TEMA 14

MTODOS Y TCNICAS ENFOCADOS A LA ADQUISICIN DE

COMPETENCIAS
COMUNICATIVAS. FUNDAMENTOS METODOLGICOS ESPECFICOS DE
LA
ENSEANZA DEL INGLS.
0. INTRODUCTION.
1 . SPECIFIC METHODOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS ON ENGLISH
LANGUAGE
TEACHING.
1.1. APPROACH, METHOD, AND TECHNIQUE.
1.2. APPROACH.
1.2.1. Theory of language.
1.2.2. Theory of language learning.
1.3. Design.
1.3.1. Objectives.
1.3.2. The syllabus.
1.3.3. Teaching and learning activities.
1.3.4. The roles of the learner.
1.3.5. The roles of the teacher.
1.3.6. The roles of materials.
1.4. Procedure.
1.5. Conclusion.
2. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING.
2.1. Approach.
2.1.1. Theory of language.
2.1.2. Theory of language learning.
2.2. Design.
2.2.1. Objectives and syllabus.
2.2.2. Learning and teaching activities.
2.2.3. The roles of the learner and teacher.
2.2.4. The roles of materials.
2.3. Procedure.
3. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

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0. INTRODUCTION.
In the long search for the best way of teaching a foreign language, a
proliferation of new
approaches and methods has been devised. Crertain methods are widely
recognized because
of their influential role in the history of ideas surrounding this
subject, for example, the grammar-translation method, the natural method,
the direct method or the audio-lingual method.
During the 1970, however, there was a strong reaction against methods that
stressed the
teaching of grammatical forms and paid little or no attention to the
way language is used
in everyday situations. Aconcern developed to make foreing language
teaching more
communicative.

These methods differ in the way they address fundamental methodological

issues such as:
- What should the goals of language teaching be?
- What is the basic nature of language?
- What are the principles for the selection of language content?
- What are the best principles of organization, sequencing and presentation?
- What should the role of the native language be?
- What processes do learners use in learning a language?
- What are the best teaching techniques?
The answer to these questions will enable us to understand the

fundamental nature of
methods in English language teaching. As the analysis of these
specific methodological
fundamentals is previous to the study of any particular approach, method or
technique we
will discuss first the essentials of English as a foreign language
teaching. Next, we will
thoroughly study communicative language teaching.
1. SPECIFIC METHODOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING.
The change from one methold to another or from one set of classroom
techniques and
procedures have reflected responses to a varietiy of historical issues and
circumstances. As
the study of methods and procedures assumed a central role within applied
linguistics from
the 1940s on, various attempts have been made to conceptualize the nature
of methods.
1.1 Approch, method, and technique.
In describing methods, the difference between a philosophy of language
teaching at the theoretical level, and a set of procedures and techniques
for teaching in the classroom, is

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Central. The American linguist Edward Anthony proposed a clarifying scheme

in 1963. He
identified three levels of conceptualization and organization:
- Approach
- Method
- Technique
An approach is a set of correlative assumptions which the all with the

nature of language and

its teaching. Therefore, and approach is axiomatic and is formed by a
theory of language and
a theory of language learning.
A method is not axiomatic; it is procedural. A method is a gloval plan for
the presentation
of language material. This presentation is based on a theory of language
and language
learning, and approach, and so a method cannot contradict its approach, but
it is possible to
have more than one method within a certain approach.That is the reason for
the plural in
the title of this topic metodos y tecnicas ; there are many possible methods
within the
communicative approach.
Techniques are implementational, what really occurs in the classroom. They
are consistent
with a method and therefore with and approach as well.

ANTHONY'S MODEL
Approach----------------------------- Theory of language
----------------------------- Theory of
language learning
Method--------------------------------- Theory into practice:
Skills to be taught
Contents to be taught
Order of presentation
Technique----------------------------- Classroom procedures

Richard s and Rodgers (1986) have revised and extented the original model.
They see
approach and method treated at the level of design, that level in which
objectives, syllabus,
and content are determined, and in which the roles or teachers, learners and
materials are.

specified. Anthony'slevel of technique is referred to as procedure. They

see, therefore, that
a method is theoretically related to and approach, organizationally
determined by a desing,
and is practically realized in a procedure.

