Outline the principles behind 'Communicative Language Teaching'. How do the roles of the teacher and learner differ from earlier methods used to teach ESOL?

* Teaching is learner-centred and responsive to learner's needs and interests.

* The target language is acquired through interactive communicative use.

* Meaningful language use is emphasised.

* Learners are encouraged to discover forms and structures of language for themselves.

* There is a whole language approach in which the four language skills, speaking, listening, reading and writing are integrated.

In order to encourage this meaningful language use popular communicative classroom activities involve 'elements of puzzle-solving, role-play, or simulation' (Hadfield 1990 vi) They encourage learners to do things with information such as guessing, searching, matching, exchanging etc and arranging using objects of picture cards to gain relevant vocabulary for meaningful language use.

In comparison to Communicative Language Theory earlier methods of TESOL teaching were very different. The Grammar Translation Method was the first method used in 17th Century and is still used in some classrooms this method differs completely from CLT.

' Grammar Translation is a way of studying a language that approaches the language first through detailed analysis of its grammar rules, followed by application of this knowledge to the task of translating sentences and texts into and out of the target language. It hence views language learning as consisting of little more than memorizing rules and facts in order to understand and manipulate the morphology and syntax of the foreign language' (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p3)

Grammar Translation Method focuses on grammar and translation. The students are given word lists that translate from the target language to English, these were not necessarily useful words therefore the students were not using language that they would in every day life, unlike CLT. Other classroom tasks included translating full texts into target language, again not specific every day useful language. Within this teaching method writing, reading, speaking and listening were ignored which does not help the student in their learning of a second language, nor does it help them converse. They learn more tenses and grammatical terms taught through their first language rather than conversational language. Accuracy was emphasised within The Grammar Translation Method and learners were assessed using formal written exams. As the method comes from a very educational background it focused more on mental disciplines rather than a more natural, relaxed teaching method such as CLT. The learners that were first taught by Grammar Translation Method were well-educated learners of a second language. Grammar Translation Method only taught function and not form which was unusual and useless, as every form has a function. Students along with teachers lose interest being taught, and teaching in this way, as it is a very monotonous form of TESOL teaching.

This method was used as a main teaching method for a very long time, but eventually the method went out of favour with teachers. Towards the mid 19th Century Europeans travelled around more and needed oral proficiency therefore learners and teachers began to look for another method of teaching and this ultimately lead to the reform movement. The two key figures in the reform movement were Prendergast (1806-1886) and Gouin (1831-1896). Prendergast watched children being taught their first language and how language is used within a situation or in a context and how it is used in routines. The basics of children learning their first language included, learning to say easy things before difficult ones, they gradually learn bits of language and find it easier to talk in the past tense than present. He then applied this language learning to TESOL teaching with a structured syllabus and ordered easy constructions building up to hard ones. Gouin was the best known reformer he went to Hamburg to learn German as a second language, he memorised 248 irregular verbs and a grammar book, he then went to University to learn second language but did not understand it. He went on to memorise a dictionary but he still could not converse in a second language. He then decided watched his three-year-old nephew who had learnt his first language, which was French in three weeks. Using this observation he decided a good teaching technique would be to do the action he wanted to get the students to understand. He used objects, actions and gestures to make meanings clear, this lead to natural methods of English teaching as this is how we learn our first language, so inevitably it would be an easier, more natural method. This research lead to the introduction of The Direct Method of teaching, this was the opposite of Grammar Translation Method as it does not use text books or grammar and there is no writing for the first two years. The teacher demonstrates everything in gesture, mime and picture and the Direct Method is only taught in target language.

"Principles and procedures:

1. Classroom instruction was conducted exclusively in the target language.

2. Only everyday vocabulary and sentences were taught.

3. Oral communication skills were built up in a carefully graded progression organized around question-and-answer exchanged between teachers and students in small, intensive classes.

4. Grammar was taught inductively.

5. New teaching points were introduced orally

6. Concrete vocabulary was taught through demonstration, objects and pictures; association of ideas taught abstract vocabulary.

7. Both speech and listening comprehension were taught.

8. Correct pronunciation and grammar were emphasized." (Richards & Rodgers, 2001 p10.)

By the 1920's this method had declined, even though The Direct Method is more stimulating for teachers and learners it was argued that the learner cannot be fluent in a second language if they are not able to write it down and also that the teacher could only talk about things in the room they were teaching in. In 1923 the Coleman report was published in the U.S.A on the state of foreign language teaching in state schools. Neither of these methods were considered good, therefore teachers began mixing both methods. In the 1920's and 30's linguists began to bring in the proposed principles that had been taken from the reform movement and in 1963 Edward Anthony suggested that any language teaching methods should include,

An approach - assumptions and beliefs about language learning.

A design - a list of objectives, a syllabus, suggested types of teaching and learning activities, teacher roles, learner roles and the role of instructional materials.

A procedure - suggested techniques to be used in the classroom.

From this research and the need to change second language teaching Situational Language Teaching was introduced which encompassed the these elements. British linguists in particular attempted to refine the content of the language that was taught by trying to anticipate the situations that learners might encounter, therefore making the language useful in everyday life. This research enabled TESOL syllabuses to focus on the vocabulary and structures, which learners were most likely to need and these could be repeated frequently in class. A strength of this approach is its effort to use exact methods to identify items for inclusion in the syllabus that would be relevant and motivating for learners. A weakness is the difficulty in identifying the situations that were useful for learners, and in describing the language these situations contained, as language is far more unpredictable than this.

Current theory and research as encouraged a trend towards mixing these methods, this has been called 'the post method condition' (Kumaravadivelu 1994) it implies a renewed focus on the teachers role. Because learning a foreign language may be the biggest, most complex and most difficult task any learner will undertake and it combines the learning of vocabulary and language rules with the skill of developing a fluent application of these things. Learning a second language is very different from any other subject in the curriculum whether inside or outside school. Communicative Language Theory, in comparison to the earlier methods of teaching seems to be the most successful one, although this all may change if linguists decide there is need for change, as we are still far from fully understanding the process of learning in the TEFL classroom.

Bibliography

Canale M. 1983. "From communicative competence to communicative language pedagogy." In Richards, J.C and R.W. Schmidt (eds), Language and Communication. London : Longman.

Finocchiaro, M and C Brumfit. 1983. The Functional-Notional Approach. From Theory to Practice. New York: Oxford University Press.

Hadfield, J. 1990. Intermediate Communication Games. Surrey: Thomas Nelson and Sons.

Kumaravadivelu, B. 1994. "The post method condition: Emerging strategies for second/foreign language teaching." TESOL Quarterly, Vol. 28, No.1, Spring 1994, pg.27-48.

Larson-Freeman, D. 1986. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Richards, J. & Rodgers, T. (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. 2ND edition, CUP.