(a)
Identify the theory behind
communicative language teaching approach.
Based on the article of Communicative Language
Teaching by Nina Spada, CLT is an approach to L2 teaching where it is a
meaning-based and learner-centered approach. Here, the fluency is being
emphasized more compared to the accuracy of the language or in other words, it
is mainly focus on the ability of the students to understand and produce
messages and not the teaching or correction of language form. Other than that,
there is also other view that purpose CLT as primarily meaning-based which
includes both the fluency and accuracy aspect.
The audio-lingual method is an oral-based
approach which is based on the behavioral psychology (Skinner). In addition, it
is used in the language learning where it gives attention on the inductive
learning of grammar. The learning is conducted through the activities that
involve the students to do repetition, practice and memorization. This method
will drill the students in the use of grammatical sentence patterns. For
example, dialogue activities which can be carried out by the students in form
of imitation and repetition. By conducting this activity, the students will be
able to use the target language communicatively.
Furthermore, according to Hymes’ theory the
knowledge of the rules of grammar (linguistic competence) and the knowledge of
the rules of language use (communicative competence) gives obvious impact on
CLT. According to Hymes’, the focus in L2 teaching is through the accurate use
of grammatical forms. Besides that, there are also several components of
abilitiesthat the learners need to require which is(1) linguistic competence;
(2) sociolinguistic competence; (3) discourse competence; and (4) Strategic
competence.
·
Linguistic competence: the knowledge
of grammar and vocabulary.
·
Sociolinguistic competence: the
ability to say the appropriate thing in a certain social situation.
·
Discourse competence: the ability to
start, enter, contribute to, and end a conversation, and the ability to do this
in a consistent and coherent manner.
·
Strategic competence: the ability to
communicative effectively and repair problems caused by communication
breakdown.
(b)
State the implications of communicative language teaching towards materials
development.
Implication
1:- Functional categories found in teaching
materials which includes making requests, greeting, making suggestion enable
the learners to be aware of communicative functions. It also helps the learners
to understand the fact that communication could break down if they only focus
on linguistic (semantic-grammatical) meaning and ignore the intended use of the
utterance (i.e. function) by the speaker. For instance, a person whom
struggling to open the door due to heavy luggage asks a random student for a
help gives grammatically correct answer, without taking any action, may cause
offense as the answer shows lack of the understanding of the embedded function
of ‘making a request’. Traditional teaching materials tend to simplify the
complex form function relationship into one-to-one correspondence. The
interrogatives are used for asking questions, imperatives for giving commands and
conditionals for making hypothetical statements. From a communicative
perspective, this relationship is explored more carefully, and as a result our
views on the properties of language have been expanded and enriched. However,
there are number of pedagogic problems associated with this approach to
materials design, particularly to do with the sequencing of the language to be
practised.
Implication
2:-
The
real world language in use does not operate in a vacuum. We need to aware that the language function
and language form does not operate in isolation but as part of as network of
interconnected factors, all of which need to be taken into account in materials
that use a communicative concept as their design principle. Based on a large
amount of data from spoken language known as a corpus, Carter et al (2011) and
O’ Keeffe et al (2007)explain how spoken grammar is distinctly different from
written grammar. There are also principles of conversation (McCarten and
McCarthy, 2010) in which social interactions play an important role. There is
often a stated requirement for authenticity- a term that loosely implies as
close an approximation as possible an approximation as possible to the world
outside the classroom, in the selection both of language material and of the
activities and methods used for practice in the classroom.
Implication
3:-
A
communicative approach also implies a concern with behavior, with patterns of
interaction as well as linguistic content. Morrrow (1981) makes a simple and
useful distinction between the ‘what’- the contents of a language programme- ad
the ‘how’- the ways in which that content might be learned and taught. This
behavioural ‘how’ would cover the kinds of activities we carry out and the tasks
we perform, such as writing a letter or an essay and etc. Recent materials have
reacted in various ways to and against the communicative movement of the
1970’s. However the main principles, with varying degrees of change and
modification have had a long lasting impact on materials and methods that
should not be underestimated. Thomson (1996) highlighted few points regarding
CLT which were:-
I.
CLT means not teaching grammar
II.
CLT means teaching only speaking
III.
CLT means pair work- role play
IV.
CLT means expecting too much from the
teacher
Recent
materials have reacted in various ways to and against the communicative
approach of the 1970’s. However the main principles, with varying degrees of
change and modification have had a lasting impact on materials and methods that
should not be underestimated. Certain
criteria of CLT is too important to lose for instance the concern with the
world beyond the classroom, the concern with the learner as an individual and
the view of the language as structured to carry out the functions that we want
to perform.
(b)
Locate principles supporting CLT
within the KBSM English Language Curriculum and F1 English Language Syllabus.
Aim
of KBSM English Language Curriculum:
·
The syllabus aims to extend learners’
English language proficiency in order to meet their needs to use English in
certain situations in everyday life, for knowledge acquisition, and for future
workplace needs.
