Read this carefully: This is the text that I want you to take as a model let's call it "The

Model": Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

📘 Definition Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to language

instruction that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the goal of learning. Originating
in the 1970s, CLT responded to grammar-heavy, drill-based methods by focusing on real-life
communication and the concept of communicative competence—the ability to use language
effectively in social contexts.

🔑 Key Principles • Communication is central: Language is taught as a tool for real-life

interaction, not just as a system of rules. • Fluency over accuracy: Learners are encouraged to
speak freely, even with errors, to build confidence and competence. • Learner-centered
approach: Focus on collaboration, group work, and pair activities. • Integrated skills:
Speaking, listening, reading, and writing are developed together through meaningful tasks. •
Authenticity: Emphasis on realistic communication scenarios, not just textbook language. •
Functional language use: Language is taught for its social functions—expressing needs,
making suggestions, asking for help, etc.

👩‍🏫 Roles of Teacher and Learner Teacher: • Facilitator of communication. • Needs analyst,
counselor, and classroom manager. • Provides input, support, and feedback. Learner: • Active
participant and meaning negotiator. • Works collaboratively with peers. • Responsible for
contributing to the learning process.

📉 Limitations • Underemphasis on grammar: May lead to fossilized errors in learners’ speech.

• Cultural mismatch: Learner-centered methods may not suit all educational or cultural
contexts. • Resource-intensive: Demands more time, planning, and classroom materials—can
be hard in large or under-resourced settings. • Assessment challenges: Measuring
communicative competence can be subjective and complex.

🎯 Objectives According to Piepho (1981), language in CLT should: • Serve as a means of

expression and value judgment. • Address learners' personal and educational needs. • Support
interpersonal relationships. • Fulfill broader curricular and real-world functions.

📚 Activities CLT promotes interactive and meaningful tasks, such as: • Role plays: Practicing
social situations like shopping or job interviews. • Jigsaw tasks: Students piece together
information from different sources. • Information gap: One student has information the other
needs; they must communicate to complete the task. • Group discussions & debates: The post-
methods era
From the survey of approaches and methods presented in this book we

have seen that the history of language teaching in the last one hundred

years has been characterized by a search for more effective ways of teaching second or
foreign languages. The commonest solution to the “language teaching problem” was seen to
lie in the adoption of a new teaching approach or method. One result of this trend was the era
of so-called

designer or brand-name methods, that is, packaged solutions that can be

described and marketed for use anywhere in the world. Thus, the Direct

Method was enthusiastically embraced in the early part of the twentieth

century as an improvement over Grammar Translation. In the 1950s the

Audiolingual Method was thought to provide a way forward, incorporating the latest insights
from the sciences of linguistics and psychology. As

the Audiolingual Method began to fade in the 1970s, particularly in the

United States, a variety of guru-led methods emerged to fill the vacuum

created by the discrediting of Audiolingualism, such as the Silent Way,

Total Physical Response, and Suggestopedia. While these had declined

substantially by the 1990s, new “breakthroughs” continue to be announced from time to time,
such as Task-Based Instruction, Neurolinguistic Programming, and Multiple Intelligences,
and these attract

varying levels of support. Mainstream language teaching on both sides of

the Atlantic, however, opted for Communicative Language Teaching

(CLT) as the recommended basis for language teaching methodology in

the 1980s and it continues to be considered the most plausible basis for

language teaching today, although, as we saw in Chapter 14, CLT is

today understood to mean little more than a set of very general principles

that can be applied and interpreted in a variety of ways.

This book describes approaches and methods in language teaching. We

have described an approach as a set of beliefs and principles that can be

used as the basis for teaching a language. The following are examples of

approaches that have been described in this book:

– Communicative Language Teaching

– Competency-Based Language Teaching

– Content-Based Instruction

– Cooperative Learning

– Lexical Approaches

– Multiple Intelligences

– The Natural Approach

– Neurolinguistic Programming

– Task-Based Language Teaching

– Whole Language

Each of these approaches (or at least those that have been more fully

elaborated and adopted) has in common a core set of theories and beliefs

about the nature of language, of language learning, and a derived set of

principles for teaching a language. None of them, however, leads to a

specific set of prescriptions and techniques to be used in teaching a language. They are
characterized by a variety of interpretations as to how the

principles can be applied. Because of this level of flexibility and the

possibility of varying interpretations and application, approaches tend to

have a long shelf life. They allow for individual interpretation and application. They can be
revised and updated over time as new practices

emerge.

A method, on the other hand, refers to a specific instructional design or

system based on a particular theory of language and of language learning.

