Summary

Chapter 13 from the book Alternative approaches and methods, talks about what is competency-based language teaching and the aspects this approach involves.
The author makes a comparison of some approaches in education to conclude that competency based education is a movement which focuses on the outputs students produce during the development of a program. It emphasizes on students outcomes rather than on inputs given to them. Moreover, the author points out that, learners play a central role in the teaching-learning process. They are involved and actively participants of their own learning process; activities, language and materials are related to real life situations. Also, teachers have the opportunity of updating their training programs and education.
What is more, the author suggests that standards are important guidelines in education, in order to state what students can do with the language at a determine level.
Apart from that, if we implement the use of CBLT in our institutions, students may have the chance of learning communicative language, useful for interacting in social situations, that’s way they should be trained for using the language already learned.
Finally, in CBLT learners use the language for real purposes through the development of functional communication skills.