By
referring to the KBSM English Language Curriculum, there are several objectives
that support the CLT that are:-
By
the end of their secondary school education, learners should be able to:
·
form and maintain relationships
through conversations and correspondence; take part in social interaction; and
interact to obtain goods and services;
·
obtain, process and use information
from various audio-visual and print sources, and present the information in
spoken and written form;
·
listen to, view, read and respond to
different texts, and express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings
imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written form;
Principles
that support CLT:-
(1)
form and maintain relationships
through conversations and correspondence; take part in social interaction; and
interact to obtain goods and services:
·
1 principle: promotes cooperative and
collaborative learning
-
Through the activities that involves
conversation; the students will eventually interact with each other and give
opinions on the topic that is being talk about. Here, the students not only
able to express their idea on certain things but they also will learn on how to
give a right response. For example, in the role-playing activities where
students can ask each other questions regarding certain topic (e.g. family or
friend) where during this process, they will ask questions and respond politely.
Moreover, through this activity the students also practice the sociolinguistic
competence.In addition, the students also will collaborate with each other in
order to make the process of communication of the target language can be carry
out successfully. Thus, teacher needs to be the facilitator during the learning
activities and promotes communication among students.
·
2 principal: practice of using the
language
-
As the students get involves in the
interaction process obtaining the goods and services, they will be exposed to
discourse competence. Here, they will learn to start, contribute to, and end
the conversation on the topic being talk about. The students will start to
learn this in a consistent and coherent manner as they will take turn in order
to participate in the conversation. Moreover, they also will be taught on how
to ask questions and responds in a polite manner whenever they want to make
enquiries.
-
Apart from that, the students also
will learn the linguistic competence as they get involves in activities such as
writing simple instruction or simple invitation. Here, the students usually
will participate collaboratively and at the same time they will learn on how to
use the simple grammar and vocabulary.
·
3 principal: focus on form
-
It is an approach to explicit grammar
teaching, emphasizes a form-meaning connection and teaches grammar within the
contexts and through communicative task. Thus, it is very important for the
teacher to find activities that is related to their real life situation so that
they will understand the context more easily. Here, teacher should encourage
the students to express their idea by making the students get involve in
interaction and focus more on the meaning and allow the learners to figure out
the rule themselves naturally as they having a conversation with each other.
During the activity, the students eventually will communicate by negotiation of
meaning and gives feedback as well.
(2)
obtain, process and use information
from various audio-visual and print sources, and present the information in
spoken and written form:
·
1 principal: input needs to be rich
-
The activities that involve the use of
authentic materials are very essential to reflect real-life situations and
demands. Thus, teacher should design activities that use various audio-visual
and print resources for the learning. For example by using audio-visual such as
videos, the students not only will listen to the spoken texts but they also can
take a look at the visuals presented in the videos.This is very good as teacher
can attract the student’s interest. Moreover, teacher plays an important role
in maximizing the use of the target language and this can be done through
giving an instruction during the learning. Furthermore, teacher should give
students greater amount of input so that they will gains greater information on
the target language.
·
2 principal: input needs to be
meaningful, comprehensible and elaborated.
-
The materials that are used in the
activity of the learning should be meaningful and comprehensible to the
students so that they can use the language in their real life. Thus, teacher
needs to design activity that is authentic. For example, teacher should choose
passage that is meaningful and able the students to give view on what the text
is all about. Here, the process of learning can be in the form of writing or
orally where here the students are encourage to elaborate their thought on what
they have learn.That is why; teacher must be able to choose appropriate
materials, as the proficiency levels of the students differ.
(3)
listen to, view, read and respond to
different texts, and express ideas, opinions, thoughts and feelings
imaginatively and creatively in spoken and written form:
·
1 principal: promotes collaborative
learning
-
As the students are exposed to
different texts, this can enhance their understanding on different usage of the
language. The students will get involves in a group activity where they need to
collaborate and interact with each other to complete their task. For example,
storytelling activities during the discussion which ask the students to use
their own words in order to express their ideas. Here, the process of
negotiation of meaning can be seen during the discussion process.
·
2 principal: focus on fluency over
accuracy
-
As the students express their own
ideas, the focus will be on the fluency of the language use. Here, teacher also
will emphasize the students with the discourse competence and sociolinguistic
competence as the students get involves in the interaction process regarding
the topic being discussed.
·
3 principal: learner-centered approach
-
Teacher should encourage the students
to participate actively in an activity that use the target language which allow
them to work on themselves, for example role-play activity that needs the
students to cooperate with each other creatively. Thus, by conducting activity
that focus on learner-centered, the students able to express their ideas and
opinions freely. Moreover, in order for the learner’s linguistic knowledge to
be automatic, students’ needs to be put under the real condition or situation
of communication.
·
4 principal: provide error corrective
feedback
-
When the students presenting their
works, teachers will either give positive or negative feedback to the students.
In order for teacher to make correction on the language used by the students,
teacher can used direct error corrective which involved teacher’s help such as
providing clues or clarification requests. In addition, error corrective and
positive feedback is necessary in support of the learning process. Moreover, during
the feedback, the students also will be exposed to the strategic competence
that allow them to communicative effectively and repair problems caused by
communication breakdown.
