Current Communicative Approaches

Approaches/Methods
Cooperative Language Learning (CLL)
Content-Based Instruction (CBI)
Task-Based Language Learning (TBLT)

Cooperative Language Learning (CLL)
AKA Collaborative Language Learning (CL)
Learner-centered approach
Uses cooperative activities (i.e.pairs and small groups) and seeks to:
Raise achievement of all students
Build positive relationships between students
Provide an opportunity for healthy social, psychological and cognitive development
Replace competitive classroom environment with a team-based structure

Theory of Language
(CLL)
Interactive – Communicative (primarily) but also uses structural and functional activities as well
Based on 5 premises
All normal children are born to talk
Most talk is organized as conversation
Conversation functions on 'maxims' (an agreed upon set of rules
Cooperative maxims are realized in L1 through casual, everyday conversation
In TL maxims are realized through participation in cooperatively structured interactions

Theory of Learning
(CLL)
Stress on the central role of social interaction in learning
Development of critical thinking skills is central to all learning
Critical Thinking: the process of thinking that questions assumptions. It is a way of deciding whether a claim is true, false; sometimes true, or partly true (wikipedia.org)
skills include observation, interpretation, analysis, inference, evaluation, explanation, and meta-cognition (wikipedia.org)

Design
(CLL)
Objective: Cooperation over competition, develop critical thinking skills and communicative competence
Curriculum: No particular syllabus
Activities: Group-work
Learner Roles: group member (tutor, checker, recorder, information sharer, director)
Teacher Roles: Facilitator of learning, Monitor
Materials: varied and intended to create opportunities for students to work cooperatively

Group-Work Activities
(CLL)
Team practice from common input
skills development and mastery of facts
Jigsaw: different, but predetermined input
evaluation and synthesis on facts and opinions
Cooperative projects: topics/resources selected by students
discovery learning

Procedure
(CLL)
Example on writing an essay:
Cooperative writing/editing pair
Pairs verify that the other's work matches the criteria set by the teacher
Editing and rewriting
Individual and/or group score is given

Content-Based Instruction
(CBI)
L2 teaching is centered around the content the students acquire, not the L2 itself
Students learn language as a by-product of learning real-world content
Grounded on 2 central principals:
People learn an L2 more successfully when they use the language as a means of acquiring information
CBI better reflects learners' needs for learning a second language

Theory of Language
(CBI)
Language is test- and discourse-based
A vehicle for learning content
Language use draws on integrated skills
Language involves using several skills together
Language is purposeful
The purpose may be academic, vocation, social or recreational.

Theory of Learning
(CBI)
People learn an L2 more successfully when the information they are acquiring is perceived as interesting, useful and leading to a desired goal
Some content areas are more useful as a basis for language learning than others
Students learn best when instruction addresses students' needs

Design
(CBI)
Objective: L2 learning is incidental. Objectives of the content course.
Curriculum: Comes from the content area and is as diverse as the subjects taught.
Activities: Varies
Learner Roles: Autonomous Learner
Teacher Roles: Needs Analyst, Materials Adapter, Facilitator
Materials: Textbooks, realia

Procedure
(CBI)
As CBI refers to an approach rather than a method, there are no specific techniques nor activities associated with it.

Task-Based Language Teaching
(TBLT)
An approach based on the use of tasks as the core of planning and teaching in language instruction
L2 learning requires more than just “comprehensible input”.
L2 learning requires students to negotiate meaning and engage in naturalistic and meaningful communication.

Task-Based Language Teaching
(TBLT)
Key assumptions: (Feez, 1998:17)
The focus is on process rather than product.
Basic elements are purposeful activities and tasks that emphasize communication and meaning
Learners learn language by interacting communicatively and purposefully while engaged in the activities and tasks.

Task-Based Language Teaching
(TBLT)
Activities and tasks can be either:
those that learners might need to achieve in real life;
those that have a pedagogical purpose specific to the classroom
Activities and tasks of a task-based syllabus are sequenced according to difficulty
The difficulty of a task depend on a range of factors including the previous experience of the learner, the complexity of the task, the language required to undertake the task, and the degree of support available.

Theory of Language
(TBLT)
Motivated mainly by a theory of learning rather than a theory of language
Assumptions about the nature of language
Language is primarily a means of making meaning.
Multiple models of language inform TBLT
Vocabulary is central to language use and language learning
“Conversation” is the central focus of language and the keystone of language acquisition

Theory of Learning
(TBLT)
Tasks provide both the input and output processing necessary for language acquisition
Task activity and achievement are motivational
Learning difficulty can be negotiated and fine-tuned for particular pedagogical purposes

Design
(TBLT)
Objective: determined by the learners
Curriculum: task-based: real-world and pedagogical
Activities: jigsaw tasks, information-gap tasks, problem-solving tasks, decision-making tasks, opinion exchange tasks.
Learner Roles: Group Participant, Monitor, Risk-taker and Innovator
Teacher Roles: Selector and sequencer of tasks, Preparing learner for tasks, Consciousness-raising
Materials: Pedagogic materials, Realia, Television, Internet