COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH COURSE

Dr. Elizabeth Prakash Christian, Trainer, Cambay Institute of Hospitality Management,

Ahmedabad, Gujarat

Abstract
Communication can be categorized as either verbal or nonverbal. Both verbal and nonverbal
communication can be subdivided into either vocal or non-vocal. Much of the
communication that takes place between people is verbal. Verbal communication is based on
language of the vocal category includes spoken language. Non-vocal verbal communication
involves written communication as well as communication that is transmitted through sign
language, finger spelling, body or other similar alternatives to verbal language.
Communication English course has been taught in degree and diploma courses as core
subjects in almost all the discipline at all the levels. English Language Teaching has many
methods and approaches. The different techniques of ELT have seen several changes,
confusions and transitions. The trend of Language teaching and learning started from writing
on dry leaves, then with chalk and duster with black board and then with most modern
technological tools like computer, mobiles and satellite and with internet. However, in spite
of all this, the ability of ‘Communication’ of the learners has not been that improved which
was much expected the way technology developed. The present article focusses chiefly as to
how the learners can develop their communicative ability.
Introduction
Communication has been called the transfer of meaning from one mind to another.
Communication is a sharing of meaning through the transmission of information via mutually
understood signs. Since meanings exist in the human mind and they cannot be shared or
communicated except through some external vehicle. The human body is capable of making
sounds and movements that in turn can create a system of vehicles for sharing inner meanings
and ideas with others. In general, such elements that categorise meaning are called signs. The
study of such signs is called semiotics.
Communicative language teaching (CLT) or the communicative approach is
an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the
ultimate goal of study. CLT is generally characterized as a broad approach to teaching instead
of as a teaching method with a clearly defined set of classroom practices. It is quite often
defined as a list of general principles or features. In Communicative Language Teaching
(1991), expert David Nunan lists five basic characteristics of CLT that are as follows:

1. An emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.

2. The introduction of authentic texts into the learning situation.
3. The provision of opportunities for learners to focus, not only on language but also on
the learning process itself.
4. An enhancement of the learner’s own personal experiences as important contributing
elements to classroom learning.
 5. An attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside the
classroom.
These five features are very interested in the needs and desires of the learners as well as the
connection between the language as it is taught in their class and as it used outside the
classroom. Under this expansive umbrella definition, any teaching practice that helps students
develop their communicative competence in an authentic context is thought an acceptable and
beneficial form of instruction. Therefore, in the classroom CLT often takes the form of pair
and group work requiring negotiation and cooperation between learners, fluency-based
activities that encourage learners to develop their confidence, role-plays in which students
practise and develop language functions, as well as judicious use of grammar and
pronunciation focused activities.
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Method

The “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” is also known as

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) or the “communicative approach”. It emphasizes
learning a language through genuine communication. Learning a new language is easier and
more enjoyable when it is truly meaningful. Communicative teaching is based on the work of
sociolinguists. They theorised that an effective knowledge of a language is more than merely
knowing vocabulary and rules of grammar and pronunciation. Learners need to be able to use
the language appropriately in any business or social context.

The theorists have discussed and continue to discuss the exact definition of communicative
competence over the last three decades. However, they do agree that meaningful
communication supports language learning and that classroom activities must focus on the
learner’s authentic needs to communicate information and ideas. Of course, grammar,
pronunciation, and vocabulary are necessary parts of effective communication. With the
communicative method, two primary approaches may be taken. Some teachers prefer to teach
a rule, and then follow it with practice. However, mostly feel grammar will be naturally
discovered through meaningful communicative interaction.

Need of CLT
As English is recognized as global, link and international language. It has become the
language of trade, and academics. Moreover, it gradually spread almost in all walks of life.
People felt the need of learning the communicative language to express their day-to-day
needs and emotions and feelings. The area is spread from Grammar Translation method to the
recent method Communicative Language Teaching method, participatory approaches and
multiple intelligence. Though all methods from Grammar -Translation method is the chief
goal to teach the learners how to communicate in the target language but it was immensely
felt by the teachers that the students can communicate in the classroom, can produce few
sentences but they cannot converse in the real life situations as accurately as they do in the
classrooms.
Widdowson (1978) quoted that “Being able to communicate required more than mastering
linguistic structures. Students may know the rules of linguistic usage, but be unable to use the
language. ”The learners have greater responsibilities than what they perform in the class in
the light of the above-mentioned quotation. According to Wilkins (1976), “Communication
requires students perform certain functions as well such as promising, inviting and declining
invitations within a social context.”

