Background The origins of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) are to be found in the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. According to Littlewood (19811: 1), one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language. Common to all versions of Communicative Language Teaching is a theory of language teaching that starts from a communicative model of language and language use, and that seeks to translate this into a design for an instructional system, for material, for teacher and learner roles and behaviors, and for classroom activities of approach, design and procedure. Approach Theory of language The Communicative Approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as a communication. According to Hymes (197), the goal of language teachin is to develop communicative competence. Ana Chomsky stated that the focus of linguistic theory was to characterize the abstract abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentences in a language. There are four dimensions of communicative competence are identified by Canale and Swain (1980): grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategic competence. Theory of learning Elements of an underlying learning theory can be discerned in some CLT practices, however. One such element might be described as the communication principle: Activities that involves real communication promote learning. A second element is the task principle: Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning (Johson 1982).A third element is the meaningfulness principle: Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Design Objectives Piepho (1981) discusses the following levels of objectives in a communicative approach: an integrative and content level, a linguistic and instrumental level, an affective level of interpersonal relationship and conduct, a level of individual learning needs, and a general educational level of extra-linguistic goals. The syllabus
One of the first syllabus models to be proposed was described as a
notional syllabus (Wilkins 1976). Which specified the semanticgrammatical categories (e,g., frequency, motion, location) and the categories of communicative function that learners need to express. The Council of Europe expanded and developed this included objectives of foreign language courses for European adults, the situations in which they ight typically need to use a foreign language, the topics they might need to talk about, the functions they needed language for, the notions madeuse of in communication, as well as the vocabulary and grammar needed. Types of learning and teaching activities The range of excercise types and activities compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited, provided that such excercise enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum, engage learners in communication, and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing, negotiation of meaning, and interaction. Classroom activities are often designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information sharing. Leaner roles The emphasis in Communicative Language Teaching on the process of communication, rather than mastery of language forms. Often there is no text, grammar rules are not presented, classroom arrangement is nonstandard, students are expected to interact primarily with each other than with the teacher, and correction of errors may be absent or infrequent. CLT methodologies consequently recommend that learners learn to see that failed communication is a joint responsibility and not the fault of speakers or listener. Teacher roles Breen and Candlin described that there are two main roles for the teacher: the first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and between these participants and the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning-teaching group. Other roles assumed for teachers are needs analyst, counselor and group process manager. The role of instructional materials Three kinds of materials currently used in CLT and label these textbased, task-based, and realia. These are numerous textbooks designed to direct and support Communicative Language Teaching. Procedure
Because communicative principles can be applied to the teaching of
any skill, at any level, and because of the wide variety of classroom activities and exercise types discussed in the literature on Communicative Language Teaching, description of typical classroom procedures used in a lesson based on CLT principles is not feasible. The methodological procedures underlying these texts reflect a sequence of activities represented in Littewood (1981: 86) as follows: Structural activities Pre-communicative activities Quasi-communicative activities Functional communication activities Communicative activities Social interaction activities