I.
Introduction
Competency-Based Education (CBE) is an educational movement which
emerged in the United States in the 1970s. This movement presents a pattern
that is focused on the outputs to learning. 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. In addition, Competency-Based Language
Teaching (CBLT) follows the ideology of CBE, and it is perceived as a powerful
agent which can have a positive impact on teaching, since 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.
II. Discussion
According to the theory of language learning, CBLT is based on
function and interaction of language, what means that language is taught
taking into account the social context and the communicative needs of students.
On the other hand, it is also based on the behaviorist view, since it shares
the principle that learners can infer language form from language function,
thus, CBLT competences designers know exactly the vocabulary and the structures
that can be found in different situations and they strategically place them in
the different teaching/learning units.
When talking about the objectives and the syllabus that are
going to be implemented in a course, CBLT focuses on competencies. It provides
teachers with the necessary tools and parameters to design their syllabuses and
its objectives and enhances students to learn the language and to know how and
when to use it in a determined moment of their lives.
It is also important to mention that teachers play an essential
role, since they are the ones who are going to provide students with the
appropriate activities and learning materials which are related to their real
lives, so that students can be communicatively competent in real situations. To
achieve this, teachers must be excellent observers of the context that surround
students and take into account the main needs they have to design matched
syllabuses.
A. The Principles of CBLT
a.
Systematic
b.
Focuses on the outcomes and outputs
c.
Spell out exactly what it is that student should learn
d.
Help student learn one thing well before going on to
the next
CBLT is Application of Content
Based
Instruction
(CBI) and Students had to be enrolled in a competency – based program.
B. The Implementation of CBLT
Auerbach in Richards and Rodgers
(2001:145) provides a useful review of factors involved in the implementation
of CBE programs in ESL, and indentifies eight key features:
1.
A focus on successful functioning in society
2.
A focus on life skills
3.
Task -or performance- centered orientation
4.
Modularized instructions
5.
Outcomes that are made explicit a priory
6.
Continuous and ongoing assessment
7.
Demonstrated mastery of performance objectives
8.
Individualized, student-centered instruction
C. The Competencies Involved in CBLT
CBLT is built around the
notion of communicative competence:
·
Grammatical competence,
it refers to linguistic competence and the domain of grammatical and lexical
capacity.
·
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.
·
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.
·
Strategic competence, It refers to the coping strategies that
the communicators employ to initiate, terminate, maintain, repair, and redirect
communication
D. The Role of Teacher
and learner
-
The Role of Teacher
Ø Corrects the students immediately
Ø Gives positive feedback
Ø Aware of the learner needs
Ø Adjusts the activities and the syllabus
according to learner needs.
-
The Role of Learner
o Judge the relevancy and usefulness of the activities
o Should demonstrate the learnt behavior
E.
Critism
a. No valid procedures to develop competency lists.
b. Many areas are impossible to operationalize
c. Dividing activities into subparts is a reductionist
approach.
d. Makes refugees to be passive citizens
III.
Conclusion
CBLT is an
educational movement that has been introduced in several places of the world,
since people need to face the demands of it. It provides learners with the
essential tools to interact successfully in society, enhancing them to use
their knowledge to solve different real life situations. Furthermore, CBLT
involves teachers’ great knowledge of student´s context, interests and needs
and the development of different standards that enrich and lead the
teaching-learning process, so that learners know exactly what they need to
learn to be communicatively competent