What does it mean information gap in communicative language teaching?

In communicative language teaching (CLT), an information gap refers to a situation where two or more participants in a communicative activity have different pieces of information. This creates a need for them to interact and exchange information in order to complete a task or achieve a shared goal. The gap itself is the *driving force* of the communication.

For example:

* One student has a picture, the other has a description. They must communicate to match the picture to the description.

* Students have different parts of a story. They need to talk to each other to reconstruct the complete story.

* Students have different schedules or plans. They need to communicate to find a mutually agreeable time to meet.

The information gap ensures that learners are not simply reciting memorized phrases or repeating information they already know. Instead, they are *actively using the language* to obtain, clarify, and share meaning. This makes the communication authentic and purposeful, fostering genuine language acquisition. The design of the activity focuses on the communicative purpose, not just grammatical accuracy. Fluency and appropriate language use are prioritized over perfect grammar.