Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay

The focal point of every lesson or portion of a lesson should be the acting of some action – larning how to make something, to pass on something which he/she could non make before larning the lesson. Learner can acquire reply to his/her inquiry i.e. why is he/she larning a peculiar lesson or any lingual point. The scholar understands the importance of larning the same as it is traveling to assist him/her in day-today communicating. So, here a scholar understands and so Acts of the Apostless.

All these actions can be approached on a assortment of different degrees of edification, and bearing them in head throughout the teaching/learning procedure.

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The Whole is more than the amount of its parts

One of the most important characteristics of communicating is that it is a dynamic and developing phenomenon. In other words it can non easy be analyzed into constituent characteristics without its nature being destroyed in the procedure. It is possible to place assorted formal characteristics of the manner linguistic communication is used communicatively and these can be studied separately. But the ability to manage these elements in isolation is no indicant of ability to pass on. What is needed is the ability to cover with strings of sentences and thoughts and in the unwritten manners processed in existent life state of affairss.

Therefore, a important characteristic of a communicative method is that it operates with stretches of linguistic communication above the sentence degree, and operates with existent linguistic communication in existent state of affairss. Interestingly, this rule may take to processs which are themselves either man-made or analytic. A man-made process would affect pupils in larning signifiers separately and so practising how to unite them ; an analytic process would present complete interactions of texts and focal point for larning intents on the manner these are constructed.

So, linguistic communication used in the whole context is more utile than merely analyzing the parts of it.

The procedures are every bit of import as the signifiers

A method which aims at developing the capacity of the scholars to pass on in a 2nd linguistic communication will concentrate at reiterating continuously until they are able to pass on good in a mark linguistic communication. So that the scholars are able to pattern the signifiers of the mark linguistic communication, i.e. English within a given model. It merely means when the linguistic communication is used for communicating, the linguistic communication signifiers are used for a procedure of communicating. There are three such procedures –

Information spread

Communication is portion and package of every human being. When two or more people are discoursing in day-today life, one may cognize something which is non known to the other. The intent of the communicating is to bridge this information spread. In schoolroom state of affairs brace work undertaken to finish an uncomplete image is the best illustration of reassigning information as each member of the brace has a portion of entire information and efforts to convey it verbally to the other.

Choice

Another important characteristic of communicating is that the scholars have option, both in footings of what they will state and, more peculiarly, how they will state it. From the point of position of the talker this means that s/he must take the thoughts which s/he wants to show with appropriate lingual signifiers. Foreign linguistic communication scholars may confront jobs in doing pick in this respect.

Feed back

This procedure is inexplicit in the above two procedures. When two individuals take portion in an interaction, there is usually some purpose behind pass oning and in what manner other individual reacts is evaluated in footings of that purpose. So, the schemes involved in this procedure are of import.

Learning by making

It is now widely accepted that instruction must be finally learner-centred more than the teacher-centered. The instructor may travel on Teach, but if the scholar is non doing any attempt, so there is no point of learning. The instructor must affect the scholar and must be judged in footings of its effects on him/her. Another effect is that larning becomes to a big extent the scholar ‘s duty. The instructor helps, advises, and Teachs, ushers, the scholars themselves have to larn. The scholar has to be involved in the activity. Merely by practising, moving, really making, the scholars can larn to pass on.

Mistakes are non ever a error

While developing communicative ability of the scholars, fiddling errors of grammar or pronunciation does non count every bit long as the scholar gets his/her message across. In the initial phase of larning to pass on in a foreign linguistic communication, errors are bound to go on. The scholars commit errors because they are seeking to make something which they have non been told or shown how to make, how to talk which they have non mastered. It means they are non truly doing errors. If the instructor corrects each and everything at every degree, the scholars may lose their assurance of utilizing the linguistic communication for communicating.

3.6.4 Principles of Communicative Language Teaching

Richards ( 2006 ) summarizes the undermentioned rules of CLT:

‘Authentic linguistic communication ‘ in existent context should be introduced in the schoolroom whenever possible. It is the linguistic communication used for day-today communicating or functional intent.

By learning linguistic communication, scholar should be able to do out talker ‘s or author ‘s purpose. So that they will be communicatively competent.

There should be connectivity among all the linguistic communication accomplishments such as hearing, speech production, reading and composing together since they are on a regular basis used in existent life.

The mark linguistic communication is a vehicle for schoolroom communicating, non merely the object of survey. Hence, attending should be given to learning linguistic communication for communicating.

One map may hold different lingual signifiers. As the linguistic communication is taught for the functional intent, a assortment of lingual signifiers are presented together.

Students have to larn linguistic communication belongingss i.e. coherence and coherency which are helpful to unite sentences together. It is indispensable for them as they work with linguistic communication at the discourse or ace sentential ( above sentence ) degree.

