Implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in classes with fifty students is a difficult undertaking. However, by adopting a task based language teaching approach , teachers can divide the students into various groups where they have to negotiate with one another to complete the assigned tasks. Notably, tasks involve learners in comprehending, producing or interacting in the target language focusing their attention on meaning rather than form. As such language teaching becomes a goal-oriented activity whereby learners use L2 to achieve the expected communicative outcomes . The process characteristically involves natural language use and learner centeredness which are a prerequisite to verbal flow in various communicative events.

Implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in classes with fifty students is a difficult undertaking. However, by adopting a task based language teaching approach , teachers can divide the students into various groups where they have to negotiate with one another to complete the assigned tasks. Notably, tasks involve learners in comprehending, producing or interacting in the target language focusing their attention on meaning rather than form. As such language teaching becomes a goal-oriented activity whereby learners use L2 to achieve the expected communicative outcomes . The process characteristically involves natural language use and learner centeredness which are a prerequisite to verbal flow in various communicative events.

Thank you Reza Biria for your answer. It is really helpful.

Pair work but mostly Group work is ideal in this scenario. Let say we have a class of 60 students, one can divide them into six groups and assign a group leader for each group who would be responsible for the participation of his/her group members. Then we can assign the group a variety of activities, for instance, group discussions. The type of topic can range form academic to social topics.

Regards

Thank you Abdullah Noori for your answer. It is really helpful.

I agree with Abdullah in dividing the big number of students into groups. To apply the communicative method in teaching the group, the main task should be handled by the students and the teacher may guide and monitor the work of each group. It is really a complicated issue to deal with the individual members of the group and to check the progress of each one.

Thank you Hazim AL Dilaimy for your answer. It is really helpful.

Thanks Jack Kornfield for your reply.

The course is general English and aims at equipping students with language four skills and grammatical competence. It was designed based on communicative approach where many communicative tasks are there.

Dear Jack ,

I am working in Agricultuaral Universityin India and as per experience and views I am trying to share the topic you opened.

According to the no. of students , perception level of student and interest of students; we should select the interactive method to teach with multi-teacher using smart class room and teaching aids.

At field multi - teacher take the class with live demonstration and good teaching aids by interactive mode.

I feel this is a best option to deliver up to date knowledge.

Though, I am not using always multi - teacher mode; also I have not world standard class room but I trying to use LCD, Y TOUBE, PPT along with black board, figures, graps, posters, sculptures and live samples with recent references.

Thank you Pralhad for your contribution. It is really useful.

To my viewpoint a task based method together with authentic written and oral documents exposure (immersion) and separate skills (listening/reading first) are an interesting way to create strong bases in ordre to guide students in the development of comunicative skills.

Gracias, María. Your answer is really helpful.

Using CLT in groups like this is a great idea. There are 2 concerns that may arise when doing this though. If groups align along L1 lines there are affordances but also limitations in L2 learning. Isolation to a singular L1 can reduce L2 use in the group, thereby reducing opportunities the receive and generate comprehensible input. Second is the issue of self confidence. With no L1 speaker in the target language functioning in each group there can be a lack of percieved expertise in the groups.

Providing some audio, some video, and some written elements in the L1 can help supplement the instructor's role as L1 expert. The instructor might also rotate presentations by group so that confidence can be nurtured.

I hope these ideas are fruitful for you.

Thanks Joseph. Your ideas are really fruitful.

Well, like Sabri Ahmed, I also thank you all for the recommendation s given. I work with classes of 50, too, and most of the times I come here is to learn with the questions and answers given.

These suggestions above are all really good; however, before you apply any of the techniques you need to assess your students' current levels of proficiency such as the acquired vocabulary level, and understanding of phonological, syntactic and semantic complexity. Based on the results from these assessment, you can apply the said grouping and/or pair work methodology. Recasting may be helpful for each of the small groups or the class of 50. The Common European Frame of Reference might be helpful in applying a task based teaching to each of the proficiency level and achievement evaluation. Hope my advice helps. Good luck and go the distance.

