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Is Communicative Language Teaching a Thing of the Past?
PREAMBLE
AN INFLUENTIAL APPROACH
at least two decades now. The very term 'communicative' carries an obvious
1986: 131). Of course the fundamental intuition behind this approach is far
from new. In the 4th Century B.C. Aristotle wrote: 'What we have to learn to do,
we learn by doing' (Nicomachean Ethics, Bk. II). Most teachers now claim to
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TEACHING COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
was then elaborated on in the early 1980s by Canale and Swain. According to
of greeting).
setting. Three key pedagogical principles that developed around CLT were: the
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acknowledged but nevertheless open to interpretation. Two different responses
tasks (such as drills, cloze exercises, and controlled dialogue practice) along
One example of such an approach to CLT is what is known as the PPP lesson
(for Presentation, Practice, and Production). Language forms are first presented
under the guidance of the teacher, then practicedin a series of exercises, again
under the teacher's supervision. The chosen forms are finally producedby the
makes it, the PPP structure clearly treats language as a product constructed
from teachable parts; these parts being the linguistic forms and structures
behind the pragmatic functional use of language. But, as Grenfell (1994: 58)
taking out the bits and pieces to suit our needs at a particular instant. It is
rather the means by which we create sense: of our world, of and for
ourselves.
In strong versions of CLT the teacher is required to take a 'less dominant role'
and the students are encouraged to be 'more responsible managers of their
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own learning' (Larsen-Freeman 1986: 131). Rather than a presentation and
classroom activities that allow students to actively learn for themselves how the
Murcia, Dornyei and Thurrell 1997: 141). It relies heavily on the students' own
unfamiliar language forms and rules are made comprehensible to the students,
(Richards and Rodgers 1986: 130). More recently emphasis has also been
acquisition. The idea that language learners somehow create their own internal
language system is a keystone of CLT, and has been called the 'creative
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Such a theory of learning is needed for communicative practice to be based on
more than a loose collection of techniques. But this does not mean it is
by teachers or learners.
In light of such findings the very possibility of teaching a second language has
caring for a plant. Given a large pot, good soil, sufficient light and water, it will
question we must ask is, what are the optimum conditions for second language
learning?
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It is quite false to represent older courses as concentrating throughout on
Although Swan makes a reasonable point, these older courses are still liable to
speaking countries, where older ways of language teaching are still quite
senior high schools, the opportunities for communicative practice are extremely
consequence most students have only beginner-level fluency even after many
years of study. According to Shih (1999: 20-21), this state of affairs also
approach to reading and writing has produced 'slow, inefficient readers' and
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APPLYING COMMUNICATIVE PRINCIPLES
CLT and the Audiolingual Method made by Finocchario & Brumfit (Brown
1994: 79), listed 22 points of difference. In essence, the key implications for
interests.
language community.
5. The formal properties of language are never treated in isolation from use;
These principles are all related in some way to the theories of language learning
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integration of comprehensible input and output influences the learner's
means that accuracy and acquisition of the formal features of the L2 [second
1990: vi). They encourage students to do things with information such as:
arranging .
aim' (Hadfield 1990: v) this is usually only from the students' perspective. Most
often they are designed around a key language structure (for example,
language use (see pt. 3 above), then such activities are not always rich in
interest' (Swan 1985b: 84), and restrictions on the range of student response
(Savignon 1991: 272; Thompson 1996: 13).
