APPLIED LINGUISTICS for BA Students in English
THE COMMUNICATIVE APPROACH
Characteristics of communicative classes:
Communicative language teaching is
• content based
language is a tool for getting information about the world. In this approach message is more important than the form. Interdisciplinary or in another word: cross-curricular approach, by which content can be integrated into English teaching, is based on a lot of authentic materials taken from various text types such as newspapers, journals, pamphlets, guidebooks etc. These texts cover a wide range of topics, so in addition to broadening your students’ minds, they will build up their vocabulary as well.
• intercultural
Foreign language learning is often foreign culture learning. In order to understand just what foreign culture learning is, one needs to understand the nature of acculturation and culture shock. A person's world view, self-identity, and systems of thinking, acting, feeling, and communicating can be disrupted by a change from one culture to another
• holistic
It means that the whole personality of the learner must be developed during language teaching. This term related to communicative language teaching, will focus teachers attention on the fact that students’ ways of thinking should also be developed.
• experiential
The students are supposed to experience that the target language acquired is very useful in life. Authentic texts such as brochures, instructions, cookery books etc. make students feel how practicable their knowledge in English is.
• learner-centred
Learners’ needs are very important in communicative language. Activities are chosen according to the various learning styles and they also must be age relevant.
The goal of communicative language teaching is to make students communicatively competent. Let us examine what the term communicative competence means.
