1. What is Communicative Language Teaching?

Perhaps the majority of language teachers today, what asked to identify the methodology they employ in their classrooms, mention communicative as the methodology of choice. However, when pressed to give a detailed account of what they mean by communicative, explanations vary widely. Does Communicative Language Teaching or CLT mean teaching conversation, an absence of grammar in a course, or an emphasis on open-end-ed discussion activities as the main features of a course? What do you understand by communicative language teaching?

Task 1
Which of the statements below do you think characterize communicative language teaching? 1. People learn a language best when using it to do things rather than through studying how language works and practicing rules. 2. Grammar is no longer important in language teaching. 3. People learn a language through communicating in it. 4. Errors are not important in speaking a language. 5. CLT is only concerned with teaching speaking. 6. Classroom activities should be meaningful and involve real communication. 7. Dialogs are not used in CLT. 8. Both accuracy and fluency are goals in CLT. 9. CLT is usually described as a method of teaching.

CLT 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. Let us examine each of these issues in turn.

The goals of language teaching

CLT sets as its goals the teaching of communicative competence. What does this term mean? Perhaps we can clarify this term by first comparing it with the concept of grammatical competence. Grammatical competence refers to the knowledge we have of a language that accounts for our ability to produce sentences in a language. It refers to knowledge of the building blocks of sentences (e.g. parts of speech, tenses, phrases, clauses, sentence patterns) and how sentences are formed. Grammatical competence is the focus of many grammar practice books, which typically present a rule of grammar on one page, and provide exercises to practice using the rule on the other page. The unit of analysis and practice is typically the sentence. While grammatical competence is an important dimension of language learning, it is clearly not all that is involved in learning a language since one can master the rules of sentence formation in a language and still not be very successful at being able to use the language for meaningful communication. It is the later capacity which is understood by the term communicative competence. Communicative competence includes the following aspects of language knowledge: knowing how to use language for a range of different purposes and functions 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) knowing how to produce and understand different types of texts (e.g. narratives, reports, interviews, conversations) knowing how to maintain communication despite having limitations in ones language knowledge (e.g. through using different kinds of communication strategies.)

Task 2
Consider the following sentences that are all requests for someone to open a door. Imagine that the context is normal communication between two friends. Check if you think they conform to the rules of grammatical competence (GC), communicative competence (CC), or both.

GC

CC

Please to opens door. I want the door to be opened by you.

Would you be so terribly kind as to open the door for me. Could you open the door. To opening the door for me. Would you mind opening the door. The opening of the door is what I request.

How learners learn a language

Our understanding of the processes of second language learning has changed considerably in the last 30 years and CLT is partly a response to these changes in understanding. 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. In recent years language learning has been viewed from a very different perspective. It is seen as resulting from processes of the following kind: Interaction between the learner and users of the language Collaborative creation of meaning Creating meaningful and purposeful interaction through language Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his or her interlocutor arrive at understanding Learning through attending to the feedback learners get when they use the language Paying attention to the language one hears (the input) and trying to incorporate new forms into ones developing communicative competence Trying out and experimenting with different ways of saying things

The kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning

With CLT began a movement away from traditional lesson formats where the focus was on mastery of different items of grammar and practice through controlled activities such

as memorization of dialogs and drills, towards the use of pair work activities, role plays, group work activities and project work.

The roles of teachers and learners in the classroom

The type of classroom activities proposed in CLT also implied new roles in the classroom for teachers and learners. Learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become comfortable with listening to their peers in group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model. They were expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning. And teachers now had to assume the role of facilitator and monitor. Rather than being a model for correct speech and writing and one with the primary responsibility of making students produce plenty of error free sentences, the teacher had to develop a different view of learners errors and of her/his own role in facilitating language learning.
(Taken from Richards, J.C.. 2006. Communicative Language Teaching Today. CUP.)

2. The background to CLT

Language teaching has seen many changes in ideas about syllabus design and methodology in the last 50 years and CLT prompted a rethinking of approaches to syllabus design and methodology. We may conveniently group trends in language teaching in the last 50 years into three phases: Phase 1: Traditional approaches (up to the late 1960s) Phase 2: Classic communicative language teaching (1970s to 1990s) Phase 3: Current communicative language teaching (late 1990s to the present)

Phase 1: Traditional approaches (up to the late 1960s)

Traditional approaches to language teaching gave priority to grammatical competence. They were based on the belief that grammar could be learned through direct instruction and through a methodology that made much use of repetitive practice and drilling. The approach to the teaching of grammar was a deductive one: students are presented with grammar rules and then given opportunities to practice using them, as opposed to an inductive approach in which students are given examples of sentences containing a grammar rule and asked to work out the rule for themselves. Once a basic command of the language

was established through oral drilling and controlled practice, the four skills were introduced, usually in the sequence of speaking, listening, reading and writing. Techniques that were often employed included memorization of dialogs, question and answer practice, substitution drills and various forms of guided speaking and writing practice. Great attention to accurate pronunciation and accurate mastery of grammar was stressed from the very beginning stages of language learning, since it was assumed that if students made errors these would quickly become a permanent part of the learners speech.

