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Communicative language teaching

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Main article: Methods of teaching foreign languages
Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second and
foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of
learning a language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of
foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach”.

Contents
[hide]
• 1 Relationship with other methods and approaches
○ 1.1 The audio-lingual method
○ 1.2 The notional-functional syllabus
○ 1.3 Learning by teaching (LdL)
• 2 Classroom activities used in CLT
• 3 Critiques of CLT
• 4 See also
• 5 References

[edit] Relationship with other methods and approaches

Historically, CLT has been seen as a response to the audio-lingual method (ALM), and as an
extension or development of the notional-functional syllabus. Task-based language learning,
a more recent refinement of CLT, has gained considerably in popularity.
[edit] The audio-lingual method
The audio-lingual method (ALM) arose as a direct result of the need for foreign language
proficiency in listening and speaking skills during and after World War II. It is closely tied to
behaviorism, and thus made drilling, repetition, and habit-formation central elements of
instruction. Proponents of ALM felt that this emphasis on repetition needed a corollary
emphasis on accuracy, claiming that continual repetition of errors would lead to the fixed
acquisition of incorrect structures and non-standard pronunciation.
In the classroom, lessons were often organized by grammatical structure and presented
through short dialogues. Often, students listened repeatedly to recordings of conversations
(for example, in the language lab) and focused on accurately mimicking the pronunciation
and grammatical structures in these dialogs.
Critics of ALM asserted that this over-emphasis on repetition and accuracy ultimately did not
help students achieve communicative competence in the target language. Noam Chomsky
argued "Language is not a habit structure. Ordinary linguistic behaviour characteristically
involves innovation, formation of new sentences and patterns in accordance with rules of
great abstractness and intricacy". They looked for new ways to present and organize language
instruction, and advocated the notional functional syllabus, and eventually CLT as the most
effective way to teach second and foreign languages. However, audio-lingual methodology is
still prevalent in many text books and teaching materials. Moreover, advocates of audio-
lingual methods point to their success in improving aspects of language that are habit driven,
most notably pronunciation.
[edit] The notional-functional syllabus
Main article: Notional-functional syllabus
A notional-functional syllabus is more a way of organizing a language learning curriculum
than a method or an approach to teaching. In a notional-functional syllabus, instruction is
organized not in terms of grammatical structure as had often been done with the ALM, but in
terms of “notions” and “functions.” In this model, a “notion” is a particular context in which
people communicate, and a “function” is a specific purpose for a speaker in a given context.
As an example, the “notion” or context shopping requires numerous language functions
including asking about prices or features of a product and bargaining. Similarly, the notion
party would require numerous functions like introductions and greetings and discussing
interests and hobbies. Proponents of the notional-functional syllabus claimed that it addressed
the deficiencies they found in the ALM by helping students develop their ability to
effectively communicate in a variety of real-life contexts.
[edit] Learning by teaching (LdL)
Learning by teaching is a widespread method in Germany (Jean-Pol Martin). The students
take the teacher's role and teach their peers.

CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching, rather than as a teaching

method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. As such, it is most often defined as
a list of general principles or features. One of the most recognized of these lists is David
Nunan’s (1991) five features of CLT:
1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on
the Learning Management process.
4. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning.
5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the
classroom.
These five features are claimed by practitioners of CLT to show that they are very interested
in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the language as it
is taught in their class and as it used outside the classroom. Under this broad umbrella
definition, any teaching practice that helps students develop their communicative competence
in an authentic context is deemed an acceptable and beneficial form of instruction. Thus, in
the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair and group work requiring negotiation and
cooperation between learners, fluency-based activities that encourage learners to develop
their confidence, role-plays in which students practice and develop language functions, as
well as judicious use of grammar and pronunciation focused activities.
In the mid 1990s the Dogma 95 manifesto influenced language teaching through the Dogme
language teaching movement, who proposed that published materials can stifle the
communicative approach. As such the aim of the Dogme approach to language teaching is to
focus on real conversations about real subjects so that communication is the engine of
learning. This communication may lead to explanation, but that this in turn will lead to
further communication.[1]
[edit] Classroom activities used in CLT
Example Activities
Role Play
Interviews
Information Gap
Games
Language Exchanges
Surveys
Pair Work
Learning by teaching
However, not all courses that utilize the Communicative Language approach will restrict their
activities solely to these. Some courses will have the students take occasional grammar
quizzes, or prepare at home using non-communicative drills, for instance.
[edit] Critiques of CLT
One of the most famous attacks on communicative language teaching was offered by Michael
Swan in the English Language Teaching Journal in 1985[2]. Henry Widdowson responded in
defense of CLT, also in the ELT Journal (1985 39(3):158-161). More recently other writers
(e.g. Bax[3]) have critiqued CLT for paying insufficient attention to the context in which
teaching and learning take place, though CLT has also been defended against this charge (e.g.
Harmer 2003[4]).
Often, the communicative approach is deemed a success if the teacher understands the
student. But, if the teacher is from the same region as the student, the teacher will understand
errors resulting from an influence from their first language. Native speakers of the target
language may still have difficulty understanding them. This observation may call for new
thinking on and adaptation of the communicative approach. The adapted communicative
approach should be a simulation where the teacher pretends to understand only what any
regular speaker of the target language would and reacts accordingly (Hattum 2006[5]).
[edit] See also
• Task-based language learning
 • Notional-functional syllabus
• Learning by teaching (LdL)
• Language education
• Language exchange
• Teaching English as a foreign language
• English as an additional language
[edit] References
1. ^ Luke, Meddings (2004-03-26). "Throw away your textbooks". The Guardian.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2004/mar/26/tefl.lukemeddings. Retrieved
2009-03-10.
2. ^ Swan, Michael (1985) in the English Language Teaching Journal 39(1):2-12, and
1985 39(2):76-87
3. ^ Bax, S (2003) The end of CLT: a context approach to language teaching ELT J
2003 57: 278-287
4. ^ Harmer, J. (2003) Popular culture, methods, and context ELT J 2003 57: 288-294
5. ^ Hattum, Ton van (2006), The Communicative Approach Rethought,
http://www.tonvanhattum.com.br/comreth.html, retrieved 2010-10-03
[hide]
v•d•e
Methods of teaching foreign languages

