For example, reserving flight tickets and making an appointment with the doctor are the subsequent units that would appear in the book for CLT class. Thus, the content of the units of CLT books that are used in CLT classes are based on the functions of language and needs of the learners in real life communicative situation and the sequence of the units are based on the learners' interest and their importance for the learners.
Apart from the above mentioned advantages of CLT, in the context of Iran, for example, the method of teaching English that is applied in its public schools such as high schools is different from the method applied in private English language centres. What is practiced in the English language classes in Iranian public schools include the translation of sentences and texts which leads to extensive use of the first language or mother tongue, Farsi, as well as the emphasis on grammatical competence or linguistic knowledge of the learners rooted in structuralism.
In fact, this process illustrates practicing and applying the grammar-translation method which "has been practiced in public classes for many years" Allahyar and Ramezanpour, Moreover, memorization of vocabularies and phrases as well as emphasis on pronunciation and application of repetitive drills were the other practices in the Iranian high school English classes that can be traced back to audio lingualism.
On the other hand, the method applied in private English language centres in Iran is different. One of the books used in Iranian English language centres is Richards et al. Series of the Interchange books are taught from elementary to advanced levels. Each level of these books has 16 units and each unit tries to present a set of vocabularies and grammatical structures through real life themes such as how to order a drink in a restaurant or how to invite your friend to your birthday party.
What all the units in the Interchange books and the English language classes emphasize and focus on are communicative functions rather than memorization of vocabularies and phrases. These classes are not centred on memorizing some individual words and phrases but in enabling the learners to perform effective communication.
What are focused in these CLT-based classes are functions such as how to get things, how to express feelings and how to interact with others. Thus, CLT class leads the learners to learning how to do these functions in real life communicative situation. The English class in private Iranian language centres starts with listening to a tape or teacher followed by speaking.
The learners would try to communicate with the teacher or other learners and then focus on reading and writing. This natural process Brown, which starts with listening and ends with writing is focused in CLT. By observing the natural process of learning, CLT bears resemblance to the direct method. As a result, high interaction of learners is noticeable in these classes and the classes are no longer teacher-centred. In such classes, the secondary emphasis on error correction is also obvious.
In a nutshell and with reference to what was mentioned above, CLT paves the way for the learners to use language effectively in real life communicative situation. Hence, communicative competence is the goal to be achieved through CLT. Discussions on the disadvantages of this method are essential to critically evaluate CLT.
Hiep refers to the recent articles that have launched debates on CLT. Moreover, Hughes mentions that communicative language teaching leads to the production of "fluent but inaccurate" learners. What is predicted to happen here is the danger of giving priority to fluency over accuracy in CLT classes.
In other words, error correction has no significant place in CLT classes. In this case, accuracy is ignored and "fossilization" Brown, of errors would occur and the fossilized errors may never be corrected.
That is why prioritizing fluency over accuracy can be regarded as one of the disadvantages of CLT. From the results of the questionnaires distributed to the participants of the study, it was found that 58 percent of them agreed that CLT produces fluent but inaccurate learners. So, CLT can follow methods like the direct method and audio lingual method in teaching grammar to focus on accuracy apart from fluency.
However, concentrating on grammar and form in CLT can be different from the two mentioned methods in the way that grammar can be focused and practiced in real communication instead of practicing grammar repetitively Brown, in individualized sentences as practiced in audio lingual method.
The teacher can supervise the learners who are practicing effective communication and inform them of their grammatical errors thus enabling them to be fluent as well as accurate. Hence, both accuracy and fluency will be taken into almost equal consideration in a CLT class.
Burnaby and Sun and Chau and Chung pointed out in their articles that applying CLT is difficult in an EFL context due to the lack of sources and equipments like authentic materials and native speaker teachers as well as large size of the classes. In EFL classes, the classroom is the only place that the learners receive input to learn how to conduct effective communication. Since the mother tongue is also used to manage EFL classes, the environment cannot be motivating enough to enhance communication skills of the learners.
In addition, lack of native speaker teachers in EFL contexts leads to low-quality input and unauthentic material. In this regard, CLT can be considered as a helpful method to achieve the goal of oral communication since it focuses on communicative competence. Today, the main concern of most learners of the English language is whether they are able to use the language independently and fluently in a variety of real life communicative situations such as when someone is on a trip, in a meeting or in a restaurant.
If accuracy and correcting grammatical errors are also taken into consideration in CLT, fluency and accuracy are yielded simultaneously through the application this method. Thus, the problem of "fluent but inaccurate" Hughes, learner may be resolved. Ramezanpour, No extreme any more, strike a balance. Asian Social Science 7 5 : Baepler, P. White slaves, african masters. Brown, H. Principles of language learning and teaching,englewood cliffs, nj: Prentice hall regents.
Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy. Burnaby, B. Sun, Chau, L. Chung, Chinese University Educational Journal Ellis, R. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Finocchiaro, M. Brumfit, The functional-notional approach. Halliday, M. Learning how to mean. Hewing, A. Innovation in english language teaching. Hiep, P. Communicative language teaching: Unity within diversity. ELT Journal 61 3 : Howatt, A. A history of english language teaching.
Hughes, A. Second language learning and communicative language teaching. New York: Academic Press. Hymes, D. Competence and performance in linguistic theory. London Academic Press. Techniques and principles in language teaching. Larson-Freeman, D. Mekhafi, A. Ramani, Expectation versus reality: Communicative approach to efl learning. Studies in Learning, Evaluation and Development 8 1 : Razmjoo, S. Riazi, Do high schools or private institutes practice communicative language teaching?
A case study of shiraz teachers in high schools and institutes. The Reading Matrix, 6 3 : Richards, J. Communicative language teaching today. Hull and S. Proctor, New York: Cambridge University Press.
The classroom should be learner centred. The interaction should usually be the student to student and should include the teacher only where necessary.
During most classroom activities the teacher will monitor and intervene only where necessary. A model for part of a communicative lesson Stage 1 Teacher T gives a short presentation of a grammar or vocabulary point.
T then gives students Ss opportunity to practise the point in a controlled exercise. T monitors and notes errors and interesting points. T intervenes only when asked or when absolutely necessary. Ss also have the opportunity to clear up puzzling points. This was the standard method until a few years ago. Now there are a number of possibilities open to the teacher. You will be introduced to these at a later stage.
Activities Classroom activities should, as far as is 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. There are many different types of activities. They provide speaking, listening, writing and reading practice as well as aiding production. They can be found in books containing supplementary material such as the Reward Resource Packs. Many teachers enjoy creating their own activities, which can be tailored specifically to their classes needs.
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 in small groups. Activities are often used to practise real- life situations involving social interaction and so a high level of social and functional language should be expected.
They can be used as the basis for classroom activities. Once again not only must the activity be appropriate to the level of the students but the materials used must be appropriate too. Text-based materials For example practice exercises, reading passages, gap fills, recordings, etc. They form an essential part of most lessons. Task-based materials These include game boards, roleplay cards, materials for drilling, pairwork tasks, etc.
They might be used to support 'real life' tasks such as role playing booking into a hotel, or a job interview. Realia This includes such things as magazines, newspapers, fruit and vegetables, axes, maps - things from the real world outside the classroom.
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