XTEC



TEMA 14

MÉTODOS Y TÉCNICAS ENFOCADOS A LA ADQUISICIÓN DE COMPETENCIAS

COMUNICATIVAS. FUNDAMENTOS METODOLÓGICOS ESPECÍFICOS DE LA

ENSEÑANZA DEL INGLÉS.

0. INTRODUCTION.

1 . SPECIFIC METHODOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS ON ENGLISH LANGUAGE

TEACHING.

1.1. APPROACH, METHOD, AND TECHNIQUE.

1.2. APPROACH.

1.2.1. Theory of language.

1.2.2. Theory of language learning.

1.3. Design.

1.3.1. Objectives.

1.3.2. The syllabus.

1.3.3. Teaching and learning activities.

1.3.4. The roles of the learner.

1.3.5. The roles of the teacher.

1.3.6. The roles of materials.

1.4. Procedure.

1.5. Conclusion.

2. COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING.

2.1. Approach.

2.1.1. Theory of language.

2.1.2. Theory of language learning.

2.2. Design.

2.2.1. Objectives and syllabus.

2.2.2. Learning and teaching activities.

2.2.3. The roles of the learner and teacher.

2.2.4. The roles of materials.

2.3. Procedure.

3. BIBLIOGRAPHY.

PAG 1

0. INTRODUCTION.

In the long search for the best way of teaching a foreign language, a

proliferation of new

approaches and methods has been devised. Crertain 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. Aconcern 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

fundamentals is previous to the study of any particular approach, method or

technique we

will discuss first the essentials of English as a foreign language

teaching. Next, we will

thoroughly study communicative language teaching.

1. SPECIFIC METHODOLOGICAL FUNDAMENTALS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING.

The change from one methold to another or from one set of classroom

techniques and

procedures have reflected responses to a varietiy 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 Approch, method, and technique.

In 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

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Central. The American linguist Edward Anthony proposed a clarifying scheme

in 1963. He

identified three levels of conceptualization and organization:

- Approach

- Method

- Technique

An approach is a set of correlative assumptions which the all with the

nature of language and

its teaching. Therefore, and 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 gloval plan for

the presentation

of language material. This presentation is based on a theory of language

and language

learning, and approach, and so a method cannot contradict its approach, but

it is possible to

have more than one method within a certain approach.That is the reason for

the plural in

the title of this topic metodos y tecnicas ; there are many possible methods

within the

communicative approach.

Techniques are implementational, what really occurs in the classroom. They

are consistent

with a method and therefore with and approach as well.

ANTHONY'S MODEL

Approach----------------------------- Theory of language

----------------------------- Theory of language learning

Method--------------------------------- Theory into practice:

Skills to be taught

Contents to be taught

Order of presentation

Technique----------------------------- Classroom procedures

Richard s and Rodgers (1986) have revised and extented the original model.

They see

approach and method treated at the level of design, that level in which

objectives, syllabus,

and content are determined, and in which the roles or teachers, learners and

materials are.

specified. Anthony'slevel of technique is referred to as procedure. They

see, therefore, that

a method is theoretically related to and approach, organizationally

determined by a desing,

and is practically realized in a procedure.

PAG 3

RICHARDS AND RODGERS´S MODEL

Approach--------------------------------- Theory of language

Theory of language learning

Design-------------------------------------- Objectives

The syllabus

Teaching and learning activities

The roles of the learner

The roles of the teacher

The roles of the materials

Procedures--------------------------- Classroom techniques

1.2. Approach

Approach refers to theories about the nature of language and language

learning that serve

as the source of practiques and principles in language teaching.

1.2.1. Theory of language

Three different theories of language and language proficiency underline

current approaches

and methods in language teaching:

- Structural view

- Functional view

- Interactional view

The structural view is the view that language is a system of structurally

related elements

for the coding of meaning. The tarjet 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.

The funcional 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 .

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.

PAG 4

1.2.2. Theory of language learning.

A learning theory underlying an approach must take account of 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 acquisitions and learnin. He also addresses the conditions necessary

for the process of adquisition to take place: the input must be

comprehensible, roughly - tuned,

relevant, in sufficient quantity, and experience 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 this 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

1.3.1. 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. Other may place a greater emphasis on accurate

grammar or

Pronunciation.

We may distinguish between these methods whose objectives are expressed in

linguistic

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.

1.3.2. 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

PAG 5

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 have no

language syllabus,

as considerations of language content are secondary. Learners select content

for themselves

by choosing topics they want to talk about.

1.3.3. 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 for

it in two different methods. For example, interactive games are often use in

audiolingual

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.

Different assumptions in objectives, syllabuses, and activities result in

different roles to

learners, teachers and instructional materials.

1.3.4. The roles of the learner.

Design is greatly influenced by how learners are regarded. The learner´s

contribution to the

learning process, i.e., his passivity or activity and in which degree, marks

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

a environment

of quasi-independence form the teacher.

PAG 6

1.3.5. 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 develop between teachers and learner

We must be aware of the roles we can play in the classroom, as only when we

are sure of

our role and our pupils´concominant one will we depart from the security of

traditional

coursebook-oriented teaching.