Structural
Grammar translation · Audio-lingual method · Proprioceptive method
methods

Direct method · Communicative language teaching · Task-based language

Interactive
learning · Language immersion · Suggestopedia · Total Physical Response · TPR
methods
Storytelling · Dogme language teaching

Proprietar
Pimsleur system · Michel Thomas Method
y methods
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The Communicative Approach in English

as a Foreign Language Teaching
 Enviado por orellana
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1.
2. Summary
3. Where does communicative language teaching come from?
4. What is communicative language teaching?
5. What are some examples of communicative exercises?
6. How do the roles of the teacher and student change in Communicative language
teaching?
7. Bibliography
SUMMARY.
This article refers to the way teachers can focus the teaching of the foreign language in the
classroom in such a way that students can communicate in a conscious way, taking into
account their real experiences. Here, the origin of the Communicative Approach as a
combination of different methods is clearly explained, as such as the role of the teacher and
the students in a communicative English as a Second Language class. The article also gives
some examples of communicative activities that can be developed in a class from the
communicative point of view.

This digest will take a look at the communicative approach to the teaching of foreign
languages. It is intended as an introduction to the communicative approach for teachers and
teachers-in-training who want to provide opportunities in the classroom for their students to
engage in real-life communication in the target language. Questions to be dealt with include
what the communicative approach is, where it came from, and how teachers' and students'
roles differ from the roles they play in other teaching approaches. Examples of exercises that
can be used with a communicative approach are described, and sources of appropriate
materials are provided.
WHERE DOES COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING COME FROM?
Its origins are many, insofar as one teaching methodology tends to influence the next. The
communicative approach could be said to be the product of educators and linguists who had
grown dissatisfied with the audiolingual and grammar-translation methods of foreign
language instruction.
They felt that students were not learning enough realistic, whole language. They did not
know how to communicate using appropriate social language, gestures, or expressions; in
brief, they were at a loss to communicate in the culture of the language studied. Interest in
and development of communicative-style teaching mushroomed in the 1970s; authentic
language use and classroom exchanges where students engaged in real communication with
one another became quite popular.
In the intervening years, the communicative approach has been adapted to the elementary,
middle, secondary, and post-secondary levels, and the underlying philosophy has spawned
different teaching methods known under a variety of names, including notional-functional,
teaching for proficiency, proficiency-based instruction, and communicative language
teaching.

WHAT IS COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING?

Communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate
communication. The teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real
life. Unlike the audiolingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and
drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a
class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. The real-life
simulations change from day to day. Students' motivation to learn comes from their desire to
communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics.
Margie S. Berns, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in
explaining Firth's view that "language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear
relationship with society. In this light, language study has to look at the use (function) of
language in context, both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece
of discourse) and its social, or situational, context (who is speaking, what their social roles
are, why they have come together to speak)" (Berns, 1984, p. 5).
WHAT ARE SOME EXAMPLES OF COMMUNICATIVE EXERCISES?
In a communicative classroom for beginners, the teacher might begin by passing out cards,
each with a different name printed on it. The teacher then proceeds to model an exchange of
introductions in the target language: "Guten Tag. Wieheissen Sie?" Reply: "Icheisse Wolfie,"
for example. Using a combination of the target language and gestures, the teacher conveys
the task at hand, and gets the students to introduce themselves and ask their classmates for
information. They are responding in German to a question in German. They do not know the
answers beforehand, as they are each holding cards with their new identities written on them;
hence, there is an authentic exchange of information.
Later during the class, as a reinforcement listening exercise, the students might hear a
recorded exchange between two German freshmen meeting each other for the first time at the
gymnasium doors. Then the teacher might explain, in English, the differences among German
greetings in various social situations. Finally, the teacher will explain some of the grammar
points and structures used.
The following exercise is taken from a 1987 workshop on communicative foreign language
teaching, given for Delaware language teachers by Karen Willetts and Lynn Thompson of the
Center for Applied Linguistics. The exercise, called "Eavesdropping," is aimed at advanced
students.
"Instructions to students" Listen to a conversation somewhere in a public place and be
prepared to answer, in the target language, some general questions about what was said.
1. Who was talking?
2. About how old were they?
3. Where were they when you eavesdropped?
4. What were they talking about?
5. What did they say?
6. Did they become aware that you were listening to them?
The exercise puts students in a real-world listening situation where they must report
information overheard. Most likely they have an opinion of the topic, and a class discussion
could follow, in the target language, about their experiences and viewpoints.
Communicative exercises such as this motivate the students by treating topics of their choice,
at an appropriately challenging level.
Another exercise taken from the same source is for beginning students of Spanish. In
"Listening for the Gist," students are placed in an everyday situation where they must listen
to an authentic text.
"Objective." Students listen to a passage to get general understanding of the topic or message.
"Directions." Have students listen to the following announcement to decide what the speaker
is promoting.
"Passage" "Situacion ideal...Servicio de transporte al Aeropuerto Internacional...Cuarenta y
dos habitaciones de lujo, con aire acondicionado...Elegante restaurante...de fama
internacional."
(The announcement can be read by the teacher or played on tape.) Then ask students to circle
the letter of the most appropriate answer on their copy, which consists of the following
multiple-choice options:
• a taxi service
• b. a hotel
• c. an airport
• d. a restaurant
• (Source: Adapted from Ontario Assessment Instrument Pool, 1980, Item No. 13019)
Gunter Gerngross, an English teacher in Austria, gives an example of how he makes his
lessons more communicative. He cites a widely used textbook that shows English children
having a pet show. "Even when learners act out this scene creatively and enthusiastically,
they do not reach the depth of involvement that is almost tangible when they act out a short
text that presents a family conflict revolving round the question of whether the children
should be allowed to have a pet or not" (Gerngross & Puchta, 1984, p. 92). He continues to
say that the communicative approach "puts great emphasis on listening, which implies an
active will to try to understand others. [This is] one of the hardest tasks to achieve because
the children are used to listening to the teacher but not to their peers. There are no quick, set
recipes.
That the teacher be a patient listener is the basic requirement" (p. 98).
The observation by Gerngross on the role of the teacher as one of listener rather than speaker
brings up several points to be discussed in the next portion of this digest.
HOW DO THE ROLES OF THE TEACHER AND STUDENT CHANGE IN
COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING?
Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more--
becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). The teacher
sets up the exercise, but because the students' performance is the goal, the teacher must step
back and observe, sometimes acting as referee or monitor. A classroom during a
communicative activity is far from quiet, however. The students do most of the speaking, and
frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise is active, with students
leaving their seats to complete a task.
Because of the increased responsibility to participate, students may find they gain confidence
in using the target language in general. Students are more responsible managers of their own
learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986).
BIBLIOGRAPHY

BC. [1982]. "In search of a language teaching framework: An adaptation of a communicative

approach to functional practice." (EDRS No. ED 239 507, 26 pages)
Das, B. K. (Ed.) (1984). "Communicative language teaching." Selected papers from the
RELC seminar (Singapore). "Anthology Series 14." (EDRS No. ED 266 661, 234 pages)
Littlewood, W. T. (1983). "Communicative approach to language teaching methodology
(CLCS Occasional Paper No. 7)." Dublin: Dublin University, Trinity College, Centre for
Language and Communication Studies. (EDRS No. ED 235 690, 23 pages)
Pattison, P. (1987). "The communicative approach and classroom realities." (EDRS No. ED
288 407, 17 pages)
Riley, P. (1982). "Topics in communicative methodology: Including a preliminary and
selective bibliography on the communicative approach." (EDRS No. ED 231 213, 31 pages)
Savignon, S. J., & Berns, M. S. (Eds.). (1983). "Communicative language teaching: Where
are we going? Studies in Language Learning," 4(2). (EDRS No. ED 278 226, 210 pages)
Sheils, J. (1986). "Implications of the communicative approach for the role of the teacher."
(EDRS No. ED 268 831, 7 pages)
Swain, M., & Canale, M. (1982). "The role of grammar in a communicative approach to
second language teaching and testing." (EDRS No. ED 221 026, 8 pages) (not available
separately; available from EDRS as part of ED 221 023, 138 pages)
Willems, G., & Riley, P. (Eds.). (1984). "Communicative foreign language teaching and the
training of foreign language teachers." (EDRS No. ED 273 102, 219 pages)
Readers may also wish to consult the following journal articles for additional information on
communicative language teaching.
Clark, J. L. (1987). Classroom assessment in a communicative approach. "British Journal of
Language Teaching," 25(1), 9-19.
Dolle, D., & Willems, G. M. (1984). The communicative approach to foreign language
teaching: The teacher's case. "European Journal of Teacher Education," 7(2), 145-54.
Morrow, K., & Schocker, M. (1987). Using texts in a communicative approach. "ELT
Journal," 41(4), 248-56.
Oxford, R. L., et al. (1989). Language learning strategies, the communicative approach, and
their classroom implications. "Foreign Language Annals," 22(1), 29-39.
Pica, T. P. (1988). Communicative language teaching: An aid to second language
acquisition? Some insights from classroom research. "English Quarterly," 21(2), 70-80.
Rosenthal, A. S., & Sloane, R. A. (1987). A communicative approach to foreign language
instruction: The UMBC project. "Foreign Language Annals," 20(3), 245-53.
Swan, M. (1985). A critical look at the communicative approach (1). "ELT Journal," 39(1), 2-
12.
Swan, M. (1985). A critical look at the communicative approach (2). "ELT Journal," 39(2),
76-87.
Terrell, T. D. (1991). The role of grammar instruction in a communicative approach.
"Modern Language Journal," 75(1), 52-63.
REFERENCES AND RESOURCES
Berns, M. S. (1984). Functional approaches to language and language teaching: Another
look. In S. Savignon & M. S. Berns (Eds.), "Initiatives in communicative language teaching.
A book of readings" (pp. 3-21). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Gerngross, G., & Puchta, H. (1984). Beyond notions and functions: Language teaching or the
art of letting go. In S. Savignon & M. S. Berns (Eds.), "Initiatives in communicative language
teaching. A book of readings" (pp. 89-107). Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). "Techniques and principles in language teaching." Oxford:
Oxford University Press.
Littlewood, W. (1981). "Language teaching. An introduction." Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press.
Savignon, S., & Berns, M. S. (Eds.). (1984). "Initiatives in communicative language
teaching." Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley.
Lic. Evelio Elías Orellana Orellana
orellana[arroba]suss.co.cu

