1. COMPETENCYBASED LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH AND DESIGN

2. APPROACHTheory of Language and Learning 3. CBLT is based on a functional andinteractional perspective on the nature of language. 4. It seeks to teach language inrelation to the social context in which it is used. Language always occurs as amedium of interaction and communication between people for the achievement of specific goals and purposes. 5. CBTL has for this reason most oftenbeen used as a framework for language teaching in situations where learners have specific needs and are in particular roles and where the language skills they need can be fairly accurately predicted and determined. 6. It also shares with behavioristviews of learning the notion that language form can be inferred from language function; that is, certain life encounters call for certain kinds of language. 7. This assumes that designers ofCBTL competencies can accurately predict the vocabulary and structures likely to be encountered in those particular situations that are central to the life of the learner and can state these in ways that can be used to organise teaching/learning units. 8. Central to both language andlearning theory is the view that language can be functionally analyzed into appropriate parts and subparts: that such parts and subparts can be taught (and tested) incrementally. 9. CBLT thus takes a mosaicapproach to language learning in that the whole (communicative competence) is constructed from smaller components correctly assembled. 10. CBLT is also built around the notionof communicative competence and seeks to develop functional communication skills in learners. 11. These skills are generally describedin only the most general terms, however, rather than being linked to the performance of specific realworld tasks. CBLT thus shares some featureswith Communicative Language Teaching. 12. DESIGN Objectives Syllabus Learning Activities Role of Learners, Teachers andMaterials 13. Docking (1994) points out that thetraditional approach to developing a syllabus involves using ones understanding of subject matter as the basis for syllabus planning. 14. One starts with the field ofknowledge that one is going to teach (e.g., contemporary European history, marketting, listening comprehension, or French literature) and then selects concepts, knowledge, and skills that constitute that field of knowledge. A syllabus and the course contentare then developed around the 15. Objectives may also be specified,but these usually have little role in the teaching or assesing of the subject. Assesment of students is usuallybased on norm referencing, that is, students will be graded on a single scale with the expectation either that they be spread across a wide range of scores or that they 16. A student receives a set of marksfor his or her performance relative to other students, from which it is very difficult to make any form of jugdement about the specific knowledge or skills a student has acquired. 17. Indeed, two students may receivethe same marks on a test but, in fact have widely different capacities and knowledge in the subject: 18. CBLT by comparison is designed not around the notion of subject knowledge but around the notion of competency. The focus moves from what students know about language to what they can do with it. The focus on competencies or learning outcomes underpins the curriculum framework and syllabus specification, teaching strategies, assessment and reporting. Instead of norm-referenced assesment, criterionbased assessment procedures are used in which learners are assessed 19. Competencies consist of adescription of the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviours required for effective performance of a real-world task or activity. These activities may be related toany domain of life, though have typically been linked to the field of work and to social survival in a new 20. For example, areas for which competencieshave been developed in a vocationally oriented ESL curriculum for immigrants and refugees include: Task Performance Safety General Word-Related Work Schedules, Time Sheets, Paychecks Social Language Job Application Job Interview(Mrowicki 1986) 21. For the area of Retaining a Jobthe following competencies are described: Follow instructions to carry out asimple task. Respond appropriately to supervisors comments about quality of work on the job, including mistakes, working too slowly, and incomplete work. 22. Request supervisor to check work. Report completion of task tosupervisor. Request supplies. Ask where object is located: Follow oral directions to perform a task. Follow simple oral directions to locate a place. Read charts, labels, forms, or written instructions to perform a 23. State problem and ask for help ifnecessary. Respond to inquiry as to nature or progress of current task; state amount and type of work already competed. Respond appropriately to work interruption or modification. (Mrowicki 1986) 24. Docking (1994: 11) points out therelationship between competencies and job performance: 25. A qualification of a job can be described as a collection of units of competency, each of which is composed on a number of elements of competency. A unit of competency might be a task, a role, a function, or a learning module. These will change over time, and will vary from context to context. An element of competency can be defined as any attribute of an individual that contributes to the successful performance of a task, job, function, or activity in an academic setting and/or a work setting. This includes specific knowledge, thinking process, attitudes, and perceptual and physical skills. Nothing is excluded that can be shown to contribute to performance. An element of competency has meaning independent of context and time. It is 26. Tollefson (1986) observes that theanalysis of jobs into their constituent functional competencies in order to develop teaching objectives goes back to the mid-nineteenth century. 27. In the 1860s, Spencer outlined themajor areas of human activity he believed should be the basis for curricular objectives. 28. Similarly, in 1926 Bobbitt developedcurricular objectives according to his analysis of the functional competencies required for adults living in America. This approach has been picked upand refined as the basis for the development of CBLT since the 1960s. 29. Northrup (1977) reports on a studycommissioned by the U.S. Office of Education in which a wide variety of tasks performed by adults in American society were analyzed and the behaviors needed to carry out the tasks classified into five knowledge areas and four basic skill areas. From this analysis, sixty-five competencieswere identified. Docking (1994) describes how he was involvedin a project in Australia in 1968 that involved specifying the competencies of more than a 30. Auerbach (1986) provides a usefulreview of factors involved in the implementation of CBE programs in ESL, and identifies eight key features: 31. A focus on successful functioningin society: The goal is to enable students to become autonomous individuals capable of coping with the demands of the world. 32. A focus on life skills:Rather than teaching language in isolation, CBLT teaches language as a function of communication about concrete tasks. Students are taught just those language forms/skills required by the situations in which they will function. These forms are determined by empirical assessment of language required (Findley and Nathan 1980: 224). 33. Task- or performance-centeredorientation: What counts is what students can do as a result of instruction. The emphasis is on overt behaviors rather than on knowledge or the ability to talk about language and skills. 34. Modularized instruction: Languagelearning is broken down into managable and immediately meaningful chunks (Center for Applied Linguistics 1983: 2). Objectives are broken into narrowly focused subobjectives so that both teachers and students can get a clear sense of progress. Modularized: birimlere ayrtrlm 35. Outcomes that are made explicit apriori: Outcomes are public knowledge, known and agreed upon by both learner and teacher. They are specified in terms of behavioral objectives so that students know exactly what behaviors are expected of them. 36. Continuous and ongoingassessment: Students are pretested to determine what skills they lack and posttested after instruction in that skill. If they do not achieve the desired level of mastery, they continue to work on the objective and are retested. Program evaluation is based on test results and, as such, is considered objectively quantifiable. 37. Demonstrated mastery ofperformance objectives: Rather than the traditional paper-and-pencil tests, assessment is based on the ability to demonstrate prespecified behaviors. 38. Individualized, student-centeredinstruction: In content, level, and pace, objectives are defined in terms of individual needs; prior learning and achievement are taken into account in developing curricula. Instruction is not time-based; students progress at their own rates and concentrate on just those areas in which they lack competence.(Auerbach 1986: 414-415) 39. There are said to be severaladvantages of a competencies approach from the learners point of view: The competencies are specific andpractical and can be seen to relate to the learners needs and interests. The learner can judge whether thecompetencies seem relevant and 40. The competencies that will betaught and tested are specific and public hence the learner knows exactly what needs to be learned. Competencies can be mastered oneat a time so the learner can see what has been learned and what still remains to be learned.