The growing need for fluent communication skills in today’s globalized world creates a challenge for

foreign language teaching. Students must be given a proper foundation of communication skills that are
demanded in different interactive real-world situations outside of the classroom. Students need to be
prepared for real-life scenarios instead of just helping them to pass a superficial paper exam.

Communicative teaching methods are currently a popular point of discussion and their effectiveness has
been taken into account by language teachers all over the world. This blog article aims to provide an
overview of communicative language teaching (henceforth CLT) methods and encourage teachers to
apply them to their foreign language teaching.

Check out also this instructional video for language instructors about the communicative language teaching
approach, it’s conception, application and some activities to best help you get the most out of your class!

What is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)?

Communicative language teaching emerged in the 1980s as a response to the growing demand for a
language curriculum that would enable learners to use the second language in real-life situations. Previously,
foreign language teaching has predominantly had its emphasis on grammatical competence, rather than actually
focusing on developing students’ communication and interaction skills.

At the end of the day, language does principally exist to make communication possible. CLT methods primarily
focus on the interaction during a classroom-based foreign language class or online language learning session, in
which students actually produce speech and engage in conversations for most of the classroom time using the
target language.

The main purpose behind communicative language teaching methods is to prepare students to be confident
communicators in different real-life contexts, through repetitive oral practices and student-student cooperation.
In CLT, communication is the end and the means of the teaching method.

You can read more about the advantages of the CLT approach here: “What are the advantages of
Communicative Language Teaching?“

“One can master the rules of sentence formation in a language and still not be very successful at being able to
use the language for meaningful communication (Richards 2006).”

Encourage student-student interaction with role-playing

and collaborative tasks
Student-student interaction plays an essential role in applying a communicative teaching approach. As the more
traditional teaching styles have usually been rather teacher dominant with students mainly learning through
passive listening, student-student interaction, on the contrary, focuses on the active interaction among the
students themselves during language classes.

Student-student interaction embraces the strategies of cooperative learning in which each student’s learning
success is dependent on the whole group’s input during the classroom sessions. This is an effective way of
engaging the whole class as such exercises engage all students, not just the minority of active students who
typically participate in a regular class.

One popular CLT activity is role-playing. There is a playful component in role-playing that helps students
practice speaking without feeling pressure. You can for example assign parts to your students, or let them
decide on a specific setting. Choose a topic that is relevant to students, or one that connects to other topics
explained in class. This will ensure that role-playing is an integral part of language lessons and not only a stand-
alone experience.
Collaborative tasks like assigning student groups to solve a puzzle using only the target language are also
popular activities in CLT. This type of exercise allows not only to enhance students’ communication skills but
also to experiment with the peer-learning approach, which is useful in strengthening relationships among
students.

How to make use of communicative language teaching in

your language classroom?
Although a teacher’s role is not as dominant during exercises that emphasize student-student interaction, it
certainly is substantial in making the interactional learning space as functional for the students as possible.

In order to implement CLT methods successfully, it requires more than simply placing students into pairs and
groups. To quote Felder and Henriquez (1995: 25):

“The benefits of the approach are fully realized when the group work is structured to assure such features as
positive interdependence, individual accountability, and appropriate uses of teamwork and interpersonal
skills”.

Each student in a language classroom or language lab has individual needs, levels of abilities, and interests.
Therefore, having different tasks designed to meet the needs and skills of different students is essential in CLT.
Also, providing a supportive learning environment makes participation easier for students, especially those who
easily feel shy about active participation.

5 practical tips towards applying the communicative

language teaching method:
 Have plenty of communicative student-student activities (pair discussions, role-playing, puzzle-
solving, and other collaborative tasks) so that each student is constantly exposed to the target
language.
 Communicative activities should include a clear situation or context, the roles of the speakers, and a
communicative purpose.
 Practice different formal and informal interactions through games, role-play, and problem-solving
tasks.
 Teachers should concentrate on providing a supportive learning atmosphere and selecting
personalized tasks for students in terms of their individual level, needs, and interests.
 Use the right tools for creating and assigning speaking-based language learning activities. For
example, you can use modern language teaching software tools like Sanako Connect that allow
recording each students’ individual speaking practices and group work. This also enables important
self-evaluation by allowing students to listen back to their own speech and recordings.
Read also our guide on “how can language educators most effectively use CLT when teaching remotely“.

Sanako Connect software is designed for creating a communicative and speaking-

based language learning environment in the classroom and remotely. Language
teachers can use it to create & assign role-play activities and facilitate live pair
and group discussions. Book a FREE remote demo and discover how Sanako
Connect helps to improve your students’ oral language proficiency.
References used in this article:

Felder, R. & Henriques, E. 1995. Learning and Teaching Styles in Foreign and Second Language Education.
Foreign Language Annals 28, 1.

