Communicative Language Teaching in Middle School English Class

中学英语课堂中的交际性语言教学Communicative Language Teaching in Middle School English ClassContentsAbstract.1Key words.1IIntroduction.2IIBrief Notes on CLT.22.1 Definition of Communicative Language Teaching.22.2 Characteristics of Communicative Language Teaching.32.3 Functions of Communicative Language Teaching.42.4 Significances of Communicative Language Teaching.4IIITeacher Roles in Communicative Language Teaching.43.1 Two Main Roles.53.2 Three Specific Roles.53.3 A Comparison.6IVThe Implementation of Language Skills.7VCommunicative Activities.85.1 The Types of Communicative Activities.85.2 Six Criteria for Evaluating Communicative Activities.95.2.1 Communicative Purpose.95.2.2 Communicative Desire.95.2.3 Content, not Form.105.2.4 Variety of Language.105.2.5 No Teacher Intervention.105.2.6 No Materials Control.10VIProblems and Solutions of Communicative Language Teaching.106.1 It is Difficult to Cope with Language Functions106.2 Grammar Seems to be Ignored.116.3 There is an Overemphasis on Spoken Language.126.4 Places Heavy Demands on the (Non-Native) Teacher.12VIIHow to Improve Students Communicative Competence in CLT.137.1 Communicative Competence.137.2 Communicative Principle.137.3 Communicative Teaching Steps.137.3.1 Build up the Students Confidence. .137.3.2 Set up a Communicative Situation147.3.3 Get Students to Listen More and Give More Chance, Act as a Monitor.147.3.4 Give Students Speaking Tasks.147.3.5 Outside Class Training.157.3.6 More Language Use than Analysis157.3.7 Teachers Should Make that Teaching Interesting and Exciting.167.3.8 Stimulate and Guide Students to Try Their Own Learning Style.16VIIIConclusion.16References.17Communicative Language Teaching in Middle SchoolEnglish Class摘要： 每个人都接受这一个观点，即语言是信息的媒介，语言的最终目的是使学者在不同的环境中能灵活自在地使用语言。此篇文章详细阐述了在第二语言教学/外语教学中的最重要的趋势之一的教学方法交际性语言教学法。作为一种教学方法，交际性教学法获得越来越多的重要性，尤其是在中学英语课堂中。它被应用来发展学生的交际能力，即是发展学生的语言能力。换句话说，就是听说读写能力。交际能力包括语言不同能力的综合。此篇文章描述了CLT的定义、特点、功能和重要性；解释了老师在CLT中的角色；讨论了交际性活动和如何发展学生的语言能力；谈到CLT在中学英语课堂中如何提高学生的交际能力。关键字：交际性语言教学；语言能力；老师角色；交际性活动；问题和解决办法；交际能力Abstract: Everyone accepts the proposition that language is a medium of information, and the ultimate target of language teaching is to enable learners to communicate freely in various situations with it. This paper elaborates on one of the most important trend in second /foreign language, that is, Communicative Language Teaching. This method is gaining more and more importance in the field of second language teaching, especially in the middle school English class. Communicative Language Teaching had been applied to develop students communicative competence. To develop students communicative ability means to develop students language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Communication involves the integration of different language skills. This paper describes CLT on definition, characteristic, function and significance; explains teachers roles in CLT; discusses communicative activities and how to develop language skills; concerns eight steps in CLT to improve students communicative competence in middle school English class.Key words: Communicative Language Teaching; teachers role; communicative activities; language skills; problems and solutions; communicative competenceIIntroductionEveryone accepts the proposition that language is a medium of information, and that the ultimate target of language teaching is to enable learners to communicate freely in various situations with it. The traditional methods fail to provide students with appropriate contexts to use the target language because they focus either on grammatical structures or pattern drills at sentence level. Students may have a very good mastery of linguistic knowledge and they are usually quite good at grammatical analysis. However, they cannot use the knowledge they have gained effectively and appropriately when communicating. Obviously, Communicative Language Teaching should be applied to develop students communicative competence. To develop students communicative competence means to develop students language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing. Of course, these skills cannot be developed without the learning of pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and other language abilities. Communication involves the integration of different language skills. In middle school English class, Communicative Language Teaching is given most consideration. It is beyond doubt that this method is very important in foreign language teaching and it deserves further exploration. IIBrief Notes on CLT 2.1 Definition of Communicative Language TeachingMargie S. Berns, 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). (Berns, 1984, p.5)Wilkins, a British linguist proposed a communicative definition of language serves as a basis for developing communicative syllabuses for language teaching. He demonstrated the systems of meanings that lay behind the communicative uses of language.Communicative Language Teaching as a communicative approach to foreign or second language teaching emphasizes that the goal of language learning is competence. Teachers should now treat Communicative Language Teaching as an approach that not only to make communicative competence the goal of language teaching but also to develop procedures for the four language skills. (Richards, 1992)2.2 Characteristics of Communicative Language TeachingAt the level of language theory, Communicative Language Teaching has a rich, if somewhat eclectic, theoretical base. Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language follow.a. It emphasizes a functional approach to language learning (i.e. what people do with language, such as inviting, apologizing, greeting and introducing, etc.). Also, to be competent in the target language, learners should acquire not only linguistics knowledge, but also the culture of that language. “Context” or “situation” is the real key to giving meaning to function.b. Learners motivations can be greatly encouraged through language techniques designed to engage learners in the authentic, pragmatic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes.c. Fluency may take on more importance than accuracy in conveying a message. The ultimate purpose for communicative success is the actual transmission and receiving of the intended meaning.d. CLT provides “whole-task” learning through various kinds of communicative activities, structured in order to suit the learners level of ability. Students should be given tasks to perform or problems to solve in the classroom.e. Students are given opportunities to discover and follow their own styles of learning and thus develop appropriate strategies for autonomous learning. This helps students to become independent learners.f. A communicative classroom should be learner-centered as contrasted to the teacher-centered classroom of the traditional methods. A learner-centered classroom employs techniques that account for learners different needs and styles, give some control to the students, allow for students creativity and innovation and enhance students sense of competence and self-worth. Only in a student-centered classroom, students can enjoy the freedom to communicate with each other.g. In the communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use the language, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts.2.3 Functions of Communicative Language TeachingA linguistic theory of communication favored in CLT is Hallidays functional account of language use. “Linguistics . is concerned. with the description of speech acts or texts, since only through the study of language in use are all the functions of language, and therefore all components of meaning, brought into focus”. (Halliday 1970: 145). In a number of influential books and papers, Halliday has elaborated a powerful theory of the functions of language. He described seven basic functions that language performs for children learning their first language, and learning a second language was similarly viewed as performing different kinds of functions. These are:a. Instrumental Function (“I want”): used for satisfying material needs.b. Regulatory Function (“do as I tell you”): used for controlling the behaviors of others.c. Interactional Function (“me and you”): used for getting along with other people.d. Personal Function (“here I come”): used for identifying and expressing the self.e. Heuristic Function (“tell me why”): used for exploring the world around and inside one.f. Imaginative Function (“lets pretend”): used for creating a world of ones own.g. Informative Function (“Ive got something to tell you”): using language to communicate new information.2.4 Significances of Communicative Language TeachingLanguage is a medium of information, and the ultimate target of language teaching is to enable learners to communicate freely in various situations with it. In the foreign language education, Communicative Language Teaching is usually given most consideration. And it has become more and more important in foreign language teaching and it even becomes one necessary part in middle school English class. Many professionals and researchers in the field of Second Language Teaching (SLT) would agree that implication as learner-centered Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) seems to be the norm nowadays. CLT is time-tested and firmly grounded in research theory. It has been applied repeatedly and successfully in English class around the world because it meets the demands of achieving the ultimate goal of communicative competence.IIITeacher Roles in Communicative Language Teaching3.1 Two Main RolesIn the CLT, the teacher has two main roles. The first role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom, and integrate activities and texts. The second role is to act as an independent participant within the learning teaching group. These roles imply a set of secondary roles for the teacher: a. As an organizer of resources and as a resource himself, or herself.b. As a guide within the classroom for executing procedures and activities.c. As a researcher and learner, with much to contribute in terms of appropriate knowledge and abilities, actual and observed experience of the nature of learning, and organizational skills.3.2 Three Specific RolesApart from the above-mentioned, there are specific roles assumed for teachers in Communicative Language Teaching. They are roles as: needs analyst, counsellor, and group process manager.Firstly, needs analyst: the Communicative Language Teaching teacher assumes a responsibility for determining and responding to the learner language needs. This may be done informally through one-to-one sessions with students, in which the teacher talks through such issued as the students perception of his or her learning style, learning assets, and learning goals. It may be done formally through administering a needs assessment instrument.Secondly, counsellor: another role assumed by the teacher in a Communicative Language Teaching is that of counselor or adviser. In this role, the teacher-counselor is expected to exemplify an effective communicator, seeking to maximize the meshing of speakers intention and listeners interpretation, through the use of paraphrase, confirmation, and feedback.Thirdly, group process manager: Communicative Language Teaching procedures require teachers to develop less teacher-centered classroom management skills. It is the teachers responsibility to organize the classroom as a setting for communication and communicative activities. During a classroom activity, the teacher monitors, encourages, and suppresses the inclination to supply gaps in lexis and grammar. The teacher can participate in an activity as “co-communicator” with the learners. The teacher is a “facilitator” of learning that can stimulate and present new language, exercise direct control over the learners performance, evaluate and correct it.In a Communicative Language Teaching language classroom, teachers should play all the roles described above. They should be the group process manager and organizer to organize the classroom as a setting for communication. Teachers must teach English as a means of communication, teach it in a