Comentarios

Jueves, 1 de Noviembre de 2007 a las 08:40 | 0

David David
No veo ninguna referencia a Ann Galloway, del Center for Applied
Linguistics (la autora del artículo). Ver
http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/gallow01.html y/o
http://www.ericdigests.org/1993/sample.htm
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What is the Communicative Approach ?

The Communicative Approach was founded by Robert Langs. Click here to read his
biography.
Psychoanalysis has turned reality on its head: We are taught to think of ourselves as
distorters and misperceivers, unreliable slaves to our inner fantasies - especially when we
are patients in therapy. But the communicative approach has shown that it is more
accurate and compelling to see ourselves as highly reliable perceivers, with the
understanding that our most valid perceptions are experienced unconsciously and
encoded in the stories we tell to ourselves and others. Knowing how to decode these
stories is the key to a truly accurate view of the human emotion-processing mind and
emotional life.

The full name of the Communicative Approach (CA) is "The Communicative-Adaptive

approach." This highlights the two most distinctive features of the CA: first, that it is a
new way to understand human emotionally-laden communications and second, that it has
shown that the primary function of the emotion-processing mind is to cope with - adapt
to - immediate emotionally-charged triggering events.

What is the communicative approach?

The communicative approach (CA) was developed by Robert Langs MD, In the early
1970's. It is a new theory or paradigm of emotional life and psychoanalysis that is
centered on human adaptations to emotionally-charged events--with full appreciation that
such adaptations take place both within awareness (consciously) and outside of
awareness (unconsciously). The approach gives full credence to the unconscious side of
emotional life and has rendered it highly sensible and incontrovertible by discovering a
new, validated, and deeply meaningful way of decoding unconscious messages. This
procedure-called trigger decoding--has brought forth new and highly illuminating
revisions of our understanding of both emotional life and psychotherapy, and it calls for
significant changes in presently accepted psychoanalytic thinking and practice.

The CA has exposed and offered correctives for much of what's wrong with our current
picture of the emotional mind and today's psychotherapies-critical errors in thinking and
practice that have cause untold suffering throughout the world. In essence, the approach
has shown that emotional problems do not arise first and foremost from disturbing inner
memories and fantasies or daydreams; nor do they arise primarily from consciously
known thoughts and patterns of behavior. Instead, emotional disturbances arise primarily
from failed efforts at coping with current emotionally-charged traumas. The present-day
focus by mainstream psychoanalysts (MP) on the past and on inner fantasies and
memories has been replaced in this CA with a focus on the present, as experienced and
reacted to consciously and unconsciously-in brief, the primacy afforded by MP to fantasy
and imagination has been replaced by the primacy afforded by the CA to reality, trauma,
and perception (especially unconscious perception).

Perhaps the best way to appreciate the key feature of the CA is to contrast it with
mainstream psychoanalysis (MP):

MP: Emotional problems arise from our inner conflicts, especially distorting memories
and fantasies.
CA: Emotional problems arise because an emotionally-traumatic current event has gone
unmastered. This failure to cope is secondarily affected by a person's past life history and
current inner mental life.

MP: The central problem in emotional life involves resolving past conflicts that have
become inner-mental conflicts in the present.
CA: The key problem in emotional life involves coping with a contemporaneous
emotional trauma and its ramifications.

MP: Unconscious messages are conveyed in every conceivable way, in everything we do

and say.
CA: Deeply meaningful unconscious messages are conveyed exclusively by narratives--
the stories we tell ourselves and others, including dreams, daydreams, and other types of
tales. There is little in the way of deep unconscious meaning in our analyses,
speculations, explanations and other intellectual-reasoning activities-unconscious
meaning is expressed in stories.

MP: "The unconscious" can be inferred directly from what people say and do. It is to be
formulated in terms of patterns of behavior and unrealized memories and fantasies.
Images can be explored at face value for their implications and symbolic meanings.
CA: The critical unconscious meanings disguised in our stories cannot be inferred
directly-they can be discovered only through a decoding effort. This decoding method -
trigger decoding - is initiated with a search for the decoding key, the current event that
has provoked the encoded message (note the role played by coping or adapting). These
traumatic incidents take the form of emotionally-charged experiences -- triggering events
or triggers, for short. In order to properly decode an unconscious (encoded) message, you
must know the incident to which it is a response. This enables you to decode a story in
light of its evocative trigger-unconscious messages are never conveyed directly or
manifestly, but always in disguise.