Jacobs, G. 2016. Student-Student Interaction. Simple, Powerful Strategies for Student Centered Learning:
Chapter 2. SpringerBriefs in Education.

Richards, J. 2006. Communicative Language Teaching Today. Cambridge University Press, New York.

OnTESOL. How To Use the Communicative Approach – Free Introduction to the Communicative Approach.

How to gain fluency in a second language through the

Comprehensible Input (CI) approach?

29
Sep

The concept of comprehensible input (CI) derives from Stephen Krashen’s hypothesis on second
language acquisition. Activities based on CI require students to actively gain an understanding of the
teacher’s instruction and of the context in which the targeted language is being used. Therefore, CI
provides a practical instrument to guide students towards a natural acquisition of the second language.
In this article, we will explore the benefits of incorporating CI in your language classes.

LANGUAGE ACQUISITION VS. LEARNING: THE FOUNDATION OF THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT

APPROACH

The concept of Comprehensible Input was developed by linguist Stephen Krashens after years of studying the
process of language acquisition in children. In his Theory of Second Language Acquisition, Dr. Krashen
identifies two paths to second language performance. The first path is called language acquisition, the second
one is that of language learning. What sets them apart?

Language acquisition, according to Krashen, is a process that occurs at the unconscious level, through constant
exposure to a language. Acquisition is what occurs in children when they learn to speak their native language.
Children’s attention is focused on understanding the messages they receive from outside and communicating
with their surroundings. Language learning, on the other hand, is what happens within a regulated and, in a
certain sense, artificial context such as a language course.

To Krashen, the most effective route to learning a second language is through acquisition. The key point of
Krashen’s theory is that becoming fluent requires concrete and constant interaction with the target language.
The conclusion of this approach, then, is that we acquire literacy when we become able to understand and
transmit messages.

THE INPUT HYPOTHESIS

According to Krashen, learning a second language can be a natural process on par with learning the native
language.

For this to be possible, however, the student should be exposed to compelling and meaningful content that
prompts him or her to continuously interact with the targeted language. This content is defined by Krashen as
Comprehensible Input.
In the above video, Dr. Krashen explains the core concepts of the Input Hypothesis. Comprehensible input is the
language that learners can understand without recognizing all the grammatical structures in it. For it to be
effective, the impulse should be just one level above the student’s level of proficiency.

It is, therefore, possible to summarize the Input Hypothesis as it has been done here:

“[…] Language learners improve in a language when they are given language input that is
slightly more advanced than their current level. Krashen called this “i + 1” where “i” is a
person’s current language level and “+1” represents language that is slightly more
advanced than their current level.”

IS THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT APPROACH AN EFFECTIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING METHOD?

From a purely academic point of view, there is no clear consensus about the effectiveness of the
Comprehensible Input approach. Some have criticized Krashen’s theory, arguing that it is possible to achieve
excellent levels of fluency even in traditional classroom teaching contexts.

On the other hand, some studies have experimentally tested the Comprehensible Input approach,
obtaining results that seem to confirm the validity and effectiveness of this method.

As we have stated several times, each language teaching method has its strengths and each method can be the
right one if it meets the needs and inclinations of the students.

The Comprehensible Input approach certainly has strengths for those who want to encourage students to interact
more in the second language but without forcing them into traditional classroom exercises that often fail to
stimulate the curiosity of students.

As we will see in the following section, a classroom-based on the Comprehensible Input approach is highly
interactive and entertaining.

The Comprehensible Input approach requires the active involvement of students and is most effective when
supported by the use of multimedia language learning content. Therefore, using this method will allow you to
introduce different study materials (books, movies, podcasts) naturally into the language classroom, providing
students with interactive and stimulating learning materials.

Finally, there is another advantage of this approach to consider: it can be practiced anywhere without spending
too much.

If you are having difficulty engaging students to participate in classroom activities or if you notice that your
students struggle to actively use the targeted language, the following sections on the implementation of
Comprehensible Input strategies may give you some ideas on how to make things better.

COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT STRATEGIES FOR LANGUAGE TEACHERS

The first step in preparing a lesson based on the Comprehensible Input approach is to determine the proficiency
level of the students — always remember the “i +1” formula!

