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UNIT 2: VARIABLES TO TAKE INTO ACCOUN IN THE ORGANIZATION OF THE…
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2. ‐ THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH.
The way of organizing the English classroom will influence the teaching‐learning
process, and since it is dependent on the individual approach of each teacher, the
selection of methodology becomes very important regarding class organization.
Although there are some methods to consider when teaching English (Direct Method,
Audio‐Lingual Method, Community Language Learning, Cognitive Code Approach, TPR
Method, Natural Approach, among others), we are going to focus our attention on the
Communicative Approach
developed by linguists such as Hymes and Halliday, who
considered language a system for communication. This means that:
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The main aim of language teaching is to develop the students the ability to
communicate in the target language.
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The teaching learning process involves not only linguistic structures but
semantic notions and social functions.
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Students must work in pairs or groups so that they can transfer the meaning in
communicative situations where one person has some information that the
others have not.
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Dramatizations and role play are used to adjust the use of the language to
different contexts.
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The use of authentic materials and activities will help us to reflect real life
situations with communicative purposes.
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All skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) are integrated from the
beginning as activities will involve more than one skill from the part of the
students
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The teacher acts as communication facilitator, and secondly as corrector. Thus,
they should be able to use the target language appropriately and fluently.
The Communicative Approach is based on the idea that learning a language
successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. The teacher sets up
situations that students are likely to find in real life. When learners are involved in real
communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this
will allow them to learn to use the language. Classroom activities guided by the
communicative approach are characterized by trying to produce meaningful and real
communication, at all levels. As a result there may be more emphasis on skills rather
than systems, lessons will be more learner‐centered, and authentic materials will be
used.