ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO ELT METHODOLOGY USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING AND LEARNING

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Hanoi National University of Education
Faculty of English
-----฀฀฀฀฀-----

ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO
ELT METHODOLOGY
USING COMMUNICATIVE ACTIVITIES IN ENGLISH LANGUAGE
TEACHING AND LEARNING

1


Academic Year: 2021 – 2022
MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
Hanoi National University of Education
Faculty of English
-------o0o-------

ASSIGNMENT ON BACKGROUND TO
ELT METHODOLOGY

Instructer : Nguyễn Thị Lan Hương
Class

: 69 K

Group

: 10
Group members

Students code

Nguyễn Thảo Nhi

695914062

Ngơ Hồng Thu Anh

695914006

Ngơ Băng Tâm

695914069

Academic Year: 2021 – 2022
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Contents
I. INTRODUCTION

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II. MAIN CONTENT

6

1. Literature review of Communicative Approach

6

1.1. What is Communicative Approach?

6

1.2. What is its main goal?

8

2. Using communicative activities in English Language Teaching and learning. 9
2.1. What are Communicative activities?

9

2.2. Kinds of communicative activities

9

2.2.1. Pre-communicative activities

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2.2.2. Communicative Activities

10

2.3. Characteristics of communicative activities

11

2.4. Examples of Communicative Activities

12

2.5. Advantages and disadvantages of using communicative activities in
English language teaching and learning

16

2.6. Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Activities

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III. CONCLUSION

17

IV. References

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I. INTRODUCTION
English has become an essential and compulsory communicative language
in Vietnam since we opened up the world in 1986. Many ex-pats using English as a
second language from Asia, Australia, the U.S., and Europe when investing in

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Vietnam make it one of many reasons to motivate Vietnameses to learn English to
facilitate effective communication with their partners. Languages allow us to
understand cultures and visions, enable learners to be aware of the diversity of
cultures and viewpoints in the world community, bond friendship, and so on.
Learners should be able to use English as a fundamental communicative tool as
well as for more accessible and broader access to bodies of knowledge and will
have a vision in leading their lives.
Realizing its vast value, The Ministry of Education in Vietnam has been
focusing on the English language programs and placed them in the curriculum right
from elementary to higher education. Although English is flourishing, the teaching
of English is not pay off.
Vietnamese people's proficiency in using English has fallen for the third year
in a row to reach the lowest point since 2015, according to the 2019 English
Proficiency Index compiled by the global education firm Education First
(EF).
This year’s report, EF’s biggest league table to date, showed Vietnam
drastically dropping to 52nd place out of 100 countries and regions with a
score of 51.57, which is considered “low” proficiency.1

1

(n.d.). EF EPI 2021 – EF English Proficiency Index. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>
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Education specialists were not surprised at the poor results, saying the scores
reflect the quality of English teaching and learning in Việt Nam despite a
project from the Ministry of Education and Training to improve the quality
of foreign language teaching nationwide in 2008-20 period.

Dr. Lê Trường Tùng, chairman of the management board of the FPT
University, told the Voice of Việt Nam (VOV) online newspaper that the
quality of teaching English depended largely on the capacity of teachers and
teaching conditions. In Việt Nam, English teaching and learning methods
tend to help students score high in the exam, not help them use the language
effectively in practice. According to Dr. Nguyễn Quốc Bình, former
principal of Việt Nam-Germany High school in Hà Nội said the quality of
teaching and learning English at high schools in many localities have not
met practical demand. “We have to look at the fact that our teachers have a
lot of shortcomings. Our teaching methods remain outdated and have not
caught up with modern teaching methods,” he said.(Poor English Exam
Results Reflect Teaching Quality: Education Experts, 2020)

