right conditions.
c. Learners should begin by listening to meaningful speech and by responding
nonverbally in meaningful ways before they produced any language themselves.
d. Learners should not speak until they feel ready to do so; this result in better
pronunciation than if the learner is forced to speak immediately.
e. Learners progress by being exposed to meaningful input that is just one step beyond
their level of competence.
f. Rule learning may help monitors (or become aware of) what they do, but it will not aid
their acquisition or spontaneous use of the target language.
g. Error correction is seen as unnecessary and perhaps even counterproductive; the
important thing is that learners can understand and can make themselves understood.
h. If the teacher is not native (or near-native) speaker, appropriate materials such as
audiotapes and videotapes must be available to provide the appropriate input for the
learners.
 9. Communicative Approach

1. Goal of language teaching to communicate in L2b.

2. Content include semantic notions and social functions, not linguistic structures.
3. Work in groups or pairs to transfer meaning in situation.
4. Engage in role play or dramatization adjusting to different social contexts
5. Authentic classroom materials and activities
6. 4 skills integrated
7. Teacher facilitating communication and correcting errors
8. Teacher use L2 fluently and appropriately

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 Part B: Communicative Language
Teaching for the Twenty-First
Century

Sandra J. Savignon
 Communicative Language Teaching for the Twenty-First Century
S A N D R A J. S A V I G N O N

Background
One fairly modern approach, it views language learning more as a system thus
revolving to teach as a system, i.e., authentic material and practical situation.
In "Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) for the Twenty-First Century" Savignon
identifies five components of a communicative curriculum. She sees the identification
of learner communicative needs and goals as the first step in the development of a
teaching program that involves learners as active participants in the interpretation,
expression, and negotiation of meaning.
What Is Communicative Language Teaching?
 Perhaps the majority of language teachers today, when asked
to identify the methodology they employ in their classrooms,
mention “communicative” as the methodology of choice.
 What do you understand by communicative language
teaching?
 Communicative language teaching can be understood as a
set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how
learners learn a language, the kinds of classroom activities that
best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers and learners in
the classroom.
The Goals of Language Teaching
Communicative competence includes the following aspects of
language knowledge:
1. Knowing how to use language for a range of different purposes and
functions
2. Knowing how to vary our use of language according to the setting
and the participants (e.g., knowing when to use formal and
informal speech or when to use language appropriately for written
as opposed to spoken communication)
3. Knowing how to produce and understand different types of texts
(e.g., narratives, reports, interviews, conversations)
4. Knowing how to maintain communication despite having
limitations in one’s language knowledge (e.g., through using
different kinds of communication strategies)
Background
• CLT origins, can be found in changes in the British Language teaching
tradition in the 1960s.
• Back then, the Situational Language Teaching Approach was the norm
that consisted in internalizing the structures of a language. Mostly,
learning grammar rules without vocabulary development.
• The SLT did not fill the need to develop language competence in
Language teaching.
• A group of experts saw the need to focus in communicative proficiency
rather than mastery of structures. (Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T.S. p.64)
• Sandra J. Savignon, along with others promoted the CLT approach.
• Along with the changes in Europe it helped to reform the language
teaching.
• Authentic language use and classroom exchanges where students engaged
in real communication with one another became quite popular
 Concepts

• CLT emphasizes interaction and problem solving as both the means and the
ultimate goal of learning English - or any language. As such, it tends to
emphasize activities such as role play, pair work and group work.
• CLT is the product of educators and linguists who had grown dissatisfied
with the audiolingual and grammar-translation methods of foreign language
instruction.
• CLT aims at developing procedures for the teaching of the four skills that
acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication. It aims
at having students become communicatively competent.
 9. Communicative Approach

Characteristics
 Learner-Centered
The role of the instructor in CLT is quite different from traditional teaching methods. In
the traditional classroom, the teacher is in charge and "controls" the learning. In CLT the
teacher serves as more of a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own
learning.
 Communication
Language is used for communication. For this reason, CLT makes use of communication
to teach languages. CLT emphasizes real-life situations and communication in context.
While grammar is still important in the CLT classroom, the emphasis is on communicating
a message.
 Social Context
CLT also stresses social and situational contexts of communication. In CLT, students learn
about language in social contexts, such as the difference between speaking with an elder
and a peer.
 CLT and Multimedia
Multimedia is an ideal way to teach language using CLT as the theory. It allows for
realistic simulations of communicative situations. Many such programs are games, such as
"Who is Oscar Lake?". They place the learner in a situation in which understanding basic
communication, and social and cultural contexts are vital to advancing in the game.
CLT Approach Principals

• The objective of language learning is: to learn to express

communication functions and categories of meaning.
• Purpose of CLT: Let students communicate fluently in a target
language (L2).
• Develop “communicative competence”(Hymes, 1972).
• Contrary to the traditional Grammar translation methods.
• Lists, rules, translations
CLT objectives

• Use Language as:

- means of communication
- object of learning
- means of expressing values
• Focus on communication rather than structure
• Language learning within the school curriculum
• Focus on meaningful tasks
• Collaboration
 Learner Role

• The learner role as a negotiator, between himself, the learning

process, interaction with the group’s activities and classroom
procedures.

