the communicative approach

1. Done by :
Sahnoune Abdelmalek
Bellahmar Ismail
3rd year linguistics stream
Outline
 Introduction :
 1) Definition and Background.
 Communicative Competence.
 Participants’ Role In C.M :
 1) Teachers’Role.
 2) Students’Role.
 3) Instructional MaterialsRole.
 Principles of C.M :
 1) Basic Principles
 2) Materialsand Techniques :
- Texts-BasedMaterials
- Tasks-BasedMaterials
- Realia
 A Model of a Communicative Lesson :
 Criticism :
 1) Adventagesof C.M

2.  2) Disadventages
 3) Personal EvaluationConclusion
 The Conclusion of C.M .
 The Conclusion of All Methods.
Introduction
1) Definition and Background :
The communicatve methodology is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign
language. It emphasizes interaction between participants (teachers and stidents) in
classrooms when they are having activities or a conversation for instance. It is based on the
idea that learning a language successfully comes through having to communicate real
meaning and real language : the language used in daily communication. Its origin can be
found in some changes in the British language teaching. Then, it was developed in the recent
times by British educators and applied linguists who had grown dissatisfied with the
grammar translation method and the audiolingual method. Thus, the C.M has been brought
as a reaction to the previously mentioned methods.
Communicative Competence
It is all about the ability to understand and use language effectively to communicate or
to be communicatively competent in the different social contexts. The term of
communicative competence was coined by Dell Hymes in 1966. Hymes argues that learners
do not only need how to form grammatically correct sentences, but also they need to be
able to use langauge appropriately in a variety of contexts. Hymes’ theory of communicative
competence was a definition of what a speaker needs to know inorder to be able to use
language correctly and appropriately to accomplish the communication goals. He claims that
a person who acquires the communicative competence acquires both knowledge and the
ability to use language.
Participants’ Role in C.M
1) Teachers’ Role :
The teacher has to main roles. The first one is to facilitate the communication process
between all participants in the classroomand between those participants and the various
activities. The second role is to act as an independent participants withing the learning-

3. teaching group. The teacher helps and motivates the learners to work on the lnaguage as
well as he clarifies ambiguous points. Richards and Rodgers (2001: 167)
2) Students’ Role :
The learner as a negociator emergs from the role of joint negociator within the group
and between himself and the group of activities. As he participates he should try to
contribute to the group as much as he gains in the process of receiver-producer.Richards
and Rodgers (2001 : 166)
3) Insrtructional Materials Role :
A wide variety of materials have been used to enhance learning and teaching within the
communicative methodlogy. These materials are seen as a way of influencing the quality of
classroom interaction and language use. Thus, materials have an important role to promote
the communicative language use.
Principles of C.M :
1) Basic Principles :
The C.M gives priority to fluency. It enables students to communicate fluently in the
target language and to use language appropriately in a given social context. It recquires
translation in some occasions when teaching, which means that in some cases the mother
tongue is needed to promote further undesrtanding (lexical borrowing). It also gives
opportunities to teachers to create their own activities according to students needs, so
teachers can free themselves from text books.
2)Materials and techniques in Communicative Methodology
Materials are defined as basic means used in classroomactivities. They are devided into
three broad categories and introduced by Richards and Rodgers.
a) Text-based materials :
There are numerous text books designed to direct and support the communicative
methodology. They can be found in any course book. Text-Based materials form an essential
part in most lessons. For instance, activities such as, reading passages and feeling the gaps.
b) Task-Based materials :
They are used to apply ‘’real life’’ situations in the classroom by the use of various
activities such as, role playing : pupils play roles in different contexts. They may simulate a

4. waiter in a restaurant or a steward in airplain. Other examples of Task-Based materials are
pair and group working task, game boardes, and jigsaw activities.
c) Realia :
This includes concrete things from outside the classroomsuch as, newspaper, fruits,
vegetables, magazines, maps, etc... They can be used by the teacher in various activities. For
instance, fruits and vegetables can be used in a shopping activity.
Role of Participants
Teachers’
Role
Students’
Role
Instructional Materials
Role
Facilitator Independent
Participant
Receiver Producer
Text-
based M
Task-
based M
Realia

5. A Schema Showing the Participants Roles and The Three Types of Materials
A model of a communicative lesson
This model shows the interaction between students and teachers in the classroom. This
interaction is perceived throughout three main stages.
1) stage one :
The teacher gives a short point of grammar or vocavulary, then he lets the opportunity to
students to practice in a controlled exercise.
2) stage two :
The teacher monitors and notices errors and intereting points of the exercise and intervenes
only when necessary.
3) stage three :
The teacher feeds back in non-threating way the errors and clears up ambiguous points.
Criticism
1) Adventages of The Communicative Methodology :
- This method increases the teacher-student relationship, which is an interactive
relationship.
- By this method, students learn the target language in an enjoyable way.
- The communicative methodology gives the opportunity to students to be aware of their
abilities and expresses them.
- The communicative methodology enables students to be more self-confident when
interacting with other people and enjoy talking more.
2) Disadventages of The communicative Methodology :

6. - The recquirements are difficult. Not all classrooms can allow for group activities and for
teaching materials.
- The teacher should prapare the syllabus by taking students’ needs into account. However,
the time of the teacher is limited.
- The teacher must be a very knowledgable person in L1 and L2 and having an efficient
monitoring ability.
- Another major disadventage might be that is difficult for the teacher alone to check up the
language use of every student especially in a big class.
3) Personal evaluation :
The C.Mfocuses more on the use of language in everyday situations or the functional
aspects of language, and less on the formal structure. However, we believe that there are
needs to be some sort of ‘’bridge’’ between structure and meaning inorder to reach an
effective learning. In addition, the permition of using mother tongue in classroom activities
when teaching L2 may lead to bad results due to the fact that pupils would use to think in
their first language and transferring the message into the second language (L2).
Conclusion of the C.M
The communicative methodology is an approach to the language teaching that
emphasizes interaction between both students and teachers. It shows that teachers are very
interested in the needs and desires of their learners as well as the connection between the
language as it is taught in their class, and as it is used aoutside the classroom.
Conclusion of Other methods (G.T.M, D.M, and A.L.M)
As we have been supposed to deal with the communicative methodology, in which it
came as a reaction to the previous methods ; the grammar translation method, the direct
method, and the audiolingual method, we are asked to clarify the differences between
them. Firstly, the G.T.M focuses on studying grammatical rules and morphology, doing
written exercises, memorizing vocabulary, and translating texts from passages into the
target language. Secondly, the D.M attempts to teach L2 in much the same way as children
learn their first language. Finally, the A.L.M emphasis was on memorization through pattern
drills and conversation. This methods mentioned above have led to the birth of the C.M.