ABSTRACT
Recent practice has been dominated by communicative approaches which put the emphasis on communication, seeking to engage learners in genuine use of the language in authentic situations. It is probably fair to say that applications of these approaches (despite many disputes about the identity of communicative methods!) have led to greater enjoyment and motivation. Communicative approaches have offered ways forward in language teaching, though we do not wish to suggest that all classroom exercises and activities can and must be communicative. For this reason, we prefer to consider the task as being one of teaching for communicative purposes. If methods help learners to acquire language successfully so that they can go on to communicate, then they are valid. The successful language teacher does not confine herself to one method, to the exclusion of others (Richardson 1983, p. 19). In this chapter we consider the most common features of language teaching practised in many schools today. GCSE courses and examinations give equal weight to all four skills (LSRW), though some learners may opt out of some tiers of assessment, for example, a higher level writing paper. The key objective at Key Stages 3 and 4 is communicating in the target language. This remains the case at sixth form level, though other dimensions such as culture and explicit knowledge about the language acquire greater importance.
