39National University of Uzbekistan Volume 3 | NUU Conference 2 | 2022
Google Scholar indexed Current Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities
DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2022-2-1154-1158 Ijtimoiy-gumanitar fanlarning dolzarb masalalari
THE COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE APPROACH IN ESL EDUCATION
Shakhnoza Shavkatovna Otajonova
NUU, senior teacher, Interfaculty department of English language
ABSTRACT
This article presents the Communicative Language teaching as an approach to teach English as a foreign language and also discusses the major characteristics and principles of CLT.
Keywords: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Situation Language Teaching (SLT), Target Language (TL), Teacher Talking Time (TTT), authentic texts, Task-based teaching.
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. Language learners in environments utilizing CLT techniques, learn and practice the target language through the interaction with one another and the instructor, the study of "authentic texts", and through the use of the language both in class and outside of class. Learners converse about personal experiences with partners, and instructors teach topics outside of the realm of traditional grammar in order to promote language skills in all types of situations. This method also claim to encourage learners to incorporate their personal experiences into their language learning environment, and to focus on the learning experience in addition to the learning of the target language.
It has been noticed that the goal of the most of the methods is to make the students able to communicate in the target language. But in the 1970s, the educators tried to find out whether they were going to meet the goal of the students in a right way or not. It had been observed that students were able to write and read the sentences in target language correctly. But when it came to communicate in the target language, they failed to do so. It made clear to the observer that to make the students able to communicate in the target language, it required more than mastering only the linguistic structures. It had been accepted by the educators that to be able to communicate in the target language, communicative competence is required with linguistic competence. There had been a shift from the linguistic structure centered approach to communicative approach in the late 1970s and 80s. CLT is an approach to teach foreign or second
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language which emphasizes on communicative competence. It also emphasizes on interaction as a means to teach language. Communicative Language Teaching replaced the Situation Language Teaching which had been used to teach English as a second or foreign language. It had been considered as the major British approach. The focus of SLT approach was on to teach the basic structures of language. But in the 1960s, the educators realized that language taught on the basis of situational learning would have been of no use. Because to teach the meaning, carried out from the utterances was more required as it expressed the intentions of the speaker or writer. In the mid of 1970s, the scope of Communicative Language Teaching has extended. Both American and British proponents now see it as an approach that aim to make communicative competence the goal of language teaching and develop procedure for the teaching of four language skill that acknowledge the interdependence of language and communication.
According to CLT the goal of language education is the ability to communicate in the target language. This is in contrast to previous views in which grammatical competence was commonly given top priority. CLT also focuses on the teacher being facilitator, rather than an instructor. Furthermore, the approach is a non-methodical system that does not use a textbook series to teach English, but rather works on developing sound oral/verbal skills prior to reading and writing.
CLT teachers choose classroom activities based on what they believe is going to be most effective for students developing communicative abilities in the target language (TL). Oral activities are popular among CLT teachers as opposed to grammar drills or reading and writing activities, because they include active conversation and creative, unpredicted responses from students. Activities vary based on the level of language class they are being used in. They promote collaboration, fluency, and comfort in the TL.
You'll probably notice right off the bat that the name has a lot in common with the word "communication". That's not by accident: the communicative approach focuses on teaching language through communication.
Of course, the goal of any language instruction is to learn how to communicate. But in communicative language teaching, communication is not only the goal but the method of teaching. The teacher in a communicative language classroom acts as a guide or facilitator and students engage in class activities to learn the language. The purpose of CLT is to help students produce authentic language and communicate with others. To produce authentic language
April, 2022
National University of Uzbekistan Volume 3 | NUU Conference 2 | 2022
Google Scholar indexed Current Issues of Social Sciences and Humanities
DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2022-2-1154-1158 Ijtimoiy-gumanitar fanlarning dolzarb masalalari
does not mean developing speaking skills only. CLT integrates multiple skills such as listening and writing.
There are many different types of activities. They provide speaking, listening, writing and reading practice as well as aiding production. Typical classroom activities in CLT:
- Information gap activities
- Jig-saw activities
- Task-completion activities
- Information -gathering activities
- Opinion-sharing activities
- Role-plays
- Information- transfer activities
- Reasoning-gap activities
The five activities listed and explained below are commonly used in CLT classrooms:
Role-play is an oral activity usually done in pairs, whose main goal is to develop students' communicate abilities in a certain setting
Interview is an oral activity done in pairs, whose main goal is to develop students' interpersonal skills in the TL.
