The communicative approach to language teaching: Pages 258 - 263
Say whether the following statements are True or False:
1. The concept of ‘communicative’ language teaching implies the dependence on
insights from speech act theory and the ethnography of communication -2. A ‘communicative’ approach is often contrasted with a ‘functional’ approach to
language teaching -3. Formal/ structural theories of language learning take into account the context in
which a language is used -4. The communicative approach takes into account context of language use because
it addresses the needs of the learner more -5. A curriculum for the communicative approach starts from an assessment of the
language needs of the learner -6. Once the language needs of the learner was ascertained, it was easy to identify the
specific language items which needed to be taught -7. Role playing was a technique in the communicative approach because it took into
the account the sociolinguistic roles and situations of the learners -8. The communicative approach does not use the drill-type exercises of the formal/
structural method -9. In the structural approach, language drills were based on the context of use -10. In the communicative approach, testing was done only to ascertain the social
appropriateness of the usage -11. According to theorists the sociolinguistic component is much more important than
the structural or grammatical component in second language pedagogy -12. It is generally not easy to combine the sociolinguistic and structural approaches in
language teaching -13. Teaching a language non-analytically means that language must be taught in the
same way as a language is acquired -14. The ideal second language curriculum, according to people like Allen, should
contain both formal practice and real-life communication situations -15. The sociolinguistic and experiential aspects of a curriculum emphasize the nonanalytical mode of teaching -16. The immersion technique has had research done on it while not adequate research
has been done on the sociolinguistic/ communicative approach --
OPEN BOOK TEST: “Communicative approach to language teaching”
Time: 45 mins.
Max Marks: 10
Write a paragraph on the communicative approach to language teaching. Write the
answer in your own words. Wherever you lift more than two words together from the
text, put it within double inverted commas. Your paragraph must contain specific
answers to the following questions, i.e., the answers to these questions could be used
in the paragraph. Your answer should not be shorter than 10 sentences or longer than
20 sentences.
1. What is the basic goal of the communicative approach to language teaching? Or
define the communicative approach to language teaching in terms of its basic
goal.
2. From which fields has the communicative approach borrowed insights?
3. Which approach is the communicative approach contrasted with? What is the
main distinction between the two approaches?
4. What were language teaching theorists attempting by drawing insights from
speech act theory, discourse analysis and sociolinguistics? How were the needs of
the language learner expected to be met by the communicative approach?
5. What are the two basic steps involved in framing the syllabus and materials for
the communicative approach?
6. What was typical about the teaching materials and techniques based on the
communicative approach? (you have to mention role, situation, kinds of
techniques and how the ‘drill’ technique in the communicative approach is
different from that in the structural approach)
7. What are the aims of testing in the communicative approach?
8. What has been the basic problem confronting theorists who have adopted the
communicative approach?
9. Some language teaching theorists view the communicative approach in a totally
different light. How does their view differ from the other view?
10. What is the model of the curriculum which combines the two approaches within
the communicative approach? Write a summary of this approach.