To What Extent Are Listening and Speaking Tasks Through Textbooks Aligned with the Communicative Approach?

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to highlight the importance of listening and speaking skills, while most textbooks focus on practising reading and writing skills more. As a result, listening or speaking are met mainly at the end of every lesson as simple objectives and rarely are they considered as the main focus of the lesson. However, given the proper guidance, the teachers can intervene in the textbook tasks and modify them in order to satisfy their students’ communicative needs. Thus, this paper includes descriptions of teaching situations, description and evaluation of listening and speaking input based on textbooks, as well as well as a modification of some listening and speaking activities, so as to fulfill students’ needs. Moreover, a suggested speaking lesson plan is provided which meets most communicative criteria and can involve students in a real, purposeful interaction. Therefore, every student, even the weaker ones, are given the chance to develop their communicative competence, which is what English as a foreign language aims at.