Communicative Approach

The Communicative Approach (CA) also known as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is perhaps one of the most popular language teaching approaches. It first appeared in the 1980s to stem away from grammar focused language teaching. The aim of this approach is developing and acquiring communicative competence through realistic interactions among students. This is done using meaningful contexts such as role-playing based on real life scenarios like coming to an agreement with friends about where to eat out, asking for directions, describing the plot of a movie, writing a blog, writing a complaint letter, or a reminder post-it note, amongst many other activities. It is important to point out the roles in this approach as it is a student-centered one. In other words, students take the reins of their own learning and work in an autonomous way, while teachers are there to facilitate the communication process and they act as resources, motivators, and guides for students. CA sessions are structured following the 3 Ps (presentation, practice, and production).

Task-Based Language Teaching

Tasked- Based Language Teaching (TBLT) is the approach that uses tasks as the focus of language teaching. TBLT borrows aspects from the Communicative approach like the use of authentic communication for language learning and activities to replicate meaningful situations. In TBLT students collaborate to not only accomplish a task but also to communicate using the foreign language, which is English in our case. Some examples of tasks include:

Presentations in which students have to research, create, organize and present on a certain topic to teach their classmates.

Solving a problem through investigating like asking questions and discussing a matter. Examples include mediating a problem between two friends, or planning a complex activity or party.

Debating a certain polemic topic.

Like with any teaching approach, there is a logical structure that teachers should follow to foster their students’ learning of the language. For TBLT this structure is pre-task, task, and review.  The pre-task is perhaps the most important step as it pumps our students up for the task. Teachers must also scaffold the instructions of the task and give them clearly, along with any supporting material if needed. The second step of the structure is the task. This is our students’ chance to produce the language needed to accomplish the task at hand, collaborating in pairs or small groups.  Finally, the review, also called the language focus phase, serves to summarize language structures used during the task and consolidates learning.  

Suggestopedia

Suggestopedia, sometimes known by the name Superlearning, was developed in the 1970’s by Georgi Lozanov. The name Suggestopedia was formulated from words “suggestion” and “pedagogy”. Lozanov claimed that memorization of vocabulary and language patterns and their integration into learners’ personality are major problems in any language classroom. Therefore, Suggestopedia was designed to target these problems precisely.  This method is based on the idea that students learn best in a relaxing environment. Soothing music plays a key role in setting this atmosphere and promoting memorization. The teacher also helps promote this environment by banning anything that is negative and positively reinforcing students using suggestion. Unlike the previous TEFL approaches, this approach is teacher-centered. However, its not in the traditional sense of what teachers know and how well they convey this information to students. Rather, teachers must know how to motivate and give positive reinforcement.

Flipped Classroom

Flipped Classroom is perhaps one of the most modern pedagogical methods of teaching. It was invented in 2007 by high school teachers Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams when they recorded and narrated their lessons with power point presentations for students who missed class. It wasn’t long until they notice that their recordings were used by other students as well. 

The Flipped Classroom approach essentially “flips” the traditional sense of teaching. So, instead of learning content in class and then practicing it at home with homework, students learn content at home through videos shared by their teacher. Then they get to discuss it in class and answer any doubts they may have. This approach allots students more time to deeply learn the content at their own pace rather than the 55 minutes that is given in a normal session.

A normal Flipped Classroom sequence goes as follows: first, the instructor posts a video tutorial of the content either in the classroom or on an online platform like Google Classrooms. Students then watch the videos at home on their own time as many times as they need. The teacher then assesses their understanding with a quiz or any type of assessment that they deem to be appropriate. Lastly, in the classroom, students participate in class with learning activities to consolidate and reinforce what they have learned. Through all of this, the teacher acts as a guide to redirect and help students when needed.

Crossover Learning Method

Crossover Learning Method aims at uniting formal and informal education. Basically, it aims at combining formal academic content learned in textbooks with out-of-school experiences. This type of methodology captures students’ interest in topics and delivers the students’ specific learning strategies. This crossover between textbooks and real life is done by taking students outside of the classroom setting by going on field trips to national parks, museums, theaters, and factories, amongst many other places. Thanks to modern technology these visits can also be done using virtual reality goggles.

In Crossover Learning Method, teachers introduce thought-provoking questions in formal classroom settings and students must try to find the answers in informal settings that they visit. Students are encouraged to take notes and collect any other data to extract as much information as they can from them when they go back to the classroom. Students then collaborate with other classmates to share their newly found information and further discuss their results

These are just a few of many other teaching approaches that we can apply to our lessons to make learning more unforgettable for our students. Stay tuned for more teaching methods in the near future.

Reference List

Communicative Language Teaching(CLT). (2021, August 04). The Communicative Language Approach in ESL Education. University of Louisiana Monroe. https://online.ulm.edu/articles/education/communicative-language-approach-in-esl.aspx

Gold, L.  (2019, March). What is Suggestopedia?. British School of Sofia. https://www.bssofia.bg/?cid=83&reportage=1&articleId=361#:~:text=A%20Suggestopedia%20teacher%20creates%20an,through%20the%20use%20of%20suggestion.

Irmawati, N, D. (2012). Communicative Approach: An Alternative Method Used in Improving Students’ Academic Reading Achievement. English language Teaching. (5)7. 91-101. http://dx.doi.org/10.5539/elt .v5n7p90

Panke, J. (2017, July 7). Crossover Learning.  AACE Review Association for the advancement of Computing in Education. https://www.aace.org/review/crossover-learning/

Ting, J. (2016). A lesson plan of TBLT (Task-Based Language Teaching). International Journal of Secondary Education. (4)3, 32-38. 10.11648/j.ijsedu.20160403.12