Communicative LT: Background: The origins of

Communicative Language Teaching are to be found in the

changes in the British language teaching tradition dating
from the late 60s. Until then, Situational Language Teaching
represented the major British approach to teaching English
as a foreign language. There, language was taught by
practicing basic structures in meaningful situation-based
activities. Chomsky had demonstrated that the current
standard structural theories of language were incapable of
accounting for the fundamental characteristics of
language-the creativity and uniqueness of individual
sentences. British applied linguists saw the need to focus in
language teaching on communicative proficiency rather
than on mere mastery of structures. Now both British and
American proponents see CLL as an approach ,not a
method, that aims to a) make communicative competence
the goal of language teaching, b)develop procedures for
the teaching of the 4 language skills that acknowledge the
interdependence of language and communication. The
notion of direct rather than delayed practice of
communicative acts is central to most CLL interpretations.
Theory of language:
The goal is to develop
communicative competence. Hymes coined this term to
contrast a communicative view of language and Chomskys
theory of competence. Hymes theory of communicative
competence was a definition of what a speaker needs to
know in order to be communicatively competent in a
speech community. A person who acquires communicative
competence acquires both knowledge and ability for
language use. CLL has a rich ,theoretical base.

Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of

language follow: Language is a system for the expression of
meaning , The primary function of language is to
allow
interaction and communication, The structure of language
reflects its functional and communicative uses, The primary
units of language are not merely its grammatical and
structural features, but categories of functional and
communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.
Theory of learning:
Activities that involve real

communication promote learning.

Activities in which
language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote
learning.
Language that is meaningful to the learner
supports the learning process. Learning activities are
selected according to how well they engage the learner in
meaningful and authentic language use. The syllabus:
The Council of Europe expended and developed syllabus
that included description of the objectives ,the situations in
which they might typically need to use a foreign language,
the topics they might need to talk about, the functions they
needed language for, the notions made use of in
communication, as well as the vocabulary and grammar
needed. Some have argued that the syllabus concept be
abolished altogether in its accepted forms, arguing that
only learners can be fully aware of their own needs,
communicational resources , and desired learning pace and
path, and that each learner must create a personal syllabus
as part of learning. Others lean more toward the model
which favors grammatically based syllabus around which
notions, functions and communicational activities are
grouped.

Activities: The range of exercise types and activities is

unlimited, provided that such exercises enable learners to
attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum,
engage learners in communication ,and require the use of
such communicative processes as information sharing,
interaction etc. Classroom activities are often designed to
focus on completing tasks are mediated through language
or involve negotiation of information and information
sharing.
There is
distinction between functional
communication activities and social interaction activities
as major activity types in CLL. The first ones include such
tasks as learners comparing sets of pictures, noting
similarities and differences, than working out a likely
sequence of events in a set of pictures, discovering
missing
features in a map or picture, one learner
communicating behind a screen to another learner and
giving instructions on how to draw a picture or shape, or
how to complete a map etc. Social interaction activities

include conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues

and role plays, simulations, skits, improvisations, and
debates. Learner: The emphasis in CLL on the process of
communication ,rather than mastery of language forms
,leads to different roles for learners from those found in
more traditional second language classrooms. Learners
bring preconception of what teaching and learning should
be like. Learners are expected to interact primarily with
each other rather than with the teacher. Correction of
errors may be absents or infrequent. Seen as natural
outcome, teacher notes errors and return to them later with
accuracy based activity. Teacher: The teacher has two
main roles: to facilitate the communication process , to act
as an independent participant
within the learningteaching group. Other roles assumed for teachers are
needs analyst, counselor ,and group process manager.
Materials: Text-based, Task-based A variety of games, role
plays ,simulations and task based activities.
Many
proponents of CLL have advocated the use of authentic,
from-life materials in the classroom. These might include
language-based realia, such as signs, magazines, or visual
sources such as maps, pictures, symbols, charts etc.
Scrambled sentences: students given a passage in which
the sentences are in scrambled order, they need to
unscramble the sentences so that the sentences are
restored to their original order. Or to unscramble the lines
of a mixed up dialog. Language games: An information
gap speaker doesnt know what his classmate is gonna do
next weekend, the speaker has a choice as to what he
would predict. Received feedback from the members of
group. Picture strip story: Student is given a strip story
and she shows 1st picture to a member of group and asks to
predict what the second one would be; an info gap existed,
they had a choice to predict; receive feedback. Similar to
problem solving. Role play: opportunity to practice
communicating in social contexts; set up to be structured
teacher tells them what to say or less structured students
determine what to say.
Goal: enable student to
communicate in target language. Language is for
communication and culture is the everyday lifestyle of
people who use the language. Students work on 4 skills

from the beginning. Native language is permitted, target l

should be used during commun. Activities and explaining or
in assigning homework. Evaluation: evaluates not only
accuracy but fluency; can informally evaluate as an adviser
and formally with integrative test asses writing skills.