When it comes to learning a foreign language particularly English language, one of the first thing that crosses students minds in general is communication.

 

Majority of students want to learn English in order to be able to speak and communicate with others. Classrooms in which the focus of lessons are on grammar have failed to enable students to improve their speaking skills. The Communicative Approach  is one of the well-known approaches of teaching English which focuses on presentation of topics in context naturally.

 

According to this approach, in order to learn a language successfully, students get involved in real communication. Activities in classrooms revolve around real communication to promote learning. For instance, students mingle with their classmates and ask a few questions to find out some personal information about their classmates. In this approach, the teacher plays the role of a facilitator and the students’ role (all proficiency levels namely beginner, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper, intermediate, and advanced) are not considered as individualistic but rather cooperative. Students in this approach need to participate in classroom activities, and cooperate and communicate with their peers.

 

There are many English course books written based on The Communicative Approach to help students improve their communicative skills such as Face2face Second Edition. According to Cambridge official website regarding Face2face Second Edition book “vocabulary and grammar are given equal importance and there is a strong focus on listening and speaking in social situations”. Many English courses all around the globe has chosen Face2face Second Edition series due to its effectiveness in promoting students communicative skills. The focus of Face2face Second Edition books are not only on the form but rather on speaking, listening, vocabulary through reading, and pronunciation in realistic contexts.

 

This book has drawn the attention of many English language schools in Turkey particularly in Istanbul where there are so many language schools most of which fully equipped with modern educational gadgets such smart boards. British Time English Language School, a well-known English language school with more than four branches in four corners of Istanbul namely Kadikoy, Mecidiyekoy, Bakirkoy, and Avcilar, and some other branches in other cities of Turkey such as Sivas, has chosen Face2face Second Edition as its course book.

 

One of the main aims of English young adult and adult learners in Turkey learning English is to be able to speak English fluently and accurately; therefore, these students choose those language schools in which communicative approach is used since the focus of the lessons are more on speaking and listening rather than grammar. For example, British Time English Language School offers its students (all proficiency levels namely beginner, elementary, pre-intermediate, intermediate, upper, intermediate, and advanced) speaking clubs specifically scheduled for each proficiency level for free.

 

Students in such stress-free clubs with friendly atmosphere are given opportunities to speak about variety of topics with their teachers as well as their peers.

 

English teachers working in British Time English Language School are well-qualified and familiar with The Communicative Approach and do their best to create realistic contexts for the students to communicate through using role plays, games, opinion sharing activities, and gap filling and information gathering activities.

 

As a result, the students attending classes in British Time are highly motivated to learn how to communicate in English. No wonder The Communicative Approach has not fallen out of favor among both English teachers and learners compared with other English teaching approaches and methods.