Prelims of Kant get Marx 2.0: a general politics quiz
Communicative language teaching
1. CFI, Rabat
Module: Didactics
ELT Approaches and Methods:
Communicative Language Teaching
Trainee: M. Bedraoui Trainer: Dr.M. Akkouch
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2. Objectives
1. To understand the historical factors that triggered the
emergence of Communicative Language Teaching.
2. To identify the principles and assumptions underlying
CLT.
3. To select the methodological practices compatible with
CLT.
4. To distinguish between different versions of CLT.
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3. Outline
A. A Historical Background
1. The Rise of Cognitive Linguistics, Pragmatics and Sociolinguistics
2. The Establishment of the European Common Market
B. Communicative Language Teaching: Theoretical Assumptions
1. Assumptions about Language
2. Assumptions about Learning
C. CLT: Methodologies
1. Syllabuses
2. Activities
3. Instructional materials
4. Learner and teacher roles
5. Assessment
D. CLT: Different Versions
1. Process- oriented methods
• Content-based instruction
• Task-based instruction
2. Product-oriented methods
Text-based instruction
Competency-based instruction
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4. An Attempt to define CLT…
Communicative language teaching is an
overarching approach that theoretically and
practically informs a range of language teaching
methods and practices with a central focus on
the communicative aspect of language. CLT
emphasises communication both as a desired
goal and an effective process of learning.
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5. Task One
Based on what you
know about
Communicative
Language Teaching, try
to do the multiple
questions task.
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7. A- A Historical Background
Richards (2006) classifies trends in language
teaching into three main phases:
Phase 1 Phase II Phase III
• Traditional • Classic • Current
approaches communicative language
(up to the late language teaching (from
60s) teaching (from the 90s to the
the 70s to the present)
90s)
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8. 1- The Rise of Cognitive Linguistics
Noam Chomsky criticized the
structuralist view of language
and discarded it on the basis
that it did not account for the
uniqueness and creative
nature of individual
sentences.
He advanced a theory on
language production which
considered the human mind
as the source of innate
cognitive linguistic abilities.
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9. The Cognitive View of Language Acquisition
Chomsky labeled whatever
the human child will
the relevant capacity the
A human child and a kitten always acquire the ability
are exposed to the same human has that the cat
to understand and produce
linguistic data. lacks the "language
language
acquisition device"
LAD is a postulated
It enables the child to It is an instinctive mental
"organ" of the brain that is
produce an infinite number capacity which enables an
of sentences which are supposed to function as
infant to acquire and
novel and creative a congenital device in
produce language.
throughout his/her life. language acquisition.
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10. Any Implications for Second Language Acquisition?
If humans have an
innate mechanism to
learn language, does the
same theory should apply
for second language
learning?
What does a second
language learner need
in addition to the
linguistic input to
activate his/her LAD?
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11. Developments in Pragmatics
John Austin (1911- 1960)
He is best known for the speech acts theory. He pointed out that we
use language to do things as well as to assert things.
John Searle (1932)
"In indirect speech acts the speaker communicates to the hearer more
than he actually says by way of relying on their mutually shared
background information, both linguistic and nonlinguistic, together
with the general powers of rationality and inference on the part of the
hearer."
Paul Grice (1913- 1988)
The first language philosopher who made a distinction between
semantics (the sentence meaning) and pragmatics (the speaker
meaning).
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12. Develpoments in Sociolinguistics
William Labov (1927)
• The first linguist to study language varieties and dialects.
Dell Hymes (1927- 2009)
• He proposed the concept of „Communicative Competence‟
to make up for Chomesky‟s concept of „linguistic
competence‟.
Henry Widdowson (1935)
• He was one of a British A group of British applied linguists
who emphasized the communicative aspect of language
that was inadequately addressed in Chomsky‟s linguistic
theory.
