Basic Features of CLT David Nunan (1991:279) lists five basic characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching: (1) An emphasis

on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. (2) The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation. (3) The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the learning process itself. (4) An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. (5) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.

Basic Features of CLT David Nunan (1991:279) lists five basic characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching: (1) An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language. (2) The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation. (3) The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on the language but also on the learning process itself. (4) An enhancement of the learner's own personal experiences as important contributing elements to classroom learning. (5) An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outside the classroom.

Top | Basic Features | Features at Length | Caveats CLT Features at Length Finnochiaro and Brumfit (1983:91-93) compiled this list of CLT features way back in 1983 as a means of comparing it to the Audiolingual Method. Below each feature in blue italics is the feature of ALM to which it was being compared.

(1) CLT: Meaning is paramount. ALM: Attends to structure and form more than meaning. (2) CLT: Dialogs, if used, center around communicative functions and are not normally memorized. ALM: Demands more memorization of structure-based dialogs. (3) CLT: Contextualization is a basic premise. ALM: Language items are not necessarily contextualized. (4) CLT: Language learning is learning to communicate. ALM: Language Learning is learning structures, sounds or words. (5) CLT: Effective communication is sought. ALM: Mastery or "overlearning" is sought. (6) CLT: Drilling may occur, but peripherially. ALM: Drilling is a central technique. (7) CLT: Comprehensible pronunciation is sought. ALM: Native-speaker-like pronunciation is sought. (8) CLT: Any device which helps the learners is accepted - varying according to their age, interest, etc. ALM: Grammatical explanation is avoided. (9) CLT: Attempts to communicate may be encouraged from the very beginning. ALM: Communicative activities only come after a long process of rigid drills and exrecises. (10) CLT: Judicious use of native language is accepted where feasible. ALM: The use of the students' native language is forbidden. (11) CLT: Translation may be used where students need or benefit from it. ALM: Translation is forbidden at early levels. (12) CLT: Reading and writing can start from the first day, if desired. ALM: Reading and writing are deferred until speech is mastered. (13) CLT: The target linguistic system will be learned best through the process of struggling to communicate. ALM: The target linguistic system will be learned through the overt teaching of the patterns of the system. (14) CLT: Communicative competence is the desired goal. ALM: Linguistic competence is the desired goal. (15) CLT: Linguistic variation is a central concept in materials and methods. ALM: Varieties of language are recognized but not emphasized.

(16) CLT: Sequencing is determined by any consideration of content function, or meaning which maintains interest. ALM: The sequence of units is determined solely on principles of linguistic complexity. (17) CLT: Teachers help learners in any way that motivates them to work with the language. ALM: The teacher controls the learners and prevents them from doing anything that conflicts with the theory. (18) CLT: Language is created by the individual often through trial and error. ALM: "Language is habit" so error must be prevented at all costs. (19) CLT: Fluency and acceptable language is the primary goal: accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in context. ALM: Accuracy, in terms of formal correctness, is a primary goal. (20) CLT: Students are expected to interact with other people, either in the flesh, through pair and group work, or in their writings. ALM: Students are expected to interact with the language system, embodied in machines or controlled materials. (21) CLT: The teacher cannot know exactly what language the students will use. ALM: The teacher is expected to specify the language that students are to use. (22) CLT: Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated by the language. ALM: Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in the structure of the language.

Top | Basic Features | Features at Length | Caveats Caveats Brown (1994:78-80) warns that there are certain caveats in the field of language teaching when it comes to discussing CLT and one's support of the approach, saying that that support or belief needs to be "qualified". He warns against: (1) Giving "lip service" to the principles of CLT (because "no one these days would admit to a disbelief in principles of CLT; they would be marked as a heretic") without actually grounding one's teaching techniques in those principles, or making sure one indeed understands and practices according to the characteristics that make CLT what it is. (2) Overdoing certain CLT features, for example engaging in real-life authentic language to the exclusion of helpful devices such as controlled practice, or vice versa. Moderation

is needed in combination with common sense and a balanced approach. (3) The numerous interpretations of what CLT actually "is". CLT is often a catchcall term, and does not reflect the fact that not everyone agrees on its interpretation or application. Teachers need to be aware that there are many possible versions, and it is intended as an "umbrella" term covering a variety of methods.

