The first major pillar of the ProficiencyBuilder Model is a widely-accepted current approach within language teaching today called communicative language teaching, or CLT, also known as the communicative approach. Since the 1990s, CLT has been widely implemented within language programs (Richards, 2006). This approach perhaps best helps learners to know how, when, and why to say what to whom, that is, "the linguistic and social knowledge required for effective interaction" (ACTFL, 1996). CLT and its theoretical underpinnings are critical in ensuring that language acquisition is happening within the classroom.

 

Language classrooms using CLT often (Lee, VanPaten, 2003):

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• Are taught by credentialed, experienced language teachers

• Exclusively use the target language

• Consistently provide learners contextualized, simplified, and level-appropriate reading and listening (comprehensible input)

• Provide opportunities for spontaneous language production in writing and speaking (comprehensible output)

• Engage learners in meaningful social interaction

• Allow for negotiation of meaning 

• Integrate the four language domains (listening, speaking, reading, writing)

• Base curriculum, instruction, and assessment in real-world, authentic situations

• Use motivating authentic materials

• Create a low anxiety classroom environment

• Balance fluency with accuracy

• May teach grammar inductively over deductively

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It's not really a surprise, I suppose, that many language classrooms today already use CLT. I've been using CLT for years. Most world language instructors have most likely had significant exposure to CLT principles. If that's true for you, then you can essentially just keep doing what you're doing. If you are unfamiliar with CLT, you'll definitely want to learn more. Without it, development of students' language proficiency isn't maximized and language acquisition occurs randomly or only with the most motivated of students.

 

To learn more about CLT, click here. 

 

So, let's continue to the more unique part of the ProficiencyBuilder Model: notions of competency-based education (CBE).

 

Click below to read Part II.