Task
Do you think drills or other forms of repetitive practice should play any role in language teaching? Why? Why not?

Methodologies based on these assumptions include Audiolingualism, and the Structural-Situational Approach. Syllabuses during this period consisted of word lists and grammar lists, graded across levels. In a typical lesson according to the situational approach, a three-phase sequence, known as the P-P-P cycle, was often employed: Presentation, Practice, Production. The P-P-P lesson structure has been widely used in language teaching materials and continues in modified form to be used today. Many speaking or grammar-based lessons in contemporary materials for example, begin with an introductory phase in which new teaching points are presented and illustrated in some way and where the focus is on comprehension and recognition. Examples of the new teaching point are given in different contexts. This is often followed by a second phase where the students practice using the new teaching point in a controlled context using content often provided by the teacher. The third phase is a free practice period during which students try out the teaching point in a free context and in which real or simulated communication is the focus. Under the influence of CLT theory, grammar-based methodologies such as the P-PP have given way to functional and skills-based teaching, and accuracy activities such as drill and grammar practice have been replaced by fluency activities based on interactive smallgroup work. This led to the emergence of a fluency-first pedagogy in which students grammar needs are determined on the basis of performance on fluency tasks rather than predetermined by a grammatical syllabus. We can distinguish two phases in this development, which we will call classic communicative language teaching, and current communicative language teaching.

Phase 2: Classic communicative language teaching (1970s to 1990s)

In the 1970s, a reaction to traditional language teaching approaches began and soon spread around the world. The centrality of grammar in language teaching and learning was questioned, since it was argued that language ability involved much more than grammatical competence. What was needed in order to use language communicatively was communicative competence. This was a broader concept than that of grammatical competence, included knowing what to say and how to say it appropriately based on the situation, the participants and their roles and intentions. The notion of communicative competence was developed within the discipline of linguistics and appealed to many within the language teaching profession, who argued that communicative competence, and not simply grammatical competence, should be the goal of language teaching. The next question to be solved was, what would a syllabus look like that reflected the notion of communicative competence and what implications would it have for language teaching methodology? The result was Communicative Language Teaching. In planning language courses within a communicative approach, grammar was no longer the starting point. New approaches to language teaching were needed. Rather than simply specifying the grammar and vocabulary learners needed to master, it was argued that a syllabus should identify the following aspects of language use in order to be able to develop the learners communicative competence: 1. as detailed a consideration as possible of the purposes for which the learner wishes to acquire the target language. For example, using English for business purposes, in the hotel industry, or for travel 2. some idea of the setting in which they will want to use the target language. For example in an office, on an airplane, or in a store 3. the socially defined role the learners will assume in the target language, as well as the role of their interlocutors. For example as a traveler, as a salesperson talking to clients, or as a student in a school setting 4. the communicative events in which the learners will participate: every situations, vocational or professional situations, academic situations, and so on. For example: making telephone calls, engaging in casual conversation, or taking part in a meeting 5. the language functions involved in those events, or what the learner will be able to do with or though the language. For example: making introductions, giving explanations, or describing plans 6. the notions or concepts involved, or what the learner will need to be able to talk about. For example: leisure, finance, history, religion

7. the skills involved in the knitting together of discourse: discourse and rhetorical skills. For example: story telling, giving an effective business presentation 8. the variety or varieties of the target language that will be needed, such as American, Australian, or British English, and the levels in the spoken and written language which the learners will need to reach 9. the grammatical content that will be needed 10. the lexical content or vocabulary that will be needed

Several new syllabus types were proposed by advocates of CLT. These included: A skills-based syllabus: this focused on the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and breaks each skill down into its component micro skills. Advocates of CLT however stressed an integrated-skills approach to the teaching of the skills. Since in real life the skills often occur together, they should also be linked in teaching, it was argued. A functional syllabus: this is organized according to the functions the learner should be able to carry out in English, such as expressing like and dislikes, offering and accepting apologies, introducing someone, and giving explanations. Communicative competence is viewed as mastery of functions needed for communication across a wide range of situations. Vocabulary and grammar are then chosen according to the functions being taught. A sequence of activities similar to the P-P-P lesson cycle is then used to present and practice the function. Functional syllabuses were often used as the basis for speaking and listening courses. Other syllabus types were also proposed at this time. A notional syllabus was one based around the content and notions a learner would need to express, and a task syllabus specified the tasks and activities students should carry out in the classroom.

