Communicative Language Learning

Introduction

The Community Language Learning Method takes its principle from the more general Counseling-Learning approach developed by Charles A.Curran. Curran studied adult learning for many years. He discovered that adults often feel threatened by a new learning situation. They are threatened by the change inherent in learning and by the fear that they will appear foolish. Curran believed that a way to deal with the fears of students is for teachers to become “language counselors.” A language counselor does not mean someone trained in psychology; it means someone who is a skillful understander of the struggle students face as they attempt to internalize another language. The teacher who can “understand” can indicate his acceptance of the student. By understanding students’ fears and being sensitive to them, he can help students overcome their negative feelings and turn them into positive energy to further their learning.

The Counceling-Learning educational model was also applied to language learning, and in this form it became known as Community Language Learning.  Based on most of the principles above, Community Language Learning seeks to encourage teachers to see their students as "whole" persons, where their feelings, intellect, interpersonal relationships, protective reactions, and desire to learn are addressed and balanced.  Students typically sit in a circle, with the teacher (as councelor) outside the ring.  They use their first language to develop an interpersonal relationship based on trust with the other students.  When a student wants to say something, they first say it in their native language, which the teacher then translates back to them using the target language.  The student then attempts to repeat the English used by the teacher, and then a student can respond using the same process.  This technique is used over a considerable period of time, until students are able to apply words in the new language without translation, gradually moving from a situtation of dependence on the teacher-councelor to a state of independence.

Community Language Learning

Community language learning (CLL) is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counsellor and a paraphraser, while the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role can be changed.

“Curran's approach is beyond simply a methodical pedagogy, but is rather a veritable philosophy of learning which provides profound, even quasi-theological reflections on humankind! It encourages holistic learning, personal growth, and self-development. Learning a language is not viewed necessarily as an individual accomplishment, but rather as a collective experience, something to be disseminated out into the community at large at a later stage in the second-language acquisition process.

The basic principle of the methodology is to establish interpersonal relationships between the teacher and learners to facilitate learning. Community Language Learning was designed to ease the anxiety of Foreign Language Learners in educational contexts and promote group dynamics. In CLL, the aim is to involve the learner's whole personality. The teacher understands the fears of the learner and vulnerabilities as they struggle to master another language. By being sensitive to the learner’s fear, the teacher can turn the negative energy of those fears into positive energy and enthusiasm for learning. This methodology is not based on the usual methods by which languages are taught rather the approach is patterned upon counseling techniques and adapted to the peculiar anxiety and threat as well as the personal and language problems a person encounters in the learning of foreign languages. Consequently, the learner is not thought of as a student but as a client. The language-counseling relationship begins with the client's linguistic confusion and conflict. Then slowly the teacher-counselor strives to enable him to arrive at his own increasingly independent language adequacy.

Curran says there are six elements of effective learning:

1. Security.
2. Aggression, means that students should be given an opportunity to assert themselves, be actively involved, and invest themselves in the learning experience.
3. Attention, at the beginning level, students must directly focus on or attend to one task at atime, recall that the teacher in our lesson asks.
4. Reflection, occurred in two different ways in our lesson. The first was when the students reflected on the language as the teacher read the transcript three times. The second was when students were invited to stop and consider the active experience they were having.
5. Retention, the integration of the new material that takes place within your whole self.
6. Discrimination, sorting out the differencess among target language forms. We saw this element hen the students were asked to listen to the Human Computer and attempt to match their pronounciation to the computer’s.

This method advises teachers to consider their students as ‘whole persons’. Whole-person learning means that teachers consider not only their students’ intellect, but also have some understanding of the relationship among students’ feelings, physical reactions, instinctive protective reactions, and desire to learn. Community Language Learning has following principles:

1.      Building a relationship with and among students is very important.

2.   Any new learning experience can be threatening. When students have an idea of what will happen in each activity, they often feel more secure. People learn non-defensively when they feel secure.

3.      Language is for communication.

4.    The superior knowledge and power of the teacher can be threatening. If the teacher does not remain in the front of the classroom, the threat is reduced and the students’ learning is facilitated. Also this fosters interaction among students, rather than from student to teacher.

5.     The teacher should be sensitive to students’ level of confidence and give them just what they need to be successful.

6.      Students feel more secure when they know the limits of an activity.

7.  Teacher and students are whole persons. Sharing about their learning experience allows learners to get to know one another and to build community.

