Communicative Language Teaching

Author(s): Sandra J. Savignon

Source: Theory Into Practice, Vol. 26, No. 4, Teaching Foreign Languages (Autumn, 1987),
pp. 235-242
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd.
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Theory Into Practice

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Sandra J. Savignon

Communicative Language Teaching

All this, of course, takes time and involves noise teaching contexts to refer to the ability to negotiate
and movement and personal relations . . . and meaning-to successfully combine a knowledge of
above all communication, one with another: the linguistic, sociolinguistic, and discourse rules in
vital thing so often cut off in a schoolroom. (Ash- communicative interactions (Savignon, 1972, 1983).
ton-Warner, 1963, p. 44) The term applies to both oral and written com-
munication, in academic as well as non-academic
In marked contrast to the discrete-point gram-
mar focus of audio-lingual days, the past decade settings.
in language teaching has been one of growing con- The nature and development of the abilities
such communication involves continue to be a focus
cern with meaning. The importance of meaningful
language use at all stages in the acquisition of of research and discussion. Meanwhile, responding
second or foreign language communicative skills to learner needs and relying for guidance on re-
has come to be recognized by researchers and search findings and experience gathered to date,
teachers around the world, and many curricular language teachers and methodologists have pro-
innovations have been developed in response. ceeded to develop teaching strategies and tech-
Published reports illustrate well, moreover, the niques that put an emphasis on meaning.
international scope of such innovations. What has Perhaps the one word that best characterizes
come to be known as communicative language these strategies and techniques is diverse. The
teaching (CLT) is not an American, Canadian, or search for the ideal audio-lingual teaching materials
European phenomenon, but rather a universal effort has been abandoned along with the. search for a
that has found inspiration and direction in the in- universal teaching method suited to the many con-
teraction of initiatives, both theoretical and applied, texts of language learning. More than a ready-made
in many different contexts. Linguists, methodolo- method of teaching, language teachers today need
gists, and materials writers have contributed to this an appreciation both of language as an expression
effort, for which it is all the richer. of self and of the ways in which meanings are
Central to an understanding of communicative created and exchanged. They need to understand
language teaching is an understanding of the term the language acquisition process as one that in-
communicative competence. Coined by a sociolin- volves learners not only intellectually, but physically
guist (Hymes, 1971) to include knowledge of so- and psychologically. The balance of features will
ciolinguistic rules, or the appropriateness of an and should vary from one curriculum to another,
utterance, in addition to knowledge of grammar depending on the particular context of which it is
rules, the term has come to be used in language a part. Where communicative competence is a goal,
Sandra J. Savignon is professor of French at the Uni- however, the most successful programs all have
versity of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. one feature in common: they involve the whole

