The Implementation of Communicative Language Approach in Teaching Spoken English for Senior Students.doc

论 文 专 用 纸. . the implementation of communicative language approach in teaching spoken english for senior students abstract: the function of language is communication. english teaching is to teach the students how to communicate with each other and to train their communicative competence. thus spoken english teaching for senior students has attracted wide attention. however, english teachers in senior schools have long adopted the traditional method which is teacher-centered, and neglects the students active role in their own learning, and spoken english teaching in particular. because the traditional teaching method is difficult to meet the countrys development, this paper is to present some problems existed in spoken english teaching and discuss some reasons. meanwhile, based on communicative language teaching, the paper will further give corresponding suggestions to improve spoken english of senior students.key words: communicative language teaching；spoken english teaching； communicative activities 交际法语言教学在高中口语教学中的应用摘要：语言的功能是交际。英语教学的目的就是教学生如何去与人交流，培养并完善他们的交际能力。为了达到这一目的，在高中英语教学中，口语教学成为一项至关重要的问题.但是长期以来，我国高中英语教学一直采取旧的模式，即以老师为中心，忽视学生在自主学习中的主动性。同时，口语教学也经常被忽视。这种方法因其无法满足社会的发展而引发广泛思考。基于这种情况，本文讨论了目前高中口语教学中存在的问题及引发这些问题的原因。并根据交际法语言教学理念，提出了相应的建议。关键字：交际法语言教学； 口语教学； 交际活动1. introductionwith the development of business transactions around the world, being capable of speaking fluently has emerged recently as one of the basic requirements of modern people in the global village. in term of the requirement of developing society, spoken english teaching should be paid more attention and it is urgent to cultivate senior students oral english in our country. so in the way of improving senior students oral english, the popular approach-communicative language teaching may be a good choice. at the end of the 1960s and the beginning of 1970, with the rise and development of 装订线. . . 第 1 页 论 文 专 用 纸. . communicative competence theory, systematic functional linguistics approach, and speech act theory, linguists began to view the ultimate goal of language learning as developing language communicative competence. many linguists began to view language not only in terms of its structures, but also in terms of the communicative functions that it performs. the emphases on learners development of communicative competence had a significant influence on the study of language teaching methodology, and finally lead to a new approach in language teaching-the communicative language teaching (clt).the communicative teaching approach wasnt introduced into china until the 1990s. now its rationale and ideas have been one of the mainstreams influencing the methods of foreign language teaching of our country. the teaching approach is worth exploring in spoken english teaching for senior students. the whole paper consists of three parts. part one introduces this approach, includes its notion and features. part two discusses the present situation of spoken english in chinese senior education. part three talks about the implementation of cla in spoken english teaching for senior students. 2. communicative language teaching approach2.1 the notion of cltcommunicative language teaching is an approach to the teaching of languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. despite a number of criticisms, it continues to be popular, particularly in europe, where constructivist views on language learning and education in general dominate academic discourse.communicative language teaching makes use of real-life situations that necessitate communication. the teacher sets up a situation that students are likely to encounter in real life. unlike the audio-lingual method of language teaching, which relies on repetition and drills, the communicative approach can leave students in suspense as to the outcome of a class exercise, which will vary according to their reactions and responses. the real-life simulations change from day to day. students motivation to learn comes from their desire to communicate in meaningful ways about meaningful topics. littlewood, an expert in the field of communicative language teaching, writes in explaining firths view 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)(littlewood, 1983).2.2 features of clt2.2.1 student-centeredfor a long time teachers have been the dominating figure in classroom instruction. cordercriticizes this kind of practice, saying:“the trouble typically is that we always talk about teaching, teaching, 装订线. . . 第 2 页 论 文 专 用 纸. . teaching, teaching, and not about learning. teaching and learning are a combined operation, and the focus has been far too much on teaching for too long. we have to realize that it is the students who are learning a language, not the teachers. thus the communicative language teaching requires a student-centered approach which places students at the center with teachers and learners as joint partners in the language enterprise. student-centeredness means that students should be actively involved in using and thinking about language and in drawing generalizations about language according to the input they receive. as for teachers, they will shoulder on heavier responsibilities for creating a classroom environment and atmosphere conductive to learning, by organizing and involving learners, developing communicative activities and offering quittance when necessary. their role can no longer be a matter of handling out parts from a language kit with instructions on how to proceed stage by stage一to put them together to make the approved model.2.2.2 task-orientedit is generally agreed that