Communicative language teaching and Cambridge First Certificate exam preparation

¶ … Communicative Language Teaching the Best Methodology to Prepare Students for the Cambridge First Certificate Exam?

Based on its emphasis on authenticity and relevancy to students' lives, it has been argued that the communicative language teaching approach may represent the best methodology to prepare students to take the Cambridge English: First for Schools (also known as First Certificate in English or FCE for Schools), which demonstrates student progress in second language acquisition for work and/or study applications. To determine if the FCE is in fact the best alternative approach for this purpose, this paper reviews the literature to provide a detailed outline of the communicative language teaching approach, a description of the Cambridge FCE, an analysis of what the FCE exam appears to be assessing and how, followed by an analysis concerning the degree to which communicative language teaching is an appropriate methodology for the FCE exam preparation class. A summary of the research and important findings are presented in the conclusion.

Review and Discussion

Detailed outline of the communicative language teaching methodology

Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to teaching world languages that is based on a theory of intercultural communicative competence in which second-language learners are encouraged to actively participate in communication with one another by their teacher in various settings (Burke 2007). According to Byram (2000), "Communicative language teaching refers to both processes and goals in classroom learning. A central theoretical concept in communicative language teaching is communicative competence, a term introduced into discussions of language use and second/foreign language learning in the early 1970s" (p. 124). The CLT methodology is drawn from five major theoretical sources as follows:

1. Anthropology with its concern for social contexts and the 'speech events' taking place in them;

2. Sociolinguistics with its observation of the patterns of adjustment individuals make in changing from one situation to another and its demonstration that linguistic rules should be understood as probabilities rather than absolute ones;

3. Social psychology for its mapping of affective judgments made between in- and out-groups and the way individuals converge or diverge from linguistic forms and the motivation they have for doing so;

4. The concern in philosophy for speech acts, intentions and interpretations, and the notion of the 'cooperative principle' in linguistic interactions; and,

5. Ethnomethodology, which addresses the rules governing micro-interactions, the conventions followed in social activity (Grenfell & Harris 1999, p. 37).

All of the foregoing theoretical sources contribute different perspectives concerning the social aspects of communication, with language playing a central role in all of them. For instance, Grenfell and Harris report that, "It was from the social sciences and a broad view of human discourse that the early advocates of communicative language teaching (CLT) took their inspiration" (1999, p. 37).

The emergence of the CLT approach to teaching foreign languages has been in response, in part, to recent trends that have placed greater emphasis on adopting a broader perspective of language that includes its grammatical mechanics, but the capability of employing a foreign language in various settings as well (Ruiz-Funes 2002). In this regard, Ruiz-Funes reports that, "The recent emphasis on communication in language teaching is expressed in attempts to develop students' socio linguistic and discourse competencies in addition to their grammatical competence. In short, the conception of what it means to be proficient in a language has expanded significantly" (2002, p. 14). This shift in the conception of the definition of foreign language proficiency has been based on concomitant changes in the world language education that have stressed the need to make learning relevant and authentic for L2 learners. For example, Ruiz-Funes notes that proponents of the CLT approach believe it is more "likely to produce foreign language learning and teaching that will better serve educational needs now and at the beginning of the 21st century than did the older emphases on structure, translation, and literature" (2002, p. 14).

This shift, though, has not been met with universal acceptance by L2 educators who cite CLT's lack of a language theory foundation and young learners' personal goals and intentions for their foreign language acquisition that may not be reflected in the CLT model (Grenfell & Harris 1999). In this regard, Tedick reports that, "In the last two decades, the movement toward a communication-oriented approach or communicative language teaching (CLT) has been a remarkable phenomenon in the contexts of both English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL). However, it has been suggested that in some countries where EFL is taught, teachers find it difficult to implement communicative language teaching in their contexts" (2005, p. 113). In addition, Ruiz-Funes (2002) emphasizes that the CLT approach may require L2 teachers to change their teaching styles, a transition that may be especially challenging for novice educators. In this regard, Ruiz-Funes notes that, "It is this orchestration of teaching practices that poses the major challenge to beginning L2 teachers and interns. They often feel overwhelmed and unfortunately many of them go back to the way they were taught the foreign language, which tends to be grammar oriented" (2002, p. 14). Likewise, Byram (2000) reports that some L2 students may not prefer the CLT approach because of the extra effort that is involved. In this regard, Byram (2000) emphasizes that, "Communicative language teaching requires learners to respond and react" (p. 109).