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13. 2- The Establishment of the European Common
Market
The emergence of the European
Common Market
The need for a multilingual
workforce
The need for alternative methods of
language teaching
The Council of Europe was founded
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14. 3- The First CLT Syllabus
He suggested a list of
In 1972, a British applied
functional meanings that
linguist, D.A. Wilkins, drafted
were necessary for an
a document about the needs
effective communicative
of a language learner.
language use.
In 1976, Wilkins revised this
document and expanded it
He described two types of into a book called Notional
meanings: functions and Syllabuses which had a
notions. significant impact on the
development of CLT both in
Europe and beyond.
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16. Criticism of Chomsky’s linguistic theory
In an influential article, Dell Hymes (1971: Chomsky‟s
62) revises Chomsky‟s linguistic theory model is
model: inadequate.
It does not
account for the
It remains that the present vision of sociocultural
generative grammar extends only a little dimensions of
way into the realm of the use of language. language use.
To grasp the intuitions and data pertinent
to underlying competence for use requires
a sociocultural standpoint. To develop that Chomsky‟s
standpoint adequately, one must transcend dichotomy
the formulation of the dichotomy leaves out the
competence:performance and the communicative
associated formulation of the judgments intuitions of a
and abilities of the users of a language as language user.
well.
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17. 1- An Alternative Model: Communicative
Competence
Dell Hymes (1971: 62) proposes an
alternative model:
Social/
discursive
knowledg
We have then to account for the fact e
that a natural child acquire knowledge
of sentences, not only as grammatical,
but also as appropriate. He or she
acquires competence as to who to
speak, when not, and as what to talk
about with whom, where and in what
manner. In short, a child becomes
able to accomplish a repertoire of Linguistic
speech acts, to take part in speech knowledge
events, and to evaluate their
accomplishment by others.
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18. Communicative Competence
Communicative Competence:
a knowledge of the social and discursive norms, which when coupled
with a linguistic knowledge, results in successful communication.
Hymes (1971: ) further explains:
Communicative Social
experience experience
The acquisition of such a
competency is of course fed by
social experience, needs, and
motives, and issues in action that Social Communicative
is itself a renewed source of experience competence
motives, needs, and experience.
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19. 1- Assumptions about Language
Halliday further elaborates Hymes‟ concept of
„communicative competence‟ and breaks it down into
seven basic functions:
The The
The regulatory The personal
instrumental interactional
function function
function function
The
The heuristic The imaginative
representational
function function
function
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20. 1- Assumptions about Language
Canale and Swain (1980) identified four dimensions
of communicative competence:
Grammatical Sociolinguistic Discourse Strategic
competence competence competence competence
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21. Communicative Competence
Grammatical competence is concerned
with the mastery of the linguistic code
which includes vocabulary knowledge as
well as knowledge of morphological,
syntactic, semantic, phonetic and
orthographic rules. This competence
enables the speaker to use knowledge and
skills needed for understanding and
expressing the literal meaning.
(Bagaric: 2007, 97)
22. Communicative Competence
Sociolinguistic competence is the
knowledge of rules and conventions which
underlie the appropriate comprehension
and language use in different
sociolinguistic and sociocultural context.
(Bagaric: 2007, 97)
23. Communicative Competence:
Discursive competence is the mastery of
rule which determine ways in which forms
and meaning are combined to achieve a
meaningful unity of spoken or written text.
The unity of a text is enabled by cohesion in
form and coherence in meaning.
(Bagaric: 2007, 97)
24. Communicative Competence:
Strategic competence is composed of
verbal and non-verbal strategies that are
recalled to make up for breakdowns in
communication due to insufficient
competence in one or more components of
communicative competence.
These strategies include paraphrase,
circumlocution, repetition, reluctance,
avoidance of words, structures or themes,
guessing, changes of register and style,
modifications of messages, etc.
(Bagaric: 2007, 97)
26. 2- Assumptions about Learning
Johnson and Littlewood (1984) developed a learning theory
which they considered as compatible with CLT tenets.
