COMPETENCY BASED LANGUAGE TEACHING

For many years, English students were taught about the language in self. But they were not taught how to use the language in neighborhood properly. Even at the present day, the products of education still make disappointments; in the way of the students use English. Most of the students are capable in preserving their memories about the learning materials given by the teacher. But they dont really understand how to use it. They still have difficulties to use English. Whereas they need it related with environment and society for they will be work and live with. Because of the globalization era and the increase of industrial world, English speaker workers are more demanded. But nowadays, the output from educational world is still having no competencies Because of that, people need a new suitable method for English Language Teaching So they adopted Competency-based language teaching BACKGROUND Competency-Based Education (CBE) is an educational movement. It focuses on outcomes or outputs of learning in the development of language programs. It focuses on outputs rather than on inputs to learning and this is central to the competencies perspective. CBE emerged in the United States in the 1970s. It defines the goals and objectives to be reached in such a way, that students knowledge, skills and behaviors, can be easily measured. Besides, students develop the ability to use their knowledge in real life situations. Competencies differ from other students goals and objectives. They describe the students ability to apply basic and other skills in situations commonly encountered in everyday life. Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) is an application of the principles of CBE to language teaching. This approach had been widely adopted by the end of 1970s. It has recently reemerged in some parts of the world as a major approach to the planning of language programs. Advocates of CBLT see it as a powerful and positive agent of change According to them it can have a positive impact on teaching. Through the implementation of the standards, both teachers and students can have a clear direction of what is expected to be achieved at the end of a course.

 This approach offers teachers an opportunity to revitalize their education and training programs. THE CHARACTERISTICS OF CBE CBE has much in common with such approaches as performance based instruction, mastery learning etc It is outcome-based. It is adaptive to the changing needs of student, teachers and community. Principles: Systematic Focuses on the outcomes and outputs Helps students learn one thing well before going on to the next APPROACH: THEORY OF LANGUAGE AND LEARNING CBLT is based on a functional and interactional perspective on the nature of language. It offers to teach language in relation to the social contexts in which it is used. Language is always a medium of interaction and communication between people for specific goals and purposes. So CBLT is used as a framework for language teaching in situations that learners have specific needs. It also shares with behaviorist views of learning the notion that language form can be inferred from language function. Certain life encounters call for certain kinds of language. Designers of CBLT can accurately predict the vocabulary and structures likely to be encountered in those particular situations that are central to the life of the learner. CBLT is also built around the notion of communicative competence. It seeks to develop functional communication skills in learners. These skills are generally described in only the most general terms CBLT thus shares some features with Communicative Language Teaching. DESIGN: Objectives, syllabus, learning activities, role of learners, teachers and materials Competency-Based Language Teaching is designed not around the notion of subject knowledge It is designed around the notion of competency. The focus moves from what students know about language to what they can do with it. Criterion-based assessment procedures are used in which learners are assessed according to how well they can perform on specific learning tasks. Competencies consist of activities related with the real life situations for surviving social environment. -Task performance -Safety -General word-related