Brief example: A patient tells her therapist a story about her butcher having his finger on
the scale and cheating her. The therapist mistakenly tells the patient that her problem is
that she sees men as trying to exploit her (an MP intervention-the problem is in the mind
of the patient). But there is a trigger for the story the patient just told: The therapist had
just handed the patient her bill. Consciously, the patient looked at the bill and accepted it
as such. But she then thought of this story, which conveys an unconscious perception that
her therapist has over-charged her-which he has.
As always, the unconscious mind knows what's really going on (it's incisively in touch
with reality), while the conscious mind misses a lot (it's inclined toward defensive
obliterations and denials-all conscious-system therapies self-explorations and therapies
suffer from this deficit). The trigger of the therapist's over-charge evoked this encoded
story in which the butcher is used to allude in disguise to the therapist (displacement is
involved). Notice too that even though this error was not recognized consciously, it was
registered unconsciously via unconscious perception and processed with a deep
unconscious intelligence.
In general, we tell stories about another time, place and person (displaced tales) in order
to convey in disguise our unconscious experience of an immediate situation with
someone who is upsetting us. Direct readings of images and symbolic interpretations
cannot uncover these critical disguised messages-they are revealed solely through trigger
decoding.

MP: The emotion-processing mind has many functions and tasks-perception, memory,
defense, adaptation, self-observation, etc.--all of relatively equal importance.
CA: The single most important function of the emotion-processing mind is to cope with
(adapt to) emotionally-charged triggering events.

MP: The emotional mind is a single system with conscious and unconscious components.
CA: The emotion-processing mind is a two system entity. There is a conscious system
that is linked to awareness and it serves as the system with which we cope directly. The
system is, however, extremely defensive and inclined toward obliteration and denial-
much of it, at bottom, in the service of the denial of the unbearable prospect of personal
death (death-related issues are connected to every trauma a person suffers). As a result of
this defensiveness, our conscious view of the emotional world is extremely restricted and
often in error-conscious perception and thinking are an unreliable basis for making
emotionally-charged decisions.
The second system, the deep unconscious system, takes in information and meaning
through unconscious (subliminal) perception and processes these inputs unconsciously as
well. Once the processing has been completed (and it's very rapid), the system emits
encoded messages that reflect the nature of these adaptive efforts. Operating outside of
awareness, the deep unconscious system is relatively non-defensive and quite in touch
with the true nature of events and their implications-it seldom misperceives. It therefore
serves as a highly reliable system for making emotionally-charged decisions-but doing so
requires the use of trigger decoding in order to ascertain the nature of unconscious
experience.

MP: In psychotherapy, the critical search is for transferences-patients' distortions of what

their therapists are saying and doing.
CA: In psychotherapy, the search is for patients' valid unconscious perceptions of the real
or actual implications of what the therapist is saying and doing.
The CA replaces MP's largely incorrect formulations of patients' unconscious distortions
with formulations of their accurate unconscious perceptions. On the whole, the critical
role played by unconscious adaptations and perceptions in emotional life and
psychotherapy are missed in MP, while they are placed center-stage in the CA.

All in all, MP and CA have very different conceptions of the unconscious domain. The
CA sees the interventions of therapists as the key triggers for patients' unconscious
experiences in therapy, while MP ignores most of the implications of what therapists
actually do and say in sessions, especially their unconscious meanings. Furthermore, the
CA has discovered that patients' unconscious experiences in therapy are focused almost
entirely on the therapist's management of the setting and ground rules of therapy, while
MP has a naïve and uninformed understanding of the unconscious ramifications of the
frame-related and other activities (interventions) of therapists.

Essential Features

As a new theory of how we cope with emotionally-charged incidents and events-a theory
of emotional life-the main features of the CA are:

*Humans have evolved and are designed mentally to cope with immediate emotionally-
charged experiences-triggering situations.

*These adaptive thoughts and behaviors have both conscious and unconscious sources
and features. We cope emotionally on two levels: first, directly and with undisguised
awareness of what we are reacting to and how we are reacting (conscious system
activities), and second, indirectly (reacting to one person when the response belongs to
someone else) and without awareness of what we are reacting to unconsciously-this
information is never directly recognized, but always is encoded in our stories (deep
unconscious system activities).

*Because we are so terrified and disturbed by traumatic emotional experiences-much of it

through their connection to harm and death-we use a lot of denial consciously. This
denial-ultimately a denial of death-is self-protective, but very costly in self-harm and
harm to others. Unconscious death anxiety unwittingly motivates many destructive
decisions, choices and actions. All in all, the most powerful influences in our emotional
lives are perceived outside of awareness (subliminally or unconsciously) and responded
to similarly--without our knowing the deeper reasons for what we are doing.

*Perception has primacy over fantasy and memory-what we perceive at the moment is
what we adapt to first and foremost. Past experiences and our memories and inner state
affect how we cope, but our prime devotion is coping in the present.

*Unconscious perception is a basic human resource. Unconscious experiences are

reflected in unconscious messages-messages that are disguised or encoded in the stories
we tell to ourselves (daydreams), dream about, and tell to others.

*Many of the most frightening things we perceive, and their most disturbing
implications, are perceived unconsciously and conveyed through encoded stories.

*These unrealized events/inputs strongly affect every aspect of our emotional lives.

*Decoding disguised messages in light of their triggers is critical to developing a sound

picture of what you are reacting to unconsciously and the deeper reasons for why you do
what you do and say what you say.