communicative classroom for the purpose of meeting authentic communication needs. Teaching should be combined with opportunities for student applications of acquired language skills.3.3 A ComparisonFollowing is a comparison of two listening & speaking classes as taught by the contrasting methods of Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) and Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to show how students benefit from various teacher roles.GTM (100 mins.)CLT (100 mins.)a) Presentation of new lesson (write the topic on the blackboard) (1min.)a) Presentation of new lesson (give 5 or 6 key words of the story) (1 min.)b) Presentation of new text (explain every new word, expression and grammatical structure) (30 mins.)b) Ask the students to guess what topic they are going to talk about. (15 mins.)c) Play the tape twice, the students listening without looking at books. (10 mins.)c) Play the tape three times, after each time the students are asked to retell the story (25 mins.)d) Play the tape the 3rd time, stop the tape at the end of each sentence, students are required to repeat, looking at books. (15 mins.)d) Help students to understand the difficult words or sentences by Heuristic Method. (10 mins.)e) Read the text after the teacher two or three times. (10-15 mins.)e) Students work in pairs or groups freely (20 mins.)f) Check reading, correct mistakes in pronunciation (20 mins.)f) Students give performance in pairs or groups. (10-15 mins.)g) Play the tape for the fourth time, students are imitating. (5-8 mins)g) Point out common or typical errors in their pronunciation or intonation. (4 mins.)h) Assignment of homework (recitation in pair the text.) (1 min.)h) Assignment of homework (try to add information to the story.) (1 min.)The teacher roles indicated by Communicative Language Teaching theory can help students to master English successfully. It is proved that the students who learn English through Communicative Language Teaching can not only learn to read and write English well, but also speak and use English fluently. Graduates of language learning programs that emphasize Communicative Language Teaching and learning can communicate with foreigners freely and express their ideas clearly. Therefore, teachers should work toward the appropriate teacher roles in Communicative Language Teaching.IVThe Implementation of Language SkillsThe translation of communicative competence in language teaching practice is to develop learners language skills, namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing.In traditional pedagogy, listening and speaking activities include: listening to texts (conversations or stories) either read by the teacher or pre-recorded on the tape; repeating what is heard; answering questions according to what is heard; producing responses based on given dues; retelling what is heard. It is clear these activities involve use of language in a completely different way from how language is used in reality. So, listening and speaking skills need to be redefined in terms of the real communicative use that is students should have the chance to listen to and produce what is meaningful, authentic, unpredictable, and creative if ever possible.The listening skill has received special attention in CLT, possibly because it previously had been neglected as a skill in its own right. Listening shares a number of features with reading since both are interpretative or receptive skills. Listening, therefore, is viewed not only as the counterpart of speaking, but also as an independent skill with its own objectives. In real life, there are many situations in which we act as listeners only, for example as audience for radio, television, lectures, films etc.Since communicative course focus on meaning rather than on form, the reading skill is redefined to focus on the purpose of reading. Traditionally the purpose of reading is to learn language, namely vocabulary, grammar etc. The reading skills involved might be decoding, structural analysis etc. In CLT, reading is to extract the meaning or the message, and for different reading purposes, the students use different skills, such as skimming and scanning Finally, in CLT, the writing skill has been expanded to focus on its communicative goals as well. Students should practice writing what people write in reality and writing in the way people write in reality. Students should have the chance to write to express their own feelings or describe their own experiences, thus making the practice of writing meaningful and authentic.In a word, CLT has not replaced the previous approaches or methodologies. It has only expanded the areas, language content (to incorporate functions), learning process (cognitive style and information processing), and product (integrating language skills).VCommunicative Activities5.1 The Types of Communicative ActivitiesThe key assumption in Communicative Language Teaching is that the students learn the language through engaging in a variety of communicative activities.In communicative approach, Littlewood divided the communicative approach into pre-communicative and communicative activities.Pre-communicative Structural activitiesActivities Quasi-communicative activities Communicative Functional communication activitiesActivities Social interaction activitiesThe pre-communicative activities are preparatory steps towards communicative activities. The teachers should analyze all the communicative abilities and then let the students practice them one by one. The aim is for learners to practice using language they will need when actually communicating.There are two types of pre-communicative activities. The first type mainly concerns about structural activities. These are much like the grammar exercises in which the teacher teaches the students how to use grammatical rules in their communications. The second type is quasi-communication activities, which are intended to help learners relate the structures they are studying to the use of the language. Some quasi-communicative activities include: a. Situational dialogues; b. Open-ended dialogues; c. Timetable, map, food list,