This method is based on the principles of behavior psychology. It adapted many of the principles and procedures of the Direct Method, in part as a reaction to the lack of speaking skills of the Reading Approach.
The communicative approach could be said to be the product of educators and linguists who had grown dissatisfied with the audio-lingual and grammar-translation methods of foreign language instruction.
The origins of Communicative Language Teaching are to be found in the changes in the British languages teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. Interest in and development of communicative-style teaching mushroomed in the 1970s; authentic language use and classroom exchanges where students engaged in real communication with one another became quite popular.
The role of the instructor in CLT is quite different from traditional teaching methods. In the traditional classroom, the teacher is in charge and "controls" the learning. In CLT the teacher serves as more of a facilitator, allowing students to be in charge of their own learning.
