UNIT 14

TOPIC 14
METHODOLOGIES AND TECHNIQUES FOCUSSED ON THE ACQUISITION OF
COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE.
METHODOLOGICAL AND COMMUNICATIVE TECHNIQUES GROUNDS.

0. INTRODUCTION

1.- THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH

2.- OTHER COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES

 Direct Method.
 Audio-lingua Method.
 Community language learning.
 Natural Approach.
 Functional Approach.

3. METHODOLOGICAL AND COMMUNICATIVE TECHNIQUES.

 Communicative Method and techniques characteristics.
 Elements that influence the learning process of a foreign language.

4.- TECHNIQUES THAT HELP TO DEVELOP THE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

5. CONCLUSION.

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0. INTRODUCTION
Notions about how best to teach English language have changed over the years and have
been influenced by research in how second languages are learned. Today, perhaps the most
accepted instructional frame work in education is communicative language teaching (CLT).
The goal of CLT is to increase communicative competence, which means being able to
understand and interpret messages, understand the social contexts in which language is
being used, apply the rules of grammar, and employ strategies to keep communication from
breaking down (Savignon, 1997).
The current law of education, LOE 2/2006 of 3 rd of May modified the LOMCE 8/2013 9th
December, in article 2, establishes as one of the aims of the Spanish Education system the
achieving of the capacity to communicate in one or more foreign languages, which implies to
develop the four basic skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing. According to this law,
one of the key competences to be developed in Primary Education is the communicative
competence. The Royal Decree 126/2014, 28th February develops de curriculum for Primary
Education for the Spanish State, and the Decree 89/ 2014 of 24 th July develops it for the
Autonomous Community of Madrid, establishing the minimum objectives and contents in this
stage and it states that the area of English contributes largely to the acquisition of the
linguistic competence.
According to RICHARDS & ROGERS a Method is in theory related to an Approach, it is
organizationally determined by a Design and is realized with a Techniques:
METHOD
APPROACH DESIGN TECHNIQUES
A theory of language Objectives of a Method activities
A theory of learning A syllabus model
Types of activities
Learners roles
Teachers roles

1.- THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH.

During the 1970´s arouse the Communicative Approach, it appeared when there was a
widespread reaction against methods that stressed the teaching of grammatical forms and
paid little or no attention to the way language is used in everyday situations.
It is an approach to language teaching that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the
ultimate goal of study.
We can mention five features of the CLT:
1. Learning to communicate through interaction in the target language.
2. Introduction of authentic text into the learning situation.
3. Opportunities for learners to focus on the language and on the learning process itself.
4. Learner's own personal experiences are important contributing elements to learning.
5. Link classroom language teaching with language activities outside the classroom.
The communicative approach refuses the practice of the different skills in an isolated way.
When using a language, we need the knowledge of the four skills..
The Principles of this approach are:

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1. Information gap: one student knows information not known by another or there is a
difference of opinion between speakers/writers (opinion gap).
2. Feedback: balance between accuracy and fluency.
3. The Information Transfer: activities which involve the students extracting relevant
information from a reading or listening text and reproducing it in diagrammatic form.
4. Integrating the four skills (speaking, listening, reading and writing).
This approach has been incorporated by the Council of Europe since it aims to make
Communicative Competence the goal of language teaching and to develop procedures for the
teaching of the four language skills.
Dell Hymes established the concept communicative competence, what a speaker needs to
know in order to be communicatively competent in a speech community.
For Chomsky, competence simply implies the knowledge of the language system. Hymes
maintained that Chomsky´s theory was incomplete, and that communicative and cultural di-
mension should be incorporated.
It is the ability to use the language correctly and appropriately to accomplish communication
goals. So cultural and social knowledge must be learnt.

2.- OTHER COMMUNICATIVE APPROACHES

Direct Method:
It is based on the idea that second language learning is similar to first language learning. In
this line, there should be lots of oral interaction, spontaneous use of the language, no
translation, and little of any analysis of grammatical rules and syntactic structures. The target
language was the means of communication. Concrete vocabulary was taught through pictures
and objects, while abstract vocabulary was taught by association of ideas.
The Audio-lingual method:
This method is the direct successor to the direct method. The following points sum up the
characteristics of the method:
Dependence on memorisation of set phrases.
Teaching structural patterns by means of repetitive drills.
No grammatical explanation.
Learning vocabulary in a context.
Use of tapes and visual aids.
Focus on pronunciation.
Immediate reinforcement of correct responses.
Lessons start with dialogues, about everyday situations.
These dialogues are imitated and drilled until the pupil’s responses became automatic.
Language work is first heard, and then practised orally before being seen and used in
written form.
A great effort is made in order to avoid errors.
Nowadays it is less popular because of its reliance on drills which is found boring by students.

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The Community Language Learning:

It was created especially for Adult Learners who might fear to appear foolish; so the teacher
becomes a Language Counsellor, he understands them and leads them to overcome their
fears. It follows Krashen’s Affective Filter Hypothesis and the Cognitive Theory where the
human mind is active.
Natural Approach:
It emphasizes the role of natural language acquisition. It stresses the importance of emotional
rather than cognitive factors in learning. It stresses mastering vocabulary rather than
grammatical rules.
Its aim is to establish an ability to understand the basic content of a communication in an
informal setting. The acquisition happens by using the own language. It is something
unconscious, without rules.
The Functional Approach
This method is a communicative approach. The emphasis is on breaking down the global
concept of language into units of analysis in terms of communicative situations in which they
are used. Situation includes the following elements:
-People taking part in the speech act.
-The place where the conversation occurs.
-The time the speech act is taking place.
-The topic or activity that is being discussed.

