TEMA 14- MÉTODOS Y TÉCNICAS ENFOCADOS A LA ADQUISICIÓN DE COMPETENCIAS

COMUNICATIVAS. FUNDAMENTOS METODOLÓGICOS ESPECÍFICOS DE LA ENSEÑANZA

DEL INGLÉS.

INTRODUCTION.
In the long search for the best way of teaching a foreign language, a proliferation of new approaches and
methods has been devised. Certain methods are widely recognized because of their influential role in the
history of ideas surrounding this subject, for example, the grammar-translation method, the natural
method, the direct method or the audio-lingual method.

During the 1970, however, there was a strong reaction against methods that stressed the teaching of
grammatical forms and paid little or no attention to the way language is used in everyday situations. A
concern developed to make foreing language teaching more communicative.

These methods differ in the way they address fundamental methodological issues such as:

▪ What should the goals of language teaching be?

▪ What is the basic nature of language?
▪ What are the principles for the selection of language content?
▪ What are the best principles of organization, sequencing and presentation?
▪ What should the role of the native language be?
▪ What processes do learners use in learning a language?
▪ What are the best teaching techniques?

The answer to these questions will enable us to understand the fundamental nature of methods in
English language teaching. As the analysis of these specific methodological essentials is previous to the
study of any particular approach, method or technique, we will first discuss the essentials of English as a
foreign language teaching, and next, we will thoroughly study communicative language teaching.

1. SPECIFIC METHODOLOGICAL ESSENTIALS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING.

The change from one method or from one set of classroom techniques and procedures to another has
reflected responses to a variety of historical issues and circumstances. As the study of methods and
procedures assumed a central role within applied linguistics from the 1940s on, various attempts have
been made to conceptualize the nature of methods.

1.1 APPROACH, METHOD AND TECHNIQUE.

When describing methods, the difference between a philosophy of language teaching at the theoretical
level, and a set of procedures and techniques for teaching in the classroom, is central.
The American linguist Edward Anthony proposed a clarifying scheme in 1963. He identified three levels
of conceptualization and organization: approach, method and technique
An approach is a set of correlative assumptions with all the elements within the nature of language and
its teaching. Therefore, an approach is axiomatic and is formed by a theory of language and a theory of
language learning.
A method is not axiomatic; it is procedural. A method is a global plan for the presentation of language
material. This presentation is based on a theory of language and language learning, and approach, and
that's why a method cannot contradict its approach, but it is possible to have more than one method
within a determined approach.
Techniques are implementational, and refer to what really occurs in the classroom. They are consistent
with a method and therefore with an approach as well.
Richards and Rodgers (1986) have revised and extended the original model. They treat approach and
method at the level of design, being the level where objectives, syllabus, and content are determined, and
in which the roles of teachers, learners and materials are specified. They see, therefore, that a method is
theoretically related to an approach, organizationally determined by a design, and is practically realized
in a procedure.

1.2. APPROACH
Approach refers to theories as the nature of language and language learning that serve as the source of
practices and principles in language teaching.

a) Theory of language
Three different theories of languages in language teaching:

▪ Structural view: This has the view that language is a system of structurally related elements
for the coding of meaning. The target of language learning is seen to be the mastery of the
units of the system (phonological, grammatical and lexical). The audio lingual method, Total
Physical Response, or the Silent Way embody this particular view of language.

▪ Functional view: The functional view is the view that language is a vehicle for the
expression of functional meaning. We will see later how the Communicative Movement in
language teaching embodies this view of language

▪ Interactional view: The third view is the interactional view. It sees language as a vehicle for
the realization of interpersonal relations and for performance of social transactions between
individuals. Community Language Learning seems to have embodied this point of view
lately.

b) Theory of language learning.

A learning theory underlying an approach must take into account the psycholinguistic and cognitive
processes involved in language learning, and the optimal conditions for these processes to be activated.
Learning theories may emphasize one or both aspects.