Communicative competence
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Jump to: navigation, search Communicative competence is a term in linguistics which refers to a language user's grammatical knowledge of syntax, morphology, phonology and the like, as well as social knowledge about how and when to use utterances appropriately. The term was coined by Dell Hymes in 1966,[1] reacting against the perceived inadequacy of Noam Chomsky's (1965) distinction between competence and performance.[2] To address Chomsky's abstract notion of competence, Hymes undertook ethnographic exploration of communicative competence that included "communicative form and function in integral relation to each other" (Leung, 2005).[3] The approach pioneered by Hymes is now known as the ethnography of communication. As much as there has already been much debate about linguistic competence and communicative competence in the second and foreign language teaching literature, the outcome has always been the consideration of communicative competence as a superior model of language following Hymes' opposition to Chomsky's linguistic competence. This opposition has been adopted by those who seek new directions toward a communicative era by taking for granted the basic motives and the appropriacy of this opposition behind the development of communicative competence.[4] Sociolinguistics is the study of the effect of any and all aspects of society, including cultural norms, expectations, and context, on the way language is used, and the effects of language use on society. Sociolinguistics differs from sociology of language in that the focus of sociolinguistics is the effect of the society on the language, while the latter's focus is on the language's effect on the society. Sociolinguistics overlaps to a considerable degree with pragmatics. It is historically closely related to linguistic anthropology and the distinction between the two fields has even been questioned recently.[1] It also studies how language varieties differ between groups separated by certain social variables, e.g., ethnicity, religion, status, gender, level of education, age, etc., and how creation and adherence to these rules is used to categorize individuals in social or socioeconomic classes. As the usage of a language varies from place to place (dialect), language usage varies among social classes, anFor example, a sociolinguist might determine through study of social attitudes that a

particular vernacular would not be considered appropriate language use in a business or professional setting. Sociolinguists might also study the grammar, phonetics, vocabulary, and other aspects of this sociolect much as dialectologists would study the same for a regional dialect. The study of language variation is concerned with social constraints determining language in its contextual environment. Code-switching is the term given to the use of different varieties of language in different social situations. William Labov is often regarded as the founder of the study of sociolinguistics. He is especially noted for introducing the quantitative study of language variation and change,[3] making the sociology of language into a scientific discipline. d it is these sociolects that sociolinguistics studies. Discourse analysis Discourse analysis (DA), or discourse studies, is a general term for a number of approaches to analyzing written, spoken, signed language use or any significant semiotic event. The objects of discourse analysisdiscourse, writing, talk, conversation, communicative event, etc.are variously defined in terms of coherent sequences of sentences, propositions, speech acts or turns-at-talk. Contrary to much of traditional linguistics, discourse analysts not only study language use 'beyond the sentence boundary', but also prefer to analyze 'naturally occurring' language use, and not invented examples. This is known as corpus linguistics; text linguistics is related. Discourse analysis has been taken up in a variety of social science disciplines, including linguistics, sociology, anthropology, social work, cognitive psychology, social psychology, international relations, human geography, communication studies and translation studies, each of which is subject to its own assumptions, dimensions of analysis, and methodologies. Sociologist Harold Garfinkel was another influence on the discipline: see below Linguistics "Linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an ideal speaker-listener, in a completely homogeneous speech-communication, who know its (the speech community's) language perfectly and that it is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions as memory limitations, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of this language in actual performance." ~Chomsky,1965[1] The core components of the grammar are included in the speaker's linguistic competence and these components corresponds to five of the major subfields of linguistics:
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Phonetics: The physical production and perception of the inventory of sounds used in producing language.

Phonology: The mental organization of physical sounds and the patterns formed by the way sounds are combined in a language, and the restrictions on permissible sound combinations. E.g.: slip vs *slib and *sbill

Morphology: The identification, analysis and description of units of meaning in a language. One will know the inflectional and derivational morphology present in the language, such as the affixes of words. E.g.: re-cuddle can be derived but not *re-rich

Syntax: The structure and formation of sentences. One can distinguish between grammatical sentences and ungrammatical sentences. E.g.: My hair needs washing is acceptable but not *My hair needs washed[5]

Semantics: Understanding the meaning of sentences. This is also how a user of the language is able to understand and interpret the non-literal meaning in a given utterance. They are three distinctions drawn here: (i) Meaningful and non-meaningful sentences E.g.: The accident was seen by thousands is meaningful but not *The accident was looked by thousands (ii) Same structure but different meanings E.g.: The cow was found by the stream but not *The cow was found by the farmer (iii) Different structures and still be able to relate the meanings E.g.: The police examined the bullet. The bullet was examined by the police

