Competence-based L

Let’s begin by saying that competency-based language teaching requires the use of the four main skills and the teaching of concrete skills that can be used in real-life circumstances.

 This approach to teaching differs from traditional teaching approaches in many different ways because it is focused on helping students achieve something by the end of the unit or lesson so teachers and students have a clear north of what it is expected, traditional classes tend to cover many features of the language but there is no a concrete product as result or concrete application.

Let’s explore this a little bit more, you go through a series of classes and you are taught the verb to be, the simple present and present continuous  which is a solid way to start since such grammar points are used with such great level of frequency but at that point we are uncertain about what the learner will be able to do with the language. 

The same could be said about teaching pronunciation, as teacher moves from vowels to diphthongs and from diphthongs to consonants, he or she can see that students apply some of the things they have learned but they don’t find any particular situation to apply that knowledge beside the broad spectrum of what language learning is all about.

Now that we know how competency-based language teaching distance itself  from traditional teaching, it is time to cover some of the major challenges that teachers face when implementing this teaching.

• One of the major challenges is that  the curriculum designers are not fully aware about the student needs or how they have changed over the years since most institutions see curriculum design as a one-time effort, something that is evident as we see no major changes in syllabus in a 10 to 15 year span even in major institutions.

• Another big problem that teachers face during the implementation of competency-based language teaching is that teachers lack resources to teach those classes since lots of classroom and material preparation is required. In a standard english classroom,  teachers can save time by using already created material or textbooks but when you teach english through competencies. You can adapt existing materials because it will be difficult to find something that targets the needs of your particular class and students.

• Another major challenge teachers face when implementing competency-based language teaching is that you need to know the ins and outs of evaluation since this process implies that you need to be aware of  individualized goals and that tends to be a major source of problems when you are used to a traditional way of assessing learners which consist of written exams, quizzes and other forms of objective testing.

Another one of the problems is how to apply this type of teaching to learners with young ages since their interests don’t necessarily obey the world  we adults are immersed in. I am baffled by how boring it is for a 13 years old kid to study about safety at work when he or she is thinking about fun activities and probably he or she isn’t thinking about doing a job that requires that . As we continue to explore that example we can discuss about how safety rules vary from job to job and that makes this even more complicated.