Communicative Language Teaching

I communicate by looking at you. RN 1087

In Teaching as a Subversive Activity (1969:142), Postman and Weingartner provide Carl Rogers' Definition of Significant Learning

The person comes to see himself differently

He accepts himself and his feelings more fully

He becomes more self-confidant and self-directing

He becomes more the person he would like to be

He becomes more flexible, less rigid in his perceptions

He adopts more realistic goals for himself

He behaves in a more mature fashion

He becomes more open to the evidence, both of what is going on outside of himself and what is going on inside of himself.

While this predates CLT by decades, it is clear that many of these attributes can be actualised in the CL classroom, perhaps even more easily than in other subjects whose curriculum is more prescriptive in terms of content and teaching methods.

The Finnish education system is the envy of the world, at least amongst those who want good results. Of course what good results are is a matter of personal philosophy. The success that the Finns enjoy includes enjoying gaining the success. As an outsider, everything we see and hear is the joy of learning.

From the BBC comes this report on education in Finland, Finland tops global school table, which has links to expanded information. It was very interesting to see the video on TV showing children very active in their learning and the emphasis being placed on processing rather than memorising - oh so Bloom. There was also quite an informal atmosphere which has created a very effective teacher-student relationship. Finns spend less time at school than anyone else in the developed world, and still come out on top. We have much to learn. See also What makes Finnish kids so smart? from the Wall Street Journal.

CLT seems to share some important features of the Finnish system, but being a world without borders, CLT is never going to top any of these league tables.