Communicative Approach ELT

1. COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
Shagashra V S
III B. A. English Literature
Dr. N. G. P. Arts and Science College(Autonomous)

2. PRESENTATION OUTLINE
• Background
• Approach:
o Theory of Language
oTheory of Learning
• Design:
o Objectives
o Syllabus
oTypes of learning and Teaching activities
o Learner roles
o Teacher roles
o The Role of Instructional Materials
• Procedures
• Conclusion

3. BACKGROUND
• The origin of Communicative Language Teaching(CLT) is found in the
British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s.
• Situational Language Teaching was the major approach in teaching
English as a foreign language.
• Language was taught by practising basic structures in a meaningful
situation-based activities.

4. APPROACH
There is a difference between approach and method.
Approach is the way that you are going to teach and how you are going to teach
An approach is a way of dealing with
something or someone.
A method is a process or the steps take
to deal with an issue.

5. THEORY OF LANGUAGE
• The Communicative Approach in language teaching starts from a theory of
language as communication.
• The goal of language teaching as Hymes referred to as “Communicative
Competence”.
• According to Hymes a person who acquires communicative competence acquires
both Knowledge and Ability for knowledge use.

6. Knowledge and
Language use
APPROACH
1) Whether something is
formally possible
2) Whether something is
inconvenient
3)Whether something is
appropriate in relation to a
context in which it is used
4)Whether something is in
fact done, actually
performed and what its
doing entails

7. FUNCTIONS IN LANGUAGE L1
Another linguistic theory of CLT is the functional language use. Halliday described seven basic
functions that a language performs for children learning their first language
1) Instrumental
Function:
Using language to get
things
2) Regulatory Function:
Using language to control
the behaviour of others
3) Interactional Function:
Using language to create
interaction with others
4) Personal Function:
Using language to express
personal feelings and meanings
5) Heuristic
Function:
Using language to
learn and to discover
6) Imaginative Function:
Using language to create a
world of imagination
7) Representational Function:
Using language to communicate information

8. FUNCTIONS IN LANGUAGE L2
Learning an L2 was viewed by proponents of CLT as acquiring the linguistic means
to perform different kinds of functions.
Functions / Topics
• Ask questions to get
basic information
• Talk about yourself
• Describe about weather
• Leave a phone message
• Talk about a specific
topic
Functions / Topics
• Say hello / goodbye
• Talk about sports and
exercise
• Say how your week is
going on
• Give exercise advice

9. THEORY OF LEARNING
• In contrast to the amount that has been written in Communicative Language Teaching
literature about communicative dimensions of language, little has been written about
learning theory.
• Elements of an underlying learning theory can be discerned in some CLT practices a
follows:
1) Communicative
Principle:
Activities that
involve real
communication
promote to learning
2) Task Principle:
Activities in which
language is used for
carrying out
meaningful tasks to
promote learning
3) Meaningfulness
Principle:
Language that is
meaningful to
learners supports the
learning process

10. DESIGN
OBJECTIVES:
1) An integrative and content level (language as a means
of expression)
2) A linguistic and instrumental level (language as a
semiotic system and an object of learning)
3) An affective level of interpersonal relationships and
conduct (language as a means of expressing values and
judgements about oneself and others)
4) A level of individual learning needs (remedial learning
based on error analysis)
5) A general education level of extra-linguistic goals
(language learning within the school curriculum)

11. DESIGN
SYLLABUS:
• One of the first syllabus models to be proposed was
described as a notional syllabus (Wilkins 1976), which
specified the semantic-grammatical categories (e.g.,
frequency, motion, location) and the categories of
communicative function that learners need to express.
• The Council of Europe expanded and developed a
syllabus that included descriptions of the objectives of
foreign language courses for European adults, the
situations in which they might typically need to use a
foreign language (e.g., travel, business),

12. DESIGN
TYPES OF LEARNING AND TEACHING ACTIVITIES:
Problem - Solving Freewriting Role-Plays
Formative Quizzes Small Group Activities Debates

13. DESIGN
LEARNER ROLES:
• The learner is a negotiator (between himself, the
learning process, and the object of learning).
The implication is that the learner should
contribute as much as he gains, and learn in an
interdependent way.
• Students are expected to interact primarily with
each other rather than with the teacher.
• Students give and receive information.

