A critical study of the ways foreign languages were taught in our country and abroad;

1. a critical study of the ways foreign languages were taught in our country and abroad;

2. a thorough study and summing up of the experience of the best foreign language teachers in different types of schools;

3. experimenting with the aim of confirming or refuting the working hypotheses that may arise during investigation. Experimenting becomes more and more popular with methodologists. In experimenting methodologists have to deal with different data, that is why in arranging research work they use mathematics, statistics, and probability theory to interpret experimental results.

In recent years there has been a great increase of interest in Methods since foreign language "teaching has many attrac­tions as an area for research. A great deal of useful research work has been carried out. New ideas and new data pro­duced as the result of research are usually developed into new teaching materials and teaching techniques.

It should be said that we need research activities of the following types: descriptive research which deals with "what to teach"; experimental and instrumental research dealing with "how to teach". More research is now needed which compares different combination of devices, various teaching aids.

Supplement 2. Methods of Foreign Language Teaching

At the term of the 17^th century Volfgang Ratichius (1571-1635) complained about contemporary methods of LT stressed rote learning and grammar at the expense of reading and spearing. He initiated the principle of cognitive leaning of Latin translation as a basic means of semantization and emphasized on repetition as a favored technique. But it remained for his successor, the famous Czech educator Ian Comenius (1592-1670) to devise new methods of LT based on new principles. Instead of rules, I. Comenius used imitation, repetition and plently of practice in both reading and speaking.

In 1631 Ian Comenius published his book “Ianua linguarum reserata” – “The Gates of Languages Unlocked” in which he described new methods of language teaching based on his principles. The book included a limited vocabulary of a few thousand word; each used in a sentence which gave some indication of meaning.

“Orbis Pictus” (1658) is another book by Ian Comenius in which a Latin text is accompanied by illustrations and translations into the mother tongue. Great attention is paid to direct associations between the word in a FL and an object it denotes. In this way the role of the mother tongue was limited. Ian Comenius recommended the following principles:

–  from easy to difficult;

–  from simple to complex;

–  from know to unknown.

 Language teaching remained the chief concern of Ian Comenius. His “Linguarum methodus novissima” (Contemporary/modern methods revised) contains one of the first attempts to teach grammar inductively. “Didactica Magna” was a more ambitious work that went beyong language teaching and laid the foundations for modern pedagogy.

Grammar-Translation Method

This method has been with us through the centuries and is still with us. It has had different names; at one time it was called Classical Method since it was used in the teaching of the classical language, Latin and Greek. The method involves many written exercises, much translation and lengthy vocabulary lists. The teacher describes in detail the grammar of the language, focusing on the form and infection of words. This method aims at providing an understanding of the grammar of the language in question expressed in traditional terms, and at training the students to read and write the target language, rather than mastering the oral and aural skills. To do this the students need to learn the grammar rules and vocabulary of the target language. It was hoped that, by doing this students would become more familiar with the grammar of the native language and that this familiarity would help them speak and write their native language better. It was also thought that foreign language learning would help students grow intellectually; it was recognized that students would probably never use the target language, but the mental exercise of learning it would be beneficial anyway.

Students study grammar deductively: that is, they are given rules and examples, they are told to memorise then, and then are asked to apply rules to other examples. They also learn grammatical paradigms such as the plural of nouns, degrees of comparison of adjectives and adverbs, verb conjugations. They memories native language equivalents for foreign language vocabulary lists.

The techniques of G-TM imply bilingual vocabulary lists, written exercises, elaborate grammatical explanations, translation, and total involvement in reading and writing.

The objectives of G-TM are non-utilitarian – confined to understanding of literature which gives keys to great classical culture.

The advantages of this method lie in its limited objectives: understanding of written language and some basic writing and translation. The method is not demanding for the teacher (simple preparation from a textbook and little physical endeavour).

