o   Beliefs about language learning that led to the development of the method

o   Major authors associated with the method, approach, or background (if any)

o   What does it “look like” in the classroom

o   The purpose for using the method or approach today in the classroom

o   Beliefs about language learning that led to the development of the method

o   Major authors associated with the method, approach, or background (if any)

o   What does it “look like” in the classroom

o   The purpose for using the method or approach today in the classroom

o   Beliefs about language learning that led to the development of the method

o   Major authors associated with the method, approach, or background (if any)

o   What does it “look like” in the classroom

o   The purpose for using the method or approach today in the classroom

Sitora

Challenges of CLT

Difficult in large classrooms

Hard to manage with low -level learners

Some students expect traditional grammar teaching

teachers need strong classroom management skills

CLT began to emerge in the 1970s as a response to the perceived limitations of earlier methods like the Audio-Lingual Method. 

It gained significant momentum throughout the 1980s and remains a primary influence in language teaching today

CLT emerged in the early 1970s and became widely established during the late 1970s–1980s, mainly in Europe and later globally.

Language is best learned by using it for meaningful communication, not just memorizing rules.

Learners need opportunities to express real meanings, not only produce correct sentences.

Major authors associated with CLT

Some of the most influential figures include:

Dell Hymes – introduced communicative competence

Michael Halliday – emphasized language as a functional system

What does CLT look like in the classroom?

A CLT classroom is usually learner-centered and interactive. You will often see:

• Pair and group work

• Role-plays and simulations

• Information-gap activities

Students are encouraged to talk more than the teacher, and mistakes are treated as a natural part of learning.

Purpose of using CLT today

Teachers use CLT today because it helps learners:

• Develop real-world communication skills

• Gain confidence in speaking and listening

  Its main purpose remains the same: helping students use English meaningfully and effectively outside the classroom, not just pass tests.

1. GTM (Grammar Translation Method)

•   Dates: 1840s – 1940s.

•   Beliefs: Language is a set of rules and vocabulary to memorize. Focus is on reading literature and intellectual growth.

•   Authors: Karl Plötz, Johann Seidenstücker.

•   Classroom Look: Students translate texts word-for-word. Teacher explains grammar rules in native language. Little speaking.

•   Purpose Today: Understanding complex texts, learning dead languages (Latin), or training translators.

2. ALM (Audio-Lingual Method)

•   Dates: 1940s – 1960s.

•   Beliefs: Language learning is habit formation (Behaviorism). Speech is primary. Errors must be avoided.

•   Authors: Charles Fries, B.F. Skinner.

•   Classroom Look: Lots of drilling (repetition). Students memorize dialogues. Teacher acts like a conductor. No native language used.

•   Purpose Today: Practicing pronunciation and memorizing fixed phrases automatically.

3. CLT (Communicative Language Teaching)

•   Dates: 1970s – Present.

•   Beliefs: The goal is communication (fluency), not just accuracy. Language is for meaningful interaction.

•   Authors: Dell Hymes, M.A.K. Halliday.

•   Classroom Look: Pair and group work. Role-plays and information gaps. Using authentic materials (real-world items).

•   Purpose Today: Preparing students for real-life social interaction and functional language use.

· Mid‑1970s: Council of Europe develops functional‑notional syllabi and the Threshold Level (van Ek, 1975)

· Late 1970s–1980s: Expansion of CLT theory and classroom practice (Canale & Swain, 1980; Candlin, 1978; Savignon, 1983)

· 1990s onward: Ongoing refinement, task‑based and content‑based extensions

2. Beliefs about language learning that led to CLT

· Language is social behaviour – it cannot be reduced to isolated grammatical rules.

· Communication is negotiation of meaning – listeners and readers are active participants, not passive receivers.

· Knowing a language means more than knowing its grammar – learners need sociolinguistic, discourse, and strategic competence (Canale & Swain, 1980).

· Learners learn to communicate by communicating – participation in meaningful communicative events is central.

· Grammar is important, but it is a tool, not the goal – form‑focused instruction works best when linked to learners' communicative needs.

· Error is natural – it is part of development, not failure.