8.  Guided by the knowledge that each learner is unique, the teacher creates an accepting atmosphere. Learners feel free to lower their defenses and the learning experience becomes less threatening.

9.      The teacher ‘counsels’ the students. He does not offer advice, but rather shows them that he is really listening to them and understands what they are saying. By understanding how students feel. The teacher can help students gain insights into their own learning process as well as transform their negative feelings, which might otherwise block their learning.

10. The students’ native language is used to make the meaning clear and to build a bridge from the known to unknown. Students feel more secure when they understand everything.

11. The teacher should take the responsibility for clearly structuring activities in the most appropriate way possible for successful completion of an activity.

12.  Learning at the beginning stages is facilitated if students attend to one task at a time.

13.  The teacher encourages student initiative and independence, but does not let students flounder in uncomfortable silences.

14.  Students need quite reflection time in order to learn.

15. Students learn when they have a choice in what they practice. Students develop an inner wisdom about where they need to work. If students feel in control, they can take more responsibility for their own learning.

16. Students need to learn to discriminate, for example, in perceiving the similarities and differences among the target language forms.

17.  In groups, students can begin to feel a sense of community and can learn from each other as well as the teacher. Cooperation, not competition, is encouraged.

18.  The teacher should work in a non-threatening way with what the learner has produced.

19.  Developing a community among the class members builds trust and can help to reduce the threat of the new learning situation.

20.  Learning tends not to take place when the material is too new or, conversely, too familiar. Retention will best take place somewhere in between novelty and familiarity.

21.  In addition to reflecting on the language, students reflect on what they have experienced. In this way, they have an opportunity to learn about the language, their own learning, and how to learn from one another in community.

22.  In the beginning stages, the ‘syllabus’ is generated primarily by the students. Students are more willing to learn when they have created the material themselves.

Objectives

The Community Language Learning method does not just attempt to teach students how to use another language communicative, it also tries to encourage the students to take increasingly more responsibility for their own learning, and to "learn about their learning", so to speak.  Learning in a non defensive manner is considered to be very important, with teacher and student regarding each other as a "whole person" where intellect and ability are not separated from feelings.  The initial struggles with learning the new language are addressed by creating an environment of mutual support, trust and understanding between both learner-clients and the teacher-counselor.

Key Features of Community Language Learning

The Community Language Learning method involves some of the following features:

1.      Students are to be considered as "learner-clients" and the teacher as a "teacher-councelor".

2.       A relationship of mutual trust and support is considered essential to the learning process.

3.     Students are permitted to use their native language, and are provided with translations from the teacher which they then attempt to apply.

4.      Grammar and vocabulary are taught inductively.

5.     "Chunks" of target language produced by the students are recorded and later listened to - they are also transcribed with native language equivalents to become texts the students work with.

6.  Students apply the target language independently and without translation when they feel inclined/confident enough to do so.

7.    Students are encouraged to express not only how they feel about the language, but how they feel about the learning process, to which the teacher expresses empathy and understanding.

8.   A variety of activities can be included (for example, focusing on a particular grammar or pronunciation point, or creating new sentences based on the recordings/transcripts).

Typical Techniques

Larsen-Freeman, in her book Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching (1986:45-47) provides expanded descriptions of some common/typical techniques closely associated with Community Language Learning.  The listing here is in summary form only.

1. Tape Recording Student Conversation

(Students choose what they want to say, and their target language production is recorded for later listening/dissemination)

2. Transcription

(Teacher produces a transcription of the tape-recorded conversation with translations in the mother language - this is then used for follow up activities or analysis)

3.  Reflection on Experience

(Teacher takes time during or after various activities to allow students to express how they feel about the language and the learning experience, and the teacher indicates empathy/understanding)

4.  Reflective Listening

(Students listen to their own voices on the tape in a relaxed and reflective environment)

5.  Human Computer

(Teacher is a "human computer" for the students to control - the teacher stating anything in the target language the student wants to practice, giving them the opportunity to self correct)

·         teacher stands behind students 

·          teacher repeats , doesn’t correct 

·         interaction among students

·          students feel in control / responsible

6. Small Group Tasks

 (Students work in small groups to create new sentences using the transcript, afterwards sharing them with the rest of the class)

Applying Community Language Learning Today

“Community Language Teaching is not a method; it is an approach, which transcends the boundaries of concrete methods and, concomitantly, techniques. It is a theoretical position about the nature of language and language learning and teaching”

Applying CLL today to teach language broadens its appeal. There are some different techniques that have surfaced, such as: learners in conversation circle, transcription of student-generated text using technology, small group tasks, reflecting on experience, listening sessions, recordings of student-generated conversations, and transcriptions.