The disadvantages of this method include a total neglect of spoken language, communication skills, use of esoteric vocabulary, and monotonous procedure in class.

Thus the Grammar-Translation Method is simply a combination of the activities of grammar and translation. The teacher begins with rules isolated vocabulary items, paradigms and translation. Pronunciation either is not taught or is limited to a few introductory notes. Grammar rules are memorized as units, which sometimes include illustrative sentences.

Harold Palmer’s Method

Harold Palmer the great English authority and teacher, experimented extensively with the question-answer method. He considered question-answer work to be “the most effective of all language learning exercise ever devised”.

Palmer insisted, however, that if this technique was to be carried out successfully, all questions asked by the teacher must be carefully planned and thought out beforehand. Questions should never be haphazard, either in form or content. Specifically, H. Palmer thought that any question asked by the teacher should be of a nature that admits the following:

a)  an obvious answer, not an answer that requires one or more complicated acts of judgement on the part of the student;

b)  an easy answer, not one that requires the use of word, facts, or constructions unknown to the student;

c)  a relevant answer, direct answer involving only a moderate change through the process of conversion, substitution, or completion of the material contained in the teacher’s question.

In H. Palmer’s view, there are three stages of learning:

1.  Receiving knowledge.

2.  Fixing it in the memory by repetition.

3.  Using the knowledge by real practice.

H. Palmer was the author of some 50 theoretical works, textbooks and manuals. Of great interest are H. Palmer’s “100 Substitution Tables”, in which sentence patterns are arranged in tables for pupils to make up their sentences, following the pattern. His main findings can be conveniently summarized as the following objectives:

1.  Phonetic, semantic and syntactic aspects.

2.  Oral speech by way of speaking and understanding.

3.  Accumulation of passive material with subsequent active reproduction.

4.  Techniques used for translation include visuality, interpretation and verbal context.

5.  Speech patterns to be learn by heart.

6.  Rational selection of vocabulary based on frequency counts and utility.

7.  Topical selection: minimum vocabulary list of 3000 words.

H. Palmer paid great attention to a system of exercises, which in his should include:

1.  receptive –question and short answers to them;

2.  receptive-imitative –words and word-combinations repeated after the teacher;

3.  conversational –questions, answers, commands and completion of sentences.

Thus H. Palmer method is based on rationalization of teaching/learning process and systematic selection of material. Teaching speaking features prominelity in H. Palmer’s method, hence its name “oral method”.

Direct Method

The Direct Method appeared as a reaction to the GTM and the failure to procedure learns who could use the foreign language they had been studying.

The Direct Method was based on the belief that students could learn a language through listening to it and that they learn to speak by speaking it – associating speech with appropriate action, like the way the children learn native tongue. The Direct Method received its name from the fact that meaning is to be related to the target language directly, without going through the process of translating into the student’s native language.

The various “oral” and “natural” methods which developed at the turn of the century may be grouped under DM. The students learn new words and phrases from objects. Actions and mime. When the meaning of words could not be made clear, the teacher would resort to semantization but never to native language translations. From the beginning, students are accustomed to hearing complete meaningful sentences in the target language. Grammar is taught at a later stage inductively, numerous examples of a certain principle are presented and the rule is then inferred from these examples. An explicit grammar rule may never be given.

Students learn to think in the target language as soon as possible. Vocabulary is acquired more naturally if students use in full sentences, rather than memorizing long lists of words. Vocabulary is emphasized over grammar. Although work on all four skills occurs from the start, oral communication is seen as basic. Thus the reading and writing exercises are based upon what the students have orally practiced first. Pronunciation also receives due attention from the beginning of the course. Desides studying every speech the learns also do history, geography and culture of  the country or countries where the language spoken.

The teacher who employs DM asks the students to self-correct their answers by asking them to make a choice between what they said and alternate answer he supplies. There are, of course, other ways of getting students to self-correct. For example, a teacher might simply repeat what a student has just said using a questioning voice to signal to the student that something was wrong with it. Another possibility is for teacher to repeat what the student said, stopping just before the error. The student then knows that the next word was wrong. There are also other options of remedial work.