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learner in the experience of language as a network equally true in the case of print, radio, television,
of relations between people, things, and events. and other channels of "mass" communication. A
In an effort to summarize as well as provide text (written or oral) takes on meaning only as i
some perspective on recent developments in foreign is interpreted by a reader, listener, or viewer. Tha
language teaching, this article will (a) sketch the interpretation depends, in turn, on the context at-
theoretical and research bases for what has come tributed to the text by the one who interprets it.
to be known as communicative language teaching
Why does it exist? To what does it refer? Wha
and (b) outline a five-component approach to shap-
does it imply? In other words, what is its function
ing a communicative curriculum. Each component
The functional analysis of language has a long
includes a collection of learning activities based on
tradition in linguistic inquiry (see, for example, Berns,
principles of communicative language teaching, ac-
1984). However, semantic, or meaning, approache
tivities that correspond to different facets to of the
the study of language were disregarded by th
language acquisition process. structural linguists such as Bloomfield (1933) wh
so strongly influenced second-language teaching in
Linguistic Theory the mid-20th century. For structuralists, attempts
to in
Most accounts of post-1970 developments interpret an utterance-to put it in a context
language teaching cite the attack by Chomsky with
(1959)considerations of who, when, why, etc.-la
on the narrow behavioristic stimulus-responseoutside
view the realm of theoretical linguistics proper.
of language and language learning espousedThus by it was that formal analysis, that is, the anal-
ysis of the surface grammatical structure of lan
Skinner. It was Chomsky who shook the Skinnerian
guage, would provide the basis for the teachin
theories of language learning upon which the audio-
lingual approach to language teaching was based- and testing materials developed in the 1950s and
an approach with which are associated such terms 1960s and still in widespread use today.
as stimulus, response, drill, pattern, reinforcement, A concern for communicative competence,
mastery, and four skills (four because listening, however, has brought us face-to-face with the con
speaking, reading, and writing, in that order, texts were in which language is used. Once meaning i
treated as discrete skills, almost as if theytaken had into account, matters of negotiation and inter
boundaries around them and could be developed pretation are seen to be at the very heart of a
in isolation with little regard for either their communicative
com- curriculum. Language in use, tha
plexity or their interrelatedness). is, language in context or setting, can no longer
In redirecting American linguistic studies away be ignored.
from its preoccupation with surface structural fea- The background perspective needed to under
tures and toward a concern with deep semantic stand how people talk, and what it means when
structures, or the way in which sentences are under-they do, comes not from linguistics alone. To un
stood, Chomsky helped clear the way for the de-derstand language as human behavior in the ful
velopment of more communicative approaches tosocial context in which it occurs, we must look to
second-language teaching. But communicative lan-perspectives provided by a broad range of disci-
guage teaching is much more. plines, among them philosophy, sociology, anthro-
Chomsky's focus is on the interpretation ofpology, psychology, literary criticism, and
sentences. When he speaks of linguistic compe- communication theory.
tence he is talking about the sentence-level gram-
matical competence of an ideal speaker-listener ofLanguage Acquisition Research
a language. Communicative competence, on the
other hand, has to do with more than sentence- The development of theoretical insights into the
level grammatical competence. It has to do with nature of language and language behavior has been
social interaction. Communicative competence hasaccompanied in recent years by direct investigation
to do with real speaker-listeners who interpret, ex-of the language learning process itself. Yet there
press, and negotiate meaning in many different was a time in the not-so-distant past, back in the
settings. 1950s and 1960s, when the answers to questions
Communication, then, is a negotiation of mean- of how to improve language teaching were thought
ing between speaker and hearer, author and reader. to be found in extrapolations from linguistics (or
This is seen in the many spontaneous interpersonal language theory) and psychology (or learning the-
transactions in which we participate daily. It is ory). It was presumed that together these disciplines
236 Theory Into Practice