In fact, communication knows when and how to say, what to say and whom to say and train
the students is very important today. Indeed, the learners are in the need of it. The
communicative approach is concerned with the unique individual needs of each learner. By
making, the language relevant to the world rather than the classroom. Learners can acquire
the desired skills rapidly and agreeably.

Today’s CLT
We can notice communicative Language Teaching is almost everywhere in all walks of life
around us with a variety of labels and names. It has been extensively known as
communicative competence, communicative skills, Spoken English, or soft skills of English
etc. Today, CLT considers spoken skills as active. It has also considered as the productive /
receptive code for the reason that it analyses the language learning and teaching process to be
more pragmatic and practical. It means that there is the collaboration of meaning between the
speaking and listening in the way the learners use a language. Additionally, Communicative
Language Teaching is related to such practical issues of learning and teaching processes
focuses more on the communicative aspects of any language therefore this approach appeals
to the learners of wider area.
Savignon’s model showed how a learner expands his learning. This model highlighted socio-
cultural, strategic, discourse and grammatical competencies integrated to each other to share
in the interconnected whole of communicative competence. Today, Communicative
Language Teaching is widely acknowledged that this approach can only be relied upon. The
learners can learn to communicate with the help of this approach. Actually, CLT is learner-
centred and not teacher centred. The learners perform active role while learning the language
that includes all possible activities that can boost up the learners’ courage to get involve into
them actively and start responding accordingly. Communicative Language Teaching
emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. CLT
is considered too as an extension or development of the notional functional syllabus that
includes communicative activities. Task based language learning is also a refined branch of
CLT.CLT is usually characterized as a broad approach to teaching with a clearly defined set
of classroom practices.
Classroom Activities
In fact, the practitioners of CLT make it a point of research whether there is any connection
between the languages as it is taught in their class and as it is used outside the classroom.
Actually, CLT should take the form of pair work and group work that require negotiation,
cooperation and communication among learners, fluency based activities that encourage
learners to develop their confidence, role-plays wherein the learners practice and develop
language functions and they learn as to how cautiously they can have the communicative use
of grammar-focused activities. Classroom activities used in communicative language
teaching can include the following:
  Role-play
 Interviews
 information gap
 Games
 Language exchanges
 Surveys
 Pair-work
 Learning by teaching

