Communicative Methods No one can learn to communicate in a new language if he is never allowed to make mistakes in it.

In late 60s there was seen a shift from the Audio-lingual Method to Communicative language teaching. This shift evolved partly as a result of studies carried out by the Council of Europe, which began to identify the language needed in a variety of social situations by someone immigrating to Common Market countries. The studies sought to evaluate how language itself is used, how native speakers of a language express themselves in various situation. The studies had a major impact on the teaching of English as a foreign language. Teachers and curriculum designers began to look at content, at the kind of language needed when greeting or shopping. The emphasis on form, on explicitly learning grammar rules or practicing grammatical patters, was downplayed in favour of an approach designed to meet learners needs when using the language in daily interaction. The table that follows shows some of the language in daily interaction and some of the differences between Grammar Translation, Audio-lingual and Communicative Language Teaching. A comparison of distinguishing features of three approaches to language teaching Grammar Tr. Meth. Grammar rules Meaningful Communication Pronunciation Use of translation Sequencing of lesson Teacher- student Roles Attitudes to errors Balance of language skills Audiolingual Communic. Method Lang. Learn. Not explained Limited Target native-like Forbidden Follows linguistic Complexity Teacher-centred Accuracy emphasized Listening and speaking emphasized Explained when Necessary Central feature Target Comprehensible Used when necessary Follows learners needs Teacher facilitates student-to- tudent interaction Errors part of Learning Process Skills taught according to learners needs

Central feature Not important Not considered Central feature Follows linguistic complexity Teacher-centred Accuracy emphasized Reading and writing emphasized

According to the Humanistic Theory the aim of learning the target language is not necessarily to communicate with others but also to develop in learners the potential of human beings. The teacher is more an educator than an instructor who focuses more on students personal feelings and emotions. This theory has given birth ot the Communicative language learning. Communicative Language Learning The Communicative Language Learning was developed by H.G. Widdowson. While using this method the emphasis is placed on using the target language to accomplish a function such as complaining, advising, or asking for information; in other words to communicate through interaction. Attention is also paid to the social context in which this function takes place. For instance, different language will be used when complaining to a teacher than when complaining to a close friend. Distinguishing features: All four language skills are taught from the beginning. In speaking the aim is to be understood, not to speak like a native. In the sequencing of lesson, priority is given to learner interests and needs. This is the

contrast to the Grammar Translation Method, which may start with verb tenses, and work through from the preset simple to the conditionals. In a Communicative approach if a learner needs to know how to give advice (If I were you, I would) then this conditional is taught. Interaction between speakers and listeners or readers and writers is at the root of all activities. Chapters on teaching Speaking, Reading Listening give many examples of the kind of activities to be found in a classroom following the communicative approach. Learners usually work in pairs or groups for role play, information sharing or problem solving. Exercises using or recording from the radio, are selected so that learners can practice language in real situations where possible. The Total Physical Response This method was developed by James Asher, a professor of Psychology and encourages teachers to teach the language through physical activity. Involving the use of gamelike movements the Total Physical Response method is intended to reduce learners stress, to create a positive mood and to facilitate learning. The comprehension skills development is under the major focus, in other words the comprehension abilities will precede productive skills in learning the language. The teaching of speaking must be delayed until comprehension is achieved. Skills are acquired through listening and teaching emphasizes meaning rather than form. Distinguishing features: Skills are taught in natural order Learners are given different commands After the first stage students will be ready to speak After the second stage they will be ready to direct other students This method is useful and fun and is recommended to be used with beginners. The Acquisition Theory This theory is based on the distinction between acquisition and learning. Acquisition is the knowledge leading to common performance, a subconscious process. Learning is knowledge leading to the ability to monitor the language, a conscious process. Mirela Codruta Stanisoara proposes 4 theories of acquisition: 1. The Comprehensible Input Acquisition where input is the language that students hear or read and is based on learners previous experience in a context at a higher level. 2. Natural Order Hypothesis that stands for teaching languages in a consequent order(from simple to complicated). 3. The Monitor Hypothesis promotes the idea that acquisition and learning intermingle in the process of production ability to produce utterances and to correct them. 4. The Affective Filter Not only the comprehensible input is necessary for foreign language learning but also the affective factor that functions as a block that prevents language to be acquired. The lower these affective filters(negative emotions such as anxiety, fear, stress) are the more probable the learners will be successful in passing over the barrier of communication while learning the target language. The Acquisition Theory gave birth to the Natural Approach.

