Communicative Language
Teaching
Toleshova Aigerim 101 group
What is CLT?
• Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an
approach to the teaching of second and foreign
languages that emphasizes interaction as both the
means and the ultimate goal of learning
a language. It is also referred to as
“communicative approach to the teaching of
foreign languages” or simply the “communicative
approach”.
BACKGROUND: Historical
Language Teaching can be viewed in three
parts:
• I. Traditional approaches (up to the late
1960s)
• II. Classic communicative language
teaching (1970s to 1990s)
• III. Current communicative language
teaching (late 1990s to the present)
The principles of Communicative
Language Teaching are:
• Make real communication as the focus of language learning
• Provide opportunities for learners to experiment and try out
what they know
• Be tolerant of learners’ errors as the indicate that the learner
is building up his or her communicative competence
• Provide opportunities for learners to develop both accuarcy
and fluency
• Link the four skill together since they occur together in the
real world
• Let the students induce or discover the grammar rules
Characteristics of the CLT
• Language is a system of the expression of meaning
• The primary function of language is to allow interaction
and communication
• The structure of language reflects its functional and
communicative uses
• The primary units of language are not merely its
grammatical and structural features, but categories of
functional and communicative meaning as exemplified
in discourse.
The roles of teachers and learners in the
classroom
Learner Roles:
• They have to participate in classroom
activities
• become comfortable with listening to their
peers in group work or pair work tasks,
rather than relying on the teacher for a
model.
• They were expected to take on a greater
degree of responsibility for their own
learning
Teacher Roles:
• They have to assume the role of
facilitator and monitor
• the teacher had to develop a different
view of learners’ errors and of her/his
own role in facilitating language
learning.
• As a needs analyst
• As a counselor
• As a group process manager