Article Review: A Critical Look at the Communicative Approach (1) and (2) (Michael Swan)

Abstract

A lengthy discussion by Michael Swan on the strengths and weaknesses of the Communicative Approach is really insightful. Bringing some confusions resulting from the mistaken conception of the Communicative Approach to light, the author not only provides us with theoretical justification for his belief in language teaching, but also suggests better ways of exploiting any approach–old or new. The core of his argument will be divided into three parts in this report for the sake of clarity; namely, (I) Communicative Approach as asserted by its proponents, (II) Critical examination of the Communicative Approach and (III) Effective teaching through an integrated approach.