Communicative Methods

Communicative Methods

1. Task-Based Language Teaching

   • Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT) refers to an approach based on the use of tasks as the core unit of planning and instruction in language teaching.
     • Theory of language
       • TBLT is motivated primarily by a theory of learning rather than a theory of language. However, several assumptions about the nature of language can be said to underlie current approaches to TBLT. These are:
         • language is primarily a means of making meaning
           • In common with other realizations of communicative language teaching, TBLT emphasizes the central role of meaning in language use. (Skehan 1998: 98).
             • Multiple models of language inform TBI
               • Pica ( 1994) distinguishes between interactional activity and communicative goal. TBI is therefore not linked to a single model of language but rather draws on all three models of language theory.
                 • Lexical units are central in language use and language learning
                   • Skehan (1996b: 21–22), comments: Although much of language teaching has operated under the assumption that language is essentially structural, with vocabulary elements slotting in to fill structural patterns, many linguists and psycholinguists have argued that native language speech processing is very frequently lexical in nature
                     • “Conversation” is the central focus of language and the keystone of language acquisition
                       • Speaking and trying to communicate with others through the spoken language drawing on the learner’s available linguistic and communicative resources is considered the basis for second language acquisition in TBI; hence, the majority of tasks that are proposed within TBLT involve conversation.
     • Theory of learning
       • TBI shares the general assumptions about the nature of language learning underlying Communicative Language Teaching (see Chapter 14). However some additional learning principles play a central role in TBLT theory. These are:
         • Tasks provide both the input and output processing necessary for language acquisition
           • Krashen has long insisted that comprehensible input is the one necessary (and sufficient) criterion for successful language acquisition (see Chapter 15). Others have argued, however, that productive output and not merely input is also critical for adequate second language development.
             • Task activity and achievement are motivational
               • Tasks are also said to improve learner motivation and therefore promote learning. This is because they require the learners to use authentic language, they have well-defined dimensions and closure, they are varied in format and operation, they typically include physical activity, they involve partnership and collaboration, they may call on the learner’s past experience, and they tolerate and encourage a variety of communication styles.
                 • Learning difficulty can be negotiated and finetuned for particular pedagogical purposes
                   • Another claim for tasks is that specific tasks can be designed to facilitate the use and learning of particular aspects of language. Long and Crookes (1991: 43) claim that tasks provide a vehicle for the presentation of appropriate target language samples to learners – input which they will inevitably reshape via application of general cognitive processing capacities – and for the delivery of comprehension and production opportunities of negotiable difficulty.
                     • Types of learning and teaching activities
                       • We have seen that there are many different views as to what constitutes a task. Willis (1996) proposes six task types built on more or less traditional knowledge hierarchies. She labels her task examples as follows: 1. listing 2. ordering and sorting 3. comparing 4. problem solving 5. sharing personal experiences 6. creative tasks
                       • Learner roles
                         • A number of specific roles for learners are assumed in current proposals for TBI. Some of these overlap with the general roles assumed for learners in Communicative Language Teaching while others are created by the focus on task completion as a central learning activity. Primary roles that are implied by task work are: Group participant, Monitor and Risk-taker and innovatior.
                       • Teacher roles
                         • Additional roles are also assumed for teachers in TBI, including: selector and sequencer of tasks, preparing learners for tasks, consciousness-raising
                       • The role of instructional materials
                         • Instructional materials play an important role in TBLT because it is dependent on a sufficient supply of appropriate classroom tasks, some of which may require considerable time, ingenuity, and resources to develop. Materials that can be exploited for instruction in TBLT are limited only by the imagination of the task designer.

2. Cooperative Language Learning

   • Cooperative learning is group learning activity organized so that learning is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners in groups and in which each learner is held accountable for his or her own learning and is motivated to increase the learning of others. (Olsen and Kagan 1992: 8)
     • Theory of learning
       • A central premise of CLL is that learners develop communicatively competence in a language by conversing in socially or pedagogically structured situations. CLL advocates have proposed certain interactive structures that are considered optimal for learning the appropriate rules and practices in conversing in a new language.
         • Six learning advantages for ESL students in CLL classrooms:
           • 1. increased frequency and variety of second language practice through different types of interaction
             • 2. possibility for development or use of language in ways that support cognitive development and increased language skills
               • 3. opportunities to integrate language with content-based instruction
                 • 4. opportunities to include a greater variety of curricular materials to stimulate language as well as concept learning
                   • 5. freedom for teachers to master new professional skills, particularly those emphasizing communication
                     • 6. opportunities for students to act as resources for each other, thus assuming a more active role in their learning
     • Theory of language
       • Cooperative Language Learning is founded on some basic premises about the interactive/cooperative nature of language and language learning and builds on these premises in several ways.
         • Premise 1
           • Mirrors the title of a book on child language titled Born to Talk (Weeks 1979). The author holds (along with many others) that “all normal children growing up in a normal environment learn to talk. We are born to talk . . . we may think of ourselves as having been programmed to talk . . . communication is generally considered to be the primary purpose of language” (Weeks 1979: 1).
             • Premise 2
               • Is that most talk/speech is organized as conversation. “Human beings spend a large part of their lives engaging in conversation and for most of them conversation is among their most significant and engrossing activities” (Richards and Schmidt 1983: 117).
                 • Premise 3
                   • is that conversation operates according to a certain agreedupon set of cooperative rules or “maxims” (Grice 1975).
                     • Premise 4
                       • Is that one learns how these cooperative maxims are realized in one’s native language through casual, everyday conversational interaction.
                         • Premise 5
                           • Is that one learns how the maxims are realized in a second language through participation in cooperatively structured interactional activities.
                             • Types of learning and teaching activities
                               • Johnson et al., (1994: 4–5) describe three types of cooperative learning groups.
                                 • 1. Formal cooperative learning groups
                                   • 2. Informal cooperative learning groups.
                                     • 3. Cooperative base groups.
                               • Teacher roles
                                 • The role of the teacher in CLL differs considerably from the role of teachers in traditional teacher-fronted lesson. The teacher has to create a highly structured and well-organized learning environment in the classroom, setting goals, planning and structuring tasks, establishing the physical arrangement of the classroom, assigning students to groups and roles, and selecting materials and time (Johnson et al. 1994).
                               • Learner roles
                                 • The primary role of the learner is as a member of a group who must work collaboratively on tasks with other group members. Learners have to learn teamwork skills. Learners are also directors of their own learning.