Communicative language teaching: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 15:59, 21 August 2006

Revision as of 17:46, 2 October 2006

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==Relationship with other methods and approaches==

Historically, CLT canhas bebeen seen as a response to the [[Audio-Lingual Method]] (the ALM), and as an extension or development of the [[Notional-Functional Syllabus]].

===The Audio-Lingual Method===

The Audio-Lingual Method (ALM) arose as a direct result of the need for foreign language proficiency in listening and speaking skills during and after [[World War II]]. It is closely tied to [[behaviorism]], and thus made drilling, repetition, and habit-formation central elements of instruction. Proponents of the ALM felt that this emphasis on repetition necessitated a corollary emphasis on accuracy, claiming that continual repetition of errors would lead to the fixed acquisition of incorrect structures and non-standard pronunciation.

In the classroom, lessons were often organized by grammatical structure and presented through short dialogs. Often, students listened repeatedly to recordings of conversations and focused on accurately mimicking the pronunciation and grammatical structures in these dialogs.

Critics of the ALM asserted that this over-emphasis on repetition and accuracy ultimately did not help students achieve communicative competence in the target language. They looked for new ways to present and organize language instruction, and advocated the notional functional syllabus, and eventually CLT as the most effective way to teach second and foreign languages.

===The Notional Functional Syllabus===

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==Classroom activities used in CLT==

Example Activities

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==Critiques of CLT==

Recent critiques of CLT include an article by[[Dr. Stephen Bax entitled: "The end]] of CLT:[[Canterbury aChrist ContextChurch Approach to language teaching" in which heUniversity]] argues that the dominance of CLT has led to the neglect of one crucial aspect of language pedagogy, namely the context in which thatlanguage pedagogy takes place. Bax argues thatfor itan is timealternative to replace CLT as the central paradigm in language teaching withvia a Contextcontext Approachapproach which places context at the heart of the profession. The article argues that such a shift is taking place already and will eventually change our practice radically.

References:

Bax, S (2003) The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching ELT J 2003 57: 278-287

Harmer, J. (2003) Popular culture, methods, and context ELT J 2003 57: 288-294

==See also==

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* Rodgers, T. S. 2001. Language Teaching Methodology. Center for Applied Linguistics Digest. Retrieved Sept. 27, 2004 from http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/rodgers.html

* Bax, S (2003) The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching ELT J 2003 57: 278-287

* Harmer, J. (2003) Popular culture, methods, and context ELT J 2003 57: 288-294

[[Category:Pedagogy]]