Group work is a collaborative activity whose purpose is to foster communication in the TL, in a larger group setting.
Information gap is a collaborative activity, whose purpose is for students to effectively obtain information that was previously unknown to them, in the TL.
Opinion sharing is a content-based activity, whose purpose is to engage students' conversational skills, while talking about something they care about.
Advantages and disadvantages of communicative language teaching
There are some advantages of CLT;
* The interaction between students and teachers: Communicative teaching is becoming increasingly clear feature is the change in the way as the internship; students develop the subject, initiative and become increasingly important. Teacher-student relationship is an interactive, harmonious relationship, rather than the traditional education, the kind of master-servant relationship.
* To inform the basic knowledge and ability to skillfully combine the development: Traditional classroom teaching of English in the
main body of the expense of home study, only emphasized the teachers on the knowledge of the systematic and integrity, which
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is a teacher-centered, knowledge-centered from the medieval "scholastic" teaching methods inherited One consequence of the neglect of student ability. The communicative teaching emphasizes the learner's cognitive ability and operational capabilities, which allow the students themselves to think about and express their views, thus trained in real life the ability to use language to communicate.
* Greatly improved the student's interest: Communicative teaching students to participate in, sometimes accompanied by scenes or simulated scenarios, so that students more close to life, the students became the main character, naturally they were interested in the English language, to learn English as a pleasure.
Disadvantages of CLT
There some disadvantages of CLT;
* It is felt that there is not enough emphasis on the correction of pronunciation and grammar error. It is because too much focus on meaning at the expense of form.
* CLT approach focuses on fluency but not accuracy in grammar and pronunciation.
* The CLT approach is great for intermediate student and advanced students, but for Beginners some controlled practice is needed.
* The monitoring ability of the teacher must be very good
* Grammar Teaching Practices make application of this approach difficult.
To help students communicate, the teacher need to provide rich and authentic input. There can be many approaches to achieve CLT. Task-based teaching is the most common teaching approach. Teachers set up a goal, give students real-life language tasks, and students respond in a meaning way. In this process, students are motivated to use the language to serve the purpose of communication.
In CLT, meaning exceeds forms, but it does not mean that grammar is not important. Teachers should teach grammar within contexts and through communicative tasks. In this way, grammar is not presented as a list of rigid rules but natural patterns that students acquire in the learning contexts.
So what is the teacher's role in this?
- To facilitate the communication process in the classroom
- To act as an independent within the learning-teaching group
- The teacher is also expected to act as a resource, an organizer of resources, a motivator, a counselor, a guide, an analyst and a researcher.
- There are many other minor roles of a teacher, some of these would include being an actor and an entertainer. After all, a
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DOI: 10.24412/2181-1385-2022-2-1154-1158
good lesson must be interesting or the students will "switch off" and learn nothing.
Since communicative competence is our aim, it is essential that students be given every opportunity to practice communicating. In the communicative classroom teacher talking time (TTT) must be kept to a minimum. This is not to say that the teacher shouldn't speak at all, but TTT should be controlled and appropriate. The teacher's role is to facilitate student communication which is done through careful selection of materials and activities relevant to the aims of the lesson in which they are used.
Classroom activities should, as far as possible, be carried out in the target language (English). Having said this, there may sometimes be occasions where allowing the students to briefly discuss a point in their native tongue can promote greater understanding and assimilation of new information. This is controversial issue and should not usually be permitted.
Activities used in the classroom must be selected carefully as if they are above the level of the students they can destroy self-confidence and if below they can bore the students. Activities usually involve the students working together either in pairs or small groups.
CLT is an approach which provides opportunity to the learners to communicate in the target language. The use of functional aspect of language makes them able to communicate in the target language in their day to day life. The activities which are used in CLT approach such as dramas, role plays and games make learning enjoyable.
REFERENCES
1. Richards, J., Rodgers, T. (1986). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
2. Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press.
3. Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. New York: Oxford University Press.
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