UNIVERSITY OF GOCE DELCHEV

Faculty of Philology

Paperwork on the subject

Theory of English Language Teaching 1

on topic :

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD

Mentor: Prepared by :

Ph. D. Nina Daskalovska Simona Grozdanova

December, 2015
 Theory of the English language teaching 2015

Content

Abstract…………………………….…………………………………………………………3

Introduction……………………….………………………………………………………….4

Characteristics of the Communicative Language Teaching method...………….……..6

Goals in the Communicative Language Teaching method……………………………..8

Communication as the most important skill of our time………………......…………...10

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………….11

References………………………………………………………………………………….12

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 Theory of the English language teaching 2015

Abstract

A language is the only way people can express themselves, when speaking of
expressing feelings or attitudes towards something or someone. The language can
be conveyed through spoken or written form. As a result of the technology
development, the innovations, and lots of different changes that are happening in the
world, the necessity of learning foreign languages is increasingly growing day by
day. In order to learn a foreign language, a learner needs to be well prepared and
needs to be taught by professionally skilled teachers. In order to become a
professionally skilled foreign language teacher, every learner needs to learn a good
deal about the methods and approaches for teaching a foreign language. Nowadays,
everyone is dealing with the fact that the necessity of learning a foreign language,
especially the English language is an ever-growing need, but for good. But, the
process of learning a language is not an easy one. In the far past, teachers did not
have great choices when speaking of foreign language teaching. After all the
teaching methods were introduced to the teachers, it was a lot easier for them, and
for the children to understand the material with the help of rules and teaching
schemes. This paper will examine the Community Language Learning Method (CLL).
This method is based on the philosophies of the use of communicative language in
the foreign language classroom. The focus will be on its principles, procedures,
goals, classroom activities and so on.

Key words: language, teaching, communication, principles, procedures, goals,

classroom activities;

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Introduction

Learning of the English language can be achieved through many different ways.
Travelling abroad, internet, language courses, formal instructions in foreign language
classrooms and many other opportunities can be the most famous ways of learning
the English Language, but the most effective for now is learning in schools or taking
courses. But, in order to teach a language, a teacher needs to choose a method, or
make a combination of methods.

The goal of this paperwork is to examine the effects of using the Communicative
Language Teaching Method in the English Language Classroom. This is my favorite
method, and it is the biggest reason why I chose it as a topic for my paperwork

But this is not the only method, for sure. There is a limited number of English
language teaching methods that are used in the English language teaching
classrooms. Every teaching method has its priorities and uses different materials in
order to guide the students to successful learning. They are all different. Some of
them require more vocabulary practice, other ones approach to teaching with
learning strictly grammar, or translating and so on. They all have different
procedures and principals, and all of them result with different advantages and
disadvantages.

When learning a language, it is very important to know that there will be a lot of rules
that need to be remembered, that you can’t always have a piece of paper with them
written on it, but you’ll just need to remember them so that it will became a part of
you. Every teaching method has a different way of influence on the students. The
one I am talking about is the method that I saw as a quite effective one, thanks to the
way teaching is provided to the students. The main goal of the Communicative
Language Teaching method is enabling the learner to communicate effectively and
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appropriately in various situations. The communicative language teaching method
can be useful for various purposes for communicating in the community. These can
be business purposes, or travelling purposes, communicative events, and so on. In
order to develop communicative competence of a learner, teachers need to use this
method with the help of a course book or materials that contain specified grammar
and vocabulary that needs to be learnt.

“Communicative language teaching (CLT) is generally regarded as an approach to

language teaching (Richards and Rodgers 2001). As such, CLT reflects a certain
model or research paradigm, or a theory (Celce- Murcia 2001). It is based on the
theory that the primary function of language use is communication. Its primary goal is
for learners to develop communicative competence (Hymes 1971), or simply put,
communicative ability. In other words, its goal is to make use of real-life situations
that necessitate communication.”1

1Richards, Jack C., and Theodore Rodgers (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Second
Edition. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Characteristics of the Communicative Language

Teaching Method

The students that are learning the English language need to gain knowledge of the
linguistic form, meaning and functions of the words and the sentences in the English
language .With this method a great importance is given to the use or function of the
language. Less attention is paid to its structure or form .But this doesn’t have to
mean that the learning of grammar is not essential for successful communication.
One of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it
pays systematic attention to the functional as well as structural aspects of language.
Communicative language teaching suggests that grammatical structure might better
be learnt under various functional categories. Meaning is very important.

Becoming a fluent speaker is more important than becoming an accurate speaker.

Becoming fluent and speaking an acceptable language is the primary goal of this
method. Fluency is emphasized over accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully
engaged to the language use. For example, this will be very useful for
communication purposes in the English speaking countries.