Krashen himself identifies four strategies depending on the level of students’ proficiency:

1. Direct Instruction: this is an approach to use during the early steps of the language acquisition process. In
this case, it is the teacher who instructs the students on what to do. It is very important at this stage to put
the words and phrases in context to help students understand. As it has been noted, “appropriate context is
crucial” and providing instructions based on experiences that are relatable to the students is a powerful way
to aid their understanding.
 2. Joint Construction: this strategy is appropriate for students with a basic language understanding. In this case,
students can interact more with the teacher, and carry out instructions on their own. The teacher’s guiding
role, however, must always be present.
3. Coached Construction: in this case, students enjoy a significant level of autonomy. The teacher no longer
guides the progress of activities but observes students acting individually, intervening only if necessary. In
this phase, it is possible to start exploiting multimedia content to help students develop a greater
understanding of targeted language.
4. Monitoring: In this phase the autonomy of the students is maximum, and constant supervision by the
teacher is no longer necessary.

BRINGING THE COMPREHENSIBLE INPUT APPROACH IN THE CLASSROOM WITH SANAKO CONNECT

A central assumption of the Comprehensible Input approach is that the input must be comprehensible but also
compelling. Therefore, it is important to use language learning content that not only aids understanding of the
input but also provides the stimulus for students to discuss the topics of the lesson.

The best way to keep student engagement high is to vary the source of input. That’s why using multimedia
content is a great way to convey consistent language and at the same time create opportunities for discussion.

The resources that a teacher has available in this case are endless: presentations, infographics, specialized
reading, songs and podcasts, Youtube videos, games and apps, etc. The important thing is that they are level-
appropriate and that they help students understand and convey meaningful concepts

Comprehensible Input and Compelling

Input (CI)
What is CI?

What is meant by comprehensible input in language learning? Stephen Krashen uses this term, as well as the
term compelling input, to refer to the kind of language exposure we need in order to learn a language. The term
CI, in language learning, can apply to both. What do they mean?

Comprehensible input is language input that can be understood by learners even when they don’t understand all
the words and structures in a given text, or bit of audio they are listening to. It doesn’t have to be 100%
comprehensible. It has to be mostly understandable, with the means to gain a greater level of comprehension by
looking up words, reading again or listening again. It is sometimes described as being just one level above the
level of the learner. According to Stephen Krashen’s theory of language acquisition, giving learners plenty of
this kind of input helps them acquire language naturally, rather than learn it consciously.

Language Learning and the Input-Based Approach

I make quite a few videos in languages other than English at my YouTube channel. I am often asked to provide
subtitles or a transcript for the videos I do in these languages. Regrettably, I simply don’t have time to do this.

However, these videos in Japanese, or Spanish, or Mandarin, or French, usually cover the same ground as my
English videos. What’s more, these videos have subtitles in those languages, and using the LingQ browser
extension, these videos can be imported into LingQ as lessons. So any learner of these languages who follows
my channel, and is interested and familiar with what I have been saying, can study these videos on LingQ as
lessons, read them, listen to them, look up words and phrases, listen again, and in this way this content becomes
comprehensible input for learners who have a sufficient level in those languages to almost but not quite
understand the first time. Comprehensible and hopefully compelling input!
I believe strongly with Stephen Krashen, that massive input of CI is the key to language acquisition. That
doesn’t mean there is no need for output, for speaking and writing, nor that people needn’t look at grammar
from time to time, but it means that the bulk of the learning time should be spent on listening and reading and
building up vocabulary.

Why do I think this is a better way to learn languages? I have five reasons.

It works very well

Look at the best polyglots on the Internet. If you study their methods you’ll see that they generally involve a lot
of reading. This is the case today and was the case 100 years or 150 years ago. Of course, today with the
availability of new technology, mp3 technology and smartphones etc., listening has become as important as
reading, or even more important simply because it is so much easier to do. In my own case, it’s worked for me.

When I was learning Czech, for the first eight months I only listened and read and then gradually started
speaking. I stepped up my speaking just prior to going to Prague, via the Internet. When I arrived in Prague I
could understand almost everything. My speaking ability, which was at a low intermediate level, quickly
progressed to an intermediate level. I had acquired the vocabulary and familiarity with Czech that enabled me to
activate my passive vocabulary and enjoy interacting with people in Czech. I was able to do that because I had a
sound basis in the language and that sound basis comes from a lot of listening and reading, from massive
exposure to CI.

So it’s effective, number one.

It’s easy
You can do it anywhere. You can do it listening in your car, washing the dishes as I do or exercising. You just
have it with you, you’re waiting somewhere and you do it. So it’s very easy. Similarly with reading, particularly
now. I use LingQ. I can read on my computer or iPad, looking up words and saving them and then read or listen
on my iPhone. I can even do so on the lighter iPod touch which I use for listening while jogging. Everything is
synced. Everything is available, portable, with me wherever I am. It’s so flexible. I don’t have to go to a
classroom, with half an hour to get there, sit in the class for an hour, and then take a half an hour to come back
home.

