Communicative Language Teaching

We are often thinking in a perfect method that can help our students to improve their language. Teachers have to keep in mind what students need during their teaching/learning process, and though many English teachers use different methods all of them have a common objective: that the student can achieve a C1level of English.

  There are a lot of methods that have been created throughout the years, but there is one that I consider useful: the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Something very important when learning a new language is to put it into practice, and this method can help teachers to make their English classes more communicative. This can help students to put into practice their knowledge. One can consider this method is very useful because it allows beginner students to interact with their classmates using the target language. Unfortunately, this method is not appropriate for B2 and C1 students because it prepares students for real life situations and it does not prepare students for unexpected situations.

  There are many reasons why teachers complain about CLT.  This method makes difficult to monitor the whole class. Teachers feel frustrated when they have to teach a big audience of students. It is very difficult to help and correct students one by one. Also, one of the most challenges aspects is that the class becomes noisy, especially when there are a lot of students in a classroom. This makes the class more stressful for the teacher.

  In conclusion, sometimes teachers focus their classes only on one method. This makes students feel bored because they do the same activities. We can consider being more flexible when teaching. We have to make our classes more interesting and dynamic for the students, and also try doing different things. A good idea is to try to combine different methods, and try to do different activities in our classes. We always have to consider doing different activities that the teacher and students can enjoy.

Jose Mario Ruiz
ELT Student
Costa Rica