Communicative Language Teaching Approach
Justification of Competition Based on Modern Teaching Approaches
We start with the difference between definitions of language and speech act.
- Language: It is a form of linguistic activity performed with a concrete purpose. Language is a significant communication tool.
- Speech Acts: A speech act by which we get a goal and is to encode or decode a message, either oral or written. For example, ordering a meal.
Furthermore, some important concepts in the teaching of language are:
- Linguistic competence
- Communicative competence
- Pragmatic competence
Linguistic Competence
Linguistic competence is the system of linguistic rules, internalized by speakers, that shapes their verbal skills, allowing them to understand an infinite number of sentences. Linguistic competition includes phonology, morphology, syntax, and vocabulary; that is, the set of grammar.
Communicative Competence
Communicative competence was proposed to explain the need for another kind of knowledge, apart from grammar, to use language with communicative property. Communicative competence is the ability to use language appropriately in various social situations that we present every day.
Pragmatic Competence
Pragmatic competence is the branch of semiotics and linguistics that is responsible for studying all the knowledge and skills that allow the appropriate use of verbal signs of language. It analyzes the social use that speakers make of them in relation to situations, purposes, needs, etc. In short, pragmatic competence is a set of these non-linguistic knowledge that an ideal user has internalized.
The Interrelation of the Three Concepts
The three concepts are interrelated: Linguistic competence + Pragmatic competence = Communicative competence.
Therefore, communicative competence is the base for modern teaching approaches, and the primary goal of this approach is that students can communicate better with the language.
Following this approach, classes become more active and participatory. Students practice oral and written codes through real or credible exercises of communication, taking into account the language needs and the interests and motivations of students, which are different and personal.
The earliest methods of these characteristics were developed during the 1970s, in order to facilitate the learning of second languages by adults. The best known system is “notional-functional,” which generated multimedia courses well known in our country. In the early 1990s, communicative approaches had already reached all levels of education, and virtually all of the language teaching proposals incorporated this vision. Now we can ask what points in common these methods have, so different from each other, beyond giving importance to communication and promoting the use of language. Below are some general features to consider, which refer to the way students work in the classroom:
- Class exercises recreate real or credible communication situations, so that different communicative stages are practiced in class during the performance of the activity. Thus, pupils are involved fully in the work because they have some motivation and participate freely and creatively.
- The class exercises work with linguistic communication units, that is, with full texts and not just with words, phrases, or choppy fragments.
- The language students learn is a real and contextualized language. This means working with authentic texts, that have been created especially for education, and have not been excessively manipulated. Furthermore, the language that is taught is real, heterogeneous, the one used in the street, with dialects and slang registers.
- Students often work in pairs or groups, which is the best way to organize situations of communication in the classroom.
- Class exercises allow students to develop the four linguistic communication skills.