Unit 1: The development of language teaching.

Current trends in the teaching of English as

a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

UNIT 1: THE DEVELOPMENT OF LANGUAGE

TEACHING. CURRENT TRENDS IN THE TEACHING
OF ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE. THE
COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
‘Those who know nothing of foreign languages know nothing of their own.’
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

Over the course of history, human beings have been communicating in different
languages as this has allowed them to extend their knowledge to other cultures.
While at the beginning it was just a matter of being educated, in the current days
we are multilingual beings in the need of mastering more than our mother tongue.
In this sense, two questions arise: first, which is the easiest way to learn foreign
languages and how do we do it. Different approaches and methods have been
presented and determined since Latin grammar rules were the foreign language
teaching model until the most contemporary proposals. In order to explain this unit
I will follow this scheme:

1. THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE TEACHING .............................................. 2

1.1. The introduction of modern languages in schools ............................................ 2
1.2. Individual attempts for reform in the 19th century ...................................... 2
1.3. The Reform Movement .................................................................................. 2
1.4. The Direct Method (XIX-XX)......................................................................... 2
1.5. The audiolingual method .............................................................................. 3
1.6. The Oral / Situational Language approach .................................................. 3
1.7. The Cognitivism ............................................................................................ 3
2. CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A
FOREIGN LANGUAGE .............................................................................................. 4
2.1. The Silent Way .............................................................................................. 4
2.2. Community Language Learning ................................................................... 4
2.3. Suggestopedia................................................................................................ 4
2.4. Total Physical Response................................................................................ 4
2.5. The natural approach.................................................................................... 5
2.6. Contemporary approaches ............................................................................ 5
3. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH ............................................................... 6
3.1. Origins ........................................................................................................... 6
3.3. Contemporary trends in CLT ........................................................................ 6

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

4. CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................... 7
5. BIBLIOGRAPHY.................................................................................................. 7

1. THE EVOLUTION OF LANGUAGE TEACHING

1.1. The introduction of modern languages in schools
For centuries, Latin was the dominant language in the Western World. In the
16th century, however, some European languages gained importance as a result of
political changes in Europe, and Latin gradually became displaced. As modern
languages began to enter the curriculum of European schools in the 18th century,
they were taught using the method of teaching Latin from the 17th to the 19th
centuries. Emphasis was on learning grammar rules, lists of vocabulary, and
sentences for translation with little relationship to the real world. Speaking the
foreign language was not the goal, and oral practice was limited. This was known as
the Grammar-Translation Method, dominant foreign language teaching method in
Europe for a century.

1.2. Individual attempts for reform in the 19th century

In the mid-late 19th century, increased opportunities for communication among
Europeans created a demand for oral proficiency in foreign languages. The Grammar
Translation method was challenged by new approaches to language teaching
brought by specialists, like C. Marcel, T. Prendergast, and F. Gouin, although they
didn’t have a lot of impact as it was difficult to overcome the great tradition of Latin.

1.3. The Reform Movement

Towards the end of the 19th century, teachers and linguists began to write
about the need for new approaches to language teaching, and they started some
pedagogical reforms. This was known as the Reform Movement, which was
supported by linguists like Henry Sweet (England), Wilhelm Viëtor (Germany), and
Paul Passy (France). They achieved goals such as considering the role of phonetics
when teaching modern languages. They believed that language teaching should be
based on scientific knowledge about language. However, none of their proposals
assumed the status of a method. They reflect the beginnings of the discipline of
applied linguistics.

1.4. The Direct Method (XIX-XX)

In the late 1800s and early 1900s, linguists became interested in the problem
of the best way to teach languages. An increasing attention to naturalistic principles

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

of language learning was given by other reformers, that is, more like first language
learning. These ideas spread, and originated the Direct Method. Among those who
tried to apply natural principles in America were L. Sauveur (1826-1907) and
Maximiliam Berlitz who promoted the use of intensive oral interaction in the target
language. He never used the term ‘natural’ and his method lacked a basis in applied
linguistics theory, so it failed. Saveur’s method became known as the Natural
Method and was seriously considered in language teaching. Students learnt to speak
after a month on intensive oral work in class, avoiding the use of the mother tongue.
In Europe, one of the best known representatives of language teaching was Gouin
who, in 1880 attempted to build a methodology around observation of child language
learning when publishing L'art d'enseigner et d'étudier les langues.