*By design, the emotional mind is made up of two systems: First, a conscious system
connected directly to awareness. This system creates manifest or surface messages and is
responsible for daily coping efforts. It is a system of 'What you say is what you mean.'
The sequence is: conscious perception, conscious processing, conscious response. It also
is system that screens out and denies many important emotionally-charged meanings and
experiences because their implications are unbearable to behold.
Second, a deep unconscious system that is connected to awareness solely through
encoded messages. It is a highly perceptive system-we know the truths of our emotional
lives unconsciously rather than consciously. This system creates encoded messages that
must be decoded in light of the triggers that set them off. It is a system of 'What you say
is not what you mean; what you mean is disguised/encoded.'

Suggested Reading:

1. Unconscious Communication in Everyday Life. Northvale, NJ: Jason Aronson, 1983.

2. Decoding Your Dreams. New York: Henry Holt, 1988 (Ballantine Books paperback).
3. Rating Your Psychotherapist: The Search for Effective Cure. New York: Henry Holt,
1989 (Ballantine Books paperback).
4. Take Charge of Your Emotional Life. New York: Henry Holt, 1991.
5. The Evolution of the Emotion-processing Mind: With an Introduction to Mental
Darwinism. London: Karnac Books, 1996.
6. Death Anxiety and Clinical Practice. London: Karnac Books, 1997.
7. Rules, Frames and Boundaries in Psychotherapy and Counselling. London: Karnac
Books, 1998.
8. Dreams and Emotional Adaptation. Phoenix, AZ: Zeig, Tucker, 1999.
His evolution of the Approach is described below.
This is a brief history of the creation and evolution of the communicative approach
discussing its main accomplishments and current challenges. It also includes information
about Langs' current clinical research and other relevant interests.
The communicative approach arose after Langs
had completed his classical psychoanalytic
training. It was a reaction to unfinished aspects of
his personal analysis and to nagging doubts that
he had about psychoanalytic theory. His
observations of gross lapses by therapists and the
recognition of disguised or encoded responses to
these therapist-errors by their patients convinced
him that the primary view of the emotion-
processing mind - as he came to call it - should
not be as a projector of fantasies and memories as
suggested in psychoanalytic theory, nor as a
distorter based on past experiences, but
something totally different. Langs discovered that
within the patient/therapist relationship there appeared to be an unconscious perceiver
within the patient (and therapist) whose primary function was to cope with environmental
inputs, namely, the behaviors and communications from each other.
This immediate adaptation in the emotional realm is the key to communicative theory;
and unconscious perception is the key to understanding the emotion-processing mind and
its deep unconscious experiences as reflected in the encoded communications from
patients.
It emerged that for the deep unconscious system, as it came to be called, the therapist's
management of the setting and ground rules of therapy are most critical. The clinical
method of trigger decoding was set in place and unconscious validation via positively
cast stories in response to interventions became the criterion by which the validity of an
intervention and its theoretical rationale were established.
On this basis it was possible to forge a formal science of psychoanalysis and
psychotherapy in which measurement and mathematical models were used to discover
deep laws of human communication and the emotion-processing mind. These evidently
are the first predictive biological laws to have been unearthed and their many
ramifications have barely been developed.
This pioneering work by Langs led him to study the architecture of the mental module
that has evolved to adapt to emotionally-charged triggering events. It became evident that
the emotion-processing mind is a two system entity. There is a conscious system that is
prone to defense and obliteration in the emotional domain, and it is motivated by various
forms of death anxiety, of which existential death anxiety is the most dreaded.
The second system of the emotion-processing mind is called the deep unconscious
system. It receives information and meaning via unconscious perception, is relatively
nondefensive, has a strong and capable intelligence of its own that processes incoming
messages and their meanings, and encodes health-giving directives that can serve the
healing process when they are properly trigger decoded by a therapist. In contrast to the
conscious system, the deep unconscious system strongly prefers secured rather than
modified frames and reveals a deep appreciation of the therapeutic value of such frames.
Langs' current studies involve the search for ways to help patients deal with the secured
frame, and the existential death anxieties that drive them away from meaningful forms of
therapy and insight - the difficulty being that severe death-related experiences intensify
the use by the conscious system of denial-based mechanisms that favour knowledge
reduction in lieu of knowledge acquisition. These psychobiologically evolved and
personally developed tendencies wreak havoc for the lives of patients and therapists
alike.
The oddities of the emotion-processing mind - its dread of meaning and secured frames;
its excessive vulnerability to death anxieties; and its inability naturally (without trigger
decoding) to make use of its resourceful deep unconscious wisdom - led Langs to the
studies of the design of the emotion-processing mind and its evolutionary history. He
found that language acquisition was critical to the development and inherent dysfunctions
of this mental module - it played a role in the human awareness of self and death, be it of
loved ones in the present, past, or future, or of oneself in the future.
Langs' evolutionary studies led to a view of the emotion-processing mind as a Darwin
machine - a huge resource whose adaptive preferences are selected by environmental
events and then sustained. Selectionism prevails most strongly in the immune system and
this realization led to a study of that bodily system for several reasons: It is a model of
selectionism; it has evolved to defend against microscopic predators and the emotion-
processing mind has evolved to deal with macroscopic predators (mainly other humans) -
the two systems protect humans from external disasters; and it shares design features
with the emotion-processing mind. As the older and more evolved entity, the immune
system can shed a great deal of light on the design and operations of the emotion-
processing mind.
Currently Langs is studying and writing about the emotion-processing mind and the
immune system -- and the broader need for therapists to immerse themselves in science.
Langs continues to write and publish books for psychotherapists and the general public.
But he is mindful that by design, most human minds dread the invaluable truths of the
communicative approach and that the approach therefore has an unusual and almost
daunting problem in convincing therapists of the wisdom and value of its postulates and
clinical methods. He, therefore, has been developing special means of bringing attention
to the approach. Chief among them are his recent playscripts which act as a way of both
representing the approach's ideas through drama and of attracting interest in this work.
His play, "Freud's Bird of Prey," with its themes of death and frames - and power, life's
romances and struggles, and such - has had well received staged readings and will be
published this autumn by Zeig, Tucker & Co. His one-woman play, tentatively titled: "In
the Mirror of My Life: Lou Andreas-Salome," which is a vast panoramic tale concerning
a most unusual woman and her life, deals with many strong themes and events, but
mainly with violated frames and the triumph of life over death. Lou was involved with
men like Nietzsche, Rilke, and Freud (she was a psychoanalyst in her later years) and so
the play has a special aura to it. It recently received a staged reading in Hanover,
Germany (which is near Gottingen, where Lou lived out the many years of her later life)
at a meeting of the European Society for Communicative Psychotherapy.
(Producers, directors, and actors please take note - these are works well worth staging.)
Langs is, as you might expect, planning still more.
Go to top of page