Also, in terms of effectiveness, I just wanted to mention if you’re listening or reading, you’re 100% with the
language. In a classroom, half of the time you’re having to listen to other students who may not use the
language as well as you do and so, to my mind, it’s much less effective than time you spend with the language.

You’re not making mistakes

A lot of people are afraid to make mistakes. If you’re forced to speak, you’ll make mistakes. You’re listening;
you can’t make a mistake when you’re listening. You might misunderstand something. It might be a little fuzzy
at times. You may have the wrong interpretation when there are words you don’t understand.

None of that matters. That’s part of the process and things that are unclear and fuzzy at an early stage will
eventually start to become clearer. So you’re not really making mistakes, but you’re in that stage of your
learning where the brain is gradually becoming more and more familiar with the language. You’re learning
more and more words and, of course, things are going to be unclear to you. So that’s an advantage.

Another advantage of listening and reading is you can do things that are interesting because you can choose
what you want to listen to and read. Obviously, the first month or so you’re stuck with beginner material which
is often not very interesting, but I certainly encourage people to move beyond the beginner material as soon as
possible to get into things of interest. I certainly find that if I find something of interest, even if there are a lot of
unknown words, I’ll work hard with that text because it’s of interest to me. So you can be doing stuff that’s of
interest.

In the case of my Czech learning and my Russian before that, I was able to learn so much about Czech history,
the history of Central Europe, the political situation in the Czech Republic, so that when I got to Prague I had all
this wonderful background. So you’re doing stuff that’s interesting and you’re learning other things besides just
the language itself, which is more interesting than sitting in a classroom.

Since my experience with Russian and Czech, I have repeated this process with the following languages:
Korean
Portuguese
Greek
Ukrainian
Polish
Romanian
Arabic
Persian
If anything, my learning has accelerated with the addition of the mini-stories to LingQ’s libraries in these
languages. The mini-stores, or point of view stories with circling questions, provide so much repetition that this
low intermediate content becomes comprehensible very quickly, even when I am a beginner starting from
scratch. I am able to move on to more authentic, more intrinsically compelling input sooner than before. I am
able to start speaking sooner than before.

Learning via an input-based approach is cheaper

You don’t have to spend much. You can go to the library. You can find CI on the Internet. You can use LingQ.
You can buy or borrow language books to supplement your CI activities. You needn’t spend a lot of money, at
least compared to going to a class.

It is often said that for learning using comprehensible input to be effective, the learner needs to be motivated. It
also helps if the learner has the confidence to succeed. This is often the problem with inexperienced language
learners who have never really become fluent in another language. They can’t visualize themselves as fluent, so
they are defeated before they start. They think they’ll never get there and if you think that then you probably
won’t. You have to be a positive, confident, motivated, independent learner.

If a learner is not motivated, however, in other words doesn’t have all the qualities needed to be an independent
learner and to take advantage of listening, reading and input-based learning, that learner probably won’t be
successful in the classroom either. A classroom can provide social benefits and feedback, but even if you’re in a
classroom make sure that your main emphasis is on listening, reading and building up your vocabulary, in other
words, learning from comprehensible input.

Why are flashcards so popular in language teaching?

 19
Dec

Every educator has their own go-to language teaching resources and teaching methods. This could be
that “there to get you out of a tricky situation” lesson plan or stimulus that you can always rely on when
something goes wrong or when you just haven’t had time to plan or prepare something new and exciting.
And for many language teachers, a set of flashcards will often fit the bill!

Tried, tested and trusted by generations of teachers across the globe, the humble flashcard remains a staple of
language teaching. But why have they proved so enduringly popular, how can they best be deployed by
educators and what’s the future for flashcards in the era of online / hybrid teaching? Well, this blog post aims to
find out!

The simple concept behind flashcards

Just in case you’re unfamiliar with the concept, a flashcard is a piece of card with language-learning
information (e.g. vocabulary) on both sides, which is intended to be used as an aide for memorization. For
example, a teacher creates 10 different flashcards to teach numbers 1 to 10 – one side carries the numbers in the
student’s mother tongue with the answer in the target language on the other side.

Flashcards are therefore ideal for exercising the mental process of active recall. When the student is given the
question (a picture, a sound or a word), they are then prompted to recall the answer.

Flashcards are simple, easy-to-use resources for teachers to use in their language classroom and they’re also
easy to create. They remain a great way to introduce, practice, and recycle vocabulary, and they work for
students learning on their own and in small groups. Importantly, flashcards are easy for students to take home
and to play with their parents / families, encouraging broader involvement in language learning.

