English Conditional Sentences: A Comparative Analysis of the structural and Communicative Approaches in Teaching to Non-Native Speakers

Abstract

An experimental study was carried out in 1982 to test the effectiveness of the communicative approach Vs the structural approach in the teaching
of English to non-native speakers. 78 students were taught and te ted in tasks that require the use of conditional sentences. Initially 102 first year tudents
were randomly distributed into six groups. Three group formed the study groups and the other three, the control O'roups. The st dy - groups were
taught using the "Communicative Approach" and the control groups using the "structural approach". In the scores obtained, the study group Performed
better at a significance level of .05. The study groups were observed developing interest, motivation, creativity, involvement and confidence as
the experiment progressed. On the basis of the finding, it is recommended that the communicative approach is more appropriate for the teachlOg of
English to freshmen students, here. To this end, intensive research should be done in discourse analysis and need specification to facilitate the designing
of a communicative syllabus.