The Communicative Approach

Origins of Communicative Approach or Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Is an English teaching approach created in the

60’s 70’s in Great Britain that makes use of

real-life situations than necessitate

communication.If students are involved in meaning-focused communicative

tasks, then “language learning will take care of itself”

(Allwright 1979, p.170)

language

communicatio

n

Theory

IntroductionCommunicative Approach or Communicative Language

Teaching (CLT)

Hymes (1972)

The communicative method (Linas Semistraitis (Vilnius Pedagogical University)Peculiarities of the Communicative Approach in Teaching English.

defines objectives

Why CLT is a good way to learn a language?

Language is interaction; it is an interpersonal activity and

has a clear relationship with society. In this light, language

study has to look at the use (function) of language in

context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before

and after a given piece of discourse) and its social, or

situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles

are, why they have come together to speak.

(Berns 14,

p.5)

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Communication can be divided into two categories:

OUTPUT

Speaking

Writing

Input

Reading

Listening

Communication involves

the integration of different

language skills

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AdvantagesLanguage

need not be laboriously monotonous

and 'medium' orientated.

Communicative approach seeks to personalise and localise language and adapt it to

interests of pupils. Meaningful language is always more easily

retained by learners. Communicative approach is not just limited to oral skills. Reading and writing

skills need to be developed to promote pupils' confidence in all four skill areas

In the communication, the answer is unexpected and related to the questions only associatively. During a language lesson, such dialogues can

reflect spontaneous situations.Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative

approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise

Communicative Language Teaching characteristics:

1. Focuses on language as a medium of communication.

2. Classroom activities maximize opportunities for learners

to use target language in a communicative way for

meaningful activities.

3. CLT is much more pupil-orientated because dictated by

pupils’ needs and interests.

4. Errors are a natural part of learning language process.

Communicative Language Teaching characteristics:

5. CLT is not just limited to oral skills.

6. Grammar can still be taught, but less systematically.

7. Important not to be restricted to textbook.

8. Use of visual stimuli.

Activities in CLT typically involve students in real or

realistic communication where the successful

achievement of the communicative task they are

performing is at least as important as they accuracy of

their language use.

Many proponents of Communicative Language Teaching have advocated the use of "authentic," "from-life" materials in the classroom. These might include language-based realia, such as signs, magazines, advertisements, and newspapers, or graphic and visual sources around which communicative activities can he built, such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs, and charts. Different kinds of objects can be used to support communicative exercises, such as a plastic model to assemble from directions. (Rogers, w/d)

REALIA

They become active

facilitators of their

students’ learning.

Teacher sometimes

acting as referee or

monitor.

Role of the teacher in CLT

Role of the learners in CLT The student participation

in classroom activities

increase.

Students are more

responsible managers of

their own learning.

Role of instructional materials in CLT

A wide variety of materials have been

used to support communicative approach

to language teaching.

In CLT view materials is a way of

influencing the quality of classroom

interaction and language use.

Materials thus have the primary role of

promoting communicative language use.

Conclusions

Communicative Language Teaching is best considered an approach

rather than a method.

CLT appealed to those who sought a more humanistic approach to

teaching, one in which the interactive processes of communication

received priority.

The adoption of a communicative approach raises important issues

for teacher training, materials development, and testing and

evaluation.

Because of the increased responsibility to participate, students may

find they gain confidence in using the target language in general.

References

Harmer, Jeremy. (2008) The practice of English language teaching. England: Pearson Longman.

Rogers, Carl. (w/d) Alternative Methods. Available in: http://www2.vobs.at/ludescher/Alternative/methods/alternative/methods.index.htm