16 Jun 2011 Tinggalkan Sebuah Komentar by benhard735u5 in Uncategorized Communicative Language Teaching(CLT)IntroductionThe field of second or world language teaching

has undergone many shifts and trendsover the last few decades. Numerous methods have come and gone. We have seen theAudio-lingual Method, cognitive-based approaches, the Total Physical Response(TPR), the Natural Approach, and many others (for a detailed description of thesemethods and approaches, see Richards and Rodgers 2001). In addition, theproficiency and standards-based1 movements have shaped the field with theirattempts to define proficiency goals and thus have provided a general sense ofdirection. Some believe that foreign language instruction has finally come of age (seeHarper, Lively, and Williams 1998); others refer to it as the post-method area(Richards and Rodgers 2001). It is also generally believed that there is no one singlebest method that meets the goals and needs of all learners and programs. What hasemerged from this time is a variety of communicative language teaching (CLT)methodologies. Such methodologies encompass eclectic ways of teaching that areborrowed from myriad methods. Furthermore, they are rooted not only in one but arange of theories and are motivated by research findings in second languageacquisition (SLA) as well as cognitive and educational psychology. The purpose ofthis chapter is to provide an introduction to CLT and furthermore describe generalmethodological principles that function as theoretical and practical guidelines whenimplementing CLT methodologies.Definition of CLT/CA The Communicative Approach, also called Communicative Language Teaching orFunctional Approach, was the British version of the movement in the early 1960s inreaction to the structuralism and behaviorism embodied in the audio-linguistics.Communicative language teaching (CLT) is generally regarded as an approach tolanguage teaching (Richards and Rodgers 2001). As such, CLT reflects a certainmodel or research paradigm, or a theory (Celce- Murcia 2001). Longman Dictionaryof Language Teaching & Applied Linguistics defines the Communicative Approachor Communicative Language Teaching as an APPROACH to foreign or secondlanguage teaching which emphasises that the goal of language learning isCOMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE. CLT/CA is a set of principles about teachingincluding recommendations about method and syllabus where the focus is onmeaningful communication not structure, use not usage. Its primary goal is forlearners to develop communicative competence (Hymes 1971), or simply put,communicative ability. In other words, its goal is to make use of real-life situationsthat necessitate communication.

In this approach, students are given tasks toaccomplish using language instead of studying the language. The syllabus is basedprimarily on functional development, not structural development. In essence, afunctional syllabus replaces a structural syllabus. There is also less emphasis on errorcorrection as fluency and communication become more important than accuracy.Authentic and meaningful language input becomes more important as well. The classbecomes more studentcentered as students accomplish their tasks with other students,while the teacher plays more of an observer role.Features1) Focus on meaning.2) Communicative competence is the desired goal.3) Learner-centered.4) Fluency is the primary goal.5) Students are expected to interact with other people, either in oral practice, throughpair and group work, or in their writings.6) Dialogues, if used, center around communicative functions.7) Intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated bythe language.8) Task-based.David Nunan (1991) offers five features to characterise the Communicative LanguageTeaching.1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but alsoon the learning process itself.4. An enhancement of the learners own personal experiences as importantcontributing elements to classroom learning.5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activation outsidethe classroom. (cited in Brown 1994a : 78)Principles1) The communicative principle: Activities that involve real communication promotelearning.2) The task principle: Activities in which language is used to carry out meaningfultasks promote learning.3) The meaningfulness principle: Language that is meaningful to the learner supportsthe learning process.Berns (1990, 104) provides a useful summary of eight principles of CLT:1. Language teaching is based on a view of language as communication. That is,language is seen as a social tool that speakers use to make meaning; speakerscommunicate about something to someone for some purpose, either orally or inwriting.2. Diversity is recognized and accepted as part of language development and use insecond language learners and users, as it is with first language users.3. A learner's competence is considered in relative, not in absolute, terms.4. More than one variety of a language is recognized as a viable model for learningand teaching.5. Culture is recognized as instrumental in shaping speakers communicativecompetence, in both their first and subsequent languages.6. No single methodology or fixed set of techniques is prescribed.7. Language use is recognized as serving ideational,

