Communicative Approach through Collaborative Learning

“Teaching is the science of uncertainty and the art of possibilities”

Teaching is an exiting, exacting, interesting, challenging, enjoyable and satisfying

profession. It involves the teachers and the learners equally.

Communicative Approach has been quite popular now. Communicative Approach

sounds perfect in theory, but it will have some problem after being put into practice.
From the literal meaning, we can know that the main emphasis of communicative
approach is “Communication“. So the main task of a teacher and the need of the hour is
to teach the Adult learners how to communicate in English effectively and efficiently.
The ability of writing and reading is quite important for an intellectual to enter his
workplace everywhere in the world. The word communication is aimed at training the
learners listening and speaking skills. So it relatively ignores the training of reading and
writing. “Extensive reading“can compensate for the fault of communication.
Communication is not just limited to oral skills. Reading and writing skills need to be
developed to promote the learners confidence in all skill areas. By using the elements
encountered in variety of ways adult learners can be accomplished.

This paper mainly focuses on the Innovative teaching methodologies for adult
learners and to foster the learner’s capacity for independent thinking and responsibility
for learning, to promote a system which gives greater emphasis to self study and to
develop strategies and teaching styles which promote learners autonomy ( i.e)
Autonomous learning. But autonomous learning must not be simply or even primarily a
cheap alternative to face-to-face teaching. It is in fact a goal, and also a learning process,
for it is difficult to imagine how students might achieve the goal of greater autonomy
without actually having engaged in taking responsibility for the organization and conduct
of their learning.

Autonomous Learning:

The term autonomy comes from the Greek autonomia, which the Oxford English
dictionary defines as ‘right of self- government, personal freedom’, freedom of the will; a
self-governing community’ very often, autonomous learning is seen as synonymous with
‘ self-instruction’, ‘independent learning’, ‘ resource-based learning’ and ‘self-directed
learning’. While different interpretations of the terms’ learner autonomy’ and ‘ self-
direction’ may emphasize variously, an ability or a mode of learning, almost all will
agree that fundamental to these concepts is an attitude which positively disposes learners
to assuming control of their learning.

What is Autonomous Learning?

 Autonomous learning is where the learners are actively involved in decision about their
learning, including what is learned, when, where and how it is learned, how it is assessed and by
whom; active rather than passive; where the learners are enabled to take responsibility for the
process of their learning, where the teacher provides facilitative rather than didactic teaching
interventions and provides necessary resources for the achievement of learning outcomes.

What is not Autonomous Learning?

Autonomous learning is not leaving students to fend for themselves; students sitting in
front of computers and hoping they will learn; unsupervised learning and something that is only
for bright students; simply removing structured teaching; extra reading, assignments and
projects, without feedback and assessment to check students accountability for their own
learning.

Collaborative Teaching Methodologies

If adults are to learn to communicate, solve problems, write and read more widely they
need extensive opportunities to use different modes of learning and engage in a variety of tasks
that are both meaningful and cognitively challenging. They also need a chance to process ideas
by reflecting on them and by discussing them with others. They must see the connection between
the skills to be acquired and the tasks they are trying to accomplish in their daily lives. Finally,
adult learners must have occasions to say what they feel and want to say (both oral and written)
in a supportive environment that encourages experimentations, so that, they gain both confidence
and competence to continue learning on their own. This section represents key aspects of what
we know about second language acquisitions and literacy development for both native speakers
and immigrant English learners. A few principles will encourage the developers to consider the
underlying concepts that govern learning which keeps the adults, actively involved in the
learning process.

LEARNING PRINCIPLES:

Adult Learners are Goal driven:

Adult learners are not much interested in learning for learning sake. They get involved in
education in order to improve their skills in specific areas such as to read and write better, learn
to spell, to communicate in English, to build their vocabulary etc. and they come to acquire
education with a purpose in mind (i.e.) to get a better job. Adults look for materials that reflect
real life contexts that either mirror their own circumstances or illustrate a reality that they would
like to know.

Language and Literacy are social processes that involve interaction:

Reading, Writing and Speaking represent communication with people. Language and Literacy
grow as learners gain experience in expressing their ideas and communicating with others. Skills
get refined through a process of discussion and reflection.

Language and Literacy development requires Hypothesis:

Acquiring another language and mastering the writing process requires hypothesis and risk
taking while discovering how language works, learners must generate their own notions of rules
and principles since it is not possible to acquire all words and structures, one might need to
communicate through memorization. Similarly, reading and listening comprehension are not
accomplished through the mere identification of individual words and phrases, butt require a
certain amount of guessing do that the overall meaning of a message can emerge. Since language
and literacy development requires communication with others, learners must be willing to
engage in these processes, even if it uses imperfect language forms to start.

Language and Literacy Levels are not constant:

Language and Literacy learners fall into similar levels of proficiency are often quite different in
terms of the tasks they are able to handle. In reality each group, whether designated as beginning,
intermediate, advanced or multi-level, when it comes in dealing with different kinds of languages
and literacy challenges. In fact, individual learners have multiple levels of language and literacy
skills and most are clearly better able to deal with some tasks than others. Background
knowledge of the topic and experience with how things work, influence competence in handling
particular challenges and even tasks that seem doable on one day may provide difficulty on
others.

Languages and Literacy development requires Focus, Engagement and Practice:

Language and Literacy develops as learners engage in different kinds of reading, writing and
communicating with various kinds of native speakers while a great deal of language can be
required through mere engagement with texts and opportunities for communication, language
learning is helped when learners focus on particular elements of the language to be learned,
whether those be common phrases, vocabulary needed for specific purposes or language
structures. Similarly, focusing on particular aspects of literacy aids in learning especially for
those with little experience in literacy. Engaging in activities that require the use of particular
types of language and literacy which deepens the understanding as the learners learn to read by
reading, learn to write by writing and develop language through meaningful interactions.

Language and Literacy are Multi-dimensional and requires different Interactions with
different texts:

Language and Literacy are complex processes and can neither be learned nor taught. If strong
skills are to be developed, various dimensions of literacy need to be addressed, including
interpersonal, expressive, reflective, linguistic, socio-cultural, political affective and cognitive
elements. Language and literacy also represent interaction between those aspects that are form
and structure oriented and those that are more meaning oriented. Similarly, functional literacy
with the purpose of getting things done is different in nature than literacy focused on inspiration,
reflection or self-expression.

Language and Literacy develop through Interactions with tasks that require Cognitive
Involvement:

Literacy development and second Language acquisition are processes that require engagement
by the mind. Memorizations and drills, while helpful in making some patterns stick, but it’s not
sufficient. We know that active learning occurs when the mind is ready to take in information
and uses background information. Meaning occurs when knowledge about words, sentence
structure and sound symbol relationship interact with an understanding of how the world works
and the kinds of messages that make sense.

Language and Literacy develops deeply if the skills are connected to an overall topic or
theme:

Learning different bits and pieces of language makes it difficult for learners to see a system and
to remember what they learn. Learning goes much deeper if adults can make associations among
ideas and are able to see connections between various concepts. In addition, adults tend to learn
best when what is to be learned is related to a real life context that they are familiar with or
associated with topics they find compelling. Relating ideas to a central topic and presenting skills
within that context deepens learning, as does presenting concepts through multiple modes.

Annexure to these collaborative learning principles and collaborative learning tools play a
significant role in the expansion of English learning; current collaborative tools include: email,
computer, Networks, white board, bulletin board system, e-learning language lab, chat lines and
online presentations. These modes of adult learning principles if followed in the class rooms and
other learning environments will prove fruitful, in terms of improving their learning efficiency.