Академический Документы
Профессиональный Документы
Культура Документы
UKESSAYS (/)
(https://www.scanmyessay.com/?utm_source=ukessays-
essays&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=top_banner)
Characteristics Of Communicative
Language Teaching English Language
Essay
PRINT REFERENCE THIS
Disclaimer: This essay has been submitted by a student. This is not an example of the
work written by our professional essay writers.
Any opinions, ndings, conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are
those of the authors and do not necessarily re ect the views of UK Essays.
The focus of every lesson or part of a lesson should be the performing of some action - learning
how to do something, to communicate something which he/she could not do before learning
the lesson. Learner can get answer to his/her question i.e. why is he/she learning a particular
lesson or any linguistic item. The learner understands the importance of learning the same as
it is going to help him/her in day-today communication. So, here a learner understands and
then acts.
All these actions can be approached on a variety of di erent levels of sophistication, and
bearing them in mind throughout the teaching/learning process.
So, language used in the whole context is more useful than only studying the parts of it.
Information gap
Communication is part and parcel of every human being. When two or more people are
conversing in day-today life, one may know something which is not known to the other. The
purpose of the communication is to bridge this information gap. In classroom situation pair
work undertaken to complete an incomplete picture is the best example of transferring
information as each member of the pair has a part of total information and attempts to convey
it verbally to the other.
Choice
Another crucial feature of communication is that the learners have option, both in terms of
what they will say and, more particularly, how they will say it. From the point of view of the
speaker this means that s/he must choose the ideas which s/he wants to express with
appropriate linguistic forms. Foreign language learners may face problems in making choice in
this regard.
Feed back
This process is implicit in the above two processes. When two persons take part in an
interaction, there is normally some aim behind communicating and in what way other person
reacts is evaluated in terms of that aim. So, the strategies involved in this process are
important.
Learning by doing
It is now widely accepted that education must be ultimately learner-centred more than the
teacher-centered. The teacher may go on teach, but if the learner is not making any e ort, then
there is no point of teaching. The teacher must involve the learner and must be judged in
terms of its e ects on him/her. Another consequence is that learning becomes to a large extent
the learner's responsibility. The teacher helps, advises, and teaches, guides, the learners
themselves have to learn. The learner has to be involved in the activity. Only by practicing,
acting, actually doing, the learners can learn to communicate.
learners commit mistakes because they are trying to do something which they have not been
told or shown how to do, how to speak which they have not mastered. It means they are not
really making mistakes. If the teacher corrects each and everything at every level, the learners
may lose their con dence of using the language for communication.
'Authentic language' in real context should be introduced in the classroom whenever possible.
It is the language used for day-today communication or functional purpose.
By teaching language, learner should be able to make out speaker's or writer's intention. So
that they will be communicatively competent.
There should be connectivity among all the language skills such as listening, speaking, reading
and writing together since they are regularly used in real life.
The target language is a vehicle for classroom communication, not just the object of study.
Hence, attention should be given to teaching language for communication.
One function may have di erent linguistic forms. As the language is taught for the functional
purpose, a variety of linguistic forms are presented together.
Students have to learn language properties i.e. cohesion and coherence which are helpful to
combine sentences together. It is essential for them as they work with language at the
discourse or super sentential (above sentence) level.
In CLT, games, role plays, group work, pair work, etc. play an important role as they have certain
feature in common to learn language e ectively.
Errors are tolerated and treated as a natural outcome of the development of communication
skills.
The social contexts of the communicative situations are essential for giving meaning to the
utterances.
The grammar and vocabulary that the students learn follow from the functions, situational
context and the role of the interlocutors.
According to H. G. Widdowson, communicative abilities are 'those skills in which the system is
realized as use. Communicative abilities embrace linguistic skills but not the reverse.
Communicative abilities are ways of creating or recreating discourse in di erent modes.'
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 3/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
These opinions about communicative abilities suggest that these are the abilities which involve
linguistic as well as other skills essential for conversation, communication or discourse to take
place.
On the other hand communicative competence has been de ned in various ways. According to
Littlewood, communicative competence means, 'a degree of mastery of a very considerable
range of linguistic and social skills which depend in part on the learners' sensitivity to meaning
and appropriacy in language and on his/her ability to develop e ective strategies for
communicating in the second language.' (Littlewood, 1981.87)
K. Johnson and K. Marlow say that communicative competence is 'the ability to be appropriate,
to know the right thing to say at the right time.' (Johnson and Morrow, 1981.2)
The ability to be appropriate to know the right thing at the right time.
