Community Language Learning

Community Language Learning

History Community Language Learning

Community Language Learning (CLL) is the name of a method developed by Charles A. Curran and his associates. Curran was a specialist in counseling and a professor of psychology at Loyola University, Chicago. His application of psychological counseling techniques to learning is known as Counseling-Learning. Community Language Learning represents the use of Counseling-Learning theory to teach languages.

Within the language teaching tradition Community Language Learning is sometimes cited as an example of a "humanistic approach." Links can also be made between CLL procedures and those of bilingual education, particularly the set of bilingual procedures referred to as "language alternation" or "code switching”. Let us discuss briefly the debt of Community Language Learning to these traditions.

Community Language Learning

Community language learning (CLL) was primarily designed for monolingual conversation classes where the teacher-counsellor would be able to speak the learners' L1. The intention was that it would integrate translation so that the students would disassociate language learning with risk taking. It's a method that is based on English for communication and is extremely learner-focused. Although each course is unique and student-dictated, there are certain criteria that should be applied to all CLL classrooms, namely a focus on fluency in the early stages, an undercurrent of accuracy throughout the course and learner empowerment as the main focus

Pros

• Learners appreciate the autonomy CLL offers them and thrive on analysing their own conversations.

• CLL works especially well with lower levels who are struggling to produce spoken English.

• The class often becomes a real community, not just when using CLL but all of the time. Students become much more aware of their peers, their strengths and weaknesses and want to work as a team.

Cons

• In the beginning some learners find it difficult to speak on tape while others might find that the conversation lacks spontaneity.

• We as teachers can find it strange to give our students so much freedom and tend to intervene too much.

• In your efforts to let your students become independent learners you can neglect their need for guidance.