COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a method of teaching language that is an extension of previous methods such as the method of Situational Language Teaching and Audio Lingual method. One of the main characteristics of the CLT is a combination of aspects of language functionally and structurally. Structurally, CLT emphasize grammar or grammar systems, while emphasizing the use of functional languages.

CLT also stresses on the situation, for example, in a situation that how a spoken utterance. In CLT there are various language skills (integrated skills) that included the ability reading, writing, listening, speaking, vocabulary, and grammar. So, through this CLT learners are expected to master a foreign language or language skillfully, not only write but also speak and of course with proper grammar.

As for some purposes CLT include:

•  Students will learn to use language as a tool to express something. 
•  Students will use language as a tool to express opinions and judgments.
• Students will learn to express functions most appropriate to communicate.

CLT uses almost every activity that involves learners in an authentic communication. Littlewood (1981) distinguish two types of activities:

• Functional communication activities

Activities aimed at developing the ability (skill), and specific language functions, but still involving communication.

•   Activities of social interaction

For example, conversations and discussions, dialogue and role playing (role play).

A.  Learner – Centered Instruction

This term applies to curricula as well as to specific techniques. It can be contrasted centered instruction includes :

-       Techniques that focus on or account for learners’ needs, styles, and goals

-       Techniques that give some control to the student (group work or strategy training, for example)

-       Curricula that include the consultation and input of students and that do not presuppose objectives in advance

-       Techniques that allow for student creativity and innovation

-       Techniques that enhance a student’s sense of competence and self-worth

Because  language teaching is a domain that so often presupposes classrooms where students have very little language proficiency with which to negotiate with the teacher, some teachers shy away from the notion of giving learners the “power” associates with a learner-centered approach. Such restraint is not necessary because, even in beginning level classes, teachers can offer students certain choices. All of these efforts help to give students a sense of “ownership” of their learning and thereby add totheir intrinsic motivation.

A Learner-centered teaching model. Weimer (2002) described five learner-centered practice areas that need to change to achieve learner-centered teaching: the Function of Content, the Role of the Instructor, the Responsibility for Learning, the Processes and Purposes of Assessment, and the Balance of Power.

• The functions of the content in learner-centered teaching include building a strong knowledge foundation and to develop learning skills and learner self-awareness.

•  The roles of the instructor should focus on student learning. The roles are facilitative rather than didactic.

• The responsibility for learning shifts from the instructor to the students. The instructor creates learning environments that motivate students to accept responsibility for learning.

• The processes and purposes of assessment shift from only assigning grades to include constructive feedback and to assist with improvement. Learner-centered teaching uses assessment as a part of the learning process.

• The balance of power shifts so that the instructor shares some decisions about the course with the students such that the instructor and the students collaborate on course policies and procedures. While Weimer’s model appeals to faculty, they find that is less pragmatic in describing ways to implement change (Wright, 2006). Since these five practices are broad abstract categories, they do not identify specific learner-centered behaviors for many instructors. To assist faculty, I defined each practice into specific components and incremental steps between instructor-centered and learner-centered teaching. Incremental steps allow instructors to make changes gradually over time. These incremental steps define a manageable transition process from instructor-centered to learner-centered teaching.

B.  Cooperative and Collaborative Learning

Cooperative learning is defined by a set of processes which help people interact together in order to accomplish a specific goal or develop an end product which is usually content specific. It is more directive than a collaboratve system of governance and closely controlled by the teacher. While there are many mechanisms for group analysis and introspection the fundamental approach is teacher centered whereas collaborative learning is more student centered.

Collaborative learning (CL) is a personal philosophy, not just a classroom technique. In all situations where people come together in groups, it suggests a way of dealing with people which respects and highlights individual group members' abilities and contributions. There is a sharing of authority and acceptance of responsibility among group members for the groups actions. The underlying premise of collaborative learning is based upon consensus building through cooperation by group members, in contrast to competition in which individuals best other group members. CL practitioners apply this philosophy in the classroom, at committee meetings, with community groups, within their families and generally as a way of living with and dealing with other people.

Cooperative learning does not merely imply collaboration. To be sure, in a cooperative classroom the students and teachers work together to pursue goals and objectives. But cooperative learning “is more structured, more prescriptive to teachers about classroom techniques, more directive to students about how to work together in group. In cooperative learning models, a group learning activity is dependent on the socially structured exchange of information between learners. In collaborative learning, the learner engages”with more capable others (teachers, advanced peers), who provide assitance and guidance. Collaborative learning models have been developed within social constructivist.schools of tought to promote communities of learners that cut accross the usual hierarchies of  students and teachers.

The benefits of cooperative and collaborative learning:

•  Celebration of diversity. Students learn to work with all types of people. During small-group interactions, they find many opportunities to reflect upon and reply to the diverse responses fellow learners bring to the questions raised. Small groups also allow students to add their perspectives to an issue based on their cultural differences. This exchange inevitably helps students to better understand other cultures and points of view.

• Acknowledgment of individual differences. When questions are raised, different students will have a variety of responses. Each of these can help the group create a product that reflects a wide range of perspectives and is thus more complete and comprehensive.

• Interpersonal development. Students learn to relate to their peers and other learners as they work together in group enterprises. This can be especially helpful for students who have difficulty with social skills. They can benefit from structured interactions with others.

•   Actively involving students in learning. Each member has opportunities to contribute in small groups. Students are apt to take more ownership of their material and to think critically about related issues when they work as a team.