In this way communicative competence includes both grammatical knowledge and the ability to
use this knowledge to perform di erent kinds of functions like enquiring, suggesting, greeting,
denying, advising, reporting, apologizing, inviting and promising.
Sociolinguistic Competence
Communicative Competence
Strategic
Competence
Discourse Competence
Sociolinguistic 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 and the communicative purpose for their interaction.
Discourse Competence
Discourse competence refers to the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of
their inter-connectedness and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire
discourse or text.
Strategic Competence
Strategic competence refers to the coping strategies that communicators employ to initiate,
terminate, maintain, repair, and re-direct communication.
In CLT classrooms, the teachers need to create activities that would necessitate learners to
practice well in the target language.
Structural activities
Pre-Communicative activities
Communicative activities
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 5/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
Structural activities: Focus is on the grammatical system and on ways in which linguistic items
can be combined.
Quasi- Communicative activities: Focus is on one or more typical conversation exchanges. Some
resemble drills, but other is closer to dialogues. Drills and dialogues can be combined so as to
provide a bridge from formal exercise to communicative use.
Social interaction activities comprise exchange of words, converse with others, improvisations
and debates. Here, teachers prepare learners about the varied social contexts in which they
will need to perform outside the classroom using di erent social interaction activities.
There is no clear dividing line in reality between these di erent categories and subcategories;
they represent di erences of emphasis and orientation rather than distinct divisions. E.g. cued
dialogues can be undertaken both as pre-communicative activity and as communicative
activity. Similarly it would be arbitrary if we try to specify how much attention must be paid to
communicative function before an activity can be called quasi- communicative, or how
signi cant social meaning must become before it falls into the social interaction sub category.
This distinction depends on the varying orientation of individual learner.
Pre-communicative (non-communicative)
activities
Communicative activities
A
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 6/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
Teacher intervention
No teacher intervention
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 7/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
There are various roles to be played by the teachers in order to facilitate the language learning
process. According to Hedge (2000.63), a communicative classroom involves the teacher in
"setting up activities, organizing material resources, guiding students in group works, engaging
contributions, monitoring activities, and diagnosing the further needs of students."
Richards Rodgers (2001) also describes the roles of the teacher as: needs analyst, counselor,
and group process manager. Similarly, Harmer (1991) as cited in Nunan and Land (1996)
describes the roles of the teacher as: Controller, assessor, promoter, participant, resource, tutor
and investigator. Of all these roles, Nunan and Lamb suggest that it is the teacher as organizer
that is the most important and di cult from the perspective of classroom management.
In order to perform all these roles e ectively, teachers should be competent enough in all
aspects of language teaching. In line with this, Hedge (2000.67) states that, "teachers need to
build competence and con dence in ful lling these various roles and in-service training is
necessary within institutions to ensure that, in any moves towards implementing
communicative approaches in the classroom, teachers are properly supported.
Language is an inevitable phenomenon which permeates the human life. Of all languages,
English is the most important language for communication. Naturally, English has become the
language of worldwide communication rather than a language of literature. Hence the prime
need of the learners is not to know the theoretical knowledge of English but to have an ability
to understand and be understood in that language.
In the past it was su cient to focus only on structural accuracy when learning a language was
an entirely academic advantage and an obsession to acquire a new language. But in today's
world, language teaching is no longer considered a luxury but an obvious need. The language
teaching methods in the past were based on linguistic competence. The establishment of basic
principles of CLT was a reaction in opposition to the previously prevailing language teaching
methods. Communicative language teaching aims at developing and improving knowledge and
skills that facilitate the learners to make their message e ective and successful.
The main goal of communication is the successful transmission of information, not the
achievement of grammatical correctness. By widening the horizons with other kinds of
competence, CLT initiated progressive and e ective ways of teaching. CLT uses and teaches as
it is used in every day real life. Students are given the notion of language as real, lived
experience. Socio-linguistic, discourse and strategic competences are integral part of
communicative language teaching.
The use of CLT in the second language classroom is a means of changing the attitude of the
students towards language learning as well as positively in uencing their way of learning.
