CLT Meet 9

COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH:
COMMUNICATIVE
LANGUAGE TEACHING

SUSAN ANDRIYANI & SAFIRA MONIKA
05SIGE002
Communicative language
teaching (CLT)

OR THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH, IS AN

APPROACH TO LANGUAGE TEACHING THAT
EMPHASIZES INTERACTION AS BOTH THE MEANS
AND THE ULTIMATE GOAL OF STUDY.

Presentasi adalah alat komunikasi yang dapat digunakan untuk

laporan, dan lainnya.
Background
The origins of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are to be found in the changes
in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. Until then,
Situational Language Teaching represented the major British approach to teaching
English as a foreign language. In Situational Language Teaching, language was taught by
practicing basic structures in meaningful situation-based activities. But just as the
linguistic theory underlying Audiolingualism was rejected in the United States in the
mid-1960s, British applied linguists began to call into question the theoretical
assumptions underlying Situational Language Teaching:
By the end of the sixties it was clear that the situational approach . . . had run its course.
There was no future in continuing to pursue the chimera of predicting language on the
basis of situational events. What was required was a closer study of the language itself
and a return to the traditional concept that utterances carried meaning in themselves
and expressed the meanings and intentions of the speakers and writers who created
them. (Howatt 1984: 280)
Approach
Theory of language
Hymes coined this term in order to contrast a communicative view of language and
Chomsky’s theory of competence. Chomsky held that linguistic theory is concerned
primarily with an ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community,
who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant
conditions as memory limitation, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors
(random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual
performance. (Chomsky 1965: 3) For Chomsky, the focus of linguistic theory was to
characterize the abstract abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce
grammatically correct sentences in a language. Hymes held that such a view of linguistic
theory was sterile, that linguistic theory needed to be seen as part of a more general
theory incorporating communication and culture. Hymes’s theory of communicative
competence was a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be
communicatively competent in a speech community.
Approach
Theory of language
In Hymes’s view, a person who acquires communicative competence acquires both

knowledge and ability for language use with respect to :
1. whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible

2. whether (and to what degree) something is feasible in virtue of the means of
implementation available
3. whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate (adequate, happy, successful)
in relation to a context in which it is used and evaluated
4. whether (and to what degree) something is in fact done, actually performed, and what
its doing entails.
At the level of language theory, Communicative Language Teaching has a
rich, if somewhat eclectic, theoretical base.
Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language
follow: 92
1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

2. The primary function of language is to allow interaction and
communication.
3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.
4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and
structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning
as exemplified in discourse.
Theory of learning
In contrast to the amount that has been written in Communicative Language Teaching
literature about communicative dimensions of language, little has been written about
learning theory. Neither Brumfit and Johnson (1979) nor Littlewood (1981), for example,
offers any discussion of learning theory. Elements of an underlying learning theory can be
discerned in some CLT practices, however. One such element might be described as the
communication principle: Activities that involve real communication promote learning. A
second element is the task principle: Activities in which language is used for carrying out
meaningful tasks promote learning (Johnson 1982). A third element is the meaningfulness
principle: Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process.
Learning activities are consequently selected according to how well they engage the learner
in meaningful and authentic language use (rather than merely mechanical practice of
language patterns). These principles, we suggest, can be inferred from CLT practices (e.g.,
Littlewood 1981; Johnson 1982). They address the conditions needed
Approach
Theory of language
Hymes coined this term in order to contrast a communicative view of language and
Chomsky’s theory of competence. Chomsky held that linguistic theory is concerned
primarily with an ideal speaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community,
who knows its language perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant
conditions as memory limitation, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors
(random or characteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual
performance. (Chomsky 1965: 3) For Chomsky, the focus of linguistic theory was to
characterize the abstract abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce
grammatically correct sentences in a language. Hymes held that such a view of linguistic
theory was sterile, that linguistic theory needed to be seen as part of a more general
theory incorporating communication and culture. Hymes’s theory of communicative
competence was a definition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be
communicatively competent in a speech community.
Design
Objectives
Piepho (1981) discusses the following levels of objectives in a communicative

approach:
1. an integrative and content level (language as a means of expression) 2. a
linguistic and instrumental level (language as a semiotic system and an object of
learning)
3. an affective level of interpersonal relationships and conduct (language as a
means of expressing values and judgments about oneself and others)
4. a level of individual learning needs (remedial learning based on error analysis)
5. a general educational level of extra-linguistic goals (language learning within the
school curriculum)
The syllabus
Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in Communicative

