ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING Hanoi National University of Education Faculty of English -฀฀฀฀฀ - ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING Academic Year: 2021 – 2022 MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING Hanoi National University of Education Faculty of English -o0o - ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY Instructer : Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương Class : 69 K Group : 10 Group members Students code Nguyễn Thảo Nhi 695914062 Ngơ Hồng Thu Anh 695914006 Ngô Băng Tâm 695914069 Academic Year: 2021 – 2022 Contents I INTRODUCTION II MAIN CONTENT Literature review of Communicative Approach 1.1 What is Communicative Approach? 1.2 What is its main goal? Using communicative activities in English Language Teaching and learning 2.1 What are Communicative activities? 2.2 Kinds of communicative activities 2.2.1 Pre-communicative activities 10 2.2.2 Communicative Activities 10 2.3 Characteristics of communicative activities 11 2.4 Examples of Communicative Activities 12 2.5 Advantages and disadvantages of using communicative activities in English language teaching and learning 16 2.6 Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Activities 17 III CONCLUSION 17 IV References 18 I INTRODUCTION English has become an essential and compulsory communicative language in Vietnam since we opened up the world in 1986 Many ex-pats using English as a second language from Asia, Australia, the U.S., and Europe when investing in Vietnam make it one of many reasons to motivate Vietnameses to learn English to facilitate effective communication with their partners Languages allow us to understand cultures and visions, enable learners to be aware of the diversity of cultures and viewpoints in the world community, bond friendship, and so on Learners should be able to use English as a fundamental communicative tool as well as for more accessible and broader access to bodies of knowledge and will have a vision in leading their lives Realizing its vast value, The Ministry of Education in Vietnam has been focusing on the English language programs and placed them in the curriculum right from elementary to higher education Although English is flourishing, the teaching of English is not pay off Vietnamese people's proficiency in using English has fallen for the third year in a row to reach the lowest point since 2015, according to the 2019 English Proficiency Index compiled by the global education firm Education First (EF) This year’s report, EF’s biggest league table to date, showed Vietnam drastically dropping to 52nd place out of 100 countries and regions with a score of 51.57, which is considered “low” proficiency.1 (n.d.) EF EPI 2021 – EF English Proficiency Index Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://www.ef.com/wwen/epi/ Education specialists were not surprised at the poor results, saying the scores reflect the quality of English teaching and learning in Việt Nam despite a project from the Ministry of Education and Training to improve the quality of foreign language teaching nationwide in 2008-20 period Dr Lê Trường Tùng, chairman of the management board of the FPT University, told the Voice of Việt Nam (VOV) online newspaper that the quality of teaching English depended largely on the capacity of teachers and teaching conditions In Việt Nam, English teaching and learning methods tend to help students score high in the exam, not help them use the language effectively in practice According to Dr Nguyễn Quốc Bình, former principal of Việt Nam-Germany High school in Hà Nội said the quality of teaching and learning English at high schools in many localities have not met practical demand “We have to look at the fact that our teachers have a lot of shortcomings Our teaching methods remain outdated and have not caught up with modern teaching methods,” he said.(Poor English Exam Results Reflect Teaching Quality: Education Experts, 2020) Speaking is a productive skill that seems to be the most important of all the four language skills because it can distinctly show the correctness and errors that a language learner makes Many students equate being able to speak as knowing the language and therefore view leaming how to speak the language Therefore, if students not learn how to speak or not get any opportunity to speak in the classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning On the other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language classroom a fun and dynamic place to be Teaching language with influential theories, directions, and ways of instructing is a vital topic in the current fields of teaching and learning Locating the most appropriate and effective teaching and learning methodologies and strategies for a given situation is essential for language learning classrooms Over the years, many theories have been created to meet the needs of the learners of that period However, due to the rapid development of social and cultural environments, many contemporary theories have been developed and employed in a variety of different approaches and applications This paper is a literature review paper that discusses the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach The purpose of it is to outline the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of CLT The researcher reviewed some historical and current documents relating to how a CLT approach can benefit the classroom environment II MAIN CONTENT Literature review of Communicative Approach 1.1 What is Communicative Approach? Prof Jack C Richards once said: “In my experience many language teachers when you ask them to identify what methodology they use they often mention communicative as the methodology of choice However, when pressed to give a more detailed account of what they mean by communicative their explanations tend to vary Does it mean teaching conversation? does it mean an absence of grammar in a course? or perhaps an emphasis on open-ended discussion activities as the main features of a course?” (Professor Jack C Richards Communicative Language Teaching, 2017) According to Richard, 1997, “Communicative Approach in language