▪ Process-oriented theories build on learning processes, such as habit formation, induction,

inferencing, hypothesis testing, and generalization.

▪ Condition-oriented theories emphasize the nature of the environment, both human and
physical, in which language learning takes place. For example, Krashen´s Monitor Model is
an example of a learning theory on which a method has been built (the natural method). At
the level of process, he distinguishes between acquisition and learning. He also addresses the
conditions necessary for the process of acquisition to take place: the input must be
comprehensible, roughly - tuned, relevant, in sufficient quantity, and experienced in low -
anxiety contexts.

These principles may or may not lead to a method. We may divise our own teaching procedures
following a particular approach, and then change these procedures on the basis of the performance of our
pupils. Theory does not dictate a particular set of teaching procedures. What links approach with
procedure is what Richards and Rodgers call design

1.3. DESIGN.
Design is the level of method analysis where we consider the objectives, the syllabus, the types of
learning tasks, the roles of learners and teachers, and the roles of instructional materials.
a) Objectives.
At the level of design we must deal with the specification of the general and specific objectives of the
method. Some methods may focus on oral skills. Some methods may focus on communication skills.
Others may place a greater emphasis on accurate grammar or pronunciation.

We may distinguish between these methods whose objectives are expressed in linguistics terms
(product-oriented) and those which define their objectives in terms of learning behaviours (process
oriented). However, some methods that claim to be process-oriented show a great concern with accurate
grammar and pronunciation.

b) The syllabus.
As we have to use the target language in order to teach it, we must make decisions about the selection of
language items we are going to use.

These languages items are to be selected not only in linguistic grounds but also according to subject
matter, i.e. we must make decisions about what to talk about and how to talk about it: in traditional
grammar- based courses, contents were selected according to the difficulty of the items; in
communicative courses the sequence of the elements is normally based on our pupils communicative
needs; process-oriented methods (e.g., Counselling Learning) normally by choosing topics they want
to talk about.

c) Learning and teaching activities.

The objectives of a method are attained through the interaction of teachers, learners and material in the
classroom. The activity types that a method advocates may serve to differentiate methods. The Silent
Way, for example, uses problem-solving activities which involve the use of coloured rods.
Communicative language teaching advocates the use of tasks that involve an information gap, as this is
considered to be one of the elements of real-life communication.

Differences in activity types may result in different arrangements and groupings of learners. Drills, for
instance, require different groupings than problem-solving activities. Even if we use the same activity,
differences at the level of approach may determine different goals in two different methods. For example,
interactive games are often used in audio lingual courses for motivation and to provide a change of pace
from drill; in Communicative language teaching they are used to practice particular types of interactive
exchanges which are useful in real communication.

Similarly, different assumptions in objectives, syllabuses, and activities result in different roles to
learners, teachers and instructional materials.

d) The roles of the learner.

Design is greatly influenced by how learners are regarded. Learners’ contribution to the learning
process: their passivity or the activity degree mark the types of activities they will carry out; the
groupings, the degree to which they will influence the learning of others, and their view as processors,
performers, initiators or problem solvers.

Audiolingualism, for example, saw learners as stimulus-response-reinforcement mechanisms whose

learning was a result of repetitive practice. Newer methodologies exhibit more concern for variation
among learners’ roles. The teacher must create the conditions for learning to take place. Learner-centred
learning tries to teach languages in an environment of quasi-independence from the teacher.
e) The roles of the teacher.
New methodologies have resulted in a proliferation of teacher roles, such as informant, conductor,
diagnoser, corrector, consultant, model... All these roles are related to essential methodological issues:
▪ the types of functions the teacher is expected to fulfil
▪ the degree of control the teacher has over how learning takes place
▪ the degree of control the teacher has about the content of the course
▪ the interactional patterns that are developed between teachers and learners.

We must be aware of the roles we can play in the classroom, and only when we are sure of our role and
our pupils´commitment we will depart from the security of traditional coursebook-oriented teaching.

f) The roles of materials.