The main principles of DM can be summarized under the following headings:

Techniques

1.  FL used throughout.

2.  Audio-visual approach.

3.  Speech before reading.

4.  No translation-meaning conveyed through visual/mime.

Objectives

1.  Fluency in speech.

2.  Capacity to think in target language.

3.  Meaningful everyday language.

4.  Grammar to be include from practice.

5.  Explanations in foreign language.

Pros

1.  Lively procedure in classroom.

2.  Correct pronunciation.

3.  Absence of rule-giving.

4.  Learning through doing

Cons

1.  Plunges learners too soon into unstructured situations.

2.  Foreign-Language learner not like infant native-language learner.

3.  Dangers of including wrong rule.

4.  Tremendous energy needed be teacher.

Audio-Lingual Method

The Audio-Lingual Method like the Direct Method we have just examined, has a goal very different from that of the Grammar-Translation Method. The Audio-Lingual Method was developed in the United States during the Second World War. At that time there was a need for people to learn foreign languages rapidly for military purposes. As we have seen G-TM did not prepare people to use the target language. While the communication in the target language was the goal of DM, there were at the time exciting new ideas about language and learning emanating from the disciplines of descriptive linguistics and behavioural psychology.

We can trace the Audio-Lingual Method rather directly to the “scientific” linguistics of Leonard Bloomfield and his followers. Both behaviouristic psychology and structural linguistics constituted a reaction against a vague and unscientific approach to the questions of human behaviour. Including the acquisition of knowledge.

Every language, as it is viewed here, has its own unique system. This system is comprised of several different levels: phonological, lexical, and syntactical. Each level has its own distinctive features.

Everyday speech is emphasized in the Audio-Lingual Method. The level of complexity of the speech is graded so that beginning students are presented with only simple forms.

The structures of the language are emphasised over all other areas. The syllabus is typically a structural one, with the structure for any particular unit include in the new dialogue. Vocabulary is also contextualized within the dialogue. It is however, limited since the emphasis is placed on the acquisition of the patterns of the language.

The underlying provision of this method include five maxims to guide teachers in applying the result of linguistic research to the preparation of teaching materials and to classroom techniques:

8.   Language is speech, not writing.

a)  Emphasis on correct pronunciation from the beginning;

b)  Listening and speaking before reading and writing;

c)  Realistic, situation utterances from start;

d)  Oral mastery first; reading/writing as reinforcers; time lag will depend on sitution.

9.  Language is a set of habits.

a)  Based on the assumption that language learning is a habit formation process, pattern drilling and dialogue memorization are extensively used;

10. Teach the language, not about language;

a)  Revolt against the grammar-translation method;

b)  Grammar for the teacher not the learner;

c)  Learn through doing, through active practice

d)  Practice first, rules induced later.

11. A language is what its native speakers say, not what someone thinks they ought to say:

a)  Emphasis on colloquial wealth of language;

b)  Literary language at much later stage;

c)  Traditional grammar mistrusted: functional styles (occupational, emotive, informative) studied as well as language of attitude.

12. Languages are different:

a)  Universal rules of transformational grammar mistrusted;

b)  Contrastive studies of language encouraged;

c)  Translation accepted when necessary or possible;

d)  Translation a later skill with its own techniques

Techniques:

1.  Situational dialogues.

2.  Everyday language.

3.  Emphasis on speaking – aural – oral active participation.

4.  Mimicry-memorisation.

5.  Pattern-drilling-choral/individual – Role playing/Dialogue building.

6.  Reading and writing to reinforce.

7.  Awareness of graphic interference.

8.  Rules to be induced from practice.

A-LM enables the students to use the target language communicatively. In order to do this the students are believed to overlearn the target language. To learn to use it automatically without stopping to think. The students achieve this by forming new habits in the target language and overcoming the old habits of their native language.

