COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE LEARNING

10. Some of the characteristics of good practice are:-

•  Motivation
• Clear aims
• Clear explanations
• Varied Activities at an appropriate pace
• Range of skills practised
• Co-operative group work
• Independence
• Selective use of published course materials
• Reading for information and pleasure
• Insights into both their own and the foreign culture
• Regular contacts with native speakers
• Integrated Assessment
• Homework planned as part of the course
• Pupils acquire a good accent
• Pupils acquire a good range of vocabulary
• Teachers' Attitudes
• Understanding the target language
• Communicating in the target language
   

Motivation

One of the most characteristic features of good practice is the sense of enjoyment and motivation which is created.

Clear aims

Consistency of teaching approaches is not the same as uniformity, but a wide difference of approaches is confusing to learners as they progress through the school. There should therefore be agreed, clear objectives for pupils' progression for all abilities and the teaching methods and resources designed to achieve them.

Clear explanations are given about:-

• what they are expected to learn during the year;
• what's the purpose of current lesson;
• how to tackle the tasks set them;
• what to do when they meet problems in their work.

Activities are varied and taken at an appropriate pace

Especially in the long 55 minute lessons present in many schools, attention is best captured and held by a well-planned succession of activities of varying lengths and types, combining different skills. Pace is an important ingredient in providing variety.

Most activities benefit if taken at a lively pace. Even routine oral class repetition can be made enjoyable if taken briskly, especially if accompanied by gestures, movement round the class or an element of competition.

On the other hand there is also an important place for a more reflective pace, allowing learners a short pause for thought, or silent reading of a passage etc.

Activities that bring a range of skills into play

e.g. 1. A whole class listening exercise answering questions or ticking grid:-

• Hear tape twice.
• Whole class feedback on answers.
• Hear tape third/fourth time making more detailed notes so as to reconstruct the text orally in pairs/groups; then collaborate in groups on a written version.
• Groups report back to whole class and teacher can give extra guidance before setting task as written homework.

e.g. 2. A whole class reading activity:-

• Silent reading of text
• Answer comprehension questions
• Select useful phrases from text to draft a piece of written work such as a letter or a role-play script.

Extended topics provide opportunities for integrated skills and varied activities such as projects based on surveys, joint written accounts of events, imaginative writing/speaking, planning foreign trips, twinning arrangements, meeting foreign visitors etc.

Learners often work co-operatively in groups

Activities involving the whole class together and closely controlled by the teacher are necessary and valuable for introducing, reinforcing or clarifying elements of language.

However, to learn to use the language spontaneously, learners need frequent opportunities to work with each other on suitable tasks.

• Information-gap activities.
• Joint writing tasks.
• Group projects investigating, reporting and presentation of end product.

Learners become increasingly independent in their work

• Using language in unrehearsed situations.
• Using a range of sources to get linguistic and factual information.
• Deciding on aspect to be studied and end product to be presented.

Published course materials are used selectively

• Adapted to ability/ needs of learners.
• Adjusted to suit style of teacher.
• Used in conjunction with other materials reflecting interests of pupils, (up to date, realia, fashion, local colour).

Learners read extensively for information and pleasure

• Providing a wide range of reading material e.g. Biblobus, Okapi, MGP magazines, Télé 7 Jours, Juma etc.
• Some lesson time devoted to private reading.
• Learners keep a record of what they have read.

Learners are given insights into both their own and the foreign culture

• Start with learners' knowledge of  topic.
• Use authentic materials, realia, STV, magazines,etc.
• Establish links with native speakers.

Learners have regular contacts with native speakers

• School visits abroad. Reciprocal exchanges.
• Visiting native speakers, student teachers, assistants.
• Exchanging authentic materials.
• Electronic mail, audio conferencing.

Assessment is integrated with teaching and learning

Formative (continuous assessment) and summative testing (end of unit/term/year tests)

The latter gives a useful overview of achievement whereas the former:

• identifies learners' strengths and weaknesses;
• seeks to build on strengths and remedy weaknesses;
• learners motivated by being involved in own progress.

Homework is a planned part of the course

• Consolidates class work.
• Prepares for future work.
• Provides for all skills including oral work.
• Time consuming investigations can be done.
• Prepare project presentations.

Pupils acquire a good accent

• Early attention to pronunciation is important. Frequent exposure and use of the target language is essential.
• Sound discrimination, distinguishing between words, becoming accustomed to the rhythm of the language.
• Careful listening and active voice practice.
• Teachers often insist on silence and class discipline for this reason among others.
• Oral work can help aural discrimination.
• However, in the early stages of learning the written form can interfere strongly with pronunciation. To combat this, learners need ample opportunities to listen and respond before the written forms are involved.

Pupils acquire a good range of vocabulary

Much time is spent in class on introducing or reinforcing vocab. Many nevertheless find the retention of words difficult for any length of time. Therefore:-

• Learners encouraged to take charge of expanding their vocab, gathering words, using dicos.
• Vocab. introduced and learnt in a coherent context.
• Vocab. re-introduced regularly in new contexts appropriate to learners' changed age and knowledge.
• Attention to cognates, synonyms, opposites, faux-amis, stems and affixes.

Listing together totally unrelated words has given vocab. learning a bad name. Provided that learners are given plenty of opportunity to practise and then use vocab. in realistic situations, the sheer power of association will help them retain it. Deliberate learning and re-learning becomes less tedious if it is done for a specific purpose.

Vocab. tests by listing Welsh/English equivalents are not the only way to test knowledge. A variety of tasks increases the stimulation and concentration of pupils, e.g. identify words from definitions, gap filling, having to use new words in real situations, self-testing etc.

Teachers' Attitudes

• Positive attitudes on the part of teachers to the teaching of languages and a good level of teaching skills are crucial to pupils' performance.
• Establishes a work-centered atmosphere.
• High but realistic expectations of the pupils expressed in challenging but attainable tasks matched to the ability of the pupils.
• We should avoid low expectations resulting in tasks being set which make too few demands on pupils.
• Thoughtful lesson planning and a well-organised approach to work.
• Focusing a variety of activities on one principal theme is particularly effective in securing learning.
• Failure to establish a proper working atmosphere will prevent pupils achieving satisfactory results in their work.
• The effective use of audio-visual aids and the imaginative use of other resources leading to active participation by pupils.
• Activities in lessons which lack focus and a clear purpose and which are not presented in ways which interest and involve pupils will often result in poor quality work from the pupils.

Understanding the target language

• Answers to listening or reading comprehension exercises can be noted in Welsh or English and later used to give oral answers in target language. Checking and discussing answers in Welsh or English reduces the amount of Foreign Language exposure
• Extracts often need to be replayed during the checking of answers to enable pupils to listen again.
• Listening comprehension should not simply be used as a vocab. test but also as a means of developing pupils' linguistic skills.
• Reading for comprehension and pleasure are ideal homework tasks as well as classroom activities. Extended reading at home needs to be encouraged and adequately monitored.

Communicating in the target language

• Working in pairs or groups gives the pupils the chance to practice oral work.
• However the monitoring of pupils' oral work in these situations must be effective and thorough.
• The activity should not go on for too long, but rather should have a known time limit in which to finish the task.
• Common errors can be noted by the teacher in order to give such errors attention latter without interrupting the flow of the activity.
• Informal monitoring of oral activities in lessons should usually lead to written records of performance.
• Most written work should include free writing, mainly in the form of letters, pen portraits, and the results of mini-enquiries conducted in the classroom.