Communicative Skills (1)

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What iscommunicative

ability?Littlewood, W. (1996 ). What's communicative ability. En W. Littlewood, Communicative Language

Teaching (págs. 0-0). UK: Cambridge University Press.

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Structural and functional

views of language• Structural

• Grammatical system, describing ways inwhich linguistic items can be combined.

• The sentence structure is stable and

straightforward

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Structural and functional

views of language

• Functional

• Meaning

• The communicative function is variable and

depends on specific situational and social

factors

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•  A single linguistic form can express a number of 

functions

•  A single communicative function can be expressed

by a number of linguistic forms

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ree aspec s ounderstanding functional

meaning• The ability to understand linguistic structures and

vocabulary

• Knowledge of the potential communicative functions of 

linguistic forms

•The ability to relate the linguistic forms to appropriate

nonlinguistic knowledge, in order to interpret the specific

functional meaning intended by the speaker 

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Social meaning

• Interpretation of the social situation

• The social situation determines the nature of the

language

•The language can help determine the social

atmosphere of the situation

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Relating forms to

meaning

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Techniques

• These techniques are used to

enable students to acquire linguisticforms and relate them to

communicative function,

nonlinguistic reality and socialcontext.

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Structural practice

• Focus attention sharply and unambiguously on an

important feature of the structural system

• Prompt: John has written the letter 

• Response: He wrote it yesterday.

• P: John has seen the film.

• R: He saw it yesterday.

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Relating structure to

communicative function• Learners must make linguistic choices that are not

mechanical but correspond do specific meanings to be

conveyed

• P: By the way, has john written the letter yet?

• R: Yes, he wrote it yesterday.

• P: Ha he seen the film yet?

• R: Yes he saw it yesterday.

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Relating language

to specific meanings• The learner adapts his language so that it reflects

some aspect of non linguistic reality, such as theconcrete situation, a picture or personal knowledge

• P: Shall we go to the cinema?

• R: Oh no, I don’t feel like going to the cinema. Or  The cinema? Yes, that’s a good idea.

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usocial context

• Students must learn to relate language to the social

meanings that it carries and to use it as a vehicle

for social interaction.

• Learners begin to interact as equal partners in a

exchange.

• S1: Which one do you prefer, tea or coffee?

• S2: I prefer tea.

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Social Interaction

activities

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Social interaction

activities• Learners must pay greater attention to the social as well as the

functional meaning that language conveys.

• The classroom is also a real social context in its own right

• Using the foreign language for classroom management

• Using the foreign language as a teaching medium

• Conversation or discussion sessions

• Basing dialogues and role plays on school experience

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Simulation and role-playing

• The learner’s focus should be more firmly on the

communication of meaning

• Learners must identify with their roles in theinteraction more deeply

• Learners must create the interaction themselves,

on the basis of their roles and the meaning that

arise

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Continuum which links pre-

communicative and

communicative activities

• Control

• Creativity

• Performing

memorized dialogues

• Contextualised drills

• Cued dialogues

• Role-playing

• Improvisation

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Communicativeactivities: some

general

considerations

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Purpose of 

communicative activities• They provide “whole-task practice” 

• They improve motivation

• They allow natural learning

• They can create a context which supports learning

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• When using Functional communicationactivities and social interaction activities

the learner has to activate and integrate

his pre-communicative knowledge and

skills, in order to use them for the

communication of meanings. Students

are therefore now engaged in practicing

the total skills of communication.