learning is an approach that is used in learning the second language or foreign language that emphasizes on the improvement of communicative ability”, that is ”the ability to apply the language principle in order to produce grammatical sentences and understand ’when, where, and to whom’ the sentences used” The communicative method focuses on language as a medium of communication It recognizes that communication has a social purpose – learner who has something to say or find out.” Communication embraces a whole spectrum of functions and notions” (Richards, Jack C & Rogers, Theodore S., 2001) In 1980, the applied linguist Michael Canale and Swain published an influential article in which they categorized communicative competence into four components They said that “communicative ability is formed by four competencies: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence, and strategy competence” Grammatical competence relates to language system mastery, such as: ’vocabulary, word formation, and sentence meaning’ Sociolinguistic competence is the competence to understand and produce accurate utterance in accordance with the context in which the utterance happen Discourse competence relates to the ability in combining the form and the meaning of a language Besides understanding the kinds of discourse that is cohesive and coherent, strategy (2012, July 1) Communicative Approach: An Alternative Method Used in Improving Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079667.pdf competence refers to the ability to overcome obstacles and simultaneously improve the effectiveness of communication (1983: 6-10) According to Littlewood, communicative competence means, a degree of mastery of a very considerable range of linguistic and social skills which depend in part on the learners’ sensitivity to meaning and appropriacy in language and on his/her ability to develop effective strategies for communicating in the second language.’ (Littlewood, 1981.87) K Johnson and K Marlow say that communicative competence is ‘the ability to be appropriate, to know the right thing to say at the right time.’ (Johnson and Morrow, 1981.2) International Encyclopedia of Education defines communicative competence as the “effective use of language in social contexts.” (The International Encyclopedia, 1985.834) According to Widdowson, communicative competency is “the ability to produce sentences for communicative effect.” (Widdowson, 1978.1) It is revealed from the above definitions that communicative competence is – The ability to use language appropriately in a given social context The ability to be appropriate to know the right thing at the right time Linguistic competence plus an understanding of proper use of language in various contexts Knowledge which is additional to linguistic competence Ability to communicate something which is grammatical, proper, socially accepted, formally possible, fluent in a particular context (2016, March 29) A Brief History of ELT: Part - Communicative Language Teaching Retrieved January 7, 2022, from http://theeltexchange.com/2016/03/29/brief-history-elt-part-2-communicative-language-teaching/ In this way communicative competence includes both grammatical knowledge and the ability to use this knowledge to perform different kinds of functions like enquiring, suggesting, greeting, denying, advising, reporting, apologizing, inviting, and promising The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning a language successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning When learners are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language To illustrate, practicing question forms by asking learners to find out personal information about their colleagues is an example of the communicative approach, as it involves meaningful communication In the classroom, classroom activities guided by the communicative approach are characterized by trying to produce meaningful and real communication, at all levels As a result, there may be more emphasis on skills than systems, lessons are more learner-centered, and there may be the use of authentic materials 1.2 What is its main goal? The goal of the communicative approach lies in activities Practicing with communicative activities can certainly help students develop their language abilities Harmer (2002) states that communicative activities are aimed at developing students' ability to use language to interact with people in real situations Hymes (1978 as cited in Angwattanakul, 1994) explains that communicative abilities can enable learners to use language or interpret it correctly in social interactions Communicative activities make learners notice who is talking with whom, when they should or should not say something, and how they should say something In short, a communicative approach is a teaching approach that encourages learners to use language inappropriate situations and social interactions To have a full understanding of the communicative activity, we need to consider its definitions as well as its benefits and drawbacks Using communicative activities in English Language Teaching and learning 2.1 What are Communicative activities? As mentioned above, activities are the goal of the Communicative approach So, what are Communicative activities? Communicative activities refer to the classroom activities that provide a genuine information gap and make it possible for language learners to communicate with the target language in Communicative Language Teaching Approaches (Liao, 2000) Communicative activities include any activities that encourage and require a learner to speak with and listen to other learners, as well as with people in the program and community In other words, communicative activities are activities that give students both a desire to communicate and a purpose that involve them in a varied use of language They have real purposes, such as to find information, to break down barriers, to talk about oneself, and to learn about the culture Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills, communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson Communicative activities are fluency-based activities (TaitS.,2001) While