a) Identify the theory behind communicative
language teaching approach. (Spada and Sauvignon)
Audio-lingual
method is introduced and applied to the language learning classrooms before the
existence of different approaches and methods which are more engaging. This
audio-lingual method is based on the behaviourist theory. The learners are
required to listen and imitate in order to learn the particular language. They
will listen to a CD and do some selection repetition to a certain phrase. The
learners will be learning chunks, sentences and words. There will be the
occurrence of negotiation of meaning through the use of language.
Hymes
stated that each human being needs four competences namely discourse
competence, pragmatic competence, linguistic competence and strategic
competence. Communicative competence means the ability to communicate and
ability to negotiate with meaning. The focus was not on language learning but
language as social behavior.
Linguistic
competence is the ability to put grammatical functions and items into place. It
is also about the knowledge of application of linguistic knowledge. The area
covered under linguistic competence could be spelling, grammar, pronunciation
and vocabulary. A communication without linguistic competence could lead to
communication breakdown. This is because learners do not have the syntactic
knowledge to express themselves. They might utter some sentences or words that
are meaningless as they are unable to choose the appropriate lexis.
As for
discourse competence, it is the ability to produce meaningful speech by focusing
on the structure of spoken and written discourse. It is metacognitive and talks
about how language is used in a particular context. When it comes to discourse
competence, IRF (initiate, respond and feedback) is explained. It is about the
organization of sentences, linguistic and context. For instance, discourse in
classrooms; it will be started with greetings from students to teachers. Then,
teachers will ask students about what they have learnt for the previous
lessons. Teachers will list or state out generally what the students are going
to be taught for the present lessons. So, it is basically about how to use a language
to tell students what the context are and producing texts with cohesion.
Pragmatic
competence is important as it help learners to deliver and interpret intentions
with the usage of appropriate language or context. It is also vital as it
determine the ability of learners in avoiding anxiety. Basically, it is about
how you understand the language is being used in certain situation as in whether
it is formal or informal. For example, a teacher asked one of the students to
switch on the light and he or she is using a word please- ‘please switch on the
light’. In this situation, students need to realize that the teacher has a
higher authority and they will have to obey her regardless of whether the
teacher uses “please” or not. Students have to be able to differentiate or
identify formal, neutral and informal conversations. This is especially
important in multi-racial country like Malaysia to avoid miscommunication among the different communities.
Last but
not least, strategic competence which refers to the ability to maintain
communication. There are several ways to achieve it. For instance, by using
gestures, nonverbal or verbal conversations, cues, pictures, elaboration, and
also by raising your voice to get your point to cross. There will be learners
who have a limited range of vocabulary especially beginners. In this situation,
non-verbal gestures may play an important role to them in helping them to
deliver their point across. For instance, they can use body movements to
indicate actions like running, eating and singing. Each learner will or may
adapt different strategies in maintaining interaction between interlocutors.
In
communicative language teaching (CLT), learners are encouraged more to speak
with fluency rather than accuracy. It is important for them to be able to
communicate or relay their message to others despite having grammatical errors.
There are two communicative approaches namely weak and strong. The ‘weak’
approach stresses the importance of providing learners with opportunities to
use English for communicative purposes (role play) and the ‘strong’ approach
stated language is acquired through communication.
In a
communicative-based classroom, activities are designed to promote language production
that is creative, unpredictable and purposeful to improve learners’ fluency through
sharing information and negotiating meaning, compared to a traditional
classroom where focus is on mastering linguistic items
Learners’
should look at what message they should convey, rather than how it should be
spoken. Materials promoting fluency focus on the outcome instead of the
process, for example information-gap, opinion-gap and reasoning-gap. Also,
language skills help learners communicate effectively. For example, vocabulary
helps learners develop their ability to perform in the language. When reading a
technical passage, learners have to use their scanning and skimming (reading
skills) to infer or extract information, summarize (reading and speaking
skills) the information and produce a report (writing skills). Learners have to
utilize their linguistic, discourse and pragmatic competences to help them understand
the technical passage. This helps develop learners’ understanding of the
English language system.
An
implication of the communicative approach towards methodology is that materials
and tasks should reflect authenticity, as they bridge the real-world and the
classroom. Rogers and Medley (1988) defines authentic as language reflecting “a
naturalness of form, and an appropriateness of cultural and situational context
that would be found in the language as used by native speakers”. Authentic
sources would then reflect text (spoken or written) used in native or target
language speaking context. However, the suitability of the materials
(difficulty, cultural and social relevance) could actually be a problem in
terms of the learners’ proficiency level and interest. Learners could be
unmotivated by the materials, affecting focus on learning. Learners in my
context find English materials challenging, so the teacher needs to adapt the
activity in the coursebook around the authentic sources to make the materials
understandable.
