CLT questionnaire

Chapter 14: CLT

1. Describe the background of CLT in a few words.

2. What did Chomsky demonstrate in his book Syntactic Structures (1957)?

3. Apart from the aspect Chomsky pointed out, what other fundamental dimension of language was not properly taken into consideration before CLT?

4. How were the changing educational realities in Europe meaningful?

5.  What does this approach aim to do? 

6. Distinguish between the weak and the strong  versions of CLT. 

7.  Classify: Audioingualism or Communicative Language Teaching?

i)       Meaning is paramount.

ii)    Language learning is learning structures, sound or words.

iii)  Language learning is learning to communicate.

iv)   Grammatical explanation is avoided.

v)     The use of the student’s mother tongue is forbidden.

vi)   Drilling may occur, but peripherally.

vii)Any device that helps the learners is accepted.

viii)         The target linguistic system will be learned best through the process of struggling to communicate.

ix)   Linguistic competence is the desired goal.

x)     Communicative competence is the desired goal.

xi)   Errors must be prevented at all costs.

xii)Language is created by the individual, often through trial and error.

      8. Compare Chomsky’s and Hymes’ views as regards competence.

      9. Apart from Hymes’, whose theory of communication was favored in CLT? Describe briefly.

      10.  Does CLT have  a rich theoretical base? Explain.

      11.  What elements of an underlying theory of learning can you mention? Do these elements refer to the conditions needed to acquire language or to processes?

     12.    Is Krashen directly associated with CLT? Describe Krashen’s theory briefly.

     13.  What general objectives are proposed in CLT?

     14. Why can’t more specific objectives be prescribed?

     15.  Is specification of syllabus an important aspect of CLT? How so?

     16.   What characteristics should be met by exercises and activities to be suitable for CLT?

     17.   How would you describe the role of the learner?

     18.  What roles should teachers fulfill within a CLT approach? 

    19. What does a needs analyst have to do? How?

    20  What is the role of instructional material?

    21.    What three types of materials are used at present? Describe each briefly.

    22.   If you had to use one word to describe CLT, what word would you use?

    23.   What principles does CLT refer to?

    24.   Why was CLT adopted so rapidly?

    25.   “In some sense, then, almost all of the newer teaching proposals […] claim to incorporate principles associated with CLT”… How does each differentiate itself from others?