such activities may involve students to practice a particular grammatical form, they are likely to more than this The key element is that the activity is based on a realistic situation This could be anything from an encounter in a department store to a group of friends discussing holiday plans, etc Within this kind of context, students should be required to negotiate for meaning This is likely to require multiple turn-takings 2.2 Kinds of communicative activities There are various types of exercises and activities in the communicative approach which “help students to achieve the communicative competence and engage learners in communication” (Richards, 2001) Communicative activities play a vital role in 10 communicative language teaching These activities are helpful for the teachers to broaden their repertoire of techniques and activities so as to enable the learners to communicate more effectively in foreign languages Communicative activities are purposeful and objective-oriented According to Littlewood, the communicative activities can be represented diagrammatically as follows (Littlewood, 2003.86) ● Structural activities ● Pre-Communicative activities ● Quasi Communicative activities ● Functional Communicative activities ● Communicative activities ● Social interaction activities (This diagram is adapted from Littlewoods’ Communicative Language Teaching, P.86 4) In these two major categories, the first types (Pre-communicative activities) serve to prepare the learner for later communication 2.2.1 Pre-communicative activities The two sub-categories of pre-communicative activities are: - Structural activities: Focus is on the grammatical system and on ways in which linguistic items can be combined - Quasi- Communicative activities: Focus is on one or more typical conversation exchanges Some resemble drills, but other is closer to dialogues Drills and dialogues can be combined so as to provide a bridge from formal exercise to communicative use (n.d.) Littlewood, W (1981) Communicative language teaching Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://www.scirp.org/(S(lz5mqp453edsnp55rrgjct55))/reference/ReferencesPapers.aspx?ReferenceID=9 91780 11 2.2.2 Communicative Activities The two sub-categories of communicative activities are: - Functional Communicative activities include such tasks as comparing sets of pictures, noting similarities and differences, working out continuously following directions, and so on In these activities, learners must work towards a definite solution for a problem - Social interaction activities comprise the exchange of words, converse with others, improvisations and debates Here, teachers prepare learners about the varied social contexts in which they will need to perform outside the classroom using different social interaction activities There is no clear dividing line in reality between these different categories and sub-categories; they represent differences of emphasis and orientation rather than distinct divisions For instance, cued dialogues can be undertaken both as pre-communicative activity and as communicative activity Similarly, it would be arbitrary if we try to specify how much attention must be paid to communicative function before an activity can be called quasi- communicative, or how significant social meaning must become before it falls into the social interaction sub-category This distinction depends on the varying orientation of individual learners (Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay, 2015) 2.3 Characteristics of communicative activities The success of a communicative activity can be determined by the extent to which learners are dependent on the teacher Tasks should be devised in a manner that learners gain autonomy and independence while learning The role of the teachers is to give clear and to-the-point instructions and provide the appropriate environment for learners to interact and exchange information 12 Communicative activities are motivating Learners should be at ease and have fun while doing the communicative tasks Communicative tasks are realistic Real communication situations should be the focus instead of isolated structures with no real-life reference While in teacher-led classrooms learners were expected to be quiet and listen to the teacher and then, when asked, to respond to the teacher in unison with the one correct answer, communicative tasks require learners to take initiatives and provide their responses ( instead of a response) to contribute to the success of learning Communicative activities are meaningful: they are carried out to fulfill specific purposes such as booking a plane, hotel ticket, inviting somebody to a party, answering an invitation letter, shopping… Performance in communicative tests reflects an underlying competence that is linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, strategic…Communicative activities should consider this multi-dimensional nature of language 2.4 Examples of Communicative Activities Related to Communicative Activities, Authentic Material is key to helping students develop their grammar and vocabulary while exposed to listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities - How Authentic Materials Fit With The Communicative Approach? + Authentic Material allows teachers to supplement or eventually replace the boring ESL textbook The following is a compilation of authentic material sources most commonly used in the classroom: ● Ad Banners, advertisements, billboards ● Catalogs, college and university brochures, flyers, travel brochures 13 ● Movies, scripts, commercials ● Radio shows, newspapers, Internet websites, magazines, TV shows ● Social media, YouTube, phonebooks ● Ticket stubs, manuals, menus, maps ● Greeting cards, horoscopes + Authentic material can be used at different levels, along with communicative activities The table below will guide you on what materials fit best with your classroom Moreover, we can provide opportunities for interaction and communication through the following activities: Class Survey, Conversation Grid, Line Dialogue, Information Gap, Language Experience Approach, Games (Activities to Promote Interaction and Communication, n.d.) Following