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A Language Teaching Method: Community language learning (CLL)

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Amir H. Rahimi
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Community language learning
(CLL)

Compiled by: Amir H. Rahimi

Tarbiat Modares University of Tehran, Iran
E-mail: amirhoseinrahimi23@[Link]
Introduction

• The CLL method was developed by Charles Arthur Curran, a

Jesuit priest, who was a professor of psychology at Loyola
University.

• Also known as counseling-Learning

• CLL is sometimes cited as a teaching methodology following

the “humanistic approach.”
 The Origin of CLL

• Curran was inspired by ‘’Rogerian counseling’’.

• Curran studied human learning and he found that adults often feel threatened by a
new learning situation.

• A way to deal with this fear of students, as Curran believes, is for the teachers to
become language counselors.

• Also the method draws on the counseling metaphor and refers to these respective
roles as a counselor and a client.
Approach

Basic sounds and

Theory of grammatical patterns
language Social-process model
of communication
Approach
Counseling

Theory of Whole person

learning learning

Security
Main Objectives

Learning how to
learn in a
non-defensive
atmosphere Attaining a
near-native
mastery
of the target
language
Characteristics of the language counselor

• A language counselor does not mean someone trained in

psychology.

• it means someone who is a skillful ‘understander’ of the struggle

students face as they attempt to internalize another language.

• By understanding students’ fears and being sensitive to them, the

teacher can help students overcome their negative feelings and
turn them into positive energy to further their learning.
Whole-person Learning

• In this method teachers are advised to consider their students as

‘whole persons.’
• Whole-person learning means that teachers consider their students’:
➢Intellect
➢Feelings
➢physical reaction
➢Desire to learn
➢Instinctive protective reaction
Student-centered/Teacher-centeredness

This method is student-centered (client-centered).

➢Since the feelings and the opinions of the learner are of most
significance.
Principles of CLL

1. Building a relationship with and among students is very

important.
2. When students have an idea of what will happen in each
activity, they often feel more secure.
3. Language is for communication.
4. If the teacher does not remain in the front of the classroom, the
threat is reduced and the students’ learning is facilitated.
Principles of CLL

5. The teacher and the students as the whole persons share their
feelings about their learning experience. It allows to build community.
6. The teacher ‘counsels’ the students. S/he does not offer advice, but
rather shows them that he is really listening to them and understands
what they are saying. He helps them transform their negative feelings.
7. The students’ native language is used to make the meaning clear
and to build a bridge from the known to the unknown.
Principles of CLL

8. The teacher should take the

responsibility for structuring activities
e.g. to form a semicircle in front of
the whiteboard
Principles of CLL

9. ‘one task at a time’ facilitates learning at the beginning stages.

10. The teacher encourages student initiative and independence, but

does not let students flounder in uncomfortable silences.

11. Students need quiet reflection time in order to learn.

12. Students learn best when they have a choice in what they practice i.e.
If students feel in control, they can take more responsibility.
Principles of CLL

13. In groups, students feel a sense of community and learn from

each other as well as the teacher. Cooperation, not competition.
14. The teacher should work in a nonthreatening way with what
the learner has produced.
15. In addition to reflecting on the language, students reflect on
what they have experienced.
Principles of CLL

16. In the beginning stages, the ‘syllabus’ is generated primarily by the

students. Students are more willing to learn when they have created the
material themselves.

17. The teacher should be sensitive to students’ level of confidence and give
them just what they need to be successful.

18. Students feel more secure when they know the limits of an activity.
 Reviewing the principles by 10 questions

The questions are adopted from:

Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching by Larsen-Freeman and Marti
Anderson (2011)
1. What are the goals of the teacher?

• In CLL the teacher wants the learners to:

• use the target language communicatively

• take responsibility for learning
• Learn how to learn
• and to learn from one another (peer learning).
2. What are the roles of the teacher/the
students?

Teacher: a supportive undrestander of students’ fears and

struggles.
The teacher is metaphorically a counselor.

Students: initially are dependent to the teacher but then they

become more independent.
3. What are some characteristics of the
teaching/ learning process?

• In the beginning classes native language is used.

• Accuracy is emphasized.