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RICHARDS AND RODGERSS MODEL

Approach--------------------------------- Theory of language

Theory of
language learning
Design-------------------------------------- Objectives
The syllabus
Teaching
and learning activities
The roles of
the learner
The roles of
the teacher
The roles of
the materials
Procedures--------------------------- Classroom techniques
1.2. Approach
Approach refers to theories about the nature of language and language
learning that serve
as the source of practiques and principles in language teaching.
1.2.1. Theory of language
Three different theories of language and language proficiency underline

current approaches
and methods in language teaching:
- Structural view
- Functional view
- Interactional view
The structural view is the view that language is a system of structurally
related elements
for the coding of meaning. The tarjet of language learning is seen to be the
mastery of the
units of the system ( phonological, grammatical and lexical ). The
audio-lingual method,
Total Physical Response, or the Silent Way embody this particular view of
language.
The funcional view is the view that language is a vehicle for the expression
of functional
meaning. We will see later how the communicative movement in language
teaching
embodies this view of language .
The third view is the interactional view. It sees language as a vehicle for
the realization
of interpersonal relations and for performance of social transactions
between individuals.
Community Language Learning seems to have embodied this point of view
lately.
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1.2.2. Theory of language learning.

A learning theory underlying an approach must take account of the
psycholinguistic and
cognitive processes involved in language learning, and the optimal
conditions for these
processes to be activated. Learning theories may emphasize one or both
aspects.

Process-oriented theories build on learning processes, such as habit

formation, induction,
inferencing, hypothesis testing, and generalization. Condition-oriented
theories emphasize
the nature of the environment, both human and physical, in which language
learning takes
place. For example, Krashens Monitor Model is an example of a learning
theory on which
a method has been built (the natural method). At the level of process, he
distinguishes
between acquisitions and learnin. He also addresses the conditions necessary
for the process of adquisition to take place: the input must be
comprehensible, roughly - tuned,
relevant, in sufficient quantity, and experience in low - anxiety contexts.
These principles may or may not lead to a method. We may divise our own
teaching
Procedures following a particular approach, and then change this procedures
on the basis
Of the performance of our pupils. Theory does not dictate a particular set
of teaching
procedures. What links approach with procedure is what Richards and Rodgers
call design.
1.3. Design.
Design is the level of method analysis where we consider the
objectives, the syllabus, the
types of learning tasks, the roles of learners and teachers, and the
roles of instructional
materials
1.3.1. Objectives.
At the level of design we must deal with the specification of the general
and specific
Objectives of the method. Some methods may focus on oral skills. Some
methods may focus
On communication skills. Other may place a greater emphasis on accurate
grammar or
Pronunciation.
We may distinguish between these methods whose objectives are expressed in
linguistic
Terms (product-oriented) and those which define their objectives in terms of
learning
Behaviours (process-oriented). However, some methods that claim to be

process-oriented
Show a great concern with accurate grammar and pronunciation.
1.3.2. The syllabus.
As we have to use the target language in order to teach it, we must make
decisions about
The selection of language items we are going to use. These languages items
are to be

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Selected not only in linguistic grounds but also according to

subject-matter, i.e.. we must
make decisions about what to talk about and how to talk about it. In
traditional, grammarbased courses, contents were selected according to the difficulty of the
items. In
communicative courses the sequence of the elements is normally based on our
pupils
communicative needs.
Process-oriented methods (e.g., Counselling Learning) normally have no
language syllabus,
as considerations of language content are secondary. Learners select content
for themselves
by choosing topics they want to talk about.
1.3.3. Learning and teaching activities.
The objectives of a method are attained through the interaction of teachers,
learners and
material in the classroom. The activity types that a method advocates may
serve to
differentiate methods. The Silent Way, for example, uses problem-solving
activities which
involve the use of coloured rods. Communicative language teaching advocates
the use of
tasks that involve an information gap, as this is considered to be one of

the elements of reallife communication.