The teacher is like an orchestral leader, directing and controlling the language behaviour of the students. He is also responsible for providing his students with a good model of imitation. The students are imitators of the teacher’s model or the tapes he supplies of model speakers. They follow the teacher’s directions and respond as accurately and as rapidly as they can.

New vocabulary and structures are presented through dialogues and texts. These are learnt through imitation and repetition, transposition are based upon the patterns in the dialogue or texts. Students successful responses are positively reinforced. Grammar is induced from the example given; explict grammar rules are not provided. Cultural information is contextualized in the dialogues and texts or presented by the teacher. Students’ reading and writing work is based upon the oral work they did earlier.

 Thus the main provisions of this method can be conveniently summarized in the following way:

  Fluency on four skills with initial emphasis on listening and speaking.

  Formative function: understanding culture through language.

Pros:

1.  Useful language learnt from outset.

2.  Good pronunciation achieved through sound discrimination and auditory practice.

3.  Materials especially devised on contrastive analysis rather than total structures –presentation based on frequency counts and utility.

4.  Reading and writing not neglected but postponed to serve as reinforcement.

5.  Highly motivating: learner senses achievement from beginning through practical use and participation.

6.  A-LM requires and encourages use of simple and mechanical aids.

Cons:

1.  Lack of spontaneity if learning is overmechanical.

2.  Reliance on inductive process dangerous.

3.  Time lag between oral and written work: dependence on ear alone can lead to insecurity – emotional dislike of aural-oral work and invention of graphic equivalents.

4.  A-LM for all students? Average student does best, intelligent student border?

5.  Makes considerable demand on the teacher: preparation/drilling/imagination.

6.  Is order of presentation natural?

7.  Does A-LM produce language illiterates –fluent speakers who cannot read or write?

Possible remedies:

1.  Avoid dull drills –contextualize: use variety.

2.  Practice should be meaningful and point of drill should be explained to the learner and understood.

3.  Time lag must vary according to situation – in some cases oral/written work side be side.

4.  Intelligent students should be told that practice makes perfect – hence importance of fluency, clarity and precision.

5.  Order of presentation probably logical though analogy with child learner not relevant. Adult is trained to think and use books/dictionaries, but without first learning how to pronounce words he will not learn how to read well.

6.  Experience showed that A-LM trainer learner did better is all skills than traditional counterpart except in writing.

Though the emphases at the beginning are strongly on listening and speaking, no devaluation of literature is implied. It appears that mastery of sound system of a language is essential for efficient reading and for appreciation of literature. One of the qualities that makes a work of literature great is the choice of words and phrases, and one of the factors that governs this choice is how they sound. “To read a work of literature without any idea of what it sounded like to the writer is to be as handicapped as the tone-deaf listening to music or the colour-blind looking at a painting”.

Losanov’s Method or Suggestive Method

Few methods have been met with claims ranging from sensational to skeptical: mysterious and costly, a highly questionable new gimmick (one critic has unkindly called it “a package of pseudo-scientific gobbledygook”) and far remote from language teaching styles as language sleep learning, medative relaxation, electrical and sound impulses (E. Davydova).

Suggestopedia as G. Lozanov called his pedagogical application of :The Science of Suggestology” aims at neutralizing learning inibitions and de-suggesting false limitations that cultural norms impose on learning.

The suggestive method or Suggestopedia is a modification of direct method. The originator of this method believes, as does Silent Way's Caleb Gattegno, that language learning can occur at a much faster rate than what ordinarily transpires. In G. Losanov's view the reason for the pupils inefficiency is that they set up psychological barriers that block the way to learning. They fear that they will be unable to perform, that they will be limited in the ability to learn, and finally fail. One result is that the learners' full mental powers are not engaged. According to G. Losanov and his proponents, only five per cent of the learners' mental capacity is used. In order to make better use of the mental reserves the limitations, which they think we have, need to be "desuggested". Suggestopedia, the application of the study of suggestion to pedagogy, has been developed to help students eliminate the feeling that they cannot be successful and, thereby, to help them overcome the barriers to learning.

