Competency-Based Language Teaching

Ø  Definition

Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) is an application of the principles of Competency-Based Education to language teaching”. In Competency-Based Education (CBE) the focus is on the “outcomes or outputs of learning”.

Ø  History

Competency-Based Language Teaching (CBLT) focuses on what “learners are expected to do with the language” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.141). This approach emerged in the United States in the 1970s and can be described as “defining educational goals. Since the 1990s, CBLT has been seen as “the state-of-the-art approach to adult ESL” (Auerbach, 1986, p.411) so that any refugee in the United States who wished to receive federal assistance had to attend a competency-based program.

Ø  Eight Key Features

According to Auerbach (1986) there are eight key features which are essential for Competency-Based Language Teaching:

a.    A focus on successful functioning in society.

b.    A focus on life skills to determine that language.

c.    Task- or performance-centered orientation.

d.     Modularized instruction emphasizes.

e.    Outcomes that are made explicit a priori.

f.    Continuous and ongoing assessment.

g.    Demonstrated mastery of performance objectives.

h.    Individualized, student-centered instruction.

Ø  Materials

The materials the teacher chooses are mainly “sample texts and assessment tasks that provide examples of texts and assessment tasks that relate to the competency” (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.147). These materials are used to provide the students with “the essential skills, knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors required for effective performance of a real-world task or activity.

Ø  Role of Teacher

The teacher has to provide positive and constructive feedback in order to help the students to improve their skills. She/he needs to be aware of the learners’ needs so that everybody feels welcome in class. But the teacher does not push the students because the instructions are not time-based; instead the student’s progress is most important. Another task of the teacher in CBLT is to select learning activities and to design a syllabus according to the competency the students are going to acquire.

Ø  Role of Learner

The role of the learner in a competency-based framework is to decide whether the competencies are useful and relevant for him/her (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.146). This shows that the learner has an active role in the classroom which is underlined by the fact that the students are expected to perform the skills learned (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.146). The competencies the students will learn are clearly defined and present in the public so that “the learner knows exactly what needs to be learned” and for which purpose he/she has to use the competencies (Richards & Rodgers, 2001, p.147).

Ø  The Approaches in CBLT

There are several principals in CBLT:

a.    Language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning

b.    Language is a vehicle for the realization of interpersonal relation

c.    CBLT is built around the notion of communicative competence

d.     CBLT shares with behaviorist views of learning.

Ø  The Target of Learner

Basically, CBLT can be used in all levels of students. In Indonesia, there are academic competencies that must be achieved by students, known as Standar Kompetensi. Stated in Peraturan Menteri No. 23/2006, “Standar Kompetensi adalah ukuran kompetensi minimal yang harus dicapai peserta didik setelah mengikuti suatu proses pembelajaran pada satuan pendidikan tertentu.”But CBLT is used best for the learners who want to work and live in English-used atmosphere, for example working in English speaking Company.