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Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar to promote language skills in all types of situations. That method also claims to encourage learners to incorporate their personal experiences into their language learning environment and to focus on the learning experience, in addition to the learning of the target language.<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Nunan|first=David|date=1991-01-01|title=Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum|jstor=3587464|journal=TESOL Quarterly|volume=25|issue=2|pages=279–295|doi=10.2307/3587464|citeseerx=10.1.1.466.1153}}</ref>
According to CLT, the goal of language education is the ability to communicate in the target language.<ref name=":9">{{Cite book|title=Communicative competence : theory and classroom practice : texts and contexts in second language learning|last=J.|first=Savignon, Sandra|date=1997-01-01|publisher=McGraw-Hill|isbn=
CLT also positions the teacher as a facilitator, rather than an instructor. Furthermore, the approach is a non-methodical system that does not use a textbook series to teach the target language but works on developing sound oral and verbal skills prior to reading and writing.
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It was [[Noam Chomsky]]'s theories in the 1960s, focusing on competence and performance in language learning, that gave rise to communicative language teaching, but the conceptual basis for CLT was laid in the 1970s by the linguists Michael Halliday, who studied how language functions are expressed through grammar, and Dell Hymes, who introduced the idea of a wider communicative competence instead of Chomsky's narrower linguistic competence.<ref name=":8">Littlewood, William. ''Communicative language teaching: An introduction''. Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 541-545</ref> The rise of CLT in the 1970s and the early 1980s was partly in response to the lack of success with traditional language teaching methods and partly by the increase in demand for language learning. In Europe, the advent of the [[European Common Market]], an economic predecessor to the [[European Union]], led to migration in Europe and an increased number of people who needed to learn a foreign language for work or personal reasons. Meanwhile, more children were given the opportunity to learn foreign languages in school, as the number of secondary schools offering languages rose worldwide as part of a general trend of curriculum-broadening and modernization, with foreign-language study no longer confined to the elite academies. In Britain, the introduction of [[comprehensive schools]], which offered foreign-language study to all children, rather than to the select few of the elite [[grammar schools]], greatly increased the demand for language learning.<ref name=":0" />
The increased demand included many learners who struggled with traditional methods such as [[grammar translation]], which involves the direct translation of sentence after sentence as a way to learn the language. Those methods assumed that students aimed to master the target language and were willing to study for years before expecting to use the language in real life. However, those assumptions were challenged by adult learners, who were busy with work, and by schoolchildren who were less academically gifted and so could not devote years to learning before they could use the language. Educators realized that to motivate those students an approach with a more immediate reward was necessary,<ref name=":0">{{Cite book|title=Communicative Language Teaching in Practice|last=Mitchell|first=Rosamond|publisher=Centre for Information on Language Teaching and Research|year=1988|isbn=978-
Additionally, the trend of [[progressivism]] in education provided further pressure for educators to change their methods. Progressivism holds that active learning is more effective than passive learning.<ref name=":0"/> As that idea gained traction, in schools there was a general shift towards using techniques where students were more actively involved, such as group work. Foreign-language education was no exception to that trend, and teachers sought to find new methods, such as CLT, that could better embody the shift in thinking.<ref name=":0"/>
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The development of communicative language teaching was bolstered by new academic ideas. Before the growth of communicative language teaching, the primary method of language teaching was situational language teaching, a method that was much more clinical in nature and relied less on direct communication. In Britain, applied linguists began to doubt the efficacy of situational language teaching, partly in response to Chomsky's insights into the nature of language. Chomsky had shown that the structural theories of language then prevalent could not explain the variety that is found in real communication.<ref name=":10">{{Cite book|title=Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching|last1=Richards|first1=Jack|last2=Rodgers|first2=Theodore|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2014|isbn=978-1-107-67596-4|___location=Cambridge|pages=23–24, 84–85|edition=3nd}}</ref> In addition, applied linguists like Christopher Candlin and [[Henry Widdowson]] observed that the current model of language learning was ineffective in classrooms. They saw a need for students to develop communicative skill and functional competence in addition to mastering language structures.<ref name=":10" />
