Theory Of Communicative Language Teaching Research Articles

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Strategies in Daily Lesson Plans of Oral Communication Teachers and their Alignment to Standards in Curriculum Guide

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach that has been the subject of many practitioners and researchers in the field of language teaching and applied linguistics in many countries like the Philippines because of the recent changes and educational reforms, including lessons and curriculum innovations. Anchored to the CLT theory, this study used quantitative-qualitative content analysis of the daily lesson plans of the 7 purposively sampled Senior High School (SHS) language teachers teaching Oral Communication in Context (OCC). This aimed to identify the activities by cluster, assess which activities are CLT strategies, and determine their alignment to standards in the curriculum guide. Results revealed that the strategies used as classified through content analysis, and according to type and frequency included task-completion activity, opinion-sharing activity, mechanical practice activity, information-transfer activity, reasoning-gap activity, information-gap activity, communicative activity, information-gathering activity, fluency activity, accuracy activity, meaningful practice activity, and others. A number of strategies matched the CLT principles and features but vary on their respective percentages in each of the four phases, i.e., Activity-Analysis-Abstraction-Application (4As) of the lesson. These CLT strategies were found to be aligned to the Department of Education’s curriculum guide in terms of content standards, performance standards and assessment types. Implications of the findings to language teaching in the Philippines were drawn.

CLT in Chines Major’s Comprehensive Chinese Course – A case study of Khon Kaen University, Thailand

Abstract Nowadays Chinese language is become one of the most important foreign language in Thailand reflexing by the growing popularity of the Chinese language. Traditional Chinese language teaching cause the lack of high communicative competence. Therefore, the study preliminarily attempt to combine the theory of Communicative Language Teaching with Comprehensive Chinese teaching so as to search for a feasible and effective instruction which conforms to the teaching features of comprehensive Chinese course in Khon Kaen University. After Pre-test and Post-test and compared by SPSS (T-Test sig (2-tailed) = 0.00<0.05), the result show that in Listening skill the difference is significant (sig. (2-tailed) = 0.01), Speaking skill the different is significant (sig. (2-tailed) = 0.00), Writing skill the different is significant (sig. (2-tailed) = 0.03), only Reading skill which the difference is no significant(sig. (2-tailed) = 0.324). As a result after a semester using Communicative Language Teaching method in comprehensive Chinese course for Chinese major student in Khon Kaen University, CLT effectively improve student Chinese language achievement and help them to improve their Chinese listening, speaking and writing skill. Moreover, this teaching method is highly recognized by students. This verified the important and necessity of communicative language teaching method to improve Chinese major student Chinese communicative competence.

CLT in Chines Major’s Comprehensive Chinese Course – A case study of Khon Kaen University, Thailand

0

Learner Role in CLT: Practices in the Higher Secondary Classrooms

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a learner-centered approach for language teaching and learning. In the CLT context, learner’s role changes from that of a passive receiver to an active participant engaging in diverse classroom activities that promote communicative competence. Again, L2 learners are supposed to learn the language by using it for different tasks, and taking part in pair work, group work, role play, and discussion inside classrooms. This study aims to find out gaps, if any, between learner roles as advocated in CLT theory and as practiced by learners in the higher secondary classrooms in Bangladesh while teaching/learning English following this approach, and its relation to poor ‘learning outcomes’. Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015, page: 34-40

Document Analysis as a Tool in the Evaluation of an English as a Foreign Language Grammar Course

The present article reports on an evaluative study undertaken on a language course so as to indicate its strengths and weaknesses with the purpose of improving future ones. Third-year undergraduate students of Applied Linguistics at the Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis are supposed to receive grammatical instruction from a course labelled ‘Communicative Grammar’ (CG) following the theory of Communicative Language Teaching. In order to provide an account of the extent to which the current teaching practice conforms to the theory behind it, the main research instrument used in this study is document analysis. Analysis of the aims stated in the syllabus and the objectives of the course book revealed a significant mismatch between theory and practice. It showed that discrepancies exist especially in terms of content as the linguistic information specified in the syllabus and contained in the course book are not consonant with the type of content postulated by Communicative Grammar. Inadequacies exist also at the methodological level, mainly because the activities used throughout the course include linguistic activities instead of communicative tasks. Since this mismatch is attributed mainly to the teachers’ academic ability, the article ends with some recommendations of suggestions that can be adapted to meet the daily challenges of improving learning in the classroom.

