Communicative

language teaching
KEY
FEATURES
 Communicative competence

Key Features of CLT

scope Proposals for a Communicative Syllabus

Classroom Activities in Communicative

Language Teaching
COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE
TEACHING (CLT)
It is an approach that aims to make:
a.) communicative competence in the goal of
language teaching and;
b.) develop procedures for teaching the four
language skills that acknowledge the
interdependence of language and
communication.
 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
 Communicative competence
Communicative competence includes the following
aspects of language knowledge:
• Knowing how to produce and understand different
types of texts

• Knowing how to maintain communication despite

having limitations in one’s language knowledge
Different views of Language learning such as:

• 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
 Different views of Language learning such as:

• 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 one’s
developing communicative competence
• Trying out and experimenting with different ways of
saying things
Key Features of CLT
Lessons have communicative aims
- the lesson aims to practice and develop

 The teacher acts as a facilitator in the learning

process
- fluency and accuracy practice
 Major distinctive features (Finocchiaro and Brumfit ,1983)

Audiolingual Method Communicative Approach

Audiolingual Method Communicative Approach
Audiolingual Method Communicative Approach
 Proposals for a
Communicative Syllabus
Skills-based syllabus
- focuses on the four skills of reading, writing, listening, and
speaking, and breaks each skill down into its component micro skills.

• Recognizing key words in conversations

• Recognizing the topic of a conversation
• Recognizing speakers’ attitudes toward a topic
• Recognizing the time reference of an utterance
• Following speech at different rates of speed
• Identifying key information in a passage
Notional syllabus
- A notional syllabus (also called a notional/functional syllabus) is
one whose language content is organised according to meanings
which the learner needs to express. These may be functions (or
illocutionary acts) such as making requests, apologising, giving
directions, or conceptual categories (notions) such as place, time
and emotions, and the exponents which are used to communicate
them.
• For Describing Location, notional exponents would include
such grammatical categories as prepositions of place (on, in,
under, in front of etc)
Task syllabus
- specified the tasks and activities students should carry out in the
classroom

- claim is that language learning will result from creating the right
kinds of interactional processes in the classroom

- the best way to create these is to use specially designed

instructional tasks
 Implications for
Methodology in clt
• 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.
 Classroom Activities in
Communicative Language
Teaching
The range of exercise types and activities compatible with a
communicative approach 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,
negotiation of meaning, and interaction.

The “functional communication activities“ and "social

interaction activities" as major activity types in Communicative
Language Teaching- Littlewood (1981)
The “functional communication activities“

include such tasks as:

learners comparing sets of pictures and noting similarities
and differences; 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; following
directions; and solving problems from shared clues.
The “Social interaction activities “

include such tasks as: conversation and discussion

sessions, dialogues and role plays, simulations, skits,
improvisations, and debates.
 Classroom Activities in
Communicative Language
• Accuracy Versus Teaching
Fluency Activities

Fluency activities is developed by creating classroom

activities in which students must negotiate meaning, use
communication strategies, correct misunderstandings, and
work to avoid communication breakdowns

Accuracy activities include controlled practice, drills, the

study and application of grammar rules, and activities that
help students to 'notice' their own mistakes.
Activities focuses on fluency
• Reflect natural use of language
• Focus on achieving communication
• Require meaningful use of language
• Require the use of communication strategies
• Produce language that may not be predictable
• Seek to link language use to context
Activities focuses on accuracy

• Reflect on classroom use of language

• Focus on the formation of correct examples of language
• Practice language out of context
• Practice small samples of language
• Do not require meaningful communication
• Control choice of language
Examples of fluency activities
Examples of accuracy activities
Mechanical, Meaningful, and Communicative Practice

Mechanical practice refers to a controlled practice activity which

students can successfully carry out without necessarily
understanding the language they are using.

Meaningful practice refers to an activity where language control

is still provided but where students are required to make
meaningful choices when carrying out practice.

Communicative practice refers to activities where practice in

using language within a real communicative context is the focus,
where real information is exchanged, and where the language
used is not totally predictable.
Mechanical, Meaningful, and Communicative Practice
Information-Gap Activities

This refers to the fact that in real communication, people

normally communicate to get information they do not
possess. This is known as an information gap.

More authentic communication is likely to occur in the

classroom if students go beyond the practice of language
forms for their own sake and use their linguistic and
communicative resources to obtain information.
Information-Gap Activities
Jigsaw activities
 These are also based on the information-gap principle.
 Typically, the class is divided into groups and each group
has part of the information needed to complete an activity.
 The class must fit the pieces together to complete the
whole.
 In so doing, they must use their language resources to
communicate meaningfully and so take part in meaningful
communication practice.
Jigsaw activities
Other Activity Types in CLT

Task-completion activities: puzzles, games, map-reading, and other

kinds of classroom tasks in which the focus is on using one’s language
resources to complete a task.
Information-gathering activities: student-conducted surveys, interviews,
and searches in which students are required to use their linguistic
resources to collect information.

Opinion-sharing activities: activities in which students compare values,

opinions, or beliefs, such as a ranking task in which students list six
qualities in order of importance that they might consider in choosing a date
or spouse.
Other Activity Types in CLT
Information-transfer activities: These require learners to take information
that is presented in one form, and represent it in a different form. For
example, they may read instructions on how to get from A to B, and then
draw a map showing the sequence, or they may read information about a
subject and then represent it as a graph.

Reasoning-gap activities: These involve deriving some new information

from given information through the process of inference, practical
reasoning, etc. For example, working out a teacher’s timetable on the basis
of given class
timetables.

Role plays: activities in which students are assigned roles and improvise a
scene or exchange based on given information or clues.
Emphasis on Pair and Group Work

• They can learn from hearing the language used by

other members of the group.
• They will produce a greater amount of language
than they would use in teacher-fronted activities.
• Their motivational level is likely to increase.
• They will have the chance to develop fluency.
References:

• Second Language Pedagogy. Oxford: Oxford

University. Press. Richards, Jack C., and Theodore
Rodgers (2001). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching.