Module 1: Major Theories Influencing English Language Teaching - Lesson 2: Communicative Approach PDF

Module 1: Major theories influencing the teaching of English as another language of communication ================================================================================================= Lesson 2: Communicative Approach ================================ ### Lesson Objectives **At the end...

Module 1: Major theories influencing the teaching of English as another language of communication ================================================================================================= Lesson 2: Communicative Approach ================================ ### Lesson Objectives **At the end of the lesson the student will be able to:** - identify the basic characteristics of the Communicative Approach. - use the Communicative Approach in daily lesson plans ### Lesson Introduction The Communicative Approach is one of the most important and applicable teaching and learning theories in the contemporary language teaching profession, paired with relevant teaching and learning methodologies and strategies. This module presents how Communicative Approach may connect to different classroom activities and tools, such as discussion, group sharing, problem-based and role-play learning and the implications of the principles of the approach in the application. ### Lesson Content The Communicative Approach focuses on teaching language through interaction and negotiation of meaning. The focus is on meaning not structure. The emphasis is on authentic materials and on the use of real life situations that require communication. By using authentic materials, students see the connection to their own language and culture as they have the background knowledge to access this knowledge. Communicative approaches emphasize negotiation of meaning, social contexts of learning, interaction among students, information gap activities cooperative learning and role playing. *Teachers become active facilitators of their students\' learning. They talk less and they observe and listen more. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Students have to respond and react to the situation, so they do most of the speaking. The classroom is active and students\' motivation to learn comes from their desire to interact with their peers in meaningful ways about meaningful topics. Thus, students are responsible for their own learning.* ### Underlying Principles of Communicative Approach 1. Students achieve skills in using a language when their attention is focused on conveying and receiving authentic messages (that contain information of interest to speaker and listener in a situation of importance to both. (Rivers, 1987) Implication: Classroom activities should all be based on situations that are authentic, of interest, and real to students. They should be based on what the learner has to say or find out. By including topics and vocabulary items that the students are familiar with in their own language you will increase the students\' interest which will lead to a more active participation in the target language. 2. Through interaction, students can increase their language as they listen to or read authentic linguistic material, or even the output of their fellow students in discussions, skits, joint problem-solving tasks, or dialogue journals. (Rivers, 1987) Implication: Classroom activities should give students opportunities to interact with language in real contexts. This helps students understand that a language is used for communication between people. 3. Language is primarily an interpersonal act and the principal mechanism used by human beings to socialize and get things done. (Savignon,1985) Implication: Many opportunities should be given in classrooms for students to participate in conversations that lead them to follow up with another task. Activities that help students socialize with their peers should be encouraged. Teachers can use creative role plays, simulations, surveys, projects, and playswhich produce spontaneity and improvised practice. This helps to keep minds more flexible and inspires confidence in coping with the unforeseen and unanticipated situations. 4. Language use consists of many abilities. The nature of the particular abilities needed is dependent on the roles of the participants, the situations, and the goal of the interaction. (Savignon, 1985) Implication: Language should center on situations of interest to the learners. Classroom instruction should be based on meaning and contexts appropriate to the learners\' needs to communicate and to express themselves in English. 5. Second language learning, like first language learning, begins with the needs and interests of the learner. Savignon,1983) Implication: An analysis of learners\' needs and interests should also be conducted to facilitate the preparation of activities. 6. Teachers need to be flexible, with a repertoire of techniques they can employ as circumstances dictate, while keeping interaction central-interaction between teacher and student, student and teacher, student and student, student and authors of texts, and student and the community that speaks the language. (Rivers, 1987) Implication: Interaction is the key word to keep in mind in the ESL classroom. It is the teacher\'s responsibility to provide as many opportunities as possible for interaction to take place in the classroom. It is important to observe that interaction also occurs between reader and text. 7. Real interaction in the classroom requires that the teacher step out if the center in order to give the full role to the student in developing and carrying out activities, to accept all kinds of opinions, and be tolerant of errors the student makes while attempting to communicate. (Rivers, 1987) Implication: The teacher is no longer the central figure in the classroom. The teacher must become a guide and participant. The teacher\'s primary role is to facilitate communication and only secondarily to correct errors. Error correction should be limited because communicating the message is more important than a focus on structure. Error correction is only used in situations where the meaning is obscured. 8. Reading is a problem-solving behavior that actively involves the reader in the process of deriving meaning and assigning meaning. (Papalia, 1907) Implication: Reading is an interactive activity. Therefore, the prior knowledge the reader brings to the text is just as important as the text itself. Teachers need to activate the prior knowledge so that students are aware of all the information they already know about the topic about which they will be reading. If the students do not have any prior knowledge teachers should provide any information, they consider essential for the comprehension of the text. 9. If reading is the activity, there should be lively interaction between the reader and the text. There should be interpretation, expansion, discussing, and alternative possibilities of other conclusions. Implication: Reading should lead to other interactive activities in the classroom. There should be a strong connection between reading and writing activities. 10. Writing is not necessarily a solitary activity on the part of the writer. We write to be read, and our writing improves as we respond to the reactions of others. Our desire to write also increases as others show interest in what we have written. Implication: Writing is an interactive activity; one in which we share and talk about ideas. The art of writing is re-writing. We improve our writing as we re-write. Therefore, writing needs to be seen as a process that involves many stages and many participants (student-writer, teacher, other students and readers. 11. In an interactive classroom there has to be much listening to authentic materials, with no discouragement of spoken response or student-initiated contributions.\ Students will listen with a purpose because they will have to use what they have had in some way. Implication: Listening comprehension activities should be planned so as to ensure that this skill is not being overlooked. For example: Teachers can read aloud parts of stories students will be reading later in class. Students can also work in groups or pairs to transfer information and negotiate meaning in situations where one person has information that the others lack. 12. Testing should be interactive and proficiency oriented. Students should be put into situations where they hear and react to real uses of language or where what they read is to be incorporated into another language using activity. Implications: Multiple choice and fill in the blank tests are not normal language using activities. Teachers should incorporate testing techniques that measure language use in situations similar to real life experiences. ### Curriculum Resource or References Dos Santos, L. (2020) The Discussion of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Language Classrooms. *Journal of Education and e-Learning Research. DOI: 10.20448/journal.509.2020.72.104.109* Jayanthi, N. L. N. (2023*). Master the methods and approaches of teaching English: A handbook for teachers of English*. Independently published. Setiyadi, Ag. Bambang (2020) *TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (2nd Edition).* In: TEACHING ENGLISH AS A FOREIGN LANGUAGE (2nd Edition) http://repository.lppm.unila.ac.id/id/eprint/23179 ### Lesson Summary - *The Communicative Approach focuses on teaching language through interaction and negotiation of meaning**.*** - *Teachers become active facilitators of their students\' learning* ### Lesson Activities or Assessment **Continue to next lesson.**