· Learner autonomy – learners should take increasing responsibility for their own learning

For example, traditional methods such as the Grammar-Translation Method may still be useful for developing grammatical accuracy and reading skills. The Audio-Lingual Method can support pronunciation practice and help learners build automatic sentence patterns through repetition. In contrast, more modern approaches such as Communicative Language Teaching focus on developing communicative competence and real-life language use.

In contemporary classrooms, teachers often use an eclectic approach, combining techniques from different methods rather than following one method strictly. This allows teachers to balance fluency and accuracy, integrate the four skills, and respond to learners’ proficiency levels and learning styles.

Therefore, the purpose of using any method today is not to follow it rigidly, but to select and adapt its principles and techniques to create meaningful, engaging, and effective language learning experiences.

CLT-Savignon in 1972 used the term communicative competence

Pragmatic competence rather than grammatical confidence

It urges to speak more in real life communication

Active skills : Speaking/ Writing

Passive skills: Reading/ listening

Alessandro Benati: The author of this overview on the method's framing and pedagogical implications.

Richards and Schmidt: Defined the method as focusing on translation and grammar study as the main activities.

Richards and Rodgers: Provided historical context on its dominance and criticized its lack of a theoretical or psychological rationale.

Larsen-Freeman: Outlined the specific techniques developed to operationalize GTM in classrooms

Communicative Competence: The core belief is that language is more than just grammatical knowledge; it is the ability to use language appropriately in social contexts. 

Meaning over Form: Learning occurs best when the focus is on communication and the exchange of meaning rather than the rote memorization of rules. 

Interaction: Language is acquired through social interaction and the negotiation of meaning between speakers. 

Learner-Centeredness: The method assumes that learners’ needs, goals, and experiences should drive the curriculum. 

Major Authors and Background

Sandra J. Savignon: A key figure who explored the transition from linguistic theory to classroom practice. 

Hymes & Halliday: Their work in sociolinguistics and functional linguistics provided the theoretical foundation for "communicative competence". 

Richards & Rodgers: Often cited for their comprehensive analysis and classification of CLT within the history of language teaching. 

What CLT "Looks Like" in the Classroom

Authentic Materials: Use of "real-world" texts, such as newspapers, menus, or recordings, rather than simplified or stilted pedagogical texts. 

Task-Based Activities: Students engage in role-plays, problem-solving, and information-gap exercises. 

Teacher as Facilitator: The teacher is not a lecturer but a guide who sets up activities and manages classroom interaction. 

Small Group Work: High levels of learner-to-learner interaction where students must collaborate to complete a task. 

Fluency Practice: While accuracy is still important, the primary goal is to encourage students to speak and comprehend without the fear of immediate correction. 

Purpose for Using CLT Today

Functional Proficiency: To prepare learners for real-life communication in a globalized world, ensuring they can function in professional and social settings. 

Engagement: By using interactive and personalized content, the method aims to increase student motivation and decrease the "tedium" associated with traditional methods. 

Inclusivity: It allows for variations in language and recognizes that the goal is effective communication rather than achieving a "perfect" native-speaker standard

Audio-Lingual Method

Born in the 1940s USA for military training. Based on behaviourism—Skinner, Bloomfield. Idea: language is habit, repeat until it sticks, no mistakes allowed. Classrooms were all drills: repeat after teacher, pattern practice, dialogues memorised. Language labs with tapes. Now, not used much as a whole method, but pronunciation drills and some online repetition exercises come from it.

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Direct Method / Natural Approach

Started late 1800s as a reaction to Grammar-Translation. Berlitz is the famous name; later Krashen & Terrell (Natural Approach). Belief: learn L2 like L1—lots of listening, no translation, meaning through context. Classroom: only English, teacher uses pictures, objects, gestures. Grammar picked up naturally. Today, Berlitz schools still use it, and its ideas live on in immersion classes and comprehensible input.

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

1970s, because people realised knowing grammar rules didn’t mean you could actually talk. Hymes, Canale, Swain talked about communicative competence. Classroom: role plays, info gap, pair work, authentic materials (menus, videos). Teacher sets up tasks, students communicate. Errors are okay. It’s the default method in most ESL classrooms now, especially for general English and CEFR-aligned courses.

