Techniques and Materials in Communicative Approach

            There may be aspect of the Communicative Approach that you find appealing. This review has been provided in the event you wish to try to use any of the techniques of materials associated with the communicative Approach.

            3.1.1    Authentic Materials

To overcome the typical problems that students cant transfer what they learn in  the classroom to the outside world and to expose students to natural language in a variety of situations, adherents of the Communicative Approach the use of authentic language materials. In this lesson we see that the teacher uses a copy of a genuine newspaper article. He also assigns the students homework, requiring they listen to a live radio or television broadcast. For students with lower proficiency in the target   language, it may not be possible to use authentic language materials such as these. Simpler authentic materials (  for example, the use of a weather forecast when working on predictions), or at least ones that are realistic , are most desirable. It is not so important that the materials be genuine as it is that they be used authentically. Another possibility  for the use of authentic materials with a lower level class is to use realia that do not contain a lot of language , but about which a lot of discussion could be generated.

            3.1.2    Scrambled Sentences

The students are given a passage ( a text ) in which the sentences are  in a scrambled order. This may be a passage they have worked with or one they haven’t seen before. They are told to unscramble the sentences so that the sentences are restored to their original order. This type of exercise teaches students about the cohesion and coherence properties of language. They learn how sentences are bound together at the suprasentential  level through formal linguistic devices such as positions, which unify a text and make it coherent. In addition to written passages, students might also be asked to unscramble the lines of a mixed-up dialog. Or they might be asked to put the pictures of a picture strip story in order and write lines to accompany the pictures.

            3.1.3    Language Games

Games are used frequently in the communicative Approach. The students find them enjoyable, and if they are properly designed, they give students valuable communicative practice. These three features were manifest in the card game we observed in the following way. An information gap existed because the speaker did not know what her classmate was going to do the following weekend. The speaker received feedback from the members of her group. If her group would respond. If she got a meaningful response, she could presume her prediction was understood.

            3.1.4    Picture Strip Story

In the activity we observed, one student in a small group was given a strip story. She showed the first picture of the story to the others members of her group and asked tem to predict what the second picture would look like. An information gap existed – the students in the groups did not know what the picture contained. They had a choice as to what their prediction would be and how they would word it. They received  feedback  , not on the form but on the content of the prediction, by being able to view the picture and compare it with their prediction. The activity  just described is an example of using a problem solving task as communicative technique. Problem solving task work well in the communicative approach because they usually include the three features of communication. What’s more, they can be structured so that students share information or work together to arrive at solution. This gives students practice in negotiating meaning.

            3.1.5    Role- play

Role-play are very important in the Communicative Approach because they give students an opportunity to practice communicating in different social contexts  and different socials roles. Role-play can be set up so that they are  very structured (for example, the teacher tells the students who they are and what they should say ) or in a less structures way ( for example , the teacher tells the students who they are, what the situation is , and what they are talking about, but the students determine what they will say ). The later is more in keeping with the Communicative Approach , of course, because it gives the students more of a choice. Notice that Role-plays structured like this also provide information gaps since students can not be sure ( as with most form of communication ) what the others person or people will say ( there’s a natural unpredictability ). Students also receive feedback on whether or not they have effectively communicated.

 credits:

Techniques and principles in language teaching

D Larsen-Freeman - 2000 - books.google.com