14. TEACHER ROLES
Needs analyst Counsellor Group Process
Manager
• CLT teacher assumes a
responsibility for determining
and responding to students
language needs.
• CLT teacher administer a
needs assessment instrument
to determine an individual’s
motivation for studying the
language.
• Based on needs assessment
results, CLT teacher plan
instruction and activities that
respond to students needs.
• The CLT teacher-
counselor, as in the
Community Language
Learning, is expected to
exemplify an effective
communicator seeking
to maximize the speaker
intention and hearer
interpretation, through
the use of paraphrase,
confirmation, and
feedback
• CLT procedures require
teachers to acquire less
teacher-centered
classroom management
skills.
• CLT teacher organizes the
classroom for
communication and
communicative activities.

15. DESIGN
THE ROLE OF INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIAL:
support
communicative
approaches to
language
teaching
materials
as a
way of
classroom
interaction
promote
communicative
language
use

16. INSTRUCTIONAL MATERIALS
Richards and Rogers consider three kinds of materials currently used in CLT:
Task-Based Materials
Realia

17. TEXT-BASED MATERIALS
Text-based materials Functions / Topics Grammar Vocabulary
There are numerous
textbooks designed UNIT 7
to direct and support Out and about
CLT. Their table of pages 67-75
contents suggest
a kind of grading
and sequencing of UNIT 8
language practice Shopping
pages 76-84
• Describe the weather
• Leave a phone messages
• Talk about sports and
exercise
• Say how your weekend
is going
• Give exercise advice
• Present continuous
statements, yes-no
questions, short
answers and
information
questions
• Imperatives
• Seasons
• Weather
• Common
responses to
good and
bad
• Talk about clothes
• Ask for and give prices
• Shop for gifts
• Discuss shopping habits
• Like to, need to,
want to and have to
• Questions with
How much….?
• This, these; that,
those
• Clothing and
accessories
• jewellery
• Shopping
expressions
• “Conversatio
n Sounds”

18. TASK-BASED MATERIALS
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.

19. REALIA
Realia:
Many proponents of CLT have advocated
the use of “authentic,” “from life”
materials in class. These include:
• Signs
• Magazines
• Advertisements
• newspapers
• Pictures
• Symbols

20. PROCEDURE
• The methodological procedures reflect a sequence of activities represented as follows:
Pre-Communicative
Activities
Communicative
Activities
Structural
Activities
Functional
Communication
Activities
Quasi-
Communicative
Activities
Social
Interaction
Activities

21. PROCEDURE
PRE-COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES:
• Aim: to give the learners fluent control over linguistic forms, so the learners will produce
language which is acceptable
• Function: to prepare the learner for later communication.
• The teacher may begin the teaching with a communicative activity
• Pre-communicative activities: drills, question-and-answer practice

22. PROCEDURE
COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES:
• Aims:
(a) to provide ‘whole-task practice’
(b) to improve motivation
(c) to allow natural learning
(d) to create a context which supports learning
• Functional communication activities: comparing sets of pictures and noting similarities
and differences, following directions, discovering missing features in a map or picture.
• Social interaction activities: conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues and role
plays, simulations, debates.

23. CONCLUSIONS
• CLT is best considered and approach rather than a method, it refers to a diverse set of
principles that reflect a communicative view of classroom procedures.
• The first phase was the need to develop a syllabus that was compatible with the notion
of communicative competence. This led to proposals of syllabuses in terms of notions
(a context in which people communicate) and functions (a specific purpose for a
speaker in a given context).
• The second phase, CLT is focused on procedures for identifying learners’ needs and
this resulted in proposals to make needs analysis an essential component of
communicative methodology.
• In the third phase, CLT focused on the kinds of classroom activities that could be
used as the basis of a communicative methodology, such as group work, task-work,
and information-gap activities.