While we studied and analised many of the concepts needed in order to understand what competences meant, I tried to look at these concepts from the perspective of a language teacher. When on one occasion we were asked if we have had any experience or even just a brush of experience close to teaching competences, I participated by saying that in English language teaching, the idea was there all along. Language (form) is taught for a certain purpose (function). Teaching, however, tended to focus on the form, and the function became implicit in the activities that were carried out so that students would ´notice’ or understand what the language is for. In summary, English teachers are generally concerned with ‘getting the language right’ instead of looking at the learners abilities to show that they can use the language in the right situation or for the right purposes. This is the reason I say that the intention of teaching to achieve competences was always part of ELT.
In the competence-based approach to teaching, emphasis is on what learners are able to do after the learning process. In the case of language learning, the focus is on what learners become competent at when he has learned the language. So for him or her to become competent at, say, making simple transactions in shops or other services, he needs to learn the language for these transactions.So, in ELT, it is a matter of focusing our teaching on what learners need to be able to show at the end of the teaching process: providing them during the learning process with what they need - the knowledge (language structures, vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, formulaic expressions, skills development, etc.) – to gain competence for any language purpose. Evaluation will focus on looking at evidences of language ability, not on looking at the score of a test that focuses on grammar accuracy, or interpreting a test exercise, e.g., of the past tense forms, as evidences that the student can talk about the past.
I would appreciate your thoughts on this.
- eleanor_occena's blog
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Hello, Ellen!
Thank you for letting us know those details about real places in Mexico:"the beautiful city of Puebla de los Angeles, a two-hour drive from Pachuca de Soto...". This was a cultural note we all certainly appreciate, and might eventually generate some further search/knowledge about your beautiful environment.
As for the "competence-based approach", we agree with you when you made it clear that learners should be provided with "what they need - knowledge (language structures,vocabulary, idiomatic expressions, skills development, etc.) - to gain competence for any language purpose. By the way, you are taking into account throughout the learning process an integrated-skills approach, aren't you?
It has been common to hear comments that more emphasis has been given lately to oral production in detriment of writing. But , when you refer to "language ability", you certainly mean both "receptive" and "productive" skills, I think.
Best regards,
Maria do Céu
Hi there again Maria do Cèu!
Yes, you take into account the skills that you need for the competence. It may involve just one skill if it refers to, e.g. inquiring about some information that you need (productive skill, either written or spoken), and then another skill (receptive, either listening or reading) to obtain the information.
Competences are based on the needs of your students, so the need to speak or write will depend on what competences need to be developed in your English program. Most competences though require the development of more than one skill. For example, inquiring in a travel agency about travel packages would require speaking and listening. Accepting or refusing an invitation can both be developed in writing and in speaking; There are competences that do not need the other skills i.e. writing a biography or autobiography or giving a presentation or speech (just speaking).
Warm regards,
Ellen
Hi,
The end product in any case is communication whatever the form it takes,say,written or oral.What matters most and foremost is the competences i.e intercating, interpreting and producing the learner will acquire and the appropriate resources,namely grammatical structures,lexical items...they will use for a communicative purpose.
I went throuth your interview and function and competence. they're really wonderful and interesting. i am also an english teacher and be glad listen and read the experiences from others . this encourages me to do something which is fruitful for me and others too. when i read competence-based approach to teaching i found it interesting and easy to motivate the students. they will be motivated when they know form as well as function at the same time . i am an english teacher in secondary level. i will be very greatful if you tell some techniques to encourage my students in reading . so they learn more books and develop their knowledge.
Hello ganesh1,
Byrne, D., (1988), author of Teaching Writing Skills, wrote: "In real life...we normally have a reason for writing and we write for somebody. These are factors which have often been neglected in teaching and practising writing." I don't have a similar quote on hand for Reading, but I believe it is much the same way. We read for a purpose most of the time, and those who read for pleasure are those who already enjoy reading. I also found another quote from Gower, Phillips and Walter (1995), authors of Teaching Practice Handbook, this time about Speaking: "Communication activities are designed so that students have a reason or a purpose for speaking." So if we want to encourage our students to read, we can start by giving learners a purpose to read. We teach Reading because we want to develop reading skills in our students but think that oftentimes there is no immediate need or purpose to read the text that we give them in the classroom unless we create them. So one of the most common techniques suggested by authors is to give them something to do before, while and after reading so that they'll read for a reason. Also bear in mind that in relation to reading for a purpose, students will prefer reading what interests them. The youth, for example read chat and text messages, CD music info, concert and movie posters, product packaging, even comics! I think that they even get to read more nowadays amd learn a lot while surfing the net.
Warm regards!
Ellen
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Hi Ellen,
It is nice to read your articles and they really grab my attention. Thank you for sharing such productive information with us. I went through your recent article on Function and Competence, i am a little bit confused. According to my understanding that this approach is mostly based upon teaching for specific purposes. But the question raises here is that how would it be applied in a regular language class where we have different students who share a common language syllabus. Don't you think it would be more effective in teaching the students of ESP or a group of students having the same needs? But to analyse the needs of individual students is again a problem.
As an English teacher what measures can i take to face these issues and adopt this approach in my classes?
Regards,
SUHAIL
We are an organization teaching English inside of the Institutos Tecnologicos of Mexico. In our case the standard of competency is defined by the needs of various industries, especially NAFTA companies. Their expectations of a bilingual professional defines our teaching goal. They need people with a high level of comprehension, functional verbal skills, the ability to read the manual of a machine but writing is of a very low priority. For the past twelve years we have basically taught to the competency concept and now find that conforming to new SEP requisites to be relatively easy.
There is that lingering question, however, of how a generalized panorama of competency can be established when the goals of various programs may be starkly different. Moreover, since grammar is largely addressed to writing skills and the verbal expression of language is in constant change, can competency truly be measured without creating its own areas of conflict?