COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Communicative Language Teaching

1. Introductions
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 (CelceMurcia 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. The communicative approach is based on the idea
that learning language successfully comes through having to communicate real
meaning. When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies
for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the
language. E.g. practicing question forms by asking learners to find out personal
information about their colleagues is an example of the communicative approach,
as it involves meaningful communication. Classroom activities guided by the
communicative approach are characterized by trying to produce meaningful and
real communication, at all levels. As a result there may be more emphasis on skills
than systems, lessons are more learner-centered, and there may be use of authentic
materials. Richards and Rodgers (1986) described CLT as an approach rather than a
method,

since

it

represents

philosophy

of

teaching

that

is

based

on

communicative language use. Advocated by many applied linguists, CLT in their

views emphasizes notional-functional concepts and communicative competence,
rather than grammatical structures, as central to teaching. Larsen-Freeman D.
(2000, pg. 122) states that Communicative Language teaching aims broadly to
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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

apply the theoretical prospective of the Communicative approach by making

communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging
the interdependence of language and communication.

Communicative Language Teaching is usually characterized as a broad

approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching method CLT came out at the time
when language teaching was looking for a change with a clearly defined set of
classroom practices. The basic features and principles of communicative approach
are

to

enable

learners

to

understand

and

use

the

target

language

for

communication, with concerning the fact that it modifies the role of teacher and
learns. Moreover, CLT to language teaching involves several procedures to stresses
the importance of communication and interaction among the pupils and between
the teacher and the pupils to learn a foreign language, as well as this approach also
values the pupils' personal experiences outside the classroom as a way to facilitate
their learning in the lesson. In addition the CLT carries out some similarities as:
goals, advantages and disadvantages to the previous methods.

2. The emergence of CLT

The emergence of CLT occurred at the time when language teaching was looking for
a change (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). Due to the unsatisfactory traditional syllabus
that failed to facilitate learners ability to use language for communication, linguists
attempted to design a syllabus to achieve the communicative goals of language
teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). Wilkinss (1976) notional syllabus had a
significant

impact

on

the

development

of

CLT.

To

support

the

learners

communicative needs, Wilkins (1976) included communication function in a notional

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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

syllabus. Notions refer to concepts such as time, sequence, quantity, location, and
frequency. Communicative functions refer to language functions such as requests,
denials, offers, and complaints. Based on the notional syllabus, a communication
language syllabus consisting of situations, language activities, language functions,
notions, and language form was developed. As a result, the design of foreign
language syllabus focused on a learner-centered and communication-oriented
language instruction (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).

3. The features and principles of CLT

3.1.
Features
1. Focus on meaning.
2. Communicative competence is the desired goal.
3. Learner-centered.
4. Fluency is the primary goal.
5. Students are expected to interact with other people, either in oral practice,
through pair and group work, or in their writings.
6. Dialogues, if used, center around communicative functions.
7. Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated
by the language.
8. Task-based.

3.2.
Principles
1. The communicative principle: Activities that involve real communication
promote learning.
2. The task principle: Activities in which language is used to carry out
meaningful tasks promote learning.
3. The meaningfulness principle: Language that is meaningful to the learner
supports the learning process.

4. Characteristics

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

A. The following four interconnected characteristics could be taken as a definition of

CLT:
1. Classroom goals are focused on all of the components of communicative
competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguistic competence.

2. Language teaching techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic,

authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Language forms are
not the central focus but rather aspects of language that enable the learner to
accomplish those purposes.
3. Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying
communicative techniques. At times fluency may have to take on more importance
than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use.
4. In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language,
productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts (Brown, 1994: 245)
This approach calls for radically different ideas of language teaching. One major
shift is that language learning has become student-centred. Lessons are planned in
such a way that all the students can engage in interactive activities. Authentic and
meaningful communication should be goal of classroom act ivies. Group work and
pair work are employed to promote communication and getting the meaning across.
Authentic materials, such as newspaper articles, radio programmes, video-tapes,
train-timetables etc., are used to bring the real world elements into the classroom.
Situations are simulated but interaction and task complete within real-time are
genuine. Role-plays centre on communicative functions. Fluency is an important
dimension of communication. The objective of language learning is to communicate;
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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

attempts to communicate are encouraged at the very beginning. Errors are

unavoidable but accuracy is judged in context rather in structures and forms. Errors
which are concerned with structures are not corrected openly and simultaneously
because the main concern is fluency and getting meaning through communication.
Learning is a process of creative construction and involves errors.