In 1966, the linguist and anthropologist [[Dell Hymes]] developed the concept of [[communicative competence]], which redefined what it meant to "know" a language. In addition to speakers having mastery over the structural elements of language, they must also be able to use those structural elements appropriately in a variety of speech domains.<ref name=":9" /> That can be neatly summed up by Hymes's statement: "There are rules of use without which the rules of grammar would be useless."<ref name=":0" /> The idea of communicative competence stemmed from Chomsky's concept of the [[linguistic competence]] of an ideal native speaker.<ref name=":9" /> Hymes did not make a concrete formulation of communicative competence, but subsequent authors, notably Michael Canale, have tied the concept to language teaching.<ref name=":11">{{
An influential development in the history of communicative language teaching was the work of the [[Council of Europe]] in creating new language syllabi. When communicative language teaching had effectively replaced situational language teaching as the standard by leading linguists, the Council of Europe made an effort to once again bolster the growth of the new method, which led to the Council of Europe creating a new language syllabus. Education was a high priority for the Council of Europe, which set out to provide a syllabus that would meet the needs of European immigrants.<ref name=":10" /> Among the studies that it used in designing the course was one by a British linguist, D. A. Wilkins, that defined language using "notions" and "functions," rather than more traditional categories of grammar and vocabulary. The new syllabus reinforced the idea that language could not be adequately explained by grammar and syntax but instead relied on real interaction.<ref name=":10" />
In the mid-1990s, the Dogme 95 manifesto influenced language teaching through the [[Dogme language teaching]] movement. It proposed that published materials stifle the communicative approach. As such, the aim of the Dogme approach to language teaching is to focus on real conversations about practical subjects in which communication is the engine of learning. The idea behind the Dogme approach is that communication can lead to explanation, which leads to further learning. That approach is the antithesis of situational language teaching, which emphasizes learning by text and prioritizes grammar over communication.<ref>{{
A survey of communicative competence by Bachman (1990) divides competency into the broad headings of "organizational competence," which includes both grammatical and discourse (or textual) competence, and "pragmatic competence," which includes both sociolinguistic and "[[illocutionary act|illocutionary]]" competence.<ref name=":12">{{Cite book|title=Fundamental Considerations in Language Testing|last=Bachman|first=Lyle|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0-19-437003-5|___location=Oxford|pages=84–92}}</ref> Strategic competence is associated with the interlocutors' ability in using communication strategies.<ref name=":12" />
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=== Interviews ===
An interview is an oral activity done in pairs, whose main goal is to develop students' interpersonal skills in the TL.<ref name=":05">{{Cite book|title=Communicative Language Teaching in Action: Putting Principles to Work|last=Brandl|first=Klaus|publisher=Phil Miller|year=2007|isbn=
Example:
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=== Information gap ===
[[Information gap activity|Information gap]] is a collaborative activity, whose purpose is for students to effectively obtain information that was previously unknown to them, in the TL.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Communicative Language Teaching Today|last=Richards|first=Jack|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=
Example:
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Although CLT has been extremely influential in the field of language teaching, it is not universally accepted and has been subject to significant critique.<ref name=":5" />