1.3.6. The roles of materials.

The role of materials will reflect decisions concerning the primary goals of

the materials (to

present content, to practice 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 include 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.

The third and last level of conceptualization is the level of technique

(Anthony:1963) or

procedure (Richards and Rodgers:1986).

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

account of the resources in terms of time, space, and equipment used by the

teacher and the

interactional patterns observed during the lessons.

PAG 7

1.6. Conclusion.

We have described the specific methodological fundamentels 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 for 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 for 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.

municative language teaching.

Communicative language teaching draws on Chomsky´s criticism to 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

textbook,

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. Next we analyze it in

detail, following

Richards and Rodgers division into approach, design and procedure.

PAG 8

2.1. Approach.

2.1.1. Theory of language.

The communicative approach in language teaching starts from at 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

subconcious

knowledge of the grammar rules of his language which allows him to make

sentences in that

language. However, Dell Hymes thought that Chomsky had missed out some very

important

information: the rules of use. When anative speaker spekas he does not only

utter

gramatically correct forms, he also knows where and when to use this

sentences and to

whom. Hynes, then, said, that competence by itself is not enough to explain

a native

speaker's knowledge, and he replaced it with his own concept of comunicative

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 appropiate

in a given

situation. His 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 act 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

cosntruction

we know that these constructions are not possible in the language.

These four categories have been adapted for teaching purposes. Thus, Royal

Decree

1006/ 1991, of 14 June ( BOE 25 June), which establishes the teaching

requirements for

Primary Education nationwide sees communicative competence as comprising

five

subcompetences:

- Grammar competence: the ability to put into practice the linguistic units

according to the rules of use established in the linguistic system.

- Discourse competence: the ability to use different types of discourse and

organize them according to the comunicative situation and the speakers

involved in it.

PAG 9

- Sociolinguistic competence: the ability to adequate the utterances to

the specific

context in accordance with the accepted usage of the determined

linguistic

community.

- Strategic competence: the ability to define, correct or in general, make

adjustments in the course of the communicative.

- Sociocultural competence: this competence has to be understood as a

certain

awareness of the social and cultural context in which the foreign language

is

used.

Grammar competence refers to what Chomsky called linguistic competence and

Hymes

systematic potential.It os the domain of grammaticak and lexical capacity.

Discourse competence os the aspect of communicative competence whoch

describes the

ability to produce unified written or spoken discourse that shows coherence

and cohesion

and which conforms to the norms of different genres. Our pupils must be able

to produce

discourse in which successive utterances are linked through rules of

discourse or discourse

competence.

Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social context

in which

communication takes place, including role relationships, the shared

information of the

participants,...

Sociolinguistic competence refers to an understanding of the social contexr

in which

describes the ability of speakers to use verbal and non- verbal

communication strategies to

compemsate for breakdowns in cmminication or to improve the effectiveness of

communication.

Sociocultural competence refers to the learner's lnowledge of the cultural

aspects of rhe

target language speaking countries.

All these elements are part of the language as language is not something

abstract but a tool

for effective communication.

2.1.2. 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

PAG 10

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.

2.2.1. 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

seem 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 of which 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.

2.2.2. 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

- require the use of communication processes (information sharing,

interaction...)

Most communicative techniques are based in the information gap principle. In

an

information gap activity, one of our pupils knows something that another

pupils 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

PAG 11

- 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 - comunication 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 an

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...

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

Interpersonal

exchange activities are very similar to information gap ones. The only

differece 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.

Simulation1 and role play2 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:

1 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

characteres (they, thus, play as

themselves), while in the second their behaviours are guied by means of the

role card

provided. It seems clear, then that role plais are a specific kind of

simulation.

2 A role play is an activity for which the context an the roles of the

students are

Determinated by teacher, but in which students have freedom to produce the

language

Thei feel appropiate to that context and assigned roles

PAG 12

- relaying instructions - exchanging letters -writing games

- fluency writing - story construction - writing reports and

advertisement

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. We may use this activity giving directions, writing messages

which requiere an

answer,...

Exchanging letters is a type of activity in which one of our pupils write a

letter to each

other and then recieve a reply. They may be playing a role, such as writing

to agony

column, to make the letter more interesting. It is important to teach/learn

the special lay-out of English letters.

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 pool

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.

2.2.3. The roles of the learner and teacher.

Communicative language teaching emphasis on communication, rather than the

mastery of

language forms, leads to different roles for learners and teachers form

those found in

traditional teaching. Successful communication is an accomplishment jointly

achieved an 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.

PAG 13

2.2.4. 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

whih some

interspersed 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 be based in information gap pair work, ...

Task-based materials consist of games, role-plays, simulations,... sometimes

the information

is complementary - the information gap again - and parterns 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;

PROCEDURE

Stages activities

Presentation Strucutural Pre-communicative

Practice quasi-communicative Pre-communicative

Production Functional communication communicative

Production social interaction communicative

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.

PAG 14

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.

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