o   What are the major principles of Communicative Language Learning? Give example to support your answer.

“Language is the blood of the soul into which thoughts run and out of which they

Grow”

Ø Introduction:

‘Community Language Learning’ or ‘Counseling Language Learning’ was created by Charles A Curran, a Jesuit priest and professor of psychology, and Paul La Forge inspired by the humanistic psychology of Carl Rogers. Curran's counsel-learning theory relies heavily from Carl Rogers' view of counsel: an openness and innovative view of allowing man to create his own learning and knowledge path. Community Language Learning originates from the field of psychology, it stems from a psychological view of man and man's nature of learning. Curran outlines the ideology of learning as an Application of Community Language Learning for Effective Teaching P.Nagaraj interrelated process of an entire person which was not traditionally accepted. The accepted psychological view of man's learning was segmented until Curran's time. Hence CLL approach to language teaching aims to remove the anxiety from learning by changing the relationship between the teacher and student.

Ø Definition:

‘Community language learning’ is an approach in which students work together to develop what aspects of a language they would like to learn. The teacher acts as a counselor and a paraphrase, while the learner acts as a collaborator, although sometimes this role can be changed.

Ø Historical roots:

The age of audiolingualism, with its emphasis on surface forms and on the rote practice of patterns, began to wane when the Chomskyan revolution in linguistics turned linguists and language teachers towards the “deep structure” of language. Psychologists began to recognize the fundamentally affective and interpersonal nature of language learning. The decade of the 1970s was a chaotic but exceedingly fruitful era during which L2 learning and teaching increasingly recognized the importance of the affective domain, hence the birth of an affectively based teaching method—the community language learning method (CLL).

Ø Principles of the ‘Community language learning’:

Principle	Observation
Building a relationship with and among students is very important.	the teacher greets the students, introduces himself, and has the students introduce themselves.
Any ne learning experience can be threatening. When students have an idea of what will happen in each activity, they often feel more secure. People learn nondefensively when they feel secure.	The teacher tells the students what they are going to do that evening. He explains the procedure of the first activity and sets a time limit.
Language is for communication.	Students have a conversation.
The superior knowledge and power of the teacher can be threatening. If the teacher does not remain in the front of the classroom, the threat is reduced and the students’ learning is facilitated. Also this fosters interaction among students, rather than from student to teacher.	The teacher stands behind the students.
The teacher should be sensitive to students’ level of confidence and give them just what they need to be successful.	The teacher translates what the students want to say in chunks.
Students feel more secure when they know the limits of an activity.	The teacher tells them that they have only a few minutes remaining for the conversation.
Teacher and students are whole persons. Sharing about their learning experience allows learners to get to know one another and to build community.	Students are invited to talk about how they felt during the conversation.
Guided by the knowledge that each learner is unique, the teacher creates an accepting atmosphere. Learners feel free to lower their defenses and the learning experience becomes less threatening.	The teacher accepts what each students says.
The teacher ‘counsels’ the students. He does not offer advice, but rather shows them that he is really listening to them and understands what they are saying. By understanding how students feel, the teacher can help students gain insights into their own learning process as well as transform their negative feelings, which might otherwise block their learning.	The teacher understands what the students say.
The students’ native language is used to make the meaning clear and to build a bridge from the known to the unknown. Students feel more secure when they understand everything.	The students listen to the tape and give the direct translation.
The teacher should take the responsibility for clearly structuring activities in the most appropriate way possible for successful completion of an activity.	The teacher asks the students to form a semicircle in front of the blackboard so they can see easily.
Learning at the beginning stages is facilitated if students attend to one task at a time.	The teacher reassures the students that they will have time later on to copy the sentences.
The teacher encourages student initiative and independence, but does not let students flounder in uncomfortable silence.	The teacher asks the students to give the target equivalents as he points to different phrases in the transcript phrases in the transcript. He points to the first phrase and pauses; if no one volunteers the meaning, he writes it himself.
Students need quite reflection time in order to learn.	The teacher reads the transcript three times. The students relax and listen.
Students learn best when they have a choice in what they practice. Students develop an inner wisdom about where they need to work. If students feel in control, they can take more responsibility for their own learning.	In the Human Computer`TM activity, the students choose which phrase they want to practice pronouncing; the teacher, following the student’s lead, repeats the phrase until the learner is satisfied and stops.
Students need to learn to discriminate, for example, in perceiving the similarities and differences among the target language forms.	The students learn to listen carefully to see if what they say matches what the teacher is saying.
In groups, students can begin to feel a sense of community and can learn from each other as well as the teacher. Cooperation, not competition, is encouraged.	Students work together in groups of three.
The teacher should work in a nonthreatening way with what the learner has produced.	The teacher corrects by repeating correctly the sentence the students have created.
Developing a community among the class members builds trust and can help to reduce the threat of the new learning situation.	The students read their sentences to the other members of the class.
Learning tends not to take place when the material is too new or, conversely, too familiar. Retention will best take place somewhere in between novelty and familiarity.	The teacher plays the tape two more times while the students listen.
In addition to reflecting on the language, students reflect on what they have experienced. In this way, they have an opportunity to learn about the language, their own learning, and how to learn from one another in community.	The students are once again invited to talk about the experience they have had that evening.
In the beginning stages, the ‘syllabus’ is generated primarily by the students. Students are more willing to learn when they have created the material themselves.	Other activities with the transcript of the first conversation occur. Then, the learners have a new conversation.

