Within this dissertation chapter on language. I’ll try to: define Communicative Language Teaching when and why it grew to become an essential approach in language teaching discuss attitudes into it define communicative activities discuss learner-directed activities and also the teacher’s role give types of communicative activities and discuss the area of Communicative Language Teaching within my own teaching situation.

Quite simply, the purpose of Communicative Language Teaching would be to help students move beyond mastering the structures inside a language enough where they are able to rely on them to speak meaningfully in tangible existence situations. This assumes that individuals who discover the British language want so that you can communicate socially with an everyday basis with native or very able British language loudspeakers. They’ll likewise want so that you can live normal lives if they’re visiting, or residing in, countries where British may be the primary language.

The ‘communicative’ movement continues to be influential in teaching other languages because the early 1970s. It &#8220grew from dissatisfaction using the structuralism and situational ways of the 1960s.&#8221 (Nunan, 1990) Obviously, the fundamental purpose of any language teaching happens to be communicative ability, which is broadly utilized in, e.g. the audio-lingual method. However, the implications of the aim happen to be more completely studied because the 1970s. The communicative approach makes students and teachers consider language with regards to the communicative functions it performs in tangible situations, along with its structures( vocabulary and grammar). The emphasis in language teaching is removed mastering individual structures (although they are very helpful within the problem) and moves onto supplying students with possibilities to make use of the word what themselves to obtain things done.

There are various ideas regarding how Communicative Language Teaching operates. Initially it had been seen as an methodology however British and American proponents &#8220see it as being a strategy (and never a technique) that aims to (a) make communicative competence the aim of language teaching and (b) develop procedures for that teaching from the four vocabulary skills that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication.&#8221 (ELC Module 5, 2000) Based on Howatt (1984), you will find ‘strong’ and ‘weak’ versions from the communicative approach. According to him the ‘weak’ version has become pretty much standard practice. (ELC Module 5, 2000). This really is possibly still true in 2001. In my opinion this ‘weak’ version could reflect not just a philosophical belief, but the teaching types of some EFL teachers along with the learning types of some students. Drills and like activities leave the ability within the teacher’ hands while communicative tasks give a lot more power and control towards the student. However, you will find students who much prefer an analytical or authoritative method of learning. This is extremely true for a lot of Chinese students who be employed in a classroom situation where memorizing details may be the norm. It entirely daunts most of them when they’re requested to consider on their own in EFL classes, plus they anxiously make notes or ask analytical inquiries to assure themselves that what they’re doing is true.

It requires some time and persistence introducing a learner-centred curriculum during these situations, which is very essential that the scholars experience success at each stage.

There are many criteria you can use to find out whether activities are communicative ones. Littlewood (1988) summarizes them under four headings:
1. &#8220They provide whole-task practice&#8221 through several types of communicative activity having a real purpose, structured to be able to suit the scholars’ degree of ability. It is crucial inside a learner-centred classroom the teacher finds out each student’s degree of ability and develops it.
2. &#8220They improve motivation&#8221 so the students possess the desire and want to talk with others.
3. &#8220They allow natural learning&#8221 which happens within the students once the they’re using language for communication.
4. &#8220They can produce a context which assists learning.&#8221 Positive personal relationships can be cultivated among students and between your students and teacher within the classroom. Consequently this creates an atmosphere that supports learning.

Fishing rod Ellis (ELC Module 5, 2000) stresses that &#8220content not form&#8221 is essential as students should be focussed on what they’re saying and never how it is said it. Also, he discusses the significance of students being permitted the liberty to improvise (which is what goes on in tangible situations). He adds that there must be &#8220no teacher intervention&#8221 in both the teacher correcting or evaluating (although he states some look at the ultimate product could occur once the activity has ended) which there must be &#8220no materials control&#8221 so the selection of language rests completely using the learners.

