Discussion on the effective use of communicative approach in English language teaching

左偉儀

Abstract：Since the late 1970s， Communicative Approach theory system has been introduced to China. With the extensive use of communicative approach in English language teaching， the problems that how to exert the largest effects of Communicative Approach and how to make up for the deficiency are still worth our attention. The purpose of this paper is to seek the correct development and application of Communicative Approach in English language teaching through the analysis of its background， characteristics， as well as the advantages and disadvantages in Teaching.

Keywords：Communicative approach；English language teaching；Effective use

中圖分類號：G633.41 文獻標識碼：A 文章編號：1005-5312（2017）23-0205-02

一、The background， meaning and characteristics of Communicative Approach

（一）The background of Communicative Approach

In the late 1960s， because of the increasing international exchanges， academic cooperation， trade， tourism and other international activities， the situational teaching method， which has been widely used in the past， has been challenged by experts. In 1971， American linguist Hymes proposed the concept of communicative dynamics， and he thought that the purpose of language learning was to train learners' communicative competence. Subsequently， many language experts have putted forward their own views and enriched the basic theory of Communicative Approach. From now on， as a new teaching method， Communicative Approach is widely used in teaching practice， and range of application also have became more and more widely. In 1970s， some experts have tried to introduce the Communicative Approach to China. Through the discussion and exploration led by Sun Li and Xin Bin， the Communicative Approach is step on the stage of Chinas English language teaching. However， the developing road of Communicative Approach is not smooth， for lack of comprehensive introduction， People have made some wrong cognition about Communicative Approach， they thought Communicative Approach does not pay attention to grammar and focuses on communication only. This is also the important reason why we still insist to use comprehensive research of Communicative Approach.

（二）Implications of Communicative Approach

The Communicative Approach is a foreign language teaching method， It emphasizes the aim of language learning is to acquire communicative competence， such like how to use the language to solve problem properly. To make a distinction between the teaching method which is based on grammar teaching， Communication Approach can also called as Communicative language teaching. All in all， the aim of Communicative Approach is to foster students capability of communication， and the ability of use English accurately， fluently， appropriately， and effectively in no matter what occasion， with no matter what kind of people.endprint

（三）Features of Communicative Approach

There are three main features of Communicative Approach. Firstly， the ultimate aim of language teaching is to foster the capacity of communication， theres not only a requirement for correctness of using language， but also using it appropriately. Secondly， the implementation process of language teaching is focus on students， make the process of teaching more communicative. Emphasize teaching is survive for students， and teaching students in accordance with their aptitude. Try to produce amount of occasions to foster students abilities of using language for communication. Thirdly， using a variety of teaching methods， combined with a variety of teaching methods. Dont limit teaching into a piece of book， we should provide teaching in various ways.

二、The advantages and disadvantages of Communicative Approach in middle school English Teaching

（一） The advantages of Communicative Approach in middle school English Teaching

1 .Reverse the teaching role.Communicative Approach specifies the purpose of teaching， which is to develop the language communication ability of students， whereupon students are the core of teaching in Communicative Approach， in which the status of teachers changes completely. Teachers are organizers， supervisors and the solvers of difficulties， to whom the instilling of knowledge matters. They make students accomplish constructing the knowledge themselves by stimulating their initiative to study. Such as Flapping Class， in it students can study at their own pace to promote their initiative ability of study and during the communication with their peers to practice the social skills. Students should engage into the discussion in courses actively to express their ideas and acquire understanding from the others to your point in a proper way， through which this pattern can fulfill its function. As the assistants to the study of students， the teachers teach basic English knowledge as well as offering platforms and opportunities to students. Teachers also advocate the use of presentation in reading class， which is a effective way for students to express their ideas. This method not just exists in colleges， but also in high schools. Because this stage is crucial in the whole process of English learning. During this time， the methods and ability of studying English have a lot to do with the English level， as a result， it will leave a profound influence in students if they are taught with Communicative Approach.endprint

2. Have a positive impact on teaching activities.Communicative teaching methods are always being along with various teaching activities， such as comedy performance， presentation， situational dialogue and so on. This kind of teaching activity has a remarkable common point， which carries an obvious communicative intention. Many people believe that the purpose of learning English in the middle school stage is to monster the basic grammar knowledge and the skills of examination. However， we all know that it is far from enough for this language subject. Language is regard as a tool of communication， whose purpose is to ensure a fluent communication among people， and the ability of communicating with others by using English is more important. We usually talking about that the thinking model is a daily communication in a group of native speakers in English and with their own thinking methods. Communicative Approach aims at making students start a communication under a language environment of English， which can exercise students English thinking model. From another respective， students were training this ability of communicative language and developing the understanding of language techniques， which can be truly benefit to the application of this language.

