Марина Смирнова "A communicative approach in teaching English"

AВ communicative approach inВ teaching English
Марина Смирнова

В данном пособии не только описаны основные принципы коммуникативной методики, но также даны многие примеры заданий и ситуаций на уроке со ссылками на интерактивные ресурсы, которые Вы смело можете использовать в своей педагогической практике. Это – краткое руководство, которое всегда должно быть под рукой, чтобы проводить самые интересные, методически выверенные и продуктивные уроки английского языка!

AВ communicative approach inВ teaching English

Марина Смирнова

© Марина Смирнова, 2021

ISBNВ 978-5-0053-8817-9

Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero

Dear collegues!

This guide is intended toВ be used byВ the teacher ofВ English toВ make their lessons more effective, creative and teach students toВ communicate and use English inВ real life.

IВ have included all the practical aspects ofВ aВ communicative approach, its main ideas, methods and techniques and provided the examples ofВ tasks for different levels into this brochure.

IВ have also attached the examples from my own teaching practice which IВ successfully apply at the lessons.

You can use them and create your own tasks!

The communicative approach. Its principles

The main approaches toВ teaching English at school today are grammar-translation and communicative ones.

Most teachers use aВ grammar-translation method the essence ofВ which is toВ translate everything into Russian, explain grammar inВ Russian and do exercises which we call В«drillsВ» toВ practise your language skills.

The drawbacks ofВ such an approach are clear toВ everyone:

– the students do not get used to speaking English as the teacher and they mainly speak Russian at the lessons,

– the students memorise and learn everything by heart without understanding how to use these constructions in real life,

– the language barrier is large as they don’t communicate and don’t pay much attention to speaking and listening to native speakers.

Nowadays the communicative approach has spread largely inВ schools, and advanced teachers prefer usingВ it.

Its undisputable advantagesВ are:

– lifelike situation at the lessons,

– the creation of the speaking environment,

– the reproduction of all new structures into speech,

– the practical use of the language.

The principles ofВ the communicative approachВ are:

– imitating real speaking environment,

– speaking English all the time,

– emerging students into communicative situations,

– encouraging students to talk,

– concentrating more on the speech,

– teaching grammar in context,

– being positive, creative and democratic with the students.

Your first goal is imitating real speaking environment byВ means ofВ creating communicative situations.

Here are some examples.

SituationВ 1.

Students – pre-schoolers

Topic: В«ToysВ»

The aim of the task – to remember the words and the phrase: «give me…»

The students have the cards with the toys, they need to complete the full row: the teacher puts the row on the board: a ball, a doll, a car, a soldier. Each student has a card with one toy missing. They need to ask a teacher: «Give me a … (missing card) ” and complete their row.

SituationВ 2:

Students – adults (elementary)

Topic: В«Daily routinesВ»

The aim of the task – to practise Present Simple statements, the question «What time do you..?», remember daily routines.

The students are to make a poll. They can see cards with everyday actions on the board. They ask their partners questions such as «What time do you … (get up)?» and write down their answers on the blank. Then they need to tell the class about their partner: «Mike gets up at 6 a.m., he has breakfast at 8 am…»

The communicative situation imitates real life conditions provoking students toВ talk.

If these are small kids, it is enough toВ imitate primitive situations with short simple phrases and sentences. If the students are grown-ups, you need toВ choose relevant topics and interesting circumstances.

The second important principle is toВ speak Engish at the lessons. It is difficult toВ make it understandable for young learners and beginners what toВ do speaking only English. The tips here mayВ be:

– simplifying the lenguage without using difficult words and structures,

– pacing and gradual presentation of the material,

– pre-tasks and introductory exercises,

– creativity and positive atmosphere.

The students are emerged into the comunictive situations through such tasksВ as:

– brainstorming,

– speaking and vocabulary games,

– role plays,

– discussions,

– expressing your opinion,

– reacting to relevant issues.

As for the importance ofВ grammar, it is not diminished inВ aВ communicative approach but represented inВ aВ communicative context. The students should express their thoughts using new grammar structures and not just doing exercises and drills. Thus, we concentrate more on speech than on anything else practising aВ communicative approach.

The communicative methods exclude concentration on students’ mistakes and writing out and correcting everything you hear, as well as translating all the words and constructions. It provides the material in real situations and makes it possible for the students to immediately use new vocabulary and grammar in their speech.

AВ lessonВ plan

Productivity at the lesson is achieved if it is well-structured and organised. The activities at the lesson should be logically connected and refer toВ one lexical and grammatic topic. The amount ofВ activities at the lesson differs from 5В toВ 10В depending on the age and level ofВ students.

AВ good lesson structure should include:

An ice-breaking task. It should be 5—7 minutes in the beginning of the lesson to make students involved in the process and to introduce a new topic:

– questions – answers,

– a video \ song with gap-filling and eliciting the topic of today’s lesson,

– cards with actions to show your partner, choose and guess the word (from new words or pictures),

– checking homework (may be done before an ice-breaker).

The introdution ofВ aВ new topic. About 10В minutes.

– Vocabulary is introduced through cards, images, definitions, games.