Document Analysis as a Tool in the Evaluation of an English as a Foreign Language Grammar Course

The present article reports on an evaluative study undertaken on a language course so as to indicate its strengths and weaknesses with the purpose of improving future ones. Third-year undergraduate students of Applied Linguistics at the Higher Institute of Languages of Tunis are supposed to receive grammatical instruction from a course labelled ‘Communicative Grammar’ (CG) following the theory of Communicative Language Teaching. In order to provide an account of the extent to which the current teaching practice conforms to the theory behind it, the main research instrument used in this study is document analysis. Analysis of the aims stated in the syllabus and the objectives of the course book revealed a significant mismatch between theory and practice. It showed that discrepancies exist especially in terms of content as the linguistic information specified in the syllabus and contained in the course book are not consonant with the type of content postulated by Communicative Grammar. Inadequacies exist also at the methodological level, mainly because the activities used throughout the course include linguistic activities instead of communicative tasks. Since this mismatch is attributed mainly to the teachers’ academic ability, the article ends with some recommendations of suggestions that can be adapted to meet the daily challenges of improving learning in the classroom.

Preparing Adult Educators

This paper examines why communicative language teaching (CLT) fails to improve student learning in certain contexts by assessing two adult educators’ communicative and noncommunicative practices through qualitative case studies, interviews, and participant observations. Results show no inherent CLT problems that prevent teachers from grasping CLT theory and transforming it into classroom practices. Communicative classroom practices lead to significant improvements in student communicative competence and four skills, whereas noncommunicative practices bring about poor student learning outcomes. Moreover, noncommunicative teaching incurs negative consequences for teachers and students more than traditional pattern-drill instruction. The study points to the teachers for CLT failures in certain contexts and recommends CLT to underpin English as a foreign language/English as a second language (EFL/ESL) curriculum and instruction, alongside changes in adult educator preparation programs and in-service teacher training. To avoid noncommunicative instruction, policymakers and initial and in-service teacher training programs should offer communicative training that mixes and balances theory and practice, and should monitor teacher cognition and behavior in actual classrooms.

An Armenian English language teacher’s practical theory of communicative language teaching

Previous studies have shown that teacher cognitions and practices can be inconsistent, particularly with claims about communicative teaching practices. This article describes the practical theory of a state school EFL teacher in Armenia who claimed to be using a communicative approach to language teaching by considering her stated cognitions and observed practices and the contextual factors that influenced them. Data included six months of e-mail interviews, two on-site classroom observations, and one on-site interview; this study will focus on the observation of a grade 9 lesson which the teacher described as communicative. Analysis of the interview data shows that the teacher articulated a cohesive, coherent practical theory. The observation showed that she implemented many of her stated cognitions; however, some cognitions appeared to diverge in practice. Both her cognitions and practices were influenced by her understanding of the context in which she worked; meeting different expectations in particular may have contributed to the divergence between cognitions and practices.

Teaching a foreign language: one teacher's practical theory

In recent decades, teachers of second languages in many countries, including Australia, have been encouraged to use an approach known as communicative language teaching (CLT). This approach advocates the development of communicative competence as a primary goal through the extensive use of the second language as a means of communication during classroom lessons. Understandably, education authorities and teacher educators are keen to know what teachers understand by CLT and how well they have incorporated this approach into their second language teaching. This exploratory study seeks to answer these questions in respect of one teacher, who claims to use a CLT approach. This is done by documenting her personal practical theory of CLT, using a framework adapted from a well-known approach to describing models of teaching. Access to the teacher's practical theories was gained through in-depth, semi-structured interviews and stimulated recall interviews involving use of videotapes of two of the teacher's lessons. The study establishes that the teacher's practical theory is an amalgam of many features of CLT approaches and of general teaching. The CLT components of the teacher's practical theory are largely consistent with features commonly listed in texts about CLT approaches, though there are some components of her theory that are not generally discussed in the CLT literature. The framework used in this study for representing the teacher's practical theories of CLT is also assessed and considered suitable for wider use.

Current Developments in Language Curriculum Design: An Australian Perspective

The past decade in language curriculum in Australia has been a time of exploration and innovation, and also a time of consolidation. During this period, curriculum planning reflected, first, a swing within the teaching profession to greater teacher responsibility in curriculum (a responsive curriculum), then a swing back to teacher accountability (an explicit curriculum) due to demands external to the teaching profession. In addition, language curriculum in Australia was strongly influenced by communicative language teaching theory (CLT) and the related developments of task-based learning (TBL), needs-based programming, and language as discourse theory.