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would tell us about language learning and ways to syllabus designers have looked increasingly to lan-
improve classroom teaching. guage functions to provide content and sequence
To illustrate, Brooks based his influential 1960 in teaching materials. However, the problems they
book, Language and Language Learning, on a stim- face are at least twofold: (a) adequate descriptions
ulus-response reinforcement model of first-language of language functions and how they are realized
acquisition in which awareness and understanding are nonexistent; (b) no workable guidelines have
of language rules were minimized. Furthermore, he been developed as yet for the selection and se-
advocated the separate introduction of reading and quence of functions from among virtually unlimited
writing activities after the introduction of listening possibilities.
and speaking on the grounds that this procedure Most important for classroom teachers to un-
paralleled that of first-language acquisition. Yet he derstand, no doubt, is that regardless of whether
acknowledged (1966) that his theory was "largely it is structurally or functionally based, a syllabus is
an act of faith; research to prove the validity of its no more than a list of features to be presented. It
basic principles is scanty" (p. 359). (See Stern, describes the desired outcome of a curriculum but
1983, for a valuable historical perspective on this says little about how that outcome is best attained.
and other issues). Simply put, communicative language teaching is not
Today we are much more conscious of the synonymous with a functional syllabus design.
need to base recommendations for teaching on This is not to say that functional analysis is
observation of language learning, both inside and unimportant for materials development. To the con-
outside the classroom. The field of both first and
trary, it is a most welcome antidote to what has
second language acquisition research expandedbeen a preoccupation with structure at the expense
rapidly in the 1970s and, not content to lookof meaning and purpose. The wisest methodolo-
only
at sentence-level grammatical structures, research-
gists are perhaps those who propose a combination
ers are focusing now, in the 1980s, on the functions
of structural and functional approaches to syllabus
and features of discourse. design. This combination might retain a structural
core to which selected functions are then related;
Discourse analysis is the analysis of connected
speech or writing that extends beyond a single or it might relate both functional and structural
sentence or utterance, the study of the pragmatic features to a core of second-language themes or
functions of language. By focusing on discourse, experiences. In either case, the specifications of
researchers look at language behavior. How do the functions introduced would presumably reflect
learners use what forms they have at their disposal the second-language communicative goals of the
to meet the functions of language? Inasmuch as learners.1
second-language learners, by definition, already Communicative language teaching requires
communicate in a first language, there is no such more, however, than attention to strategies for pre-
thing as a true beginner in a second language. senting the structures and functions of language.
Learners are already familiar with the functions of Above all, it requires the involvement of learners
language and have developed strategies to meet in the dynamic and interactive process of com-
these functions in a variety of contexts, both familiar munication. A communicative classroom allows
and new. By looking at language use in context, learners to experience language as well as to ana-
or discourse, researchers can get a better sense lyze it. Second-language acquisition research has
of the learning strategies of different learners anddocumented the importance of communication ex-
of the ways in which classroom environments can perience (practice) in the development of commu-
be managed to promote language learning. nicative competence. Most effective are a
combination of experiences that involve the learner
Communicative Curriculum Design in both a physical and psychological sense as well
As noted above, the elaboration of new theories as in an intellectual sense. That is to say, second-
language experiences should involve the whole
of language and the language learning process,
along with demands of learners and program spon-
learner. They should be affective and physical as
sors for curricula that address real-life communi- well as cognitive.
cative needs, has led to many initiatives in teaching
A Communicative Curriculum
materials. Best known among these initiatives are
functional approaches to syllabus design. Following In an effort to represent the affective, physical,
the example of the Council of Europe (van Ek, 1975),
and cognitive facets of second-language learning
Volume XXVI, Number 4 237

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and to characterize the various kinds of activities those of the learner's native language; patterne
that have their place in today's communicative cur- repetition of verb paradigms and other structur
ricula, five components have been identified (Sa- features; substitution of one structure for another
vignon, 1983): language arts, language for a purpose, for example, affirmative for negative, future tens
personal language use, theatre arts, and beyond for present tense.
the classroom. Each component represents a clus- Many language arts games are available that
ter of activities that corresponds to a different facet learners of all ages enjoy for the variety and group
of the language learning process. The use of the interaction they provide. As long as they are no
term component to categorize these activities or overused and are not promoted as the solution t
experiences seems particularly appropriate in that all manner of language learning problems, language
it avoids any suggestion of sequence or level. Ex- arts games are a welcome part of a teacher's
perimentation with communicative teaching meth- repertoire.2
ods has shown that all five components can be
profitably blended at all stages of instruction. This Language for a Purpose
blending is not only desirable, it is inevitable in-
Language analysis contrasts with language ex-
asmuch as the components overlap. No language
perience, the use of language for a real and im-
curriculum, any more than the language proficiency
mediate communicative purpose. No matter how
it promotes, should ever be thought of as neatly much effort is put into doing exercises that "con-
divisible into separate tasks. The organization of textualize" discrete points of sentence-level gram-
learning activities into the following components is
mar-things like verb endings, use of prepositions,
intended not to sequence a program but rather to
position of adjectives, etc.-successful completion
highlight the range of options available in curriculum
of such exercises is no substitute for real language
planning and to suggest ways in which their very use.
interrelatedness can be maximized for the learner.
The most stunning examples of language
a purpose are the immersion programs that
Language Arts emerged in elementary schools across the U
If language arts is the first component on theStates. In these programs the focus is not on
language instruction at all but on providing occa-
list, it is because it represents what language teach-
ers do best-most often because it is all they have sions for language use through the establishment
been taught to do. Language arts focuses on rules of French, German, or Spanish as the medium of
of usage and provides explanations of how lan- instruction in the general curriculum. In many cases
guage works. these U.S. programs owe their inspiration and struc-
Language analysis, like a language syllabus, ture to the successful experience with immersion
programs in Canada, programs whose benefits have
may be structural or functional. Although the former
been well documented. Foreign language teachers
is more familiar to teachers and learners, the latter
and administrators who have not yet had the op-
has the virtue of including semantics and socio-
linguistic rules of use. A language arts component
portunity to visit an immersion program should make
such a visit a priority for the coming year. They
can include both kinds of analyses. Language arts
will return to their own schools with a much better
includes attention to rules of language and language
behavior along with systematic practice in their understanding of the potential for developing com-
municative competence in a classroom.3
application. This requires stepping back momen-
tarily from communication in order to look at the Short of total immersion is the opportunity within
forms that particular communication is taking. whatever time is allotted the language program to
use the second language in the study of some
Language arts includes many of the exercises
used in first language programs to focus attentionrelated topic. In secondary school programs, mini-
on formal accuracy. Spelling tests, for example, courses
are on diverse topics such as cooking, art,
women, cinema, and drivers' training have served
important if writing is a goal. They may be written
lists of words, crossword puzzles, dictation pas- to spark learner interest while providing a natural
sages, or spelling bees. Among the many activitiesoccasion for language use.
included in language arts are such things as vo- Every second-language class in fact provides
cabulary expansion through definitions, descrip- an opportunity for purposeful language use. It suf-
tions, synonyms, cognates; pronunciation exercises fices for learners and their teachers to realize the
and the contrast of second-language sounds with importance of making the most of this opportunity.
238 Theory Into Practice

