On Applying the Communicative Approach to English Teaching

Abstract:This paper based on the communicative teaching approach; touches upon how to adopt the communicative teaching approach efficiently. Firstly， the author defines the communicative teaching approach， introduces its features and advantages.Then the author discusses the transformation of teachers' roles and the author suggests some activities for communicative teaching approach. In conclusion， the author thinks that Chinese English teachers should be equipped with better professional skills and language proficiency to meet the demands of English teaching.

Key Words：communicative teaching approach student-centered communicative activities

Communicative teaching approach refers to any approach to language teaching which emphasizes the meaning and use， rather than the form of language and which aims at developing the learner's communicative competence in foreign language teaching and learning. D.H. Hymes defines that the communicative competence consists of four components: \"Possibility—the ability to produce grammatical sentences， Feasibility—the ability to produce sentences which can be decoded by the human brain， Appropriateness—the ability to use correct forms of language in a specific socio-cultural context， Performance—the fact that the utterance is completed.\"In Hyme's point of view， the learners acquire knowledge of sentences not only as grammatical but also as appropriate. The aim of language learning is to acquire the ability to perform repertoires of speech acts so as to take part in speech events. That is learning language is to learn to perform certain functions.

Not being a highly structured method of teaching， in communicative teaching approach language is for communication. It takes into account the need of different students. The learner’s goal is to become “communicative competent\" which involves being able to use the language appropriately to a given social context.

Firstly， the communicative teaching approach studies and considers language from a socio-cultural point of view. Language is used for different purposes or functions， and language teaching is not only the teaching of the grammatical rules or knowledge but also a development of \"the rules of the use\" or the learner's ability to use the language to communicate. This is quite different from the traditional grammar-translation approach.

Secondly， the communicative teaching approach deals with language from a socio semiotic perspective. M.A.K. Halliday's systemic-functional linguistics views language as a instrument used to perform various functions in social interaction. In Halliday's works， language learning is a process of learning how to express one's ideas in an appropriate and effective manner.

Finally， the communicative teaching approach emphasizes the use of language in a socio-cultural context; it claims discourse to be the fundamental linguistic unit used for communication. Discourse here refers to any piece of language used to achieve a communication goal in a certain language situation. The emphasis on language at the discourse level means that in language teaching， the students are taught and required to practice using patterns of communication， the ways of interaction in a conversation and the strategies used in writing and understanding authentic written discourse in the target language.

Compared with the traditional teaching approaches， which considers the forms of sentences as its major purpose for teaching， the theory of communicative competence stresses the context in which an utterance occurs.

Communicative language teaching makes use of the real-life situation. The teacher can set up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. Unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching， which relies on repletion and drills， the communicative teaching approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise. According to their reactions and responses， the outcome will vary. The real-life simulations change from day to day. Margie S.Berns， an expert in the field of communicative language teaching， said that \"language is interaction; it is interpersonal activity and has a clear relationship with society.\" In this light， language study has to look at the use (function) of language in context， both its linguistic context (what is uttered before and after a given piece of discourse) and its social， or situational， context (who is speaking， what their social roles are， why they have come together to speak) ”

The communicative teaching approach is students-centered. This approach cultivates students' abilities to use English by means of language teaching.

The aim of this approach is to help the students to use what they have learned in communication appropriately. This approach places more importance on fluency than accuracy.

Based on the functions that the teacher performs in different activities Harmer defines the teacher’s role as controller， assessor， organizer， prompter， participant and resource-provider. From the traditional teaching approach to the communicative teaching approach， the teacher's roles have some changes. In traditional classes， the teacher is a controller; he or she decides what the students have to learn and how to learn. He or she controls the students' activities in class. All the students learn English in one way. In communicative teaching approach， the teacher's roles are organizer， participant， and resource-provider. They organize the teaching situation， provide resources needed， and both students and the teacher participate in the learning process， and the students can get more chance to find out their own way to learn.

The main aim of communicative teaching approach is to develop students’ language skills， namely， listening， speaking， reading， writing， and translating. In communicative teaching approach， the students learn the language through engaging in variety of communicative activities. The teacher not only teaches students knowledge but also teach them how to learn the knowledge and how to use it. The teacher makes students learn from each other， discuss in groups， and do item tasks both in and out of the class. From these activities， students can achieve knowledge， enhance their language qualities and apply abilities. The teaching process is， start —teacher lead in—teacher assign tasks—students do tasks in groups (listening， speaking， reading， writing and translating)—students feedback (individual report， group report)—students assess themselves and assess each other—teacher assess students and summarize—students apply what have learnt (make dialogues， stories， roles play etc.).

In this process， students have many chances to communicate in English. There are mainly two types of activities applicable in communicative lessons， one is functional communicative activities. For example， tell differences from different pictures; deduce the proper sequence that happens in the pictures; discover defects in the picture and so on. Another is social interaction activities; include talks and discussions， dialogues and role-plays， imitation， extemporaneous performances and debates etc. The communicative teaching approach regards language as a whole and design communicative teaching approach teaching activities. The teaching process by times is， pre-listening /speaking /reading /writing activities， during-listening /speaking /reading /writing， post-listening / speaking /reading /writing activities. Each activity has its own aim. Pre activities are do preparations for during activities. In this period， the teacher must make the students interested in what they will learn， make them positive learn. The activities in this period are， the teacher lead the students to discuss background knowledge; the teacher ask questions with elicitation method; the students ask and answer questions between each other etc. from these activities， the students are curious of what they will learn， and they will bring their curiosity into the during period. The during period is the center period of a class. It is a period that students listen， speak， read， and write under the teacher's guide. During this period， the teacher and students do activities to verify the assumptions in the pre period， complete concrete tasks， develop intellectual skills. Then to the post period， this is a period that knowledge and skills transform into apply abilities. The teacher and students summarize and assess what they have learnt before. The activities in this period include discussion， roles play， and competition and so on. These activities can release the students enliven the atmosphere of the class.

The purpose of English language teaching is to help the students to master the language effectively， in terms of reading， writing， speaking， and listening. The traditional teaching approach has some disadvantages， and this approach is not good for achieving this goal. The communicative teaching approach is good for achieving this goal. Up to now the communicative teaching approach has made great contribution to the foreign language teaching. However， it has some disadvantage as well. When students are pursuing the meaning and use of English， they often neglect the forms of English. So teachers should try to be as flexible as possible in choosing the teaching approaches， which will enable those most effectively to achieve their main goal， to give students both grammatical accuracy and communicative proficiency in English language. The communicative teaching approach is a challenge to the English teachers， because they should be strongly competent in English and skillful at using modern teaching devices.

Generally speaking， there is no single simple correct way to teach English. Chinese teachers of English should make great efforts to upgrade themselves in both their professional skills and language proficiency so as to meet the demands of foreign language teaching reformation and serve economic development in China.

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