Communicative Learning in Teaching Methodology - Essay Example

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: A CRITICAL REVIEW] By Insert Presented to Location Due Introduction There are many approaches towards the teaching of foreign languages. The purpose of each of these various methods is to develop the learner’s proficiency in the foreign language. One of these approaches is the communicative approach or communicative language teaching. This approach is not a stringently defined teaching method. It however provides a number of guidelines which can be used to implement successful teaching methods and programs. The basis of the communicative approach is in the theory that language is meant for communication purposes and that as such, learning a new language should essentially be about the ability to use that language to communicate. Communicative language teaching is critically reviewed. With an emphasis on understanding its basic tenets and the advantages that it offers to the language learning process. Communicative Language Teaching Communicative language teaching is an approach towards language teaching. It is entrenched in the belief that the primary purpose of language is communication (Brandl, 2008). Therefore, the approach aims to equip its learners with an ability to communicate. There are two categories of the communicative approach. The weak component involves an overt pedagogy of language forms that develops the learner’s ability to use the same for communication. The strong communicative approach on the other hand inclines towards furnishing the learner with experiences through which the learner develops proficiency in the use the language. According to Richards, there are four principles through which the approach can be understood (2005). These are: the mode of learning of a language, the goals of teaching language, the types of classroom activities that promote learning, and what the roles of teachers and learners are in the classroom. The communicative approach is therefore a broad one that encompasses a wide range of activities which are meant to improve the overall language acquisition process. It is also referred to as the functional approach or the notional-functional approach (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). The end result is learner’s achieving communicative competence. The communicative approach developed as an alternative to the grammar-translation method. This previous approach indulged learners in a frenzy of vocabulary and rule grasping, with the outcome being a limited oral proficiency (Brandl, 2008). In order to atone for this shortcoming, the students would then travel to the language’s country of origin so as to acquaint themselves through practice. Owing to this significant shortcoming of the method, other approaches were developed, such as the Direct/Berlitz method and the audio-lingual method. However, owing to resistance to or failure of these methods, the communicative approach alongside other approaches developed. Each of these methods developed appeared to evolve towards the utilization of practicality in the English learning process. The communicative approach also attempts to entrench practicality in the classroom whereby according to Brandl, the approach aims to make use of real-life situations in which communication is necessary (2008). This allows learners to acquire communicative competence, which is a holistic term that extends beyond the mere ability to communicate competently. Communicative competence does not simply imply an ability by learners to communicate competently. Rather, the term envisages a holistic outlook. Communicative competence refers to the ability of learners “to interpret and enact appropriate social behaviors and it requires the active involvement of the learner in the production of the target language” (Brandl, 2008). Within a communicative approach therefore, the scope of learning a language extends beyond the mere capability to interpret the language, and inclines itself towards enabling the learner to enact appropriate social behavior. One can say that a communicative approach is not only concerned with allowing the learner to understand what the language is, but rather, how it is best used. An interesting feature of the communicative approach is that the language being learnt lends itself to the learner. As noted, communicative competence involves the learner at an active level whereby the learner participates in the production of the target language. What this implies is that the communicative approach is a learner-centric approach. In order to achieve a learner’s communicative competence, the communicative approach does not merely teach, but also enquires from the learner. The meaning of communicative competence can be elaborated by contrasting the same with grammatical competence. According to Richards, grammatical competence refers to that knowledge of a language that facilitates the ability to formulate sentences (2005). Essentially therefore, within a grammatical competence framework, learners are taught the rules of grammar and how to form sentences. The typical teaching methodology will usually involve an outline of rules which are promptly followed up by a series of exercises to test the ability of the learner to apply the rules in sentence formation. This method faces a significant shortcoming in that while learners acquire structural competence in formation of meaningful sentences, the same does not always translate into ability to communicate meaningfully. Thus, the learners do not acquire communicative competence. There are several key underpinnings that highlight communicative competence. One of these is the ability of the language learner to widely apply the language for varying purposes and functions (Richards, 2005) which Brandl, refers to as discourse competence (2008). Brandl argues that with such a competence, language users are consistently able to initiate, propagate and terminate conversations in a coherent manner. Secondly, the learner should also be able to interpret different settings in terms of