If the teacher understand the learner’s needs then the communicative approach can become a
grand success in the classroom. However, not all courses that utilize the Communicative
Language approach will restrict their activities especially to these. Some courses will have
the students take occasional grammar quizzes or prepare at home using non-communicative
drills. William Glasser's "control theory" represents his attempts to empower students and
give them voice by focusing on their basic human needs. According to him, unless students
are given power, they may use or apply what little power they have to frustrate learning and
achievement through inappropriate behaviour and mediocrity. Therefore, it is important for
teachers to give students voice, especially in the current educational climate.
Techniques of Communicative Language Teaching
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is not that easy to be grasped by any teacher. It
varies teacher to teacher and situation to situation. A highly capable teacher with insight can
understand the situation and can comprehend the need of the learners. Only then, he/she can
modify his/her techniques of teaching. Several acclaimed authors suggest their opinions and
techniques as to how a teacher can put Communicative Language Teaching into practice.
According to Diane Larsen Freeman, “The sole aim of all the methods of English Language
Teaching is to make students talk in English, to communicate in English, and to communicate
in English means mastering not only linguistic structures but certain functions of the
language also like promising, inviting, declining invitations within a social context.”
Diane Larsen Freeman suggests few ways of teaching English in a communicative way like
distributing handouts, prediction games, Language cards and a picture strip stories. Set of
choices and timetables can also be used to make the class communicative. Scrambled
sentences are also be used to start with the activity.
With the view of Dr.Geetha Nagraj’s book ‘English Language Teaching’ “The language
learning and teaching process should be form based to meaning based, there should be a shift
from teacher fronted to learner centred classes. “She suggests the activities like information
gap, feedback form filling, mind engaging tasks and retrieving text order.
Task Based Language (TBL) learning is now a days is attracting the teachers’ attention with
the help they can ask the learners to involve themselves in pair-work and group-work. Dave
Willis and Jane Willis in their article ‘Task-Based Language Learning’ explain a few
aspects of TBL that can be used to make a classroom communicative. They also add
numerous activities can be included to make a task communicative that can be carried out in
the target language. Jane Willis (1996) defines a Task as, “A task is an activity where the
target language is used by the learner for a communicative purpose (goal) in order to achieve
an outcome”
Jo McDonough and Cristopher Shaw express their useful ideas about communicative skill
in their book ‘Materials and Methods in ELT’. It is about speaking skill “Speaking is not the
oral production of written language, but then again involves learners in the mastery of a wide
range of sub-skill which added together, constitute an overall competence in the spoken
language.”
According to them speaking skill involves several sub-skills. A learner has to achieve
mastery over many situations wherein communication is needed. However, even in that case
they too assert this that people often form judgments about one’s language competence from
one’s speaking. In order to ameliorate one’s communicative ability one can try the following
activities:
 Predicting activities
 Simplifying activities
 Asking for feedbacks
However, filling in questionnaires and guessing unknown information, problem solving
activities, concept mapping, brainstorming, opinion gap activities etc. are also fruitful.
CLT with the Innovative Technology Tools
Today, Communicative Language Teaching has been seriously taken and improved by the
help of various technological tools. Technology has facilitated the language to reach to every
learner. There are varieties of tools that can be easily accessed by the learners to obtain
different and easy readymade material based on communicative way of learning the
language. Online ELT resources are growing rapidly. Webinars and seminars on ELT should
be attended by the teacher for the sake of the learners. Recently, a new addition in online
ELT resources is there i.e. ‘Communication weekly edited by Dr. Tarun Patel and Neha
Joshi. ‘Communication Weekly’ is useful for the learners to make their communicative
ability sound. It can help the learners and the teachers as well.
In language teaching, communication has been on everyone’s lips today. Moreover, this is an
unquestionable fact that communication is the only way of being communicative. In order to
improve communicative ability, today the teachers can try task-based language learning and
content based language learning.
Conclusion
Very often, a 'new' approach appears to dismiss completely the previous one. However, there
is no single excellent way to teach language, CLT has made a mark in the field of language
teaching. The word communication has been widely acknowledged all over the world.
Moreover, to improve learners’ communicative ability, a teacher should be equipped with
his / her own insight and be aware with needs of the learners. If the teacher understands his
ware, he/she can do a lot with the Communicative Language Teaching. A teacher can make
himself / herself updated with the help of latest news on CLT and conferences and seminars.
The learners can whole-heartedly welcome the teachers’ suggestions of making the class
learner centred so that the acquired knowledge of the teacher can reach to the receiving end
with the help of CLT. The teachers can put a match for the learners who want to learn the art
of communication.
References
 Andrews, Simon (2005) The CLT Police: Questioning the communicative approach.
Modern English Teacher Vol. 14. No 2.
 Chomsky, Noam (1957), Syntactic Structures 
 Doff, Adrian (1996), Teach English: A training Course for Teachers, Cambridge
University Press.
 Harmer, Jeremy (2006), How to Teach English, 1st Edition, 89
 Hymes, Dell (1960), Linguistic Anthropology.
 Larsen-Freeman, Diane (2004), Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching,
Second Edition, OUP
 Lowe, Mark (2005) The Shibboleths of TEFL: Straightening out our thinking Modern
English Teacher Vol 14, No 1.
 Mc Donough, Jo and Christopher Shaw (2003), Materials and Methods in ELT a
teacher’s guide, second edition, Blackwell Publishing, 135
 Nagraj, Geetha (2008), English Language Teaching: Approaches, Methods,
Techniques, Second Edition, Orient Longman, 43.
 Nunan, David (1993), Introducing Discourse Analysis. London: Penguin

Presented by:

Dr. Elizabeth Prakash Christian

C-204 Arjun Ratna Apartments,
Nr. C.P. Nagar Part-1 Opp. Vardhman Flats
Bhuyangdev, Ghatlodia
Ahmedabad-380061.
(M) +91-98240-29976
(E-mail) christian.elizabeth@live.in