（二）The deficiency of communicative approach in middle school English Teaching

1. The contradictions between Communicative Approach and the syllabus of traditional English Teaching.Some were mentioned above in the introduction of Communicative Approach methods that Communicative Approach takes the student-centered teaching mode as teaching method. But in our country， the students often at the side which passively accept the knowledge.The teaching activities are closely around the direction of the exam， the students lack of autonomous learning， and the autonomous opportunity to ask questions， the students' autonomous ability will gradually decreased. Most of the students' exam type player， a high level of English is always reflected in the exam. The biggest drawback of this teaching model is that it ignores the ultimate purpose of learning language -- Communication. Students learning English for years， not only for the purpose of education. But the teachers must change the teaching mode of English， let the students as the protagonist of learning.

In the traditional middle school English syllabus， the demands of listening， speaking， reading and writing are quite high， which require students lay foundation of word， master English grammar and sentence structure， recite excellent sentences and practice writing. While Communicative Approach emphasizes the communication and application of language， whose main feature is to create communication close to real environment allowing students to study English knowledge and also cultivate various communicative abilities. In teaching practice， however， found that it appears many contradictions which are in essence how to deal with the relationship between language ability and communication ability. The contradiction reflects deeply the relationship among language fundamental knowledge， basic skills and communicative application which should be supplementary to each other：knowledge is premise， skill is bridge and communication is method and also aim. To some degree， however， communicative approach does not advocate the deduction and explanation of grammar principles， contending that students are not necessary to practice on the basis of mastering language knowledge but to study in communicative practice and to cultivate communicative ability.endprint

2. There are some difficulties in the implementation of English Communicative Approach.In the stage of middle high school， the problems of the actualization of the Communicating Approach of English are focused on the students and teachers. Above all， It requires high language skills of the teachers. Most of middle school teachers lack the training of relative theory. In fact， the Communicating Approach is a conflict with the traditional teaching approach because teachers are executors and spreader in the new teaching approach. With these problems above， the communicating teaching approach is so difficult to be used and spread. On the other hand， traditional way of teaching makes students get used to accepting the knowledge passively so that the traditional pattern and learning habit is totally different from the Communicating Approach. Students will feel confused about the it and cant adapt to the change. The purpose of learning English for many students is to improve the performance in examination， so its obviously another problem facing the process of the actualization of the Communicating Approach of English.

In some poor area， for lack of teachers， the middle school students face the problem that they always confused with grammatical. We all know very well that the premise of implementing Communicative Approach is having a good command of English. This is the difficult which needed to solve in the popularization and implementation process of communicative approach.

三、The effective application of Communicative Approach in English Teaching

The function of English category and traditional English teaching are effective uses of communicative teaching countermeasures.

On the one hand， language ability and communication ability itself is a kind of the relationship between the dominant and recessive， dominance can reflect directly by scores， but the recessive relationship is a potency or trend， which cant indicate by score， the traditional teaching method that emphasis on language knowledge ability influences and restricts the implementation of the communicative teaching method. At present， the majority of middle school in our country， from the teachers teaching， most of the time of the communicative teaching method initiates "communicative" or does the oral practice activities always limited by class time or cannot realized.

Secondly， from the student's point of view，Perhaps the communicative learning process is interesting， but the acquisition of English language knowledge is unavoidable boring. But for the enrollment rate， the middle school English teachers still put old wine in new wineskins. In usual test， It pays more attention to the detection of students' language skills rather than communicative ability. Through the student's achievement， we can judge the level of the students， and then evaluate the teaching level. The current system of college entrance examination has greatly restricted and even influenced the implementation of Communicative Approach. So we need to explore some ways to encourage students to speak out， and pay more attention to the experience， practice， and participation of students. Let students find the fun of Communicative English through traditional English learning， it can also help students to maintain a good and positive attitude to face the boring traditional English Teaching. For teacher plays an important role in teaching， more teachers should be encouraged. We should also pay more attention to the educational ideas and teaching methods embodied by middle school teachers， and teachers should be promoted continuously to improve the level of education and research， to give green light to those who pursue the high scores is not right.endprint

On the other hand， in some poor areas of China， due to the weak basic education， students often use the typical English words and Chinese syntax to make sentences. To these students， Even the basic English reading and writing skills are not yet available ， so the teaching aim for these areas is to help students to expand their basic knowledge of English， and to develop language skills. In particular， grammar ，reading and writing training as the important parts of the teaching process， they can make up for the negative impact of weak basic education in the poor areas in Central China， and they can also help the students to lay a good foundation of language and gradually develop their thinking and communication skills in English，thereby further helping the implement and promotion of Communicative Approach in English teaching. It is a critical period to implement and popularize English Communicative Approach，however， both the traditional teaching method and Communicative Approach have their imperfections and limitations. So we should through creative reforming， make it adapt to the teaching of middle school in our country and make it play a great role in the English education in our country.endprint