Presented by Joel Acosta

Communicative Language Teaching and Communicative Language Learning

• 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.

• SLT consisted in internalizing the structures of a language.

• Mostly, learning grammar rules without vocabulary development.

Background

• 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, Christopher Candlin, D.A. Wilkins and Henry Widdowson along with others promoted the CLT approach.

• Along with the changes in Europe it helped to reform the language teaching.

Background

• Background

• Representatives

• Contribution

• Concepts

• Perspectives:

– Linguistic

– Pedagogy

– Psychology

– Sociology

Communicative Language Teaching(CLT)

• CLT approach

Principals

• CLT objectives

• Learner´s role

• Teacher´s role

SCHOLARS BRITISH APPLIED LINGUISTS who advocated CLT

Representatives

Cristopher Candlin (2001) and Henry Widdowson (1990).

They began to see that a focus on structure was also not helping language students. They saw a need for students to develop communicative skill and functional competence in addition to mastering language structures

John Firth (1937), M.A.K Halliday (1978)

Language is viewed as ‘‘meaning potential,’’ and the ‘‘context of

situation’’ is viewed as central to understanding language systems

and how they work.

.

Representatives

Language philosophers: John Austin (1962) &John Searle (1965)

They based on the assumption that “(…) the minimal units of human communication are not linguistic expressions, but rather the performance of certain kinds of acts, such as

• making statements,

• asking questions,

• giving directions,

• apologizing,

• thanking, and so on”

Representatives

Contradicted Chomsky’s theory on what Competence referred to.

He coined the term Communicative Competence. He developed

the Communicative Approach in the 1970s. This Approach

replaced Situational Language Teaching.

Representatives American sociolinguists:

Dell Hymes (1971), John Gumperz (1972), William Labov (1970)

.

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. (Teflpedia)

CLT is the product of educators and linguists who had grown dissatisfied with the audiolingual and grammar-translation methods of foreign language instruction. (Center for Applied linguistics)

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.(Yemen Times)

Concepts

Linguistics

Grammatical Competence

Sociolinguistic Competence

Discourse Competence

Strategic Competence Pedagogy

Creation of an atmosphere

The teacher is facilitator

Use of concepts

Use of strategies

Perspectives

Sociology Psychology

Sociocultural use of language Behaviorism

Interactional function Cognitivism

Personal function Constructivism

Interpersonal relationship Functionalism

Cooperativism rather than individualism

Perspectives

• 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 Approach Principals

• 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

CLT objectives

• 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).

Learner 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).

Teacher Role

• 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)

The Role of Instructional Materials

• Realia (from real life, authentic)

• Wh- questions (Why, What, When, Where, Who)

• Games

• Role Plays

• Simulations

Other Instructional Materials

• 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

Conclusion

Richards, J ; Rodgers, T. “Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching” 5th ed.1989. Melbourne. Cambridge University Press

Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Language Teaching Approaches. In M. Celce-Murcia (Ed.), Teaching English as a Second or Foreign Language. (pp.3-10). Boston, Massachusetts: Heinle & Heinle.

Bibliography