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Speaking is a productive skill that seems to be the most important of all the
four language skills because it can distinctly show the correctness and errors that a
language learner makes. Many students equate being able to speak as knowing the
language and therefore view leaming how to speak the language. Therefore, if
students do not learn how to speak or do not get any opportunity to speak in the
classroom they may soon get de-motivated and lose interest in learning. On the
other hand, if the right activities are taught in the right way, speaking in class can
be a lot of fun, raising general learner motivation and making the English language
classroom a fun and dynamic place to be.
Teaching language with influential theories, directions, and ways of
instructing is a vital topic in the current fields of teaching and learning. Locating
the most appropriate and effective teaching and learning methodologies and
strategies for a given situation is essential for language learning classrooms. Over
the years, many theories have been created to meet the needs of the learners of that

period. However, due to the rapid development of social and cultural
environments, many contemporary theories have been developed and employed in
a variety of different approaches and applications. This paper is a literature review
paper that discusses the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach. The
purpose of it is to outline the advantages, disadvantages, and applications of CLT.
The researcher reviewed some historical and current documents relating to how a
CLT approach can benefit the classroom environment.

II. MAIN CONTENT
1. Literature review of Communicative Approach
1.1. What is Communicative Approach?
Prof. Jack C. Richards once said: “In my experience many language
teachers when you ask them to identify what methodology they use they often
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mention communicative as the methodology of choice. However, when pressed to
give a more detailed account of what they mean by communicative their
explanations tend to vary. Does it mean teaching conversation? does it mean an
absence of grammar in a course? or perhaps an emphasis on open-ended discussion
activities as the main features of a course?” (Professor Jack C. Richards Communicative Language Teaching, 2017)
According to Richard, 1997, “Communicative Approach in language
learning is an approach that is used in learning the second language or foreign
language that emphasizes on the improvement of communicative ability”, that is
”the ability to apply the language principle in order to produce grammatical
sentences and understand ’when, where, and to whom’ the sentences used” 2
The communicative method focuses on language as a medium of
communication. It recognizes that communication has a social purpose – learner
who has something to say or find out.” Communication embraces a whole
spectrum of functions and notions” (Richards, Jack C. & Rogers, Theodore S.,

2001).
In 1980, the applied linguist Michael Canale and Swain published an
influential article in which they categorized communicative competence into four
components. They said that “communicative ability is formed by four
competencies: grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse
competence, and strategy competence”.
Grammatical competence relates to language system mastery, such as:
’vocabulary, word formation, and sentence meaning’. Sociolinguistic competence
is the competence to understand and produce accurate utterance in accordance with
the context in which the utterance happen. Discourse competence relates to the
ability in combining the form and the meaning of a language. Besides
understanding the kinds of discourse that is cohesive and coherent, strategy

2

(2012, July 1). Communicative Approach: An Alternative Method Used in Improving .... Retrieved
January 7, 2022, from />
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competence refers to the ability to overcome obstacles and simultaneously improve
the effectiveness of communication 3 (1983: 6-10).
According to Littlewood, communicative competence means, a degree of
mastery of a very considerable range of linguistic and social skills which depend in
part on the learners’ sensitivity to meaning and appropriacy in language and on
his/her ability to develop effective strategies for communicating in the second
language.’ (Littlewood, 1981.87)
K. Johnson and K. Marlow say that communicative competence is ‘the ability to be
appropriate, to know the right thing to say at the right time.’ (Johnson and Morrow,
1981.2)

International Encyclopedia of Education defines communicative competence as the
“effective use of language in social contexts.” (The International Encyclopedia,
1985.834)
According to Widdowson, communicative competency is “the ability to produce
sentences for communicative effect.” (Widdowson, 1978.1)
It is revealed from the above definitions that communicative competence is – The
ability to use language appropriately in a given social context. The ability to be
appropriate to know the right thing at the right time.
Linguistic competence plus an understanding of proper use of language in various
contexts. Knowledge which is additional to linguistic competence.
Ability to communicate something which is grammatical, proper, socially
accepted, formally possible, fluent in a particular context.

