The Communicative Approach of Language Teaching

The Communicative Approach

(CA) By:

Halima Abdullah Elayeb

Academic year: 2015

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The Outlines

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HALIMA ABDULLAH ELAYEB

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Country of Origin. The Historical Background of the Communicative Approach. The Goal of the Communicative Approach. The Basic Principles. The Techniques and activities used by this approach. The Role of the Teacher and the Students. Evaluation. Advantages and Disadvantages. How the Communicative Approach differs from the other

Traditional Methods? Conclusion. The references Quiz

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COUNTRY OF ORIGIN

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Communicative Language Teaching began in Britain in

the 1960s as a replacement to the earlier structural method, called Situational Language Teaching. This was partly in response to Chomsky’s criticisms of structural theories of language and partly based on the theories of British functional linguistic.

In the United States, Hymes (1971) had reacted to Chomsky’s characterization of the linguistic competence of the ideal native speaker and, retaining Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance, pro-posed the term‘ ‘communicative competence’’ to represent the ability to use language in a social context.

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THE HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

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The Communicative Approach is generally referred to as The Functional-Notional Approach (Wilkins1972).

What people want to do with the language (functions) and what meanings people want to convey (notions).

Functions such as: evaluating, persuading, arguing, informing, agreeing, questioning, requesting, expressing emotions.

Notions such as: time, quantity, space, location, and motion.

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It was based upon needs analysis of adult learners (learners’ needs and teacher’s goals).

This approach came into existence during the seventies of the last century, when some experts of language teaching began to look for a new technique which met learners’ needs.

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The CA can be traced to the work of Chomsky in the 1960s, when he advanced the two notions of ‘competence’ and ‘performance’ as a reaction against the Audio-Lingual Method and its views. These two concepts were developed later on by Hymes, into a ‘communicative competence’ which has been expanded by a number of writers to finally propose seven categories of communicative functions (evaluating, persuading, arguing, informing, agreeing, questioning, requesting, expressing emotions).

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The theory of learning underlying this approach is holistic rather than behavioristic.

According to this approach, the notion of habit formation is rejected and language learning is considered as cognitive process.

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THE GOALS

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To teach REAL LIFE languageTo become communicatively competent

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THE PRINCIPLES AND

CHARACTERISTICS

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Communicative competence. Implies knowledge of the grammatical system of the language as well as performance. Language grammar is seen as a language tool not an aim. It is taught intuitively.

Inductive as well as deductive learning of grammar.

The semantic content is given the priority in language learning. Learners acquire the grammar through meaning.

Comprehensible pronunciation is acceptable.

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CA follows a systematic learning process involves trial and error.

Fluency is emphasized rather than accuracy.

It is learner centered approach. Group/pair work is encouraged.The class should be held in the TL.In CA, the teacher must free himself from

the text-book. Never feel that text-book must be used from cover to cover.

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A closer link is required between classroom activities and authentic situations outside (in the target language).

In this approach, the visual aids are permitted. They help to motivate and focus students’ attention.

Errors are considered inevitable and predictable in the process of language learning. The teacher should be tolerant and need NOT to correct every mistake (selective error correction).

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THE TECHNIQUES AND ACTIVITIES

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1. GAMES:Guessing games are common, mime game and find the differences or similarities etc.. 2. ROLE-PLAY:e.g. one student imagines he/she is a farmer. Other students ask him/her questions about his/her daily routine.4. PROJECTS:This is for learners of all ages especially young ones.

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3. DRAMA:In which students of a small group may prepare a short dramatization of same event and perform the scene as a group.5. INTERVIEWS:It is popular and appropriate activity for pair and group work. Here, the students can ask and answer each other some questions such as: - What’s your name - where do you live?

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6. BRAINSTORMING:This task is used for developing the thinking process, and used in preparing students to read a text or write on a topic.7. INFORMATION GAP:When one person in an exchange knows something that the other person doesn’t. if we both know today is “Monday” and I ask you, “what is today?” our exchange isn’t really communicative.8. JIGSAW:A special forms of information gaps. One very popular technique is used with large groups. It is known as strip story.