interpersonal, and textualfunctions and is related to the development of learners competence in each.8. It is essential that learners be engaged in doing things with languagethat is, thatthey use language for a variety of purposes in all phases of learning.Richards:# Second language learning is facilitated when learners are engaged in interactionand meaningful communication.# Meaningful communication results from students processing content that is relevant,purposeful, interesting and engaging.# Language learning is gradual process that involves creative use of language and trialand error. Although errors are a normal product of learning, the goal of learning is tobe able to use the new language both accurately and fluently.# The role of teacher in the language classroom is that of a facilitator, who creates aclassroom climate conduct to language learning and provides opportunities forstudents to use and practice the language and to reflect on language use and languagelearning.# The classroom is a community where learners learn through collaboration andsharing.Characteristics With overall goals, all components of communicative competence as well asthe organizational and pragmatic aspects of language are in play. By engaging learners in language use for meaningful purposes, pragmatic,authentic and functional use is encouraged and therefore correct forms can beexcused though not totally ignored. To encourage comprehension and production with fluency in learners,correcting for accuracy can be offered by teachers subsequently. Focusing on real-world contexts, learners are equipped with skills they needfor the unrehearsed contexts by communicative techniques. Individual learners learning process is considered in order to promote theirautonomy and strategic involvement. Teacher can help them developappropriate strategies according to their strengths, weakness and preferencesof learning styles. Teacher roles in CLT classroom are like those of coach, guide orfacilitator and friend who will help learners develop genuine linguisticinteractive competence. Therefore learners are active participants who involvetrial and error in order to communicate by integrating different language skills.Characteristic featuresThe fundamental principle of CLT is to enable learners to understandand use the target language for communication. Two basicassumptions underlying this approach to language learning are thatthe core of language learning is the development of communicativecompetence and that the starting point for language learning is notgrammatical rules but context, function, meaning and theappropriate use of the language.Richards and Rogers identify the distinct characteristics ofcommunicative language teaching as (1986: P.71):Language is a system for the expression ofmeaning.The primary function of language is forinteraction and communication

function oflanguage.The structure of language reflects its functionaland communicative uses.The primary units of language are not merely itsgrammatical and structural features, butcategories of functional and communicativemeaning as exemplified in discourse.This approach calls for radically different ideas of languageteaching. One major shift is that language learning has becomestudent-centred. Lessons are planned in such a way that all thestudents can engage in interactive activities.Authentic and meaningful communication should be goal ofclassroom activies. Group work and pair work are employed topromote communication and getting the meaning across. Authenticmaterials, such as newspaper articles, radio programmes, videotapes,train-timetables etc., are used to bring the real worldelements into the classroom. Situations are simulated butinteraction and task complete within real-time are genuine. Roleplayscentre on communicative functions.Fluency is an important dimension of communication. The objectiveof language learning is to communicate; attempts to communicateare encouraged at the very beginning. Errors are unavoidable butaccuracy is judged in context rather in structures and forms. Errorswhich are concerned with structures are not corrected openly andsimultaneously because the main concern is fluency and gettingmeaning through communication. Learning is a process of creativeconstruction and involves errors.ObjectivesPiepho (1981) discusses the following levels of objectives in a communicativeapproach:1. an integrative and content level (language as a means of expression)2. a linguistic and instrumental level (language as a semiotic system and an object oflearning);3. an affective level of interpersonal relationships and conduct (language as a meansof expressing values and judgments about oneself and others);4. a level of individual learning needs (remedial learning based on error analysis);5. a general educational level of extra-linguistic goals (language learning within theschool curriculum) (Piepho 1981: 8)These are proposed as general objectives, applicable to any teaching situation.Particular objectives for CLT cannot be defined beyond this level of specification,since such an approach assumes that language teaching will reflect the particularneeds of the target learners. These needs may be in the domains of reading, writing,listening, or speaking, each of which can be approached from a communicativeperspective. Curriculum or instructional objectives for a particular course wouldreflect specific aspects of communicative competence according to the learner'sproficiency level and communicative needs.Theory of languageThe communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of languageas communication. The goal of language teaching is to develop what Hymes(1972) referred to as