The role of materials will reflect decisions concerning the primary goals of the materials (to present and
practise content, to facilitate communication,...), the form of the materials (textbooks, audiovisuals,
supplementary readers,...), the relation of materials to other sources of input (whether they are the
principal source or not), and the abilities of the teacher (degree of training and competence).

Therefore, the role of materials will be different in different methodologies. For example, within a
communicative approach materials will focus on the communicative abilities of interpretation,
expression, and negotiation. On the other hand, an individualized instructional system may be included
as the main role of the materials to allow the learners to progress at their own rates of learning. These
roles do not need to be seen as antithetical, in fact, both roles must be played by our materials according
to our curriculum.

1.4. PROCEDURE.
Procedure consists of the techniques, practices, and behaviours that operate in the real teaching situation
according to a particular method. We are concerned with the use of teaching activities to present practice
and produce language, and with the procedures and techniques used in giving feedback to our pupils
(evaluation techniques). We also take into account the resources in terms of time, space, and equipment
used by the teacher and the interactional patterns observed during the lessons.

1.5. CONCLUSION.
We have described the specific methodological essentials of English Language Teaching with reference
to approach, design and procedure.

It is clear that methodological development does not always proceed neatly from approach, through
design, to procedure. However, national curricula, which draw on the expertise of interdisciplinary
working committees, usually do. Spanish Foreign Languages curriculum departs from a constructivist
theory of learning and a view of language as communication towards generally outlined procedures to
allow individualization through a design level in which the syllabus, activities, learner roles, teacher
roles, and role of the instructional materials are defined not very strictly to allow adjustments in
particular teaching situations.

One of the basic ingredients of our curriculum is its adaptability. This adaptability, however, is limited
by a communicative framework as the main aim of teaching English in our educational system is to
achieve communicative competence. We are now going to study the essentials of communicative
language teaching.

2. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING.

Communicative language teaching draws on Chomsky's criticism of structural theories of language,
which are incapable of accounting for the creativity and uniqueness of individual sentences, as well as
British applied linguist criticism of current approaches to language teaching, which inadequately
addressed the functional and communicative potential of language.
Another impetus for different approaches came from changing educational realities in Europe. The
Council of Europe took a great interest in education. As a result, a group of experts was set up in 1971
to investigate the possibility of developing language courses on a unit-credit system. One of the
members of this committee, Wilkins, proposed a functional or communicative definition of language
that could serve as a basis for developing communicative syllabuses. They were based on two types of
meanings: notions (such as time, sequence, quantity...) and categories of communicative function (such
as requests, denials, offers, complaints...)

This work was rapidly followed by an almost universal acceptance of the theoretical principles of the
Communicative Approach, and its rapid application in textbooks, curriculum development centres and
governments. Because of this, the Communicative Approach to language teaching is the most extended
foreign language teaching system. Its aims are to make communicative competence the goal of language
teaching and develop procedures for the teaching of the four skills.

2.1. APPROACH.
a) Theory of language.
The communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication.
The main goal is to acquire what Hymes defined as Communicative competence.

Chomsky (1957) defined language as a set of sentences, each finite in length and constructed out of a
finite set of elements. An able speaker has a subconscious knowledge of the grammar rules of his/her
language which allows himher to make sentences in that language.

Dell Hymes thought that Chomsky had missed out some very important information: the rules of use.
When a native speaker speaks, he/she does not only utter grammatically correct forms, he also knows
where and when to use these sentences and to whom.

Hymes, then, stated that competence by itself is not enough to explain a native speaker's knowledge, and
he replaced it with his own concept of communicative competence. Hymes distinguished four aspects of
this competence: systematic potential, appropriacy, occurrence and feasibility. Systematic potential
means that the native speaker possesses a system that has a potential for creating a lot of language. This
is similar to Chomsky's competence. Appropriacy means that the native speaker knows what language is
appropriate in a given situation. Its choice is based on the following variables, among others: setting,
participants, purpose, channel, topic...Occurrence means that the native speaker knows how often
something is said in the language and acts accordingly. Feasibility means that the native speaker knows
whether something is possible in the language. Even if there is no grammatical rule to ban 20-adjective
pre-head construction we know that these constructions are not possible in the language.

