Key Elements In conductIng Communicative Approach To Language teachIng.Pdf

Canadian Social Science

Vol.5 No.2 April 2009

Key Elements in Conducting Communicative Approach to Language Teaching
ELÉMENTS CLÉS DE L’INTRODUCTION DE L’APPROCHE COMMUNICATIVE DANS L’ENSEIGNEMENT LINGUISTIQUE

MA Qinghong1

Abstract: In conducting communicative approach in ELT classroom, some key elements should be taken into consideration: syllabus design; the relation between theteacher and learner, accuracy and fluency, learning and acquisition; teaching and learning activities in CLT including communicative tasks, materials employed in teaching, usual classroom activities, and typical communicative activities under this approach. With all these considered, can CLT be possibly carried on in ELT classroom fully and efficiently. Key words: Communicative language teaching;Syllabus design; Classroom activities Résumé: Dans l’introduction de l’approche communicative dans l’enseignement de la langue anglaise, quelques éléments clés devraient être pris en considération: programme des cours; relations entre professeurs et étudiants, exactitude et facilité, enseignement et acquisition; activités d’enseignement et d’apprentissage dans l’enseignement communicatif, y compristravail communicatif, matériels employés dans l’enseignement, activités habituelles en classe et activités communicatives typiques sous cette approche. Une fois que tous ces éléments sont pris en considération, l’approche communicative de l’enseignement de langue pourrait être entièrement et efficacement poursuivie dans l’enseignement de langue anglaise. Mots-Clés: L’enseignement communicatif delangue; Programmes des cours; Activités en classe

Language teachers have worked out various kinds of methods to take communicative approach into their classrooms. Yet problems arise whether some of the ways they have employed are proper or not for this approach. In this paper some key elements are presented about this approach including syllabus design; how to keep the proper relation betweenthe teacher and learner, accuracy and fluency, learning and
1 Address:School of Foreign Languages, Shandong Econonic University, Jinan, 250014, China. E-mail: helenmqh@163.com *Received 14 December 2008; accepted 3 January 2009

MA Qinghong /Canadian Social Science Vol.5 No.2 2009 46-55
acquisition; teaching and learning activities in CLT including communicative tasks, materials employed inteaching, usual classroom activities, and typical communicative activities under this approach.

1. SYLLABUS DESIGN
Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in earlier days. One of the first syllabus models was described as notional syllabus by D.A Wilkins (1976). The syllabus specified the semantic-grammatical categories and thecategories of communicative function that learners need to express. The council of Europe expanded and developed this into a syllabus which was published as “Threshold Level English” (Van EK and Alexander 1980), and it specified what was needed in order to be able to achieve a reasonable degree of communicative proficiency in a foreign language, including the language items needed to realize this“threshold level”. There are at present several proposals and models for what a syllabus might be in CLT, Yalden (1983) describes the major current communicative syllabus types which were summarized by J.C. Richards and T.S. Rodgers (1986) with reference sources to each model:

Type 1. Structures plus functions 2. Functional spiral around a structure core 3. Structural,functional,instrumental 4.Functional 5. Notional 6. Interactional 7. Task-based 8. Learner generated

Reference Wilkins (1976) Brumfit (1980) Allen (1980) Jupp and Hodlin (1975) Wilkins (1979) Widdowson (1979) Prabhu (1983) Candlin (1976) Henner-Stanchina and Riley (1978 )

All the syllabuses in the list concentrated upon language use and appropriateness rather than simply on language form, though they have differences in...