people learn a language best through the use of language in communication. in language classroom, if we provide learners with activities and tasks, they will have opportunities to use language for actual communication. furthermore, they can acquire the appropriate use of language through itself. traditional approaches provide no such situation in which learners experience the real use of language for communication. on the other hand, communicative methodology sees the communication situation and the use of language as crucial for developing learners communicative competence. it follows then, that communicative tasks and activities not only have a legitimate place in language teaching but are essential. without them we would be playing lip service to the aim of developing communicative competence. such activities and tasks may cover inference, practical reasoning, negotiating of meaning, problem solving and information transfer. and they may be carried out in a number of ways, group work, pair work, individual work and role play. they must become a regular part of a language program. in many cases, a condition and atmosphere need to be created for the performance of these tasks and activities.2.2.3 authenticby authenticity, applied linguists often mean the nature of syllabus content or textbook material. in contrast here authenticity is dealt with from the angle of methodology. this principle requires that: (1).real language is used in classroom instruction and interaction. that is, language can be used in a real communicative activity rather than language artificially made up for purposes other than communication; (2).the classroom communicative situation is as similar to the situation in real life as possible;(3).the tasks and roles are real. in performing these tasks and playing the roles learners must have purpose and desire to communicate. there must be an information gap in the communication; that is, 装订线. . . 第 3 页 论 文 专 用 纸. . they have a desire to learn some information from others through communication. (4). learners output of language is unpredictable and creative. their language normally should have a variety of linguistic forms, not only one single form to show their mastery of what has been taught.2.2.4 integratedthis principle requires that the teaching of listening, speaking, reading and writing should be connected together to bring linguistic skills and communicative abilities into close association. according to widdowson, the learners task is to acquire a communicative ability to interpret discourse. he argues: it would seem to follow that any approach directed at achieving .it should avoid treating the different skills and abilities that constitute competence in isolation from each other as ends in them. what the learner needs to know is to compose in the act of writing, comprehend in the act of reading, and to learn techniques of reading by writing and techniques of writing by reading. this means that in classroom instruction, when we give an exercise which focuses on a particular skill or ability, say, reading, we must link it with other skills or abilities such as writing. this principle also values the non-verbal means of communication. facial expressions, gestures, body movements, various signs, charts and tables will be used in classroom interaction, for there is an integral part of normal communication.in a word, in order to reach the aims of speaking teaching in new curriculum criteria, and to change the poor state of the present spoken english teaching, we must strengthen the training of communicative english, turn the english class into a real practicing class, convert the traditional teacher-centered teaching ways, and make the students become positive participants instead of passive receivers of information.3. problems and reasons for senior students spoken english teaching with the recent growth of english as an international language of communication, there is a clear need for many learners to speak and interact in a multiplicity of situations through the language. of all the four skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing), speaking seems intuitively the most important; people who know a language are referred to as “speakers” of that language, as if speaking included all other kinds of knowing. however, compared with the great need, many students oral english in senior schools is so limited. the objectives of the new curriculum standard include: consolidate and enlarge students basic knowledge of english on the basis of junior middle school learning; develop the basic four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing; foster the basic ability to use english for communication in speaking and writing with emphasis on reading ability; acquire ability of self-study to a certain degree and lay a solid foundation for further learning and using english. we can obviously see that the new curriculum standard stresses knowledge of english as skills and special emphasis is given to the ability to use it as and for communication. in order to reach these aims, we teachers should try to apply communicative language teaching approach in our english teaching.3.1 spoken english teaching at present 装订线. . . 