Communicative language teaching

Communicative Language Teaching
I. Lesson Design
Since the main principles for Communicative Language Teaching can be applied in many different ways in a classroom, there is no single modelof CLT. However, many lessons go from mechanical, to meaningful, to communicative practice.
 Mechanical practice: this is a “controlled practice activity which students can successfullycarry out without necessarily understanding the language they are using” (Richards’, 2006, 16), such as drills focused on accuracy.
 Meaningful practice: in this stage, language is still somewhatcontrolled but the activities carry more meaning because they are presented as situations. An example can be an activity in which students are provided with a map and they must give directionsfor different buildings by using prepositions.
 Communicative practice: students must use real language to communicate. This stage is less controlled and as so, language used by students isnot predictable. An example of this stage is when students must share their own information about a topic.

II. Contributions
Communicative Language Teaching continues to be the source ofmany course books and teaching techniques today. Some of its contributions have been the following:
 There is an emphasis on communicative competence.
 Learners learn by applying the languageto real-life situations.
 Fluency is a target goal in the classroom.
 The learner has an active role. Lessons are developed according to learners’ needs.

III. Criticism

 It canplace a very heavy demand on the learner.
 Since the approach is based on learners’ needs and interests, teachers should adapt the syllabus to each new group they teach.


Bibliography:Richards, J. (2006). Communicative Language Teaching Today. Cambridge University Press: New York.
Al-Humaidi, M. (2007). Communicative Language Teaching. Publications. King Saud University....