The behaviourist principles of G. Losanov's method assume the form of five maxims:

1. Get the learners to utter the same structure repeatedly.

2. Get them to do so correctly.

3. Do this through good grading of structures by arranging them in order of difficulty and by introducing them one at a time if possible.

4. The behaviourist approach is repetition and drilling to the point where the learner automatically makes the correct response.

5. Lessons must be designed so as to prevent the learners from making mistakes.

Behaviourist psychology described all learning (including language acquisition) as a matter of conditioning - as the formation of habits through responses to outside stimuli. Thus one learns a language through mimicry, memorisation and analogy .

Communication takes place on "two planes": on linguistic and psychological one. On the linguistic plane the message is encoded; and on the psychological are factors which influence the linguistic message. On the conscious plane, the learner attends to the language; on the subconscious plane, the music suggests that learning is easy and pleasant; when there is a unity between conscious and subconscious, learning is enhanced .

The class, where this method is used, is different from other classrooms - the students are seated in cushioned armchairs that are arranged in a semicircle facing the front of the room. The teacher is lively, dynamic, confidant, yet sensitive, and speaks only the target language, which suggests that the learners do the same. In the firsts three-hour meeting all learners choose a new name and nationality, after which they are given a fictional autobiography. By means of song, imitation, and play, the learners introduce themselves to each other and assume their new roles. Then over the next two days, the teacher twice presents a long script, each time with a different aim and a different learning set-up; these script performances called "concert sessions", are accompanied by music. In the first of these, the "active concert session", the music is emotional, and the tone of the artistic presentation reflects the character of the music. The learners have the script in two languages arranged in short phrases on opposite sides of the page. After the "concert session" come various kinds of elaboration activities, including group and choral reading of parts of the scripts, singing and playing games as a group and individually. The second day the script is performed again, this time in a "pseudopassive concert session” where a state of wakeful relaxation is artfully stimulated. This reading is accompanied by music of a different tone and mood, generally barouque style. Following that, the learners (in their new identities) are aided again in elaborating the script in various ways. This may include narrating a story or event, or creating an original story, using the language in the script .

Gradually the selection of vocabulary becomes more elaborate. It may include situations from literary works, rustic scenes, and facts from everyday life. Using pantomime to help the students understand, the teacher acts out various occupations, such as pilot, singer, carpenter and artist. The students choose what they want to be.

The teacher reads a dialogue partly in English and partly through pantomime, and outlines the dialogue's story. He also calls his students attention to some of the comments regarding vocabulary and grammar structures.

Next, the teacher asks the students to read the dialogue in a sad way, in an angry way and finally in an amorous way. This is followed by asking questions about the dialogues. Sometimes he asks the students to repeat an English line after him; still other times he addresses a question from the dialogue to an individual student.

So, the principles and techniques of Suggestopedia can be conveniently summarized under the following headings:

1.  classroom set-up;

2.  positive suggestion;

3.  visualization;

4.  choosing a new indentity;

5.  role-play;

6.  concert;

7.  primary activation (the students playfully re-read the dialogue);

8.  secondary activation (the students engage in various activities designed to help them learn the new material and use it spontaneously).

Activities particularly recommended for this phase include singing, dancing, dramatisations, games. The important thing is that the activities are varied and don’t allow the students to focus on the form of the linguistic message, just the communicative intent.

And finally, instruction is designed so as to tap more successfully the learning powers of the mind and eliminate psychological barriers that block learning and inhibit production. The lessons are pleasant, interesting, and nonthreatening; the teacher gives lots of encouragement, and similar admonitions.