Differences in activity types may result in different arrangements and
groupings of learners.
drills, for instance, require different groupings than problem-solving
activities. Even if we
use the same activity, differences at the level of approach may determine
different goals for
it in two different methods. For example, interactive games are often use in
audiolingual
courses for motivation and to provide a change of pace from drill; in
communicative
language teaching they are used to practice particular types of interactive
exchanges which
are useful in real communication.
Different assumptions in objectives, syllabuses, and activities result in
different roles to
learners, teachers and instructional materials.
1.3.4. The roles of the learner.
Design is greatly influenced by how learners are regarded. The learners
contribution to the
learning process, i.e., his passivity or activity and in which degree, marks
the types of
activities they will carry out, the groupings, the degree to which they will
influence the
learning of others, and their view as processors, performers, initiators or
problem solvers.
Audiolingualism, for example, saw learners as
stimulus-response-reinforcement mechanisms
whose learning was a result of repetitive practice. Newer methodologies
exhibit more
concern for variation among learnersroles. The teacher must create the
conditions for
learning to take place. Learner-centred learning tries to teach languages in
a environment
of quasi-independence form the teacher.

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1.3.5. The roles of the teacher.

New methodologies have resulted in a proliferation of teacher roles, such as
informant,
conductor, diagnoser, corrector, consultant, model... All these roles are
related to essential
methodological issues:
- the types of functions the teacher is expected to fulfil
- the degree of control the teacher has over how learning takes place
- the degree of control the teacher has about the content of the course
- the interactional patterns that develop between teachers and learner
We must be aware of the roles we can play in the classroom, as only when we
are sure of
our role and our pupilsconcominant one will we depart from the security of
traditional
coursebook-oriented teaching.
1.3.6. The roles of materials.
The role of materials will reflect decisions concerning the primary goals of
the materials (to
present content, to practice content, to facilitate communication,...) the
form of the
materials (textbooks, audiovisuals, supplementary readers,...) the relation
of materials to
other sources of input (whether they are the principal source or not), and
the abilities of the teacher (degree of training and competence).
Therefore, the role of materials will be different in different
methodologies. For example,
within a communicative approach materials will focus on the communicative
abilities of interpretation, expression, and negotiation. On the other hand,
an individualized
instructional system may include as the main role of the materials to allow
the learners to
progress at their own rates of learning. These roles do not need to be seen
as antithetical,
in fact, both roles must be played by our materials according to our
curriculum.

The third and last level of conceptualization is the level of technique

(Anthony:1963) or
procedure (Richards and Rodgers:1986).
1.4. Procedure.
Procedure consists of the techniques, practices, and behaviours that operate
in the real
teaching situation according to a particular method. We are concerned with
the use of
teaching activities to present, practice and produce language, and with the
procedures and
techniques used in giving feedback to our pupils (evaluation techniques). We
also take
account of the resources in terms of time, space, and equipment used by the
teacher and the
interactional patterns observed during the lessons.

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1.6. Conclusion.
We have described the specific methodological fundamentels of English
Language Teaching
with reference to approach, design and procedure. It is clear that
methodological
development does not always proceed neatly from approach, through design, to
procedure.
However, national curricula, which draw on the expertise of
interdisciplinary working
committees, usually do. Spanish Foreign Languages curriculum departs from a
constructivist
theory of learning and a view of language as communication towards generally
outlined
procedures to allow for individualization through a design level in which
the syllabus,
activities, learner roles, teacher roles, and role of the instructional