A review of recent studies by Ruiz-Funes (2002) showed by many educators emphasized the following issues set forth in Table 1 below with respect to implementing and administering a CLT approach in the L2 classroom today:

Table 1

Issues Affecting the Implementation and Administration of a Communicative Language Teaching Approach

Issue

Description

The importance and need for language authenticity

Language authenticity is one of the most essential elements in foreign language teaching. Make language authentic in the classroom by using videos, poems, songs, movies, and so on, to help students weaken their tendency to think that "foreign languages are not real." Furthermore, language and culture cannot be separated, emphasizing the need for prospective FL teachers to study abroad in order to gain first-hand cultural experience that they can then share with their own students.

The importance and need for personalized language use

Make language personal in order to motivate the students to help them remember the language better and make it easier for the students to create with the language. To make language personal in that ways that students will remember it better; teachers should use personalized questions. Other salient guidance includes staying involved with school life in order to know what is happening to the students in school. By knowing students better, personalization becomes easier. This may require some effort and will involve asking students questions, becoming part of the school, getting actively involved and making sure students know that educators care about them. If specific students are struggling, find out what interests them and then provide them with some interesting hands-on activities that are tailored to their interests.

The role of accuracy and error correction

It is important to combine accuracy with communication and language creation. Students should always be encouraged to communicate in the target language without embarrassing them if they make a mistake. They all were in favor of indirect ways of correcting errors. Further, they stressed the need for FL teachers to use the target language in class as a preventive measure to avoid students' mistakes.

Description of the exam, Cambridge FCE

The University of Cambridge's Local Examinations Syndicate's First Certificate in English is taken by many thousands of students every year and enjoys widespread acceptance by nations and companies alike with respect to demonstrated language proficiency (Broughton, Brumfit, Flavell, Hill & Pincas 1990). According to the University of Cambridge, the First Certificate in English is also recognized by the following major organizations, among many others:

1. Hewlett-Packard

2. KPMG

3. IBM

4. Sony

5. Bosch

6. DHL

7. Credit Suisse

8. Motorola

9. Siemens AG (Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011).

In fact, more than 12,000 education institutions, employers, government agencies and other organisations worldwide accept the Cambridge English certificate (Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011). Furthermore, the Cambridge English exams are congruent with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR), the international system for describing language ability (Cambridge English for Schools 2011).

The Cambridge English: First, also known as First Certificate in English (FCE) is described by the University of Cambridge's staff as "an exam for people who need to prove they can use everyday written and spoken English at an upper-intermediate level for work or study purposes" (Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011, p. 1). The FCE is among a progressive continuum of language proficiency levels identified by the Common European Framework of Reference for which the University of Cambridge has developed tests (Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011). Today, more than 2,700 testing centers in 130 countries offer the Cambridge English exams (Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011).

With respect to the exam content, the University of Cambridge's staff reports that, "All tasks are written and edited to strict guidelines and every effort is made to avoid age and cultural bias. To ensure that materials are suitable for a range of age groups and cultural backgrounds, all test items are pretested before use in the exams and any that prove too difficult or discriminate unfairly are rejected" (General exam information -- FAQs 2011, p. 3). Typically, more than 200,000 candidates participate in exam pretesting each year (General exam information -- FAQs 2011). The University of Cambridge has consistently employed rigorous standards to ensure the test content is appropriate and evaluates what it intends to evaluate. In this regard, Cheng, Watanabe and Curtis (2004) report that, "In the 4 years leading to the 1996 revision of the First Certificate in English exam, for example, a user survey through questionnaires and structured group interviews, covered 25,000 students, 5,000 teachers and 1,200 oral examiners in the UK and around the world. One hundred and twenty receiving institutions in the UK were also canvassed for their perspective on the exam" (p. 76). Likewise, the University of Cambridge staff cites the fundamental purpose of the FCE in keeping its content relevant and authentic for second language learners in a wide range of cultural and social settings. For instance, in their segment, "Continuous improvement," the staff writes, "The purpose of all of our reviews is to ensure that all of our exams are relevant, reliable, accurate and meet the needs of test takers" (2011, p. 1). To achieve this goal, the FCE exams take account of:

1. Changes to teaching practice;

2. The latest findings in language assessment research;

3. Feedback from schools and centers; and,

4. Feedback from candidates (Continuous improvement 2011, p. 2)

In sum, then, the University of Cambridge's First Certificate in English is the global gold standard for language proficiency. As Broughton et al. point out, "A great advantage of the Cambridge Examinations is that they are international. The same test is taken at the same time in scores of countries throughout the world, and the standard of language of a Frenchman with a pass certificate is comparable with that of a Brazilian or a Thai with the same piece of paper" (p.195). The manner in which the FCE assesses language proficiency is discussed further below.

Analysis of what the exam appears to be assessing and how

The Cambridge FCE exam is comprised of the following components that are intended to evaluate the proficiencies set forth in Table 2 below.

Table 2

Contents and Purposes of the University of Cambridge's First Certificate in English

Paper

Content

Marks (% of total)

Purpose

Reading

(1 hour)

3 parts/30 questions

20%

Students need to be able to understand a range of texts, including how they are organized and the opinions and attitudes expressed in them. The texts will be from sources familiar to school-aged learners such as magazines, articles, fiction and advertisements, but targeted at the interests of students.

Writing

(1 hour 20 minutes)

2 parts

20%

Students are required to produce two pieces of writing. The first piece is compulsory and will be a letter or email of between 120 -- 150 words. For the second, they may choose from an article, essay, letter, report, review or short story of between 120 -- 180 words.

Use of English

(45 minutes)

4 parts/42 questions

20%

Students' use of English will be tested by tasks which show how well they can control their grammar and vocabulary.

Listening

(about 40 minutes)

4 parts/30 questions

20%

Requires being able to follow and understand a range of familiar spoken materials such as news programs, public announcements and other sources but targeted at the interests of school-aged learners.

Speaking

(14 minutes per pair of candidates)

4 parts

20%

A face-to-face test taken with one or two other candidates and an examiner. Students have to show how well they can produce spontaneous spoken language, talking with either the examiner, the other candidate(s), or by themselves.

Source: Cambridge English: First for Schools 2011

According to Broughton and his associates, the growing popularity of the FCE in recent years as a universal standard for language proficiency has followed similar trends in the harmonization of the European Union member states in other ways. For instance, these authorities emphasize that, "The problem of harmonization of standards has been approached in a very interesting way by the Europe Union. With the impetus of European integration and the freer movement of people between member states of the European Community it became progressively more obvious that some means to compare standards of attainment in English, French, German, etc., had to be devised" (Broughton et al. 1990, p. 195). In response to this need, the FCE assesses proficiency by evaluating how well students can actually use second languages in different social contexts that change over time. In this regard, Broughton et al. emphasize that, "The Unit/Credit system is designed for this purpose. It aims to establish a Threshold Level (T-level) in these languages, which can best be defined in terms of the functions of language (not just the grammatical structure) the student has learnt" (1990, p. 195). The FCE achieves this evaluation of language acquisition proficiency by constantly updating its exam content and making it culturally appropriate including the provision of listening content with different accents (General exam information -- FAQs 2011). Because resources are by definition scarce, though, it is important to use evidence-based approaches with proven efficacy, and these issues are discussed further below.