In true communicative activities, the teacher creates a scenario and so the students be responsible for transporting it right through to its conclusion. This learner-directed activity approach is extremely hard for many learners. In many Hong Kong schools, students are instructed how to proceed and the way to get it done, therefore an instructor here would need to be very responsive to the insecurity and anxiety they would feel. In this case, it might be important to alleviate the students progressively into this new method of learning language, and progressively increase the kind of activity his or her confidence, understanding, and need for independence increased. The teacher will have to be sure that the students understood precisely what was needed of these, possibly by modelling the game to begin with with a few people from the class, and choose activities that made small demands on their own abilities to do. The teacher also offers an essential but less dominant role to experience in communicative activities. He/she’s there to steer and encourage where necessary, and provide mental support for that students. When the students end up not able to carry on or develop a task, the teacher can provide advice, provide additional language, or settle arguments. It’s also essential that the teacher discourages using mom tongue. It is really an very energy for that teacher to evaluate the scholars’ performances to ensure that future planning can consider their successes and ‘failures’. While performing these things, it is crucial the teacher maintains a mindset of getting no direct role within the activity.

There’s two primary kinds of communicative activities – functional communication activities and self confidence activities:
Functional communication activities increase the opportunity to find language which will convey an intended meaning effectively inside a specific situation. The scholars use language they are fully aware to have their meaning over even if it’s not grammatically accurate. How effective students are could be measured based on whether or not they deal with the communicative demands from the immediate situation. Functional communication activities have to do with the teacher structuring situations to ensure that students need to solve an issue or overcome an info gap.

Based on Littlewood (1988) you will find four primary groups:
1. &#8220Sharing information with restricted cooperation&#8221, by which one learner offers information that another learner must uncover by asking them questions, e.g. identifying pictures, finding identical pairs, finding sequences or locations, finding missing information, features or secrets.
2. &#8220Sharing information with unrestricted cooperation&#8221, by which learners use language for describing, suggesting, requesting clarification and helping one another &#8211 constructing like models by using instructions, finding variations in almost identical pictures, following directions on identical maps are great types of activities.
3. &#8220Sharing and processing information&#8221, by which learners mustn’t only share information but additionally discuss or review it thus going beyond surface details to be able to analyse, explain and evaluate them. Learners have the ability to negotiate or disagree without giving offense only at that level – reconstructing story-sequences and pooling information to resolve an issue are types of these activities.
4. &#8220Processing information&#8221, which dispenses with the necessity to share information as learners get access to all of the details they require. Just about any problem-solving situation may be used only at that level and they may be according to everyday situations or some imaginary situation that the audience needs to lead to.

Self confidence activities increase the opportunity to take account from the social meaning along with the functional concept of different language forms. The scholars use language which isn’t only functionally correct but can also be appropriate towards the social situation they’re in – they have to pay greater focus on the social context where the activity happens. Simulation and role-playing are essential approaches for creating situations and relationships in the classroom. How effective the scholars are here, is evaluated in terms of not just of functional effectiveness but additionally with regards to the social acceptability from the forms which are used. It ought to be noted the students themselves can determine the precise need for the social factors throughout an activity. Littlewood (1988) claims that the classroom can be used a social context which the dwelling and skills that the language student acquires during classroom interactions could be later used in other sorts of situations.

