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Sometimes as a learner you have to take control. Choosing a language partner is often circumstantial and not at all related to their ability as an instructor. Even when you are paying for lessons you can never be sure that the instructor has the proper theoretical foundation for teaching languages. Armed with a little bit of knowledge about how languages are learned and your personal preferences you can make the most of the exchange.
Let’s learn about one of the most popular approaches to teaching and learning languages, the communicative approach. You know, the one your teacher probably doesn’t even know they’re are using. Communicative Language Teaching or CLT for short, is one of the most widely used yet often misapplied approaches to language learning. It is based on the belief that learners learn best when they are engaged in meaningful communication.
- Strong CLT: Learners learn by being involved in communicative tasks with little support from traditional teaching text and practice. You might encounter this kind of approach when you meet someone you are interested in getting to know yet don’t share a common language. Your need to communicate to do simple everyday activities allows you to learn through trial and error.
- Weak CLT: Learners learn through a wide variety of activities, texts, exercises and tasks with an emphasis on speaking and listening. You might encounter this approach in a community language exchange setting where a member of the local community is designated as the teacher and you the learner. This type of learning is often supported by texts but the quality of the instructor is highly variable and may have a large impact on the amount of learning that occurs.
Making the most out of either situation requires you to understand the differences and learn how to bend the experience to meet your needs. If your instructor can’t name or justify their approach then you may have to step in and structure things to your advantage, or find another instructor.
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