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A communicative approach is often seen to need a syllabus based on language
functions, from which the necessary forms and structures will be derived. This
coursebooks such as Headway (Soars and Soars 2000), Language In Use (Doff
and Jones 2000), or Matters (Bell and Gower 1997), we find each unit
It is not only in the area of classroom activities and overall syllabus that the
it may simply be a case of putting new wine into old bottles. A functional
syllabus is 'still a series of language patterns, albeit patterns linked to
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semantic and pragmatic values' (Willis and Willis 2001: 174), and
target language. This approach has been used with some degree of success in
many parts of the world, most notably in Canada (Stern 1992: 192). According
language milieu' than classroom activities that are only 'designed to have
motivating for students, given they have a degree of interest in the subject
they provide the forms that students are expected to use. In TBL, 'language
forms are not prescribed in advance' and so students are 'free to use any
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language they can' in completing the required task (Willis and Willis 2001:
174).
syllabus', clearly saw both content and task focus as aspects of a general
labels such as TBL are actually evolving and disputed terms. In his review of
'communicative tasks', Nunan (1991: 282) described what is basically a PPP
lesson structure, in which 'learners are given a model of the target language
rejected as being a highly rigid model with very little opportunity for student
involvement.
The alternative framework that Willis describes leads students through a 'four
stage task cycle' consisting of: 1) introduction to topic and task, 2) task, 3)
communicate informally about the task in the first two stages; then only in the
language 'input phase' and a 'language focus task' at the end of the cycle gives
some credence to the view that this is an up-side down version of PPP.
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their comprehension and production' (Kumaravadivelu 1994: 34). In contrast,
the more traditional PPP structure has been called into question by second
language acquisition studies that show 'structural practice of the 'skill getting'
variety (has) little influence on self expression, or 'skill using'' (Savignon 1991:
267).
However, as classroom research by Foster (1998: 19) has shown, students may
be inclined to 'adopt the strategy of 'pretend and hope', rather than the strategy
(Dornyei 1995).
language production' (Willis and Willis 2001: 73). On the other hand there is
strong evidence that feedback through form-focused exercises is in some way
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'consciousness raising' and increases the chances for consolidation of learning
(Savignon 1991; Fotos 1994: Celce-Murcia, Dornyei and Thurrell 1997). What
needs to integrate both the experiential level and the more intellectual,
(1994) provides one such approach that still holds onto the core principles of
communicative teaching.
CONCLUSION
mixing of teaching methods. This has been called 'the postmethod condition'
informed decision-maker in the classroom, after what seems like a long period
The nature of such guiding principles is still far from clear. Prabhu (1990) has
argued that a teacher's own evolving 'sense of plausibility' is the truest guide to
Between these two extremes lie various balanced models, such as Brown's
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To use unfashionable humanistic terminology, perhaps the challenge is simply
the process. This need not mean lessons on everyday communication skills
that as Swan (1985a: 11) warns, 'treat the learner as a sort of linguistically
language.
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REFERENCES
Carter, R. and D. Nunan (Eds). 2001. The Cambridge Guide to Teaching English
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Fotos, S. 1994. 'Integrating Grammar Instruction and Communicative
(Ed).
and Sons.
Attitudes to the Communicative Approach'. In ELT Journal, Vol. 50, No. 3, July
Lyons, J., R. Coates, M. Deuchar and G. Gazdar (Eds). 1987. New Horizons in
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Nunan, D. 1991. 'Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum'. In
Prabhu, N.S. 1990. 'There Is No Best Method - Why?'. In TESOL Quarterly, Vol.
Richards, J.C. and T.S. Rodgers. 1986. Approaches and Methods in Language
Richards, J.C. and R.W. Schmidt (Eds). 1983. Language and Communication..
London: Longman.
Japan Since 1945'. In Babel,Vol. 32, No. 1, April-June 1997, pp. 16-21, 37-38.
Impossibilities'. In ELT Journal, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1996, pp. 16-24.
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Shih, M. 1999. 'More Than Practicing Language: Communicative Reading and
Writing for Asian Settings'. In TESOL Journal, Vol. 8, No. 4, Winter 1999, pp.
20-25.
Stern, H.H. 1992. Issues and Options in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford
University Press.
Swan, M. 1985a. 'A Critical Look at the Communicative Approach (1)'. In ELT
Swan, M. 1985b. 'A Critical Look at the Communicative Approach (2)'. In ELT
Teaching'. In ELT Journal, Vol. 50, No. 1, January 1996, pp. 9-15.
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