Thank you Seigo for your answer. It really very helpful.

All the suggestions above about how to manage interactions in large classes make sense to me. with a colleague I once had a class of well over 100 for several weeks. We found that dividing them up into groups with 'group leaders' to supervise activities in each group worked well, as long as we met the group leaders regularly to explain what we were trying to do.

Another issue related to CLT in large classes is the choices that teachers make about the topics on which we base our 'tasks'/activities. A large class has a lot of potential for interesting topics. 50 + learners = 50+ people who all have experiences of likes/ dislikes/opinions/ hopes/ families/interests.. Since teachers often share a geographical/cultural context with their learners, might it make sense to complement interactional 'tasks' and activities suggested by textbooks, with activities that ask learners to interact about aspects of their own lives and experiences?

Thank you Martin for your contribution. It is really fruitful!

Sabri Ahmed i thank you for raising this issue. I also thank all for the suggestions. I work with classes of 120 and it is very difficult to manage the class. These suggestions will really help me . Thank you Martin for the suggestion.

designing some communicative tasks and games can be useful because they are based on conveying the meaning and getting the outcomes not individually but in groups. some information gap tasks are also applicable because it requires interaction. regarding the number, discussions in form of cons and pros can be useful for some topics. best

Hi Sabri, great question. I usually get students to ask each other about everything. So, I ask the class a question and then I ask 'ask your partner' and then students discuss in 2s or 3s. This maximised the time they get to speak. Then, I go around and get one or two of them to share with the class, but I usually warn/ask them to share with the class privately as I monitor first, so they aren't shocked. I find this works well. I suppose the answer is various types of groupwork, as often as possible! You may find Dornyei and Murphy's book on Group Dynamics useful as well. Hope this helps!

Thanks Richard. Your contribution is really helpful.

All the above mentioned answers are really helpful but they should be done under the teacher's guidance and supervision. Otherwise,the class will be a complete mess,

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It is important to establish if the learning resources available are sufficient for the learners or not.

When the above is clarified,:Interactive method; brainstorming procedures; group method;peer group assessment method and sufficient time for participating in use of target language expressing various experiences.

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Dear Olayinka,

Please delete your extra posts. Thanks

Jack

Article Teaching English to Large Classes; Large Classes and Student Learning

Coleman, H. 2006. 'Darwin and the large class'. In Gieve, S. and I.K. Miller (eds) Understanding the Language Classroom. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 115- 135.

Loo, Angelika. 2007. Teaching and Learning Modern Languages in Large Classes. Aachen/Germany: Shaker. ISBN 978-3-8322-6609-7.

Phyak, P.B. 2011. 'Teaching English in large multicultural classes: a narrative enquiry'. In Pattison, T. (ed.) IATEFL 2010 HarrogateConference Selections. Canterbury: IATEFL.

Shamim, F. 2010. 'Plenary: Teaching and researching English in large classes'. In Beaven, B. (ed.) IATEFL 2009: Cardiff Conference Selections. Canterbury: IATEFL, pp. 36-47.

Smith, R. 2008. 'Taking the bull by its horns: Zakia Sarwar's pro-autonomy approach to large classes in Pakistan (Part I)'.Independence 44: 7-13.

Shamim, F., Negash, N., Chuku, C. and Demewoz, N. 2007. Maximising Learning in Large Classes: Issues and Options. Addis Abbaba: The British Council.

Dear Sabri T. S. Ahmed ,

I would assign the students into five or six-member groups, as other researchers suggested. Adopting a task-based approach, would involve the group members into some compulsory problem solving and decision making tasks specifically designed to have a telling influence on the learners final exam performance. Additionally, I guess you need to assign some group activities part of which could be prepared outside the classroom in a communicative friendly atmosphere like role plays, presentations, narrations, debates, and question/ answer activities, depending on the learners proficiency level as well as personal factors.