Robert Langs, M.D.

Founder of Communicative
Psychotherapy
Robert Langs, M.D. is the creator of the communicative approach (CA). He is an
American psychiatrist and psychoanalyst, analytically trained in a classical Freudian
psychoanalytic institute in New York City, who is known today as an important
psychoanalytic revolutionary and revisionist.
Dr. Langs is a graduate of The Chicago Medical School and he received his psychiatric
training at The Albert Einstein Medical Center in the Bronx, New York. He was
Research Fellow at that institution and then did research at The Research Center for
Mental Health at New York University. He also has served as a clinical researcher at The
Nathan Kline Institute for Psychiatric Research in Orangeburg, NY, Visiting Professor of
Psychiatry at The Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York City, and Visiting
Scholar at Regents College, London.
He is the author of some 130 scientific papers and forty books on psychoanalysis,
psychotherapy, and related subjects like dreams, the architecture and evolution of the
emotion-processing mind, death anxiety, the ground rules of therapy-and more. His
books have been written for both the general public and the profession; sales exceed one
million books. Among his accomplishments are a new and validated understanding of the
unconscious realm and its profound effects on emotional life; a practical way of decoding
unconscious messages; a mapping of the design of the emotion-processing (adaptive)
mind; a presentation of the evolution of this mental module or coping structure; the
development, with Anthony Badalamenti, Ph.D., of a formal, mathematically-based
(true) science of human communication and psychoanalysis; a deep understanding of the
forms of human death anxiety and their pervasive influence on human emotional life; and
a view of the emotion-processing mind as a primarily defensive and denial-based coping
structure whose design and functions are remarkably similar to those of the immune
system-the discovery that the two systems are our means of protecting ourselves from
microscopic predators (the immune system) and macroscopic predators like other humans
and natural disasters and death (the emotion-processing mind).
Dr. Langs presently practices, teaches, and writes about communicative psychotherapy.
His most recent devotion is to creating dramas-one and two act plays-that are effective art
forms, while conveying through narrative tales the insights of the CA into the nature of
emotional life.
Go to top of page

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You are here: Home » Education » English Teaching: What is the Communicative
Approach?

English Teaching: What is the

Communicative Approach?
by Gill Hart in Education, September 24, 2007

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If you are teaching English as a foreign language you will

have no doubt heard of the “communicative” approach to
language teaching and its many benefits. However, when
push comes to shove, how many of us can really, honestly,
explain what it is?
The majority of course book syllabi is based broadly on the communicative approach, as are
the many TEFL/TESOL teacher training courses. As an experienced language teacher it took
me many years before I really understood the practical implications of its underlying
principles and to confidently apply them effectively in my language classroom.

