COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT)

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT)

A.     Background

The origin of Communicative Language Teaching began in the late 1960’s . British applied linguists realized the need to focus language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on mastery of structures .

A British linguist , Wilkins (1972) , proposes communicative functions of langiage that serves as a basis for developing communicative syllabuses for language teaching  . According to Wilkins , there are two types of meaning :

1.      Notional categories

2.      Communicative function categories

Communicative Language Teaching is an approach to foreign or second language teaching which emphasises that the goal of language learning is communicative competence . According to the same dictionary, Communicative Language Teaching the approach which has been developed by British applied linguists as a reaction away from grammar-based approaches .

B.     Aims

Communicative Language Teaching has some aims . There are :

- Make communicative competence the goal of language teaching

- Develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication.

C.     Characteristics

Nunan offers five features to characterise the Communicative Language Teaching.

&  An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language

&  The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation

&  The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on the learning process itself.

&  An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning.

&  An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.

D.    Learner Roles

The emphasis of CLT on the proccess of communication leads to different roles of learner . The role of learner as a negotiator emerges from the role of joint negotiators within the group . The learners are expected to interact primarily with each other and correction of errors may be absent or infrequent .

E.     Teacher Roles

The teacher has main roles :

S  Faciliate the communication proccess between all participant in the classroom , and between these participants and the various activities and texts

S  Act as ‘an independent’ participant within the learning teaching group

S  Closely related to the objectives of the first roleand arises from it .

F.      Features of CLT

Because CLT principles can be applied to the teaching of any skills levels and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types , description of typical classroom procedures based on CLT principles is not feasible . These are the features :

F Meaning is paramount

F Dialogues center around communicative  functions

F Contextualization is a basic premis

F Language learning is to communicate

F Effective communication is sought

F Drills occur peripherally

F Comprehensible pronounciation is sought

F Any device which helps laerners is accepted

F Students attempt to communicate from the  very beginning

F L1 is accepted where it is feasible

F Translation  may be used

F Reading and writing start from the first day

F Student learn L2 through communication proccess

F Communicative competence is the goal

F Linguistic variation is a central concept in materials and methodology

F The sequence is determined by consideration of content , function , and meaning

F The teacher helps learners to motivate  them to work with  the language

F Language is created  through trial and errors

F Fluency is the primary goal

F Students interact with other people

F The teacher can’t know what language the student will use

F The instrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated

G.    Classroom Activities

Classroom activities used in communicative language teaching can include the following :

J Role-play

J Interviews

J Information gap

J Games

J Language exchanges

J Pair-work

Conclusion

CLT is best considered an approach rather than a method . It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of classroom procedures . These principles are :

? Learners learn a language through using it to communicate

? Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities

? Fluency is an important dimension of communcation

? Communication involves the integration the different language skills

? Learning is a proccess of creative construction and involves trial and error