Communicative Language Teaching is a natural follow-on from the reaction during the 70s against previous methods which over-focused on teaching grammatical structures and template sentences, and which gave little or no importance to how language is actually used practically.
Explanation
Emphasizes the ability to communicate the meaning of the message, instead of concentrating on grammatical perfection.
The Communicative approach emphasizes the ability to communicate the message in terms of its meaning, instead of concentrating exclusively on grammatical perfection or phonetics. Therefore, the understanding of the second language is evaluated in terms of how much the learners have developed their communicative abilities and competencies.
In essence, it considers using the language to be just as important as actually learning the language.
The Communicative Language Teaching method has various characteristics that distinguish it from previous methods:
Understanding occurs through active student interaction in the foreign language
Teaching occurs by using authentic English texts
Students not only learn the second language but they also learn strategies for understanding
Importance is given to learners’ personal experiences and situations, which are considered as an invaluable contribution to the content of the lessons
Using the new language in unrehearsed contexts creates learning opportunities outside the classroom