Role of a Teacher in CLT

This article discusses the role of a teacher in Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and the various sub roles they have in facilitating communication and providing guidance in the classroom. It also explores the differences between the role of a student in CLT and the audio lingual method. Additionally, it discusses the preferred methodology for teaching communicative skills to a group of teenagers in an EFL class. Lastly, it provides information on evaluating textbooks and the process of planning, preparing, and administering tests.

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Student Name
Institution
Course
Date

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Topic 2: Methodologies
a) The role of a teacher in CLT (350 words)
CLT is a teaching approach that mainly uses interactions as means of study. A teacher has
two main roles in Communicative language teaching. These are, to facilitate the process of
communication between the participants in the class and to be an independent participant
within the learning-teaching group (Ozsevik, 2010).
There are several sub roles for the teacher. These include being an organizer of resources
or being a resource on himself or herself, being a researcher and a learner and providing a
guide to the classroom activities and procedures (Chang, 2011). As a researcher and learner,
the teacher needs to contribute his knowledge, ability and experience on the nature of
language learning and organizational capacities. Other sub roles include being a need analyst,
a group process manager and a counsellor too.
In being a counsellor for instance, the teacher makes use of paraphrase, feedback and
confirmation to provide a suitable example of an effective communicator who is seeking to
maximize the ability of the speaker and the hearer to have a similar interpretation of the
communicated message. As a group process manager, the teacher’s role is to make sure that
the classroom is well organized as a setting for communication and communicative activities.
During these activities the teacher keeps track of any inclinations in grammar, lexis and
strategy which he keeps notes on for later communicative practice and commentary. At the
end of these activities, it is the teacher’s role to lead the group in debriefing the activity and
providing an assistance in self-correction discussions. The last role of a teacher in
Communicative Language teaching is to act as a need analyst. Here, the teacher identifies and
responds to the learner’s language needs. This is done through a one to one discussion session
with the student where the two talk about the student’s perception of his learning goals,

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learning styles and the learning assets. These assessments would then help in determining the
student’s level of motivation in studying the language.
b) How the role of a student in CLT is different from that in audio lingual method (300
words)
There are several differences in the roles between a student in CLT and a student in the
audio-lingual teaching method. In the audio-lingual method, the student is only supposed to
get directions from a skilled trainer with techniques to produce correct response and mastery
(Woods& Çakır, 2011). Here, the student therefore has a little control over the content and
style of learning since he or she only plays the role of responding to stimuli. The student is
expected to accurately imitate the instructor by listening responding and performing the
controlled tasks (Zhang & Li, 2010). On the other hand, a student in CLT learns in an
interdependent way. He can negotiate in the learning process and the objectives of learning
are as a result of joint negotiations within the group and within the activities and procedures
that the group is undertaking (Ju, 2013).
Other differences include the fact that the audio-lingual method requires a student to
become an expert in that particular language while in CLT, the student is only required to
make use of the language in effective communication (Ngoc & Iwashita, 2012). Another
difference is that in Audio lingual method, the student is just an imitator who apart from
imitating, is expected to accurately and rapidly respond and therefore such a student is only
motivated by his or her interest in the language structure (Littlewood, 2014). Contrary, a CLT
student is motivated by the interest to learn what is communicated by the language. In CLT,
there are no text or grammar rules. Here students are not expected to frequently interact with
the teacher but rather, with each other. The students are made to see that a failed

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communication is as a result of both the speaker and the listener and likewise, a successful
communication is a joint achievement.
c) The methodology that I would prefer to teach communicative skills to a group of teen
agers in an EFL class (350 words)
In this case, I would use the Communicative language Methodology. There are several
reasons that would make me choose this method. First, is the method is student centred and
task oriented (Mak, 2011). It provides students with realistic communication skills which
help them to be successful in that particular language. It also makes students find the
importance of learning since it provides them with knowledge on the use of communication
in the real life. The use of scenarios in this method enable the students to comprehend the
message even if they do not completely understand the language. This therefore encourages
the new learners who are prone to loosing concentration and diverts their attention making
them try to listen, stay focused and participate in the class.
CLT is also very appropriate for a group of teens who can get distracted easily. This is
because the method is less stressful. It only emphasizes on role plays and discussions which
can capture the students interests and make them get involved in the learning process.
Besides, CLT does not lay focus on the accuracy but rather on the ability to communicate in
that language (Loveless, 2012). This makes it easier for students to have an interest in
learning.
Another reason is that in CLT the teacher is allowed to use any devices that would aid in
the learning process. This freedom therefore allows the teacher to use various devices such as
games that would obviously attract the teenagers and hence facilitating the learning of the
language.

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Lastly, CLT with its emphasis on the grammatical accuracy, languages form,
appropriateness of the language use, communication skills the training students get in
communicative activities does not only help one in effectively communicating in English but
also in understanding and interpreting the message.
Topic 3: Tests and evaluations
a) Self-evaluation form for teachers.
Teacher’s evaluation form.
Teacher’s name:
Subject:
Date:
Student’s level:
Rating key.
1- Very poor
2- Poor
3- Average
4- Good

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5- Very good
5 4 3 2 1
Punctuality -
including
coming and
leaving the
class on time
Presentability-
Neatness and
appropriateness
of the dressing
code
Content
mastery and
delivery
Quality of the
relationship
with the
students
Student testing
and evaluation-
Includes
quality and
relevance of
the tests.