In CLT, games, function dramas, group work, brace work, etc. play an of import function as they have certain characteristic in common to larn linguistic communication efficaciously.

Mistakes are tolerated and treated as a natural result of the development of communicating accomplishments.

Proper state of affairss should be created by the instructor so as to advance communicating in the schoolroom.

The societal contexts of the communicative state of affairss are indispensable for giving significance to the vocalizations.

The grammar and vocabulary that the pupils learn follow from the maps, situational context and the function of the middlemans.

3.6.5 Communicative Ability and Communicative Competence

For effectual communicating one must hold ability to pass on decently and have communicative competency.

Harmonizing to H. G. Widdowson, communicative abilities are ‘those accomplishments in which the system is realized as usage. Communicative abilities embrace lingual accomplishments but non the contrary. Communicative abilities are ways of making or animating discourse in different manners. ‘ ( Widdowson, 1978. 67 )

These sentiments about communicative abilities suggest that these are the abilities which involve lingual every bit good as other accomplishments indispensable for conversation, communicating or discourse to take topographic point.

On the other manus communicative competency has been defined in assorted ways. Harmonizing to Littlewood, communicative competency agencies, ‘a grade of command of a really considerable scope of lingual and societal accomplishments which depend in portion on the scholars ‘ sensitiveness to significance and appropriacy in linguistic communication and on his/her ability to develop effectual schemes for pass oning in the 2nd linguistic communication. ‘ ( Littlewood, 1981.87 )

K. Johnson and K. Marlow say that communicative competency is ‘the ability to be appropriate, to cognize the right thing to state at the right clip. ‘ ( Johnson and Morrow, 1981.2 )

International Encyclopedia of Education defines communicative competency as the “ effectual usage of linguistic communication in societal contexts. ” ( The International Encyclopedia, 1985.834 )

Harmonizing to Widdowson, communicative competence is “ the ability to bring forth sentences for communicative consequence. ” ( Widdowson, 1978.1 )

It is revealed from the above definitions that communicative competency is –

The ability to utilize linguistic communication suitably in a given societal context.

The ability to be appropriate to cognize the right thing at the right clip.

Linguistic competency plus an apprehension of proper usage of linguistic communication in assorted contexts.

Knowledge which is extra to lingual competency.

Ability to pass on something which is grammatical, proper, socially accepted, officially possible, fluent in a peculiar context.

In this manner communicative competency includes both grammatical cognition and the ability to utilize this cognition to execute different sorts of maps like asking, proposing, recognizing, denying, reding, coverage, apologising, ask foring and promising.

3.6.6 Dimension of Communicative Competence

Grammatical Competence

Sociolinguistic Competence

Communicative Competence

Strategic

Competence

Discourse Competence

Fig No.3.3: Components of Communicative Competence

Grammatical Competence

Grammatical competency, which refers to Chomsky ‘s impression of lingual competency, is indispensable for the pattern of lingual formation of the linguistic communication. The focal point is on suited construction which helps the scholars to utilize the linguistic communication suitably and freely.

Sociolinguistic Competence

Sociolinguistic competency refers to an apprehension of the societal context in which communicating takes topographic point, including role-relationships, the shared information of the participants and the communicative intent for their interaction.

Discourse Competence

Discourse competency refers to the reading of single message elements in footings of their inter-connectedness and of how significance is represented in relationship to the full discourse or text.

Strategic Competence

Strategic competency refers to the get bying schemes that communicators employ to originate, end, keep, fix, and re-direct communicating.

In CLT schoolrooms, the instructors need to make activities that would ask scholars to pattern good in the mark linguistic communication.

3.6.7 Classroom Activities in CLT

There are assorted types of exercisings and activities in communicative attack which “ aid pupils to accomplish the communicative competency, and engage scholars in communicating ” ( Richards, 2001 ) . Communicative activities play critical function in communicative linguistic communication instruction. These activities are helpful for the instructors to broaden their repertory of techniques and activities so as to enable the scholars to pass on more efficaciously in foreign linguistic communication. Communicative activities are purposeful and nonsubjective oriented.

Harmonizing to Littlewood, the communicative activities can be represented graphically as follows. ( Littlewood, 2003.86 )

Structural activities

Pre-Communicative activities

Quasi Communicative activities

Functional Communicative activities

Communicative activities

Social interaction activities

( This diagram is adopted from Littlewoods ‘ Communicative Language Teaching, P.86 )

In these two major classs, the first types ( Pre-communicative activities ) serve to fix the scholar for later communicating. The two sub-categories of pre-communicative activities are:

Structural activities: Focus is on the grammatical system and on ways in which lingual points can be combined.

Quasi- Communicative activities: Focus is on one or more typical conversation exchanges. Some resemble drills, but other is closer to duologues. Drills and duologues can be combined so as to supply a span from formal exercising to communicative usage.

