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Competence-based language teaching (CBLT) is another innovative trend in which students must show their potentials to utilize the language to accomplish a real-world task. Competency-based education traced back to the Behaviorist tradition which was popular in the United States during the 1950s by Benjamin Bloom, and it was used, particularly in vocational training programs. Later, the approach spread to Europe and Australia in order to measure professional skills. The trend was popular with a variety of names such as performance-based learning, criterion-referenced learning, and capabilities-driven instruction.
According to Docking, CBLT:
“…is designed not around the notion of subject knowledge but around the notion of competency. The focus moves from what students know about language to what they can do with it. The focus on competencies or learning outcomes underpins the curriculum framework and syllabus specification, teaching strategies, assessment and reporting. Instead of norm-referencing assessment, criterion-based assessment procedures are used in which learners are assessed according to how well they can perform on specific learning tasks”[14].
In CBLT, students use the language in authentic situations as if they are coming across outside the classroom. Despite the fact that students have to practice so as to become competent, competencies are not activities for practice. They are not completed for giving students a grade or done to permit a student to become superior at the task. Competencies are forms of practical applications of language in context.
In CBLT, student-centered classes are frequent and more attention is paid to what students can do. Students must show that they possess an ability to complete specific tasks that tend to be faced in the real-world using the target language. The skills needed to complete the tasks to obtain competency in the language:
the ability to read and understand telephone numbers;
the ability to identify oneself when answering or calling;
the ability to ask to speak to someone;
the ability to respond to a request to hold the line;
the ability to give a message or respond to an offer to take a message;
the ability to express opinions politely following the target language conventional cultural norms;
the ability to use past tenses;
the ability to provide relevant information.
The CBLT classroom, students receive data giving feedback on their individual progress towards mastering the competency.
Teachers possess a variety of roles in CBLT classroom, varying from an information giver to a facilitator. Making a plan becomes a focal part of the teaching procedure. To begin with, competencies are identified and subdivided into relevant skills. Modules are set permitting students to utilize them to learn and practice those skills. Moreover, teachers are required to separate large amounts of time for making activities pertinent to the particular skills which are important to carry out the competency prerequisites. Last but not least, adequate time must be allocated by teachers to assess students and give specific, objective and personalized feedback.
The role of the students also varies in some degrees. In CBLT classroom, the students do not rely on the teacher, but they become autonomous learners. Their role embraces integration, production and extension of the knowledge. While working on each competency, the students master it and carry on progressing to another.
Students may be resistant to this approach in the beginning, especially if they do not see any real need for learning the language. Successful classroom interaction depends on student participation. Students need to find ways to motivate themselves and find ways to apply information to their own lives and to integrate it into the classroom. Students must be willing to challenge, to question, and to initiate in the CBLT classroom[35].
The following Table 1 summarizes the differences between assessments and grades in traditional and competency-based classes.
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