3

(2016, March 29). A Brief History of ELT: Part 2 - Communicative Language Teaching. Retrieved
January 7, 2022, from
/>
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In this way communicative competence includes both grammatical knowledge and
the ability to use this knowledge to perform different kinds of functions like
enquiring, suggesting, greeting, denying, advising, reporting, apologizing, inviting,
and promising.
The communicative approach is based on the idea that learning a language
successfully comes through having to communicate real meaning. When learners
are involved in real communication, their natural strategies for language
acquisition will be used, and this will allow them to learn to use the language.
To illustrate, practicing question forms by asking learners to find out personal

information about their colleagues is an example of the communicative approach,
as it involves meaningful communication.
In the classroom, classroom activities guided by the communicative approach are
characterized by trying to produce meaningful and real communication, at all
levels. As a result, there may be more emphasis on skills than systems, lessons are
more learner-centered, and there may be the use of authentic materials.

1.2. What is its main goal?
The goal of the communicative approach lies in activities. Practicing with
communicative activities can certainly help students develop their language
abilities. Harmer (2002) states that communicative activities are aimed at
developing students' ability to use language to interact with people in real
situations. Hymes (1978 as cited in Angwattanakul, 1994) explains that
communicative abilities can enable learners to use language or interpret it correctly
in social interactions. Communicative activities make learners notice who is
talking with whom, when they should or should not say something, and how they
should say something. In short, a communicative approach is a teaching approach
that encourages learners to use language inappropriate situations and social
interactions. To have a full understanding of the communicative activity, we need
to consider its definitions as well as its benefits and drawbacks.

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2. Using communicative activities in English Language Teaching and learning.
2.1. What are Communicative activities?
As mentioned above, activities are the goal of the Communicative
approach. So, what are Communicative activities? Communicative activities
refer to the classroom activities that provide a genuine information gap and
make it possible for language learners to communicate with the target

language in Communicative Language Teaching Approaches (Liao, 2000).
Communicative activities include any activities that encourage and
require a learner to speak with and listen to other learners, as well as with
people in the program and community.
In other words, communicative activities are activities that give
students both a desire to communicate and a purpose that involve them in a
varied use of language. They have real purposes, such as to find information,
to break down barriers, to talk about oneself, and to learn about the culture.
Even when a lesson is focused on developing reading or writing skills,
communicative activities should be integrated into the lesson.
Communicative activities are fluency-based activities (TaitS.,2001). While
such activities may involve students to practice a particular grammatical
form, they are likely to do more than this. The key element is that the
activity is based on a realistic situation. This could be anything from an
encounter in a department store to a group of friends discussing holiday
plans, etc. Within this kind of context, students should be required to
negotiate for meaning. This is likely to require multiple turn-takings.

2.2. Kinds of communicative activities
There are various types of exercises and activities in the
communicative approach which “help students to achieve the
communicative competence and engage learners in communication”
(Richards, 2001). Communicative activities play a vital role in
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communicative language teaching. These activities are helpful for the
teachers to broaden their repertoire of techniques and activities so as to
enable the learners to communicate more effectively in foreign languages.
Communicative activities are purposeful and objective-oriented.

According to Littlewood, the communicative activities can be
represented diagrammatically as follows. (Littlewood, 2003.86)
● Structural activities
● Pre-Communicative activities
● Quasi Communicative activities
● Functional Communicative activities
● Communicative activities
● Social interaction activities
(This diagram is adapted from Littlewoods’ Communicative Language
Teaching, P.86 4)
In these two major categories, the first types (Pre-communicative
activities) serve to prepare the learner for later communication.

2.2.1. Pre-communicative activities
The two sub-categories of pre-communicative activities are:
- Structural activities: Focus is on the grammatical system and on ways
in which linguistic items can be combined.
- Quasi- Communicative activities: Focus is on one or more typical
conversation exchanges. Some resemble drills, but other is closer to
dialogues. Drills and dialogues can be combined so as to provide a
bridge from formal exercise to communicative use.