"communicative competence." Hymes coined this term inorder to contrast a communicative view of language and Chomsky's theory ofcompetence. Chomsky held that linguistic theory is concerned primarily with an idealspeaker-listener in a completely homogeneous speech community, who knows itslanguage perfectly and is unaffected by such grammatically irrelevant conditions asmemory limitation, distractions, shifts of attention and interest, and errors (random orcharacteristic) in applying his knowledge of the language in actual performance.(Chomsky 1965: 3)For Chomsky, the focus of linguistic theory was to characterize the abstract abilitiesspeakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentences in alanguage. Hymes held that such a view of linguistic theory was sterile, that linguistictheory needed to be seen as part of a more general theory incorporatingcommunication and culture. Hymes's theory of communicative competence was adefinition of what a speaker needs to know in order to be communicatively competentin a speech community. In Hymes's view, a person who acquirescommunicative competence acquires both knowledge and ability for language usewith respect to1. whether (and to what degree) something is formally possible;2. whether (and to what degree) something is feasible in virtue of the means ofimplementation available;3. whether (and to what degree) something is appropriate (adequate, happy,successful) in relation to a context in which it is used and evaluated;4. whether (and to what degree) something is in fact done, actually performed, andwhat its doing entails.This theory of what knowing a language entails offers a much more comprehensiveview than Chomsky's view of competence, which deals primarily with abstractgrammatical knowledge.Another linguistic theory of communication favored in CLT is Halliday's functionalaccount of language use. "Linguistics ... is concerned... with the description of speechacts or texts, since only through the study of language in use are all the functions oflanguage, and therefore all components of meaning, brought into focus" (Halliday1970: 145). In a number of influential books and papers, Halliday has elaborated apowerful theory of the functions of language, which complements Hymes's view ofcommunicative competence for many writers on CLT (e.g., Brumfit and Johnson1979; Savignon 1983). He described (1975: 1117) seven basic functions thatlanguage performs for children learning their first language:1. the instrumental function: using language to get things;2. the regulatory function: using language to control the behaviour of others;3. the interactional function: using language to create interaction with others;4. the personal function: using language to express personal feelings and meanings;5. the heuristic function: using language

to learn and to discover;6. the imaginative function: using language to create a world of the imagination;7. the representational function: using language to communicate information.Learning a second language was similarly viewed by proponents of CommunicativeLanguage Teaching as acquiring the linguistic means to perform different kinds offunctions.At the level of language theory, Communicative Language Teaching has a rich, ifsomewhat eclectic, theoretical base. Some of the characteristics of this communicativeview of language follow.1. Language is a system for the expression of meaning.2. The primary function of language is for interaction and communication.3. The structure of language reflects its functional and communicative uses.4. The primary units of language are not merely its grammatical and structuralfeatures, but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified indiscourse.Theory of learningIn contrast to the amount that has been written in Communicative Language Teachingliterature about communicative dimensions of language, little has been written aboutlearning theory. Neither Brumfit and Johnson (1979) nor Littlewood (1981), forexample, offers any discussion of learning theory. Elements of an underlying learningtheory can be discerned in some CLT practices, however. One such element might bedescribed as the communication principle: Activities that involve realcommunication promote learning. A second element is the task principle: Activitiesin which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning(Johnson 1982). A third element is the meaningfulness principle: Language that ismeaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Learning activities areconsequently selected according to how well they engage the learner in meaningfuland authentic language use (rather than merely mechanical practice of languagepatterns). These principles, we suggest, can be inferred from CLT practices (e.g.,Little-wood 1981; Johnson 1982). They address the conditions needed to promotesecond language learning, rather than the processes of language acquisition.More recent accounts of Communicative Language Teaching, however, haveattempted to describe theories of language learning processes that are compatible withthe communicative approach. Savignon (1983) surveys second language acquisitionresearch as a source for learning theories and considers the role of linguistic, social,cognitive, and individual variables in language acquisition. Other theorists (e.g.,Stephen Krashen, who is not directly associated with Communicative LanguageTeaching) have developed theories cited as compatible with the principles of CLT.Krashen sees acquisition as the basic process involved in developing languageproficiency and distinguishes this process from learning. Acquisition refers