(d) Identify the general categories
and specific items to evaluate chapters in a Malaysian English Language
textbook.
Checklists
are the systematic evaluation for course books. There are various checklists
proposed by different authors such as Tucker (1975), Haycraft (1978), Daoud and
Celce-Murcia (1979), Cunningsworth (1979, 1984) , Williams (1983), Grant
(1987), Sheldon (1988), Harmer (1991), Skierso (1991) and Ur(1996). The most
detailed checklist is Skeirso’s checklist.
The
checklist of each and every author varies from one another from the aspect of
scope, form, criteria and the terms used to describe the criteria. Almost all
checklists share the similar general categories for evaluation of
the chapters in course books which were design, language content,
subject matter and practical considerations. Precisely, design of
the course book is an important or main key for the evaluation of the textbooks
which includes the layout of the materials on the page and it also involves the
overall clarity of organisation whereas language content involves the coverage
of linguistic items and language skills. Subject matter is related to the topic
whether it is related to the theme of the course book. Last but not least,
practical considerations are vital for evaluation of the course book and it can
be explained as availability, durability and price. It is better if the course
book is designed to be `reachable’ for all walks of people in the context of
availability and price.
The
specific items for the evaluation of the course book are transparency
of the criteria. Transparency of the criteria can be explained as whether
the concepts stated clearly and able to understand by all teachers and students
with different potentials. Teachers, course designers, and materials writers
must be aware that the input provided by them will possibly are processed by
learners in ways different than intended. For instance, look at the words
below. Can you understand these phrases? It has been used in course book.
Sequencing of the
grammatical patterns ( appropriateness)
Sentence length (
matches to students proficiency of that level)
Spiral approach
Communicative
activities
Balance in
language skills
Usage of
Authentic language
Encourages
learners to develop their own learning strategies
Range of
Vocabulary
The
grading and sequencing of the materials is also comes under specific
items for the evaluation of the course book. It can be explained in terms of
the organisation of the language content. As far as we concern, language can be
divided into structures. For instance, the American course book which is
targeted for Upper Intermediate level seems to be easily interchanges and there
seems to be no sequence. The chapter 6 of the book is entitled `Life
essentials’ which talks about health problem or which is more related to
healthy lifestyle however the chapter 7 is entitled as `The natural world’
which describes about remarkable places which requires travelling. It shows
there is no sequencing in terms of lexical items. In contrast, Malaysian
English Form 2 textbook shows correct sequence and 3 chapters clustered under
one main theme, for instance `People’. The chapter 1 entitled `What people do’,
the second chapter entitled as ` Villagers and their livelihood’ and followed
by chapter 3 entitled as `Famous faces’. It clearly shows the lexical items are
related to people and there is proper sequencing of the materials.
In
addition, the presentation of the skills in the materials also has equal
impact in evaluation of the course book. The course book must emphasize and
integrate four skills which were speaking, reading, writing and listening.
However, some course book fails to give equal importance and seem to be
narrowed to focusing on writing skills only. As a teacher, we have to be aware
that writing skills alone is not being used in communication. The activities of
the course book must be more communicative so that it can benefit the students
to improve their proficiency and boost their confidence level.
Reflection on Task week 3
Compared to the previous task, task
week 3 is the most difficult one as we need to read Spada & Sauvignon’s
article in order for us to locate the theory behind the CLT. At first, the
question seems easy but when come to answering it, we faced with the same
problem. To be exact, we did not understand the article especially Sauvignon’s
article, perhaps because the language is pretty tough. However, after read it
all over for so many times and refer to the other sources we managed to
understand it and detect the CLT theory. Basically, we already learn about the
CLT in semester 2, thus it help me to understand what is CLT is all about.
Here, CLT focus on the language
learning through the real communication where it provides the students to
experiment and try out the language which can be done formally or informally.
In CLT, there are several components of abilities that the students need to
require such as (communicative, linguistic, sociolinguistic, discourse, and
strategic) competence. I still remember when I was in secondary school, my
English teacher did implement this approach where she asked us to communicate
with each other and does the role play activity. At first I thought that the
purpose we are doing the activity is just for fun and learn something from it,
but now I realize that there is another reason why we do that activity.
Hence, through this task I am able to see
clearly that CLT is being implement in the activity and the most important
things is that, the way I improve myself is through the communication with my
classmates. Even though, there are some grammar errors but I can speak fluently
and even my teacher encourages me to speak in English with my classmates so
that I am use to it. Moreover, after looking at the implication of CLT and the
principles that support it within the KBSM, it becomes clearer now why CLT is
being practice. From it we are able to
improve our language through communication which we deal with in our everyday
life situation.
From this task, I learnt a lot about
CLT and its impact toward the material development which plays a great role in
the language learning. Thus, I am sure that by taking into consideration the
principles of CLT, we are able to implement it in the process of learning
later. Moreover, I believe that the current knowledge that I have right now can
help me to understand the concept of CLT much better. Hopefully, the knowledge
that I get from this task able me to create an activity that not only promotes
the communicative aspect but the others abilities as well.