In his critique of CLT, [[Michael Swan (writer)|Michael Swan]] addresses both the theoretical and practical problems with CLT. He mentions that CLT is not an altogether cohesive subject but one in which theoretical understandings (by linguists) and practical understandings (by language teachers) differ greatly. Criticism of the theory of CLT includes that it makes broad claims regarding the usefulness of CLT while citing little data, it uses a large amount of confusing vocabulary, and it assumes knowledge that is predominately not language-specific (such as the ability to make educated guesses) to be language-specific.<ref name=":5">{{
Where confusion in the application of CLT techniques is readily apparent is in classroom settings. Swan suggests that CLT techniques often suggest prioritizing the "function" of a language (what one can do with the language knowledge one has) over the "structure" of a language (the grammatical systems of the language).<ref name=":3" /> That priority can leave learners with serious gaps in their knowledge of the formal aspects of their target language. Swan also suggests that in CLT techniques, the languages that a student might already know are not valued or employed in instructional techniques.<ref name=":3" />
Further critique of CLT techniques in classroom teaching can be attributed to Elaine Ridge. One of her criticisms of CLT is that it falsely implies that there is a general consensus regarding the definition of "communicative competence," which CLT claims to facilitate. Because there is no such agreement, students may be seen to be in possession of "communicative competence" without being able to make full or even adequate use of the language. That individuals are proficient in a language does not necessarily entail that they can make full use of that language, which can limit an individual's potential with that language, especially if that language is an endangered language. That criticism largely has to do with the fact that CLT is often highly praised and is popular though it may not necessarily be the best method of language teaching.<ref name=":4">{{
Ridge also notes that CLT has nonspecific requirements of its teachers, as there is no completely standard definition of what CLT is, which is especially true for the teaching of grammar, the formal rules governing the standardized version of the language in question. Some critics of CLT suggest that the method does not put enough emphasis on the teaching of grammar and instead allows students to produce utterances, despite being grammatically incorrect, as long as the interlocutor can get some meaning from them.<ref name=":4" />
Stephen Bax's critique of CLT has to do with the context of its implementation. Bax asserts that many researchers associate the use of CLT techniques with modernity and so the lack of CLT techniques as a lack of modernism. That way, those researchers consider teachers or school systems that fail to use CLT techniques as outdated and suggest that their students learn the target language "in spite of" the absence of CLT techniques, as if CLT were the only way to learn a language, and everyone who fails to implement its techniques is ignorant and cannot teach the target language.<ref name=":7">{{
==See also==
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{{refbegin|}}
* {{cite book|last=Bachman|first=Lyle|title=Fundamental considerations in language testing|publisher=Oxford University Press|___location=Oxford|year=1990|isbn=978-0-19-437003-5}}
* {{cite journal |doi=10.1093/applin/I.1.1 |title=Theoretical Bases of Communicative Approaches to Second Language Teaching and Testing |year=1980 |last1=Canale |first1=M. |last2=Swain |first2=M. |journal=Applied Linguistics |pages=1–47 }}
*Færch, C., & Kasper, G. (1983). Strategies in interlanguage communication. London: Longman.
*{{cite book|last=Mitchell|first=Rosamond|editor1-last=Swarbick|editor1-first=Ann|chapter=The communicative approach to language teaching|pages=33–42|title=Teaching Modern Languages|year=1994|publisher=Routledge|___location=New York}}
*{{cite book|author1-link=Jack C. Richards|last1=Richards|first1=Jack C.|last2=Rodgers|first2=Theodore S.|title=Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching|edition=3rd|year=2014|publisher=Cambridge University Press|___location=Cambridge, New York|isbn=978-1-107-67596-4}}
*{{cite journal|last=Nunan|first=David|title=Communicative Tasks and the Language Curriculum|year=1991|journal=TESOL Quarterly|volume=25|issue=2|pages=279–295|doi=10.2307/3587464|jstor=3587464|citeseerx=10.1.1.466.1153}}
* {{cite book|last=Savignon|first=Sandra|title=Communicative competence: theory and classroom practice: texts and contexts in second language learning|publisher=McGraw-Hill|___location=New York|year=1997|edition=2nd|isbn=978-
*{{cite encyclopedia|last=Savignon|first=Sandra J.|title=Communicative language teaching|encyclopedia=Routledge Encyclopedia of Language Teaching and Learning|editor1-last=Byram|editor1-first=Michael|publisher=Routledge|___location=London|year=2000|pages=125–129}}
*{{cite book|last=Whong|first=Melinda|title=Language Teaching: Linguistic Theory in Practice|publisher=Edinburgh University Press|___location=Edinburgh|year=2011}}
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