is one example of Class Survey 14 Highlights: Class surveys are fun and not overly challenging They are very effective as icebreaking activities, especially at the beginning of a course They also let learners know that class will be more than sitting at a desk and copying the teacher’s words It is important to something with the survey information Otherwise, there is no intrinsic reason for gathering the information Therefore, plan ways to process the information Note: Make sure the survey questions are appropriate to the class For example, if everyone in the group is from Mexico, then asking, “What country are you from?” will not be pertinent Similarly, asking a group of elderly seniors, “How many of your children go to school?” may not be appropriate Watch for American cultural taboos about age, money, religion, etc Also, make sure not to inadvertently ask about an uncomfortable topic Objective: Learners gather information about a particular topic They increase proficiency and confidence in asking one or more questions at the same time as they are increasing graphic literacy skills Context: This class survey activity is especially useful for beginning levels because not much information needs to be asked or recorded and only one or two questions and answers need to be learned Surveys can be used with higher levels if more complex questions and answers are required Surveys are suitable for general ESL classes, but can also be tailored to a workplace (see examples that follow) Estimated time: Time varies according to how much information is gathered In the literacy- or beginning-level class, a survey might consist of one question that simply requires students to ask and record the name of every person in class (either first or last, but probably not both at once) In a more advanced class, a survey might require students to ask and record the names of television shows watched and time spent watching these shows in the past week In both of these cases, the time to the survey will vary according to how many learners there are in the class, and how long it takes for the spelling and the recording to take place Note: If information gathering takes more than 20-30 minutes, you might consider debriefing during the next class session Materials: The teacher needs to make a survey form so learners can easily ask the question or questions and record answers If the information is going to be gathered into a simple bar graph or pie chart, or recorded on flip chart paper, this needs to be ready in advance 15 Procedure: Build on what learners already know (e.g., the common question, “Where are you from?”) Therefore, pre-teach and practice the questions and vocabulary needed to answer the questions For example, in a class where learners are collecting information about native countries, record the names of those countries in advance so that students have the information available to them Hand out the survey forms and explain the task to learners (They need to walk around the room asking everyone the question and recording the answers) Model the procedures with one or two learner volunteers and check comprehension of instructions For example, ask, “What are the questions on the survey form?” “How many people will you talk to today?” Once learners begin to complete the survey, monitor the process and be ready to assist learners if they ask for help Note: Don’t be alarmed if you see someone copying from another’s paper or someone writing information down right on the questioner’s sheet The main idea is to get authentic communication going, and it is good for people to help each other Do watch out for one person overpowering a quieter or less comfortable person; this would defeat the purpose of the exercise and be counter to the egalitarian structure of the class Discuss the information with the class Using the information from the surveys (see Sample Surveys, page II–45), you can ask questions such as, “How many people are from El Salvador? Bosnia? China?” or: “How many people watched TV more than 10 hours last week? What shows were watched the most frequently?” You can have learners work in small groups to categorize information, create graphs, or write sentences summarizing the information Evaluation: Circulate and listen to the questions and answers Collect the information sheets to look for writing issues Note: The sample survey on the next page would typically be used at the beginning of a class cycle Not only is it important for every student to know all the other learners’ names (and at least an approximation of the pronunciation), but asking each other the question “What is your first name?” helps learners begin to navigate first name, family name issues, as a real life skill Furthermore, in all facets of life learners must spell their names so they need to be familiar with the phrase “spell it, please.” As learners spell their names and hear others spell theirs, 16 they may solidify their alphabetic knowledge Particularly with native Spanish speakers, understanding and applying the changes in vowel sounds from Spanish to English may take some time, but this survey provides a good start After the learners have written down all the names (including their own names), there are several ways to process the information: The teacher can pass out another blank list and ask learners to work in pairs or small groups to alphabetize the first names and then to transcribe them again in alphabetical order As the teacher demonstrates the process using several examples, the learners are continuing to memorize their classmates’ names at the same time they are working on the basic skill of alphabetizing Learners will be much more interested in this activity than if they were asked to alphabetize a list of words that had no meaning for them As an alternative, the teacher and the class can work through the alphabetizing as a group activity at the board or on an overhead or poster In the same class period or in the next class session, the teacher can demonstrate that she knows everyone’s first name (a teacher needs to know all of the learners’ names and be able to pronounce them by the end of the second or third class