They called it a skill- learning model.
Skill-learning model
• The acquisition of communicative
competence in language is an
example of skill development. It
involves both a cognitive and
behavioural aspect.
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27. 2- Assumptions about Learning
A Skill- learning model
The behavioural stage
The cognitive stage involves the automation Converting cognitive
involves internalisation of these plans so that plans into behaviours
of plans creating they can be converted occurs mainly through
appropriate behaviour. into fluent performance practice
in real world.
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28. 2- Assumptions about Learning
Richards (2006: 23) proposed what he called „ten core
assumptions‟ underlying the different practices of CLT
1. Interaction and meaningful communication activate
learning.
2. Meaningful communication results from students
processing content that is relevant, purposeful, interesting,
and engaging.
3. Communication is a holistic process that often calls upon
the use of several language skills or modalities.
4. Communicative tasks provide opportunities for students to
use the language.
5. Language learning is facilitated both by activities that
involve inductive or discovery learning of underlying rules
of language use and organization, as well as by those
28 involving language analysis and reflection.
29. 2- Assumptions about Learning
6. Language learning is a gradual process that involves
creative use of language, and trial and error.
7. Learners develop their own routes to language learning,
progress
at different rates, and have different needs and motivations
for
language learning.
8. Successful language learning involves the use of effective
learning
and communication strategies.
9. The role of the teacher in the language classroom is that of
a facilitator, who creates a classroom climate conducive to
language learning and provides opportunities for students to
practise the language.
10. The classroom is a community where learners learn
29 through
30. Task 2
Identify the assumptions and principles
underlying the steps in the lesson sketched in
the handout.
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32. 1- Syllabuses
Discussions about the nature of syllabus have been central to CLT
applications.
A number of considerations are taken into account when designing a
communication-based syllabus.
The target
Purpose of the Setting of Role of the
communicative
language course learning learners
events
The language
functions The notions The skills The variety
involved in these involved involved involved
events
The grammatical The lexical
content content
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33. 1- Some CLT Syllabuses
A Functional syllabus A content –based syllabus A skill-based syllabus
• Communicative • The purpose is to teach • It focuses on the
competence is viewed as specific information and integration of the four
a mastery of functions content using the macroskills.
needed for language that learners • The teaching of each
communication across a are also learning. skills is done through its
wide range of situations. component microskills.
• The syllabus is organized • The course is arranged • skill-based syllabi merge
according to the functions around topics related to linguistic competencies
the learners should be the subject being taught. (pronunciation,
able to carry out in vocabulary, grammar, and
English. discourse) together into
• Grammar and vocabulary generalized types of
are chosen according to behaviour, such as
the functions being listening to spoken
taught. language for the main
• This syllabus is often idea, writing well-formed
used as the basis for paragraphs, delivering
listening and speaking effective lectures, and so
courses. forth.
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34. 2- Activities
New classifications of activities have been
developed with the advent of CLT.
Fluency and accuracy activities
• Teachers are recommended to strike a balance between
the two types of activities.
Mechanical, meaningful and communicative
activities
• Practice sequences in CLT textbooks usually take students
from mechanical to meaningful to communicative activities.
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35. 2- Activity Types
The range of activities, tasks and exercises
compatible with CLT is unlimited.
Any activity that can engage learners in
communication and require the use of such
communicative processes as information sharing,
negotiation of meaning and interaction can be
incorporated into the CLT repertoire.
Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between:
Functional communication activities
social interaction activities
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36. 2- Activity Tyes
Functional
Social interaction
communication
activities
activities
• Learners compare • Conversation and
sets of pictures and discussion sessions
note difference • Dialogues and role
• Learners work out a play
sequence of events • Simulations
out of a set of events. • debates
• Learners solve
problems using
shared clues.
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37. 3- Activity Types
Information gap activities
Jigsaw activities
Information gathering activities
Information transfer activities
Opinion sharing activities
Reasoning gap-activities
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38. Task 3
Match the descriptions of the activities with
their appropriate headings.
