COMMUNICATIVE-LANGUAGE-LEARNING

COMMUNICATIVELANGUAGELEARNING1.Useofthetargetlanguage4.Grammar2.Coursestunedtomotivatepupils5.Languagelearningandacquisitionskills3.Semanticprimacy6.Independentlearning1.UseofthetargetlanguageCommunicationinaforeignlanguagemustinvolvebothteachersandpupilsusingthetargetlanguageasthenormalmeansofcommunication.Extensiveuseshouldbemadeofthetargetlanguageinlessonsatalevelappropriatetotheclass.Insituationswhere,forreasonsofsafety,itisessentialthatinstructionsshouldbeunderstood,theyshouldbegiveninthelanguagewhichisthenormalmediumofinstructionforthosepupils.Whentheteacherissatisfiedthattheinstructionshavebeenfullyunderstood,theyshouldberepeatedinthetargetlanguage.Pupilswhodonothearoruseenoughofthetargetlanguagewillnotdeveloptheabilitytounderstandandspeakitoutsideanarrowrangeofprescribedsituations.2.CoursestunedtomotivatepupilsContentoflessonsmustateverystageincludetheexpressionsinthetargetlanguagewhichthepupilswillneedineverydaycommunicationontopicswhichareintrinsicallyinterestingtothem,whichrelatetotheirlifebothathomeandatschoolandwhichwillmotivatethemtoguessatnewmeaningsandconveynewideas.Pupilsneedtobetrainedtousetheskillsoflistening,speaking,readingandwritingincombination,interactingwithresourcematerials,theirteachersandeachother.Ifcareistakentodeveloppupils'competenceinspeakingandunderstandingfromthebeginning,theywillbecomeprogressivelymoreabletousetheforeignlanguageasthenormalmeansofcommunicationtocopewithbasictasksduringtheirwork.3.SemanticprimacyNewlanguagebecomeseasiertolearnwhenpupilsputwordsfromrelatedsensegroupstogetherintosentencesratherthantryingtolearnthemseparatelyinlistsofunconnectedwordsandphrases.Somepupilswillstillhavegreatdifficultyinretainingvocabulary,andallneedthechancetore-learnwordgroupsregularly.Butsimplerepetitionofearlierworkisveryde-motivatinganditisvitalthatreinforcementofvocabularyshouldbedoneincontextsappropriatetopupils'levelsofmaturity.4.GrammarTheemphasisoncommunicationhassometimesledtothefeelingthatcorrectnessisnotimportantprovidedthemessageisconveyed.However,accurateuseofthelanguageplaysanimportantroleinclearcommunicationofthemessage.Learnerswillbenefitfrompayingattentiontoaccuracyfromanearlystageoflearning.Agoodunderstandingofstructureisalsocentraltosuccessinlisteningandreadingcomprehension.Tobeeffective,thenecessarytrainingintherecognitionanduseofstructureandgrammarneedstobeanintegralpartofthewayinwhichthetargetlanguageistaughtandpractisedratherthanthesubjectoftheoreticalexposition.5.LanguagelearningandacquisitionskillsConscioustechniquesofmemorisationandenhancedskillsoflistening(tuningoftheear,recognitionofsoundpatterns)andspeaking(trainingofthevocalorganstoreproducenewwordsaccurately),needtobedevelopedinthelearnerthroughoutthecourse.