4

(n.d.). Littlewood, W. (1981). Communicative language teaching .... Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>91780

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2.2.2. Communicative Activities
The two sub-categories of communicative activities are:
- Functional Communicative activities include such tasks as
comparing sets of pictures, noting similarities and differences, working out
continuously following directions, and so on. In these activities, learners must
work towards a definite solution for a problem.
- Social interaction activities comprise the exchange of words,
converse with others, improvisations and debates. Here, teachers prepare
learners about the varied social contexts in which they will need to perform
outside the classroom using different social interaction activities.
There is no clear dividing line in reality between these different categories and
sub-categories; they represent differences of emphasis and orientation rather than
distinct divisions. For instance, cued dialogues can be undertaken both as
pre-communicative activity and as communicative activity. Similarly, it would be
arbitrary if we try to specify how much attention must be paid to communicative
function before an activity can be called quasi- communicative, or how significant
social meaning must become before it falls into the social interaction sub-category.
This distinction depends on the varying orientation of individual learners.
(Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language Essay,
2015)
2.3. Characteristics of communicative activities
The success of a communicative activity can be determined by the extent to
which learners are dependent on the teacher. Tasks should be devised in a manner
that learners gain autonomy and independence while learning.
The role of the teachers is to give clear and to-the-point instructions and
provide the appropriate environment for learners to interact and exchange
information.

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Communicative activities are motivating. Learners should be at ease and
have fun while doing the communicative tasks.
Communicative tasks are realistic. Real communication situations should be
the focus instead of isolated structures with no real-life reference.
While in teacher-led classrooms learners were expected to be quiet and listen
to the teacher and then, when asked, to respond to the teacher in unison with the
one correct answer, communicative tasks require learners to take initiatives and
provide their responses ( instead of a response) to contribute to the success of
learning.
Communicative activities are meaningful: they are carried out to fulfill
specific purposes such as booking a plane, hotel ticket, inviting somebody to a
party, answering an invitation letter, shopping….
Performance in communicative tests reflects an underlying competence that
is linguistic, sociolinguistic, pragmatic, strategic…Communicative activities
should consider this multi-dimensional nature of language.

2.4. Examples of Communicative Activities
Related to Communicative Activities, Authentic Material is key to

helping students develop their grammar and vocabulary while
exposed to listening, speaking, reading, and writing activities.
- How Authentic Materials Fit With The Communicative Approach?
+ Authentic Material allows teachers to supplement or eventually
replace the boring ESL textbook. The following is a compilation of
authentic material sources most commonly used in the classroom:
● Ad Banners, advertisements, billboards
● Catalogs, college and university brochures, flyers, travel
brochures

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● Movies, scripts, commercials
● Radio shows, newspapers, Internet websites, magazines, TV
shows
● Social media, YouTube, phonebooks
● Ticket stubs, manuals, menus, maps
● Greeting cards, horoscopes
+ Authentic material can be used at different levels, along with communicative
activities. The table below will guide you on what materials fit best with
your classroom.

Moreover, we can provide opportunities for interaction and communication
through the following activities: Class Survey, Conversation Grid, Line Dialogue,
Information Gap, Language Experience Approach, Games. (Activities to Promote
Interaction and Communication, n.d.)
Following is one example of Class Survey.

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Highlights: Class surveys are fun and not overly challenging. They are very
effective as icebreaking activities, especially at the beginning of a course. They
also let learners know that class will be more than sitting at a desk and copying the
teacher’s words. It is important to do something with the survey information.
Otherwise, there is no intrinsic reason for gathering the information. Therefore,
plan ways to process the information. Note: Make sure the survey questions are
appropriate to the class. For example, if everyone in the group is from Mexico,
then asking, “What country are you from?” will not be pertinent. Similarly, asking