Eclectic Method

Having come to the realisation that each learner possesses distinct^:

cognitive and personality traits, it follows that one teaching methodology will not be the most appropriate for all students. The recent tendency has therefore been towards eclecticism, selecting materials and techniques from various sources.

This obviously puts a much larger responsibility on the teacher, for now he should be familiar with a much wider range of materials, exercises and activities than before. It is no longer a matter of picking up the textbook and following it page by page.

Depending on the content and difficulty of the subject matter, the learner would apply one or more of these different types of learning in a given situation. Evidently, if the teacher is to be aware of this multiple individual cognitive and personality factors and be able diagnose and utilise them to the fullest, he must have more than a passing knowledge of the recent investigation in all related sciences. But the problem lies not only in lies amount of information to be mastered but in the organization and application of that knowledge to a practical situation.

An eclecticist tries to absorb the best techniques of all well-known language-teaching methods into his classroom procedures and seeks the balaced development of all four skills at all stages while retaining emphasis on an oral presentation first. He adopts his methods to the changing objectives of the day and to the types of students who pass through his classroom. The eclectic teacher is imaginative, energetic, resourceful, and willing to experiment. His lessons are varied and interesting.

Techniques

1. Some grammatical explanations in native language.  

2. Translation as short-cut to conveying meaning.

3. Balanced development of four skills at all stages with emphasis an aural-oral procedures. .

4. Adjustments according to needs of class and personalities of teachers.

 

Communicative Method of FLT

A comparative study of methods and approaches in TEFL/TESL has shown that the past methodologies seem to have pursued too narrow objectives. A flexible uniform language-teaching strategy should be based on a careful selection of facets of various methods and their integration into a cohesive, coherent working procedure which will suit the realities of the particular teaching situation. It is assumed that the goal of language leaching is the learner's ability to communicate in target language. It is assumed that the content of a language course will include linguistic structures, semantic notions, and social functions. Students regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer meaning in situations where one student has information that the others lack. Students often engage in role-play or dramatizations to adjust their use of the target language to different social contexts. Classroom materials and activities are often authentic to reflect real-life situations and demands. Skills are integrated from the beginning: a given activity might involve reading, speaking, listening and perhaps also writing. The teacher's role is primarily to facilitate communication and only secondarily to correct errors. The teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and appropriately. Written activities should be used sparingly with younger children. Children of six or seven years old are often not yet proficient in mechanics of writing in their own language.

In methodological literature of the last two decades the word "communicative" is the most frequently used one. Communicative method (sometimes referred to as approach) grew out of the works of anthropological linguists who view language first and foremost as the system of communication .This method stresses the need to teach communicative competence as opposed to the linguistic competence: thus functions are emphasized over form. The long and complex history of communicative competence and the importance of the relation between ideas about the nature of language and their social, intellectual and cultural contexts have become a major concern not only for methodologists, linguists, but also for psychologists and social theorists.

Communicative theory enables learners to realize that every speech act takes place in a specific social situation. Psychological factors (the learners' age, sex, complement of the group, pupil's personality, their roles, etc.) as well as linguistic factors (a topic of discussion, type of discourse; a colloquial, informal or formal variety of English (also known as register) play a crucial role here. In other words appropriateness and accessibility of speech in the particular social situation are as equally important as accuracy of pronunciation and grammar.

Communicative competence is the ability of learners to use the language appropriately for the given socio-cultural context. To do this the learners should be able to manage the process of negotiating meaning with the teacher and among themselves.

Communicative competence is not a compilation of items, but a set of strategies or creative procedures for realizing the value of linguistic elements in contextual use, an ability to make sense as a participant of spoken or written discourse by shared knowledge of code resources and rules of language use .

The content of communicative instruction is based on the concept that the process of instruction and the model of communication.