It contains detailed specifications of content, roles of teachers and

learners, and teaching procedures and techniques. It is relatively fixed in

time and there is generally little scope for individual interpretation.

Methods are learned through training. The teacher’s role is to follow the

method and apply it precisely according to the rules. The following are

examples of methods in this sense:

– Audiolingualism

– Counseling-Learning

– Situational Language Teaching

– The Silent Way

– Suggestopedia

– Total Physical Response

Compared to approaches, methods tend to have a relatively short shelf

life. Because they are often linked to very specific claims and to prescribed

practices, they tend to fall out of favor as these practices become unfashionable or discredited.
The heyday of methods can be considered to

have lasted up till the late 1980s.

However, methods offer some advantages over approaches, and this

doubtless explains their appeal. Because of the general nature of approaches, there is often no
clear application of their assumptions and

principles in the classroom, as we have seen with a number of the approaches described in this
book. Much is left to the individual teacher’s– Lexical Approaches

– Multiple Intelligences

– The Natural Approach

– Neurolinguistic Programming

– Task-Based Language Teaching

– Whole Language

Each of these approaches (or at least those that have been more fully
elaborated and adopted) has in common a core set of theories and beliefs

about the nature of language, of language learning, and a derived set of

principles for teaching a language. None of them, however, leads to a

specific set of prescriptions and techniques to be used in teaching a language. They are
characterized by a variety of interpretations as to how the

principles can be applied. Because of this level of flexibility and the

possibility of varying interpretations and application, approaches tend to

have a long shelf life. They allow for individual interpretation and application. They can be
revised and updated over time as new practices

emerge.

A method, on the other hand, refers to a specific instructional design or

system based on a particular theory of language and of language learning.

It contains detailed specifications of content, roles of teachers and

learners, and teaching procedures and techniques. It is relatively fixed in

time and there is generally little scope for individual interpretation.

Methods are learned through training. The teacher’s role is to follow the

method and apply it precisely according to the rules. The following are

examples of methods in this sense:

– Audiolingualism

– Counseling-Learning

– Situational Language Teaching

– The Silent Way

– Suggestopedia

– Total Physical Response

Compared to approaches, methods tend to have a relatively short shelf

life. Because they are often linked to very specific claims and to prescribed
practices, they tend to fall out of favor as these practices become unfashionable or discredited.
The heyday of methods can be considered to

have lasted up till the late 1980s.

However, methods offer some advantages over approaches, and this

doubtless explains their appeal. Because of the general nature of approaches, there is often no
clear application of their assumptions and

principles in the classroom, as we have seen with a number of the approaches described in this
book. Much is left to the individual teacher’s ment of education, key educational
administrators, leading academics,

and professional bodies and organizations can play an important role in

promoting a new approach or method.

From the descriptions given in this book it is clear that some approaches and methods are
unlikely to be widely adopted because they are

difficult to understand and use, lack clear practical application, require

special training, and necessitate major changes in teachers’ practices and

beliefs. This is true of many of the alternative approaches and methods

described in this book.

Yet the notion of methods came under criticism in the 1990s for other

reasons, and a number of limitations implicit in the notion of all-purpose

methods were raised. By the end of the twentieth century, mainstream

language teaching no longer regarded methods as the key factor in accounting for success or
failure in language teaching. Some spoke of the

death of methods and approaches and the term “post-methods era” was

sometimes used. What were the major criticisms made of approaches and

methods?

The “top-down” criticism

While approaches tend to allow for varying interpretations in practice,

methods typically prescribe for teachers what and how to teach. Teachers
have to accept on faith the claims or theory underlying the method and

apply them to their own practice. Good teaching is regarded as correct

use of the method and its prescribed principles and techniques. Roles of

teachers and learners, as well as the type of activities and teaching techniques to be used in
the classroom, are generally prescribed. The role of

the teacher is marginalized; his or her role is to understand the method

and apply its principles correctly. Likewise, learners are sometimes

viewed as the passive recipients of the method and must submit themselves to its regime of
exercises and activities. Absent from the traditional

view of methods is a concept of learner-centeredness and teacher

creativity: an acknowledgment that learners bring different learning

styles and preferences to the learning process, that they should be consulted in the process of
developing a teaching program, and that teaching

methods must be flexible and adaptive to learners’ needs and interests. At

the same time, there is often little room for the teacher’s own personal

initiative and teaching style. The teacher must submit herself or himself

to the method. Role of contextual factors

Both approaches and methods are often promoted as all-purpose solutions to teaching
problems that can be applied in any part of the world

and under any circumstance. In trying to apply approaches or methods,

teachers sometimes ignore what is the starting point in language program

design, namely, a careful consideration of the context in which teaching

and learning occurs, including the cultural context, the political context,

the local institutional context, and the context constituted by the teachers

and learners in their classrooms.