to theunconscious development of the target language system as a result of using thelanguage for real communication. Learning is the conscious representation ofgrammatical knowledge that has resulted from instruction, and it cannot lead toacquisition. It is the acquired system that we call upon to create utterances duringspontaneous language use. The learned system can serve only as a monitor of theoutput of the acquired system. Krashen and other second language acquisitiontheorists typically stress that language learning comes about through using languagecommunicatively, rather than through practicing language skills.Johnson (1984) and Littlewood (1984) consider an alternative learning theory thatthey also see as compatible with CLT-a skill-learning model of learning. According tothis theory, the acquisition of communicative competence in a language is an exampleof skill development. This involves both a cognitive and a behavioral aspect:The cognitive aspect involves the internalisation of plans for creating appropriatebehaviour. For language use, these plans derive mainly from the language system they include grammatical rules, procedures for selecting vocabulary, and socialconventions governing speech. The behavioural aspect involves the automation ofthese plans so that they can be converted into fluent performance in real time. Thisoccurs mainly through practice in converting plans into performance. (Littlewood1984: 74)This theory thus encourages an emphasis on practice as a way of developingcommunicative skills.Teacher's roleSeveral roles are assumed for teachers in Communicative Language Teaching, theimportance of particular roles being determined by the view of CLT adopted. Breenand Candlin describe teacher roles in the following terms:The teacher has two main roles: the first role is to facilitate the communicationprocess between all participants in the classroom, and between these participantsand the various activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independentparticipant within the learning-teaching group. The latter role is closely related tothe objectives of the first role and arises from it. These roles imply a set of secondaryroles for the teacher; first, as an organizer of resources and as a resource himself,second as a guide within the classroom procedures and activities.... A third role for theteacher is that of researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms ofappropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed experience of the nature oflearning and organizational capacities. (1980: 99)Other roles assumed for teachers are needs analyst, counselor, and group processmanager.NEEDS ANALYSTThe CLT teacher assumes a responsibility for determining and responding to learnerlanguage needs. This may be done informally and personally through oneto-onesessions with students, in which the teacher talks through

such issues as the student'sperception of his or her learning style, learning assets, and learning goals. It may bedone formally through administering a needs assessment instrument, such as thoseexemplified in Savignon (1983). Typically, such formal assessments contain itemsthat attempt to determine an individual's motivation for studying the language. Forexample, students might respond on a 5-point scale (strongly agree to stronglydisagree) to statements like the following.I want to study English because...1. I think it will someday be useful in getting a good job.2. it will help me better understand Englishspeaking people and their way of life.3. one needs a good knowledge of English to gain other people's respect.4. it will allow me to meet and converse with interesting people.5. I need it for my job.6. it will enable me to think and behave like English-speaking people.On the basis of such needs assessments, teachers are expected to plan group andindividual instruction that responds to the learners' needs.COUNSELORAnother role assumed by several CLT approaches is that of counselor, similar to theway this role is defined in Community Language Learning. In this role, the teachercounseloris expected to exemplify an effective communicator seeking to maximizethe meshing of speaker intention and hearer interpretation, through the use ofparaphrase, confirmation, and feedback.GROUP PROCESS MANAGERCLT procedures often require teachers to acquire less teacher-centered classroommanagement skills. It is the teacher's responsibility to organize the classroom as asetting for communication and communicative activities. Guidelines for classroompractice (e.g., Littlewood 1981; Finocchiaro and Brumfit 1983) suggest that during anactivity the teacher monitors, encourages, and suppresses the inclination to supplygaps in lexis, grammar, and strategy but notes such gaps for later commentary andcommunicative practice. At the conclusion of group activities, the teacher leads in thedebriefing of the activity, pointing out alternatives and extensions and assistinggroups in self-correction discussion. Critics have pointed out, however, that nonnativeteachers may feel less than comfortable about such procedures without specialtraining.The focus on fluency and comprehensibility in Communicative Language Teachingmay cause anxiety among teachers accustomed to seeing error suppression andcorrection as the major instructional responsibility, and who see their primaryfunction as preparing learners to take standardized or other kinds of tests. Acontinuing teacher concern has been the possible deleterious effect in pair or groupwork of imperfect modeling and student error. Although this issue is far fromresolved, it is interesting to note that recent research findings suggest that "datacontradicts the notion that other