• In other words, the learner should contribute as much as he gains in

the classroom, learning in an interdependent way. (Richards J., C.,
Rodgers T. S.(p.77).
What is a good English learner?

A Good learner of English is

•Willing to experiment
•Willing to listen
•Willing to ask questions
•Willing to think about how to learn
•Independent/responsible

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Teacher Role

Two main roles:

• First, to facilitate the communication process between all participants

in the classroom, and a guide between students activities and texts.

• Second, to act as an independent participant within the learning-

teaching group. (Richards J.C., Rodgers T. S.(p.77).
What is a good English teacher?
According to Brown (2001), a good language teacher is characterized by
1. Technical knowledge—understanding linguistics; grasping basic principles
of language learning and teaching; language proficiencies in speaking,
reading, writing and listening; knowledge about language learning process
through one’s own experience; understanding the relationship between
culture and language and knowledge of latest development of language
teaching and learning.
2. Pedagogical skills---well-informed language teaching approaches; teaching
techniques; ability in lesson plan design and other classroom behavior
management skills.
3. Interpersonal skills.
4. Personal qualities.

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 The Role of Instructional Materials

• Materials are seen as a way of influencing the quality of classroom

interaction and language use.
• They have promote communicative language use.
• Some Instructional Materials are:
–Visual cues
–Taped cues
–Pictures (Flash cards)
–Realia (from real life, authentic)
–Wh- questions (Why, What, When, Where, Who)
–Games
–Role Plays
–Simulations
 Conclusion

• This approach can help future teachers develop their students’ oral
communication skills.
• Students will lose the fear of communicating in a second language, in this case
English as a Second Language. (ESL)
• It can help promote confidence and security in the classroom environment, in
everyday use, and when travelling abroad.
• CLT is a new way of encouraging students to speak more and to get involve in
their classroom activities
Shaping A Communicative Curriculum

•In recent years, many innovations in curriculum planning have

been proposed that offer both novice and expert teachers. Games,
yoga, juggling, and jazz have been proposed as aids to language
learning.
•Rapidly increasing opportunities for computer-mediated
communication, such as: online chat rooms, variety of
information and interactions available on the Internet that hold
promise for further integration of communicative opportunities
for learners worldwide.
How Learners Learn a Language
• Earlier views of language learning focused primarily on the
mastery of grammatical competence. Language learning was
viewed as a process of mechanical habit formation. Good habits
are formed by having students produce correct sentences and
not through making mistakes.
• Errors were to be avoided through controlled opportunities for
production (either written or spoken). By memorizing dialogs
and performing drills, the chances of making mistakes were
minimized.
• Learning was very much seen as under the control of the
teacher.
How Learners Learn a Language
In recent years, language learning has been viewed from a very different
perspective. It is seen as resulting from processes such as:
1. Interaction between the learner and users of the language
2. Collaborative creation of meaning
3. Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language
4. Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor arrive at
understanding
5. Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the
language
6. Paying attention to the language one hears and trying to incorporate new
forms into one’s developing communicative competence
7. Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things
Many scholars have tried their level best to propose the suitable
methods to teach English as second language or foreign
language. As stated by many scholars, choosing an ELT method
depends upon many factors like the level of the learners,
socio-cultural, socio-political, and socio-economic
factors.

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Reference Books
• Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Diane Larsen-Freeman, Oxford
University Press.
• Principles of Language Learning and Teaching, H. Douglas Brown, Prentice Hall
Regents.
• Teaching by Principles, H. Douglas Brown, Prentice Hall Regents.
• Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching, Jack C. Richards & Theordore S.
Rodgers, Cambridge University Press.
• An introduction to Second Language Acquisition Research. Diane Larsen-Freeman
& Michael H. Long.
• The Practice of English Language Teaching, Jeremy Harmer, Longman, Ltd.
• Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. Celce-Murcia, M. H&H
• Second Language Teaching & Learning. David Nunan. (1995). H& H.

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