Communicative Language Teaching: A Teachers’ Perspective

Abstract

English Language has become the synonym of all progress in the recent years. On one hand, the
Educational process throughout is fast moving towards appropriating, assimilating, predicting,
evaluating the essential educational cores which characterize the modern pedagogy, but on the
other, the knowledge of teaching it well is not accessible to all the teachers of our undeveloped
regions. Many students and teachers are deprived of the resources that can set them on the path
of development and provide them with the opportunities for progress and a better life. Making
this new knowledge accessible to them is the need of the day. Teaching and learning of English
in educational institutions in these regions is rather inadequate and unproductive. The main
reason is its being carried on mechanically as a ritual without any involvement on the part of
teachers or learners at most of the educational institutions. But surely, there are educational
places in India, where innovations in ELT have been carried out.
Among these is the introduction of Communicative Language Teaching Approach (CLT) which
is viewed as the most effective and widely used approach in EFL/ESL teaching. It is an approach
that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It can
be understood as a set of principles about the goals of language teaching, how learners learn a
language, the kinds of classroom activities that best facilitate learning, and the roles of teachers
and learners in the classroom. These principles are:
· Learners learn a language through using it to communicate
· Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities
· Fluency is an important dimension of communication
· Communication involves the integration of different language skills
· Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error