Here’s a well-structured content outline for your ELT course unit on the
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach. This version is
designed for teacher trainees or language educators and includes clear
objectives, theoretical foundations, practical strategies, and reflection
components.
📘 Unit Title: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
🎯 Unit Objectives
By the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
Define the Communicative Language Teaching approach and its key
principles.
Distinguish CLT from traditional grammar-focused methods.
Apply CLT techniques in lesson planning and classroom activities.
Evaluate the benefits and challenges of using CLT in diverse contexts.
🧠 1. Overview of CLT
Introduce the historical background and rationale behind the rise of CLT in the
1970s and 1980s, especially as a response to the limitations of audio-lingual and
grammar-translation methods.
Key Points:
Emerged in reaction to form-focused instruction.
Emphasizes communicative competence over grammatical accuracy alone.
Rooted in sociolinguistic theories (e.g., Hymes, Halliday).
📚 2. Theoretical Foundations
Communicative Competence (Dell Hymes): Knowledge of when, how,
and to whom to say what.
Functional-Notional Syllabus: Language taught according to functions
(e.g., requesting, apologizing) and notions (e.g., time, frequency).
Canale & Swain's Model:
o Grammatical competence
o Sociolinguistic competence
o Discourse competence
o Strategic competence
3. Key Features of CLT Classrooms
Feature Description
Meaning over Focus on conveying and understanding
form messages.
Emphasizes pair/group work, real-life
Interaction
communication.
Authentic
Uses real-world texts, audio, videos.
materials
Learner-
Teacher as facilitator, not knowledge-giver.
centered
Task-based Language taught through communicative
learning tasks.
🧪 4. Sample CLT Activities
Information Gap: One student has information the other lacks; they must
communicate to complete a task.
Role Plays: Students simulate real-life interactions (e.g., at a restaurant).
Opinion Sharing: Learners express preferences or viewpoints in pairs.
Task-Based Projects: E.g., planning a trip, conducting a survey.
📊 5. Advantages and Challenges
✅ Advantages:
Improves fluency and motivation
Encourages meaningful interaction
Builds confidence and autonomy
⚠️Challenges:
Difficult to assess communicative skills formally
May neglect accuracy and grammar
Resource-heavy (materials, training)
Cultural/contextual limitations (e.g., exam-focused systems)
✏️6. Sample Lesson Plan Template (CLT-Based)
Objective: Enable students to make hotel reservations in English.
Warm-up: Brainstorm places students have stayed.
Task: In pairs, role-play making a hotel reservation.
Feedback: Discuss strategies used and common errors.
Language Focus: Highlight key phrases and polite structures.
🔍 7. Reflective Practice
Encourage pre-service teachers to reflect on:
How CLT differs from how they learned English.
Classroom scenarios where CLT could be applied.
Local challenges to implementing CLT and how to adapt it.
📎 8. Supplementary Resources
Reading: Richards & Rodgers (2001) – Approaches and Methods in
Language Teaching
Video: “What is Communicative Language Teaching?” by British Council
Platform: TeachingEnglish.org.uk (British Council)
🧾 Conclusion
The Communicative Language Teaching approach revolutionized language
pedagogy by placing authentic communication at the heart of instruction. While it
empowers learners with real-life skills, its effectiveness depends on thoughtful
adaptation to context and careful integration of form-focused elements.
Certainly! Here's a comprehensive unit content for your ELT course titled
“Language Teaching Approaches”, focusing on the Task-Based Language
Teaching (TBLT) Approach. It's structured for teacher education contexts and
blends theory, practice, and critical reflection.
📘 Unit Title: Task-Based Language Teaching (TBLT)
🎯 Unit Objectives
By the end of this unit, learners will be able to:
Understand the theoretical foundations and principles of TBLT.
Differentiate TBLT from other communicative approaches.
Design and evaluate language tasks for real-world communication.
Reflect on the advantages and challenges of implementing TBLT in various
classroom contexts.
🧠 1. Overview of TBLT
Introduce TBLT as a branch of the Communicative Language Teaching family that
centers around the completion of meaningful tasks rather than traditional
grammar instruction.
Key Concepts:
Developed in the 1980s–1990s (inspired by Prabhu, Long, Ellis, Willis).
Focuses on language use for real-world tasks, not isolated linguistic
items.
Promotes learning through doing rather than for doing.
📚 2. Theoretical Foundations
Input Hypothesis (Krashen): Comprehensible input fosters acquisition.
Interaction Hypothesis (Long): Language is acquired through
negotiation of meaning.
Focus on Form (Long, 1991): Language forms are addressed within
meaningful communication.
Cognitive Perspective: Tasks promote deeper processing and language
retention.
3. Characteristics of TBLT
Feature Description
Tasks mirror how language is used outside the
Real-world relevance
classroom.
Tasks have a clear, non-linguistic goal (e.g., plan a
Outcome-oriented
trip).
Emphasizes fluency, communication, and problem-
Process-focused
solving.
Incidental grammar
Focus on form occurs as needed during the task.
learning
🔄 4. Task Types & Examples
Task Type Example
Information- One learner has a map; the other has
gap directions.
Opinion-gap Discuss and agree on the best movie of
Task Type Example
the year.
Problem- Decide how to spend a class budget
solving together.
Decision- Rank survival items for a desert island
making scenario.
Create a group travel blog with
Project-based
recommendations.
📋 5. Structure of a TBLT Lesson (Willis, 1996)
🔹 Pre-task (Preparation)
Introduce topic, activate prior knowledge.
Provide useful vocabulary or structures.
🔹 Task cycle
Task: Students do the task in pairs/groups.
Planning: Prepare to report their outcome.
Report: Share findings with the class.
🔹 Language focus
Analysis: Highlight useful forms or patterns.
Practice: Optional controlled practice of key forms.
📊 6. Benefits & Challenges
✅ Advantages:
Promotes meaningful use of language
Enhances learner engagement and motivation
Encourages autonomy and collaboration
⚠️Challenges:
May be hard to align with grammar-based curricula or exams
Requires skilled classroom management
Demands creative task design and flexible teaching
🧪 7. Sample Lesson Plan Snapshot (TBLT)
Topic: Planning a Holiday
Pre-task: Discuss travel preferences in pairs.
Task: In groups, create a 3-day holiday itinerary with budget.
Report: Each group presents their plan to the class.
Language focus: Explore language for giving suggestions and agreeing.
🧠 8. Reflection & Adaptation
Encourage teachers to consider:
How can TBLT fit exam-driven systems?
Can tasks be adapted to mixed-level classrooms?
How do learners respond to open-ended tasks?
📎 9. Supplementary Resources
Reading: Ellis (2003) – Task-based Language Learning and Teaching
Reading: Willis & Willis (2007) – Doing Task-Based Teaching
Video: “Task-Based Learning in Practice” (Cambridge English)
Web Tool: OneStopEnglish Task Bank
🧾 Conclusion
Task-Based Language Teaching places communication, problem-solving, and
learner autonomy at the center of language learning. When implemented
effectively, TBLT can bridge the gap between classroom practice and real-world
language use, offering a dynamic alternative to structure-focused methods.
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