• translating literary texts

• learning vocabulary lists

• doing fill-in-the-blank grammar exercises

• answering reading comprehension questions

• writing compositions using learned grammar

  In the classroom, the Grammar-Translation Method is very teacher-centered.

Grammar-Translation Method (GTM)

• Approximate dates for its development:
  Late 18th century – widely used in the 19th century.

• Beliefs about language learning that led to its development:
  

  • Learning a language is mainly about reading and writing.

  • Grammar rules and vocabulary memorization are central.

  • Translation between native language (L1) and target language (L2) helps understanding.

• 
  

• Major authors associated with the method:
  

  • Johann Valentin Meidinger

  • Karl Plötz

• 
  

• What it “looks like” in the classroom:
  

  • Students translate sentences between L1 and L2.

  • Memorize grammar rules and vocabulary lists.

  • Little focus on speaking or listening.

  • Teacher-centered lessons.

• 
  

• Purpose for using the method today:
  

  • Rarely used as a main method today.

  • Still useful for developing reading comprehension, learning literary texts, and understanding grammar rules in detail.

• 
  

Communicative Approach (CA)

• Approximate dates for its development:
  1970s–1980s (as a reaction to GTM and Audio-Lingual Method).

• Beliefs about language learning that led to its development:
  

  • Language is a tool for communication, not just for translation.

  • Focus on functional use of grammar rather than rote memorization.

  • Interaction and meaningful communication improve learning.

• 
  

• Major authors associated with the approach:
  

  • Michael Canale & Merrill Swain (Communicative Competence theory)

  • Hymes (sociolinguistic perspective)

• 
  

• What it “looks like” in the classroom:
  

  • Pair work, group work, role-plays, real-life simulations.

  • Grammar taught in context rather than isolation.

  • Speaking, listening, reading, and writing integrated.

  • Teacher acts as facilitator rather than sole authority.

• 
  

• Purpose for using the approach today:
  

  • Improve learners’ ability to communicate effectively.

  • Focus on fluency and functional grammar.

  • Used in most modern language classrooms worldwide.

• 
  

CLT began in the early 1970s with the introduction of communicative competence and developed in both Europe and the United States

Beliefs About Language Learning

Communication is the interpretation, expression, and negotiation of meaning, not just message sending and receiving . Listening and reading are active processes.

CLT recognizes the complexity and interrelatedness of skills and rejects a simple four-skills model

Communicative competence includes both grammatical competence and pragmatic competence

Language develops through participation in communicative events, integrating form-focused exercises with meaning-focused experience

Major Authors

• Dell Hymes (1971) – communicative competence

• Savignon (1972, 1991) – research on communicative practice and fluency

• van Ek (1975) – functional-notional syllabus

• Candlin (1978) – communicatively oriented exercises

• Canale & Swain (1980) – components of communicative competence

What It Looks Like in the Classroom

Students engage in role plays, games, pair work, and small-group activities

They use clarification strategies like “What’s the word for?” and “Please repeat” to support negotiation of meaning CLT.

Assessment focuses on qualitative, global evaluation of communicative ability, not just discrete-point grammar tests

Purpose Today

CLT develops functional language ability through social interaction and communicative events CLT.

It supports learner autonomy, communicative risk-taking, and modern content-based and task-based curricula

Language is a set of habits, learning happens through repetition and drills

Major authors by Skinner B.F and structural linguistics

in the classroom dialogue memorization choral responses

purpose today is useful for pronunciation practice and help beginners build basic sentence patterns

• When it started: It took off in the 1940s and stayed the go-to approach until the late 1960s.

• The Big Idea: It’s based on Behaviorism—the belief that learning a language is all about habit formation. Like training a muscle, you learn by constant repetition until the correct response becomes automatic.

• Key Names: Charles Fries (who developed the initial "oral approach") and B.F. Skinner (the psychologist behind the reinforcement theory) linked to this method.Sarah Rilling

• In the Classroom: It’s very "drill-heavy." students mimicking dialogues and doing repetitive exercises (like substitution drills) where they swap out one word in a sentence over and over. The teacher leads everything, and there is almost zero use of the native language.

• Why use it today? it’s still great for beginners who need to build confidence. It’s also very effective for drilling pronunciation and helping students memorize basic sentence structures so they don’t have to "think" about grammar while speaking.