Communicative Activities – besides have two sub-categories:

Functional Communicative activities include such undertakings as comparing sets of images, observing similarities and differences, working out continuously following waies and so on. In these activities scholars must work towards a definite solution for a job.

Social interaction activities comprise exchange of words, converse with others, improvisations and arguments. Here, instructors prepare scholars about the varied societal contexts in which they will necessitate to execute outside the schoolroom utilizing different societal interaction activities.

There is no clear spliting line in world between these different classs and subcategories ; they represent differences of accent and orientation instead than distinguishable divisions. E.g. cued duologues can be undertaken both as pre-communicative activity and as communicative activity. Similarly it would be arbitrary if we try to stipulate how much attending must be paid to communicative map before an activity can be called quasi- communicative, or how important societal significance must go before it falls into the societal interaction sub class. This differentiation depends on the changing orientation of single scholar.

Difference between pre-communicative and communicative activities

The undermentioned chart shows the difference between pre-communicative and communicative activities.

Pre-communicative ( non-communicative ) activities

Communicative activities

A

Purposes to develop grammatical competency

Purposes to develop communicative competency

Bacillus

Focus on the merchandise of stray vocalizations.

Focus on the appropriate choice of vocalizations for communicating.

C

Practice of linguistic communication forms or elements

Practice of entire accomplishment of communicating.

Calciferol

Function is to fix the scholar for later communicating.

Function is to do the scholar to really pass on.

Tocopherol

Learners have controlled pattern.

Learners use linguistic communication creatively.

F

Teacher intercession

No instructor intercession

Gram

Emphasis on signifier, non on context.

Emphasis in on context, non on signifier.

Hydrogen

One long point

Assortment of linguistic communication points.

I

Examples: boring, inquiry – replies, sentence forms, etc.

Examples: Role simulation, dramatisation, group treatment, duologue, argument, etc.

3.6.8 Learner’s/Teacher ‘s Role in Communicative Language Teaching

In CLT schoolroom instructors play a critical function in teaching/learning procedure of English. Teachers select larning activities harmonizing to the involvement of the scholars and prosecute them in meaningful and reliable linguistic communication usage.

There are assorted functions to be played by the instructors in order to ease the linguistic communication larning procedure. Harmonizing to Hedge ( 2000.63 ) , a communicative schoolroom involves the instructor in “ puting up activities, forming material resources, steering pupils in group plants, prosecuting parts, monitoring activities, and naming the farther demands of pupils. ”

Richards Rodgers ( 2001 ) besides describes the functions of the instructor as: needs analyst, counsellor, and group procedure director. Similarly, Harmer ( 1991 ) as cited in Nunan and Land ( 1996 ) describes the functions of the instructor as: Accountant, assessor, booster, participant, resource, coach and research worker. Of all these functions, Nunan and Lamb suggest that it is the instructor as organiser that is the most of import and hard from the position of schoolroom direction.

In order to execute all these functions efficaciously, instructors should be competent plenty in all facets of linguistic communication instruction. In line with this, Hedge ( 2000.67 ) provinces that, “ instructors need to construct competency and assurance in carry throughing these assorted functions and in-service preparation is necessary within establishments to guarantee that, in any moves towards implementing communicative attacks in the schoolroom, instructors are decently supported.

3.6.9 Role and Relevance of CLT Concepts in Present Research

Since the chief purpose of the present research is to look into instructors ‘ and pupils ‘ troubles in teaching/learning procedure of English linguistic communication, and back up the instructors with an in-service preparation programme by utilizing Communicative Approach which is indispensable in an ESL ( English as a 2nd linguistic communication ) environment, it is notable to supply the function and relevancy of CLT constructs in the present survey.

Language is an inevitable phenomenon which permeates the human life. Of all linguistic communications, English is the most of import linguistic communication for communicating. Naturally, English has become the linguistic communication of world-wide communicating instead than a linguistic communication of literature. Hence the premier demand of the scholars is non to cognize the theoretical cognition of English but to hold an ability to understand and be understood in that linguistic communication.

In the yesteryear it was sufficient to concentrate merely on structural truth when larning a linguistic communication was an wholly academic advantage and an compulsion to get a new linguistic communication. But in today ‘s universe, linguistic communication instruction is no longer considered a luxury but an obvious demand. The linguistic communication learning methods in the yesteryear were based on lingual competency. The constitution of basic rules of CLT was a reaction in resistance to the antecedently prevalent linguistic communication learning methods. Communicative linguistic communication learning purposes at developing and bettering cognition and accomplishments that facilitate the scholars to do their message effectual and successful.

The chief end of communicating is the successful transmittal of information, non the accomplishment of grammatical rightness. By widening the skylines with other sorts of competency, CLT initiated progressive and effectual ways of learning. CLT uses and Teachs as it is used in every twenty-four hours existent life. Students are given the impression of linguistic communication as existent, lived experience. Socio-linguistic, discourse and strategic competencies are built-in portion of communicative linguistic communication instruction.

