Kat Report CLT

8/2/2019 Kat Report CLT

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COMMUNICATIVE

LANGUAGETEACHING

APPROACH

Presented by Katrina S. Nacar


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Background The origins of Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT) are to be found in thechanges in the British language teaching

tradition dating from the late 1960s.

Until then, Situational Language Teaching

represented the major British approach toteaching English as aforeign language.


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But just as the linguistic theory underlyingAudiolingualism was rejected in the UnitedStates in the mid-1960s, British applied

linguists began to call into question thetheoretical assumption underlying SituationalLanguage Teaching.

Their dissatisfaction led to the discovery ofanother fundamental dimension of languagethat was inadequately addressed in currentapproaches to language teaching at that time

- the functional and communicativepotential of language.


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In the 1970s, the Council of Europeconsidered the need to articulate anddevelop alternative methods of language

teaching a high priority.

D.A. Wilkins (1972) proposed a functional

or communicative definition of languagethat served as a basis for developingcommunicative syllabuses for languageteaching.


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Wilkins's contribution was an analysis ofthe communicative meanings that a

language learner needs to understand andexpress. Rather than describe the core oflanguage through traditional concepts ofgrammar and vocabulary, Wilkinsattempted to demonstrate the systems ofmeanings that lay behind thecommunicative uses of language.


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Through the initiative of the Council of Europeand the writings of Wilkins and other notableBritish applied linguists on the theoretical basis

for a communicative or functional approach tolanguage teaching, there was a rapidacceptance of what came to be referred to asthe Communicative Approach, or

Communicative Language Teaching (Theterms notional-functional approachandfunctional approachare also sometimes used.)by textbook writers, teaching specialists,curriculum development centers, and even thegovernment.


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Theory of Language1. Communicative

The goal of language teaching is to

develop what Hymes (1972) referred toas communicative competence.

Hymes coined this term in order tocontrast a communicative view oflanguage and Chomsky's theory ofcompetence.


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Chomsky (1965) held that linguistic theoryis concerned primarily with an idealspeaker-listener in a completely

homogeneous speech community, whoknows its language perfectly and isunaffected by such grammatically

irrelevant conditions as memorylimitation, distractions, shifts of attentionand interest, and errors (random or

characteristic) in applying his knowledge


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Hymes theory of communicativecompetence was a definition of what aspeaker needs to know in order to be

communicatively competent in a speechcommunity.

In addition, Hymes held that linguistic

theory needed to be seen as part of amore general theory incorporatingcommunication and culture.


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2. Functional

According to Halliday (1970), linguistics isconcerned with the description of speechacts or texts, since only through the studyof language in use are all the functions oflanguage, and therefore all components of

meaning, brought into focus. Learning a language is acquiring the

linguistic means to perform different kindsof functions.


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3. Sociocultural

Firth stressed that language needed to

be studied in the broader socioculturalcontext of its use, which includedparticipants, their behavior and beliefs,the objects of linguistic discussion and

word choice.


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4. Interactional

Language is a vehicle for establishing

interpersonal relations and forperforming social transactionsbetween individuals.

Language learning takes place mostlythrough student-to-student, student-to-teacher, and teacher-to-studentinteraction especially during the

implementation of CLT-based activities.


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Theory of Learning In contrast to the amount that has been

written in Communicative LanguageTeaching literature about communicative

dimensions of language, little has beenwritten about learning theory. However,certain elements of an underlying learning

theory can be discerned in some CLTpractices.


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1. Communication Principle - Activities that involvereal communication promote learning.

2. Task Principle - Activities in which language isused for carrying out meaningful tasks promotelearning (Johnson 1982).

3. Meaningfulness Principle - Language that ismeaningful to the learner supports the learningprocess. Learning activities are consequentlyselected according to how well they engage thelearner in meaningful and authentic language use(rather than merely mechanical practice of languagepatterns).


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Additional 1. Experiential

The American National Curriculum

Commission (1930) stated thatexperience is the best of all schoolsand that an ideal curriculum consists ofwell-selected experiences.


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2. Humanistic

Applebee (1974) stressed that

individual learners possess uniqueinterests, styles, needs, and goals,which should be reflected in the designof methods of instruction.

Teachers were encouraged to developlearning materials on the basis of theparticular needs manifested by the

class.


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Characteristics of CLT1. Language is a system for the expression of

meaning.

2. The primary function of language is for

interaction and communication.3. The structure of language reflects its

functional and communicative uses.

4. The primary units of language are not merely

its grammatical and structural features, butcategories of functional and communicativemeaning as exemplified in discourse.


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5. Dialogues, if used, center aroundcommunicative functions and are notnormally memorized.

6. Drilling may occur, but peripherally.7. Comprehensible pronunciation is sought.

8. Judicious use of native language is accepted

where feasible.9. Translation may be used where students

need or benefit from it.


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10. Teachers help learners in any way thatmotivates them to work the language.

11. Language is created by the individual, often

through trial and error.12. Fluency and acceptable language is the

primary goal: Accuracy is judged not in theabstract but in context.

13. Students are expected to interact with otherpeople, either in flesh, through pair and groupwork, or in their writings.


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The Syllabus Notional-Functional syllabus which

specified the semantic-grammaticalcategories (e.g., frequency, motion,

location) and the categories ofcommunicative function that learners needto express.

Kat Report CLT

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