The Natural Approach The Natural Approach was proposed by Tracy Terrell and incorporated naturalistic principles. It focuses on teaching communicative abilities and views communication as the primary function of language. Language is left to emerge naturally as it is viewed as a vehicle of communicating meanings and messages. This approach also reveals the idea that acquisition can occur when people understand messages in target language. According to the Natural Approach developing the Input Hypothesis is

possible when using the following the I+1 formula that stands for having an input before passing to another stage. Learners emotional state and attitudes constitute the filter that impedes or blocks the input. In order to increase the language input, these affective filters should be low, in other words motivated students have better results, those who are self confident are likely to be more successful because their level of anxiety and stress is low and they are not afraid of making mistakes, of feeling discomfort, of looking silly, of being criticized, of participating actively in the learning process. The Competency Based Approach The Competency-Based Approach was developed and applied in the USA to help immigrants and refugees learn English and life skills in the same time. It is based on theories of adult learning which states that in order effective learning to take place; adults need to know that what they are studying will improve their lives. Distinguishing features: Learners dominate in the Competence-based Approach because language skills, the grammar and vocabulary they study are sequenced according to their needs. Translation is used when necessary for communication. Context is used as much as possible to help the learners induce the meanings of lexical structures or the formation of grammatical structures. Authentic materials are used and the learners are encouraged to practice the language by performing real tasks outside the classroom. Like the Communicative Approach the Competency Based Approach bases its activities on interaction. Pair work and group work are used to generate communication in activities such as problem solving, filling information gaps, questioning, making surveys, etc.

Innovative Methods of Teaching The teacher works with the student, the student works with the language. The Silent Way The Silent way is a method introduced by Caleb Gategno, a methodologist who revived the interest in the use of coloured wooden sticks called cuisenaire rods and the series of Words in Colour, an approach to the teaching of initial reading in which sounds are coded by specific colours. His materials are copyrighted and marked through an organization he operated, called Educational solutions Inc., in New York. The Silent Way method is based on the premise that the teacher should be silent as much as possible in the classroom and the learner should be encouraged to produce as much language as possible. The Silent Way shares a great deal with other learning theories and educational philosophies. The hypotheses that follow belong to Gategnos work within this method: 1. Learning is facilitated if the learner discovers rather than remembers and repeats what is to be learned. 2. Learning is facilitated by accompanying physical objects. 3. learning is facilitated by problem solving involving the material to be learned, which represent Benjamin Franklins words: Tell me and I forget, Teach me and I remember, Involve me and I learn. In the Silent Way learners are actively responsible for their own learning. Learning a language is seen not as a process of habit formation like in the Audiolingual Method, but rather a process whereby the learners discover the rules of the target language and then applies those rules to understand and use the language. Mistakes are considered as a part of the process of discovering the rules and the teacher should not interfere in the process by correcting the learners' mistakes. Distinguishing features:

All four language skills are taught from the beginning, though reading and writing are sequenced to follow what has been produced orally. Special charts are used to teach pronunciation. First, there is a sound-colour, each one representing a sound in the target language. The teacher and student point to blocks of colour on the chart to form syllables, words and sentences. Second, there are word charts containing words whose letters are colour coded in the same way as the sound-colour chart. The teacher and students make up sentences, point to words on the chart and read the sentences they have written or told. Third, there are sounds of the language with their spelling. For example ay, ea, ei and eigh, which are all different spellings of the sound [ei] in English, they are listed and colour-coded together. Cuisenaire rods(bits of wood varying in length and colour) are used to introduce vocabulary and structures. At the beginning level they can be used to teach numbers and colours(take two red rods). At the intermediate level they can be used to teach comparatives(the red rod is longer than the blue one, the prepositions( the green rod is above the yellow one), the difference between the definite and indefinite articles (take a/ the red rod) with the help of the finger technique. At a later stage they can be used to teach conditionals (If I had a red rod I would give it to you). The Silent way is designed to be used with small groups of learners. Teachers using this method usually undergo intensive training in its techniques and philosophy. The usefulness of this method consists first, in the fact that the knowledge the learners discover for themselves is retained and owned in a more permanent and meaningful way than are materials which have been packaged and only require students to memorize them. Second, there is the idea of peer coaching in a non-competitive environment. Having presented the material, the teacher stands back and lets his students experiment with the rules and generate talk in English. The teachers role during this group work is to make sure that the group atmosphere is open to the contribution of all its members. Community Language Learning Community Language Learning is a method developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates. Curran was a specialist in counselling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University. His application of psychological counselling techniques to learning is known as Counselling Learning. Community Language Learning represents the use of Counselling-learning theory to teach languages. In Community Language Learning the aim is to involve the learners whole personality. Affective and intellectual well-being is given equal weight. The teacher is the counsellor who gives assistance and support to the learners, who are the clients. The teachers role is to understand learners fears and vulnerabilities as they struggle to master another language. By being sensitive to the learners fears, the teacher can turn their negative energy of these fears into positive energy and enthusiasm to learning. The relationship between the learner and the teacher and among the learners themselves, therefore, take on great importance. The following procedures are typical in a CLL class: 1. Translation. Learners form a small circle. A learner whispers a message or a meaning he or she wants to express. The teacher translates it into the target language and the learner repeats the teachers translation. 2. Group Work. Learners may engage in different tasks such as small group discussion on a topic, preparing a conversation, preparing a summary of a topic for presentation to another group, preparing a story that will be presented to the teacher and the rest of the class. 3. Recording. Students record conversations in the target. Language. 4. Transcription. Students transcribe utterances and conversations they have recorded for practice and analysis of the linguistic forms. 5. Analysis. Students analyse and study transcriptions of the target language sentences in order to focus on particular lexical usage or on the application of particular grammar rules 6. Reflection and observation. Learners reflect and report on their experiences as a class or group. They usually consist of expressing feelings-sense of one another, reactions to silence, concern for something to say, etc. 7. Listening. Students listen to a monologue involving elements they might have elicited or overheard in class interaction. 8. Free conversation. Students engage in free conversation with the teacher or with other learners. This might include discussion of what they learned as well as feelings they had about how they learned.

Like the Silent Way, CLL is a method which works best in small groups and which requires special training for its teachers. It also includes useful principles which can easily be implemented during the lessons. You can lower the stress of your students by making your goals and expectations clear, by coaching your students in examination strategies, and by providing lively activities which make learning funny. CLL encourages learners to produce their own materials. Helping the students to write their stories which are then published in the school magazine, organizing them to write and act plays or skits, and developing project work, the teacher may accomplish two goals: to give students a sense of ownership and pride and to sidestep the problem of trying to teach with few or inadequate textbooks. Suggestopedia Suggestopedia is a method developed by the Bulgarian psychiatrist educator Georgi Lozanov. Suggestopedia is a specific set of learning recommendations derived from Suggestology-a study concerned with the systematic study of the nonrational and/or nonconscious influences that human beings are constantly responding to. Lozanov believes that the power of suggestion(learning a foreign language successfully) is in desuggestion(lowering students psychological barriers to learning). He has developed the process of desuggestion which is designed to promote a relaxed frame of mind and to convert learners fear into positive energy and enthusiasm for language learning. So before we suggest, we must desuggest a lot. Distinguishing features: In Suggestopedia great attention is paid to environment. The seating is as comfortable as possible, the light is not harsh, Baroque music plays on the background. Colourful posters and charts are pinned on the wall. The posters show attractive sights in the target language country. The charts contain grammatical information which in causal readings the students will absorb without conscious effort. This is called peripheral learning. The Suggestopedia teachers tone is always calm as students are reassured that language learning is easy and fun. The Suggestopedia lesson consists of three stages: 1. Deciphering-the teacher introduces the grammar and the vocabulary. 2. Concert session-that is divided into two substages a) active-the teacher reads the text at a normal speed and students follow; b) passive-the students relax, close their eyes and listen to the teacher reading the text calmly. Music is played in the background. The left column of the text is given in the target language; the right column is in students mother tongue. c) Elaboration- students finish what they have learned with dramas, songs and games. For homework, the students are asked to read the text just before going to bed and on getting up in the morning. The teacher leads the class in role play, question and answer and other activities based on the text. During these activities students are invited to use their imagination and to take on new names and new personalities in the target language. They are encouraged to visualize themselves as successful people in their new identities with exciting jobs and good standing in the society. Having described briefly some of the methods of teaching English as a foreign language, we may conclude that no one is sufficient on its own. Whiled teaching, different learning styles should be taken in consideration; especially those you feel working best with your students in different surroundings. The main thing is that your students should be interested in learning the language.