Goals for Communicative Language Teaching

To learn a foreign language, there are many different kinds of teaching methods - from complete
immersion where the student never hears or reads anything in their native language, to a grammatical approach where speaking is not emphasized. The approach that best fits our volunteer model is the Communicative approach, which puts the emphasis on learning how to use language to accomplish a certain function such as asking for directions, or leading a tour.


Keep the following points in mind when practicing English at your placement and in the community. Improvement in any of these areas is a great accomplishment!

1. Participation. Make sure that topics are appropriate, and that it is a comfortable environment by being constructive — it’s important that everyone feels comfortable speaking with you.
2. Interaction. Learners should speak with you and each other. The more practice, the better.
3. Fluency. Fluency in this case means that the learner can speak their mind, without long pauses or giving up. It is less important to be grammatically perfect than to carry a conversation.
4. Confidence. It does not matter how well the learner can understand and speak English, if they are not confident in doing so. Build confidence by encouraging participation.
5. Communication. Help students understand others ways to communicate — using gestures, asking for clarification or repetition, and knowing how to describe things without exact words.