The Use of the Communicative Language Teaching Approach to Improve Students’ Oral Skills

Vanessa Toro,Gina Camacho-Minuche,Fabian Paredes,Eliana Pinza-Tapia

doi:10.5539/elt.v12n1p110

Vanessa Toro, Gina Camacho-Minuche + Show 2 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5539/elt.v12n1p110

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to determine the use of the Communicative Language Teaching approach in the English classroom and the strategies and resources used by the teachers to improve students&rsquo; oral skills. The participants were 6 English teachers and 105 students enrolled in the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th grades at a public elementary school in the city of Loja, located at the southern part of Ecuador. A mixed method approach was applied in this study. In order to collect the data, a questionnaire was given to the English teachers and class observations were carried out. The results obtained throughout this study reveal that modeling, repetition, pair and group work are the main strategies used by teachers to help students develop communicative competences. These strategies were frequently used but still not enough to promote active participation during classes. It is important to highlight that there is a variety of strategies besides the ones previously mentioned that can be incorporated to offer students more opportunities to orally produce the language. Additionally, teachers provide different kinds of feedback such as metalinguistic feedback and elicitation as a way to help students improve their oral skills.

Highlights

There are different methods that are being used to teach English as a foreign language but not all of them help us to reach the desired communicative goals; the selection and application of the most effective ones is required
The results obtained throughout this study reveal that modeling, repetition, pair and group work are the main strategies used by teachers to help students develop communicative competences
The study conducted by Calle, Calle, Argudo, Moscoso, Smith, and Cabrera (2012) indicates that the strategies teachers use in the English classroom are based on traditional methods that do not focus on the Communicative Language Teaching approach as it is established by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ecuador

Summary

Introduction

There are different methods that are being used to teach English as a foreign language but not all of them help us to reach the desired communicative goals; the selection and application of the most effective ones is required. The study conducted by Calle, Calle, Argudo, Moscoso, Smith, and Cabrera (2012) indicates that the strategies teachers use in the English classroom are based on traditional methods that do not focus on the Communicative Language Teaching approach as it is established by the Ministry of Education and Culture of Ecuador. They highlight that English classes are teacher-centered rather than student-centered and most of them are conducted in Spanish which limit the acquisition of the target language. With respect to “Bachillerato General Unificado”, students from 1st and 2nd grades receive 5 hours of English per week while the students from 3rd grade receive 3 hours per week; the time assigned for English classes in Ecuador are not sufficient for students to develop their communicative competence

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