DOCUMENT RESUME ED 266 661 FL 015 507 AUTHOR Das, Bikram K., Ed. TITLE Communicative Language Teaching. Selected Papers from the RELC Seminar (Singapore, \pril 23-27, 1984). Anthology Series 14. INSTITUTION Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (Singapore). Regional Language Centre. REPORT NO ISBN-9971-74-022-2; RELC-P208-85 PUB DATE 85 NOTE 234p.; For individual papers, see FL 015 508-520. PUB TYPE Reports - Descriptive (141) -- Guides - Classroom Use - Guides (For Teachers) (052) -- Collected Works - Conference Proceedings (021) EDRS PRICE MF01 Plus Postage. PC Not Available from EDRS. DESCRIPTORS Classroom Techniques; *Communicative Competence (Languages); *Developing Nations; *Educational Strategies; English (Second Language); Grammar; Industrial Education; Relevance (Education); Secondary Education; Second Language Instruction; *Teaching Methods; Writing Instruction ABSTRACT A collection of papers presented at a seminar conducted at the Regional Language Centre (Singapore)on communicative language teaching includes: "Integrating the New and the Old in a Communicative Approach" (William T. Littlewood); "Communicative Competence and Language Teaching: Second Thoughts" (Christina Brett Paulston); "Communicative Teaching: 'Communicative' in What Sense?" (N. S. Prabhu); "Silence in the Communicative Curriculum" (John Gibbons); "Theory and Methodology: DoWe Do What We Are Knowing?" (J. D. Willis); "The Status of Grammar in theLanguage Curriculum" (Jack C. Richards); "Communicative Language Teaching in the Rural Areas: How Does One Make the Irrelevar* Relevant?" (Andrew Gonzalez); "Teaching for Communicative Competence isa Second Language" (Bonifacio P. Sibayan); "Opportunities for Learning through the Communicative Approach" (Paul Nation); "UMSEP and theDeep End-Support-Performance Approach to Language Learning" (Khong Chooi Peng); "The Communicative Approach: Questions Arisingfrom Materials Writing in a TEFL Situation" (P. W. J. Nababan); "TheRole of Communicative Language Teaching in Secondary Schools-- with Special Reference to Teaching in Singapore" (T. A. Kirkpatrick); and "Learning Language on the Worksite: Some Implicationsfor Pedagogy" (Bikram K. Das). (MSE) *************************************************t********************* * Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the bast thatcan be made * * from the original document. * ****************************************************.****************** COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING Selected Papers from the RELC Seminar on "Communicative Language Teaching" Singapore, 23-27 April 1984 Edited by BIKRAM K. DAS U.S. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION "PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE THIS NATIONAL INSTITUTE OF EDUCATION MATERIAL IN MICROFICHE ONLY EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION HAS BEEN GRANTED BY CENTER 'ERIC) kr/This document has been reproduced as received from the person or organization lt4 tl_k hIL P7' L//Clop, originating it Minor changes have been made to improve reproduction guile), TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES ; Points of view or opinions stated on this docu- INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC)." ment do not necessarily represent of NIE position or policy Anthology Series 14 Published by SingaporeUniversity Press r. for SEAMEO Regional Language Centre o t 0 RELC P208-85 ::: 05eRMEd Tie,..,/,,,,,A.,Lantick^9 .7 eCf kitie 19g5 4 IL 2 © SEAMEO Regional Language Centre 1985 ISBN 9971-74-022-2 ISSN 0129-8895 Typeset, printing and layout co-ordinated by fo-1,046=4, 3 Contents Foreword vii Introduction ix Integrating the New and the Old in a Communicative Approach William T. Littlewood 1 Communicative Competence and Language Teaching: Second Thoughts Christina Brctt Pauiston 14 Communicative Teaching: "Communicative" in what Sense? N. S.Prabhu 32 Silence in the Communicative Curriculum John Gibbons 41 Theory and Methodology: Do we do what we are knowing? J.D. Willis 51 The Status of Grammar in the Language Curriculum Jack C. Richards 64 Communicative Language Teaching in the Rural Areas: How does One Make the Irrelevant Relevant? Andrew Gontalez 84 Teaching for CommunLative Competence in a Second Language Bonifacio P. Sibayan 106 Opportunities for Learning through the Communicative Anproach Paul Nation 120 UMSEP and the Deep End Suppert . Performance Approach to Language Learning Khong Chooi Peng 130 The Communicative Approach: Questions Arising from Materials Writing in a TEFL Situation P. W.J. Nababan 158 The Role of Communicative Language Teaching in Secondary Schools with Special Reference to Teaching in Singapore T.A. Kirkpatrick 171 Learning Language on the Worksite: some Implications for Pedogogy Bikram K. Das 195 List of Contributors 211 5 Foreword Communicative Language Teaching