Over-emphasis on grammatical correctness and fear of making grammatical mistakes has
negative e ects on students. Such as being stressed at class and experiencing sense of failure.
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 8/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
CLT creates congenial atmosphere in the classroom in di erent ways: the teachers emphasise
on uency and correctness to learn the target language than correcting the structures and
giving instructions on language rules or grammar (Mangubai etal, 2004.292)
The focus of CLT is on success rather than failure. The students are encouraged to rely on their
own ingenuity and performance skills - namely their strategic competence when speaking. Its
emphasis is on the learner". (Savignan cited in Magngubhai 2004, 292)
The four basic components of communicative competence summarized by Hymes (as cited in
Cook, 2003) are argued by some applied linguists as vague theoretical ideas which can hardly
be put into practice. The applied linguists draw attention to the fact that ideas of
appropriateness and correctness very much depend on the cultural norms of a particular
society. They are in a way right in their argument. Language itself is an intrinsic part of culture.
Hence, learning a language also implies learning a culture as well. CLT integrates socio-cultural
context with language teaching programmes and thus aims at developing students' sense of
what is right and what is wrong in English.
Linguists have pointed out, according to academic research that they have not found one single
best method for all learners in all contexts and that no single method appears to be naturally
superior to other methods.
It is neither possible always nor appropriate to apply one and the same methodology to all
learners whose objectives, environments and learning needs are varied and di erent.
CLT is considered one of the best methods for use in the second language classroom for
several reasons: One, it gives con dence to the students to learn the second language and use
it as and when required. Two, CLT draws attention to the importance of socio cultural skills.
Three, the learners are given the realistic idea of language and are provided with a sense of
what is appropriate and right in a given culture. Four, the learners learn English language and
English culture simultaneously. It is vital and imperative both for teachers and learners, living
as they do in a globalized world, to adopt and maintain the e ective methods of language
teaching/learning o ered by CLT.
Constant migration of people has become part and parcel of today's globalized world. Hence,
English teaching/learning has become inevitable for anyone intending to move onto other
states/countries either for higher studies or better careers. In this context, it is necessary to
consider the lag between the aspiration for better prospects in life and the existing situation of
teaching/learning of English language in schools especially the municipal corporation schools.
Hence, the present research study is undertaken to bridge this gap by nding ways and means
to know the di culties of teachers and learners and develop a methodology that will enable
them to improve the standards of teaching/learning process of English at school level.
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 9/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
The research work during July 2008 to March 2011 was done as per the steps shown in the
following owchart.
A Flow Chart
Submission of the research report
Formation of objectives
Formation of hypothesis
Sample selection
Testing of hypothesis
3.9 Summary
This chapter has discussed about the methods and procedures of the research study. It
includes research design, the methodology employed for the teachers, procedure used for the
research, the sampling design, participants, data collection, in-service training programme, its
bene ts, and communicative approach for the teachers and its relevance in the present
research and analysis techniques. It has also discussed the procedure of the test for the
learners.
The next chapter includes analysis and interpretation of the data collected through the
questionnaires from the teachers and observation of their lessons and also analysis and
interpretation of the students' tests in all four language skills questionnaire. Data was
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 10/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
classi ed, analysed, interpreted using the statistical method and conclusions are drawn.
(https://www.scanmyessay.com/?utm_source=ukessays-
essays&utm_medium=banner&utm_content=lg_banner)
Our Dissertation Writing service can help with everything from full dissertations
to individual chapters.
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 11/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
to individual chapters.
(/services/dissertation-writing-services.php)
Marking Service
Our Marking Service will help you pick out the areas of your work that need
improvement.
(/marking/premium-service.php)
All Services
Fully referenced, delivered on time. Get the extra support you require now.
(/services/)
Request Removal
If you are the original writer of this essay and no longer wish to have the essay published on
the UK Essays website then please click on the link below to request removal:
Essays
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 12/13
21/10/2017 Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay
Copyright 2003 - 2017 - UK Essays is a trading name of All Answers Ltd, a company registered
in England and Wales. Company Registration No: 4964706. VAT Registration No: 842417633.
Registered Data Controller No: Z1821391. Registered o ce: Venture House, Cross Street, Arnold,
Nottingham, Nottinghamshire, NG5 7PJ.
https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-communicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php 13/13