1.5. The audiolingual method

It appeared when the United States entered World War II since the
government aimed to teach foreign languages to avoid Americans becoming isolated
from scientific advances in other countries. The main objective was for students to
get conversational proficiency. It is an oral approach to language teaching where
there is little provision for grammatical explanation. The theory behind this method
is that learning a language means acquiring habits.

1.6. The Oral / Situational Language approach

This approach dates back to the 1920s and 1930s and develops a more scientific
foundation for an oral approach than the one evidenced in the Direct Method. Its
most prominent figures are Harold Palmer and A.S. Hornby.
The impact of the Oral Approach has been long lasting, and it is reflected on
many textbooks and courses still used today. This denomination was the accepted
British approach to English language teaching by the 1950s, but in the 60’s, another
trend entered this approach developing teaching materials based on the notion of
‘situation’, linking structures to situations. The material is taught orally before it is
presented in written form; the language is introduced and practiced situationally;
and reading and writing are introduced only when sufficient lexical and grammatical
basis is established.

1.7. The Cognitivism

In the mid-sixties, the audio-lingual method was sharply criticized by Noam
Chomsky. His grammar theory claimed that the main characteristics of language
are derived from mental innate aspects and that learning is not based on habit

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

formation, but on rational acquisition of rules. This opened the way to cognitivism,
which considers that the learner is an active participant in the learning process. It
does not constitute an approach or a method, but has had significant influence on
later approaches like the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT).

2. CONTEMPORARY TRENDS IN THE TEACHING OF ENGLISH AS A

FOREIGN LANGUAGE
As a reaction to the unsatisfactory results of traditional methods in the
teaching of modern languages, in the 60s and 70s appears in the USA the Language
Learning Research Movement.

2.1. The Silent Way

It was introduced by Caleb Gattegno (70’s). The teacher remains silent so the
students are encouraged to speak as much as possible, which is the greatest strength
of this method. The learner needs to discover or create.
Learning is made easier by the use of physical objects such as rods.

2.2. Community Language Learning

This method follows a ‘humanistic’ approach which was supported by Charles
A. Curran. It redefines the roles of the teacher (counselor) and learners (the clients)
in the language classroom and attempts to build strong personal links between the
teacher and student so that there are no blocks to learning. There is much talk in
the mother tongue which is translated by the teacher. Thus, feelings of security are
established and the learner gains independence from the teacher.

2.3. Suggestopedia
In the 1980s and 1990s, an extremely esoteric method was developed by Georgi
Lozanov. The features are, according to Rivers (1981), its esoteric terminology and
neologisms, and the arrangement of the classroom to create an optimal atmosphere
to learning, by means of decoration, furniture, the authoritative behaviour of the
teacher and specially, through the use of music to suggest the student that the
language is easy and in this way the mental blocks to learning disappear.

2.4. Total Physical Response

This method combines speech and action and was developed by James Asher,
a professor of psychology. For him, including movements within the linguistic
production reduces learner stress, creating a positive mood which facilitates learning.
The main goal is to teach oral proficiency at a beginning level through the use of

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

action based drills in the imperative form. This method is updated with references
and supported by prominent theorists, but the need to be used in association with
other methods avoids it to be fully successful.

2.5. The natural approach

At a time when accuracy primed over fluency, Krashen and Tracy Terrell
presented a new approach: the Natural Approach. It focuses on teaching
communicative abilities and the primacy of meaning following a communicative
approach and rejects earlier methods which viewed grammar as the central
component. The term ‘natural’ refers to the principles of language learning in
children in the Natural Method, but while the later places emphasis on teacher
monologues, the former emphasizes input, and learners hear before they try to
produce language.

2.6. Contemporary approaches

Since the late 1980s and early 1990s, a number of new methods have been proposed:

 The affective dimension

It focuses on the affective dimension of learning by the use of classroom techniques
which have a determining influence in the personal growth of both teachers and
students. The objective is to stimulate self-esteem, to help the learner identify his
strong points, to gain a higher level of self-knowledge and to develop closer and more
satisfactory relationships.

