The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching

There may be many different reasons for learning a foreign language, but for most language learners developing good speaking skills is essential. Communicative language teaching approaches that have been in vogue since the 1970s emphasize the importance of developing learners' communicative ability. Even though there have been other methods and approaches that tried to develop learners' speaking skills, their underlying principles or the techniques they used prevented them from producing fluent speakers of the target language. This entry gives an overview of the place and methods of teaching speaking throughout the history of language teaching and learning and the implications of using communicative language…