ENG 205 – TESL: Teaching English as Second Language

Saturday 11:00 am – 2:30 pm

Professor: Dr. Ariel Villar
Discussant: Alpha Joy R. Provido

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING (CLT)

INTRODUCTION
The origins of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are found in the changes in the British
language teaching tradition in the late 1960s. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which is an approach
to the teaching of second and foreign languages, emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal
of learning a language. It is also referred to as “Communicative Approach”.
Communicative approach aims to: make communicative competence the goal of language teaching,
and develop procedures for the teaching of the four language skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing)
that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication.

APPROACH
THEORY OF LANGUAGE
The Communicative Approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication.
The goal of language teaching is what Hymes (1972) referred to as “communicative competence.” In Hymes’
view, a person who acquires communicative competence acquires both knowledge and ability for language use.
Knowledge and language use respond to whether something is formally possible, convenient, appropriate in
relation to a context in which it is used, something is in fact done, actually performed, and what its doing
entails.
Another linguistic theory of communication favored in CLT is Halliday's functional account of language
use. Halliday has elaborated a powerful theory of the functions of language. He described seven basic
functions that language performs for children learning their first language:
1. the instrumental function: using language to get things;
2. the regulatory function: using language to control the behavior of others;
3. the interactional function: using language to create interaction with others;
4. the personal function: using language to express personal feelings and meanings;
5. the heuristic function: using language to learn and to discover;
6. the imaginative function: using language to create a world of the imagination;
7. the representational function: using language to communicate information.
Another influential analysis of communicative competence was found in Canale & Swain (1980), in
which four dimensions of communicative competence are identified:
1. Grammatical competence - it is the domain of grammatical and lexical capacity.
2. Sociolinguistic competence - an understanding of the social context in which communication takes
place.
3. Discourse competence - the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their
interconnectedness and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse text.
4. Strategic competence - refers to the coping strategies that communicators employ to initiate, terminate,
maintain, repair, and redirect communication.

THEORY OF LEARNING
Elements of an underlying learning theory can be discerned in some CLT practices as follows:
• One element is the communication principle: activities that involve real communication promote learning.
• Another 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 the
learning process.
DESIGN
OBJECTIVES
Use language as means of communication, object of learning, and means of expressing values. It focuses
on meaningful tasks; and communication rather than structure. The language learning is within the school
curriculum. Also, it promotes collaboration.
SYLLABUS
One of the first syllabus models to be proposed was described as a notional syllabus (Wilkins, 1976),
which specified the semantic-grammatical categories and the categories of communicative function that learners
need to express.

TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES

Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between functional communication activities and social interaction
activities.
 Functional Communication Activities – Comparing sets of pictures and noting similarities and
differences, discovering missing features in a map or picture, one learner communicating behind a
screen to another one giving instructions on how to draw a picture or shape.
 Social Interaction Activities – Conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues, role plays, simulations,
skits, improvisations and debates.

LEARNER ROLES
 The learner is a negotiator (between himself, the learning process, and the object of learning).
 Students are expected to interact primarily with each other rather than with the teacher.
 Students give and receive information.

TEACHER ROLES
 To facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these
participants and the various activities and texts.
 To act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group;
 To contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual, and observed experience of the
nature of learning and organizational capacities.

ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS

 Text-based materials – There are numerous textbooks designed to direct and support CLT. Their table
of contents suggest a kind of grading and sequencing of language practice.
 Task-based materials – A variety of games, role plays, simulations, and task-based communication
activities have been prepared to support CLT classes. They are in the form of exercise handbooks, cue
cards, activity cards, and interaction booklets.
 Realia – Many proponents of CLT have advocated the use of “authentic,” “from life” materials in class.
These include: signs, magazines, advertisements, newspapers, pictures, symbols.

PROCEDURE

1. Presentation of a brief dialog or several mini-dialogs.

2. Oral practice of each utterance of the dialog segment to be presented that day.
3. Question and answer based on the dialog topic.
4. Question and answer related to the student’s personal experience.
5. Study one of the basic communicative expression in dialog.
6. Learner discovery of generalizations or rules underlying the functional expression.
7. Oral recognition, interpretative activities.
8. Oral production activities-proceeding from guided to freer communication activities.
9. Copying of the dialog or modules if they are not in the class text.
10. Sampling of the written homework assignment.
11. Oral evaluation of learning.

CONCLUSION

CLT is best considered an approach rather than a method. Approach refers to a diverse set of principles
that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning used to support a variety of classroom
procedures.
This approach can help future teachers develop their students’ oral communication skills. Students will
lose the fear of communicating in a second language, in this case English as a Second Language. It can help
promote confidence and security in the classroom environment, in everyday use, and when travelling abroad.

References: Richards, J.C. & Rodgers, T.S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Second Edition.
Cambridge Language Teaching Library. Cambridge, U.K: Cambridge University Press.