The use of communicative approaches in teaching English in elementary school - Курсовая работа

Міністерство освіти і науки України Львівський національний університет ім. І.Франка КУРСОВА РОБОТА на тему: “Застосування комунікативних підходів у навчанні англійської мови у початковій школі” Tell me and I forget, show me and I remember, involve me and I’ll learn. Unknown The main purpose of learning a foreign language is to enable our students to communicate in it. This is the process of arriving at the point of understanding a language, and this is where the communicative approach to language teaching and learning comes to the forefront. In recent years the communicative approach has become ever more popular and overall effective ways to facilitate second language learning. The Communicative Approach The origins of Communicative Language Teaching are to be found in the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. The writings of D. Wilkins, H. Widdowson, C. Candlin, C. Brumfit, K. Johnson and other British applied linguists on the theoretical basics for a communicative or functional approach to language teaching; the rapid application of these ideas by textbook writers; the equally rapid acceptance of these new principles by British Language teaching specialists, curriculum development centers, and even governments gave prominence nationally and internationally to what came to be referred to as the Communicative Approach. The essential characteristics of the approach are: 1. Most of the class time is pent on speaking activities. If the teacher presents a text orally or tells his learners to read it, this receptive task is usually used only as a preparation for immediately introducing a speaking activity related to the text. 2. Only the target language is used in class. 3. Most of the speaking activities practiced in class involve spontaneous exchange in unplanned discourse. 4. The focus of all classroom is on exchange of information and not on the language and its forms. Learners’ incorrect utterances are also accepted by the teacher as long as it is relatively clear what they mean. 5. There are no grammar explanations and exercises, no drills of any kind, no grammar tests. Grammar is supposed to be acquired in a non-deliberative way, as a by-product of participation in various communicative activities in class. Only when there is a complete block of communication caused by the wrong use of a language form, can the form itself become an object of the learners’ conscious attention and the teacher may try to explain in some way the meaning of this form. 6. Learners’ errors, particularly grammatical ones, are not corrected by the teacher in any direct way. They are either completely ignored or corrected in an oblique manner. 7. The teacher is not the central figure in he classroom and the only provider of feedback. Classroom activities are often carried in small groups or pair, with the teacher walking around, listening in and providing help when necessary. According to the New Conception of Education the main aim of teaching foreign language is forming in learners’ communicative competence, which means mastering language as intercultural communicative means, developing skills of using foreign language as a tool in cooperation of cultures of modern world. Working with young language learners in the primary classroom can be both a rewarding and a demanding experience. To make the most of that experience for both learners and teachers we need to be very clear what is we are trying to do. We must try to identify what learning language in school demands from young children and what it can offer them. We should also acknowledge what the implications of those demands and needs are for the teachers. Young children do not come to the language classroom empty-handed. They bring with them an already well-established set of instincts, skills and characteristics which will help them to learn another language. We need to identify those and make the most of them. For example, children: - are already very good at interpreting meaning without necessarily understanding the individual words; - already have great skill in using limited language creatively; - frequently learn indirectly rather than directly; - take great pleasure in finding and creating fun in what they do; - have a ready imagination; - above all take great delight in talking! Children’s ability to grasp meaning Very young children are able to understand what is being said to them even before they understand the individual words. Intonation, gesture, facial expressions, actions and circumstances all help to tell them the unknown words and phrases probably mean. By understanding the message in this way they start to understand the language. In later life we all maintain this first source of understanding alongside our knowledge of the language itself. It remains a fundamental part of human communication. Children come to primary school with this ability already highly developed. They continue to use it in all their schoolwork