Advantages of using flashcards in language learning

There are many other reasons why flashcards have long been a mainstay of language teaching. These include:

 Highly flexible – Flashcards can be used to teach any language and any topic. They can be used in a formal
classroom setting, in the cafeteria or on the bus home. They can be professionally produced or quickly
created on scrap paper. And they can be created by teachers and / or students!
  Engaging – Every student wants to be the first to go through the whole deck without getting one wrong and
every student loves coming up with the question that no-one can answer. And if you see a set, they’re
impossible to leave alone!
 Direct – As a family relative used to say: “You either know it or you don’t!” There’s no room for umms and
ahhs, the answer is either right or wrong. It’s immediate and easy to see where additional work is required!
 Confidence-building – Linked to the above, flashcards can be incredibly motivating for students to quickly see
how much they actually do know. This helps encourage them to tackle bigger challenges that lie ahead. And
if the student is nervous about demonstrating this in class, then they can build confidence by using flashcards
at home.
 Revision – On the day of the test, it’s much easier to quickly review key points / vocab on a series of
flashcards rather than wading through pages and pages of notes. Short, bullet point prompts are all you need
on the big day.
And of course perhaps the biggest reason why flashcards are so popular is because they actually work and do
help improve learning outcomes. Let’s now look at why that is the case.

Research-backed reasons to use flashcards in the

language classroom
As outlined above, flashcards are incredible tools for introducing, memorising, revising and consolidating
vocabulary. Schmitt’s 2008 research clearly shows that re-visiting vocabulary is key to building memory and
language acquisition – the core purpose of a flashcard is to help learners increase the number of times that they
encounter key words and phrases.

Gardner’s theory of multiple intelligence reinforces the importance of teachers catering to a wide variety of
learning styles during a lesson / course. Both visual and kinaesthetic learners can be difficult to support in
language lessons but flashcards can really help. They can be designed to be colourful and to feature attention-
grabbing images. Equally, many of the activities associated with flashcards (handling them, sorting, quickly
reviewing them) also appeal to kinaesthetic learners.

The use of images that learners can recognise also provides a useful context through which students can access
the curriculum by scaffolding it onto their existing knowledge. The Cummins Matrix suggests that this approach
enables the language requirements of an activity to be reduced without actually reducing the lesson’s cognitive
demands.

As outlined above, flashcards are also useful as they help stimulate discussion and learning through
collaborative activities. Multiple research studies highlight how such activities provide real opportunities for
communication and can therefore be invaluable for language development.

For examples of how flashcards can be effectively incorporated into the language classroom, do check out these
suggestions here and here.

Next generation flashcards

Yet despite these advantages of using flashcards, it’s increasingly apparent that technology solutions can be
even more effective in supporting language learning. In fact, research in 2019 at Stanford University found that
a language learning chatbot was significantly more effective in helping students learn and retain information.

Moreover, students reported that the chatbot was “more conversational and more fun. They (students) felt like
they had a true study partner.” Unlike flashcards, the chatbot was also able to “recognise near-miss answers and
offer additional guidance and even encouragement to the student.”

Advancements in cloud-based language learning portals and other language teaching tools are transforming
flashcards to make them more personalised and tailored. Not only do they provide detailed statistical
information about student performance, such software includes gamified elements to keep students engaged and
motivated to learn. Personalised learning algorithms also ensure that all students are appropriately tested and
stretched to improve rather than simply relearning content that they already know and understand.

13
Jul

From textbooks to timetables and from menus to movies, there’s a multitude of different materials and
resources for language educators to use in their teaching. Yet for many educators, the most effective and
engaging resources they use are materials created in the target language they’re teaching. These truly
expose learners to how the language is actually spoken and used in the real world.

Such resources are commonly referred to as authentic materials. Their rise to prominence has coincided with the
increasing use of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and associated versions of this approach
(including Content-Based Instruction (CBI) and Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)) place significant
emphasis on the use of authentic materials. But what are authentic materials, how can educators source the right
content and how can they be best deployed in classrooms? This blog post aims to give you all the answers!

WHAT ARE AUTHENTIC LANGUAGE LEARNING MATERIALS?

Thornbury (2006) defines authentic materials as any learning resources that have not been originally made for
classroom teaching. As such Morrow’s 1977 quote on authentic discourse is also highly applicable:

“…a stretch of real language, produced by a real speaker or writer for a real audience and
designed to convey a real message of some sort.”

Authentic materials have not been specifically created for second language learners and make no deliberate
attempt to address specific grammar, vocabulary or learning objectives. What makes them so useful is that
they’re developed on the assumption that readers can understand the language used at the level of a native
speaker or close to it.