 Computer Aided Language Learning

CALL may be defined as ‘the search for and study of applications of the computer in
language teaching and learning’. It is an approach in which the computer is used as
an aid to the presentation, reinforcement and assessment of material to be learned.

 Content-Based Instruction (CBI)

The focus is on the topic or subject matter. During the lesson students are focused
on learning about something that interests them using the language they are trying
to learn, rather than their native language. This is thought to be a more natural way
of developing language ability.

 Negotiated syllabus
Based on the principle that we first find out what students want and test them to
find out what they need, and then negotiate the syllabus with them. It is especially
good when the syllabus is flexible and is being negotiated on a regular basis during

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

the whole course. It has to be applied carefully, depending on whether it is

appropriate to the specific context.

 Task-based approaches
Since the mid-90’s, it has become much more established in General English
teaching. It attempts to get away from Presentation-Practice-Production (PPP);
students are not taught language points in advance, but rather are given
communicative tasks to prepare for; these tasks require them to ask the teacher to
give them whatever language bits they might need in order to fulfil the task.

3. THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

3.1. Origins
CLT has its origins in two sources. First, the changes in the British and
American linguistic theory (60’s) and secondly, changes in the educational realities
in Europe. Therefore teaching traditions until then started to be questioned by
applied linguists who saw the need to focus in language teaching on communicative
proficiency rather than on structures. Meanwhile, due to political and social changes
in Europe, language teaching became an increasing need. In 1971, Wilkins launched
a system in which learning tasks are broken down into ‘units’, which originated the
Communicative Approach. It was adopted very quickly due to a strong support of
some British linguists and of the British Council. Today, this approach raises
important issues for teacher training, materials development, and testing and
evaluation.

3.2. Characteristics
The goal of CLT is the teaching of communicative competence against the
grammatical competence, which has been the main concern in the past. One can
master the rules of grammar and still not be able to use the language for meaningful
communication. The main characteristics are: interaction and meaningful
communication; accuracy versus fluency; meaningful group activities, games or role
plays; relevant, authentic and contextualized content; different forms of assessment;
and teacher seen as a facilitator rather than an instructor.
All these activities lead to students’ motivation, oral practice, taking into
account students’ personal experiences, etc. and foster learner autonomy.

3.3. Contemporary trends in CLT

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Unit 1: The development of language teaching. Current trends in the teaching of English as
a foreign language. The Communicative Approach

Since the 1990’s the communicative approach has been widely implemented. It
comes from different educational traditions, and for this reason there is no
agreement on a set of practices that characterizes it. CLT today refers to a set of
principles that can be applied in different ways depending on the teaching context,
the age of learners, their level, their learning goals and so on. The goal is to match
learner needs and interests and to promote optimal development of second language
competence. For this later part, the Internet has a prominent job due to the huge
amount of interesting resources it provides.

4. CONCLUSION
Throughout history, theories have been proposed for the best way to learn a
second language in the classroom and teaching methods have been developed to
implement them. The different proposals reflect the changes in the kind of
proficiency learners need, the changes in theories of language and language learning
and also social changes. And precisely due to these changes, methods need to be
applied and adapted in the classroom practice creatively. In this same line I would
like to mention Ken Robinson’s view about changing the educational system when
he proposes a highly personalized approach using today’s technological resources to
engage all students and enable them to face the real challenges of our time.
Definitely it is up to the teacher to know the characteristics and needs of the students
in order to teach them accordingly.

5. BIBLIOGRAPHY

 CRYSTAL, David. (1985). Linguistics. England: Penguin Books.

 HOWATT, Anthony. (1984). A History of the English Language Teaching.
England: Oxford University Press.
 KRASHEN, Stephen. & TERRELL, Tracy. (1983). The Natural Approach:
Language Acquisition in the Classroom. England: Pergamon.
 RICHARDS, Jack & RODGERS, Theodore. (1992). Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching (2nd ed.). England: Cambridge University Press
 RIVERS, Wilga. (1981). Teaching Foreign Language Skills. Chicago: The
University of Chicago Press.
 ROBINSON, Ken & ARONICA, Lou. (2015). Creative Schools: The Grassroots
Revolution That’s Transforming Education. New York: Viking Press.

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