Research on the Application of Communicative Approach in Oral English Teaching: A Case of Guangxi Art School

Huang?Dongmei

【Abstract】This article analyzed the present situation of oral English teaching in Guangxi Art School， and implemented Communicative Approach in oral English teaching in this school as an example， using three communicative teaching activities in the experiment， be aimed at conforming to the needs of the current society and adapt to the demands of vocational education.

【Key words】Communicative Approach （CA）; oral English teaching; application

【作者簡介】黃冬梅（1983.11-），女，瑤族，廣西桂林恭城人，現任廣西藝術學校英語教師，2006年畢業于廣西師范學院，本科，文學學士學位，2015年研究生畢業，（英語）課程與教學論專業，獲教育學碩士。現主要從事中職藝術類院校英語教育、課程研究、中外文化藝術交流，和文案翻譯等工作，其主講的微課教學課程榮獲國家級三等獎，撰寫的多篇論文獲自治區級獎項，并于各核心期刊中發表。

I. Introduction

As we enter the 21st century， the communication between China and the world is more frequent than ever before， and the significance of oral English becomes evident. It is the demand of the society to train the students preliminary ability of oral English in vocational art schools， and also can promote the communication and the development of art and culture.

II. Analysis of the present situation of oral English teaching

In the current English classes， the traditional oral English teaching methods are still being implemented in the course of in China and are still playing a very important role. These methods have emphasized getting knowledge of English language itself rather than using the language for communicative purposes. They tend to be teacher-centered， examination-oriented， grammar-oriented and vocabulary-based methods due to the complex reasons of the present society， and each oral English teaching method holds its own viewpoints.

Nonetheless， they ignore a truth that it may train a lot of students who are unable to face and deal with the problems in the actual situations. As a consequence， the students consider oral English as the most difficult course and lose the confidence of learning it， which cause the vicious circle in oral English learning.

III. Implement Communicative Approach in oral English teaching

3.1 The Definition of CA

Communicative Approach （CA） is also called Communicative Language Teaching， is an approach to foreign or second language teaching， which stresses communicative competence as the goal of language learning. CA is used to teach the language needed to show and comprehend different kinds of actions， such as representing， asking， describing likes and dislikes， etc. The purpose is to better communication and is a way to learn to use English.

3.2 Teaching Procedure

CA combines the appropriate ways and means of other teaching methods and makes some changes to achieve the communicative goal. According to the related features and requirements of CA， the author implemented three communicative teaching activities in the experiment.

3.2.1 Group Competition

Group competition is a teaching activity which teachers often use in English teaching， with the purpose of stimulating students enthusiasm and competitiveness， especially in the secondary vocational art schools， whose students have a lot of actions and personality. The author took Class Music as the example.

First of all， the author should design some questions about music and art before the competition， and then divide students into three groups， taking students English level into consideration. The teacher introduces the rules of the competition in details. This group competition includes two parts， one is Required Question and the other one is Quick Response. In the Required Question， teacher will ask questions group by group， and students will answer it one by one. While in the Quick Response， teacher will show the question on the screen， but in each question， only the group that gives the quickest response has the opportunity to answer it. The scores of part one and two are the final score; and the champion group will receive some awards. Teacher will be the question-master and control the process of the competition strictly， such as the rules， time， the standard answers， the atmosphere， etc.

After that， teacher should give a high praise on each group with the purpose of enhancing their interest and confidence of learning English， especially the champion group and the students who have a wonderful performance in the competition.

3.2.2 Role Play

The role play can not only able to improve students interest of learning English， but also bring some colorful life experiences for them. The author took Class Art as the example. The students of Class Art are all fond of drawing and designing. By the influences of their major， many of the students in Class Art are a little more introverted than the students in Class Music and Dance. However， they also have a strong will of expressing themselves creatively. This role play gives them the opportunity to step outside of their daily lives.

In a sample lesson， teacher plays a video about job interview which synchronize with the textbook to help students understand what is interview and the main contents， and then explains the details about job interview. The teacher will ask students to choose a role they like to perform by themselves. They can also choose partners freely. At last， one of the employers will make a decision whether to hire the employee or not.

After several groups performances， the teacher will ask students to vote for the group with best performance and give away some prize to the winner. All the conversations should be spoken in English only. The teacher will offer some help only when necessary in the role play， but leave most of the time to the students to have a free performance in order to reinforce their fluency of oral English. In this way， they have more opportunities to improvise practicing a range of everyday English in the classroom.

3.2.3. Simulation activities

The simulation has some differences from role play since the individual participants in simulations speak and react as themselves， but in the role play， the situation and task are given an imaginary one. The simulation makes students think more about varieties in language， because people with different social status and careers are inclined to talk differently.

The author will choose a simulation activity in Class Broadcasting and Host as the example case. The students in this class are all good at performance and communication. The author designs a scene for the students and asks them to simulate how to shoot a Talk Show. Firstly， teacher will ask students to make a scene for the shoot， using the props which they have already prepared before class to enhance the reality of the simulation. And then， ask some students to simulate the host， writer， director， sound engineer， lighting engineer， costumer， makeup artist， etc. Each of the roles must speak more than two sentences in English in the simulation， and they are encouraged to add some gestures or other funny elements to make the simulation more natural and vivid. Teacher and other students will be the audience， and will afford some helps if necessary.

All the activities above can be used to satisfy different needs of the students in the secondary vocational art schools. However， when choosing a certain activity， we should consider the students English level， personality， teaching purpose， and many other real situations. As a consequence， the teachers experiences would contribute greatly to it and help to make a successful lesson.

IV. Conclusion

The author implemented vast arrays of ways to organize the oral English teaching activities in Guangxi Art School under the guidance of CA， and the research results are largely lived up to the desired effect. And it is proved that CA is appropriate for the students oral English learning in secondary vocational art schools. Learning and applying CA does not mean to abandon other traditional teaching methods， since there is no ‘one-fit-all method. However， there are still some limitations and deficiencies which should be improved in the further research.

References：

[1]Munby，J.Communicative Syllabus Design[M].London：Cambridge University Press，1978.