The best authentic materials therefore come from genuine sources like news organisations and podcasts but
could also include bus timetables, menus, pictures, novels, songs or TV programmes. Educators can create
active and engaging lesson content around the authentic material, all carefully tailored to the ability of their
learners.

WHY SHOULD LANGUAGE TEACHERS USE AUTHENTIC MATERIALS IN THE CLASSROOM?

There’s a host of compelling reasons why these materials are really powerful tools in supporting your students’
learning. A summary of the most notable advantages follows below.

 Authentic materials provide real-life examples of the language actually used in everyday situations.
 Educators can introduce content relating to topical or local news / events.
 As such, authentic materials can add more engagement and interest for the learner.
 The real and rich language found in authentic materials provides an invaluable source of quality input that
language learners need for language acquisition.
 They build students’ understanding of and integration into their chosen target culture.
 Authentic materials allow and inspire language teachers to become more creative in the content they deliver
in their lessons
 Exposing learners to authentic materials treats them as native speakers. This helps improve their confidence
and overall learning experience.
Importantly, this point also introduces the most commonly disadvantage claimed against the use of authentic
materials in the classroom – that they’re only suitable for higher ability students. But this is, of course, the
whole point! As the British Council suggests: “Your text, written or recorded, is likely to be too hard, even, in
some cases, for advanced students. The trick, regardless of the text used, is not to edit and grade the text, but to
grade the task according to your students’ abilities.”

SO HOW DO I CHOOSE THE RIGHT AUTHENTIC MATERIALS?

Of course, finding and then choosing the right authentic materials to use can be a difficult and very time
consuming process. But here are some tips on what to look out for.

High-quality authentic materials are widely produced by leading online newspapers, book and magazine
publishers and podcasts in all global languages. Take the time to check the content for suitability before
incorporating it into your lesson plans!

Once you’ve found some suitable content, it’s also worth thinking through the following:

 How can the resource be easily used in your lessons? Where’s the fit with the curriculum you’re teaching?
 Do the resources challenge but not overwhelm your students? This relates to their language skills, their age
and their reason for learning.
 Is this resource interesting / relevant to your students?
 Does it contravene social norms, traditions and expected behaviours?
 How does the resource reflect a situation that learners might actually face when using their target language
for real?
It’s also important to start small and short and build from there. So start by choosing authentic materials that
aren’t too difficult or too long to begin with – once your students know what to expect, you can introduce more
difficult resources.

An effective alternative to the above is to ask your students to source material that fits given criteria. They can
then present their choices to peers explaining the content chosen and highlighting the reasons why they are
recommending it.

HOW CAN I USE AUTHENTIC MATERIALS MOST EFFECTIVELY?

As outlined above, the use of authentic materials can be a powerful stimulus for learning in all language
classrooms. In most cases, a piece of “authentic” text can be deployed in the classroom in the same manner as a
traditional textbook. Pre-reading / preparation activities can be deployed to help students to think carefully
about what they’re reading and form the basis for comprehension tests, quizzes and conversation activities that
might follow.

Indeed as Preply identify a news headline or article could be used by a creative and skilful teacher to generate

 A prediction activity: After reading the headline, ask students to predict what happened next.
 A research and writing activity: Have students research the story and write their own blog post.
 A debate: Give students roles and have them prepare an argument (via a peer or in a group) based on the
content.
 A grammar transformation activity: Have students rewrite the headline using different tenses or in the
passive voice, for example.
As with other language learning activities it may be necessary for educators to provide careful scaffolding
around the content so that learners can use their background language knowledge and interpretive strategies to
understand the material presented. Educators should also avoid translating any new words and expressions that
appear in the materials. After all, in authentic situations, students will not have such assistance and should begin
to develop coping strategies to continue communicating.
 How to use games in your language classroom?

03
Jun

Anyone who has ever tried to learn a new skill knows that it takes time. Whether it’s learning to juggle,
how to paint or studying a new language, lots of patience is required and progress can sometimes be
painfully slow. But while mastering a new skill can be a challenge, there’s no reason for it to be a boring
or unenjoyable experience.

The use of games in the language learning classroom can be a fun way to engage your students. As the old
saying goes: “Tell me and I’ll forget. Show me and I may remember. Involve me and I’ll understand”, and
games can be a great way to bring that involvement to life! This blog post outlines why games are such a
powerful language learning tool and shows how language educators can use them most effectively to get
students even more involved in their language learning.

GAMES AS A LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH

The use of games as a tool for language teaching is very well-established. In 1984 when Wright, Betteridge and
Buckby published ‘Games for Language Learning’ the benefits were already clear and well established:

“Language learning is hard work… Effort is required at every moment and must be
maintained over a long period of time. Games help and encourage many learners to sustain
their interest and work.”

