My Views on The Communicative Approach in ESL Classrooms

I can see many advantages of using the communicative teaching approach in the classroom to develop four areas of communicative competence (linguistic, pragmatic, discourse and strategic) as well as fluency. This approach is open to using a wide variety of teaching techniques and activities that make learning meaningful, relevant, and authentic while developing students’ listening, speaking, reading and writing abilities. I will discuss two techniques (information gap activities and task-based learning) and how I feel they can be used to develop communicative competence. First, I’ll provide a brief explanation of the two teaching techniques.

Information-gap activities are planned so one participant in the conversation does not have a piece of information that is needed to complete the task. For example, asking someone for directions or trying to figure out someone’s favourite leisure time activity with only clues. Task-based learning combines meaning-focused and authentic language with real activities. Participants’ attention is on the task at hand instead of on the language they are using to complete the task. An example of a task-based activity is the students reviewing two menus from different restaurants in an attempt to determine which menu they each prefer, whether they like the same food, and how much it would cost for the group to eat out at the chosen restaurant.
Information-gap activities and task-based learning have common aspects that correspond well to principals of adult learning. The learning tasks in each of these teaching techniques can be designed to draw out students’ experience and knowledge, and help them connect the new learning to their existing schema. Both techniques can be planned around topics of interest to the students, and areas they have prior knowledge and/or experience. Task-based learning and information-gap activities are engaging and motivating. Attempting to discover the missing information in information-gap activities engages the learner. Task-based learning is planned around real situations that are meaningful to the student population.

These two techniques include plenty of opportunities that develop discourse and strategic competence and fluency. Dialogue amongst students consists of asking questions and generating answers, thereby using and developing natural speech and strategic competence skills such as paraphrasing, repetition, avoidance of particular words, and modifying a message. Students work with partners or in small groups which is less intimidating than large groups for some students and it increases the amount of time each student speaks.

Both information-gap activities and task-based learning provide opportunity to work on grammar and sentence structure. However, I don’t think an inexperienced ESL teacher would feel confident using task-based if the program required the teacher to follow a grammatical skills continuum. How does a teacher know if the planned task is going to generate dialogue using the targeted grammar?

I’m also concerned about the amount of group work in these two techniques. Students from cultures whom are accustomed to the teacher as an information provider and authoritative figure as well as introverts may feel uncomfortable learning in groups.

I would probably start instruction with a combination of techniques such as PPP, information-gap activities and task-based learning. After I have had an opportunity to get to know the students, and my teaching skills, confidence and experience in teaching adults ESL increased I would likely incorporate more task-based learning.