Editing Communicative language teaching (section)

==Classroom activities==
CLT teachers choose classroom activities based on what they believe  will be most effective for students developing communicative abilities in the target language (TL). Oral activities are popular among CLT teachers compared to grammar drills or reading and writing activities, because they include active conversation and creative, unpredicted responses from students. Activities vary based on the level of language class they are used in. They promote collaboration, fluency, and comfort in the TL. The six activities listed and explained below are commonly used in CLT classrooms.<ref name=":0"/>

=== Role-play ===
Role-play is an oral activity usually done in pairs, whose main goal is to develop students' communicative abilities in a certain setting.<ref name=":0"/>

Example:
# The instructor sets the scene: where is the conversation taking place? (E.g., in a café, in a park, etc.)
# The instructor defines the goal of the students' conversation. (E.g., the speaker is asking for directions, the speaker is ordering coffee, the speaker is talking about a movie they recently saw, etc.)
# The students converse in pairs for a designated amount of time.
This activity gives students the chance to improve their communication skills in the TL in a low-pressure situation. Most students are more comfortable speaking in pairs rather than in front of the entire class.<ref name=":0" />

Instructors need to be aware of the differences between a conversation and an utterance. Students may use the same utterances repeatedly when doing this activity and not actually have a creative conversation. If instructors do not regulate what kinds of conversations students are having, then the students might not be truly improving their communication skills.<ref name=":0" />

=== Interviews ===
An interview is an oral activity done in pairs, whose main goal is to develop students' interpersonal skills in the TL.<ref name=":05">{{Cite book|title=Communicative Language Teaching in Action: Putting Principles to Work|last=Brandl|first=Klaus|publisher=Phil Miller|year=2007|isbn=978-0-13-157906-4|location=Upper Saddle River, NJ|pages=284–297}}</ref>

Example:
# The instructor gives each student the same set of questions to ask a partner.
# Students take turns asking and answering the questions in pairs.
This activity, since it is highly structured, allows for the instructor to more closely monitor students' responses. It can zone in on one specific aspect of grammar or vocabulary, while still being a primarily communicative activity and giving the students communicative benefits.<ref name=":05"/>

This is an activity that should be used primarily in the lower levels of language classes, because it will be most beneficial to lower-level speakers. Higher-level speakers should be having unpredictable conversations in the TL, where neither the questions nor the answers are scripted or expected. If this activity were used with higher-level speakers it wouldn't have many benefits.<ref name=":05"/>

=== Group work ===
Group work is a collaborative activity whose purpose is to foster communication in the TL, in a larger group setting.<ref name=":05"/>

Example:
# Students are assigned a group of no more than six people.
# Students are assigned a specific role within the group. (E.g., member A, member B, etc.)
# The instructor gives each group the same task to complete.
# Each member of the group takes a designated amount of time to work on the part of the task to which they are assigned.
# The members of the group discuss the information they have found, with each other and put it all together to complete the task.
Students can feel overwhelmed in language classes, but this activity can take away from that feeling. Students are asked to focus on one piece of information only, which increases their comprehension of that information. Better comprehension leads to better communication with the rest of the group, which improves students' communicative abilities in the TL.<ref name=":05"/>

Instructors should be sure to monitor that each student is contributing equally to the group effort. It takes a good instructor to design the activity well, so that students will contribute equally, and benefit equally from the activity.<ref name=":05"/>

=== Information gap ===
[[Information gap activity|Information gap]] is a collaborative activity, whose purpose is for students to effectively obtain information that was previously unknown to them, in the TL.<ref name=":6">{{Cite book|title=Communicative Language Teaching Today|last=Richards|first=Jack|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2006|isbn=978-0-521-92512-9|location=USA|pages=14–21}}</ref>

Example:
# The class is paired up. One partner in each pair is Partner A, and the other is Partner B.
# All the students that are Partner A are given a sheet of paper with a time-table on it. The time-table is filled in half-way, but some of the boxes are empty.
# All the students that are Partner B are given a sheet of paper with a time-table on it. The boxes that are empty on Partner A's time-table are filled in on Partner B's. There are also empty boxes on Partner B's time-table, but they are filled in on Partner A's.
# The partners must work together to ask about and supply each other with the information they are both missing, to complete each other's time-tables.
Completing information gap activities improves students' abilities to communicate about unknown information in the TL. These abilities are directly applicable to many real-world conversations, where the goal is to find out some new piece of information, or simply to exchange information.<ref name=":6"/>

Instructors should not overlook the fact that their students need to be prepared to communicate effectively for this activity. They need to know certain vocabulary words, certain structures of grammar, etc. If the students have not been well prepared for the task at hand, then they will not communicate effectively.<ref name=":6" />

=== Opinion sharing ===
Opinion sharing is a content-based activity, whose purpose is to engage students' conversational skills, while talking about something they care about.<ref name=":6"/>

Example:
# The instructor introduces a topic and asks students to contemplate their opinions about it. (E.g., dating, school dress codes, global warming)
# The students talk in pairs or small groups, debating their opinions on the topic.
Opinion sharing is a great way to get more introverted students to open up and share their opinions. If a student has a strong opinion about a certain topic, then they will speak up and share.<ref name=":6" />

Respect is key with this activity. If a student does not feel like their opinion is respected by the instructor or their peers, then they will not feel comfortable sharing, and they will not receive the communicative benefits of this activity.<ref name=":6" />

=== Scavenger hunt ===
A scavenger hunt is a mingling activity that promotes open interaction between students.<ref name=":05"/>

Example:
# The instructor gives students a sheet with instructions on it. (e.g. Find someone who has a birthday in the same month as yours.)
# Students go around the classroom asking and answering questions about each other.
# The students wish to find all of the answers they need to complete the scavenger hunt.
In doing this activity, students have the opportunity to speak with a number of classmates, while still being in a low-pressure situation, and talking to only one person at a time. After learning more about each other, and getting to share about themselves, students will feel more comfortable talking and sharing during other communicative activities.<ref name=":05" />

Since this activity is not as structured as some of the others, it is important for instructors to add structure. If certain vocabulary should be used in students' conversations, or a certain grammar is necessary to complete the activity, then instructors should incorporate that into the scavenger hunt.<ref name=":05" />