learners are not good conversational partners becausethey can't provide accurate input when it is solicited" (Porter 1983).Teacher vs. student rolesThe emphasis in Communicative Approach on the process of communication ratherthan mastery of language forms, leads to different roles from those found in moretraditional second language classrooms.Teachers roleInstead of being the dominating authority in the classroom, the teacher in theCommunicative Approach facilitates the communicative process among all thelearners and between the students and the various tasks, giving guidance and advicewhen necessary. Furthermore, teachers act as independent participants within thelearning-teaching group. However, this does not mean that once a teaching activity isin progress, the teacher should become a passive observer. It is still the teachersobligation to develop the students potential through external direction. Although theteacher maybe nondirective in general, it is still the teachers responsibility to recognize thedistinctive qualities in the students and to help the students develop those qualities. Incontemporary English teaching, the teachers function should become less dominantthan before, but no less important. For example, his/her role as an independentparticipant within the learning-teaching group is closely related to the objective ofhis/her role as communicative activator. These roles include a set of secondary rolesfor the teacher: first, as an organizer of resources and as a resource; and second, as aguide and manager of activities. A third role for the teacher is that of a researcher andlearner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge, abilities, andactual experience in the nature of learning (Breen and Candlin 1980). One of theimportant components of communicative competence is the ability to select alinguistic form that is appropriate for a specific situation (Hymes 1981). Language hasbeen redefined as an integral part of the culture with which it is connected today.There is plenty of evidence that a good command of English grammar, vocabulary,and syntax does not necessarily add up to a good mastery of English. There is a set ofsocial conventions governing language form and behavior within a communicativegroup.Students roleBecause in Communicative Approach the students performance is the goal, studentsneed much practice. So students should be centered. The teacher must step back andobserve, sometimes acting as a referee or monitor. A classroom during acommunicative activity is far from quiet, however. The students do most of thespeaking, and frequently the scene of a classroom during a communicative exercise isactive, with students leaving their seats to complete a task. Because of the increasedresponsibility to participate, students may find they gain confidence in using the targetlanguage in general.

Students are more responsible managers of their own learning.Advantages of CLTSpecifically, the communicative approach of teaching has the following threeadvantages:(1) the interaction between students and teachers. Communicative teaching isbecoming increasingly clear feature is the change in the way as the internship,students develop the subject, initiative and become increasingly important. Teacherstudentrelationship is an interactive, harmonious relationship, rather than thetraditional education, the kind of master-servant relationship.(2) to impart the basic knowledge and ability to skillfully combine the development.Traditional classroom teaching of English in the main body of the expense of homestudy, only emphasized the teachers on the knowledge of the systematic and integrity,which is a teacher-centered, knowledgecentered from the medieval "scholastic"teaching teaching methods inherited One consequence of the neglect of studentability. The communicative teaching emphasizes the learner's cognitive ability andoperational capabilities, which allow the students themselves to think about andexpress their views, thus trained in real life the ability to use language tocommunicate.(3) greatly enhanced the student's interest. Communicative teaching students toparticipate in, sometimes accompanied by scenes or simulated scenarios, so thatstudents more close to life, the students became the main character, naturally theywere interested in the English language, to learn English as a pleasure.Communicative Language Teaching defectsCommunicative Approach is a new teaching methods to meet the demands of thetimes, its emphasis on interpersonal skills, better than the traditional method tostimulate students interest in learning, stimulate students to communicate theirenthusiasm, it is than trying to teach the entire language is more formal system oftraditional law quick , but also save time and effort, but it also has its downside.First of all, using communicative approach to grammar teaching, grammar, learningsystematic and progressive to a certain extent, be affected. Psycholinguisticexperiments show that, regardless of language acquisition of children, or adults insecond language acquisition, their awareness of grammar acquisition andunderstanding of the project is carried out according to a certain order.Communicative grammar teaching practice is often used features an outline of ideasto focus on teaching how to make the students in a specific context, in order toachieve specific communicative functions, such as: inquiry, instruction, order, refusedthe request and so on, the correct who graciously to use these linguistic forms. In thissystem, the syntax of the systematic and progressive to a certain degree of neglect,and sometimes give people with disorderly feeling.Second, the communicative approach to grammar