Games and songs complement these activities. The humanistic approach of CLL, which views learners and teachers as a community, and the teacher as a facilitator more than teacher, fits in nicely with current trends in education.

Advantages of CLL

“The strengths of the method include creating a supportive community to lower student anxiety and help them overcome threatening affective factors, such as making errors or competing with peers”

In the beginnin g of the course, the learners are totally dependent on the teacher’s translation, but over time they are able to engage in more direct communication as they move towards independence. In addition, learners are not limited in their topics of conversation, regardless of their language proficiency. Learners are free to talk about the affairs of daily life. This approach to language learning encourages the meaningful use of language which the learner can store, synthesize and use in new situations. CLL allows learners to practice the structure or characteristic patterning of sentences and conversations. Moreover, it is believed that from the teacher’s translation, learners will be able to induce a grammar far more complex than they are able to use on their own. One key reason this method seemed to work, was that it allowed the learners to continue using their L1, while promoting the L2. It is important to be aware of its existence, so that when the need arises, the strengths of CLL can be utilized.

Disadvantages of CLL

There are advantages and disadvantages to a method like CLL. The affec­tive advantages are evident. CLL is an attempt to put Carl Rogers’ philosophy into action and to overcome some of the threatening affective factors in second language learning. The threat of the all-knowing teacher, of making blunders in the foreign language in front of classmates, of competing against peers--all threats that can lead to a feeling of alienation and inadequacy are presumably removed. The counselor allows the learner to determine the type of conversation and to analyze the foreign language inductively. It is interesting to note that the teacher can also become a client at times: in situations in which explanation or translation seems to be impossible, it is often the client-learner who steps in and becomes a counselor to aid the teacher. The student-centered nature of the method can provide extrinsic motivation and capitalize on intrinsic motivation.

But there are some practical and theoretical problems with CLL. The counselor-teacher can become too non-directive. The student often needs direction, especially in the first stage, in which there is such seemingly endless struggle within the foreign language. Supportive but assertive direction from the counselor could strengthen the method. Another problem with CLL is its reliance upon an inductive strategy of learning. I have already noted in Chapter Five that deductive learning is both a viable and efficient strategy of learning, and that adults particularly can benefit from deduction as well as induction. While some intense inductive struggle is a necessary component of second language learning, the initial grueling days and weeks of floundering in ignorance in CLL could be alleviated by more directed, deductive, learning by being told. Perhaps only in the second or third stage, when the learner has moved to more independence, is an inductive strategy really successful. Finally, the success of CLL depends largely on the translation expertise of the counselor. Translation is an intricate and complex process that is often easier said than done; if subtle aspects of language are mistranslated, there could be a less than effective understanding of the target language.

      Despite its weaknesses CLL is a potentially useful method for the foreign language classroom as long as teachers are willing to adapt it to their own curricular constraints. That adaptation requires a relaxing of certain aspects of the method. For example, you might avoid the initial, complete depend­ence stage by using CLL in an intermediate language class. Or you might provide more directiveness than CLL advocates. As is the case with virtually any method, if you have solid theoretical foundations a broad, cautiously enlightened, eclectic view you can derive valuable insights from diverse points of view and apply them creatively to your own situation.

Conclusion

Community Language Learning is the most responsive of the methods which is reviewed in terms of its sensitivity to learned communicative intent. It is applied in various settings; it is used as an aid for language learning, under the radar, academically.

The value of CLL has been its emphasis on whole-person learning; the role of a supportive, non-judgmental teacher; the passing of responsibility for learning to the learners. The teacher must also be relatively non-directive and must be prepared to accept and even encourage the adolescent aggression of the learner as he or she strives for independence.

The two most basic principles which underlie the kind of learning that can take place in the Community Language Learning Methode are summed up in the following phrases: 1).”Learning is persons,” which means that both teacher and learner{s) must make a commitment of trust to one another and the learning process; and 2)”Learning is dynamic and creative, “which means that learning is a living and developmental process.

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