8/31

I found it rather interesting to learn about CLT, because I feel that this is the method that almost all of my teachers used within my Spanish classes in high school. We were always playing games and learning role plays to get ready for "real-life situations" that could occur. Personally, I thought this method was useful because it made the material and language fun to learn. It got the class active and moving around and prepared us for real encounters with native speakers. I disagree with what Legutke and Thomas (1991) say when they state that "very little is communicated in the L2 classroom because it does not stimulate the wish of learners to say something." I really disagree with this statement because I feel like if the learners are intrinsically motivated and feel comfortable speaking out in the classroom, this method is great practice for situations that might happen out in the real world.

I agree that it is important for a language teacher to know the history about the past methods and approaches that have been used, but I also believe when choosing which one to use, it should not be determined by one that is "most popular" during this time period. We should choose the approach based on the needs of the students and which will benefit them most. Overall, this article was very informative in seeing the different aspects as well as the similarities and differences among the variety of approaches. I think it really comes down to fitting the needs of the students depending on their characteristics and their situation.