• Learning in a nondefensive climate

• Transcribing is a common task

• Reflection on language and the learning process

• Discrimination among target language forms

4. What is the nature of student–teacher /
student–student interaction?

• the teacher facilitates their ability to express themselves and to

share feelings
• CLL is neither student-centered, nor teacher-centered, but rather
teacher–student centered.
• Students can learn from their interaction with each other (peer
learning)
• Building a relationship with and among students is very important.
• A spirit of cooperation, not competition
5. How are the students’ feelings dealt
with?

• Responding to the students’ feelings is considered very

important

• The teacher listens to them and understands how they feel

• Student security is of most importance

• Letting the students know what is going to happen

6. How is the language viewed? How is
culture viewed?

• Language is for communication.

• the focus is on ‘sharing and belonging between persons

through the language tasks.

• Culture is an integral part of language learning.

7. What areas of language/skills are
emphasized?

• Particular grammar points, pronunciation patterns, and

vocabulary are worked with.

• The most important skills are understanding and

speaking the language at the beginning, with
reinforcement through reading and writing.
8. What is the role of the native language

• The students’ security is initially enhanced by using their

native language.

• the native language is used to provide a bridge from the

familiar to the unfamiliar.

• literal native language equivalents in early stages

9. How is evaluation accomplished?

• Not mentioned directly

• However, whatever evaluation is conducted should be in

keeping with the principles of the method.

• It is likely that teachers would encourage their students to

self-evaluate.
10. How are the errors treated?

• The teachers should work with what the learner has produced in a
nonthreatening way.

• The errors are to some extent tolerated.

• to recast the student’s error, i.e. to repeat correctly what the student
has said incorrectly, without calling further attention to the error.

• respectful, non-defensive
How it works in the classroom

• Stage 1- Reflection
• Stage 2 - Recorded conversation
• Stage 3 - Discussion
• Stage 4 - Transcription
• Stage 5 - Language analysis
Stage 1- Reflection

• Start with the students sitting in a circle around a tape recorder to

create a community atmosphere.
• The students think in silence about what they'd like to talk about,
while the teacher remains outside the circle.
• To avoid a lack of ideas students can brainstorm their ideas on the
board before recording.
 Stage 2 - Recorded conversation

• Once they have chosen a subject the students tell the teachers in their L1 what
they'd like to say and the teacher translates the language chunks into English.
• With higher levels if the students feel comfortable enough they can say some
of it directly in English and the teacher gives the full English sentence.
• When they feel ready to speak the students take the microphone and record
their sentence.
• Here they're working on pace and fluency. They immediately stop recording
and then wait until another student wants to respond. This continues until a
whole conversation has been recorded.
Stage 3 - Discussion

• Next, the students discuss how they think the conversation went.

• They can discuss how they felt about talking to a microphone and
whether they felt more comfortable speaking aloud than they
might do normally.

• This part is not recorded

Stage 4 - Transcription

• Next, they listen to the tape and transcribe their conversation.

• The teacher intervenes only when the learners ask for help.
• The first few times we try this with a class the students might rely
on the teacher a lot, however, as a teacher, aim to distance
yourself from the whole process in terms of leading and push
them to do it themselves.
Stage 5 - Language analysis

• Get the students to analyze the language.

• This involves looking at the form of tenses and vocabulary used and
why certain ones were chosen.
• In this way, the language is completely personalized
• With the higher levels, they can themselves decide what parts of their
conversation they would like to analyze, be it tenses, lexis or
discourse.
• With the lower levels, you can guide the analysis by choosing the most
common problems you noted in the recording stages or by using the
final transcription.
To sum up

• The counselor blends what the client feels and what s/he is learning
in order to make the experience a meaningful one.
• Often, this supportive role requires greater energy expenditure than
an 'average' teacher
• It's a method that is based on English for communication and is
extremely learner-focused.
Significant traits of CLL

• The teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphraser

• The learner is seen as a client and a collaborator
• The CLL emphasizes the sense of community in the learning
• CLL encourages interaction as a vehicle for learning
• the students' feelings and recognition is a priority
• There is no syllabus or textbook to follow, and it is the students themselves
who determine the content of the lesson
• It incorporates translation, transcription, and recording techniques.
References

• Krashen, S.D., and Terrel, T.D. (1983). The Natural Approach: Language
acquisition in the Classroom

• Larsen-Freeman, Diane, and Marti Anderson. Techniques and Principles in

Language Teaching. 3rd ed. Oxford ; New York: Oxford University Press, 2011

• Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language

teaching (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press.
 Thank you
for your attention

Amir H. Rahimi
amirhoseinrahimi23@[Link]

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