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In U.S. foreign language programs it is up to the Another important contribution to an under
teacher to progressively establish the second lan- standing of my language is me is the work of Curr
guage as the language of routine class activities. (1972), the Catholic priest who developed an ap
When this happens, the second-language needs of proach to second-language learning known as com-
the learners become immediate and specific. As- munity language learning. Many of the learne
signments with page and exercise numbers, due dialogues recorded in accounts of community la
dates, and special instructions provide practice in guage learning have to do with the feelings of
listening for meaning. Simple requests such as inadequacy and apprehension that participants e
"Please close the door," "Open your books," and perience as they use the second language to com
"Pick a partner" are useful expressions for begin- municate. In providing an opportunity to share the
ners to understand. They need not be able to pro- feelings, the discussion contributes to the creation
duce them. of a community of learners who are better able to
On the other hand, learners do need to know work together toward common goals.
how to ask a classmate to repeat something, to My language is me implies, above all, respec
let others know they have not been understood, for learners as they use the second language fo
and to request explanations. Teachers should pro- self-expression. Inherent in all language teaching i
vide learners with the means to meet these rudi- the risk of either conscious or subconscious dom-
ination of learners by those who seek to impose
mentary classroom needs from the very beginning
their
of instruction. As they progress, more and more of personal criteria for competence. Patterns of
the activities in the language arts and other language
com- dominance found in society at large ap-
ponents of the curriculum can take place in pear
the in the classroom as well. They may even be
exaggerated by the special nature of the relation-
second language, thus providing a maximum amount
of classroom discourse. ship between teacher and learner. Although lan-
Crafts and motor activities of various kinds are
guage arts activities provide an appropriate context
another fruitful source of opportunities for second-
for attention to formal accuracy, personal language
language use. Recipes can be prepared for a holidayuse does not. A learner's description of his or her
or international fair. Learners can be coached in
anxiety in the second-language classroom should
soccer, chess, or gymnastics. Model airplanes
be can
met with understanding and reassurance, not
with the overt correction of pronunciation or verb
be constructed, fabric can be tie-dyed, papier-mache
masks can be designed, all following directions
tenses.in
the second language. The possibilities are limitless
Most teachers know this and will intuitively
once purposeful language use is seen as an focus
im- on meaning rather than on form as learners
portant component of the curriculum. express their personal opinions or experiences. Yet
textbooks or tests that repeatedly emphasize struc-
My Language is Me tural accuracy may cause teachers to feel guilty
about their inattention to learner errors on these
Much has been written about personalized sec-
occasions. An understanding of the importance of
ond-language use. A source of inspiration for many
opportunities for self-expression and of the ways
of the personalized activities now being recom-
in which a distinction can be made in a curriculum
mended for language classrooms is the exercises
between language arts and my language is me
in values clarification designed for school curricula
should help to assuage that guilt.
in general. These exercises are used to help learn-
ers both get acquainted with their classmates and
You Be, I'll Be: Theatre Arts
use the class to explore their own attitudes and
values. Simon, Howe, and Kirschenbaum (1972), Fantasy and playacting are a natural and im-
the authors of one well-known collection of values- portant part of growing up. Make-believe and the
clarification exercises, are careful to emphasize that
familiar "you be, I'll be" improvisations of which
their goal is not to teach a particular set of values
children are so fond are routes to self-discovery
nor to evaluate the values held by individual learn-and growth. They allow young learners to experi-
ers. Values clarification is concerned not with the ment, to try things out-like hats and wigs, moods
content of people's values but with the process of
and postures, gestures and words. As occasions
valuing, that is, with the discovery of values.for
(Onelanguage use, role playing and the many related
activities that constitute theatre arts are likewise a
well-known adaptation of these exercises for foreign
language learners is Wattenmaker & Wilson,natural
1980.) component of second-language learning.
Volume XXVI, Number 4 239