Language Use: The teacher acts as the authority, and the students' native language (L1) is the primary medium of instruction. Very little teaching is done in the target language.

Activities: Students spend time translating literary passages from the target language into their native language and vice versa.

Exercises: Typical tasks include deductive grammar practice (learning a rule then applying it), memorizing bilingual word lists, and "fill in the blanks" for grammatical items.

Interaction: There is very little learner-to-learner interaction; students generally play a passive role.

• To teach grammar clearly

• To develop reading and translation skills

• Useful for exam preparation

• Helps vocabulary learning

• Often combined with communicative methods today

Beliefs about language learning:
Language is learned by studying grammar rules, memorizing vocabulary, and translating texts. Accuracy is more important than speaking or listening.

Major authors:
Richards and Schmidt (2002) and Richards and Rodgers (2001) wrote about its history and principles. Larsen-Freeman (2000) described classroom techniques.

Classroom practice:
Teaching is teacher-centered and mainly in the native language. Students read texts, translate them, learn grammar rules, memorize words, and do exercises. Speaking and listening are rarely practiced.

Purpose today:
It is used to improve reading, writing, and translation skills. It helps learners achieve high accuracy in grammar and vocabulary, especially for literature or exams.

Benati (2001)

16th century language teachers

The Audio-Lingual Method, or ALM, appeared in the 1940s around World War II. It was based on the belief that language is simply a habit. In the classroom, the teacher acts like an orchestra conductor, leading students through repetitive drills. The goal is to memorize patterns so you can speak automatically without thinking about grammar rules. While it can feel mechanical, it is still very effective today for fixing pronunciation and learning useful phrases by heart.

1. Approximate Dates for its Development

• Late 1960s to early 1970s: The origins began as a reaction against structural methods like the Audiolingual Method.

• 1980s: It became the mainstream approach in language teaching worldwide.

2. Beliefs about Language Learning

• Communicative Competence: The core belief is that knowing a language means being able to use it effectively in social contexts, not just knowing grammar rules.

• Functional Use: Language is a tool for communication; therefore, learning should focus on "doing things" with language (e.g., inviting, suggesting, complaining).

• Meaning over Form: Students learn best when they are focused on conveying a meaningful message rather than focusing purely on perfect grammar.

3. Major Authors Associated

• Dell Hymes: He introduced the concept of "Communicative Competence."

• Michael Halliday: Developed the theory of "Systemic Functional Linguistics," viewing language as a social semiotic.

• Christopher Brumfit & Keith Morrow: Key figures who helped translate the theory into practical classroom applications.

4. What it "Looks Like" in the Classroom

• Information Gap Activities: Students must talk to each other to exchange information that the other person doesn't have.

• Role-plays and Simulations: Students act out real-life scenarios (e.g., ordering at a restaurant or a job interview).

• Authentic Materials: Use of "real-world" texts like menus, news articles, and podcasts rather than simplified textbook dialogues.

• Fluency Practice: The teacher allows students to speak freely without stopping them for every minor grammar mistake.

5. The Purpose for Using it Today

• Real-world Readiness: It prepares students for actual communication outside the classroom where they will encounter unpredictable conversations.

• Student Motivation: By focusing on topics relevant to the students' lives, it increases engagement compared to repetitive drilling.

• Integrated Skills: It naturally combines listening, speaking, reading, and writing in a way that mimics natural language use.

•   Beliefs: Language learning is habit formation (Behaviorism). Mistakes must be prevented. Oral language (speaking/listening) comes before writing.

•   Authors: Charles Fries, B.F. Skinner, Robert Lado.

•   Classroom Look: High repetition and "drilling." Students memorize dialogues. Teacher corrects every mistake immediately. No native language allowed.

•   Purpose :Useful for improving pronunciation and helping students memorize sentence patterns

beliefs- language is not merely a system of grammatical rules to be memorized

ability- to interpret, express and negotiate meaning

authors- DELL HYMES. SANDRA SAVINGON. CHRISTOPHER CANDLIN

HANDRY WIDDOWSON

in classroom- teacher is fasilitator, co-communicator analyzer

learners are active participants with pair works in problem solving activities

purpose- to develop learner's functional language ability for real world communication