teaching, grammar items accountfor a large proportion of the output, that is a lot of time for students to communicate inconversation to understand the consolidation of the phrase v points. Compared withthe traditional teaching of grammar, syntax knowledge, communicative input ratio ofrelative reduction. The linguists Van Patter and Cadiero found that "only from theinput of those who perceive and deal with the students in understanding thegrammatical structure of sentences is superior to the output-based students." Inaddition, the communicative approach, there are other Issue. As Richard and Rodgerspointed out: "the adopting of a commu-fricative approach raises important issues forteacher training, materials development, and tesn, ng and evaluafion."Challenges in Communicative Language TeachingCLT or a task-based approach is not a panacea to language teaching. There arenumerous challenges to making communicative language teaching happen. Theseissues have to do with the choice of content, context, specific skill areas (e.g.,vocabulary, grammar, etc.), and particular learning tasks that determine a curriculum.These choices are tightly linked to questions about what it means to know alanguage, to be proficient in a language, and what communicative abilities entail.While the literature on language teaching has attempted to provide answers to suchquestions, there are no universally accepted standards. The proficiency and standardsmovements have attempted to provide some guidelines, but they often remain broadin learner performance descriptions (see Appendix 8.3, ACTFL ProficiencyGuidelines). This ultimately makes assessment of individual learners communicativeability challenging, and it essentially leaves judgment of learner progress up to theteachers. Communicative abilities cannot be simply categorized as speaking, listening,reading, or writing skills, as it was done in a traditional fourskills approach. Forexample, when two people talk to each other, the process normally involves speakingand listening skills as well as active communicative strategies such as asking forclarification and adjusting language to make each other understood. The endeavor toteach languages in a way that encompasses all skills, based on an interactive view oflanguage behavior, has posed many challenges on how to go about integrating thefour skills effectively in a daily and long-term curriculum. The teaching ofproficiency and communicative-based skills raises the question not only about contentbut also about the choice of learning tasks or best teaching practices. CLT does notpromote one standardized method or curriculum, but is eclectic in its approach. Beingeclectic means it promotes the best or most effective techniques or methodologies. Atthe same time, the choice of techniques and learning tasks is not an arbitrary

decision,but is firmly grounded in principles of learning as they are motivated by research insecond language acquisition (SLA) and educational psychology. Learning whatconstitutes effective ways of learning and teaching initially requires intensive trainingand in the long run staying in touch with current SLA research findings. As a lastpoint, the quality of CLT also often depends on the quality of teaching materials.Unfortunately, only in the most commonly taught languagessuch as English,Spanish, French, and Germandoes an abundance of materials exist to support thedevelopment of communicative language abilities over a wide range of skills.Points of criticismThe communicative approach focuses on the use of language in everyday (1situations, or the functional aspects of language, and less on the formal structures.However, critics believe that there needs to be some sort of "bridge" between the two.in order for effective language learningThe approach relies extensively on the functional-notational syllabus which places (2.heavy demands on the learnersThe various categories of language functions are overlapping and not systematically (3.graded like the structures of the languageA major premise underlying this approach is its emphasis on learners' needs and (4interests. This implies that every teacher should modify the syllabus to correspond with.the needs of the learnersThe approach gives priority to meanings and rules of use rather than to grammar and (5rules of structure. The latter are taught by means of functions and notions. Suchconcentration on language behavior may result in negative consequences in the sense that.important structures and rules would be left outThe requirements are difficult: availability of a classroom that can allow for group (6.work activities and for teaching aids and materialsMerits of CLTThere are many advantages in teaching according to the communicative approach:1.CLT is a holistic appraoch. It doesnt focus only on the traditional structuralsyllabus. It takes into consideration communicative dimension of language.2.CLT provides vitality and motivation within the classroom.3.CLT is a learner centered approach. It capitalizes on the interests and needs of thelearner.4.In a world where communication of information and information technology havebroken new considerable ground, CLT can play an important role ineducation.Critism1.Notional syllabus was critcised as merely replacing one kind of list, namely a list ofgrammatical strucures, with another list of notions and functions.2.The various categories of language functions are overlapping and not systematicallygraded like the structures of the language.3.The communicative approach focuses on the use of language in everyday situations,or the functional aspects of language, and less on the formal structures. There must bea

certain balance between the two.It gives priority to meanings and rules of use ratherthan to grammar and rules of structure. Such concentration on language behavior mayresult in negative consequences in the sense that important structures and rules wouldbe left out.4.The approach relies extensively on the functional-notational syllabus which placesheavy demands on the learners.5.A major principle underlying this approach is its emphasis on learners needs andinterests. This implies that every teacher should modify the syllabus to fit the needs ofthe learners.6.The requirements are difficult. Not all classrooms can allow for group workactivities and for teaching aids and materials.In spite of its critics, CLT has gained widespread acceptance in the world of languagestudy. CLT can succeed, as long as teachers dont completely reject the need for thestructure provided by grammar. Teachers must strive for moderation and dont neglectthe merits of other methods. CLT, in the hands of a balanced teacher, can bring newlife and joy to the classroom. Its vitality makes it an important contributor to languagelearning approaches.For more information about how the situation in teaching using Communicative Approach just click http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5bW15RpON9M&feature=relatedand http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0OE6tJ9aWrc&feature=related