In the
communicative approach, the role of teacher and learner has evolved. Nowadays,
teacher has the role of facilitating learners’ language learning progress by
designing, executing and managing activities in the classroom. This puts
demands on non-native speaking teachers confidence, skills and knowledge as
classroom situations become less structured. The learner takes on a more active
role of becoming “communicators and autonomous learners” in language learning.
Teachers would need to incorporate or make learners more aware of language
learning strategies to help learners attain autonomy in their own learning. For
example, strategies employed when reading a text: skimming for ideas, scanning
from content, and identifying key vocabulary. Nevertheless, non-native speakers
often reflect a more traditional role of learners in the classroom. In certain
contexts learners are not familiar with being proactive with learning due to
the exam-oriented education system influencing different social factors e.g.
entrance to tertiary education level indirectly affecting learner’s kudos in
society (Gupta, 2004). Teachers face a challenge in guiding learners from the
traditional to a more active role in the classroom.
Reversing
the learners’ role is easier if teachers are supported by policy makers, empirical
evidence from research in a non-native context and materials such as
coursebooks to help teachers overcome this problem. The communicative approach
should not be accepted as a packaged method, but should be context-dependent to
benefit the teachers and learners to achieve its goal – to become
communicatively competent. The social context in which learning takes place has
become an important factor in determining the whether implementation of
communicative approach is succeed or not.
c) Locates principles supporting CLT within the
KBSM English Language Curriculum and F1 English Language Syllabus.
1. Form and
maintain relationships through conversations and correspondence; take part in
social interaction; and interact to obtain goods and services
Principle
1: Teach communicative competence (linguistic)
Linguistic competence includes the
ability to use grammar appropriately. This is because grammar (noun, adverb,
verbs etc) needs to be taught and be part and parcel in learning outcomes.
Although students might have a low proficiency in the English language but,
their knowledge in grammar is vital especially in allowing them to interact
effectively with people. So, teachers need to construct a task or activity that
can emphasize more on grammar. While constructing that kind of task or activity,
teachers need to relate it with current or real life situation, so the students
will be more familiar with it as well as can learn better.
Principle
2: Practice functions and forms in context-rich environments.
The
discourse competence can be brought into this context as students are to be
taught to produce meaningful sentences. They may do so by practicing the
different functions and forms of words. For instance, the word “please” is used
when asking for favours from someone. In context-rich environments, students
can learn and practice cohesion in sentences. That way, they may identify the
‘semantic relationships’ using discourse markers and connectors.
2. Obtain,
process and use information from various audio-visual and print sources, and
present the information in spoken and written form;
Principle
2: Practice functions and forms in context-rich environments (discourse and
linguistic competence).
This is
also more to the discourse and linguistic competence context. Students will
assemble and use the information they get from various sources to produce texts
in either spoken or written form. A text with cohesion allows readers to get
the gist and understand it. In terms of
linguistic competence, students need to learn the correct grammar and
vocabulary. By having them, it will definitely help the students in delivering
their message more clearly and accurate.
Principle
4: Give priority to fluency over accuracy.
The
linguistic and pragmatic competence will play their parts in this context too. Teachers
need to teach other words when dealing with topic and syllabus to enhance the
students’ vocabulary. Teachers also should adapt and change the words according
to the proficiency level of the class so that the students will have a variety
of word choices. The students can “play” with words as well as use them in
writing and speaking. The educational system emphasize on fluency over accuracy
to make sure students are ready to take field works and facing the real world (social
life). Having pragmatic competence allows them to converse and communicate
using the simplest words. For instance, they will learn the basics in greeting
people such as ‘Good morning’, ‘How are you?’ and many more. Students may have
problems in pronouncing certain words but as long the sentence structure or
cohesion is there, the listener will somehow get the idea of what is being said
to them.
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
Principle
5: Adopt a learner-centered attitude
Teacher
regards or treats the students as partner. So, in order to achieve the vision,
teacher’s role need to change. According to the principle, the teacher’s role
changes in the three stages of the language teaching operation. First, teacher
acts as an informant in the presentation stage, then in the practice stage,
teacher plays the role as a conductor and lastly in the production stage, teacher
will be a guide and a co-communicator. Through these stages, the students will
be more comfortable in learning and slowly established their own attitudes in
learning.