Here are the main core principles which make it the most successful language learning
approach in use today.
Basic Principles for Teachers
• A teacher’s main role is a facilitator and monitor rather than leading the class. In other
words, “the guide by the side” and not “the sage on the stage”.
• Lessons are usually topic or theme based, with the target grammar “hidden” in the
context e.g. a job interview (using the Present Perfect tense.)
• Lessons are built round situations/functions practical and authentic in the real world
e.g. asking for information, complaining, apologizing, job interviews, telephoning.
• Activities set by the teacher have relevance and purpose to real life situations –
students can see the direct benefit of learning
• Dialogues are used that centre around communicative functions, such as socializing,
giving directions, making telephone calls
• Emphasis on engaging learners in more useful and authentic language rather than
repetitive phrases or grammar patterns
• Emphasis on communication and meaning rather than accuracy. Being understood
takes precedence over correct grammar. The fine tuning of grammar comes later.
• Emphasis is put on the “appropriacy” of language. What is the most appropriate
language and tone for a particular situation?
• Communicative competence is the desired goal. i.e. being able to survive, converse
and be understood in the language.
 • Emphasis is put on correct pronunciation and choral (group) and individual drilling is
used
• Authentic listening and reading texts are used more often, rather than artificial texts
simply produced to feature the target language
• Use of songs and games are encouraged and provide a natural environment to
promote language and enhance correct pronunciation
• Feedback and correction is usually given by the teacher after tasks have been
completed, rather than at the point of error, thus interrupting the flow
Basic Principles for Learners
• Learners are often more motivated with this approach as they have an interesting what
is being communicated, as the lesson is topic or theme based.
• Learners are encouraged to speak and communicate from day one, rather than just
barking out repetitive phrases
• Learners practice the target language a number of times, slowly building on accuracy
• Language is created by the individual, often through trial and error
• Learners interact with each other in pairs or groups, to encourage a flow of language
and maximize the percentage of talking time, rather than just teacher to student and
vice versa
• Unless the focus is on the accuracy stage of the lesson, learners are corrected at the
end of an activity so as not to interrupt their thought process
Summary
Read more in Education
« What Makes a Good English Teacher?
School of Choice »
Out of the many approaches and methodologies available to the language teacher, the
Communicative Approach has proven one of the most successful in providing confident
learners who are able to make themselves effectively understood in the shortest possible time.
It is therefore the teacher’s responsibility to create situations which are likely to promote
communication, and provide an authentic background for language learning.
The Communicative Approach initially prioritizes communicative competence over accurate
grammar. Grammar is hidden within the body of a lesson and highlighted and focused upon
once the context has been set.
Let your students communicate first – build on their accuracy after. For example, do not start
by frightening your adult students off with “Today we are going to learn about the Present
Perfect Simple”, instead authentisize your lesson with “Today we are going to learn how to
do a job interview in English”.
It is important to remember that as individuals most of us do not learn a language in order to
communicate. First we try to communicate, and in doing so, we learn!
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User Comments

1.
Clara
On May 9, 2008 at 2:32 pm

It’s an ineresting point of view of what communicative approach is and its principles.
I like it

2.
Haydar Ali
On September 9, 2008 at 4:38 am

I like to know more about coomunicative approach which recently found in Iraq for
teaching the primary school ,but we need mor training about that
PH.D Student in TEFL
Thanks

3.
Haydar Ali
On October 26, 2008 at 9:31 pm

I am an english teacher in Ecuador (south America) i think communicative approach

works well specially for young and early learners. This article tells pretty much what
this is about. I suggest you to start thinking firstable what you want your students to
learn, and of course what they need to learn, so then apply some principles of this
theory. I think that sometimes we should have a mix of thoeries, since no one is
perfect.
lorena

4.
ann
On April 19, 2009 at 10:48 pm

I can not understand it ,will you write it clearly ?

5.
Sandy
On May 12, 2009 at 4:46 am
 I want to know that the part of basic principles for teachers and learners is written by
you? If it isn’t, then who writes it. Thanks!

6.
muhammed
On June 9, 2009 at 5:49 pm

I’m an english teacher from iraq , it is the best method I’v ever tried
by other methods of teaching english as a foreign language students get high marks
like 99/100 but they can’t even make an english sentence in real life, in
communicative approach students are able to ask and answer in english.
my point of view it is the best method although its negativism.

7.
femi
On September 30, 2009 at 5:14 am

i am student of m.a english n this artcal realy help in my thesis. thnx

8.
Angie
On March 22, 2010 at 12:33 am

Are there any disadvantages? I have a masters of English, and currently doing TESOL
in Australia.. I am thinking of the negatives for such an approach?
Any idea?

9.
Bhagwan Aher
On April 4, 2010 at 1:11 pm

Hi! This is Bhagwan Aher,a Secondary teacher.I found that this approach is very
useful in Indian secnario where we have plenty of languages.Students get much
practice of the target language.I through this comment want to familirize with other
English Teacher of other countries.If u r a teacher of English pls let us be friends.I am
a lover of this language.My email ID bhagwanaher@gmail.com

10.
mohamed
 On October 8, 2010 at 1:14 pm

Hi iam a third-year student in english literature,in fact iam intersted in this issue
because it is related to my research.please, i want to read more and more about this
topic.
Post Comment
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Communicative approach
Communicative approach
Communicative approach is the purpose of applying broadly of Communicative Language
Teaching by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by
acknowledges the interdependence of language and communication.
Communication is a process: knowledge of the forms of language is insufficient.
With communicative approach, the students is hoped to enable of communication in the
target language. So, the students need knowledge of the linguistics forms, meanings, and
functions.
The most obvious characteristics of CLT is that almost everything that is done is with a
communicative event.
Communicative Approach
Communicative Approach

• The teacher distributes a handout that has a copy of a sports column from a recent
newspaper.
• The teacher tells the students to underline the reporter’s predictions and to say which ones
they think the reporter feels most certain of and which he feels least certain of.
• The teacher gives the students the directions for the activity in the target language.
• The students try to state the reporter’s predictions in different words.
• The students unscramble the sentences of the newspaper article.
• The students play a language game;.
• The students are asked how they feel about the predictions.
• A student makes an error. The teacher and other students ignore it.
• The teacher gives each group of students a strip story and a task to perform.
• The students work with a partner to predict what the next picture in the strip story will look
like.
• The students are to do a role play. They are to imagine that they are all employees of the
same company.
• The teacher reminds the students that one of them is playing the role of the boss and that
they should remember this when speaking to her.
• The teacher moves from group to group offering advice and answering the questions.
• The students suggest alternative forms they would use to state a prediction to a colleague.
• After the role play is finished, the students elicit relevant vocabulary.
• For their homework, the students are to listen to a debate on the radio or watch it on
television.