He explains four approaches:
1. &#8220Using the language for classroom management&#8221, that involves training being introduced and ended, activities being organised and solving practical problems because they arise, all within the language. This gives a wealthy supply of communicative needs within the EFL classroom. It’s important to not make use of the native language at the moment or even the language is devalued within the learners’ eyes.
2. &#8220Using the language like a teaching medium&#8221 – there are lots of ways to do this. Inside my own school, in which the teaching medium is British, china students who’ve no British whatsoever have two 1hr sessions every day having a specialist ESL teacher and the remainder of their teaching, e.g. maths, art, PE, is carried out in British. When the ESL teacher deems they have a good enough grasp of British, they return to the grade classroom fulltime where they fight for some time. This technique is working well even though it has put a lot more stress on the classroom teachers too. This past year we’d two immersion classes, which left individuals students with a feeling of inferiority and deficiencies in social connection with their individual grades.
3. &#8220Conversation or discussion sessions&#8221 which perform an essential function in assisting communicative ability. These need to be structured carefully so the teacher doesn’t dominate, and straightforward such things as the classroom layout being altered can introduce a casual aspect. It is crucial that the teacher provides material or instructions which help sustain these sessions without him/her overtaking. Any kind the teachers takes ought to be with an equal basis because the learners.
4. &#8220Basing dialogues and role-plays on school experience&#8221 has numerous uses. One, particularly, explores the issues the learners have inside and outdoors the classroom

Simulation and role-playing create a lot more varied types of interaction that EFL teachers may use. Again the teacher have to know the scholars’ degree of ability however these valuable types of interaction can push the scholars to increase their abilities while bearing in mind that it’s communication that’s important not only the concept of language. The teacher could work through from performing memorized dialogues to improvisation. Debates will also be fun and also the students need so that you can use different ways of achieve their aims here.

At every stage the teacher could be evaluating to determine how future planning must be adapted for more training. Among the pluses of communicative language teaching would be that the teacher is offered many possibilities to sit down back and evaluate students’ progress. Errors is visible included in evaluation, and students have to be asked to observe that errors are natural and merely imply that another thing needs to be attempted.

I’ve discovered it challenging to determine if communicative language teaching fits nicely into my teaching in Hong Kong. I’m in times where I educate in British in an worldwide school and employ the Heinemann British 1 programme. I understand this text doesn’t suit my students’ needs however the text was made the decision upon when admission to the college needed a significantly greater degree of British there were more native British loudspeakers in the school. The situation now’s which i get one student whose studying age matches his chronological age and the remainder of my year seven students’ R.A.s vary from 10yrs lower to six yrs. Like a group they lack confidence by themselves and therefore are shateringly scared of making errors before their peers. I’ve great difficulty in keeping them discuss or predict during class. Departing in the textbook is tough his or her parents are needed to buy the written text, and Chinese parents have a tendency to tick off each chapter once we &#8220work&#8221 through it.

I requested very experienced EFL teachers at other schools in Hong Kong about communicative language activities, plus they were firmly of the perception the whole approach doesn’t work here. One of these pointed out the well-established dependence on memorisation in Chinese schools. Another teacher stated that in the 1990s, the requirement for Chinese students to understand British to fulfill their entertainment needs had basically disappeared. British has become seen as an tool for business alone. It might be interesting to canvass more EFL teachers and discover if they are common views. Another teacher was firmly of the perception it had become &#8220the solution&#8221 but needed plenty of opening work.

I believe in small ways I’m able to introduce a lot of activities I’ve discovered – the ‘weak’ option &#8211 but I will suggest that my school looks carefully at our current school population and also at the British textbooks we’re using. I am certain the ESL teachers would support a general change in textbooks even when they didn’t personally offer the communicative language approach. A little beginning whether it happens however i hope it might possess a ripple effect.

I’ve always thought that meaning is uppermost in every aspect of language. This research has pressed me to determine that language teaching should be about communicating in tangible social situations too, therefore i feel I’ve taken another advance. As I recognise the approach doesn’t suit all teachers or students, I acknowledge that communicative language teaching gives students more chance to result in their very own learning, inside a non-threatening atmosphere. It places the teacher becoming company, writing their very own learner-centred curriculum and making certain that students experience success in most training. This will make for additional focus on the teacher’s part but must lead to greater satisfaction for both teacher and student.

Should you prefer a custom dissertation on language you are able to contact MastersThesisWriting.com &#8211 professional custom dissertation writing company which supplies college students rich in-quality custom written dissertations, thesis papers and research proposals for Undergraduate, Master’s and Ph.d. academic course levels at reasonable prices.