Analysis -- to what degree CLT is an appropriate methodology for the FCE exam preparation class

On the one hand, CLT appears to be a highly appropriate methodology for preparing students for the FCE exam based on its specific emphasis on the social relevancy and authenticity of the curricular offerings for the second language. Indeed, Broughton and his colleagues point out that, "A teacher faced with the task of teaching for the intermediate First Certificate is in a fortunate position. All the big international courses of the major publishers get the students to the level of the examination without preparing specifically for it" (1999, p. 195). Furthermore, an increasing number of resources are being developed that are specifically intended to facilitate FCE exam preparation (Broughton et al. 1990). According to these educators, "Many of the more modern ones serve their purpose admirably, and are a solid base for the teacher to build upon. His professional skill is called on to a greater degree at proficiency level, as there are few good books on sale and the demands of the syllabus and the students on him are greater" (Broughton et al. 1990, p. 195). The communicative language teaching approach's focus on keeping curricular offerings relevant and authentic suggests that this approach is especially suitable for helping young learners pass the FCE exam. For example, Broughton and his associates report that, "Within individual countries, this comparability of standards is important, especially where national examinations, often locally set on leaving secondary school or at university degree level examination, are subject to variation in standard both from place to place and from year to year" (1990, p. 195).

Furthermore, according to Burke, the CLT approach has a number of attributes that facilitate second language acquisition that can help students achieve positive academic outcomes, including the following:

1. Teachers can use communicative language teaching methods to reach diverse learning styles, allow students to discover their strengths and talents, and help teach persistence and self-discipline.

2. Teachers can use authentic assessment (written products, oral performances, and presentations) to build classroom community.

3. Students can conduct field work in their community. Teachers organize trips to museums, libraries, organizations, embassies, and countries where students are immersed in the world language beyond the classroom.

4. Teachers can design learning experiences, in-depth investigations, and learning expeditions that help students learn about and appreciate other cultures and ask them to take multiple perspectives while improving their communicative competence in the world language (Burke 2007, p. 443).

Furthermore, the University of Cambridge's staff also emphasizes the specific relevancy that the FCE provides: "Cambridge English exams are relevant worldwide, and feature wide-ranging content. The writers of the exams choose materials from worldwide sources to include in the exams. The range of contexts is considered when each test is constructed. Listening tests feature a variety of accents" (General exam information -- FAQs 2011, p. 2). This aspect of the FCE suggests that the CLT represents a viable educational model for second language acquisition in the modern classroom.

On the other hand, though, from a strictly pragmatic perspective, the degree to which CLT is an appropriate methodology for the FCE exam preparation class depends on the individual goals of the L2 learner. To the extent that L2 learners want to acquire another language for personal enrichment and professional applications will likely be the extent to which CLT is appropriate for them. Conversely, to the extent that L2 learners simply want to learn just enough to pass the FCE exam will likely be the extent to which the CLT approach is inappropriate. In fact, based on 20 years' of professional experience in teaching and observing FCE exam classes, most of the teachers' concern is how to get higher scores on the exams rather than how to improve overall language proficiency. Students and teachers alike believe that the best approach is concentrating on strategies and exam techniques and a communicative method for an exam prep class to many seems contradictory.

Conclusion

The research showed that the communicative language teaching approach has gained increasing acceptance as a means of teaching world languages. The communicate language approach was shown to focus on the importance and need for language authenticity, and to ensure that curricular offerings remained relevant during changing times. In a perfect world, all second language learners would enjoy the time and resources they need to acquire language proficiency in ways that are most suitable for their individualized goals and purposes. Unfortunately, in the imperfect world of L2 education, many teachers may be tempted to "teach to the test" rather than seeking to develop the critical thinking skills that are required to use foreign languages in various social contexts. Furthermore, the harsh reality for many educators is that some students may be reluctant to invest the time and effort that are needed to achieve successful academic outcomes using the communicative language teaching model. Despite the challenges that are involved, the need for effective teaching methods continues to increase and the communicative language teaching approach has proven efficacy for helping students achieve improved proficiency. Whether the CLT approach is best suited for helping students pass the University of Cambridge's First Certificate in English exam will therefore likely depend on how well educators have embraced the pedagogy and how motivated students are to invest the time and resources that are needed to make the approach work.