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Chapter 1Michael P. Breen andChristopher N. CandlinTHE ESSENTIALS OF A COMMUNICATIVECURRICULUM IN LANGUAGE TEACHINGIntroductionT A TIME WHEN THERE IS A RECOGNISED NEED inlanguagcteachingA to give adequate attention to language use as well as language form, various ‘notionalfunctional’or so-called ‘communicative approaches’ to language teaching are lxingadvocatcd. In this context, the present paper is offered as a sct of proposals in an effort todcfine the nature of communicative language tcaching.Any teaching curriculum is designed in answer to three interrelated questions: What isto be Icarned? How is the learning to be undertaken antl achieved? To what cxtent is theformer appropriate and the latter effective? A communicative curriculum will place languageteaching within the framework of this relationship between some specified purposcs, themethodology which will be the means towards the achievcment of those purposcs, antlthc evaluation procedurcs \vhich will assess the appropriatencss of the initial purpoand the ell’cctiveness of the methodology.This chapter presents the potential charactcristics of communicative languagc teachingin terms of such a curriculum framework. It also proposes a set of principles on \vhichparticular curriculum designs can be based for implemcntation in particular situationsand circumstances. Figure 1.1 summarises the main areas with w.hich this chapter \vi11 dcal.In discussing the purposes of language teaching, we will consider (1) communication as ageneral purpow, (2) thc underlying demands on the learner that such a purposc may imply,and (3) thc initial contributions which learners may bring to the curriculum. In discussingthe potential methodology of a communicative curriculum, \ye \vi11 consider (4) thc proccssof teaching and learning, (5) thc roles of teacher and learncrs, antl (6) thc role of contentwithin the teaching antl karning. Finally (7) we \rill discuss the placc of evaluation of learnerprogress and cvaluation of the curriculum itself from a communicativc point of view. ’Inevitably, any statement almut the components of the curriculum runs thc risk ofpi-csenting in linear form a framettsork which is, in fact, char-actcrised hy intcrtlependcnceand overlap among the components. In taking purposes, methodology, antl evaluation inturn, therefore, wc ask readcrs to bcar in mind the actual interdependence between them.What follows is a consitleration of those minimal requirements on communicativelanguage learning and teaching which, in our view, must now he taken into account incurriculum design and implcmcntation.