Innovative Approaches for Communicative English Language Teaching

University of Oregon Lecture Series, Session #1

Dr. Sarah Klinghammer

This is the first lecture in a 10-part professional development series with the University of Oregon, the US Embassy in Bangkok, and the Royal Thai Distance Learning Foundation. Following is a general outline of the 4 sub-topics for the first session, along with “mini-tasks” or activities that participants will be asked to do.

The supporting web site http://www.uoregon.edu/~leslieob/thailand/ will provide a copy of the video afterwards, plus links to resources related to the session.

Overview of Communicative Language Teaching and Learning

How has the communicative approach evolved over the past 20-25 years?
An overview of what communicative language classroom practices have come to mean over time.


Mini-task: Warm up activity. Introduce yourself to the people sitting near you and together, think of 3-5 words or ideas that define “communicative” in terms of your language teaching practices.

"Communicative" as a Set of Situation-dependent Principles

What are some current trends in communicative-based teaching and learning today?
A look at teaching through a combined set of principles that fit your and your students' needs, rather than a single approach.

Mini-task: Student population profile. Working with a partner, write down a few notes that describe your student population profile (age, gender, language level, number of students in class, students interests/needs, etc.). Keep this information in your mind as you listen next to examples of what other teachers are doing in classrooms like yours. Look for ideas that can work for you.

Example #1: Materials

What does communicative language teaching and learning look like in US classrooms today?
Example #1. A look at an example text series for secondary classrooms: Longman's Shining Star, the unit Observing the Universe. It combines:

·  Science

·  Myths

·  Play (drama)


Mini-task: Analysis. What has this lesson covered in terms of the communicative principles above?

Example #2: Total Physical Response Storytelling (TPRS)

What does communicative language teaching and learning look like in US classrooms today?
Example #2. A look at the principles and practices of TPRS. Background reading and information is available through:

·  Blaine Ray, Materials and Method
http://www.blaineraytprs.com/

·  Susan Gross, Lessons and Rubrics
http://www.susangrosstprs.com/

·  Valerie Marsh. TPRS, A Communicative Approach to Language Learning
http://www.tprstorytelling.com/story.htm

Post-lecture Discussion Questions

  1. Does this take a lot of time to learn to use in the classroom?
  2. Where can we find materials to do this if we don’t already have them?
  1. What are some strategies for dealing with difficult vocabulary?
  2. How can I assess (test) this kind of lesson?
  3. Will students using this kind of curriculum do well on standardized tests?

©2004, S. Klinghammer & L. Opp-Beckman, University of Oregon