Diane Larsen-Freeman

134 Communicative Language Teaching
of the members of her group would res pond. If she got a mean ingful
respo nse, she co uld presume her pre diction was unde rsto od.
Picture strip story
M an y ac tivities can be done with pictur e str ip sto ries . We sugges ted on e
in our di scussion of scrambled sen tences .
In th e activity we o bserved, one student in a sma ll grou p was given a
strip story. She showed th e first pictu re of th e story to the oth er mem bers
of her gro up and as ked them to predi ct wh at th e second picture would
look like. An information gap ex isted-the students in the gro ups d id not
know what the picture co n tained. They had a choice as to w hat their prediction
would be and how they would word it. T hey received feedback,
not on the form but on the content of the prediction, by being a ble to view
th e picture and compare it with their p rediction.
111e activity JUSt described is an example of using a problem-solving task as
a communicative technique. Probl em-solving tasks wo rk well in Ci T because
th ey usuall y include the three features ofcommun ication. Wh at's more, th ey
ca n he structured so that stu dents share inform ation or work to get her to
a rrive at a so lution. This gives stu de nts practice in negotiating mean ing.
RoLe pLay
We already encountered th e use of role plays as a tec hniqu e w hen we
loo ked at Desuggesropedia . Ro le plays arc very important in CLT
beca use th ey give students an opportunity to practice communicating in
different social co ntexts and in different social roles. Ro le plays can be set
up so that th ey arc ver y struc tu red (for example, the teacher tells the stu ­
dents w ho they arc and what they should say) or in a less struc tured way
(for example, the teacher tells the studen ts w ho they are, what the situation
is, and what th ey are talking a bo ut, but the students determ ine what
they wi ll say). T he latter is mo re in keepi ng with CIT, of course, beca use
it gives th e student s mo re o f a cho ice. N otice that rol e plays structured
like thi s a lso provide infor ma tio n ga ps since stu de nts ca nnot be sure (as
w ith mo st for ms ofcomm unication) wh at the other person or peo ple will
say (there is a narural unpredicrabiliry). Stude nts a lso receive feedback 0 11
whether or not they have effectively com municated.
CONCLUSLON
Perhap s the greatest contr ibutio n of CLT is ask ing tea cher s to loo k
closely at what is invo lved in co mmunica tio n. If teachers intend students
Ccmmunicatiue Language Teaching 135
to usc the target language, then they must truly understand a ll that being
communicatively competent enta ils.
Is ac hieving co mmunicat ive competence a goal for wh ich yo u shou ld
pr epare you r st ude nts? Would you adopt a functional syllabus? Shou ld a
var iety of language form s be presented at a ile time? Are there times wh en
you would emphasize flue ncy ove r accurac y? Do these or any other principles
of CiT make sens e to you ?
Wo uld yo u ever usc language ga mes, problem-so lving ta sks, or ro le
plays? Sho uld all your activities include the th ree fea tures of commu nication
? Should authentic language be used ? Arc there any other tech niques
or materials of CLT that you wo uld find useful?
ACTIVITIES
A Checkyour understanding of Communicative Language Teaching.
1 Explain in your own words Morrow's three fea tures of co mmunication
: in form at ion ga p, choice, and feed back . Choo se on e of th e activities
in the lesson we o bserv ed and say whether o r not th ese three
fea tures a re present.
2 W hy do we sa y that com munica rion is a pr ocess? What docs it mean to
negotiate meaning?
3 W hat docs it mean to say tha t the ling uistic for ms a spea ker uses
should be appropriate to the socia l context?
B Apply whatyou have understood about CLT.
1 If you wa nted to introduce you r friend Paula to Ro ge r, you might say:
Roger, this is (my friend) Paula.
I would like you to me et Paula.
Let me present Paula to yOll.
Roger, meet Paula.
Allow me to intr od uce Paula.
ln oth er wo rds, there arc a variety o f for ms fo r this one function.
W hich would yOll reac h to a begin ning class, an inrcnned iare c1:1SS, all
advanced class? Wh y?
l.ist lingui stic fo rms you can usc fo r th e func tion o f invitin g. Which
would you teach to beginners? To interm edi ates? To an ad vanced
cla ss?