The problem is actually not the communicative approach

I must begin by admitting unashamedly that I still see the communicative approach in foreign language and second language instruction (hereafter FL and SL respectively) more of a challenge than an imposition, a problem or even a shibboleth. Under the term communicative approach (CA), I would include not only the goal of communicating, but also some experience of communication in the classroom as the means to achieve that end.     

Informal and formal approaches to communicative language teaching

The main purpose of this article is to give some clarity to the use of the term "communicative" in describing approaches to foreign or second language teaching. It is suggested that a distinction be drawn between "informal" communicative approaches which promote second language "acquisition", and "formal" communicative approaches which promote "learning". This distinction between "acquisition" and "learning", which is taken from the work of Stephen Krashen, is carefully explained and the conditions for achieving both in the classroom considered. In addition it is suggested that there is a need actively to teach pupils how to make use of conscious "learnt" knowledge in order to "monitor" their performance in a second language appropriately.     

Applicability of CTL in China

Communicative language teaching,as a comparatively new teaching approach,is conducive to improving the communicative competence of English learners in China.The application of communicative language teaching comes across great opportunities as well as challenges,which include the teacher-related factors and student-related factors.     

A Short Discussion on How to Use Communicative Language Teaching(CLT) to Improve Speaking Competence

Though China’s present situation in English language teaching is quite favorable,some problems are still very outstanding.It seems that the communicative competence of Chinese students is not that satisfactory.The Communicative Language Teaching(CLT) approach,which regards"communicative competence"as the goal of language teaching,is becoming more and more popular in China’s English language teaching.This paper shows that the CLT approach does work in improving students’ communicative competence to some degree,through reviewing relevant literature on this approach.However,it is not a panacea to solve all the problems occurring in students’ communicative competence for it also has some weak points.Several suggestions were proposed to enhance students’ grammatical competence as well as the communicative block due to cultural differences.It is also advisable for teachers to be as flexible as possible in choosing the teaching techniques and adding whichever input needed to effectively achieve the main goal of making students both grammatically accurate and communicatively proficient.     

Applying Communicative Language Teching to Improve English Teching Effectiveness in Higher Vocational Colleges

Communicative language teaching(CLT),as a language teaching approach,aiming at teaching second languages for the ultimate goal of communication,has been known and widely practiced by Chinese teachers in their English teaching.But due to the limitations of both students and teachers,CLT is not executed successfully in quite a lot of higher vocational colleges.To carry it out successfully in English classrooms,the following important factors should be seriously taken into account:understanding communicative competence,class instruction in English pragmatics,teachers’ role in CLT and assessment of communicative language ability.Hopefully,through discussion of these key aspects of CLT,guiding effect can be produced on improving teaching efficiency through CLT from the perspective of teachers.     

Methodology Analysis——Comment on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Language teaching approaches are always changing according to social needs for various talents and there is no exception for Communicative Language Teaching(CLT).From 1960s,people become more and more interested in communicative function of languages.Communicative Competence,Functional Linguistics,Speech Act Theory and related learning theories help the CLT form the teaching aim of cultivating students’communicative ability.Scholars start to regard language communicative competence as the final teaching purpose.This article will explore CLT in terms of language teaching views,advantages and disadvantages.What is more,it comes to the following conclusions:there exists no language teaching approach that is absolutely superior,including CLT.Language teachers should use different approaches flexibly so as to reach the teaching aim.     

Initiating Interaction in the EFL Class

In recent years,with the renewal of English textbooks of all levels,the traditional grammar-translation method is out-of-date in the EFL class.In order to meet the challenges of our age,more and more teachers have cast their eyes on the communicative use of language,which compels them to create opportunities for genuine interaction in the classroom.Interaction,according to Brown(1980,p.159),is "the collaborative exchange of thoughts,feelings,or ideas between two or more people resulting in a reciprocal effect on each other." As the core of communication,interaction is a very important word for current language teachers,who are responsible for providing the stimuli for continued interaction in the era of communicative language teaching.The significance of interaction in EFL class mainly lies in its contribution to the active teaching of grammar,the initiating of students’ intrinsic motivation and the improving of their communicative competence(c.c.).In this article,I will elaborate on why and how I initiate interaction by providing a 100-minute lesson plan in an attempt to connect theory with practice.     

How Should Oral Skills be Taught in the English Language Classroom

There is general agreement today that the communicative approach to the teaching and learning of English is the correct one and that we learn English for the purpose of communicating with other English-speakers. However, this is a comparatively recent development. This paper begins with an historical overview outlining the origins of the communicative approach in Europe and the United States and noting that they arrived at a consensus for entirely different historical reasons. In China English replaced Russian as the most important foreign language a generation ago but even then the emphasis was on receptive skills. The thorny question of authenticity is then discussed. While everyone agrees that in theory authenticity is a key consideration there is considerably less agreement on how to convert theory into practice. Finally the paper goes on to note how recent practice has abandoned the teacher-centered approach in favor of the learner-centered approach and the exercise-based approach in favor of the task-based approach, The task-based approach emphasizes integrated as opposed to individual skills acquisition. Examples of integrated tasks are given in the Appendix.     

