Language Teaching Methods and Communicative Competence

A complete set of vocabulary flashcards covering second and foreign language teaching methods, key theorists, techniques, and components of communicative competence.

Grammar Translation Method

A second or foreign language teaching method dating back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries that relies on translation, rote memorization of vocabulary lists, and explicit deductive grammar study to read classical literature.

The Direct Method

A language teaching method developed by Maximilian Berlitz where meaning is conveyed directly in the target language through visual aids, realia, and demonstrations without translation or native language use.

Maximilian Berlitz

The developer of the Direct Method towards the end of the 19th century as a reaction against the Grammar Translation method.

The Audio-Lingual Method

An approach also known as the Army method, developed in the United States during World War II, focusing on listening and speaking through habit formation, dialogue memorization, and structural pattern drills.

The Silent Way

A language teaching method devised by Caleb Gattegno based on the premise that learning is a cognitive rule-formation process where the teacher remains largely silent to foster learner autonomy and independence.

Caleb Gattegno

The educator who devised The Silent Way method, emphasizing cognitive thinking processes and learner responsibility in discovering target language rules.

Fidel Charts

Color-coded charts used in The Silent Way method to help learners associate target language sounds with their written spellings.

Suggestopedia

A humanistic teaching approach developed in the 1970s by Georgi Lozanov that utilizes a relaxed, comfortable environment, music, and fine arts to eliminate psychological barriers and lower the affective filter.

Georgi Lozanov

The educator who developed Suggestopedia in the 1970s as a system designed to liberate learners from preliminary negative concepts regarding learning difficulties.

Peripheral Learning

A concept in Suggestopedia where students acquire information from background environmental sources (such as posters with grammatical information) even when their direct attention is not focused on them.

Community Language Learning

A teaching approach based on Charles A. Curran's Counselling-Learning principles that treats learners as whole persons and positions the teacher as a language counsellor to reduce anxiety and build trust.

Charles A. Curran

The developer of the Counselling-Learning approach, which provides the theoretical foundation for Community Language Learning.

Total Physical Response

A language teaching method developed by James Asher based on the coordination of speech and action, where learners listen and respond physically to spoken imperative commands before speaking.

James Asher

The founder of Total Physical Response (TPR), who developed the method based on the idea that adult second language learning shares developmental patterns with children's first language acquisition.

Communicative Language Teaching

A learner-centered approach emphasizing meaningful real-life communication, social contexts, and functional language use to develop students' communicative competence.

Dell Hymes

The sociolinguist who coined the term communicative competence in 1967/1972 to present a broader framework beyond Noam Chomsky's notion of linguistic competence.

Communicative Competence

The ability not only to apply grammatical rules to form correct sentences, but also to know how, when, and where to use language appropriately in specific social contexts.

Information Gap

A feature of communicative activities identified by Johnson and Morrow (1981) where one speaker in an exchange possesses information that the recipient does not know.

Negotiation of Meaning

The interactional process modified by speakers when experiencing message comprehensibility difficulties to ensure clear understanding and idea transfer.

Linguistic Competence

A subcategory of communicative competence outlined by Canale and Swain that encompasses knowledge of lexical items, morphology, syntax, sentence-grammar semantics, and phonology.

Discourse Competence

A subcategory of communicative competence defined by Canale and Swain concerning the ability to combine sentences into coherent and cohesive stretches of spoken or written discourse.

Sociolinguistic Competence

A subcategory of communicative competence defined by Canale and Swain involving knowledge of socio-cultural rules and understanding the social context in which communication occurs.

Strategic Competence

A subcategory of communicative competence defined by Canale and Swain involving strategy usage (such as paraphrase or circumlocution) to repair communication breakdowns and overcome knowledge gaps.