All this does not necessarily mean that the process of instruction is the exact replica of the process of communication. When we communicate, we use the language to accomplish some function, such as persuading, arguing, agreeing, disagreeing or promising. Moreover, we carry out these functions within an appropriate social context. A speaker will choose a peculiar way to express his argument according to his intent, his level of emotion, and what his relationships with the collocutor are. For example, he may be more direct in arguing with his friend than with his senior.

Furthermore, since communication is a process, it is insufficient for learners to simply have knowledge of target language forms, meanings, and functions. Students must be able to apply this knowledge in negotiating meaning. It is through the interaction between speaker and listener (or reader and writer) that meaning becomes clear, the listener gives the speaker feedback as to whether or not he understood what the speaker has said. In this way the speaker can revise what he has said and try to communicate Ins intended meaning again, if necessary.

In communication, the speaker has a choice of what he will say and how he will say. If the exercise is tightly controlled so that the pupils can only say something in one way, the speaker has no choice and the exchange, therefore, is not communicative. In a chain drill, for example, a student must answer his collocutor's question. In the same way he replied lo someone else's question. Therefore, the student has no choice of form and content and quasi-communication occurs.

True communication is purposeful. The speaker can thus evaluate whether his intent, based upon the information he receives from the listener, has been achieved. If the listener does not have an opportunity to provide the speaker with such feedback, then the exchange is not really communicative.

Communication has parameters which are difficult to prognose, there are no certain guidelines to govern this interactive process. To model communication means to establish basic constraints, its underlying principles which include:

1.  individual approach;

2.  functional approach (stresses the context rather than the very structure of language);

3.  communication-oriented activity;

4.  personal involvement;

5.  situational approach;

6.  novelty;

7.  heuristics.

The teacher's role is to have his students to become communicatively competent. To do this students need knowledge of the linguistic forms, meanings, and functions. They need to be reminded that the said categories are in dialectical unity and many different forms can be used to perform a function, as well as a single form can often serve a variety of functions. They must be able to choose from these forms the most appropriate one, given the socio-cultural context and the roles of the interlocutors.

The teacher's role is to facilitate the teaching/learning process, to establish situations which will promote communication. During the activities he acts as an advisor, answering his students questions and monitoring their performance. At other times he might be a "co-communicator" - engaging in the communicative activity along with the Students .

Since the teacher's role is less dominant than in a teacher-centered method, (DM, A-LM, CC-LT, etc.) students are seen as more responsible managers of their own learning.

The most obvious characteristics of the communicative method is that almost everything that is done is done with a communicative purpose. Students use the language a great deal through communicative activities such as games, role-plays, and problem-solving tasks.

Activities are truly communicative according to Johnson K. and Marrow K., they cover three features; information gap, choice, and feedback. Another characteristic feature of CM is the use of authentic materials. It is considered desirable to give students an opportunity to develop

strategies for understanding language as it is actually used by native speakers.

Finally, such activities are carried out by students in small groups. Small numbers of students interacting are favored in order to maximize the time allotted to each student for learning to negotiate meaning.

The teacher is the initiator of the activities, but he does not always interact with the students. Sometimes he is a co-communicator, but oftener he establishes real-life situations that prompt communication between and among the students. The students interact a great deal with one another. They do this in various configurations: pairs, triads, small groups, and the whole class.

One of the basic assumptions of CM is that students will be more motivated to study a FL since they will feel to do something useful with the language they study.

The teachers give students an opportunity to express their individuality by having them share their ideas and opinions on a regular basis. This helps students "to integrate the foreign language with their own personality and thus to feel more emotionally secure with it" .

Learners' mistakes should not be constantly corrected but regarded with greater tolerance, as a completely normal phenomenon in the development of communicative skills. In short, communicative method leaves the learner scope to contribute his own personality to the learning process. It also provides the teacher with scope to step out of his didactic role in order to be a "human among humans" .

Finally, students' security is enhanced by many opportunities for cooperative interaction with their fellow students and the teacher.

