Indice de Desarrollo Humano (IDH)

We m ight begin bv asking ourselves whose la n ­ guage we teach a n d for what purpose. W hat is o u r own relationship with English? Do we co n ­ sider it to be a foreign, second, o r native language?

Webster's New International Dictionary. 2nd edition, pu b lish ed in 1950. a tim e w hen language te a c h in g in th e U n ite d States was o n th e th re sh o ld o f a p e rio d o f u n p re c e d e n te d scrutiny, e x p e rim e n ta tio n , a n d grow th, p ro tid e s the fol­

lowing d efinitions o f these term s we use so often with resp ect to language. Foreign derives from M iddle English forein. forene. O ld F rench forain a n d Latin fonts, m e a n in g outside. R elated words are foreclose, forest, forfeit. M odern definitions include “situated outside one's own country; bo rn in, b elonging to, derived from , or characteristic o f som e place o th e r th an the one u n d e r consid­

eration; alien in character; not co n n ected or p e rtin e n t,” etc.

T hose id en tified as tea c h in g a foreign lan ­ guage, p e rh a p s even in a D e p a rtm e n t o f Foreign Languages, sh o u ld ask. "Whv?" W hat does the label “foreign" signal to colleagues, learners, a n d the com m unity at large?- Toclav we are c o n ­ c e rn e d with global ecology a n d global econom y.

A nd English has b e e n describe as a “global lan­

g u a g e ” (Crystal 1997). N onetheless, one m ight object, “fo re ig n ” is still a useful term to use in d istin g u ish in g betw een tea c h in g English in. sat-.

Pattava, T h a ila n d , a n d te a c h in g E nglish in Y oungstown, O hio. In Youngstown. English is tau g h t as a second language w hereas in Pattava it is a fo reig n language. T h e contexts of lea rn in g are n o t th e sam e, to be sure. N e ith e r are the learners. N o r the teachers. But do these facts ch an g e the n a tu re of th e language? A nd what a b o u t th e tea c h in g of Spanish in C hicago, in B arcelona, in B uenos Aires, in G uatem ala City, in M iami, o r in M adrid? In w hat sense can Spanish in each o f these contexts be describ ed as “fo re ig n ” o r “se c o n d ”? A nd what are th e im pli­

cations o f the label selected for th e learners? For the teachers?

H aving tau g h t F re n ch in U rb an a, Illinois, for m a n \- years, I can easily identify with the p ro b lem s o f teach ers o f English in Pattava. M ore so, p e rh a p s, th a n th o se w ho tea c h ESL in U rb a n a with easy access to English speaking co m m u n ities outside th e classroom . O n the o th e r h a n d , te a c h in g F re n ch in U rb a n a o r

English in Pattava is no excuse for ig n o rin g or avoiding o p p o rtu n itie s for co m m u n ic a tio n , b o th w ritten a n d oral. T h e p o ten tial o f com puter- m ed ia te d n e g o tia tio n o f m ea n in g for language lea rn in g a n d language ch an g e in the decades a h e a d will be increasingly reco g n ized , b o th inside an d outside language classroom s.

W hat mav be a p ro b le m is th e te a c h e r’s com m unicative c o m p e ten c e . Is h e or she a native speaker? If not. does he o r she co n sid er him- or h e rse lf bilingual? If not. whv not? Is it a lack o f com m unicative com p eten ce? Or, rather, a lack of com m unicative confidence? Is h e or she in tim id a te d bv “native" speakers? Native Speaker is the title of a m oving first novel by C hang-rae Tee. an A m erican raised in a K orean im m ig ran t family in New Jersey. It d o cu m en ts the struggle a n d fru stratio n o f know ing two cul­

tures a n d at the sam e tim e n o t com pletely b e lo n g in g to e ith e r one. As such, it serves as a p o ig n a n t re m in d e r of th e challenges o f b ilin ­ gualism a n d b ic u ltu ra lism . How do es o n e

"b elo n g ”? W hat does it m ean to be bilingual? To be bicultural? To be a native speaker?

Again, the exam ple o f English is im p o rta n t.

Such w idespread a d o p tio n of o n e language is u n p re c e d e n te d . English users todav in c lu d e those who live in countries w here English is a p ri­

m ary language — the U nited States, the U nited Kingdom . C anada. Australia, and New Zealand;

those who live in countries w here English is an ad d itio n al, m /ranational language o f co m m u n i­

c a tio n — fo r e x a m p le . B a n g la d esh , In d ia , N igeria, P hilippines, a n d Tanzania; those who use English prim arily in /н/rrnational c o n te x ts—

co u n tries such as C hina, Ind o n esia, Ja p a n , Saudi A rabia, a n d Russia. Bv conservative estim ates the n u m b e r o f non-native speakers of English in the w orld todav o u tn u m b e rs native sp eakers by m o re th a n 2 to 1. a n d the ratio is increasing.

M odels o f ap p ro p riaev vary from c o n te x t to co n ­ text. So m uch, in fact, th at som e scholars speak n o t onlv o f varieties o f English b u t o f World Englishes, the title of a new jo u rn al devoted to discussion of descriptive, pedagogical, an d o th e r issues in th e global sp re a d o f th e E nglish

language. As лее have seen above, d e p e n d in g on the co n tex t as well as le a rn e r needs, "native"

speakers mav o r m ar- n o t b e a p p ro p ria te m odels (see also K achru 1992).