Phase 3: Current trends in communicative language teaching

Since the 1990s the communicative approach has been widely implemented. Current communicative language teaching theory and practice draws on a number of different educational paradigms and traditions. And since it draws on a number of diverse sources, there is no single or agreed upon set of practices that characterize current communicative language teaching. Rather, communicative language teaching today refers to a set of generally agreed upon principles that can be applied in different ways, depending on the teaching context, the age of the learners, their level, their learning goals and so on. The

following core assumptions or variants of them underlie current practices in communicative language teaching.

Ten core assumptions of current communicative language teaching

1. Second language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interaction and meaningful communication 2. Effective classroom learning tasks and exercises provide opportunities for students to negotiate meaning, expand their language resources, notice how language is used, and take part in meaningful intrapersonal exchange. 3. Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting and engaging. 4. Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon the use of several language skills or modalities. 5. Language learning is facilitated both by activities that involve inductive or discovery learning of underlying rules of language use and organization, as well as by those involving language analysis and reflection. 6. Language learning is a gradual process that involves creative use of language and trial and error. Although errors are a normal product of learning the ultimate goal of learning is to be able to use the new language both accurately and fluently. 7. Learners develop their own routes to language learning, progress at different rates, and have different needs and motivations for language learning. 8. Successful language learning involves the use of effective learning and communication strategies. 9. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates a classroom climate conductive to language learning and provides opportunities for students to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and language learning. 10. The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration and sharing. The CLT paradigm shift has led to eight major changes in approaches to language teaching. These changes are:

1. Learner autonomy: giving learners greater choice over their own learning, both in terms of the content of learning as well as processes they might employ. The use of small groups is one example of this, as well as the use of self-assessment. 2. The social nature of learning: learning is not an individual private activity but a social one that depends upon interaction with others. The movement known as co-operative learning reflects this viewpoint. 3. Curricular integration: the connection between different strands of the curriculum is emphasized, so that English is not seen as a stand-alone subject but is linked to other subjects in the curriculum. Text-based learning reflects this approach, and seeks to develop fluency in text types that can be used across the curriculum. Project work in language teaching also requires students to explore issues outside of the language classroom. 4. Focus on meaning: meaning is viewed as the driving force of learning. Content-based teaching reflects this view and seeks to make the exploration of meaning through content the core of language learning activities. 5. Diversity: learners learn in different ways and have different strengths. Teaching needs to take these differences into account rather than try to force students into a single mould. In language teaching this has led to an emphasis on developing students use and awareness of learning strategies. 6. Thinking skills: language should serve as a means of developing higher-order thinking skills, also known as critical and creative thinking. In language teaching this means that students do not learn language for its own sake but in order to develop and apply their thinking skills in situations that go beyond the language classroom. 7. Alternative assessment: new forms of assessment are needed to replace traditional multiple-choice and other items that test lower-order skills. Multiple forms of assessment (e.g. observation, interviews, journals, portfolios) can be used to build up a comprehensive picture of what students can do in a second language. 8. Teachers as co-learners: the teacher is viewed as a facilitator who is constantly trying out different alternatives, i.e. learning through doing. In language teaching this has led to an interest in action research and other forms of classroom investigation. These changes in thinking have not led to the development of a single model of CLT that can be applied in all settings. Rather, a number of different language teaching approaches have emerged which reflect different responses to the issues identified above. While there is no single syllabus model that has been universally accepted, a language syllabus today needs to include systematic coverage of the many different components of communicative competence, including language skills, content, grammar, vocabulary, and functions.

Implications for methodology

As well as rethinking the nature of a syllabus, the new communicative approach to teaching prompted a rethinking of classroom teaching methodology. It was argued that learners learn a language through the process of communicating in it, and that communication that is meaningful to the learner provides a better opportunity for learning than through a grammar-based approach. The overarching principles of communicative language teaching methodology at this time can be summarized as follows. make real communication the focus of language learning provide opportunities for learners to experiment and try out what they know be tolerant of learners errors as they indicate that the learner is building up his or her communicative competence provide opportunities for learners to develop both accuracy and fluency link the different skills such as speaking, reading and listening together, since they usually occur so in the real world let students induce or discover grammar rules In applying these principles in the classroom, new classroom techniques and activities were needed, and as we saw above, new roles for teachers and learners in the classroom. Instead of making use of activities that demanded accurate repetition and memorization of sentences and grammatical patterns, activities that required learners to negotiate meaning and to interact meaningfully were required.
(Taken from Richards, J.C.. 2006. Communicative Language Teaching Today. CUP.)