•   More opportunities for personal feedback. Because there are more exchanges among students in small groups, your students receive more personal feedback about their ideas and responses. This feedback is often not possible in large-group instruction, in which one or two students exchange ideas and the rest of the class listens.

C.  Interactive Learning

Interactive learning is one of those educational methods that complements every curricular area. It encompasses Howard Gardner's theory of multiple intelligences and is ideal in a constructivist, student-centered classroom. There are several methods instructors can employ to maximize student motivation and participation in interactive learning.

Interactive Learning is a pedagogical approach that incorporates social networking and urban computing into course design and delivery. Interactive Learning has evolved out of the hyper-growth in the use of digital technology and virtual communication, particularly by students. Beginning around 2000, students entering institutes of higher education have expected that interactive learning will be an integral part of their education. The use of interactive technology in learning for these students is as natural as using a pencil and paper were to past generations.

The Net Generation or Generation Y is the first generation to grow up in constant contact with digital media. Also known as digital natives, their techno-social, community bonds to their naturalized use of technology in every aspect of learning, to their ability to learn in new ways outside the classroom, this generation of students is pushing the boundaries of education. The use of digital media in education has led to an increase in the use of and reliance on interactive learning, which in turn has led to a revolution in the fundamental process of education.

Increasingly, students and teachers rely on each other to access sources of knowledge and share their information, expanding the general scope of the educational process to include not just instruction, but the expansion of knowledge. The role change from keeper of knowledge to facilitator of learning presents a challenge and an opportunity for educators to dramatically change the way their students learn. The boundaries between teacher and student have less meaning with interactive learning.

D.  Whole Language Education

Whole Language Education is a method of teaching reading and writing that emphasizes learning whole words and phrases by encountering them in meaningful contexts rather than by phonics exercises.

Characteristics of Whole Language Classes :

•  Classes that implement the whole language is full of printed material. These items and corner cabinet learning. Poster student work adorn the walls and bulletin boards. Student papers and charts that the students replace the bulletin board created by the teacher. One corner of the classroom turned into a library that has various types of books (not just textbooks), magazines, newspapers, dictionaries, manuals and a variety of other printed items.

• Students learn through a model or example. Teachers and students together to do the reading, writing, listening, and speaking.

•   Students work and study in accordance with the level of development.

• Students share responsibility for learning. The role of the teacher in the classroom whole language only as a facilitator and the students take over some of the responsibilities normally carried out by the teacher.

•  Students are actively involved in learning. In this case the interaction of the teacher is multidirectional.

•  Students are free to take risks and experiment. Teachers do not expect perfection, what is important is the response or the answer given student can be accepted.

• Students receive feedback (feed back) positive both from teachers and friends. Conferences between teachers and students provide opportunities for students to assess themselves and see the development of self. Students who presented the results of his writings to get a positive response from friends. It can evoke confidence. Of the seven traits can be seen that students play an active role in learning. Teachers no longer have to stand in front of the class meyampaikan material. As a facilitator of teacher around the classroom to observe and record students' activities. In this case, teachers assess students informally.

E.  Content – Based Instruction

Content-Based Instruction (CBI) is a significant approach in language education (Brinton, Snow, & Wesche, 1989). CBI is designed to provide second-language learners instruction in content and language.

The focus of a CBI lesson is on the topic or subject matter. During the lesson students are focused on learning about something. This could be anything that interests them from a serious science subject to their favourite pop star or even a topical news story or film. They learn about this subject using the language they are trying to learn, rather than their native language, as a tool for developing knowledge and so they develop their linguistic ability in the target language. This is thought to be a more natural way of developing language ability and one that corresponds more to the way we originally learn our first language.

The advantages of content-based instruction?

•  It can make learning a language more interesting and motivating. Students can use the language to fulfil a real purpose, which can make students both more independent and confident. 
•  Students can also develop a much wider knowledge of the world through CBI which can feed back into improving and supporting their general educational needs.
• CBI is very popular among EAP (English for Academic Purposes) teachers as it helps students to develop valuable study skills such as note taking, summarising and extracting key information from texts. 
• Taking information from different sources, re-evaluating and restructuring that information can help students to develop very valuable thinking skills that can then be transferred to other subjects. 
• The inclusion of a group work element within the framework given above can also help students to develop their collaborative skills, which can have great social value.

F.   Task -Based Instruction

Task based language learning was defined by Breen (1987:23) as “any structured language learning Endeavour which has a particular objective, appropriate content, a specified working procedure, and a range of outcomes for those who undertake the task.” Task in this review refer to a range of work plans that have the overall purpose of facilitating language learning from the simple and brief exercise type, to more complex and lengthy activities such as group problem solving or simulations and decision making.

According to Candlin, communicative tasks must provide “comprehensible input and procedures for engaging that input”. Useful tasks for language learning should “promote attention to meaning and to relevant data, should be challenging but not threatening, should involve language use in the solving og the task and involve affective, communicative and social factors. Nunan suggests that a task is an activity in which:

• Meaning is primary 
•  There is some communication problem to solve 
• There is sort of relationship with real-world activities 
• Task completion has some priority 
• The assessment of the task is in terms of outcomes.

Task based instruction in other words, places the task centrally as the unit of syllabus design with language use during the tasks as the driving force for language development. The interpretation is linked to second language acquisition research that suggests that interlanguage development is internally influenced and not open simply to teacher control of input.