Language Teaching Pedagogy

Communicative language teaching refers to an approach that emphasizes that communication is both the means and the end of language learning. For partisans of this approach this generally means providing input to students through authentic documents - namely documents produced by and for native speakers of the target language. From these authentic documents, vocabulary and grammar may be deduced, thereby showing how language functions in context. There is thus an emphasis on descriptive grammar - how grammar is actually used by speakers - instead of prescriptive grammar - how grammar ought to be used according to grammarians - which many traditional language textbooks' tend to emphasize. Moreover, another important hallmark of this approach is the notion that students should engage in communication in the target language, where communication is defined in this instance as an unrehearsed exchange of unknown information.

Brief Video Explaining the Rationale and Approaches for Communicative Language Teaching

Example CLT Activity