Grammatical Consciousness-Raising——Six steps to language learning

Even in classes which stress oral practice, the explicit teaching of grammar still has a role to play. Evelyn Doman explains why and presents some practical activities which integrate grammar teaching with communicative tasks in the grammatical consciousness-raising approach. Introduction The role of grammar in the foreign language classroom has been debated both long and hard. Theories about teaching grammar have covered all ranges of the spectrum, going from playing a major role to basically playing no role at all. Today, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is the forerunner in the TESL/TEFL community. Yet, even within the CLT framework, the controversy over the teaching of grammar continues. Many people still assert that grammar be given its place. I too am among these people, especially in EFL environments, such as in my previous teaching situations in South Korea.     

Can Task-based language learning be implemented in the Chinese EFL secondary school classroom？

I.Introduction In the history of ELT in China,great changes have taken place in the late 1990s since communicative language teach- ing(CLT) was accepted as a main teaching method(Xiao, 2000)in China where it has made a great impact.In the Chi- nese so-called communicative classroom,teachers generally a-     

Interactive Techniques Used in Teachers’ Oral Feedback and Its Impact on Students’ Participation

English language teaching is facing a reformation with the emphasis of students-centered learning approach and communicative language learning. Classroom interaction becomes popular especially during teachers’ oral feedback. In order to involve more students to participate, interactive techniques are applied in the classroom such as elicitation and recasts. This essay will focus on the adoption of interactive techniques in teachers’ oral feedback in terms of a specific grammar lesson and try to explore its impact on students’ participation.     

The Use of Communicative Approach in Teaching Vocabulary at Secondary School

Vocabulary is the essential material of language and one of the important elements of language.Communicative approach plays a decisive role in English vocabulary teaching.It is a good teaching method to improve students’abilities of listening and speaking.In this paper,the writer introduced several successful vocabulary teaching examples which used communicative approaches.They could be helpful for secondary school English teachers during their vocabulary teaching process.     

Study of Cultivating Intercultural Awareness in High School—Based on English Euphemism

Euphemism,which is one of universal language phenomena,provides an important approach to improve the communicative effects and maintain interpersonal relationship harmoniously.This paper aims to arouse the attention of high school English teachers to cultivate students’intercultural awareness.This thesis,with a brief introduction of English euphemism,presents a profound study of how to promote the intercultural awareness of students in high school with the help of English euphemism.     

A Study on Task-based Approach in Vocational College English Teaching

The traditional teaching approach has long been concerned with imparting knowledge,and many college teachers still opt for this method in their practice In English class teachers choose to emphasize ma the language points,ignoring that English language mainly functions as a tool of communication.On the other hand,for students the purpose of learning English is to pass the examination.This traditional approach fails to cultivate students’ communicative ability in English.In recent years,however,the general shift from a knowledge-based education to an ability-oriented one makes it an imperative to reform the traditional teaching methods.As a new kind of teaching theory and teaching activity,task-based approach(TBA) has been introduced and applieded by English teachers in China,especially those engaged in English teaching in higher vocational colleges.     

Communicative Approach to English Language Teaching

As China develops and is more frequently in contact with foreign countries, people have come to realize that traditional English teaching method can no longer meet the needs of development Since 1970s, the communicative approach has been paid much attention and widely employed in foreign language teaching. This article gives an account of the definition of communicative approach and the application of it in ELT. The writer also put forward some suggestions or criteria for teachers to take in the end of this article.     

Communicative Language Teaching in the English Classroom

The communicative approach is very much in vogue at present both at home and abroad.This paper,while discussing the problems that exist in the English classrooms in China,focuses on the factors that influence the communication between people not only of different cultures but also of different genders,professions,and ages etc.And the author discusses the communicative language teaching methods in the English classroom.This paper analyzes the communicative approach mainly from three perspectives,linguistic,psycholinguistic,and the pragmatic perspective.And the author analyzes the factors that influence the communication between people mainly in classroom.     

Communicative language teaching in the Chinese environment

In order to explore effective ways to develop Chinese English learners＇ communicative competence, this study first briefly reviews the advantages of communicative language teaching （CLT） method which widely practiced in the Western countries and analyzes in details its obstacles in Chinese classroom context. Then it offers guidelines for compromising the communicative approach with the traditional Chinese approach. Finally, it puts forward some principles and techniques for English teaching practice in the Chinese environment.     

The Analysis of Lexical Approach in Language Teaching

I.IntroductionThe study of the.lexical approach focuses on the understanding ofa lexical-grammatical unit,which was called lexical phrase by Nattinger and Decarrieo and was called chunks by Michel Lewis.It is a multi-word unit of varying lengths,which has a fixed orrelatively fixed structure and expresses a certain meaning.It is prefabri-cated and frequently used.As a language teacher I think chunks arevery useful in language teaching and the lexical approach is a way of improving my teaching.They make sense in the classroom as they help     

Application of Task-based Teaching Approach to Business Oral English Teaching

Task-based teaching approach(TBTA) is widely accepted and plays a more important role in foreign language teach ing.This paper is aimed at analyzing specific task design and the application of task-based teaching approach to business oral Eng lish teaching.It briefly introduces what the task-based teaching approach is and Willis’model for TBTA.Based on this model,it probes deeply into the teaching tasks design and teaching procedures.By applying the task-based teaching approach in business oral English teaching,teachers can assign students various tasks in the class to not only arose students’interest in English but also develop their communicative competence of business English.