For example, attempts to introduce Communicative Language Teaching in countries with very
different educational traditions from those in

which CLT was developed (Britain and the United States and other
English-speaking countries) have sometimes been described as “cultural

imperialism” because the assumptions and practices implicit in CLT are

viewed as “correct” whereas those of the target culture are seen in need of

replacement. Similarly, Counseling-Learning and Cooperative Learning

both make assumptions about the roles of teachers and learners that are

not necessarily culturally universal.

The need for curriculum development processes

Curriculum planners view debates over teaching method as part of a

broader set of educational planning decisions. These traditionally

involve:

a) The careful examination, drawing on all available sources of knowledge

and informed judgement, of the teaching objectives, whether in particular

subject courses or over the curriculum as a whole.

b) The development and trial use in schools of those methods and materials

which are judged most likely to achieve the objectives which teachers

agreed upon.

c) The assessment of the extent to which the development work has in fact

achieved its objectives. This part of the process may be expected to provoke new thought
about the objectives themselves.

d) The final element is therefore the feedback of all the experience gained, to

provide a starting point for further study.

(Nicholls and Nicholls 1972: 4)

These elements are viewed as forming a network of interacting systems.

Choice of teaching method cannot, therefore, be determined in isolation

from other planning and implementation practices (Richards 2000). Lack of research basis

Approaches and methods are often based on the assumption that the
processes of second language learning are fully understood. Many of the

books written by method gurus are full of claims and assertions about

how people learn languages, few of which are based on second language

acquisition research or have been empirically tested. With some exceptions, such as Krashen,
researchers who study language learning are

themselves usually reluctant to dispense prescriptions for teaching based

on the results of their research, because they know that current knowledge is tentative, partial,
and changing. Much of such research does not

support the often simplistic theories and prescriptions found in some

approaches and methods. Skehan, for example, commenting on the standard lesson sequence
in Situational Language Teaching as well as other

methods consisting of a Presentation phase, a Practice phase, and a Production phase (the P-P-
P lesson model), points out that such a sequence

does not reflect principles of second language acquisition:

The underlying theory for a P-P-P approach has now been discredited. The belief that a
precise focus on a particular form leads to learning and automatization (that learners will learn
what is taught in the order in which it is taught)

no longer carries much credibility in linguistics or psychology. (Skehan 1996:

18)

Similarity of classroom practices

Another criticism is that it is very difficult for teachers to use approaches

and methods in ways that precisely reflect the underlying principles of the

method. Swaffar, Arens, and Morgan (1982: 25) commented:

One consistent problem is whether or not teachers involved in presenting materials created for
a particular method are actually reflecting the underlying

philosophies of these methods in their classroom practices.

Swaffar and her colleagues studied how teachers using different methods

implemented them in the classroom and found that many of the distinctions used to contrast
methods, particularly those based on classroom
activities, did not exist in actual practice:

Methodological labels assigned to teaching activities are, in themselves, not informative,

because they refer to a pool of classroom practices which are used

uniformly. The differences among major methodologies are to be found in the

ordered hierarchy, the priorities assigned to tasks. (1982: 31)

Brown (1997: 3) makes a similar point:

Generally, methods are quite distinctive at the early, beginning stages of a language course,
and rather indistinguishable from each other at a later stage. In the first few days of a
Community Language Learning class, for example, the

students witness a unique set of experiences in their small circles of translated

language whispered in their ears. But within a matter of weeks, such classrooms can look like
any other learner-centered curriculum.

It is perhaps for this reason that video samples of different approaches

and methods typically demonstrate the first lesson (or an early lesson) of a

foreign language class. There are no convincing video “demonstrations”

with intermediate or advanced learners, perhaps because, as Brown

points out, at that level there is nothing distinctive to demonstrate.

Beyond approaches and methods

What alternative approaches to the study of teaching are available outside of the framework of
brand-name approaches and methods? We

believe that because approaches and methods have played a central role

in the development of our profession, it will continue to be useful for

teachers and student teachers to become familiar with the major teaching

approaches and methods proposed for second and foreign language

teaching. Mainstream approaches and methods draw on a large amount

of collective experience and practice from which much can be learned.