materials are defined not

very strictly to allow for adjustments in particular teaching situations.
One of the basic ingredients of our curriculum is its adaptability. This
adaptability,
however, is limited by a communicative framework as the main aim of teaching
English in
our educational system is to achieve communicative competence. We are now
going to study
the essentials of communicative language teaching.
2.Communicative language teaching.
Communicative language teaching draws on Chomskys criticism to structural
theories of
language, which are incapable of accounting for the creativity and
uniqueness of individual
sentences, as well as British applied linguist criticism of current
approaches to language
teaching, which inadequately addressed the functional and communicative
potential of
language.
Another impetus for different approaches came from changing educational
realities in
Europe. The Council of Europe took a great interest in education. As a
result, a group of
experts was set up in 1971 to investigate the possibility of developing
language courses on
a unit-credit system. One of the members of this committee, Wilkins,
proposed a functional
or communicative definition of language that could serve as a basis for
developing
communicative syllabuses. They were based on two types of meanings : notions
(such as
time,sequence, quantity...) and categories of communicative function (such
as requests,
denials, offers, complaints...)
This work was rapidly followed by an almost universal acceptance of the
theoretical
principles of the Communicative Approach, and its rapid application in
textbook,
curriculum development centres and governments. Because of this, the
Communicative
Approach to language teaching is the most extended foreign language teaching

system. Its
aims are to make communicative competence the goal of language teaching and
develop
procedures for the teaching of the four skills. Next we analyze it in
detail, following
Richards and Rodgers division into approach, design and procedure.

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2.1. Approach.
2.1.1. Theory of language.
The communicative approach in language teaching starts from at theory of
language as
communication. The main goal is to acquire what Hymes defined as
communicative
competence. Chomsky ( 1957 ) defined language as a set of sentences, each
finite in length
and constructed out of a finite set of elements. An able speaker has a
subconcious
knowledge of the grammar rules of his language which allows him to make
sentences in that
language. However, Dell Hymes thought that Chomsky had missed out some very
important
information: the rules of use. When anative speaker spekas he does not only
utter
gramatically correct forms, he also knows where and when to use this
sentences and to
whom. Hynes, then, said, that competence by itself is not enough to explain
a native
speaker's knowledge, and he replaced it with his own concept of comunicative
competence.
Hymes distinguished four aspects of this competence: systematic potential,
appropriacy,
occurrence and feasibility.
Systematic potential means that the native speaker possesses a system that
has a potential
for creating a lot of language. This is similar to Chomsky's competence.

Appropriacy means that the native speaker knows what language is appropiate
in a given
situation. His choice is based on the following variables, among others:
setting, participants,
purpose, channel, topic...
Occurrence means that the native speaker knows how often something is said
in the
language and act accordingly.
Feasibility means that the native speaker knows whether something is
possible in the
language. Even if there is no grammatical rule to ban 20-adjective pre-head
cosntruction
we know that these constructions are not possible in the language.
These four categories have been adapted for teaching purposes. Thus, Royal
Decree
1006/ 1991, of 14 June ( BOE 25 June), which establishes the teaching
requirements for
Primary Education nationwide sees communicative competence as comprising
five
subcompetences:
- Grammar competence: the ability to put into practice the linguistic units
according to the rules of use established in the linguistic system.
- Discourse competence: the ability to use different types of discourse and
organize them according to the comunicative situation and the speakers
involved in it.
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- Sociolinguistic competence: the ability to adequate the utterances to

the specific
context in accordance with the accepted usage of the determined
linguistic
community.

- Strategic competence: the ability to define, correct or in general, make

adjustments in the course of the communicative.
- Sociocultural competence: this competence has to be understood as a
certain
awareness of the social and cultural context in which the foreign language
is
used.
Grammar competence refers to what Chomsky called linguistic competence and
Hymes
systematic potential.It os the domain of grammaticak and lexical capacity.
Discourse competence os the aspect of communicative competence whoch
describes the
ability to produce unified written or spoken discourse that shows coherence
and cohesion
and which conforms to the norms of different genres. Our pupils must be able
to produce
discourse in which successive utterances are linked through rules of
discourse or discourse
competence.
Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social context
in which
communication takes place, including role relationships, the shared
information of the
participants,...
Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social contexr
in which
describes the ability of speakers to use verbal and non- verbal
communication strategies to
compemsate for breakdowns in cmminication or to improve the effectiveness of
communication.
Sociocultural competence refers to the learner's lnowledge of the cultural
aspects of rhe
target language speaking countries.
All these elements are part of the language as language is not something
abstract but a tool
for effective communication.