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9. PROBLEM SOLVING AND DECISION MAKING:This task focuses on group solution of any specified problem. In this technique , the focus is on meaningful cognitive challenges, not on grammatical or phonological items.10. OPINION EXCHANGE:It is suitable for intermediate level. It contains the exchange of various opinions.

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Freeman mentions some of the techniques

used by teachers who adopt the CA for teaching intermediate level as follows:

1. Authentic material2. Scrambled sentences3. Language games4. Picture strip story

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THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER AND THE

STUDENTS

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A) THE ROLE OF THE TEACHER:

The teacher is less dominant than in traditional methods, but not less important.

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Co-Communicator

Facilitator

Advisor

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صورة إلضافة األيقونة فوق انقرB) THE ROLE OF THE STUDENT:

Students are communicators. They work actively in negotiating meaning to understand others and to be understood.

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EVALUATION

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Students are evaluated informally (during class) or formally (through tests) not only in accuracy but also in fluency, and not only orally but also written.

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ADVANTAGES &DISADVANTAGES

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A) THE ADVANTAGES OF THE CA:1. This approach considered the four language

skills equally.2. The plenty of techniques and activities

adopted by this approach provides students with the opportunities to use the language.

3. In this approach, every student is active because there are interactions among students and teacher verbally and non-verbally.

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4. In this approach, the modern techniques are used to make teaching very effective and interesting.

5. This approach creates communicative environment of real life language.

5. As this approach is learner centered, all the teaching materials are prepared according to mentality and interest of the students.

6. It has transformed the traditional role of the teacher as the sole giver (the only source) of knowledge to that of receiver of information, and from the dominant figure in the classroom to that of a manager and co- ordinator of the class.

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B) THE DISADVANTAGES OF THE CA:

1. It is not possible to have big number of competent teachers who can communicate as native speakers of the target language. In the Arab world such teachers are scarce.

2. Unfortunately, most schools lack the classrooms that can allow for group work activities and teaching aids and materials

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HOW THE CA DIFFERS FROM

OTHER TADITIONAL METHODS?

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1. The CA considered the four language skills, whereas the other methods considered two only or neglected them absolutely.

2. In the CA, the ultimate goal in learning is achieved upon communicative competence, whereas in the other methods it is on linguistic competence.

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3. In the CA, teachers encourage the learners to communicate from the early stages, whereas in many other methods the communicative activities are achieved after a long period of tedious exercises.

4. In the CA, the intelligible pronunciation is accepted, whereas in some other methods the accurate pronunciation is required, and in others, it is absolutely neglected.

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5. In the CA, the teachers should be tolerant with students’ mistakes, whereas in other methods, they are more strict.

6. In the CA, the suitable use of the native language is accepted, whereas in some traditional methods, the use of students’ native language is rejected.

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Communicative Language Teaching is accepted as a best language teaching approach by different countries of the world.

The Communicative Approach, though still evolving, has gained increased popularity in many educational systems across the world. Many Arab countries especially those of the Gulf States have recently adopted a modified version of this approach to teaching English with the aim of improving the communicative competence of the students.

There is no PERFECT method of teaching. We, ourselves can make it perfect if we used it in the appropriate situation in the appropriate time.

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REFERENCES

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Al-Mutawa, N. and Kailani T. (1998). Methods of Teaching English to Arab Students. Longman: Harlow.

Freeman, D. L. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford University Press: Oxford.

Richards, J. C. and Theodore S. Rodgers. (1997). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press: USA.

Rivers, W. (1981). Teaching Foreign-Language Skills. The University of Chicago Press: Chicago and London.

Melinda Whong. (2011). Language Teaching _linguistic theory in practice_. Edinburgh University Press: Scotland.

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QUIZ

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TRUE or FALSE

1. CA encourages individual work. 2. Pronunciation is emphasized. 3. Grammar is taught inductively.4. Repetition is discouraged.5. In CA, the curriculum is restricted to

textbook.6. Mother tongue can be used when it is

necessary.

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FALSE

TRUE

FALSE

TRUE

TRUE

FALSE

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The Communicative Approach of Language Teaching

Education

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