Approaches and methods can therefore be usefully studied and selectively

mastered in order:
– to learn how to use different approaches and methods and understand

when they might be useful

– to understand some of the issues and controversies that characterize

the history of language teaching

– to participate in language learning experiences based on different approaches and methods

as a basis for reflection and comparison

– to be aware of the rich set of activity resources available to the imaginative teacher

– to appreciate how theory and practice can be linked from a variety of

different perspectives

However, teachers and teachers in training need to be able to use approaches and methods
flexibly and creatively based on their own judgment and experience. In the process, they
should be encouraged to transform and adapt the methods they use to make them their own.
Training in

the techniques and procedures of a specific method is probably essential

for novice teachers entering teaching, because it provides them with the

confidence they will need to face learners and it provides techniques and

strategies for presenting lessons. In the early stages, teaching is largely a

matter of applying procedures and techniques developed by others. An

approach or a predetermined method, with its associated activities, principles, and techniques,
may be an essential starting point for an inexperi

the first few days of a Community Language Learning class, for example, the

students witness a unique set of experiences in their small circles of translated

language whispered in their ears. But within a matter of weeks, such classrooms can look like any
other learner-centered curriculum.

It is perhaps for this reason that video samples of different approaches

and methods typically demonstrate the first lesson (or an early lesson) of a

foreign language class. There are no convincing video “demonstrations”

with intermediate or advanced learners, perhaps because, as Brown

points out, at that level there is nothing distinctive to demonstrate.

Beyond approaches and methods

What alternative approaches to the study of teaching are available outside of the framework of
brand-name approaches and methods? We

believe that because approaches and methods have played a central role

in the development of our profession, it will continue to be useful for

teachers and student teachers to become familiar with the major teaching

approaches and methods proposed for second and foreign language

teaching. Mainstream approaches and methods draw on a large amount

of collective experience and practice from which much can be learned.

Approaches and methods can therefore be usefully studied and selectively

mastered in order:

– to learn how to use different approaches and methods and understand

when they might be useful

– to understand some of the issues and controversies that characterize

the history of language teaching

– to participate in language learning experiences based on different approaches and methods as a

basis for reflection and comparison

– to be aware of the rich set of activity resources available to the imaginative teacher

– to appreciate how theory and practice can be linked from a variety of

different perspectives

However, teachers and teachers in training need to be able to use approaches and methods flexibly
and creatively based on their own judgment and experience. In the process, they should be
encouraged to transform and adapt the methods they use to make them their own. Training in

the techniques and procedures of a specific method is probably essential

for novice teachers entering teaching, because it provides them with the

confidence they will need to face learners and it provides techniques and

strategies for presenting lessons. In the early stages, teaching is largely a

matter of applying procedures and techniques developed by others. An

approach or a predetermined method, with its associated activities, principles, and techniques, may
be an essential starting point for an inexperi\

enced teacher, but it should be seen only as that. As the teacher gains

experience and knowledge, he or she will begin to develop an individual

approach or personal method of teaching, one that draws on an established approach or method but
that also uniquely reflects the teacher’s

individual beliefs, values, principles, and experiences. This may not lead

to abandonment of the approach or method the teacher started out using

but will lead to a modification of it as the teacher adds, modifies, and

adjusts the approach or method to the realities of the classroom.

In developing a personal approach to teaching, a primary reference

point for the teacher is his or her personal beliefs and principles with

regard to the following:

– his or her role in the classroom

– the nature of effective teaching and learning

– the difficulties learners face and how these can be addressed

– successful learning activities

– the structure of an effective lesson

Beliefs and theories about these aspects of teaching result in the development of core principles that
provide the source for teacher’s plans and

instructional decisions (Richards 1998). An individual teacher may draw

on different principles at different times, depending on the type of class he

or she is teaching (e.g., children or adults, beginners, or advanced

learners). The following are examples of such principles (Bailey 1996):

– Engage all learners in the lesson.

– Make learners, and not the teacher, the focus of the lesson.
– Provide maximum opportunities for student participation.

– Develop learner responsibility.

– Be tolerant of learners’ mistakes.

– Develop learners’ confidence.

– Teach learning strategies.

– Respond to learners’ difficulties and build on them.

– Use a maximum amount of student-to-student activities.

– Promote cooperation among learners.

– Practice both accuracy and fluency.

– Address learners’ needs and interests.

Only a few of these principles will be consciously referred to at a given

time. Some may be derived from the approaches and methods teachers

are familiar with. Others are personally constructed over time based on

experience.

All classroom practices reflect teachers’ principles and beliefs, and

different belief systems among teachers can often explain why teachers

conduct their classes in different ways. Clark and Peterson (1986) noted

that: The most resilient or “core” teachers’ beliefs are formed on the basis of

teachers’ own schooling as young students while observing teachers

who taught them. Subsequent teacher education appears not to disturb

these early beliefs, not least, perhaps, because it rarely addresses them.

