Quiz on CLT

Practice II (2014) CAMILA ROLDÁN

Quiz on Communicative Language Teaching

1) Summarize the Principles that underlie CLT.

2) What are teachers’ roles and learners’ roles in CLT?

3) What are the characteristics of the teaching/learning process?

4) What kinds of interaction are there?

5) How are language and culture viewed?

6) What language skills are emphasized?

7) What is the role of students’ L1?

8) How is evaluation carried out? How do teachers respond to students’ errors?

9) Summarize 10 (ten) main differences between Audio-lingual Method and CLT.

10) What sort of materials/ techniques and activities can be used in CLT?

11) What models for syllabuses stemmed out from CLT?

1

Principles Description

Use of authentic languageLanguage as it is used in a real context should be

introduced.

Promote communicative

competence

This is done through the use of authentic materials and

the encouragement to develop strategies such as

understand the speaker’s/writer’s intention.Instrumental use of target

language

The target language is used to communicate. So, it is not

seen as something to acquire at the end of the road;


because it is during the journey that students learn.Emphasis on the process of

communication

One function may be realized through several linguistic

forms and vice versa.

Language at Discourse levelStudents learn about cohesion and coherence to

understand texts.

Purposeful language

exchange

Exchanges in real life happen because of a need to

communicate something, this is the best way to teach

students i.e. their communication has a clear goal or

purpose.

Foster critical thinking Encourage students to express their opinions and views.Error tolerance Considered as a natural outcome of the development of

communication skills.Teacher as facilitator and

advisor

Responsible to establish situations likely to promote

communicationCooperative work &

relationships

Communicative interaction gives students opportunities

to negotiate meaning.Relevance of context & use of

appropriate language forms

The social context of the communicative event is of

paramount importance in giving meaning to the

utterances. It also narrows the linguistic options which

are appropriate for the situation.Freedom to use language Students are able to choose what to say and how to say

it.

Grammar & Vocabulary They succeed the function, situational context and roles

of the interlocutors.

2 The teacher facilitates communication in the classroom. His major responsibility is

to establish situations likely to promote communication. He acts as an adviser, when

students are solving activities, by supplying items of vocabulary and answering their

questions. He does not jump on errors but rather lets students continue talking to foster


their communicative development. He also may be a co-communicator when he engages

in the activities along with the students.

Students are communicators who actively interact with each other and negotiate

meaning. They try to deliver their message as clear as possible and to understand their

interlocutor’s responses as well. In CLT, students are more responsible of their own

learning process as the teacher’s role is less dominant.

3 In Communicative Language Teaching almost everything is done with a

communicative intent. In this way, students are involved in different activities that

require from them to use the language for a clear purpose. Activities are truly

communicative have three features in common:

• Information gap: one person in the exchange possesses information or knows

something the other person does not.

• Choice: interlocutors have freedom in choosing form and content to deliver their

intended message.

• Feedback: as communication is purposeful, speakers can evaluate if they have

achieved their purpose by what their listeners respond. Without this feedback, we

would not be able to know to what extent our message has been understood.

Another characteristic of CLT is the use of authentic materials which allow students to

develop strategies to understand and to deal with language in real situations i.e. they

learn how to cope with similar situations in their lives.

One last characteristic of CLT is that students are encouraged to interact in small

groups which maximizes the time allotted to each student for communicating and reduces

levels of anxiety.


4 There are two types of interaction: between teacher and students and among the

students themselves. The teacher may present part of the lesson acting as a facilitator of

the activities or as a co-communicator. Most of the time, teacher’s role is to prompt

meaningful communication among the students. On the other hand, students interact a

lot with one another through pair work, triads, small groups and whole group.

5 Language is viewed as a means for communication. Learners need the knowledge

not only of the linguistic forms but also of the different meanings and functions. Being

aware that one linguistic form may fulfill several functions and vice versa helps students to

accommodate the language appropriately to what they want to say. Moreover, the

context of situation and the context of culture influence our message; both its content

and its form.

6 Students work on all four skills. The emphasis is made on the understanding of

meaning and negotiations; students work with texts (written or oral) at suprasentential or

discourse level. They recognize cohesion devices and that the lack of them may hinder the

interpretation of the reader/listener. Besides, students are made aware of the fact that

meanings do not reside in the text but rather that they arise through the interpersonal

negotiation between speaker/ listener (immediate feedback) or writer/reader (delayed

feedback).

7 Judicious use of the students’ native language is allowed in CLT. However, most of

the time the target language should be used, whether it is to present information, to give

instructions, to clarify or explain and to give homework. In this way, students are


embedded in the language and learn that language is a vehicle for communication as well

as the object of study.

8 Teachers evaluate both accuracy and fluency. They are measured during class,

while students interact through different activities, or with a more traditional/ formal

written test in which students have to write a letter, e-mail or a small piece of text with a

clear communicative purpose.

Errors of form are highly tolerated during fluency based activities and they are

seen as a natural outcome of the development of communication skills. Students can have

limited linguistic knowledge and still be successful communicators.

9

Communicative Language

Teaching

Audio-Lingual Method

Goals

To enable students to

communicate in the target

language.

To use the target language

communicatively. Students need

to overlearn the target

language.

Teacher’s role

Teacher as a facilitator

(establish situations likely to

promote communication) and

adviser (during the activities).

Co-communicator.

‘ Orchestra leader’: directs and

controls students’ behavior in

the target language. Models:

they provide the example which

students have to imitate.

Students’ role

Students are communicators

and more responsible of their

own learning.

Imitators of the teacher or

tapes. They follow the teacher’s

instructions.

Teaching / learning Everything done with Vocabulary, structural patterns


process

communicative purpose.

Information gap is necessary.

Freedom of content and form

and possibility of feedback to

check if purpose was achieved.

& culture in dialogues and drills.

These are learned through

repetition. Successful responses

are reinforced. Grammar is

induced from examples.

Interaction

Teacher presents, facilitates,

and is sometimes a co-

communicator. Students

interact in pairs, triads, small

groups or whole group.

Mostly teacher directed.

Student-student interaction

when practicing dialogs.

Feelings Motivation is enhanced through

the use of language with a clear

communicative purpose.

No principle relates to this area.

Areas of language Language functions emphasized

over forms. From simpler to

complex forms. Work at

discourse level.

Vocabulary is kept to a

minimum while students master

grammatical patterns.

Language skills Four skills are practised. Oral skills are emphasized.

Students’ L1 Judicious use of L1 is permitted. It interferes with the students’

attempts to master the target

language.

Evaluation Teacher evaluates students’

accuracy and also their fluency.

Assessing both formally and

informally.

Discrete-point in nature.

Focus on accuracy /form.

Errors Mistakes are a natural outcome

of the students’ development

Mistakes lead to the formation

of bad habits. They are

immediately corrected and they

need to be prevented, if

possible.


10 Appropriate materials to use in CLT are the following: scrambled sentences,

language games, picture strip stories, role plays, and also authentic materials such as

newspapers, magazines, TV programmes, realia.

11 One model of syllabus that stemmed out from CLT was the Notional syllabus

(Wilkins 1976).

Quiz on CLT

Education

Transcript of Quiz on CLT