The usage of CLT in the 2nd linguistic communication schoolroom is a agency of altering the attitude of the pupils towards linguistic communication acquisition every bit good as positively act uponing their manner of larning. Over-emphasis on grammatical rightness and fright of doing grammatical errors has negative effects on pupils. Such as being stressed at category and sing sense of failure. CLT creates congenial atmosphere in the schoolroom in different ways: the instructors emphasise on eloquence and rightness to larn the mark linguistic communication than rectifying the constructions and giving instructions on linguistic communication regulations or grammar ( Mangubai etal, 2004.292 )

The focal point of CLT is on success instead than failure. The pupils are encouraged to trust on their ain inventiveness and public presentation accomplishments – viz. their strategic competency when speech production. Its accent is on the scholar ” . ( Savignan cited in Magngubhai 2004, 292 )

The four basic constituents of communicative competency summarized by Hymes ( as cited in Cook, 2003 ) are argued by some applied linguists as obscure theoretical thoughts which can barely be put into pattern. The applied linguists draw attending to the fact that thoughts of rightness and correctness really much depend on the cultural norms of a peculiar society. They are in a manner right in their statement. Language itself is an intrinsic portion of civilization. Hence, larning a linguistic communication besides implies larning a civilization every bit good. CLT integrates socio-cultural context with linguistic communication learning programmes and therefore purposes at developing pupils ‘ sense of what is right and what is incorrect in English.

Linguists have pointed out, harmonizing to academic research that they have non found one individual best method for all scholars in all contexts and that no individual method appears to be of course superior to other methods.

It is neither possible ever nor appropriate to use one and the same methodological analysis to all scholars whose aims, environments and larning demands are varied and different.

CLT is considered one of the best methods for usage in the 2nd linguistic communication schoolroom for several grounds: One, it gives assurance to the pupils to larn the 2nd linguistic communication and utilize it as and when required. Two, CLT draws attending to the importance of socio cultural accomplishments. Three, the scholars are given the realistic thought of linguistic communication and are provided with a sense of what is appropriate and right in a given civilization. Four, the scholars learn English linguistic communication and English civilization at the same time. It is critical and imperative both for instructors and scholars, populating as they do in a globalized universe, to follow and keep the effectual methods of linguistic communication teaching/learning offered by CLT.

Changeless migration of people has become portion and package of today ‘s globalized universe. Hence, English teaching/learning has become inevitable for anyone intending to travel onto other states/countries either for higher surveies or better callings. In this context, it is necessary to see the slowdown between the aspiration for better chances in life and the bing state of affairs of teaching/learning of English linguistic communication in schools particularly the municipal corporation schools. Hence, the present research survey is undertaken to bridge this spread by happening ways and means to cognize the troubles of instructors and scholars and develop a methodological analysis that will enable them to better the criterions of teaching/learning procedure of English at school degree.

3.7 Procedure of the Test to the Students

A entire figure of 200 pupils from category VIII and IX criterion of assorted Municipal Corporation Schools were gathered in one of the municipal schools in two enchantments and the trials on four linguistic communication accomplishments were given, informations was collected, analysed and interpreted in the following chapter.

3. 8 Flowchart of the Research Design

The research work during July 2008 to March 2011 was done as per the stairss shown in the undermentioned flow chart.

A Flow Chart

Submission of the research study

Choice of the job

DTP and binding of concluding computerized research study

Review of related literature

Formation of aims

Writing unsmooth research studies and corrections in it

Formation of hypothesis

Suggestions for farther research survey

Sample choice

Findingss, decisions and recommendations

Preparation of research tools

Execution of Pilot survey

Confirmation of Aims

Testing of hypothesis

Data aggregation with the aid of questionnaires and its analysis

Analysis and reading informations

Pre-observation of the lessons and its analysis

Data aggregation from pupils ‘ trials in all four linguistic communication accomplishments

Execution of the preparation programme for the instructors

Post-observation of the instructors ‘ lessons

Discussion with the instructors and Guidance to the instructors

3.9 Drumhead

This chapter has discussed about the methods and processs of the research survey. It includes research design, the methodological analysis employed for the instructors, process used for the research, the trying design, participants, informations aggregation, in-service preparation programme, its benefits, and communicative attack for the instructors and its relevancy in the present research and analysis techniques. It has besides discussed the process of the trial for the scholars.

The following chapter includes analysis and reading of the informations collected through the questionnaires from the instructors and observation of their lessons and besides analysis and reading of the pupils ‘ trials in all four linguistic communication accomplishments questionnaire. Data was classified, analysed, interpreted utilizing the statistical method and decisions are drawn.

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