-Work schedules, times sheets, paychecks -Social language -Job application -Job interview Competencies consist of a description of the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors required for effective performance of a real-world task or activity. These activities may be related to any domain of life, though have typically been linked to the field of work and to social survival in a new environment. Syllabus and Objectives They point out to plan the syllabus according to the material its going to be taught CBLT focuses on competencies. It provides teachers with the necessary tools and parameters to design their syllabuses and objectives It enhances students to learn the language and to know how and when to use it in a determined moment of their lives Role of Teachers and Materials Teachers play an essential role. They are the ones who provide students with the appropriate activities and learning materials which are related to their real lives, In this way students can be communicatively competent in real situations. To achieve this, teachers must be excellent observers of the context that surrounds students They take into account the main needs they have to design matched syllabuses. The Target of Learner Basically, CBLT can be used in all levels of students... But it is used best for the learners who want to work and live in English-used atmosphere, for example working in English speaking Company. Role of Learners Learners judge the relevancy and usefulness of the activities They should demonstrate the learnt behavior The Implementation of CBLT Auerbach provides a useful review of factors involved in the implementation of CBE programs in ESL and identifies eight key features: 1) A focus on successful functioning in society. The goal is to make students capable of coping with the demands of the world. 2) 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. 3) Task or performance centered orientation. What counts is what students can do as a result of instruction. The emphasis is on overt behaviors rather than knowledge or the ability to talk about language and skills. 4) Modularized instruction. Language learning is broken down into manageable and immediately meaningful chunks. Objectives are broken into narrowly focused sub objectives so that both teachers and students can get a clear sense of progress. 5) Outcomes that are made explicit a priori. 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. 6) Continuous and ongoing assessment. Students are pretested to determine what skills they lack and post tested after instruction in that skill. If they do not achieve the desired level of mastery, they continue to work on objective and are retested. Program evaluation is based on test results and as such is considered objectively quantifiable. 7) Demonstrated mastery of performance objectives. Rather than the traditional paper and pencil tests, assessment is based on ability to demonstrate prespecified behaviors. 8) Individualized, student-centered instruction. In content, level and pace, objectives are defined in terms of individual need. Instruction is not time based; students progress at their own rates and concentrate on just those areas in which they lack competence. The Competencies Involved in CBLT CBLT is built around the notion of communicative competence: 1. Grammatical competence It refers to linguistic competence and the domain of grammatical and lexical capacity. 2. Sociolinguistic competence It refers to an understanding of the social context in which communication takes place, including role relationship, the shared information of the participants, and the communicative purpose for their interaction. 3. Discourse competence It refers to the interpretation of individual message elements in terms of their interconnectedness and of how meaning is represented in relationship to the entire discourse or text. 4. Strategic competence It refers to the coping strategies that the communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair, and redirect communication.

ADVANTAGES OF COMPETENCIES APPROACH 1. The competencies are specific and practical and can be seen to relate to the learners needs and interests. 2. So the learners know exactly what needs to be learned. 3. The learner can judge whether the competencies seem relevant and useful. 4. The learner can see what has been learned and what still remains to be learned. PROCEDURE Examples of how many of these principles apply in practice are seen in the work of the Australian Migrant Education Program, one of the largest providers of language training to immigrants in the world. In 1993 a competency-based curriculum, The Certificate in Spoken and Written English, was introduced as the framework for its programs. Learning outcomes are specified at three stages in the framework, leading to an Advanced Certificate in Spoken and Written English at Stage 4 of the framework. Hagan describes how the framework operates: After an initial assessment, students are placed within the framework on the bias of their current English proficiency level, their learning pace, their needs and their social goals for learning English.

The twelve core competencies at Stages 1 and 2 relate to general language development At stage 3, learners are more often grouped according to their goal focus and competencies are defined according to the three syllabus strands of Further Study, Vocational English, and Community Access... The competency descriptions at each stage are divided into four domains: 1. Knowledge and learning competencies 2. Oral competencies 3. Reading competencies 4. Writing competencies All competencies are described in terms of: Elements that break down the competency into smaller components and refer to the essential linguistic features of the text Performance criteria that specify the minimal performance required to achieve a competency Range of variables that sets limits for the performance of the competency Sample text and assessment tasks that provide examples of texts and assessment tasks that relate to the competency

Why CBLT? Competencies are precise and useful. They are well defined and they can be related to what students need and to what is appealing to them. Competencies can be constructively criticized by students, since they can judge whether they are pertinent and helpful in their learning process.

Criticism There are both practical and philosophical criticisms to CBLT It is argued that no valid procedures available to develop competency lists for most programs. Many areas are impossible to operationalize Dividing activities into subparts is a reductionist approach. This approach makes refugees to be passive citizens

CONCLUSION Finally, it can be said that CBLT is a useful approach and teachers should take a look on it and try to take advantage on all the benefits it has. It can confidently be said, as we enter a new millennium, that the business of improving learning competencies and skills will remain one of the worlds fastest growing industries and priorities.