W H A T C L T IS N O T

D isappointm ent with bo th gram m ar-translation a n d au d io lin g u al m eth o d s fo r th e ir inabilitv to p rep a re learners for the in te rp re ta tio n , ex­

pression, a n d negotiation of m eaning, along with enthusiasm for an arrav o f alternative m ethods increasingly labeled communicative, has resulted in no small am o u n t of uncertaintv as to what are an d are not essential features of CLT. Thus, this sum m ary description w ould be incom plete w ithout b rief m en tio n of what CLT is not.

CLT is n o t exclusively c o n c e rn e d with face- to-face oral c o m m u n ic a tio n . T h e p rin c ip le s o f CLT apply equally to rea d in g an d w riting activities th a t involve re a d e rs a n d winters en g ag ed in th e in te rp re ta tio n , expression, and n e g o tia tio n o f m e a n in g : th e goals o f CLT d e p e n d on le a rn e r needs in a given context.

CLT does not req u ire sm all-group or p a ir work:

g ro u p tasks have been fo u n d helpful in mans contexts as a wav o f providing increased o p p o r­

tu n ity a n d m o tiv atio n fo r c o m m u n ic a tio n . However, classroom g ro u p or p air w ork sh o u ld not be co n sid e red an essential fea tu re a n d mav well be in a p p ro p ria te in som e contexts. Finally.

CLT does not exclude a focus on m etalinguistic aw areness o r know ledge of rules o f syntax, discourse, a n d social ap p ro p riaten ess.

T h e essence o f CLT is the e n g a g em e n t of lea rn ers in co m m u n icatio n in o rd e r to allow th em to develop th e ir com m unicative co m p e ­ tence. Term s som etim es used to refe r to features o f CLT in clu d e process oriented, task-based, and inductive, o r discoi'ery oriented. In asm u ch as strict a d h e re n c e to a given text is n o t likelv to be tru e to its processes an d goals, CLT c a n n o t be fo u n d in any o n e textbook or set o f c u rricu la r m ateri­

als. In k eeping with th e n o tio n of co n te x t o f sit­

u atio n , CLT is p ro p erly seen as an a p p ro a c h or

theory o f in te rc u ltu ra l com m unicative co m p e ­ te n c e to b e u sed in d e v e lo p in g m ate ria ls a n d m eth o d s a p p ro p ria te to a given c o n te x t of learning. C ontexts ch an g e. A w orld o f carriages a n d petticoats evolves in to o n e of g enom es an d cyberspace. N o less th a n the m eans a n d n orm s of c o m m u n ic a tio n thev are d esig n ed to reflect, com m unicative tea c h in g m eth o d s desig n ed to e n h a n c e th e in te rp re ta tio n , ex pression, an d n e g o tiatio n o f m e a n in g will c o n tin u e to be e x p lo re d a n d ad ap ted .

D IS C U S S IO N Q U E S T IO N S

1. If vou h a d to choose th re e adjectives to describe CLT, w hat w ould thev be?

2. W hat m ight be som e obstacles e n c o u n te re d bv teach ers who wish to im p le m e n t a com ­ m unicative a p p ro a c h to language teaching?

How m ight these obstacles be overcom e?

3. Do vou feel English to be a foreign, second, or native language? How m ight vour feelings influence vour classroom teaching?

4. O f the five d escrib ed c o m p o n e n ts o f a com ­ m unicative curricu lu m , w hich are th e m ost fam iliar to vou as a language learner? As a language teacher?

5. W ho sets the norm for English language use in vour p a rticu la r co n tex t o f situation? How?

Whv?

S U G G E S T E D A C T IV IT IE S

1. R equest perm ission to observe two or th re e d iffe re n t in tro d u c to ry level ESL o r EEL classes. N ote the in teractio n betw een the te a c h e r a n d the learners. W ho does m ost of the talking? How m uch o f the talking that vou h e a r is in English? Whv?

2. Interview som e language lea rn ers for th eir views on whv thev are le a rn in g a fo reig n o r seco n d language.

3. Look at th e in v erted pyram id diagram of com m unicative c o m p e te n c e o n page 17. Do you ag ree with the p ro p o rtio n s drawn? Draw your own d iagram to show the relatio n sh ip betw een th e fo u r c o m p o n e n ts o f c o m m u ­ nicative c o m p eten ce.

4. Select o n e o f th e five c o m p o n e n ts o f a com ­ m u n icativ e c u rric u lu m d e sc rib e d in this chapter. M ake a list o f c o rre sp o n d in g le a rn ­ e r activities o r e x p erien ces th a t vou w ould like to use in your teaching.

FU R T H ER R EA D IN G

Breen, M., and C. Candlin. 1980. The essentials of a communicative curriculum in language teaching.

Applied Linguistics 1(1) :89—112.

Byram, M. 1997. Teaching and Assessing Inter- cultural Communicative Competence. Cleveclon. UK:

Multilingual Matters.

Hollidav. A. 1994. Appropriate Methodology and Social Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Xunan. D. 1989a. Designing Tasks per the Commu­

nicative Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Savignon. S. J. 1997. Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice. New York: McGraw Hill.

E N D N O T E S

1 The author copied this passage mam years ago while visiting the Union School, a country school building that teas moved to the citv of Goodland, Kansas, bv the Sherman Countv Historical Society. It is owned and operated as a school museum bv the Society.

- CRTDIF is the acronym for Centre de Recherche et d'Etude pour la Diffusion clu Francais. It was an institution specializing in French as a foreign language and functioned in association with the Ecole Xormale Superieur de Saint-Cloud from 1939 to 1996.

Guidelines for Language Classroom