User:Mtsharpe/sandbox

In the earlier times of language teaching, it was thought that language teaching was a cognitive matter. The idea then shifted from cognitive to socio-cognitive, which emphasizes that language can be learnt throughout the social process. However, in today's process of language teaching, the incorporation of communicative language teaching has become mandatory in teaching any language.

[Language teaching was originally considered a cognitive matter; it was later thought to instead be socio-cognitive, a belief that states language can be learned throughout the social process. Today, however, the dominant technique in teaching any language is communicative language teaching (CLT).]

Communicative language teaching grew out of Chomsky’s theories in the 1960s, which focused on competence and performance in language learning. It rose to prominence in the 1970s and early 1980s as a result of many disparate developments in both Europe and the United States.[1] First, there was an increased demand for language learning, particularly in Europe. The advent of the European Common Market, an economic predecessor to the European Union, led to European migration, and consequently there was a large population of people who needed to learn a foreign language for work or for personal reasons.[2] At the same time, children were increasingly able to learn foreign languages in school. The number of secondary schools offering languages rose worldwide in the 1960s and 1970s as part of a general trend of curriculum-broadening and modernization, and foreign-language study ceased to be confined to the elite academies. In Britain, the introduction of comprehensive schools meant that almost all children had the opportunity to study foreign languages.[3]

[It was Chomsky’s theories in the 1960s, focusing on competence and performance in language learning, that gave rise to communicative language teaching, but the conceptual basis for CLT was laid in the 1970s by linguists Michael Halliday, who studied how language functions are expressed through grammar, and Dell Hymes, who introduced the idea of a wider communicative competence instead of Chomsky’s narrower linguistic competence. The rise of CLT in the 1970s and early 1980s was partly in response to the lack of success with traditional language teaching methods and partly due to the increase in demand for language learning. In Europe, the advent of the European Common Market, an economic predecessor to the European Union, led to migration in Europe and an increased population of people who needed to learn a foreign language for work or for personal reasons. At the same time, more children were given the opportunity to learn foreign languages in school, as the number of secondary schools offering languages rose worldwide as part of a general trend of curriculum-broadening and modernization, and foreign-language study ceased to be confined to the elite academies. In Britain, the introduction of comprehensive schools, which offered foreign-language study to all children rather than the select few in the elite grammar schools, greatly increased the demand for language learning.]

This increased demand put pressure on educators to change their teaching methods. Traditional methods such as grammar translation, which involves the direct translation of sentence after sentence as a way to learn language, assumed that students were aiming for mastery of the target language, and that students were willing to study for years before expecting to use the language in real life. However, these assumptions were challenged by adult learners who were busy with work and schoolchildren who were less academically able, and thus could not devote years to learning before being able to use the language. Educators realized that to motivate these students an approach with a more immediate payoff was necessary.[3]

[This increased demand included many learners who struggled with traditional methods such as grammar translation, which involves the direct translation of sentence after sentence as a way to learn language. These methods assumed that students were aiming for mastery of the target language, and that students were willing to study for years before expecting to use the language in real life. However, these assumptions were challenged by adult learners, who were busy with work, and some schoolchildren, who were less academically gifted, and thus could not devote years to learning before being able to use the language. Educators realized that to motivate these students an approach with a more immediate payoff was necessary,[3] and they began to use CLT, an approach that emphasizes communicative ability and yielded better results.]

[Additionally,] the trend of progressivism in education provided further pressure for educators to change their methods.[3] Progressivism holds that active learning is more effective than passive learning,[4] and as this idea gained traction in schools there was a general shift towards using techniques where students were more actively involved, such as group work. Foreign-language education was no exception to this trend, and teachers sought to find new methods, [such as CLT,] that could better embody this shift in thinking.[3]

New references:

Littlewood, William. Communicative language teaching: An introduction. Cambridge University Press, 1981, pp. 541-545

Richards, Jack C. Communicative language teaching today. SEAMEO Regional Language Centre, 2005.