Method or approach [622846]

Method or approach?

CLT advocates avoided prescribing the set of practices
through which these principles could best be realized,
thus putting CLT clearly on the approach rather than
the method end of the spectrum.

Rodgers T. (2001) Language Teaching Methodology. Online Resources: Digests
September 2001. Issue Paper

It has had a tremendous impact on the teaching of
English worldwide and regards language as
communication tools and sets the goal of language
teaching as communicative competence, a term first
coined by Hymes (1971)

GOALS OF LANGUAGE TEACHING

COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENC

WHAT DOES COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE
MEAN?
Go to page 3

TENETS OF CLT
Communication should be cognitively and affectively
meaningful.
Reception precedes production.
Input should be comprehensible (i+1)
For communication to take place, students are supposed to
negotiate meaning (emphasis on pair work/group work) .
All four skills are given equal attention.
The use of authentic material is strongly encouraged.
Units are planned around functions.
Grammar is a means to an end not an end itself and it is taught
inductively.
Students must not feel threatened.
Errors are part of the learning process.

LANGUAGE LEARNING
Interaction between the learner and the users of the
language
Collaborative creative meaning
Negotiation of meaning as the learner and his/her
interlocutor arrive at an understanding
Paying attention to the language one hears and
incorporating new language
Trying out and incorporating new ways of saying
things

MEANINGFUL PRACTICE

Students are required to make meaningful choices
A real communicative context is the focus
Real information is exchanged

ACTIVITIES
Task completion activities : puzzles, games, map –
reading.
Focus: use one’s language resources to collect information
Information gathering : surveys, questionnaires,
interviews, searches.
Focus: use acquired linguistic resources to collect
information
Information – transfer activities : these require learners
to take information that is presented in one form, and
represent it in a different form. Read instructions to get
from A to B , and then draw a map showing the sequence,
read information about a subject and represent it as a a
graph.

Reasoning gap -activities : these involve deriving
some information from a given information through a
process of inference, practical reasoning, etc. Ex.
Working out a teacher’s (parent’s, friend’s) timetable
on the basis of a given class timetable.
Role -plays : activities in which students are assigned
roles and improvise a scene or exchange based on
given information or clues.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Richards, J. C. & Rogers, T. S. (1986). Approaches and
methods in language teaching: A description and
analysis. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
Rogers, T. (2001) Language teaching methodology,
online resource
(http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/rodgers.html),
Sep. 2001.