2.1.2. Theory of language learning.

Different learning theories may be found in communicative language teaching.
All of them
share the same principles. The communication principle establishes that
activities that
involve communication promote learning. The second element is the task
principle, activities
in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote
learning. A third
element is the meaningfulness principle, language that is meaningful to the
learner supports

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The learning process. Learning activities,as we will see, are consequently

selected according
to how well they engage the learner in meaningful and authentic language
use.
2.2. Design.
2.2.1. Objectives and syllabus.
We have already studied the main objective of communicative language
learning as it is
central to its theory of language: to reach communicative competence.
Different syllabuses
may fulfil this objective. Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have
been central in this
approach. The early notional-functional approach was soon criticised as it
seem only a
replacement of grammatical lists by notional-functional lists. After that
many syllabuses
have been designed, though some linguists even rejected the notion of
syllabus, the most
favoured of which is Brumfits model, which has a grammatical core around
which notions,
functions, and communicational activities are grouped. The range of the last
is really
unlimited, but we now try to define and classify them.

2.2.2. Learning and teaching activities.

Communicative activities must fulfil a series of conditions:
- enabling learners to attain the communicative objective of the curriculum
- engage learners in communication
- require the use of communication processes (information sharing,
interaction...)
Most communicative techniques are based in the information gap principle. In
an
information gap activity, one of our pupils knows something that another
pupils needs, to do
the activity. By means of negotiation, interaction and information transfer
techniques the gap
is bridged.
Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between functional communication activities
and social
interaction activities. 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 drawing;
following directions, etc. Social interaction activities include
conversation and discussion
sessions, dialogues and role plays, simulations, debates,...
Harmer (1983) has defined a set of characteristics that communicative
activities share:
- a desire to communicate
- a communicative purpose
- content not form

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- variety of language

- no teacher intervention
- no materials control
He also divided communicative activities into oral and written. Oral
communicative
activities may be studied in seven areas:
- reaching a consensus
- interpersonal exchange
play

- comunication games
- story construction

- problem solving
- simulation and role

In reaching a consensus activities our pupils must agree with each other
after a certain
amount of discussion. Consensus activities are very successful in promoting
free an
spontaneous use of English, e.g. they have to decide what ten objects they
will take with
them if they have to go to a camping site near a mountain range.
In relaying instructions we give the necessary information for the
performance of a task to
a group of pupils. Without showing this information to a different group
they have to enable
this group to perform the same task, e.g.. a dance, a drawing, a model, a
map...
Comunication gap games are based on the principle of the information gap.
Interpersonal
exchange activities are very similar to information gap ones. The only
differece is that the
difference is not in factual knowledge, but rather of opinion so they can be
called "opinion gap" activities, e.g. your favorite food, film, book...
Story construction uses the principle of the information gap and adds the
jigsaw principle.
We give our pupils partial information and then ask them, to use that
information as part
of a story they must complete by asking other pupils who have other items of
information.
Simulation1 and role play2 involve the pretence of a real-life situation in
the classroom. In
simulations our pupils are in the situation as themselves while in a role
play we ask them

to play a role following a role card. E.g. police officer...

Hamer distinguishes six main types of written communicative activities:

1 The idea in simulations is to create a pretence of real life in the

classroom. The
difference simulations have with role plays is simply that in the former,
the students are asked to dramatize the situations with no guide about their
characteres (they, thus, play as
themselves), while in the second their behaviours are guied by means of the
role card
provided. It seems clear, then that role plais are a specific kind of
simulation.
2 A role play is an activity for which the context an the roles of the
students are
Determinated by teacher, but in which students have freedom to produce the
language
Thei feel appropiate to that context and assigned roles
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- relaying instructions
- fluency writing
advertisement