3.- METHODOLOGICAL AND COMMUNICATIVE TECHNIQUES.

The characteristics of Communicative methods and techniques are:
1. Focus on language as a medium of communication. Communication has a social purpose.
2. Motivate pupils through short-term objectives and through teaching language appropriate
to a range of relevant topics and situations.
3. Use of target language in a communicative way for meaningful activities.
4. Use of target language as normal medium for classroom management and instruction
5. Pupil-orientated
6. Accent on functional usable language.
7. Provide real-life communicative situations. Emphasis on creative role-plays, simulations,
surveys, projects; all produce spontaneity and improvisation.
8. Emphasis on active modes of learning, including pair work and group work.
9. Primacy of oral work.
10. Errors are a natural par of learning language. Constant correction is unnecessary.
11. Development the four skills.
12. Grammar can still be taught, but less systematically,
13. Personalise and localise language and adapt it to interests of pupils.
14. Use of idiomatic everyday language (even slang words).

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15. Use of topical items with which pupils are already familiar to motivate pupils, arise their
interest and lead to more active participation.
16. Spontaneous practice helps to make minds more flexible and inspire confidence.
17. Use of authentic resources. More interesting and motivating.
18. Not restricted to textbook.
19. Use of visual stimuli to provoke practical communicative language.

The elements that Influence the Learning Process of a Foreign Language are:
a) Creating an Interactive Classroom
To create conditions for effective interactions in the classroom, teachers have to:
 Plan lessons logically sequenced.
 Release control and step out of the role of class leader.
 Facilitate learner-to-learner interactions by monitoring and providing assistance.
 Initiate and sustain interaction by using a variety of questions ranging.
 Understand that sometimes students learn by listening to others interact.
 Recognize that regular use of pair and small group work promotes interaction.
 Teach learners strategies to negotiate meaning.
b) How to Design a Task.
A task is a set of sequenced activities that are aimed at solving a problem. We must:
- Establish the aims and the results we expect to obtain.
- Bear in mind both the linguistic and non–linguistic level of the the pupils.
- Design them so that they can be performed at different levels.
- The main aim is to make pupils able to communicate.
c) The Types of Activities that should be used in a communicative English class are:
For developing receptive skills (Listening & Reading):
- Foretelling capability.
- Scanning ability.
- Deducing opinions and attitude.
- Guessing meanings.
For developing productive skills (Speaking & Writing):
- Memorization and automatism of constructions and idioms.
- Role–play, drama, pair – work, dialogues.
- Information transference: Activities which involve the students extracting relevant
information from a reading or listening text and reproducing it in a diagram.
d) The evaluation is a continuous and global process. It is a way to obtain information about
the learning process, that is useful for teachers because it is a feed–back task and for pupils
because it gives them information about their own work.

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e) Dealing with Mistakes.

When learning a language mistakes and errors are expected. Error consists on using,
systematically a wrong form because the pupils’ level is not enough to avoid the error and
mistake is using the wrong form just in some occasions.
Corrections must be done in a way that they do not infer in the communicative process and
must be saw as part of the learning process and a learning tool.
f) Classroom Organisation.
There are different ways of grouping according to the kind of communicative activity:
- Lockstep. It deals with presentation
- Small group. It deals with role – play
- Pair work. It deals with information gap
- Individual work. It deals with assimilating learning
Groups of pupils can be made according to different criteria depending on the activity: letting
the pupils choose their own groups, according to their level or mixing level.
g) Teacher’s Role.
The teacher will find the right balance between being a source of linguistic information,
organiser of the class activities and promoting a positive attitude towards the foreign culture
and language.
Teachers need to encourage and foster their students' success by praising and encouraging
students for high achievement, showing students respect, holding high expectations for all
students, avoiding negative comments and sarcasm, offering extra help whenever needed,
and taking an interest in the students' lives. This informal motivation helps establish a warm
and caring classroom environment in which the students feel as though they can succeed.
h) Pupil’s Role.
The role of the pupil is of great importance in the learning process. Teacher must teach their
students some learning strategies to be a good learner:
 Pause after each paragraph to make sure you understood everything you read.
 Make notes in your own words.
 Ask about anything it is not clear requires further information or clarification.

4.- TECNIQUES THAT DEVELOP THE COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE

Pair work: method to practise what has been learnt; it offers students more opportunities to
speak, improves personal relationships and creates real communicative situations.
Total physical response activities: (developed by James Asher) method that consists of
teaching a language through physical activity. It helps in the development of comprehension
abilities, which according to the author precede productive skills.
Information-gap activities: where there is some missing information that the student must
discover. By sharing this information student have, they can complete the task.
Games: they create a friendly atmosphere and a fun way to learn.
Problem-solving activities: students work together to find a solution to a problem.

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Dialogues: students practise a model dialogue or an open dialogue.

Role-play: students pretend they are someone else in an imaginary situation.
Describing personal experiences
Giving opinions.
Discussions about controversial topics.
Reaching-a-consensus activities.
Significant writing: cooperative writing, exchanging letters and writing to pen friends.
Projects: this technique help students develop good study skills, it requires link the contents
learnt in the classroom with real word and encourage social skills.

5.- CONCLUSION.
Getting communicative competence in, at least one foreign language, is one of the objective
set by the current law of education , the LOE 2/2006, 3 rd May, modified by the LOMCE
8/2013, 9th December, for the primary educational stage.
This means to get the ability to use the language. Although the use of these techniques can
be complicated at the beginning, teachers must incorporate in their lessons methods and
techniques which facilitate and motivate students to use the language, creating real
communicative situations.