a group of elderly seniors, “How many of your children go to school?” may not be
appropriate. Watch for American cultural taboos about age, money, religion, etc.
Also, make sure not to inadvertently ask about an uncomfortable topic.
Objective: Learners gather information about a particular topic. They
increase proficiency and confidence in asking one or more questions at the same
time as they are increasing graphic literacy skills.
Context: This class survey activity is especially useful for beginning levels
because not much information needs to be asked or recorded and only one or two
questions and answers need to be learned. Surveys can be used with higher levels if
more complex questions and answers are required. Surveys are suitable for general
ESL classes, but can also be tailored to a workplace (see examples that follow).
Estimated time: Time varies according to how much information is
gathered. In the literacy- or beginning-level class, a survey might consist of one
question that simply requires students to ask and record the name of every person
in class (either first or last, but probably not both at once). In a more advanced
class, a survey might require students to ask and record the names of television
shows watched and time spent watching these shows in the past week. In both of
these cases, the time to do the survey will vary according to how many learners
there are in the class, and how long it takes for the spelling and the recording to
take place. Note: If information gathering takes more than 20-30 minutes, you
might consider debriefing during the next class session.
Materials: The teacher needs to make a survey form so learners can easily
ask the question or questions and record answers. If the information is going to be
gathered into a simple bar graph or pie chart, or recorded on flip chart paper, this
needs to be ready in advance.
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Procedure:
1. Build on what learners already know (e.g., the common question, “Where

are you from?”). Therefore, pre-teach and practice the questions and vocabulary
needed to answer the questions. For example, in a class where learners are
collecting information about native countries, record the names of those countries
in advance so that students have the information available to them.
2. Hand out the survey forms and explain the task to learners. (They need to
walk around the room asking everyone the question and recording the answers).
3. Model the procedures with one or two learner volunteers and check
comprehension of instructions. For example, ask, “What are the questions on the
survey form?” “How many people will you talk to today?”
4. Once learners begin to complete the survey, monitor the process and be
ready to assist learners if they ask for help. Note: Don’t be alarmed if you see
someone copying from another’s paper or someone writing information down right
on the questioner’s sheet. The main idea is to get authentic communication going,
and it is good for people to help each other. Do watch out for one person
overpowering a quieter or less comfortable person; this would defeat the purpose
of the exercise and be counter to the egalitarian structure of the class. 5. Discuss
the information with the class. Using the information from the surveys (see Sample
Surveys, page II–45), you can ask questions such as, “How many people are from
El Salvador? Bosnia? China?” or: “How many people watched TV more than 10
hours last week? What shows were watched the most frequently?” You can have
learners work in small groups to categorize information, create graphs, or write
sentences summarizing the information.
Evaluation: Circulate and listen to the questions and answers. Collect the
information sheets to look for writing issues.
Note: The sample survey on the next page would typically be used at the
beginning of a class cycle. Not only is it important for every student to know all
the other learners’ names (and at least an approximation of the pronunciation), but
asking each other the question “What is your first name?” helps learners begin to
navigate first name, family name issues, as a real life skill. Furthermore, in all
facets of life learners must spell their names so they need to be familiar with the

phrase “spell it, please.” As learners spell their names and hear others spell theirs,
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they may solidify their alphabetic knowledge. Particularly with native Spanish
speakers, understanding and applying the changes in vowel sounds from Spanish to
English may take some time, but this survey provides a good start.
After the learners have written down all the names (including their own
names), there are several ways to process the information:
1. The teacher can pass out another blank list and ask learners to work in
pairs or small groups to alphabetize the first names and then to transcribe them
again in alphabetical order. As the teacher demonstrates the process using several
examples, the learners are continuing to memorize their classmates’ names at the
same time they are working on the basic skill of alphabetizing. Learners will be
much more interested in this activity than if they were asked to alphabetize a list of
words that had no meaning for them.
2. As an alternative, the teacher and the class can work through the
alphabetizing as a group activity at the board or on an overhead or poster.
In the same class period or in the next class session, the teacher can
demonstrate that she knows everyone’s first name (a teacher needs to know all of
the learners’ names and be able to pronounce them by the end of the second or
third class meeting). Then, the teacher can ask for volunteers to see if they can say
each classmate’s name. This can be challenging, but several learners usually do
volunteer and successfully remember all the names. This is an important activity
because it validates skills that many literacy-level learners employ—careful
observation and good memory. Follow-up activities might include conducting the
survey using the last names, often a slightly more difficult task or reviewing
questions in a line dialogue

