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Date Posted: 18:29:55 04/12/07 Thu
Author: Andrea Gomes de Faria
Subject: Re: Task One Group Two
In reply to: Clarissa Azeredo 's message, "Re: Task One Group Two" on 04:24:58 04/11/07 Wed

Peer editing of Clarissa’s essay

The contrasts between the Audiolingual Method and the Communicative Approach in the process of language teaching

“A perennial stimulus for change in language education has been a dissatisfaction with the results obtained by traditional methods” / Sp (Nuan 1999) /. / Q - Wvf Researches have shown / that the communicative approach /Wvf is been / / Ww wide / accepted in the teaching field. According to this / Bw theory /, in the process of language teaching it is necessary to concentrate / Ww in / Bw providing students / communicative proficiency rather than focus predominantly on students’ / Ww domination /of structures. Since then, / ORDER OF PHRASES or P the contrast between the Audiolingual Method and the Communicative Approach in the process of teaching English as a second language was established./

The Audiolingual Method / Wvf focus / mainly on form and structures rather than meaning, / V connector / X the / language learning is mainly the learning of structures. It requires from the students memorization of structure-based dialogues as well as / Ww presents V drills / as a central technique. The classes are / P teacher centered / and language items are presented to the students / Be without context /. When / ORDER OF PHRASES it is given too much priority in the teaching of forms and structures /, according to Swan (2002) / P / the students “know the main rules, can pass tests, and may have the illusion that they know the language well. However, when it comes to using the language in practice, they discover that they lack vital elements…” That is, the students are not able to communicate fluently, to use language in their real world.

/ X The / Communicative Language Teaching, which begun in Britain in the late 1960s, when the theory underlying / X the / Audiolingualism started to be rejected, presents the idea of language as communication. This approach differs from the audiolingual method in many aspects / V as /: the / Bw predomination / of meaning in the process of teaching, the focus on communicative functions in the dialogues, the important and vital role of contextualization, among others. Teachers in communicative classrooms will find themselves talking less and listening more--becoming active facilitators of their students' learning (Larsen-Freeman, 1986). These are some reasons for the wide acceptance of the Communicative Approach in the teaching field.

In conclusion, the main focus concerning language teaching / Bw would / be / Wvf provide / students / V / the opportunity / Ww of / communicate, to allow them to use the language in the real world. Since a language is not just “a list of grammatical patterns and a collection of words”(Nunan, 1999), but a tool of communication, the purpose of the Communicative Approach is, through meaningful and contextualized situations, / Wvf or V allow /students to communicate through the language that is / Wvf been / taught.

Comments and suggestions:
- Introduction: The objective of the essay seems clear and relevant. The type of introduction chosen (relevant quotation + funnel) is effective for the purpose of the essay. However, I’m not sure I could locate a thesis statement with a debatable argument in it. The impression I got after reading the first paragraph was that the essay would be an informative, not an argumentative one. After reading the whole essay though, and especially the conclusion, the impression I got was that you wanted to say that CLT, as an approach to language teaching, is more efficient and appropriate than the Audiolingual Method. You could make this opinion clear in the first paragraph, using it as a thesis statement, especially because of your conclusion, which points out that CLT is an approach that represents what language teaching believes in and wants to achieve. Apart from this, I think the transition between the citation and the following sentence could be less abrupt. I suggest you mention something around the idea that it was because of such dissatisfaction with traditional methods that approaches like CLT were developed and became so popular.

- Developmental Paragraphs: I think they were well-developed and provided a good and concise overview of the two approaches presented in the introduction.

- Conclusion: If you used SHOULD instead of WOULD in the first sentence of your conclusion, you would state an opinion about language teaching as a whole, and also justify why you think CLT is the approach that meets the demands of language teaching today. By using a clear thesis statement in the introduction and wrapping up your essay with a restatement either of your thesis or the main points discussed, you would make your essay sound more like an argumentative essay. Finally, I suggest you mention again, at least briefly but directly, the Audiolingual Method, since your text was based on a comparison. This could contribute to unity and coherence, in my opinion.

- Transitional Signals: I believe they were well used and appropriate to show the relationships between ideas.

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Replies:

  • Re: Task One Group Two -- Francidéa Freitas, 04:55:00 04/16/07 Mon
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