2.3.4. Communicative approach to
language teaching (CLT)
With the preceding methods, learners were not given enough
input or examples of how language structures are used in everyday conversation
and they did not get enough opportunity for communicating in English (output)
(Kilfoil and Van der Walt, 1997:12). In other words, the purpose of learning
English as a language of wider communication should not be to learn to
communicate, but to learn while communicating (1997:12)
The origins of CLT are to be found in the 1960s. The learner
was at the centre of the communicative approach. In fact, CLT regarded the
learners as communicatively competent when they have ability not only to apply
the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct
sentences, but also know when and where to use these sentences and to whom. In
other words, being able to communicate required more than linguistic
competence, it also required communicative competence.
Having surveyed the context in which CLT was proposed, it is
necessary to look at some of its attributes in the language teaching and
learning process. First and foremost, almost everything is done with a
communicative intent. Students use the language a great deal through
communicative activities such as games, role-plays and problem-solving tasks
carried out specifically in small groups. In CLT practices, interaction is the
leading point and activities designed for this purpose promote language used in
meaningful tasks.
In the treatment of the four language skills, CLT supports the
integrated skills approach. Kilfoil and Van der Walt (1997:19) claim that in
practical terms this means that in the real world (i.e. in class) learners will
often have to read while they are listening (looking for a telephone number
while a friend is giving the person's name), write while they are listening
(taking notes), speak while they are writing (when demonstrating something in a
class) and so on.
To sum up, the communicative approach that gave rise to CLT
traditionally refers to a set of principles about language teaching and
learning where the focus is on meaningful communication and on use, not usage.
In this approach, students are given tasks to accomplish using language,
instead of studying the language. In other words, the syllabus is based
primarily on developing functional language such as asking permission, asking
directions and not on the structure of the language like learning how to form
the past tense, conditionals, etc. Authentic and meaningful language input
becomes more important. The class becomes more student-centred as learners
accomplish their tasks with their peers while the lecturer plays more of an
observer role or a guide.
I now look at the development of audiovisual materials for the
classroom.
| 