Culture is the everyday lifestyle of people who are native speakers of the language. There are certain aspects of it that are especially important to communication -the use of non-verbal behaviour, which receives greater attention in CM.

Students work on all four skills from the beginning. The target language should be used not only during communicative activities, but also, for example, in explaining the activities to the students or in assigning homework. The students learn from these classroom management exchanges, and realise that the target language is a means and vehicle of communication, not just a subject to be studied.

The teacher supervises his students' performance at every stage of their work. He evaluates not only their accuracy, but their fluency and prosody as well. The student who has the most control of the structures and vocabulary is not always the best communicator. For more formal evaluation, a teacher is recommended to use a communicative test. This is an integrative test which has a real communicative function.

The teacher also assumes an integrated approach to students’ errors. Errors of form are tolerated and are seen as a natural outcome of the development of communication skills. Some students can have limited linguistic knowledge and still be successful communicators.

To substantiatiate and implement CM into practice means to go beyond its general description. It is important to take into account all methodological functions of these underlying principles, their content, and see what results could be anticipated in all four skills of activity.

Thus communicative competence entails not solely grammatical  accuracy but knowledge of socio-cultural rules of appropriateness, discourse norms – the ability to sustain coherent discourse with another speaker, and strategies for ensuring remedial work for potential breakdown in communications.

Emphasis is placed on developing motivation to learn through establishing meaningful, purposeful, coherent discourses in the target language. Individuality is encouraged, as well as cooperation with peers. Who contribute to a sense of achievement and emotional security with the target language.

Supplement 3.  The Seven Intelligences

Intelligence End-States Core Components

Logical- Scientist Sensitivity to, and capacity to discern, logical or
mathematical Mathematician numerical patterns; ability to handle long chains of reasoning.

Linguistic Poet Sensitivity to the sounds, rhythms, and meanings Journalist of words; sensitivity to different functions of language.

Musical Composer Abilities to produce and appreciate rhythm,
Violinist pitch, and timbre; appreciation of the forms of
musical expressiveness.

Spatial Navigator Capacities to perceive the visual-spatial world
Sculptor accurately and to perform transformations on
one's initial perceptions.

Bodily- Dancer Abilities to control one's body movements and
kinesthetic Athlete to handle objects skillfully.

Interpersonal Therapist Capacities to discern and respond appropriately Salesman to the moods, temperaments, motivations, and
desires of other people.

Intrapersonal Person with Access to one's own feelings and the ability to detailed, discriminate among them and draw upon them
accurate self- to guide behavior; knowledge of one's own
knowledge strengths, weaknesses, desires, and intelligences.



Supplement 4.

Example of a conversation lesson:

1. Preparation. Show the learners a picture of two people conversing in a familiar casual setting. (The setting will be determined by a prior needs assessment.) Ask them to brainstorm what the people might be discussing (i.e., what topics, vocabulary, typical phrases).

2. Presentation. Present several video clips of small talk in casual situations. Have learners complete a worksheet in which they describe or list the topics discussed, the context in which the speech is occurring, and any phrases that seem to typify small talk. Follow up with a discussion of the kinds of topics that are appropriate for small talk, the factors in the specific situations that affect topic selection (e.g., relationships of participants, physical setting), and typical phrases used in small talk. Chart this information.

3. Practice. Give learners specific information about the participants and the setting of a scenario where small talk will take place. In pairs, have them list topics that might be discussed by the participants and simple phrases they might use. Learners then engage in improvised dialogues based on these simple phrases.

4. Evaluation. Give pairs a teacher-prepared dialogue based on their scenario from š. Ask them to compare their improvised dialogues with the prepared dialogue, analyzing the similarities, differences, and reasons for both.

5. Extension. Have learners go individually or in small groups into various contexts in the community (work, school, church, bus stop) and record the conversations they hear. Ask them to report their findings back to the class, and then have the class discuss these findings.