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They allow learners to experiment with the roles municative activities must constitute an integral part
they play or will play in real life. of the classroom program.
Smith (1984), a professionally trained actor and
a teacher of English as a second language, stresses Beyond the Classroom
that when teachers do role playing, dialogue work,
Regardless of the variety of communicative ac-
improvisation, scene study, or play production in
tivities in the classroom, their purpose remains to
language classes, they need first to set up the
prepare learners for the second-language world be-
situation. They cannot just ask the learners to stand
yond, a world on which learners will depend for the
up and act. Teachers must prepare learners by
development and maintenance of their communi-
providing them with the tools they need to act, that
cative competence once classes are over. The
is, to observe, relate, experiment, and create in a
second language. The theatre arts component of classroom is but a rehearsal. The strength of a
a second-language curriculum includes the following foreign or second-language curriculum depends ul-
activities: timately on the extent to which it reaches out to
the world around it.
1. ensemble-building activities involving listening, When learners live within or adjacent to a sec-
observation, movement, and games; ond-language community, systematic interaction with
2. pantomime-the use of gestures and facial that culture should be an integral part of the cur-
expression to convey meaning; riculum. The interaction may take many forms, de-
3. unscripted role playing; for example, commediapending on learner interests and level of proficiency.
dell'arte improvisations where a situation is de- For example, learners may bring in grocery or other
scribed to the actors who then create their own ads from local newspapers to decide where certain
lines as they go along; products may be had at the best prices. They may
4. simulations, a more open-ended form of un-be sent on shopping expeditions in teams of two
scripted role playing; or three to price and otherwise inquire about a
5. scripted role playing; that is, the use of a pre-major purchase-a used car, a watch, a camera-
pared script to interpret characters in a dialogue,
and report back to the class. Weekly calendars of
skit, or play. community events can be compiled as a regular
For a full discussion of these activities, with ex- activity.

