This document discusses the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. It provides background on how CLT emerged in the 1970s with a focus on communicative proficiency over grammatical structures. Key principles of CLT are that the goal is effective communication, the teacher facilitates and students actively communicate. Activities include information gap tasks, role plays, and simulations. While CLT has advantages like interaction and enjoyment, criticisms note the difficulties in implementation and student needs/interests.

1. Habip TÜREYEN
SECTION 2
Tarık YÜTÜK
HACETTEPE UNIVERSITY

2. CONTENTS
Introduction
- Background
General Principles
Activities
Materials
Criticism
-Advantages and Disadvantages
References

3. BACKGROUND
The Communicative Approach emerged
in the early 1970s as a result of the work
of the Council of Europe experts.
A group of experts saw the need to focus
in communicative proficiency rather than
mastery of structures.

4. D.A. Wilkins (1972) proposed a functional or
communicative definition of language that
served as a basis for developing communicative
syllabuses for language teaching.
Wilkins's contribution was an analysis of the
communicative meanings that a language
learner needs to understand and express,
rather than describe the core of language
through traditional concepts of grammar and
vocabulary.

5. Chomsky held that
linguistic theory is
concerned primarily with
an ideal speaker-listener
in a completely
homogeneous speech
community, who knows
its language perfectly
and is unaffected by
such grammatically
irrelevant
conditions.
CHOMSKY
 Communicative
competence
 “There are rules of
use without which the
rules of grammar
would be useless.”
HYMES

6. PRINCIPLES
Goals of teachers who use
Communicative Language Teaching
(CLT):
«The goal is to enable students to
communicate in the target language. To do this
students need knowledge of the linguistic forms,
meanings, and functions. They need to know that
many different forms can be used to perform a
function and also that a single form call often serve
a variety of functions.»

7. Role of the participants:
«The teacher facilitates the communication in
the classroom, and he also acts like an adviser and a
guide.
Students are communicators. They are actively
engage in trying to make themselves understood and
in understanding others.»

8. Characteristics of the
teaching/learning process:
«The primary function of language is for
interaction and communication. Dialogues, if
used, center around communicative functions
and are not normally memorized. Drilling may
occur, but not so important. Comprehensible
pronunciation is sought. Translation may be
used where students need or benefit from it.»

9. 
Interaction:
«The teacher may present some part of the lesson,
such as when working with linguistic accuracy. At other
times, he is the facilitator of the activities, but he does
not always himself interact with the students. Students
interact a great deal with one another. They do this in
various configurations: pairs, triads, small groups, and
whole group.»

10.  Students’ feelings:
«Students are given an opportunity to express their
individuality by having them share their ideas and
opinions on a regular basis.»
 Viewing the language:
«Language is for communication. Linguistic
competence, the knowledge of forms and their meanings,
is just one part of communicative competence. So,
learners need knowledge of forms and meanings and
functions.»

11. Emphasized language skills:
«Students work on all four skills from the
beginning. Just as oral communication is seen to
take place through negotiation between speaker and
listener, so too is meaning thought to be derived from
the written word through an interaction between the
reader and the writer.»

12. Students’ native language:
«Students’ native language is permitted in CLT.
However, whenever possible, the target language
should be used not only during communicative
activities, but also for explaining the activities to the
students or in assigning homework.»
Teacher’s response to errors:
«Errors of form are tolerated during fluencybased activities and are seen as a natural outcome
of the development of communication skills.»

13.  Evaluation:
«A teacher evaluates not only the
students’ accuracy, but also their fluency. He
can informally evaluate his students’
performance in his role as an adviser or cocommunicator.

14. ACTIVITIES
 Scrambled sentences
- The students are given a passage(a text ) in which
the sentences are in a scrambled order
 Language Games
- Games are used frequently in CLT. The students find them
enjoyable, and if they are properly designed, they give
students valuable communicative practice.
 Picture Strip Story
 Role Play
- Role plays are very important in CLT because they give
students an opportunity to practice communicating in
different social contexts and in different social roles.

15.  Newspaper, radio and television broadcast,
menus, weather forecast, timetables
 Realia
 Wh- questions (Why, What, When, Where, Who)
 Simulations

16. CRITICISM

17. ADVANTAGES
DISADVANTAGES
 This technique increases the
teacher-student relationship. It is an
interactive relationship.
 The requirements are difficult. Not
all classrooms can allow for group
work activities and for teaching aids
and materials.
 CLT provides the opportunity for
students to be aware of their
abilities and exhibit them.
 It is contraversial whether it can be
used in every level of students.
 The students in this way can learn
the target language in an enjoyable
way.
 The teacher should prepare the
syllabus by taking students’
interests and needs into account.
However, the energy and time of the
teacher are limited.

18. REFERENCES
 Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in
Language Teaching. (second ed.). Oxford University Press.
 http://www.gebzekoleji.k12.tr/sunumlar/%C4%B0ngilizce%2
0E%C4%9Fitiminde%20%C4%B0leti%C5%9Fimsel%20Ya
kla%C5%9F%C4%B1m.ppt ACCESS DATE:12.11.2013 –
09:47
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teach
ing ACCESS DATE: 12.11.2013 – 09:40
 http://www.slideshare.net/Patrmartin/clt-
14685674?from_search=3 ACCESS DATE: 13.11.2013 –
10.06

19. REFERENCES
 Larsen-Freeman, D. (2000). Techniques and Principles in
Language Teaching. (second ed.). Oxford University Press.
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communicative_language_teaching
access date: 29.11.2013 – 19:40
 http://www.gebzekoleji.k12.tr/sunumlar/%C4%B0ngilizce%20E%C
4%9Fitiminde%20%C4%B0leti%C5%9Fimsel%20Yakla%C5%9F
%C4%B1m.ppt access date: 29.11.2013 – 18:57
 http://www.slideshare.net/sherzadjana/richards-
communicativelanguage-20699739 access date: 29.11.2013 –
18:33