All these elements are part of the language as language is not something abstract but a tool for effective
communication.

b) Theory of language learning.

Different learning theories may be found in communicative language teaching. All of them share the
same principles. The communication principle establishes that activities that involve communication
promote learning. The second element is the task principle, activities in which language is used for
carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning. A third element is the meaningfulness principle,
language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Learning activities, as we will
see, are consequently selected according to how well they engage the learner in meaningful and authentic
language use.
2.2. DESIGN.
a) Objectives and syllabus.
We have already studied the main objective of communicative language learning as it is central to its
theory of language: to reach communicative competence.
Different syllabuses may fulfil this objective. Discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central
in this approach. The early notional-functional approach was soon criticised as it seems only a
replacement of grammatical lists by notional-functional lists. After that, many syllabuses have been
designed, though some linguists even rejected the notion of syllabus. The most favoured is Brumfit´s
model, which has a grammatical core around which notions, functions, and communicational activities
are grouped. The range of the last is really unlimited, but we now try to define and classify them.

b) Learning and teaching activities.

Communicative activities must fulfil a series of conditions:
➔ Enabling learners to attain the communicative objective of the curriculum.
➔ Engage learners in communication requires the use of communication processes
(information sharing, interaction...)

Most communicative techniques are based on the information gap principle. In an information gap
activity, one of our pupils knows something that another pupil needs, to do the activity. By means of
negotiation, interaction and information transfer techniques the gap is bridged.

Littlewood (1981) distinguishes between functional communication activities and social interaction
activities. Functional communication activities include such tasks as learners comparing sets of pictures
and noting similarities and differences; working out a likely sequence of events in a set of pictures;
discovering missing features in a map or drawing; following directions, etc. Social interaction activities
include conversation and discussion sessions, dialogues and role plays, simulations, debates,...

Harmer (1983) has defined a set of characteristics that communicative activities share:

▪ a desire to communicate
▪ a communicative purpose
▪ content not form
▪ variety of language
▪ no teacher intervention
▪ no materials control

He also divided communicative activities into oral and written. Oral Communicative activities may be
studied in seven areas:
▪ reaching a consensus
▪ relaying instructions
▪ communication games
▪ problem solving
▪ interpersonal exchange
▪ story construction
▪ simulation and role play

In reaching a consensus activities our pupils must agree with each other after a certain amount of
discussion. Consensus activities are very successful in promoting free spontaneous use of English, e.g.
they have to decide what ten objects they will take with them if they have to go to a camping site near a
mountain range.
In relaying instructions we give the necessary information for the performance of a task to a group of
pupils. Without showing this information to a different group they have to enable this group to perform
the same task, e.g. a dance, a drawing, a model, a map...

Communication gap games are based on the principle of the information gap.

Interpersonal exchange activities are very similar to information gap ones. The only difference is that
the difference is not in factual knowledge, but rather of opinion so they can be called "opinion gap"
activities, e.g. your favorite food, film, book...

Story construction uses the principle of the information gap and adds the jigsaw principle. We give our
pupils partial information and then ask them to use that information as part of a story they must
complete by asking other pupils who have other items of information.

Simulations and role-plays involve the pretence of a real-life situation in the classroom. In simulations
our pupils are in the situation as themselves while in a role play we ask them to play a role following a
role card. E.g. police officer...

Hamer distinguishes six main types of written communicative activities:

▪ The idea in simulations is to create a pretence of real life in the classroom. The difference
simulations have with role plays is simply that in the former, the students are asked to
dramatize the situations with no guide about their characters (they, thus, play as themselves),
while in the second their behaviours are guided by means of the role card provided.

▪ A role play is an activity for which the context and the roles of the students are determined by
teacher, but in which students have freedom to produce the language they feel appropriate to
that context.