amples, see Savignon (1983). Smith (1984) also In the more likely situation where a second-
provides teachers with many helpful suggestions language community is not close enough for daily
for bringing theatre arts into the language class- or weekly contact, a special field trip sometimes
room as do Maley and Duff (1982). can be arranged. This requires a good deal of
All the theatre and other communication activ- preparation and can involve the community as well
ities that have been described work best when they as students in planning and fund raising. Many
are well integrated into the curriculum. As noted insecondary schools have found that such efforts
the quotation at the beginning of this article (Ash-make an important contribution to support for for-
ton-Warner, 1963), communication "takes time andeign language study and now maintain field trips
involves noise and movement and personal rela-and exchange programs of various kinds as an
tions" (p. 44). For the second-language classroom integral part of their programs.
this implies not disorder but the carefully planned As often as possible, representatives of the
culture(s) where the second language is used should
use of time and space to maximize the incentive
for productive interaction. be invited to visit the classroom. They should be
allowed to interact with learners in either their native
Many efforts to include theatre arts, games,
and other interaction activities fail because teachersor second language, as appropriate, in discussions
have not fully anticipated the possible outcomes; of contrastive culture as well as on specific lan-
for example, not enough time, too much noise, guage projects. Teachers need not be concerned
confusion about procedure, too slow a pace to that the native speaker's language is "too ad-
sustain learner (and teacher!) interest. A class can- vanced" for their students! In fact, by allowing them
not just "play a game." Nor should simulations, to try out their Spanish, French, etc., in a com-
role playing, and other opportunities for interaction municative situation they are providing learners with
be saved for parties, rainy days, or the last few the opportunity to develop the strategies they need
minutes of the class period. To be effective, com- to interact with and learn from native speakers.
240 Theory Into Practice

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How much better for them if this valuable interaction language programs should teach but, more impor-
is made an integral part of their classroom activities. tantly, how they should teach it.
Magazines, newspapers, radio, and even tel-
evision in some communities offer often underutil- Notes
ized means of establishing contact with a distant
1. The recently revised New York state syllabus, part of
second-language world. Pen pals are an old-time
a state-wide curriculum reform that makes second-lan-
favorite, and if international phone rates continue
guage experience a requirement for all students, repre-
to decrease, phone pals may one day become a sents an important U.S. initiative in this direction. It parallels
similar revisions that have been made in Europe (see, for
reasonable alternative. Learners may correspond
example, Candlin, 1981; Takala, 1984).
as individuals or as a class, perhaps teamed up or 2. For examples of games that are widely used by ex-
"twinned" with a group of students of the same perienced teachers as well as some new ideas, see Sa-
age in a second-language community. A class news- vignon (1983) and Wright, Betteridge, and Buckby (1979).
paper is one way to exchange information on topics 3. For a description of U.S. immersion programs with
names and addresses of contact persons, see Anderson
of interest in the school or community. The prep- and Rhodes (1984).
aration of a newspaper can involve everyone in 4. This is true not only of methods and materials but of
some capacity-as reporters (sports, food, fashion, language testing. The much-publicized American Council
etc.), feature writers, crossword puzzle and other of Teachers of Foreign Language (ACTFL) Proficiency
Guidelines are a case in point. For discussion of this
word-game experts, cartoonists, layout artists, andissue, see Bachman and Savignon, 1986; Kramsch, 1986;
copy editors. Items may be in either the learners' Savignon, 1985.
native or second language, or both.
References
Putting it all Together
Anderson, H., & Rhodes, N. (1984). Immersion and other
How is it all put together? Is there an optimum innovations in U.S. elementary schools. In S.J. Sa-
combination of language arts, personal language vignon & M. Berns (Eds.), Initiatives in communicative
language teaching (pp. 167-181). Reading, MA: Ad-
use, language for a purpose, theatre arts, and be- dison-Wesley.
yond the classroom? These questions must be an- Ashton-Warner, S. (1963). Teacher. New York: Simon &
swered by individual language teachers and Schuster.

administrators for their learners and the goals theyBachman, L.F., & Savignon, S.J. (1986). The evaluation
of communicative language proficiency. Modern Lan-
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in an instructional program is an understanding of and language teaching: Another look. In S.J. Savig-
communication and, thus, of communicative lan- non & M. Berns (Eds.), Initiatives in communicative
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has been intended to sort out the analytical activ- of English. Essex, England: Longman.
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(language arts) and to give greater attention to the Skinner. Language, 35, 26-58.
Curran, C. (1972). Counseling-learning. New York: Grune
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promote the development of communicative com- guistic theory. In R. Huxley & E. Ingram (Eds.), Lan-
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242 Theory Into Practice

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