Storytelling and communicative language teaching

Inhaltsangabe oder Einleitung

Nowadays it is necessary to be able to speak english, because this language is getting more and more important and it is the basis of international communication. So pupils have to learn as early as possible to have a strong command of this language and to use it effectively. Communicative language teaching (CLT) emphasizes communicative skills and wants communicative practise at the centre of classroom learning. According to Savignon, communicative competence is the central theoretical concept of CLT (2004). She defines this competence with the terms of expressions, interpretation and negociation of meaning. Hedge says that it is important for CLT to encourage pupils to communicate their needs, ideas and opinions and also that they are able to operate effectively in the real world (2000:44-45). She writes that in the communicative language classroom pupils have to learn to use that language in certain settings and authentic situations. According to both authors, CLT helps to develop certain communicative skills and to come to terms with the language without any grave problems of expressing thoughts, wishes, opinions,etc. The language learner has to indentify him with that language so that he can apply his knowledge without any fear and uncertainity. And it is important that the teacher applies grammar based exercises as an integral part of real live tasks. Otherwise the learners could get bored, detered or even overtaxed with grammatical units. Hedge claims too, that a teacher`s intervention to correct should be as minimal as possible (2000:58). We can integrate grammatical units in activities where learners are supposed to talk about their next holiday plans and therefore they need to use several future forms or even if-clauses to express themselves in a correct and cohorent way (Hedges, 2000:61). Such activities are both characteristic and essential for a typical CLT-lesson. CLT tries to engage the learners to speak fluenty so that they don`t get afraid of beeing juged for grammar mistakes. Pupils should have the ability to speak with a good but not necessary perfect command of grammar, intonation or vocabulary. They should attend to produce continous speech without causing comprehension difficulties.