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Overall rating
of the Teacher.
Comments:___________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________
b) Factors that one should keep in mind before evaluating a textbook (500 words)
There are several primary and secondary factors that one should consider when evaluating
a book. The primary ones include its tittle, authors, price, publisher and the publishing date,
its physical size and its target skill. These would give the evaluator a rough idea about the
book. The secondary factors that are more essential in the evaluation of a textbook are its
availability, its rationale, its graphics and layout, its accessibility and many other factors
which are discussed below (Richards & Rodgers, 2014).
 Availability- one should determine whether it is easy to obtain sample copies and
support materials for this book. The books publisher should also be available for
contacting on issues to do with clarifications of the content.
 Accessibility- This refers to whether the book is clearly organized such that students
can easily locate materials in the text. It includes the availability of vocabulary list,
section headings and indexes

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 Rationale- This refers to why the book was written and its major objective in fulfilling
the class requirements
 Layout- Refers to whether the book has an optimum density mix of graphic material
and text, the presence of appealing, functional and colorful artwork.
 User definition- whether the book has specified the target age culture and background
and has also provided its learning expectations.
 Linkage- Are the units and the exercises in the book logically arranged such that they
are connected in terms of the theme, skill development patterns and the grammatical
progression.
 Physical characteristics of the book- Is the book too large or heavy, are there any
spaces provided to write within the book?
 Authenticity- How realistic is the content in the book?
 Sufficiency- Is the book complete enough to stand on its own?
 Educational validity. This refers to whether the book takes into account the broader
educational goals and concerns.
 Flexibility- It refers to whether the book can be easily modified to suit the prevailing
or local circumstances
 Appropriacy- Is the books content interesting enough to capture the attention of the
students?
 Cultural bias- One should check whether the book has been sensitive to the religious
and cultural differences in the society. Does it consider the differences in race, gender
social class or nationality?

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 Guidance- Does the book provide useful teacher’s notes? Does the book provide any
advice on how to supplement the course book?
 Overall cost of the book- Here, one should to consider the cost of the book and how
easy it is to use the book.
The above factors would help one to select the most appropriate textbook to use in
teaching.
c) An essay on planning, preparing and administering tests (500 words)
Testing and evaluations involve three major steps which include planning,
preparing and administering. In planning, the evaluators should first make sure that
they have developed well written and measurable learning objectives. This would
make the test planning easy. These learning objectives would then be used in the
development of a test blue print that highlights the topics that the test would
examine. The topics to be tested should be relevant to the course and the coverage
of different topics should be based on their importance or weight. More important
topics should have a greater coverage while the less important ones should receive
less attention in the test. The duration for the test is then determined by the type
and number of questions asked. For instance, multiple choice questions should be
allocated less time than the essay questions. After this, the instructor may compare
his or her blue print to a standard one in order to establish the quality of the test.
The last step in planning is to write down the proposed questions.
The second step involves preparing the test which includes making a
comparison of your blue print with the several test items given out by the
publisher. This helps one to access whether there is anything from these items that

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can be added into the assessment. In writing down the test, simpler and then
progress to complex questions Similar questions should be grouped together. The
directions for recording the answers and the score for each answer should be
indicated. The questions should be appropriately spaced and a clear language
should be used. This enhances the reading level of the student. Enough space for
answering the questions should be provided. Lastly, proofread the test and have it
reviewed by a different person to minimise errors.
The last step is administering. One should bear in mind that the method of
administration affects the student’s performance. Before the test, any unnecessary
directions that might instil anxiety in the students should be avoided. One should
instead tell the students the time allowed for the test and inform them on the
various ways to signal him or her in case of a concern during the exam or when a
student wants to hand over the paper. After distribution of the papers, the
instructor should remind the students to write down their names and admission
numbers and to check whether the test paper has all the questions. During the test,
one should avoid unnecessary distractions like frequently walking around the
examination room. One should also give warnings on cheating and update the
students on the time remaining. After the tests, the papers should be timely marked
and returned to students for revision. The above entails successful planning,
preparing and administering tests.
References
Chang, M. (2011). EFL teachers’ attitudes toward communicative language teaching in
Taiwanese college. Asian EFL Journal, 53(2), 17-34.

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Ju, F. A. (2013). Communicative Language Teaching (CLT): A Critical and Comparative
Perspective. Theory & Practice in Language Studies, 3(9),890.
Littlewood, W. (2014). Communication-oriented language teaching: Where are we now?
Where do we go from here?. Language Teaching, 47(3), 349-362.
Loveless, T. (2012). How well are American students learning. The Brown Center Report on
Education,7(3),123.
Mak, S. H. Y. (2011). Tensions between conflicting beliefs of an EFL teacher in teaching
practice. RELC Journal, 42(1), 53-67.
NGOC, K. M., & Iwashita, N. O. R. I. K. O. (2012). A comparison of learners' and teachers'
attitudes toward communicative language teaching at two universities in
Vietnam. University of Sydney Papers in TESOL, 7.67-90.
Ozsevik, Z. (2010). The use of communicative language teaching (CLT): Turkish EFL
teachers' perceived difficulties in implementing CLT in Turkey,6(45),45.
Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2014). Approaches and methods in language teaching,6th
edition. Cambridge university press.
Woods, D., & Çakır, H. (2011). Two dimensions of teacher knowledge: The case of
communicative language teaching. System, 39(3), 381-390.
Zhang, G. X., & Li, L. M. (2010). Chinese language teaching in the UK: Present and
future. Language Learning Journal, 38(1), 87-97.