第 4 页 论 文 专 用 纸. . speaking is the process of building and sharing meaning through the use of verbal and non-verbal symbols in a variety of contexts. speaking is a crucial part of second language learning and teaching. despite its importance, for many years, teaching speaking has been undervalued and english language teachers have continued to teach speaking just as a repetition of drills or memorization of dialogues. firstly, from junior school to senior school, most of the english teachers have long adopted the traditional grammar-translation method, which is teacher-centered and neglects the students role in their own learning. they only pay much attention to grammar analysis and sentence drills, but neglect students listening and speaking skills. students often do many reading and writing exercises in class, but dont have the opportunities to practice their oral english, gradually they cant use what they have learnt into practice and cant express themselves in english. secondly, some students cant take part in their teachers activities because of their poor listening and speaking ability. they cant fully understand what their teachers have said and they often feel nervous when they speak in english. they are often afraid of being laughed at when they have some mistakes in their speaking, so they would rather keep silence than speak in english. besides, although some students understand that oral english is useful, they wont spend much time practicing. they prefer speaking in chinese to speaking in english. it results in that they dont work hard in class and dont practice after class because of laziness. whats more, some students think the present examination system pay much attention to reading and writing, and think it doesnt matter whether their communicative ability is good or not. however, todays world requires that the goal of teaching speaking should be to improve students communicative skills, because, only in that way can students express themselves and learn how to follow the social and cultural rules appropriate in each communicative circumstance.3.2 problems in present spoken english teaching in senior school at present, english teaching reform has been carried out in schools, some teaching reform has been succeeded, but there are still some problems in english teaching. the students who have had several years of training in english are still unable to actually use the language. for example, the students cant understand what the teachers have said and they cant express themselves, their ability of listening and speaking is not up to standard. they cant communicate with others in english. what they have learned is only used in examination. many people believe that is because the teachers do not do their job properly. actually, many teachers ignore the importance of the students ability of listening and speaking. now the teachers have been faced with the problem of improving the students ability of listening and speaking. english teaching reform is carried out on a national-wide scale, how do we evaluate it? most of headmasters and teachers only pay attention to the marks of the entrance examination. it seems that some students have got high marks in examination, but their listening and speaking are very poor, they cant communicate with what they have learned. secondary school students have taken six years to master the essential of english and still are not able to speak the language well in many cases. in essence, the students language ability is incomplete. furthermore, 装订线. . . 第 5 页 论 文 专 用 纸. . many teachers think that they have taught the basic knowledge of the language to students; it is simple enough for the students to use the knowledge, later, to communicate. however, it wrong to think that knowledge of how sentences are used in communication follows from knowledge of the correct way to make them. the thought of teachers is also a reason resulting in the fact - the students language is incomplete. investigating the west education of foreign language, we can find that the teachers never divide the four abilities in their teaching. they always put the training students speaking ability at the first place; they drill the students listening ability in the whole communicative process. so our teachers face with the problem of changing our teaching methods to improve the students ability of listening and speaking.3.2.1 less attention spent to spoken english than the other three skillswhile learning english, students should be trained in four basic skillslistening, speaking, reading and writing. but influenced by the present examination system, oral english may be thought dispensable in primary and middle school, for there is no concrete demands in spoken english at all. many students who have a vague understanding toward english just want to get higher scores in the entrance exam so that they can get chances to enter universities or colleges and change their destinies completely. so gradually they develop “mute english”. 3.2.2 lack of context of situationcontext of situation firstly appeared in the preface by poland human linguist malinnowsk of the book “meaning of meaning” written by ogelen & richards (halliday&hasan.1976). later on, english linguists firth, hallicay, american linguists hymes, and chomsky presented their own views about it. the importance of context of situation is highlighted by all schools of linguists. the linguists of different schools all agreed on the view that the great influence of language in a certain situational context is frequent and continuous. being lack of situational context is one of disadvantages of spoken english teaching.3.2.3 higher requirements about teachersbecause of lack of situational context, the teachers play more important role in the language teaching and learning.” the river of knowledge runs from teachers heart to students heart by teachers words”(wang dong & gao,1996).students may benefit a lot from a good teacher. the criteria of an excellent english teacher are having abundant knowledge, quick thought, enough cultural accumulation; he must also speak standard english, use english skillfully, and can