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39. 3. Instructional Materials
The instructional materials
CLT proponents have prepared for CLT
accorded instructional classrooms vary from text-
materials a special based textbooks, to task-
importance. based activities, to realia
content.
Heightened discussions
have arisen about the
issue of authenticity.
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40. 3. Instructional Materials
“Authentic texts (either written or spoken) are those which are
designed for native speakers: they are real texts designed not for
language students, but for the speakers of the language in question.”
(Harmer:1983, 146)
Benefits Limitations
Positive effect
Not teacher-
on learner‟s
friendly
motivation
Direct Packed with
exposure to unnecessary
language use vocabulary.
Authentic No repeated
cultural occurrence of
information structures
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41. 4. Learner and Teacher Roles
Role refers to “the part that learners and teachers are expected are
expected to play in the learning tasks as well as the social and
interpersonal relationships between the participants.” (Nunan:
1986, 79)
Learner Role Teacher Role
Interactor Facilitator
Collaborator Needs analyst
Discoverer Counselor
Self-assessor Provider of input
Problem-solver Prompter
Questioner Reflector
Learner
41
42. 5. Assessment
focuses on
achievement
involves both
teacher and Assessment is not testing
students
is a
continuous
process
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44. CLT: A Paradigm Shift
CLT has gained credibility and flourished as an effective
foreign language approach across different world educational
programs.
Jacobs and Farrell (2003: 1) called this wholesale
development a paradigm shift in second language education.
“In second language education, a
constellation of changes have been proposed
and, to some ex tent, implemented. This
constellation of interconnected changes can
perhaps best be termed a paradigm shift, with
this paradigm fitting under the general
Communicative Language umbrella of
Teaching (CLT).
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45. CLT: A Paradigm Shift
The social
Learner Curricular
nature of
autonomy integration
learning
Focus on Thinking
Diversity
meaning skills
Alternative Teachers as
assessment co-learners
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46. CLT: Different models
A number of different second language teaching have
emerged, reflecting different responses to the issues
identified as central to CLT approach.
Process-oriented Product-oriented
models models
Content-based Text-based
Competency-
Task-based
based
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47. Task 4
In expert groups of three, discuss the CLT model you
are assigned. (5 min.)
Move to discussion groups and share what you learn
with the other members. (10 min)
Move back to the expert groups to compare the
information you got about other models with the
other members of the group.
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48. References
Jacobs, G. M., & Farrell, T. S. C. (January 01, 2003). Understanding and Implementing the CLT (Communicative
Language Teaching) Paradigm. Relc
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques and principles in language teaching. New York, N.Y., USA: Oxford
University Press.
Nunan, D. (1989). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom. Cambridge [England: Cambridge University
Press.
Nunan, D. (July 01, 1991). Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum. Tesol Quarterly, 25, 2, 279-295.
Nunan, D., & Nunan, D. (2004). Task-based language teaching. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and
analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Richards, J. C. (2006). Communicative language teaching today. New York: Cambridge University Press.
http://140.125.168.174/0502/1ComLangTeach.pdf
http://www3.telus.net/linguisticsissues/syllabi
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49. Communication-based activities enhance learning
Tasks involve the learners in the input and activate their
output.
Meaningful language and situations support the
learners‟ processing of the linguistic content and build up
their communicative competence.
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50. The first syllabus model is a
notional syllabus which specifies
the notional and functional
categories perceived as needed to
be learned by language learners.
But this model of syllabus was
soon criticised for being a replicate
of a traditional syllabus.
It was also criticised for specifying
products rather than
communicative processes.
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Notas del editor
Microskills of listening: recognize keywords, recognize the topic, the attude and mood of speakers- follow speech at different rates of speed, identify key information
Another classification by littlewood,: structural activities, quasi communicative, comunicative (functional and social interaction A