Communicative language teaching

Communicative language teaching develops learners’ ability to use a language through meaningful interaction and purposeful communication, rather than treating grammar knowledge alone as the goal.

Communicative competence: The ability to use language appropriately and effectively in social situations. The approach aims beyond grammatical knowledge toward successful, context-sensitive communication.
Second-language acquisition: The process by which people learn a language beyond their first language. Communicative teaching draws on theories of how additional languages develop.
Role-play: An instructional activity in which participants act out roles in a simulated situation. Simulated encounters let learners practice language for social purposes.
Dell Hymes: An American linguist and anthropologist who developed the concept of communicative competence. His account of socially appropriate language use helped shape the approach’s goals.
Focus on form: An instructional approach that briefly directs attention to language features within meaning-focused communication. It offers a way to address grammar without abandoning communicative activity.
Task-based language teaching: A language-teaching approach that organizes learning around tasks with meaningful outcomes. It turns communicative principles into lessons centered on completing real-world-like tasks.
Input hypothesis: Stephen Krashen’s proposal that acquisition occurs through exposure to comprehensible language slightly beyond current ability. It highlights the role of understandable language in communicative classrooms.
Jigsaw classroom: A cooperative learning structure in which participants each hold information needed to complete a shared task. Learners must exchange distinct contributions to reach a common outcome.
Michael Halliday: A British linguist who developed systemic functional linguistics, treating language as a resource for making meaning. His functional view of language supported teaching it through purposeful use.
Noticing hypothesis: Richard Schmidt’s proposal that conscious attention to language features is necessary for their acquisition. It raises the question of whether meaningful exposure works without noticing specific forms.

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