Communicative competence is made up of four competence areas: linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic.
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Linguistic competence is knowing how to use the grammar, syntax, and vocabulary of a language. Linguistic competence asks: What words do I use? How do I put them into phrases and sentences? Sociolinguistic competence is knowing how to use and respond to language appropriately, given the setting, the topic, and the relationships among the people communicating. Sociolinguistic competence asks: Which words and phrases fit this setting and this topic? How can I express a specific attitude (courtesy, authority, friendliness, respect) when I need to? How do I know what attitude another person is expressing? Discourse competence is knowing how to interpret the larger context and how to construct longer stretches of language so that the parts make up a coherent whole. Discourse competence asks: How are words, phrases and sentences put together to create conversations, speeches, email messages, newspaper articles?

Strategic competence is knowing how to recognize and repair communication breakdowns, how to work around gaps in ones knowledge of the language, and how to learn more about the language and in the context. Strategic competence asks: How do I know when Ive misunderstood or when someone has misunderstood me? What do I say then? How can I express my ideas if I dont know the name of something or the right verb form to use?

In the early stages of language learning, instructors and students may want to keep in mind the goal of communicative efficiency: That learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in the message (due to faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary); to avoid offending communication partners (due to socially inappropriate style); and to use strategies for recognizing and managing communication breakdowns.
The syllabus Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in Communicative Language Teaching. We have seen that one of the first syllabus models to be proposed was described as a notional syllabus (Wilkins 1976), which specified the semantic-grammatical categories (e.g., frequency, motion, location) and the categories of communicative function that learners need to express. The Council of Europe expanded and developed this into a syllabus that included descriptions of the objectives of foreign language courses for European adults, the situations in which they might typically need to use a foreign language (e.g., travel, business), the topics they might need to talk about (e.g., personal identification, education, shopping), the functions they needed language for (e.g., describing something, requesting information, expressing agreement and disagreement), the notions made use of in communication (e.g., time, frequency, duration), as well as the vocabulary and grammar needed. The result was published as Threshold Level English (van Ek and Alexander 1980) and was an attempt to specify what was needed in order to be able to achieve a reasonable degree of communicative proficiency in a foreign language, including the language items needed to realize this "threshold level." Types of learning and teaching activities 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. Classroom activities are often designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information sharing. Learner roles The emphasis in Communicative Language Teaching on the processes of communication, rather than mastery of language.

Teacher roles
Several roles are assumed for teachers in Communicative Language Teaching, the importance of particular roles being determined by the view of CLT adopted. Breen and Candlin describe teacher roles in the following terms: The teacher has two main roles: the first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group. The latter role is closely related to the objectives of the first role and arises from it. These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher; first, as an organizer of resources and as a resource himself, second as a guide within the classroom procedures and activities.... A third role for the teacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed experience of the nature of learning and organizational capacities. (1980: 99) Other roles assumed for teachers are needs analyst, counselor, and group process manager. NEEDS ANALYST The CLT teacher assumes a responsibility for determining and responding to learner language needs. This may be done informally and personally through one-to-one sessions with students, in which the teacher talks through such issues as the student's perception of his or her learning style, learning assets, and learning goals. It may be done formally through administering a needs assessment instrument, such as those exemplified in Savignon (1983). Typically, such formal assessments contain items that attempt to determine an individual's motivation for studying the language. For example, students might respond on a 5-point scale (strongly agree to strongly disagree) to statements like the following. I want to study English because... 1. I think it will someday be useful in getting a good job. 2. it will help me better understand English-speaking people and their way of life. 3. one needs a good knowledge of English to gain other people's respect. 4. it will allow me to meet and converse with interesting people. 5. I need it for my job. 6. it will enable me to think and behave like English-speaking people. On the basis of such needs assessments, teachers are expected to plan group and individual instruction that responds to the learners' needs.

The Roles of Teachers and Learners in the Classroom The type of classroom activities proposed in CLT also implied new roles in the classroom for teachers and learners. Learners now had to participate in classroom activities that were based on a cooperative rather than individualistic approach to learning. Students had to become comfortable with listening to their peers in group work or pair work tasks, rather than relying on the teacher for a model. They were expected to take on a greater degree of responsibility for their own learning. And teachers now had to assume the role of facilitator and monitor. Rather than being a model for correct speech and writing and one with the primary responsibility of making students produce plenty of error-free sentences, the teacher had to develop a different view of learners errors and of her/his own role in facilitating language learning.