Teaching English as ...

An approach to foreign or second language teaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence and which seeks to make meaningful communication and language use a focus of all classroom activities. The communicative approach was developed particularly by British applied linguists in the 1980s as a reaction away from grammar-based approaches such as situational language teaching and the audiolingual method. The major principles of Communicative Language Teaching are:

1 learners use a language through using it to communicate

2 authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities

3 fluency and accuracy are both important goals in language learning

4 communication involves the integration of different language skills

5 learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error

Communicative language teaching led to a re-examination of language teaching goals, syllabuses, materials, and classroom activities and has had a major impact on changes in language teaching world wide. Some of its principles have been incorporated into other communicative approaches, such as task-based language teaching, cooperative language learning,and content-based instruction.