LANGUAGE AND COMMUNICATION (CLT)

Can you imagine language without being communicative? Can you think about something alive that does not communicate anything? Well, let me guess… your answers are probably “NO!” every kind of language communicates any kind of message and each message has its own meaning which is conveyed by people of a society. Therefore, I assume (and support myself on functionalist theories) that the main purpose language may have is TO COMMUNICATE. So, in my opinion a language class should be based on communication, even more if it is an EFL class, since class-time is almost the only one opportunity students have for practicing the target language.

Besides, language changes according to the context. This makes more important for students to have the cultural knowledge required for language accuracy. Of course, language components are very important for language proficiency but these can be taught in a different way paying more attention to language usage than structures. And notice that teaching structures, rules, pronunciation, among others IS IMPORTANT because every language, even every dialect has its own behavior and rules, but once a person can communicate, transmit a message or idea, that person is accomplishing the main purpose of language teaching/learning.
This is the main tenet of the Communicative Language Teaching approach (maybe the most accepted approach at the moment) make people communicate according to the context with good proficiency and appropriate accuracy in the target language.

LANGUAGE TEACHING IS A SCIENCE FULL OF METHODS AND APPROACHES

As I wrote before… Language Teaching is a science and its principal goal consists on making teaching – learning process effective and relevant for its participants. Certainly, as a science, language teaching has been developed by the use of different methods, approaches and theories. Each one complements each other. Therefore, in a deep way, all theories are related and share many aspects. For that reason, there is no wrong theory but a large amount of possibilities for improving teacher’s job. Here I present a brief sum about the most popular theories, approaches and methods for Language Teaching:

• GRAMMAR TRANSLATION METHOD: This method was created by H. S. Ollendorf and Karl Plötz. They considered that language was not for communicating; hence it can be learned by translations (being L1 the principal way for learning). As a result, there was no development of the speaking and listening skills.

• DIRECT METHOD: Created by Maximilian Berlitz, this method suggests the use of the target language without translation and grammar explanation (not in a deductive but in an inductive way), and offering the learners a direct exposition to language. This fact allows students to develop their listening and speaking skills, trying to get the student to a native-like pronunciation and understanding of language.


• ORAL APPROACH AND SITUATIONAL LANGUAGE TEACHING: It was proposed by Harold Palmer who considered that four language skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing) could be taught orally by structures, and a very accurate pronunciation was expected from the students.


• AUDIOLINGUAL METHOD: This method was presented by Charles Fries and promoted by the US Army. According to this method, language teaching needs to consider that language is learned by habit and culture is an essential element for language learning. This method makes use of individual repetition, choral repetition and listening activities.


• COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING: It was proposed by Halliday and Himes. They presented communication as the main goal of language, where contextualization is required since this adds meaning to language.


• TOTAL PHISICAL RESPONSE (TPR): If people move people learn. That is one of the principal tenets of this proposal developed by James Asher. TPR is very useful for beginners but it is difficult to apply for advanced level and large groups.


• THE SILENT WAY: This proposal owes its name to the fact that the teacher remains as silent as possible and is the student who builds his/her own learning. The silent way proposed by Gattegno considers that language is learned in a logical order that is based on the level of difficulty of language structures. For Gattegno, language learning was apart from context.


• COMMUNITY LANGUAGE TEACHING: This is a holistic approach was created by Curran who presented language learning as a process that considers the student as a whole entity and language as a means of communication.


• NATURAL APPROACH: For Krashen and Terrel language fulfills a communicative need and it is learned in a specific order or sequence. According to these authors, language learning is based on the five hypotheses proposed by Krashen (acquisition/learning, monitor, natural order, input and affective filter hypotheses).


• SUGGESTOPEDIA: Presented by Lozanov, this proposal considers language learning as an unconscious process and learner’s mental state as an important factor in language learning - teaching process. It includes the use of music, furniture and other means of relaxation as important parts of language classrooms.

You can find more information here: http://englishteachingmethodology2009.wetpaint.com/page/ELT+Methods%26Approaches

ME!

Hi everybody! I’m Indiana Torres and I’m an English Teaching Student from Venezuela. At this moment, I am taking a Methodology for EFL Teaching course at the Instituto Pedagógico de Caracas. This course offers a large variety of strategies, techniques, methods and information highly important for someone who wants to be not only a good teacher, but a teacher that makes students understand, enjoy and use English a tool for communication rather than words produced just because… Therefore, this course (at least for this student) seems to be a tool full of knowledge available for me as a teacher and my students.