the variance of their language demand and supply the appropriate language form in accordance with the said demand, which refers to sociolinguistic competence. Thirdly, Richards argues that learners are able to generate as well as to comprehend different types of texts (2005), whereby this implies a linguistic competence (Nunan, 1989 ). Finally, the learners are able to sustain the communication despite limitations in their knowledge of the language or strategic competence. What this implies is an ability on the part of the learner to apply different communication strategies. Obviously then, the communicative approach encompasses a wide array of communicative capabilities. Moreover, its focus is not only on the mere understanding of a language, its rules and formation, but on the appropriate application. The communicative approach appears to be propagated in accordance with the paradigm that communication requires a consideration of both content and context. The consideration of context within the communicative approach can be identified through facets such as the ability of users to supply different language forms based on the scenario. Since a change in scenario implies a change in context, this is an astute indication of contextual consideration of the communicative approach. An important thing to note about CLT is that it is not a method of teaching language. This is because it does not identify or clearly outline content, syllabus and teaching practices (Brandl, 2008). This is one of the criticisms of the approaches, in that it does not outline a definite solution to teaching English. However, this should in fact be viewed as an advantage of the approach, since it remains adaptable. Indeed, Brandl indicates that the communicative approach does actually utilize materials and methods with attention to their appropriacy within the context they are used (2008). As such, teachers wishing to find an appropriate method of instruction can build on its precepts to come up with a method that is suitable for their students. This adaptability of the communicative approach means that it allows the instructor to build the instruction method from the bottom up, rather than implementing the instructional module bottom-down. The instructor can therefore begin by evaluating the needs of their students and the materials available, and consequently settle on an appropriate instructional method that suffices for this purpose. The communicative language teaching approach facilitates a problem-centered rather than a method-centered approach towards solving the problem. This problem-centered nature can be understood by reflecting on the sentiments expressed in the previous paragraph. The need for a problem-centered approach is highlighted by some of the challenges that are encountered in the teaching process. For instance, McDonough & Shaw indicate that internal or external factors may inhibit the effectiveness of materials in teaching (2012). Internal factors may be for example an inconsistency between the learning material and the context of application. In order to resolve this challenge, it is necessary to adapt materials so that there is a consistency between the external and internal considerations that have to be fulfilled for effective instruction. The aligning of internal and external factors such that they match each other is referred to as congruence. This principle envisions a situation whereby a teacher constantly strives to achieve correspondence between the variables pertaining to instruction such as methodology, teaching materials, course objective and context (McDonough & Shaw, 2012). Another important input is the teacher’s personality and pedagogic style. With such diverse variables, there are very realistic chances of inconsistencies occurring. For instance, according to McGrath, where materials have not been specifically developed for particular teaching and learning contexts, then there is an inherent incompatibility (2002). This problem was particularly as a consequence of the lack of synchronization between developments in language teaching practice and the published learning material (Tomlinson, 2003). Consequently, the solution lies in adaptation of materials so as to fill this gap. Adaptation is indeed inherent in the nature of the communicative approach and this is why it is able to address these shortcomings of the more rigid approaches to the teaching of the English language. It can be applied to a wide range of situations and scenarios with enhanced benefits. The ability of the communicative approach to succeed where others have failed can likely be attributed to its diverse compositional nature. Unlike other theories which typically derive from one area, this approach draws from several areas including educational psychology, cognitive science and second language acquisition (Brandl, 2008). The result of its wide derivations is that it is consequently able to meet a wide range of proficiency-related goals. Moreover, it is also able to accommodate different needs and preferences. As noted, the communicative learning approach draws from a number of theories and practices and in turn lends itself to an equally wide array of scenarios. The theory of learning is one such theory. There are particular elements of the communicative approach that correspond to the underpinnings of the learning theory. One such element is communication whereby, activities involving real communication facilitate the learning goal (Richards & Rodgers, 2001). Secondly, there is the task principle which argues that those tasks which utilize language to carry out meaningful tasks result in learning promotion. The meaningfulness principle is another principle which argues that the learning process is supported by its meaningfulness to the user. Within the approach therefore, task selection is based on how meaningful a task is in engaging the learner in language use. From the above discourse, it is evident that communicative language teaching requires a learner’s engagement in meaningful tasks. As a consequence, communicative language teaching is closely