meeting) Then, the teacher can ask for volunteers to see if they can say each classmate’s name This can be challenging, but several learners usually volunteer and successfully remember all the names This is an important activity because it validates skills that many literacy-level learners employ—careful observation and good memory Follow-up activities might include conducting the survey using the last names, often a slightly more difficult task or reviewing questions in a line dialogue 2.5 Advantages and disadvantages of using communicative activities in English language teaching and learning Using communication in English language teaching and learning gave positive influences to the teaching-learning process It helps the student in speaking English actively, understanding the meaning of words, comprehending the reading texts, doing the tasks, and studying well, More 17 exposure to Target Language, More authentic opportunities to USE the language, Fun and interesting for learners, Provides an opportunity to use authentic materials By doing the task the students could practice together in speaking English actively, productively, and receptively However, there were some factors that made the teaching-learning were not effective and challenging: ● All students did not participate actively in doing and finishing the tasks ● All the results of doing the task were not always discussed intensively ● Lecturer’s domination in the teaching-learning activity was still prominent ● Teachers need to know how to offer support and what support needs to be offered This can mean more time is needed for the planning and preparation of activities ● Communicative activities can pose challenges in the assessment ● Learners can be resistant, especially if they are accustomed to teacher-centered styles of teaching 2.6 Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Activities Communicative activities such as those described below can be used successfully with many class levels They are especially crucial for literacy- and beginning-level classes as vehicles to move learners toward independent and confident learning To make these activities as useful as possible there are a few things to remember: ● Keep teacher talk to a minimum Explain as much as possible by demonstrating the process, explaining in different ways, and repeating Don’t worry if every learner doesn’t understand every part of an activity Move on when the majority of the learners get the idea, and then circulate and help as needed—unobtrusively One way to gauge the success of a class for English language learners is to observe how much or how little the students are depending on the teacher The more learners are working independently, in pairs, or in small groups, the more successful the class 18 ● Literacy- and beginning-level learners, as well as those at intermediate and advanced levels, are highly competent individuals They may lack English and (for some) school skills, and it is the teacher’s job to help them with that These adults have successfully weathered many difficulties to get to class Give them the credit they deserve ● Have fun Communicative activities are designed to be lively, interactive, and fun When people are comfortable they are likely to learn more An active, cooperative class is a class where a great deal of learning—social, cultural, and linguistic—is evident III CONCLUSION Since its birth in the early 1980s, the topic of CLT has generated excitement and interest among language researchers The origin of CLT can be traced back to the early works of Hymes (1971) In addition to Chomsky’s ideas (1965) on linguistic competence, he states that knowing a language involves more than knowing a set of grammatical, lexical, and phonological rules Language competence relies upon the presence of linguistic and communicative competence As CLT continues to be reviewed, more and more pedagogical researchers agree on the postulate that a second or foreign language is a learn-by-doing skill As such, language skills are learned by doing, not by merely studying language systems The focus of teaching is not telling the students about language but getting them to use it A language classroom should be a place where students are engaged constantly in using language It is generally believed that various second or foreign language problems can be well-handled by teachers who are capable of applying different types of approaches in the classroom 19 IV References Activities to Promote Interaction and Communication (n.d.) Center for Applied Linguistics Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://www.cal.org/caela/tools/program_development/elltoolkit/Part2-41Int eraction&Communication.pdf Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay (2015, January 1) UK Essays Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://www.ukessays.com/essays/english-language/characteristics-of-comm unicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php Communicative Approach: An Alternative Method Used in Improving Students' Academic Reading Achievement (2012, July 1) ERIC Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1079667.pdf Poor English exam results reflect teaching quality: education experts (2020, August 31) Viet Nam News Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://vietnamnews.vn/society/771807/poor-english-exam-results-reflect-tea ching-quality-education-experts.html 20 Professor Jack C Richards - Communicative language teaching (2017, July 23) YouTube Retrieved January 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYdUB_e8_Zc 21 ... activities in English language teaching and learning Using communication in English language teaching and learning gave positive influences to the teaching- learning process It helps the student in speaking... need to consider its definitions as well as its benefits and drawbacks Using communicative activities in English Language Teaching and learning 2.1 What are Communicative activities? As mentioned... (VOV) online newspaper that the quality of teaching English depended largely on the capacity of teachers and teaching conditions In Việt Nam, English teaching and learning methods tend to help