- exchanging letters
- story construction

-writing games
- writing reports and

In relaying instructions one group of pupils has information for the

performance of a task,
and they have to get another group to perform the same task by giving them
written
instructions. We may use this activity giving directions, writing messages
which requiere an
answer,...
Exchanging letters is a type of activity in which one of our pupils write a
letter to each
other and then recieve a reply. They may be playing a role, such as writing
to agony
column, to make the letter more interesting. It is important to teach/learn
the special lay-out of English letters.
Writing gamesmay

be used to produce written language in a motivating way,

e.g. our
pupils can write descriptions of famous people or places. Then, they have to
read it aloud.
The first pupil to identify the described person or place wins.
In fluency writing we get our pupils to write as much as possible in a
definite period of
time. Research has suggested that if this is done quite frequently, our
pupils will be able not
only to write greater quantities, but the quality will improve as well. For
example we can
give them a series of pictures, sequence them and tell a story with a time
limit.
In story construction we give individual pupils partial information which
they must pool
together with other pupils to write a narrative.
Finally, in writing reports and advertisements we may use some activities
based on our
pupilsfields of interest. For example we can prepare a smoking
questionnaire. Our pupils
will devise a questionnaire and then write a report based on the results
they obtain.
2.2.3. The roles of the learner and teacher.
Communicative language teaching emphasis on communication, rather than the
mastery of
language forms, leads to different roles for learners and teachers form
those found in
traditional teaching. Successful communication is an accomplishment jointly
achieved an so
the main role of the learner is that of negotiator. By means of cognitive
and social
interaction, i.e. with himself, his classmates, the teacher, and the
materials, he must be able to communicate.
The teacher must assume several roles in communicative language teaching,
such as needs
analyst, counsellor, group process manager, informant,... But all these
roles serve two main
functions. First of all, the teacher must facilitate the communication
process in the
classroom. Secondly, he must be a participant within the learning-teaching

group.
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2.2.4. The roles of materials.

Communicative language teaching sees materials as a way of influencing the
quality of
classroom interaction, The primary role of materials is therefore to promote
communicative
language use. We can distinguish three types of materials: text-based;
task-based and realia.
Text-based materials are sometimes no more than structurally organized texts
whih some
interspersed communicative activities. However, there are communicative
texts, which are
very different from traditional organized texts. For example, they may
consist of cues to
initiate communication, or be based in information gap pair work, ...
Task-based materials consist of games, role-plays, simulations,... sometimes
the information
is complementary - the information gap again - and parterns must fit their
parts of the
jigsaw into a composite whole.
Finally, realia may include the use of magazines, newspapers, maps,
pictures, objects...
2.3. Procedure.
Because of the wide range of communicative activities and techniques that we
can use, it
is not possible to describe a typical classroom procedure. We can say,
however, that
traditional procedures are not rejected and that they may be used in the
first stages of
language learning, such as presentation and controlled practice, while

communicative
activities are mainly used in the free production stage. Therefore we can
establish a
sequence of activities as follows;
PROCEDURE
Stages
Presentation
Practice
Production
Production

activities
Strucutural
Pre-communicative
quasi-communicative
Pre-communicative
Functional communication communicative
social interaction
communicative

As a conclusion, we can say that communicative language teaching uses a wide

range of
techniques and activities, which involve different roles for teachers,
learners and material
as well as different syllabuses, to reach its main aim: the attainment of
communicative
competence.
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3. BIBLIOGRAPHY.
Brumfit, C, and Johnson, K, The communicative approach to language teaching.
OUP.
Oxford, 1981.
Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of language. CUP. Cambridge, 1987.
Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman. London, 1983.
Howatt, A.P.R. A History of English Language Teaching. OUP. Oxford, 1983.
Johnson, K. Communicative Syllabus Design and Methodology. OUP. Oxford,
1982.
Littlewood, W. Communicative Language Teaching. CUP. Cambridge, 1981.

Mathews, A. At the Chalkface. Nelson. Hong Kong, 1991.

Pygmalion, Equipo. La Enseanza del Ingls. Narcea. Madrid, 1987.
Richards, J.C., Platt, J. And Platt, H. Longman Dictionary of Language
Teaching & Applied
Linguistics, Longman. London, 1992.
Steinberg, D.D. Psycholinguistics. Longman. London, 1982.

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