Communicative Language Teaching: Principles, Methods, and Activities

Posted on Aug 14, 2024 in Social sciences

1. INTRODUCTION

1.1 Theory of Language

According to Chomsky, the principal objective of language teaching is “linguistic competence.” This consists of people being able to produce grammatically correct sentences in one language. On the other hand, Hymes’s theory of “communicative competence” defines it as what a speaker must know to communicate effectively in a speech community. Furthermore, Hymes believes that if a person acquires communicative competence, they will acquire the knowledge and ability to use a language. This theory is much more comprehensive than Chomsky’s view of competence, which deals with abstract grammatical knowledge.

Canale develops four dimensions of communicative competence:

  • Grammatical or linguistic competence: The domain of grammatical and lexical capacity.
  • Sociolinguistic or characterize competence: Understanding a social context and how appropriate communication may take place concerning role relationships.
  • Discourse or text competence: The ability to interpret an individual sentence in connection with other elements; the capacity to interpret and produce texts.
  • Strategic or intellectual competence: The coping strategies that speakers use to initiate, terminate, maintain, and direct communication, and adapt one text to the interlocutor.

1.2 Theory of Learning

The theory of learning can be described as the communicative principles that guide learning activities. First, the teacher selects activities related to real life so students can communicate. The second principle is the task principle: activities in which language is used to carry out tasks promote learning. A third principle is the meaningfulness principle: understanding the meaning of the activities supports the learners’ learning process.

Also, the theory of learning states that acquisition is a very important process that involves communicative competence and distinguishes this process from learning. Acquisition is based on the unconscious development of the target-language system as a result of using the language in a real situation or communication. In contrast, learning is the presentation of grammatical knowledge and cannot be led by acquisition. This system of acquisition consists of creating utterances in a spontaneous conversation.

2. DESIGN

2.1 Objectives

There are several levels of objectives in the communicative approach:

  1. A content level.
  2. A linguistic and instrumental level.
  3. An affective level of interpersonal relationships and conduct.
  4. A level of individual learning needs.
  5. A general educational level of extra-linguistic goals.

Additionally, learners have needs to master a foreign language, and these skills are reading, writing, listening, and speaking. These skills would be aspects of communicative competence, according to the level and needs of the students or learners.

2.2 Syllabus

Regarding the syllabus in the communicative approach, it includes semantic-grammatical categories, such as frequency. Additionally, the syllabus encompasses communicative functions that students need to develop. Moreover, students need the language for describing something, requesting information, expressing agreement and disagreement, as well as vocabulary and grammar.

2.3 Types of Learning and Teaching Activities

Regarding the types of learning and teaching activities, students must be capable of reaching communicative objectives and taking part in communicative processes such as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction.

There are two types of activities: “functional communication activities” and “social interaction activities.”

Functional communication includes activities such as:

  • Comparing sets of pictures.
  • Working out a likely sequence of events in a set of pictures.
  • Discovering missing features in a map or picture or how to complete a map.
  • Following directions and solving problems from shared clues.

Social interaction includes:

  • Conversation and discussion sessions.
  • Dialogues and role-plays.
  • Simulations and debates.

2.4 Learner Roles

Communicative Language Teaching allows different roles for students studying a second language in class. The role of the learner should be as a negotiator and interactor. Besides, the learner should contribute to learning in their own way. Often there is no text, no discussion, the arrangement in class is non-standard, and corrections of mistakes are not very common. The cooperative approach in Communicative Language Teaching may be unfamiliar to students.

2.5 Teacher Roles

Additionally, the teacher has three main roles:

  1. To facilitate communication between students in class with a variety of activities and texts.
  2. To act as a participant within the learning-teaching group, since the teacher must be an organizer of resources and a guide in class.
  3. To be a researcher, learner, and observer of the capacities or skills of the students.

2.6 Counselor

To understand methods, teachers use three types: text-based materials, task-based materials, and realia. A counselor is an example of a good communicator and uses paraphrase, confirmation, and feedback. Additionally, the teacher is not the center of the activities.

2.7 Text-Based Materials

A typical lesson consists of a theme, a task analysis for thematic development such as understanding a message, asking questions, asking for more information, taking notes, ordering, and presenting information. Also, it may be a practice situation and description, a stimulus presentation; it is when the beginning of a conversation, a comprehension question, and paraphrase exercises are used.

2.8 Task-Based Materials

Communicative Language Teaching in class consists of a variety of games, role-plays, simulations, and task-based communication activities. These activities are based on exercise handbooks, cue cards, activity cards, pair-communication practice materials, and student-interaction practice booklets.

2.9 Realia

Communicative Language Teaching includes language based on realia, such as magazines, advertisements, newspapers, or graphic and visual sources such as maps, pictures, symbols, graphs, and charts.

3. PROCEDURE

Regarding the procedure of teaching, a lesson outline typically consists of “making a suggestion” for students in the beginning level of a secondary school program that suggests CLT is evolutionary rather than revolutionary:

  1. Presentation of a brief dialogue or several mini-dialogues, preceded by motivation.
  2. Oral practice, such as mini-dialogues, individually or in groups.
  3. Questions and answers based on the dialogue and situation.
  4. Study one of the basic communicative expressions in the dialogue.
  5. Oral recognition, interpretative activities.
  6. Oral production activities proceeding from guided to freer communication activities.

Finally, Communicative Language Teaching distinguishes between Pre-communicative activities based on:

  • Structural activities.
  • Quasi-communicative activities.

And Communicative activities based on:

  • Functional communication activities.
  • Social interaction activities.