tied to task-based instruction. Task-based learning or task based language teaching is a teaching method that has the potential to respond to the specific communicative needs of learners’ through the design of its courses (Doughty & Long, 2003). Thus, it is similar to communicative language teaching in that it is tailored in such a manner as to address the specific needs of learners. Brandl provides a list of methodological principles of communicative language teaching that draw on the similarities between task-based instruction and communicative learning (2008). Methodological principles can be understood as features of instructional design rooted in theories in SLA or elsewhere, and which are either essential to or which facilitate SLA (Doughty & Long, 2003). The list is adapted from a series of methodological principles outlined by Doughty & Long (2003). The first of these principles involves the use of tasks. According to this methodological principle, the language learning process is centered on the communicative aspect with the grammatical aspects providing support. One of the fundamental tenets of the communicative approach is that it is centered on the learner. This has been illustrated variously throughout this review, during such instances as the design of the learning methodology, which will often inculcate the requirements of the learner. Richards & Renandya contend that communicative language teaching will derive the learning requirements from its learners, and that the focus will be on stimulating communicative activities (2002). Such communicative activities allow the learner to utilize the language within a communicative context and thereby improve their communicative competence. Communicative interaction can be increased by providing engaging content (McGrath (b), 2013). Such content generates a desire within the learner to understand and to be understood. This illustrates the democratic and problem-centered essence of the communicative approach. The advantages of such an approach include that it makes the learner an active contributor to the leaning process rather than a passive participant. Since the student/learner has a centralized role to play within the communicative approach, the implication is that there are significant alterations in traditional classroom roles. As has been noted, within a communicative framework, the student plays a role in generating the target language. Some of the ways through which the learner achieves this role is through such processes as the collaborative creation of meaning and the creation of meaningful interactions through language (Richards J. C., 2005). The focus then shifts from teaching the learner the language, to teaching the learner how to use the language. On their part, teachers cease to become role models of how the language should be used and instead become facilitators of language learning. This is by allowing students room to exercise language while at the same time determining errors and recommending correctional action. The communicative approach has however received backlash because of some of the building tenets of its communicative competence paradigm. One of these tenets is sociolinguistic competence, which defines a state whereby the learner is able to utilize different language forms based on the varying demands of different scenarios. Swan criticizes the ‘appropriacy’ imperative that the communicative approach places on the language learning process (1985). He argues that while it is essential for language learners to understand the appropriacy of language use, it is illegitimate for the approach to generalize such a need to the entire language. Swan further criticizes other aspects of the communicative approach such as its identification of two levels of meaning, which he argues is vague and unnecessary (1985). The lack of necessity is punctuated by the fact that even other languages have their own rules of interpretation. Conclusion Communicative language teaching is an approach to language teaching that is based on the premise that the essence of language is communication. As such, the communicative approach concerns itself with equipping the learner with an ability to communicate, communicative competence. In order to acquire communicative competence, it is essential for the learner to acquire four underpinning competencies. These are discourse competence, linguistic competence, sociolinguistic competence and strategic competence. With these competencies, learners are not only able to communicate through the learnt language, but to do so within the appropriate context. The communicative approach is a flexible one that can be adapted to different scenarios depending on the unique demands of the said scenario. Consequently, the approach may routinely demand an adaptation of learning materials. However, since it builds itself from the bottom-up, the approach succeeds in delivering a learner-centered solution, thereby maximizing the outcome of the learning process. References Brandl, K. (2008). Communicative language teaching in action: Putting principles to work. Upper Saddle River, N.J.: Pearson Prentice Hall. . Doughty, C., & Long, M. (2003). Optimal psycholinguistic environments for distance foreign language learning. Forum of International Development Studies, (pp. 35-74). McDonough, J., & Shaw, C. (2012). Materials and Methods in ELT a Teachers Guide (3rd ed.). Chicester: Wiley. McGrath, I. (2002). Materials evaluation and design for language teaching. Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press. McGrath, I. (2013). Teaching materials and the roles of EFL/ESL teachers: Theory versus practice. London : Continuum. Nunan, D. (1989 ). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom. Cmabridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Richards, J. C., & Renandya, W. A. (Eds.). (2002). Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Swan, M. (1985). A critical look at the communicative approach (1). ELT journal , 39 (1), 2-12. Tomlinson, B. (2003). Developing Materials for Language Teaching . London: Continuum. Read More