Ø Five Stages of CLL

"In order for any learning to take place ... what is first needed is for the members to

Interact in an interpersonal relationship in which students and teacher join together to Facilitate learning in a context of valuing and prizing each individual in the group"

The learner passes through five psychological stages as learning progresses, which

Curran compares to the progressing from childhood to adulthood.

·         Birth: The learners know nothing of the target language, and are completely

Dependent on the teacher for everything they want to say.

·         Self: The learners start to get an idea of how the language works and to use it for themselves, but still seek the teacher’s help.

·         Separate Existence: They start to use the language without referring to the teacher.

·         Adolescence: The learners continue to express themselves independently, but being Aware of gaps in their knowledge, and start to turn back to the teacher.

·         Independence:  The learners continue their learning independently. They no longer Need the teacher, and may start to act as counselors for less advanced students.

Ø Typical Techniques:

‘Larsen-Freeman’, in her book ‘Techniques and principle in Language Teaching’ (1986;45-47) provides expanded descriptions of some common/typical techniques closely associated with the ‘Communicative Language Learning’. The listing here is in summary form only.

1)   Tape recording student conversation:

(This is a technique used to record student-generated language as well as give the opportunity for community learning to come about. By giving students the choice about what to say and when to say, students are in a good position to take responsibility for their own learning.)

2)   Transcription:

(The teacher transcribes the students’ tape-recorded target language conversation. Each student is given the opportunity to translate his or her utterances and the teacher writes the native language equivalent beneath the target language words.)

3)   Reflection on experience:

(In this technique students give their reactions, the teacher understands them- shows that he has listened carefully by giving an appropriate understanding response to what the students said.)

4)   Reflective listening:

(The students relax and listen to their own voices speaking the target language on the tape.)

5)   Human Computer`tm:

(A student chooses some part of the transcript to practice pronouncing. She is ‘in control’ of the teacher when she tries to say the word or phrase.)

6)   Small group tasks:

(There are a lot of different activities that could occur with students working in small groups.)

Ø Conclusion:

Community Language Learning is the most responsive of the methods which is reviewed in terms of its sensitivity to learned communicative intent. It is applied in various settings; it is used as an aid for language learning, under the radar, academically. The value of CLL has been its emphasis on whole-person learning; the role of a supportive, non-judgmental teacher; the passing of responsibility for learning to the learners. The teacher must also be relatively non-directive and must be prepared to accept and even encourage the adolescent aggression of the learner as he or she strives for independence.