2.5. Advantages and disadvantages of using communicative activities in

English language teaching and learning
Using communication in English language teaching and learning gave
positive influences to the teaching-learning process. It helps the student in
speaking English actively, understanding the meaning of words,
comprehending the reading texts, doing the tasks, and studying well, More
17


exposure to Target Language, More authentic opportunities to USE the
language, Fun and interesting for learners, Provides an opportunity to use
authentic materials. By doing the task the students could practice together in
speaking English actively, productively, and receptively.
However, there were some factors that made the teaching-learning
were not effective and challenging:
● All students did not participate actively in doing and finishing the
tasks.
● All the results of doing the task were not always discussed intensively.
● Lecturer’s domination in the teaching-learning activity was still
prominent.
● Teachers need to know how to offer support and what support needs to
be offered. This can mean more time is needed for the planning and
preparation of activities.
● Communicative activities can pose challenges in the assessment
● Learners can be resistant, especially if they are accustomed to
teacher-centered styles of teaching

2.6. Tips for Maximizing the Effectiveness of Activities
Communicative activities such as those described below can be used
successfully with many class levels. They are especially crucial for literacy- and
beginning-level classes as vehicles to move learners toward independent and

confident learning. To make these activities as useful as possible there are a few
things to remember:
● Keep teacher talk to a minimum. Explain as much as possible by
demonstrating the process, explaining in different ways, and repeating.
Don’t worry if every learner doesn’t understand every part of an activity.
Move on when the majority of the learners get the idea, and then circulate
and help as needed—unobtrusively. One way to gauge the success of a class
for English language learners is to observe how much or how little the
students are depending on the teacher. The more learners are working
independently, in pairs, or in small groups, the more successful the class.
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● Literacy- and beginning-level learners, as well as those at intermediate and
advanced levels, are highly competent individuals. They may lack English
and (for some) school skills, and it is the teacher’s job to help them with
that. These adults have successfully weathered many difficulties to get to
class. Give them the credit they deserve.
● Have fun. Communicative activities are designed to be lively, interactive,
and fun. When people are comfortable they are likely to learn more. An
active, cooperative class is a class where a great deal of learning—social,
cultural, and linguistic—is evident.

III. CONCLUSION
Since its birth in the early 1980s, the topic of CLT has generated excitement
and interest among language researchers. The origin of CLT can be traced back to
the early works of Hymes (1971). In addition to Chomsky’s ideas (1965) on
linguistic competence, he states that knowing a language involves more than
knowing a set of grammatical, lexical, and phonological rules. Language
competence relies upon the presence of linguistic and communicative competence.

As CLT continues to be reviewed, more and more pedagogical researchers
agree on the postulate that a second or foreign language is a learn-by-doing skill.
As such, language skills are learned by doing, not by merely studying language
systems. The focus of teaching is not telling the students about language but
getting them to use it. A language classroom should be a place where students are
engaged constantly in using language.
It is generally believed that various second or foreign language problems can
be well-handled by teachers who are capable of applying different types of
approaches in the classroom.

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IV. References

1. Activities to Promote Interaction and Communication. (n.d.). Center for
Applied Linguistics. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>eraction&Communication.pdf
2. Characteristics Of Communicative Language Teaching English Language
Essay. (2015, January 1). UK Essays. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>unicative-language-teaching-english-language-essay.php
3. Communicative Approach: An Alternative Method Used in Improving
Students' Academic Reading Achievement. (2012, July 1). ERIC. Retrieved
January 7, 2022, from />4. Poor English exam results reflect teaching quality: education experts. (2020,
August 31). Viet Nam News. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>ching-quality-education-experts.html

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5. Professor Jack C. Richards - Communicative language teaching. (2017, July
23). YouTube. Retrieved January 7, 2022, from
/>
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