5. The role of the teacher and learners

The teacher facilitates communication in the classroom. In this role, one of his major
responsibilities is to establish situations likely to promote communication. During
the activities he acts as an adviser, answering students' questions and monitoring
their performance. He might make note of their errors to be worked on at a later
time during more accuracy-based activities. At other rimes he might be a 'cocommunicator' engaging in the communicative activity along with students
(Littlewood 1981). Students are, above all, communicators. They are actively
engaged in negotiating meaning-in trying to make themselves understood and in
understanding others-even when their know ledge of the target language is
incomplete. Also, since the teacher's role is less dominant than in a teacher
centered method, students are seen as more responsible managers of their own
learning.
6. Procedures
Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at
any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types
discussed in the literature on communicative Language Teaching, description of
typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is no feasible.
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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Finocchiaro and Brumfit offer a lesson outline for teaching the function making a
suggestion for the learner in the beginning level of secondary school program.
1. Presentation of a brief dialog or several mini-dialogs.
2. Oral practice of each utterance of the dialog segment to be presented that
3.
4.
5.
6.

day.
Question and answer based on the dialog topic.
Question and answer related to the students personal experience.
Study one of the basic communicative expression in dialog.
Learner discovery of generalizations or rule sunder lying the functional

expression.
7. Oral recognition, interpretative activities.
8. Oral production activities-proceeding from guided to freer communication
activities.
9. Copying of the dialog or modules if they are not in the class text.
10. Sampling of the written homework assignment.

7. Similarities to previous method and approaches:

7.1. The goals of communicative language teaching
The goal is to enable students to communicate in the target language. To do this
students need knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings, and functions. T hey'
need to know that many different forms can be used to perform a function and also
that a single form call often serve a variety of functions. They must be able to
choose from among these the most appropriate form, given the social context and
the roles of the interlocutors.
They must also be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with their
interlocutors. Communication is a process; knowledge of the forms of language is
insufficient.
7.2. The Advantages of CLT
1. The interaction between students and teachers.
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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

2. Teacher-student relationship is an interactive, harmonious relationship, rather

than the traditional education, the kind of master-servant relationship.
3. Greatly enhanced the students interest.
4. Communicative language teaching encourage students to participate in,
sometimes accompanied by scenes or simulated scenarios, so that students
more close to life, the students became the main character, naturally they
were interested in the English language, to learn English as a pleasure.

7.3. The disadvantages of CLT

1. Often, there is no text, grammar rules are not presented, and classroom
arrangement is nonstandard.
2. Students are expected to interact primarily with each other rather than with
the teacher, and correction of errors may be absent or infrequent.
3. Students with low levels of proficiency in the target language may find it
difficult to participate in oral communicative activities and, if the exams used
by an institution are grammar based, communicative fluency may not be
appropriate.
Conclusion
A teacher evaluates not only the students' accuracy, but also their fluency. The
student who has the most control of the structures and vocabulary is not always the
best communicator. A teacher can informally evaluate his students' performance in
his role as an advise r or co -communicator. For more formal evaluation, a teacher is
likely to use an integrative test which has a real communicative function. In order to
assess students' writing skill, for instance, a teacher might ask them to write a
letter to a friend.
Too often, a 'new' approach appears to completely dismiss the previous one. This is
not always the intention, but probably more a result of the enthusiasm of
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COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

practitioners exploring and implementing fresh activities or opportunities. Also,

throughout the CLT debate, there seem to be dichotomies which are employed to
argue for its irrelevance. It is evident that CLT has gathered a range of
characteristics, perhaps more through misunderstanding or by association, but it is
actually not as incompatible with other valued practices as it is sometimes made to
appear.

In

practical

terms,

whether

assisting

mixed-ability

classes,

aiding

motivation, leading from a focus on form to one of fluency, or supporting learning, it

has a lot to offer the EFL teacher.

Bibliography
Brown, H. Douglas. Principles Of Language Learning And Teaching. Englewood Cliffs,
N.J.: Prentice Hall Regents, 1994. Print.
Celce-Murcia, Marianne. Teaching English As A Second Or Foreign Language.
Boston: Heinle & Heinle, 2001. Print.
Finocchiaro, Mary Bonomo, and Christopher Brumfit. The Functional-Notional
Approach. New York: Oxford University Press, 1983. Print.
Hymes, Dell H. Pidginization And Creolization Of Languages. Cambridge [England]:
University Press, 1971. Print.
Larsen-Freeman, Diane. Grammar Dimensions. Boston, MA: Heinle & Heinle, 2000.
Print.
Littlewood, William. Communicative Language Teaching. Cambridge [England]:
Cambridge University Press, 1981. Print.
Richards, Jack C, and Theodore S Rodgers. Approaches And Methods In Language
Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986. Print.

COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Richards, Jack C, and Theodore S Rodgers. Approaches And Methods In Language

Teaching. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001. Print.
Wilkins, D. A. Notional Syllabuses. London: Oxford University Press, 1976. Print.