was the theme ofthe regional seminar conducted at RELC from 23-27 April 1984,which attracted considerable attention from various groups of professionalsinvolved in language education, particularly in Southeast Asia. It is a pleasure to write the Foreword for this anthology of selected paperspresented at the seminar. While knowledge must be valued for its own sake, we believe at RELC that theoretical advances in AppliedLinguistics, or the dis- ciplines that support it, ought to benefit the teachingprofession and so, the community. Theorganisation of regional seminars serves the important function of bridging the gap between the scholarand the practising teacher. The effective teaching of languages is of utmostimportance to Singapore (which hosts RELC) and to Southeast Asiagenerally. Educational administrators and language planners have had reason to feel concerned about the somewhat limited successof some of the programmes of language education,introduced at high cost. I: is essential that available scholarship and technical expertise bepooled to enhance the cost-effectiveness of language teaching.Every new development or advance that might seem to suggest, even potential- ly, an answer to our problems needs to be considered, reviewed and evaluated. Communicative Language Teaching, which is currently receiving a great deal of attention from professionals, whodiscussed from several points of view at the RELC Regional Seminar of1984. The introduction to this anthology sets out, as clearly as can be achieved for such a complex subject, the broad issues involved. Teachers, principals and others interested in languageeducation would benefit from this publication. We are fairly confident that this anthology will help indis- seminating the key issues raised at the 1984 Seminar to a wider audience. A second collection of papers from the seminar is to be published shortly, as part of the RELC Occasional Papers series. Earnest Lau Director SEAMED Regional Language Centre vii 6 Introduction People who patronise dentists and offer professionalproblem- solvers are usually content to let the 'expert'decide what is best. There is, however, one group of people who arechronically suspicious of experts, and these are the parents ofschool-children. And of all the experts that they mistrust, languageteachers are the most vulnerable. The average parent would notdream of telling the Mathematics teacher how to go about his job, but hehas very definite views about language teaching (which rarelyconform to expert opinion). After all, languageteaching is everybody's business. It may be dangerous to dismiss all 't :donned'opinion about language teaching as irrelevant, because the expectationsand at- titudes that such opinion can generate can be crucial to the successof teaching. The public needs to be informed, as much as thelanguage teacher, who must cater to its needs; in fact, theformulation and expression of public opinion must be part of theteaching process. The 'experts' at the top of the language teaching pyramid (let us call them Applied Linguists,for v ant of a better term) have been insisting that language learning is an incredibly complex andsensitive process, which can be influenced by one or moreof an amazing number of variables. Judging by what Applied Linguists havebeen able to discover about the language learning process,it is nothing short of a miracle that anyone is able to learn a second orforeign language at all. Unfortunately, parents couldn't care lessabout the complexity of the process: they expect results. And whois to tell them that they are naive, or misguided? Of all the forms ofhuman activity intended to improve the 'quality of life', theteaching of languages in schools must be among the least productiveand most frustrating. It really is remarkable that something that seemsto 'happen' so successfully outside the school should lead to somuch frustration when undertaken within the school system. Canthere be a stronger argument for de-schooling? It is not as though Applied Linguists (and languageteachers) have been unresponsive to the expectations of the public.Ovei the years and, in fact, the centuries,various recipes have been tried. Often, we have appeared to be on the verge of somebreakthrough. Perhaps we are no nearer to the solution now than we ever were, ix x Introduction despite the brave front of confidence that has frequently beenas- sumed. Maybe our fumbling is less tentative at sometimes than at others: we certainly have mote elegant ways of rationalizingour un- certainties. One of the important contributors to this volume, Christina Bratt Paulston, points out (quoting Kelly) that twenty-five centuries of language teaching have rarely witnessed anything radically new. There have been plenty of 'revolution', but these have essentially been new 'mixes' of old ideas. This has, however, done nothing