The Characteristics of clt

The fundamental principle of CLT is to enable learners to understand and use the target language for communication. Two basic assumptions underlying this approach to language learning are that the core of language learning is the development of communicative competence and that the starting point for language learning is not grammatical rules but context, function, meaning and the appropriate use of the language.

Richards and Rogers identify the distinct characteristics of communicative language teaching as (1986: P.71):

‘Language is a system for the expression of meaning.

The primary function of language is for interaction and communication function of language.

The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.

The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse.’

This approach calls for radically different ideas of language teaching. One major shift is that language learning has become student-centred. Lessons are planned in such a way that all the students can engage in interactive activities.

Authentic and meaningful communication should be goal of classroom act ivies. Group work and pair work are employed to promote communication and getting the meaning across. Authentic materials, such as newspaper articles, radio programmes, video-tapes, train-timetables etc., are used to bring the real world elements into the classroom. Situations are simulated but interaction and task complete within real-time are genuine. Role-plays centre on communicative functions.

Fluency is an important dimension of communication. The objective of language learning is to communicate; attempts to communicate are encouraged at the very beginning. Errors are unavoidable but accuracy is judged in context rather in structures and forms. Errors which are concerned with structures are not corrected openly and simultaneously because the main concern is fluency and getting meaning through communication. Learning is a process of creative construction and involves errors.

The Merits and Constraints of the Communicative Approach in Relation to Classroom Practice Ways of Changes

Under the influence of CLT, language teaching has become more sophisticated. The objectives have a broader dimension. Syllabus design takes into the consideration of not only the linguistic and literary aspects of language but also the human and social areas. Language teachers have to be able to provide students with a better and more complete picture of what foreign language learning is about.

Refinement of the ‘Four Skills’

The traditional emphasis on ‘writing’ was a concern with written form with little attention to discourse structure. ‘Listening’ was concerned with minimal pairs or comprehension of isolated sentences. Students practised their speaking skills by imitating stress patterns, intonations and pronunciation of discrete utterances. CLT has brought about a new classification of the ‘four skills’. It relates them more closely to function, purpose and context. Syllabus design revolved round the completion of the four skills of writing, reading, listening and speaking.

For example, we may read about a flower show in the newspaper (reading). Then we telephone to find out the details (listening and speaking), fill in the booking form for the admission tickets and find our way on the map (reading and writing). After that we talk about it with our friends, suggest them to go (listening and speaking). May be we write a letter to invite someone to go together (writing).

Activities like these require an integration of the four skills. No single skill can really develop independently from the others.