Learning how to express fluently will be much more important to the native speakers
on the language. They wouldn’t pay a lot of attention to the grammar you are using.
The main goal of a conversation between two speakers is to understand each other.
That is why this is the main goal of this method, because it implies the teaching
procedures that requires teaching the students how to become accurate and fluent,
by using accurate vocabulary and practicing fluency It is important, however, that
fluency should never be encouraged at the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct
communication.

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 Theory of the English language teaching 2015
Language teaching techniques exist in order to engage learners in the pragmatic,
authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Grammar can still be
taught, but less systematically, in traditional ways even though there are more
innovative approaches. Grammar is important, and learners seem to focus best on
grammar when it relates to their communicative needs I believe that the idea of
emphasizing the oral skills creates uncertainty among teachers when using this
method.

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Goals in the Communicative language teaching lessons

The main goal of CLT is to develop the communicative ability of the learners in the
classroom, and make learner’s are involved in the learning process in order to
language develops automatically, so that the students can develop their
communicative ability.

The idea of using this method is to teach the students how to become more fluent
and accurate in the use of the English language outside of the classroom, i.e. to
become able to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish
communication goals for business, traveling and other purposes. With the use of the
Community Language Learning method, a learner becomes communicatively
competent, but still doesn’t have the ability to use the language exactly as the native
speaker does.

When using the Community Language Learning method, it is understandable that

learners should be able to make themselves understood, using their current
proficiency to the fullest. They should try to avoid confusion in their message, due to
faulty pronunciation, grammar, or vocabulary, or try to avoid offending the person
with who they are communicating, i.e. try to avoid socially inappropriate style.
Learners should try to use more strategies for recognizing and managing
communication breakdowns.

Provision of opportunities for learners to focus, is not only on language but also on
the learning process itself. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal
experiences is as important as contributing elements to classroom learning. This
method implies the attempt to link classroom language learning with language
activities outside the classroom.

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By researching the internet while trying to find some CLT sources, I found out the
some of the practitioners of this method show that they are very interested in the
needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language
as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom.

Any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence
in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction.
Thus, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring
negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that
encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students practice
and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and
pronunciation focused activities.2

1. 2 Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching. New York: Cambridge University Press.

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Communication as the most important skill of our time

Good communication skills are the key to success in life, work and relationships.
Without effective communication, a message can turn into error, misunderstanding,
frustration, or even disaster by being misinterpreted or poorly delivered.
Communication is the process by which we exchange information between
individuals or groups of people. It is a process where we try as clearly and accurately
as we can, to convey our thoughts, intentions and objectives.

Communication is successful only when both the sender and the receiver
understand the same information. In today's highly informational and technological
environment it has become increasingly important to have good communication
skills. While many individuals still continue to struggle, the inability to communicate
effectively will hold them back not only in their careers, but in social and personal
relationships.

This skill is important in order to secure a job interview for example, to meet people
and keep long life friends, to make business or deals with people, to express feelings
and emotions about certain things and so on.

Communication is the heart of every organization. Everything that is done in the

workplace results from communication. Therefore good reading, writing, speaking
and listening skills are essential if tasks are going to be completed and goals
achieved. As a learner develops in his/her career, he/she will find various reasons
why successful communication skills are important to him/her,

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Conclusion

Effective communication is important nowadays. Teachers should use this method

more often and work on improvement of the communication skills of the students.
Every lesson should contain at least five or ten minutes of communication between
students, and the focus should be the pronunciation and the accuracy. Attention
should be paid on the use of vocabulary as well. Every learner should check up new
words every day, in order to enrich his/her communication skills for future purposes.
Most of the students should find this method very useful for communication purposes
in real life.

Communicative approach is not just limited to oral skills. Reading and writing skills
need to be developed in order to arise the learners’ confidence in all four skill areas.
By using the elements encountered in a variety of ways like reading, summarizing,
translating, discussion, debates and so on, language is made more fluid and
learners’ manipulation of language is more fluent. It is important not to be restricted
to one textbook. With a little inspiration and imagination, text-books can be
manipulated and rendered more communicative. Teacher must free him/herself from
it, rely more on his/her own command of language and his/her professional expertise
as to what linguistic items, idioms, phrases, words, need to be drilled, exploited or
extended. Spontaneous and improvised practice helps to make minds more flexible
and inspire confidence in coping with unforeseen, unanticipated situations. There is
a need to use different registers and develop alternative ways of saying things.
Learning new languages might be challenging for students who are not familiar with
the language as they will face difficulty in understanding the language that they are
learning.

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References

1. PhD. Nina Daskalovska, PhD. Biljana Ivanovska, “English Language

Teaching Methods and approaches”, Shtip, 2012
2. Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching. New York:
Cambridge University Press.
3. Richards, Jack C., and Theodore Rodgers (2001). Approaches and Methods
in Language Teaching. Second Edition. New York: Cambridge University
Press.

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