More recently, language teaching has focused on building students’ communicative competence, which has
encouraged educators to prioritise task-oriented activities which engage their students in creative and highly
realistic language use. Games fit this approach well and have a purpose beyond the production of correct
speech. They can therefore serve as excellent communicative activities (Saricoban & Metin 2000).

THE BENEFITS OF USING LANGUAGE LEARNING GAMES

For some language teachers, the idea that games can be beneficial for their students may be difficult to
understand. Indeed opponents argue that games are an indulgence and are contrary to best classroom practice.
Yet a more extensive body of research clearly identifies a wide variety of benefits associated with the use of
games in the language classroom. A summary of the main points follows below.

 Use of target language – Clearly this is the ultimate objective for any classroom activity, but game play
specifically requires students to use the target language to participate, communicate, persuade and
negotiate with other players to win. As such, students are making extensive use of their productive and
receptive language skills.
 Fun – Games are enjoyable and can help prevent lessons from being ordinary and boring. They create a
positive classroom environment by attracting and retaining learners’ interest and engagement.
 Low stress – Whilst playing a game, students switch from focusing on their use of language to trying to win.
As such the fear of negative comments can be reduced and learners with low confidence can fully
participate. Communicative fluency can therefore be more easily developed.
 Universal – The common misconception is that games only work with younger learners, but they can be
equally powerful with adults, who are often more nervous about classroom participation.
 Motivational – Games introduce an element of competition into language learning which can help create a
purposeful use of language (Prasad 2003). Engagement and motivation for learning is, of course, increased
where students see the relevance and impact of what they’re learning.
  Student-oriented – As Chen identifies most students who have experienced game-oriented activities hold
positive attitudes towards them (Uberman 1998). Moreover, research by Huyen and Nga (2003) found that
students liked “the relaxed atmosphere, the competitiveness, and the motivation that games brought to the
classroom.”
 Effectiveness – Huyen and Nga’s research also found that students learnt at an increased pace and retained
more of the key information through playing games compared to learning through rote methods.

USING GAMES EFFECTIVELY IN THE LANGUAGE CLASSROOM

Like all teaching activities, it’s best not to suddenly break out into a game without taking the time to carefully
plan how things might work. Otherwise chaos usually ensues!

First things first, whichever game you decide to play it must be suitable for your classroom, your students and
fit with the lesson objectives it is designed to achieve. Think about the ability of your students, the levels of
difficulty, how you’ll explain the rules, how will everyone get involved and how much of the lesson should it
take up. Of course, playing a game should always be the best approach available for you rather than an “easy”
compromise.

Huyen and Nga reiterate the importance of planning and preparation in their work:

“In order to achieve the most from games, it is essential that suitable games are chosen.
Whenever a game is to be conducted, the number of students, proficiency level, cultural
context, timing, learning topic, and the classroom settings are factors that should be taken
into account.”

Games can also be used by teachers in a wide variety of scenarios. They are equally powerful at the beginning
of a lesson to set the scene, during class to deliver a key learning objective or at the end of a lesson if you’ve
some spare time to fill. Importantly, games can also be used to develop a wide variety of language skills – to
practise / test new vocabulary or grammar points in groups or pairs, as a prompt for writing work or as a
speaking exercise as players try to convince / persuade their classmates.

Whatever game you’re planning to play, it’s essential to explain the rationale of the game to the students in the
class. Ensure that all students are aware of the learning benefits of the activity – without this step, students can
mistakenly assume that you’re just wasting time by adding a fun element to the lesson.

It’s worth noting that games (like all learning activities) don’t automatically appeal to all language learners.
Learners who are struggling with their studies already will be concerned about further exposing themselves to
criticism. Equally, it’s important to maintain a balance – too many games and students begin to wonder what
learning is actually going on!

Finally if you’re looking for inspiration on the games to play in your classroom then there’s some great ideas to
try out here and here.

What are the main types of language teaching activities?

01
Feb

Whatever the language being studied, every lesson will include a number of different language teaching
activities. These are the core of language teaching and are the medium through which language educators
deliver key learning objectives and help students build their skills.

Although every teacher and classroom is different, research in the space has identified three broad types of
teaching activity: awareness-raising, skill-getting and skill-using. This blog post looks at each of the three
different types and then considers how common teaching activities fit into these criteria.
General aims and objectives of language teaching activities
A review of the literature studying language teaching activities shows that there are three main ways of
developing knowledge / skills through the activities that teachers typically deliver in their classrooms. These
are:

1. Awareness-raising
Unsurprisingly these activities tend to be delivered at the beginning of a topic or a series of lessons where new
materials are being outlined to students. They usually serve to introduce the key points and to begin to engage /
excite the learners in the topic and draw on relevant concepts that students have studied previously.