Principle
7: Promote Collaborative and Cooperative Learning
Learning
tasks should be designed to require true and active communicative interactions
between learners and should involve both input and help in learners’
production. Learning tasks also should encourage negotiation of meaning –
changes in language will happen. This is because students who have low
proficiency level cannot accomplish a task for higher level students, so they
need guidance in doing the task step by step while slowly achieving the high
level of proficiency. Collaborative learning enables students to interact more
among themselves and at the same time, sharing knowledge with each other. It
also triggers peer feedback which may lead to positive impacts. For instance,
they might discover new idea while discussing certain topics and clarify
certain grammar rules when they faced confusions.
Principle
8: Provide Error Corrective Feedback
There are three
types of feedbacks which are positive feedback, negative feedback and both
feedbacks. Positive feedback is to confirm the accuracy of learner’s response
whilst negative feedback is more to error correction. As for both responses,
they are to facilitate learning when delivered effectively. By giving feedback
to students, they will be motivated and will learn better because they know their
mistakes and the reason behind them.
d) Identify general categories and specific
items to evaluate chapters in a Malaysian English Language textbook.
In the
Malaysian context, it is undeniable that we are not users of English as a first
language. However, we do share similarities in the context of EFL learners in
other countries such as the differences in proficiency levels of the learners.
The general
categories to evaluate chapters would be:-
a) Educational
context- In terms of the educational context, it is important to determine
whether the context is relevant and provides proper education. The contents in
the textbook should reflect what a second language learner is ought to learn or
know. Besides that, the context should also be based on the culture of that
particular country. For instance, the culture in Western and Eastern countries
will definitely be different given that the English language has different
‘stand’. In Western countries such as America and England, English is their L1
while in countries like Malaysia and Brunei, English is their L2. So, the educational
context should be focus more on the function of the English language in that
particular country.
b) Learning
Theories- The chapters should be designed based on the learning theories such
as the SLA theories and the principle of teaching and learning. Activities in
the textbook can be designed to create more interactions among students (interactionist
theory) and encourage teachers to apply the principles they had learnt into the
activities. For instance, teachers can actually create new activities using new
materials in order to enhance students’ learning as long as the learning
objectives can be achieved. The principle in materials developments suggested
teachers to focus on authenticity in usage of materials and linking them to
students’ everyday lives.
c) Curriculum-
The textbook is all based on the curriculum. This is to suit the ‘target’ the
country intended to achieve. The curriculum will be the base or guidance in
determining the context (chapters) in a textbook.
d) Methodology-
So far, we believed that the methodology used in nowadays teaching is all based
on the principles of teaching and learning and suited according to the
curriculum goals and objectives.
e) Facilitate
learning- The main function of a textbook is to facilitate learning in
classrooms. The chapters in the textbook are divided into several different
topics and it may help students to understand them better. For instance, the
chapter ‘Friends and Family’ will teach the students more about family in the
Malaysian context. The textbook provide pictures and exercises to further their
understanding.
f) Learner’s
diversity- The topics/chapters in the textbooks are different according to the
students’ level. For instance, the chapters in a Form 1 English textbook are
different with the chapters in a Form 5 English textbook. The words or terms
used in the textbooks are also different as the proficiency level of students
in different Form differs.
g) Teacher’s
beliefs- So far, teachers in schools all teach the English language by using
the textbook as the main source. In order for an effective teaching of English
to occur in class, that will have to depend on the method the teachers used and
whether they have the intention to hold on to their principles. Their beliefs
are what may change the students’ learning process. It can be said that the
teacher himself know what is the best method to teach the students in their own
class. Different teachers have different strategies and beliefs in teaching.
However, their beliefs are often shaped by the curriculum and the schools’ vision.
h) Psychological
validity- The contents of the chapters in a textbook should be rational and
creative. Students should be able to answer the questions either independently
or through cooperation with peers. It is important for their self-development as
well as helping them in developing good characters.
i) Pedagogical
validity- Another important criterion is that the textbook should act as
guidance to both the students and teachers. There should be choices of
activities that teachers can conduct in class. As for the activities, it will
be better if students are able to do their very own reflection by the end of
the activity. This is to ensure that they will remember what they had learnt and
be able to identify their mistakes or errors.
j) Process
and content validity- The contents should be relevant to the students. Contents
that students can relate to their daily lives are often easier for them to
grasp. Besides that, creativity plays an important role in the textbook’s
contents. They should appeal to the students and trigger their creative
thinking.
