Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT)
focuses on what “learners are
expected to do with the language” (Richards
& Rodgers, 2001, p.141). This approach emerged in the United States in the
1970s and can be described as “defining educational goals in terms of precise
measurable descriptions of the knowledge, skills, and behaviors students should
possess at the end of a course of study” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.141).
Theory of
Language and Learning
The major basis of CBLT is the “functional and
interactional perspective on the nature of language (Richards & Rodgers,
2001, p. 143) which means that language learning always needs to be connected
to the social context it is used in. Therefore, language is seen as “a medium
of interaction and communication between people” who want to achieve “specific
goals and purposes” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.143). This especially
applies to situations in which the learner has to fulfill a particular role
with language skills which can be predicted or determined for the relevant
context (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.143). In connection to this
Competency-Based Language Teaching shares the behaviorist view of learning that
“certain life encounters call for certain kinds of language” (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001, p.143). Another key aspect of both language and learning theory
is the so called “mosaic approach to language learning” (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001, p.143), which assumes that language can be divided into
appropriate parts and subparts. Communicative competence is then constructed
from these subparts put together in the correct order (Richards & Rodgers,
2001, p.143). All these aspects together show that CBLT is in some respects
similar to Communicative Language Teaching (Richards & Rodgers, 2001,
p.143).
Learning
Activities
The learning activities used in CBLT can be described
as systematically designed activities to achieve a certain competence. These
activities are real-world tasks which “may be related to any domain of life”
(Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.144) but especially to survival-oriented and
work-related situations in a new environment (Richards & Rodgers, 2001,
p.144). Typical areas, for which such competency-based activities have been
developed, are for example Job Application, Job Interview, or Work Schedules
(Mrowicki, 1986). All these areas “can be described as a collection of units of
competencies” which consist of “specific knowledge, thinking processes,
attitudes, and perceptual and physical skills” (Docking, 1994, p.11).
Role of Teacher
The role of the teacher in a
competency-based framework is not defined by specific terms. The teacher has to
provide positive and constructive feedback in order to help the students to
improve their skills. She/he needs to be aware of the learners’ needs so that
everybody feels welcome in class (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.146). The
different competencies dealt with in class require specific instructions for
the various learning activities. Thus the teacher has to give clear orders and
explanations to make sure that every student understands the task they are
going to deal with. But the teacher does not push the students because the
instructions are not time-based; instead the student’s progress is most
important (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.146). Another task of the teacher in
CBLT is to select learning activities and to design a syllabus according to the
competency the students are going to acquire.
Role of Learner
The role of the learner in a
competency-based framework is to decide whether the competencies are useful and
relevant for him/her (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.146). This shows that the
learner has an active role in the classroom which is underlined by the fact
that the students are expected to perform the skills learned (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001, p.146). The competencies the students will learn are clearly
defined and present in the public so that “the learner knows exactly what needs
to be learned” and for which purpose he/she has to use the competencies
(Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.147). In this regard it is vital that every
competency is mastered one at a time because this makes sure that the learners
know what they have already learned and what the next steps will look like
(Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.147). Moreover, the students have to stay in
the actual program until they improve. After they mastered their skills, they
move into a more proficient group of students. The main goal of the learner in
Competency-Based Language Teaching is to be able to adapt and transfer
knowledge from one setting to another.
Materials
The materials the teacher
chooses are mainly “sample texts and assessment tasks that provide examples of
texts and assessment tasks that relate to the competency” (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001, p.147). These materials are used to provide the students with
“the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors required for
effective performance of a real-world task or activity” (Richards &
Rodgers, 2001, p.144). A great variety of competencies should be improved by
these tasks. On the one hand, knowledge and learning competencies as well as
oral competencies are dealt with. On the other hand, the materials include
tasks to improve the reading and writ
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