Activities of this type encourage students to think about what’s coming and to brainstorm possible routes
forwards. To that end, they can also be useful for teachers in setting the scene for what’s to come and the key
points of focus.

2. Skill-getting
Usually managed or presented by the teacher in the first instance, these activities focus on building students’
skills / understanding so that they can achieve a particular learning objective. The educator is therefore
positioned front and centre, sharing knowledge with their students.

As a result, these activities are intended to develop students’ accuracy in order to demonstrate that the concept
has been fully understood. They are characterised by the use of practice tasks and therefore involve (at least at
first) a large amount of scaffolding to get students going.

3. Skill-using
In contrast, skill-using activities put the student at the heart of the learning process and they take the lead in
managing their progress. The teacher is typically in a support role, ensuring that the learning environment is fit
for purpose.

Students are encouraged to put into practice the skills that they have learned and activities are focused on
building fluency. This is usually achieved by putting learners in real-life settings and encouraging them to
communicate effectively without much support from the teacher or scaffolded learning materials.

Clearly some lessons will be specifically focused on one of the above types. But it is most likely that educators
will include a combination of activities to maintain focus and student motivation.

Common types of language teaching activity

Every language teacher will have a wide range of teaching activities that they call on in lessons. It’s impossible
to include all of them all here, but we’re identified six of the main language teaching activities below. We’ve
also mapped them to the three core pedagogical purposes identified above.

1. Discussion and debate

This concept is immediately understood and widely used by the majority of language educators. In these
activities, pairs or groups of students hold a conversation in their target language in a format set by their
teacher.

This could be in the form of a simple “talk to your partner about what you did at the weekend” or a formal
debate with motions, speakers and a specific process / rules to follow. However they are used, this type of task
is seen as skill-using as students are working with language that they already have / know. Additionally, the talk
to your partner format can be easily deployed to get students talking / thinking about a topic when the class
starts working on it.
2. Gap filling / Fill-in-the-blank
As the name suggests these tasks require students to identify the right word or piece of information to complete
a sentence or piece of text. They are easy for teachers to design and can include any type of text including
dialogue.

Importantly the gaps can be filled by testing students’ listening and reading skills. Whilst they also provide an
immediate indication of learners’ writing abilities, it is worth bearing in mind that increasing the number and
size of gaps in any exercise will also increase the number of potential correct solutions.

As such, these activities tend to be classified as skill-getting as they specifically focus students’ attention and
ensure that their understanding is clear / correct.

3. Information-based activities
These activities usually require students to gather / find information from a variety of sources to complete a
task. This might see them finding material from their peers, from native speakers or from sources such as
libraries or the internet. They typically also involve some form of presentation of the information that has been
gathered via a written text or a speech in front of the class.

Therefore these activities are clearly skill-using activities. Students’ listening, reading, speaking and writing
skills will be needed to find out the information required and to then report their findings back.

4. Listing and prioritising tasks

Similar in form but slightly different in the skills used, these activities are a great way to engage students in
language learning. Listing tasks simply require students to compile a list (e.g. favourite foods, parts of the body
etc), whilst prioritising that list gives students an opportunity to explain why X is better, more fun, more
engaging than Y.

Depending on the specific execution used by the teacher, listing and prioritising tasks can be effectively used
for all three of the broad focuses outlined above. Although much of that will depend on how the educator uses
the tasks as a springboard to take learning to the next level.

5. Role play
As with the above, there’s a huge variety of different ways in which language educators can use role plays to
engage students. From the completely freeform (Imagine you’re in a restaurant and bump into someone who
supports the same football team as you…) to the very specific (You’re a businessman in a hotel in Tokyo
when…) there’s a role play for most teaching situations.

Such scenarios can be made even more specific to focus on the use of the particular vocabulary or grammatical
concepts that the class has been studying. In this case they can be effectively used as skill-getting activities but
are more commonly relevant in skills-using work. In this case, students again have the opportunity to
demonstrate the knowledge they have been working on.

6. Skeletons
This form of task has some similarity with a gap-fill exercise as they both involve students completing or
updating a piece of content. As the name suggests, the learner is given an incomplete text, or skeleton, and is
then asked to complete it, build upon it or respond to it. However, the missing information or gaps tend, in these
examples, not to be explicitly signposted.

These activities usually fall into two main types. Firstly expansion exercises where students build on
information provided – these are typically skill-getting activities. And secondly activities where students are
encouraged to change the ending or imagine an alternative set of