▪ In relaying instructions one group of pupils has information for the performance of a task, and
they have to get another group to perform the same task by giving them written instructions.
They are assigned roles and make writing games, fluency writing, story construction, writing
reports and advertisement. We may use this activity giving directions, writing messages which
require an answer,...Exchanging letters is a type of activity in which one of our pupils write a
letter to each other and then receive a reply.

▪ Writing games may be used to produce written language in a motivating way, e.g. our pupils
can write descriptions of famous people or places. Then, they have to read it aloud. The first
pupil to identify the described person or place wins.

▪ In fluency writing we get our pupils to write as much as possible in a definite period of time.
Research has suggested that if this is done quite frequently, our pupils will be able not only to
write greater quantities, but the quality will improve as well. For example, we can give them a
series of pictures, sequence them and tell a story with a time limit.

▪ In story construction we give individual pupils partial information which they must put
together with other pupils to write a narrative.

▪ Finally, in writing reports and advertisements we may use some activities based on our
pupils´fields of interest. For example, we can prepare a smoking questionnaire. Our pupils will
devise a questionnaire and then write a report based on the results they obtain.
c) The roles of the learner and teacher.
Communicative language teaching emphasises on communication, rather than the mastery of language
forms, and leads to different roles for learners and teachers from those found in traditional teaching.
Successful communication is an accomplishment jointly achieved and so the main role of the learner is
that of negotiator. By means of cognitive and social interaction, i.e. with himself, his classmates, the
teacher, and the materials, he must be able to communicate.

The teacher must assume several roles in communicative language teaching, such as needs analyst,
counsellor, group process manager, informant... But all these roles serve two main functions. First of all,
the teacher must facilitate the communication process in the classroom. Secondly, he must be a
participant within the learning-teaching group.

d) The roles of materials.

Communicative language teaching sees materials as a way of influencing the quality of classroom
interaction. The primary role of materials is therefore to promote Communicative language use. We can
distinguish three types of materials: text-based; task-based and realia.

Text-based materials are sometimes no more than structurally organized texts with some communicative
activities. However, there are communicative texts, which are very different from traditional organized
texts. For example, they may consist of cues to initiate communication, or in information gap pair work.

Task-based materials consist of games, role-plays, simulations,... Sometimes, the information is

complementary - the information gap again - and partners must fit their parts of the jigsaw into a
composite whole. Finally, realia may include the use of magazines, newspapers, maps, pictures,
objects...

2.3. PROCEDURE.
Because of the wide range of communicative activities and techniques that we can use, it is not possible
to describe a typical classroom procedure. We can say, however, that traditional procedures are not
rejected and that they may be used in the first stages of language learning, such as presentation and
controlled practice, while Communicative activities are mainly used in the free production stage.
Therefore we can establish a sequence of activities as follows;

CONCLUSION
As a conclusion, we can say that communicative language teaching uses a wide range of techniques and
activities, which involve different roles for teachers, learners and material as well as different syllabuses,
to reach its main aim: the attainment of Communicative competence.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Brumfit, C, and Johnson, K, The communicative approach to language teaching.

OUP.Oxford, 1981.

Crystal, D. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of language. CUP. Cambridge, 1987.

Harmer, J. The Practice of English Language Teaching. Longman. London, 1983.

Howatt, A.P.R. A History of English Language Teaching. OUP. Oxford, 1983.

Johnson, K. Communicative Syllabus Design and Methodology. OUP. Oxford, 1982.

Littlewood, W. Communicative Language Teaching. CUP. Cambridge, 1981.

Mathews, A. At the Chalkface. Nelson. Hong Kong, 1991.

Pygmalion, Equipo. La Enseñanza del Inglés. Narcea. Madrid, 1987.

Richards, J.C., Platt, J. And Platt, H. Longman Dictionary of Language Teaching & Applied
Linguistics, Longman. London, 1992.

Steinberg, D.D. Psycholinguistics. Longman. London, 1982