A Contrastive Study of the For3669m—focused Approach and Communicative Approach in Mainland China

LI Luyao

【Abstract】This thesis explores the form-focused approach and communicative approach in Mainland China， mainly talk about the current situation and problem.

【Key words】form-focused approach； communicative approach； English teaching

【作者簡(jiǎn)介】LI Luyao， Department of Translation and Interpretation， CISISU.

Introduction： When help the students learn English， teachers always want to find the most efficiency teaching approach. There are many different approaches in language teaching， like the form-focused approach， the grammatical approach and the communicative approach. The form-focused approach was proposed by Michael Long in 1988 and emphasize the learners should notice the grammatical form of language features. The communicative approach rose in the 1970s and early 1980s， it stress on the practical use of language in real life. And for teachers they may use different approaches to help students learn English but in China， most of the teachers prefer using the form-focused approach than others.

The Problem： For the Chinese students， math， Chinese， and English are the three major courses. For teachers to help students learn English well， they should use all the approaches in language teaching. But in Mainland China， the teacher seems mainly focused on the form-focused approach and pays little attention to the communicative approach. When you visit the English class of Mainland China， you will find the teacher spend most of the time to talk about the grammar and the students have little chance to speak. This approach of teaching really help the students know the grammar and get high score in the domestic test， but how about international test？ Most of students did poor in international English test， e.g. LELTS and TOEFL. According to the news， the average score of IELTS spoken test of the Chinese students is the lowest among the 41 countries.

Analysis and Discussion： For most of the Chinese teachers they like the form-focused approach and believe grammar rules and memorize vocabulary is the best way to learn English. This seems works for many years and students got a high score in the national exams. However， when Chinese students want to study abroad and then they must take the international English proficiency test and now the grammar rules and vocabulary they know seems not work at all. Most of the international English test have spoken test and this is the weakness of many Chinese students. When they talk to others they are afraid of looking at others and some even too nervous to understand what others are talking about. It is frustrating that the students learned English for many years and know the grammar and vocabulary but do not know how to speak out. Of course we cannot say the form-focused approach is not good because it helps students understand grammar and vocabulary， even have a better understanding of English grammar than native speakers. But learning a foreign language is to know how to use it in real life not doing grammar multiple choices or write on the test paper so I believe teachers should pay attention to communicative approach in language teaching.

Suggestions： Learning English is not just for test，the form-focused approach is good but the teacher also needs to use the communicative approach to help the students use the language and according to their performance to find their weakness and help students make an improvement. When having class the teachers should design activities to give students the chance to show themselves， to help them learn English through communication and give them confidence to speak out.

Conclusion： From the current situation of Mainland China， I believe there is a need to adopt communicative approach in language teaching. To control a language is not only a matter of grammar or vocabulary， teachers should help students know how to use the language in life that is the real purpose of learning a language.

References：

[1]William Littlewood.Communicative Language Teaching.Cambridge： Cambridge University Press 1981.

[2]Doughty，Catherine，Williams，Jessica，eds.Focus on form in second language acquisition.Cambridge：Cambridge University Press 1998.