Communicative language teaching (CLT) and its Possibilities in Bangladesh
Introduction
An English teacher plays an important role in teaching English at all levels. When he/she teaches English obviously he/she has to follow some methods. In 1970s educators and linguistics observed that though the goal most of the methods of language is to enable learners to communicate in it but the question is that whether the methods are meeting the expectations or not. The result was that though the students can communicate in the target language in classroom but they are unable to communicate in target language outside of classroom. It also been observed that the ability to communicate is more important than mastering linguistics structures. Students required perform some function- promising, inviting, and declining invitations within a social context to communicate. Communicative Language Teaching aims broadly to apply the theoretical perspective of the Communicative Approach by making communicative competence the goal of language teaching and by acknowledging the interdependence of language and communication.
Communicative Language Teaching is one of the new methods. It had been introduced in Bangladesh in 1990s. The aim of this method is to develop learners’ four basic skills (Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking) in English.
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According to Wikipedia, the free encyclopaedia, “Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach of second and foreign language that emphasize communication or interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language”. “It refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language and language learning and that can be used to support a wide variety of classroom procedures, in accordance with Richards and Rodgers.
Objectives of CLT
The goal of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is to enable students to communicate in the target language. To do this students need knowledge4 of the linguistics forms, meanings, and functions. They need to know that many different forms can be used to perform a function and also that a single form can often serve a variety of functions. They must be able to choose from among these the most appropriate form, given the social context and the roles of the interlocutors. They must also be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with their interlocutors. Communication is a process; knowledge of the forms of language is insufficient.
We may summarize the aims of CLT as-
• Students will learn to use language as a means of expression.
• Students will use language as a means of expressing values and judgments.
• Students will learn to express the functions that best meet their own communication needs.
Principles or Features of CLT
As the linguistics have observed learners behaviour, there are several important principles found out.
1. Whenever possible, ‘authentic language’- language as it is used in a real context- should be introduced.
2. Being able to figure out the speaker’s or writer’s intentions is part of being communicatively competent.
3. The target language is a vehicle for classroom communication, not just the object of study.
4. One function can have many different linguistics forms. Since the focus of the course is on real language use, a variety of linguistics forms are presented together. The emphasis is on the process of communication rather than just mastery of language forms.
5. Students should work with language at the discourse or suprasential level. They must learn those properties of language which bind the sentences together.
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6. Games are important because they have certain features in common with real communicative events-there is a purpose to the exchange. Also, the speaker receives immediate feedback from the listener on whether or not he or she has successfully communicated. In this way they can negotiate meaning. Finally, having students work in small groups maximizes the amount of communicative practice they receive.
7. Students should be given an opportunity to express their ideas and opinions.
8. Errors are tolerated and seen as a natural outcome of the development of communication skills. Since this activity was working fluency, the teacher did not correct the student, but simply noted the error, which he will return to at a later point.
9. One of the teacher’s major responsibilities is to establish situations likely to promote communication.
10. Communicative interaction encourages cooperative relationships among students. It gives students an opportunity to work on negotiating meaning.
11. The social context of the communicative event is essential in giving meaning to the utterances.
12. Learning to use language forms appropriately is an important part of communicative competence.
13. The teacher acts as a facilitator in setti9ng up communicative activities and as an advisor during the activities.
14. In communicating, a speaker has a choice not only about what to say, but also how to say it.
15. The grammar and vocabulary that the students learn follow form the function, situational context, and the rules of the interlocutors.
16. Students should be given opportunities to listen to language as it is used in authentic communication. They for how to improve their comprehension.
Findings from Collected Data
As per requirements of this assignment, I choose nineteen secondary and higher secondary institutions included Madrasah both form rural and urban areas, to analyze the current situation. Most of them define CLT as a medium of communication. As to them, CLT means to teach a language in such a way that the learners can communicate with any people around the world. Some told “CLT is interesting but very few students are benefited by it, most of the students cannot communicate with each other.” Some said “CLT is a very good method to learn English for the students. But Madrasah students face some problem as most them have no basic knowledge.
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It seems to me that most of the teachers have no clear idea about CLT and its activities.
The classroom activities that the teachers of in the classroom sometimes do not fulfil the basic requirements of the CLT approach. The way they were teaching their students is still traditional which is called Grammar Translation Method. When, for example, a teacher teaches students reading skill form any lesson of English, it is the teacher who reads the passage aloud to the students and then translate it into Bengali. This is a typical Bangladeshi style. If the teachers do not apply the communicative activities in the classroom, students will not be benefited form the CLT approach rather they feel bored and uncomfortable. Most of the teachers do not know how to apply communicative activities in the classroom. The teachers in Secondary and Higher secondary level give emphasis on those topics and activities that will come in the exam. They think that role play, games, interviews, pair work etc. are a waste of time and these activities will not help students to do well in the exam. Even they do not know how a language taught through games, role play, pair work etc. As a result of which the percentage of passing SSC and HSC is increasing day by day but very few of them can communicate in English. I also found some teachers, graduate or undergraduate form English, applying CLT activities in the classroom.
Approximately no teacher uses any single method in his class, as I observed. An interesting thing is that most of the teachers are like to teach through Grammar Translation Method as they think CLT is not suitable to teach English and thus, they have to take some help form, GTM. I found only three renowned teachers in Sylhet who are using only CLT method to teach English and do not combine it with others. The problem also lies on the way Question paper set for English in SSC and HSC level. As the main focus of CLT is to communicate, the present question paper cannot cover all the four skills rather only two skills- reading and writing ski9lls and thus; there is no chance for student to develop their speaking sand listening skills.
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I had regarding the perceptions and attitudes of the teachers at secondary level of Sylhet toward CLT. After collecting data from nineteen Secondary and Higher Secondary school and Madrasah through teachers’ interviews, I able to understand to understand the real situation of language teaching in our country.
In case of high school English teachers, it can be said that their perceptions and attitudes towards CLT is clear, positive and supportive. The reason is that most of the urban English teachers are highly educated and with background in English and they are also getting enough teaching materials. Besides, the urban students do not feel hesitate to do activities such as role play and pair works in classroom, however, the teachers of the urban areas are more conscious and encourage their students to communicate in the class by making the classroom atmosphere congenial and by allowing the students to speak freely. Thus, CLT can easily be applied here.
On the other hand, in case of the rural high school teachers and Madrasah teachers as well, they have no clear idea and positive thought about CLT. The reason is that most of the rural teachers are not highly educated and do not have English background and they are not getting enough teaching materials as well. Because there rough idea about CLT they can not apply it properly in the classroom.
Conclusion
Finally, it can be said that an English language teacher should have the knowledge of the Communicative Language Teaching to create confidence in students. We cannot blame our students for their miserable situation. If they get good teacher and good facilities obviously they will be able to communicate with the people. However, the government should take some effective steps to create a number of good teachers and provide teaching aids and train the teachers who are at present teaching English at different schools. I am sure that if necessary steps are taken for the teachers and give them proper training, their perception and attitude will be changes. Then Communicative Language Teaching can be successfully applied in our country.
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Bibliography
Larsen-Freeman, Diane: Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching, Oxford: Oxford University Press, Second Indian Edition, 2004.
Richards, JC and Rodgers, TS: Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching: A Description and Analysis, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, Second Edition, 1986.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching (accessed 16 April 2010)
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