ANDREA HERNÁNDEZ LÓPEZ

25-3-22
SUMMARY OF A LECTURE ON THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

Over the last few decades, the teaching of English as a foreign language has become an
essential aspect of the education of children, young people, and adults. Many schools
have integrated new and modern methodologies into their classes with the aim of raising
the level of their students and enabling them to become bilingual. For a long time, many
linguists, teachers and researchers have been trying to find the best way to teach the
English language. For this reason, in 1980 communicate approach was born because
English language teaching was mainly based on grammar, and this had to change. Jeremy
Harmer and Scott Thornbury are two renowned English language teachers and academic
trainers. In the interview they discuss the importance of the communicative approach in
their classes, from their beginnings as teachers, through their development as
professionals to naming the strengths and weaknesses that can be found. Therefore, the
following is an attempt to analyse how these two teacher training professionals use and
explain this way of teaching.

To begin with, we will talk about the first speaker, Professor Jeremy Harmer, who came
into the world of teaching without thinking about it and for years has been providing new
methodologies and ways to improve teaching in the classroom. Looking back on his past,
Harmer is aware of how the way of teaching has changed and evolved. Previously, classes
were mainly based on teaching methodologies and grammar structures, but this was rarely
put into practice and when it was, it was not done in a real context. The teacher places
special emphasis on the functions of language, as students are often able to make a
sentence but are not able to analyse its background, i.e. they cannot analyse the intention
of the speaker. Therefore, learners learn to write or speak, but they do not know how to
use the language. Harmer makes a very interesting distinction that divides the teaching of
English between how it is used and how it is taught, because if the latter pillar fails, it will
probably be difficult to continue the learning process. The main objective of this teacher
is that students are able to use the language, as students need more than just grammar. It
is in this part that 'Deep End Teaching' is named, a methodology similar to 'Task Based
Leaning' in which learners have to challenge themselves and force themselves to achieve
the activity. Finally, Harmer develops the benefits and deficits that this form of teaching
can present, however, he shows that while grammar is an essential skill in English, it is
other features that make learning useful and rewarding.
 ANDREA HERNÁNDEZ LÓPEZ
25-3-22
SUMMARY OF A LECTURE ON THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

On the other hand, Scott Thornbury, although he had more affinity with the world of
teaching, considered that teaching methods based on repetition and grammar were not
effective and often did not work as expected. He literally said that they created artificial
and false conversations that could rarely be put to use. This is why Scott was looking for
a new way of teaching and introducing all the aspects necessary to acquire the right level.
It was then that he began to include a 'communicative approach' in his classes, thanks to
which his classes became dynamic and communicative spaces where students would learn
in a new way, accepting risks, such as role-playing. There are many linguists who do not
accept this way of teaching as they consider it to be 'too much time doing, but not enough
time learning'. however, it is important to bear in mind that the aim of learning is to learn
by doing. After a brief analysis of his years as a teacher trainer, the change came when
students started doing homework in class, solving problems, learning the functions of
language, etc. In addition, Scott analysed what could be wrong for his students not to be
able to acquire the necessary competences and in the end he realised that there is nothing
that motivates students more than the students themselves. Nowadays, new technologies
play an essential role, not only for pupils, but also for teachers. However, it would be
worthwhile to analyse whether their use is really beneficial. Scott discusses in detail how
his classes have changed thanks to the communicate approach and the benefits it has
brought to his classes, especially to the students.

Finally, after this interesting interview, it was possible to analyse how the different ways
of teaching can have a negative or positive influence on the learning process of the
students. The acquisition of new languages is not an easy task, which is why teachers
have an essential role to play in the classroom. However, there are many teachers who
base their teaching on theories without giving enough importance to staging, that’s it,
being able to put into practice what they have learnt. Thanks to the communicative
approach, and to the explanations of Harmer and Thornbury, it has been possible to
observe how methodologies undergo changes, but always bearing in mind that learning a
language implies learning to use it in all the different situations in which it is taught.