Language Teaching. We have seen that one of the first syllabus models to be
proposed was described as a notional syllabus (Wilkins 1976), which specified the
semantic-grammatical categories (e.g., frequency, motion, location) and the
categories of communicative function that learners need to express
The syllabus
Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in Communicative Language Teaching. We
have seen that one of the first syllabus models to be proposed was described as a notional syllabus
(Wilkins 1976), which specified the semantic-grammatical categories (e.g., frequency, motion, location)
and the categories of communicative function that learners need to express.
Type :
1. structures plus functions Wilkins (1976
2. functional spiral around a Brumfit (1980) structural core
3. structural, functional, instrumental Allen (1980)
4. functional Jupp and Hodlin (1975)
5. notional Wilkins (1976)
6. interactional Widdowson (1979)
7. task-based Prabhu (1983)
8. learner-generated Candlin (1976), HennerStanchina and Riley (1978)
Types of learning and teaching activities

The range of exercise types and activities compatible with a communicative approach is
unlimited, provided that such exercises enable learners to attain the communicative
objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication, and require the use of
such communicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and
interaction. Classroom activities are often designed to focus on completing tasks that are
mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information
sharing.
Learner roles
The emphasis in Communicative Language Teaching on the processes of communication,

rather than mastery of language forms, leads to different roles for learners from those found
in more traditional second language classrooms. Breen and Candlin describe the learner’s role
within CLT in the following terms: The role of learner as negotiator – between the self, the
learning process, and the object of learning – emerges from and interacts with the role of joint
negotiator within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the
group undertakes. The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he
gains, and thereby learn in an interdependent way. (1980: 110)
Teacher roles
Several roles are assumed for teachers in Communicative Language Teaching, the importance of
particular roles being determined by the view of CLT adopted. Breen and Candlin describe
teacher roles in the following terms: The teacher has two main roles: the first role is to facilitate
the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these
participants and the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independent
participant within the learning-teaching group. The latter role is closely related to the objectives
of the first role and arises from it. These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher;
first, as an organizer of resources and as a resource himself, second as a guide within the
classroom procedures and activities.... A third role for the teacher is that of researcher and
learner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and
observed experience of the nature of learning and organizational capacities. (1980: 99)
The role of instructional materials
A wide variety of materials have been used to support communicative approaches to

language teaching. Unlike some contemporary methodologies, such as Community
Language Learning, practitioners of Communicative Language Teaching view materials
as a way of influencing the quality of classroom interaction and language use.
Materials thus have the primary role of promoting communicative language use
Procedure
Communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of any skill, at any level, and
because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in the
literature on Communicative Language Teaching, description of typical classroom
procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible
ADVANTAGES of CLT:
• Communicative approach is much more pupil-orientated, because it is based on pupils’

needs and interests.
• Communicative approach seeks to personalise and localise language and adapt it to

interests of pupils. Meaningful language is always more easily retained by learners.
• Seeks to use authentic resources. And that is more interesting and motivating for children.
• Children acquire grammar rules as a necessity to speak so is more proficient and efficient.
DISADVANTAGES of CLT:
• It pays insufficient attention to the context in which teaching and learning take
place
• The Communicative Approach often seems to be interpreted as: “if the teacher
understands the student we have good communication” but native speakers of the
target language can have great difficulty understanding students.
• Another disadvantage is that the CLT approach focuses on fluency but not
accuracy. The approach does not focus on error reduction but instead creates a
situation where learners are left using their own devices to solve their
communication problems.
What are the goals of communicative language
teaching?

MAKE REAL COMMUNICATION THE FOCUS OF LANGUAGE

LEARNING. PROVIDE OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNERS TO
EXPERIMENT AND TRY OUT WHAT THEY KNOW. PROVIDE
OPPORTUNITIES FOR LEARNERS TO DEVELOP BOTH
ACCURACY AND FLUENCY.
THANK YOU

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COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH:

SUSAN ANDRIYANI & SAFIRA MONIKA

OR THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH, IS AN

Presentasi adalah alat komunikasi yang dapat digunakan untuk

In Hymes’s view, a person who acquires communicative competence acquires both

1. whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible

1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

Piepho (1981) discusses the following levels of objectives in a communicative

Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in Communicative

The emphasis in Communicative Language Teaching on the processes of communication,

A wide variety of materials have been used to support communicative approaches to

• Communicative approach is much more pupil-orientated, because it is based on pupils’

• Communicative approach seeks to personalise and localise language and adapt it to

MAKE REAL COMMUNICATION THE FOCUS OF LANGUAGE

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