– If teachers actually try out a particular innovation that does not initially conform to their prior
beliefs or principles and the innovation

proves helpful or successful, then accommodation of an alternative

belief or principle is more plausible than in any other circumstance.

– For the novice teacher, classroom experience and day-to-day interaction with colleagues has the
potential to influence particular relationships among beliefs and principles, and, over time,
consolidate the

individual’s permutation of them. Nevertheless, it seems that greater

experience does not lead to greater adaptability in our beliefs, and

thereby, the abandonment of strongly held pedagogical principles.

Quite the contrary, in fact. The more experience we have, the more

reliant on our “core” principles we have become and the less conscious

we are of doing so.

– Professional development that engages teachers in a direct explanation

of their beliefs and principles may provide the opportunity for greater

self-awareness through reflection and critical questioning as starting

points of later adaptation.

– The teacher’s conceptualizations of, for example, language, learning,

and teaching are situated within that person’s wider belief system concerning such issues as human
nature, culture, society, education, and so

on.

Therefore, there is much more to teacher development than learning how

to use different approaches or methods of teaching. Experience with

different approaches and methods, however, can provide teachers with an

initial practical knowledge base in teaching and can also be used to

explore and develop teachers’ own beliefs, principles, and practices.

Looking forward

How do we feel the language teaching profession will move ahead in the

near, or even more distant, future? The approaches and methods surveyed

in this book have identified a number of issues that we expect to continue

to shape the future of language teaching in different ways. Some of the

responses to these issues may take the form of new approaches and

methods; others may lead to a refining or reshaping of existing approaches and methods as the
teaching profession responds to the findings

of new research and to developments in educational theory and practice.

The initiatives for changing programs and pedagogy may come from

within the profession – from teachers, administrators, theoreticians, and The most resilient or “core”
teachers’ beliefs are formed on the basis of

teachers’ own schooling as young students while observing teachers

who taught them. Subsequent teacher education appears not to disturb

these early beliefs, not least, perhaps, because it rarely addresses them.

– If teachers actually try out a particular innovation that does not initially conform to their prior
beliefs or principles and the innovation

proves helpful or successful, then accommodation of an alternative

belief or principle is more plausible than in any other circumstance.

– For the novice teacher, classroom experience and day-to-day interaction with colleagues has the
potential to influence particular relationships among beliefs and principles, and, over time,
consolidate the

individual’s permutation of them. Nevertheless, it seems that greater

experience does not lead to greater adaptability in our beliefs, and

thereby, the abandonment of strongly held pedagogical principles.

Quite the contrary, in fact. The more experience we have, the more

reliant on our “core” principles we have become and the less conscious

we are of doing so.

– Professional development that engages teachers in a direct explanation

of their beliefs and principles may provide the opportunity for greater

self-awareness through reflection and critical questioning as starting

points of later adaptation.

– The teacher’s conceptualizations of, for example, language, learning,

and teaching are situated within that person’s wider belief system concerning such issues as human
nature, culture, society, education, and so

on.

Therefore, there is much more to teacher development than learning how

to use different approaches or methods of teaching. Experience with

different approaches and methods, however, can provide teachers with an

initial practical knowledge base in teaching and can also be used to

explore and develop teachers’ own beliefs, principles, and practices.

Looking forward

How do we feel the language teaching profession will move ahead in the

near, or even more distant, future? The approaches and methods surveyed

in this book have identified a number of issues that we expect to continue

to shape the future of language teaching in different ways. Some of the

responses to these issues may take the form of new approaches and

methods; others may lead to a refining or reshaping of existing approaches and methods as the
teaching profession responds to the findings

of new research and to developments in educational theory and practice.

The initiatives for changing programs and pedagogy may come from

within the profession – from teachers, administrators, theoreticians, and training, learner strategies,
and Multiple Intelligences. We can anticipate

continuation of this trend.

Crossover educational trends. Cooperative Learning, the Whole Language Approach, Neurolinguistic
Programming, and Multiple Intelligences represent crossovers into second language teaching of
movements

from general education and elsewhere. Such crossovers will doubtless

continue because the field of language teaching has no monopoly over

theories of teaching and learning.

Crossovers from other disciplines. Encounters with cognitive psychology, psychotherapy,

communication science, ethnography, and human
engineering have left their imprint on language pedagogy and exemplify

the way that such diverse disciplines can influence a field that is always

looking for inspiration.

Despite changes in the status of approaches and methods, we can

therefore expect the field of second and foreign language teaching in the

twenty-first century to be no less a ferment of theories, ideas, and practices than it has been in the
past.