COMMUNICATIVE
LANGUAGE
TEACHING
 Inventor:
This method is based partly in the
theories of Brititish functional
linguists such as: Firth, Halliday,
and the American sociolinguistics
Hymes, Gumperz and Lavob.
 Country

U.S.A
of Origin: Great Britain

Theory of language: language is for communication
and linguistic competence and the knowledge of forms
and their meanings are part of the communicative
competence. Another aspect of this knowledge is to
learn the use of the language.

Theory of learning:
Activities that involve real communication promote
learning
Activities in which language is used for carrying out
meaningful tasks promote learning
Language that is meaningful to the learner promotes
learning.



 Role
of the teacher: the teacher
facilitates the communication in the
classroom, and he also acts like an adviser
and a guide.
 Role
of the student: Ss are
communicators. They are actively engage
in trying to make themselves understood
and in understanding others.
 Use
of the mother tongue: can be used.
However, whenever possible the target
language should be used.
Activities:
 Scrambled
 Language
 Picture
 Role
sentences
Games
Strip Story
Play

Techniques:
Communicative language teaching uses almost any
activity that engages learners in authentic
communication. functional communication activities
in which communication is involved, and social
interaction activities, such as conversation and
discussion sessions, dialogues and role plays.
MATERIAL
S
o
Language materials authentic to native
speakers of the target language. (news
paper, radio and television broadcast,
menus, weather forecast, timetables).
o
For beginner students it is possible to use
realia with out a lot of language.
EVALUATIO
N
A
teacher can informally evaluate
students’ performance in his role as an
adviser or co­communicator.
 For
formal evaluation an integrative test
is used which has a real communicative
function.
 In
order to assess students’ writing skill, a
teacher might ask them to write a letter
to a friend.
Modes of interaction
 T­Ss,
Ss­Ss, Ss­T
Students’ feelings
 Students
are given an opportunity to
express their individuality by having them
share their ideas and opinions on a
regular basis.
AREAS OF LANGUAGE
EMPHASIZED
 Language
functions might be emphasized
over forms.
 Students
work with language at the
suprasentential or discourse level.
STUDENTS’ ERRORS
 Errors
of form are tolerated during
fluency­based activities and are seen as a
natural outcome of the development of
communication skills.
 The
teacher may note the errors during
fluency activities and return to them later
with an accuracy­based activity.
Advantages
will be
more motivated by
learning to
communicate.
Disadvantages
 Students
 Students
will learn
to communicate
effectively.
 No
grammar rules
are presented.
REFERENCES

Larsen­Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and
Principles in Language Teaching. (second ed.).
Oxford University Press.

http://www.englishraven.com/method_communicative.html

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/languagelearning/
waystoapproachlanguagelearning/Communicativ
eLanguageTeaching.htm