Practical Use of Communicative Language Teaching.doc

Practical Use of Communicative Language Teaching AbstractCommunication among people is very complex, the students learn a foreign language not only in order to deal with the text paper, but also to be able to listen, speak, read and write. The traditional pedagogy is against the principles. In the real life the students are not able to communicate with others in English, so the seeking and applying of more useful strategies of foreign language teaching is very necessary, and we teachers should bridge the gap and shorten the distance. The adoption of communicative language teaching is a possible solution. The teachers should let the students take an active part in communication activities, arouse their interest, create more English speaking circumstances, and the teachers should keep on teaching training. In additional, we can use some possible approaches and process to communicative activities, such as giving and following instructions, problem solving, group work, pair work, story construction, role-play and simulation. In the conclusion, it is mentioned that some rules we teachers should obey while using the communicative English teaching Key words: communicative language teaching, communicative activities, language use, 摘要人类语言的交流是相当的复杂的，学生们学外语并不是仅仅用来对付考试，还应该能够听，说，读。传统的教学是违背这种规则的。在现实的生活里学生们无法用英语与别人正常的交流的 ，所以说寻找和使用更多的有用的外语教学的方法是非常有必要的，作为老师的我们应该架起桥梁缩短这种距离。交际用语的教学就是一种解决的途径，教师应该让学生积极的参与课堂交流，唤起他们的兴趣，创设丰富的语言环境多给学生开口说的机会，而且，教师们还要不断的加强自身的业务培训。此外，老师们可以尝试着使用下面的几种有用的可行的交际活动来开展我们的课堂：指令活动，解决问题，团队活动，小组活动，组合故事，角色扮演与模仿。在最后的小结里，提到了几种我们在教学过程中运用交际法教学时应该遵守的基本原则。关键词：交际语言教学，交际活动，语言使用1 introduction As we all know, English is one of the most important and useful languages in the world, it is widely used in all kinds of situations. Communication is its essential nature, but communication among people is an extremely complex and even changing phenomenon. There are certain characteristics that the great majority of communicative events share which have particular relevance to the learning and teaching of languages. So it is necessary for us to seek and apply to more useful strategies of foreign language teaching. When we teachers have English class, we can use and design some more communicative activities to improve the students English and encourage them to say what they want to say and how they think about, and work hard to turn our English class into a place where our students can practice and consolidate their own knowledge of English, the interactive activities will allow the students to test the result of learning without the risk of being punished or scolded for any mistake, and it turns out to be an absolute side of learning. At present, some researchers about the principles of communicative language teaching and its practice only look into their own topics. They seldom touch many questions mutual concern. As we all know the research combining the two parts is not easy and common, and we have to practice again and again to find out a useful teaching method, which makes this study much more important.2.AnalysisWhat is the final goal of our English teaching? Is it to learn the language itself or master and use it? As we all know, language has social communicative function, and it is a tool to communicate with others. So the purpose of our English teaching is to let the students master the basic knowledge and get the abilities of listening, speaking, reading and writing. But as time pass by, a big conflict between traditional pedagogy and language use in real life can be felt.2.1 Problems in Present English TeachingAfter having taught English in a middle school for over 6 years, more and more puzzle is felt and the puzzle is getting bigger day by day. It seems that the teachers main target is to make the students get good marks in Exam. So as English teachers, we must prepare our students for varieties of exercises to cope with the final test. So in traditional pedagogy, the English teaching focuses on forms rather than functions. Teachers only pay much attention to training the students how to deal with the test papers, and ignore what kind of knowledge the students can get from our English class.2.2 The big gap between English teaching and the real life use of EnglishWhen we English teachers have English class, we put that in heart¬ firmlyhow to let the students deal with the test paper, so we only tend to train one or two language skills, and ignore many other aspects. But in real life, the students are not able to communicate with others in English. Sometimes, the students are too shy to open their mouth to speak English, though they understand what they should speak. Sometimes it is not easy for them to answer the simple questions with simple sentences, though they can get good points on the paper. They are at a loss at the most time. Especially they find listening and speaking are really difficult. That is mostly against the principles for learning English: foreign language teaching is to enable the students to communicate with others and to make use of it to learn from other countries. 2.3 How to solve the problems We teachers have strong desires to bridge the gap and shorten the distance, but we do not know which way is the most useful method to change the awkward situation. Teachers use a number of resources in teaching, but are sometimes frustrated because the activities we introduce are not met with enthusiasm on the part of the students. There is an obvious need for a better understanding of our learners. So that teachers will be more aware of the dynamics we are dealing with We do need to have an alternation. In my opinion, the adoption of communicative language teaching is perhaps a possible solution. We can design many communicative circumstances, and change our traditional teaching method, and turn our teaching process into a communicative one. So that we can develop students communicative competence, not only the knowledge about the language, but also how to use it properly in the communicative situations 3. The using of communicative activitiesWe English teachers should put it in heardThe ultimate goal in communicative language teaching is that the students learn the foreign language through involving in all kinds of communicative activities. The communicative activities should be utilized in our classes. Language learners will feel comfortable, and they will be more conscious about the language. We know who have greater language awareness is often more successful language learners.3. 1 Communication ActivitiesWhat are available alternative approaches to the teaching outside of the framework of brand-name methods? It is a most difficult problem. The correct one will play a central role in the development of our profession and from which our students can learn much. Maybe the best one is that we teachers must quit the role of being masters in class, and let the students take an active part in communication with others in English, either extrinsically or intrinsically, which is the ultimate objective of learning English. As English teachers, we should keep in mind deeply, if the students want to improve the spoken English, they need talk. So we should take the responsibility for the sake of their future. So the teachers should adopt various methods for increasing the students talking time. We can add some topics into our class, and give them enough chance to issue their own opinion .At that time, their attention is not on the language itself, and they are also not afraid of making mistakes, they just pay their attention to the talk and think what they should talk about. Our students will become more reflective. We should always remember that “reflective”-“effective”. The communication activities will make our class more attractive and enjoyable. The students will be glad and learn a lot from such classes.3.2 Interest CultivationInterest is the best teacher in our life. If we talk about what the students are interested in, and shift the emphasis from the linguistic to classroom, the students interest will be aroused; they will fix their attention on it. And they will get more and more interest in English day by day, which is what we teachers always expect. Sometimes the teachers fully realize that they cannot achieve all they want in the limited time they have with their students, for they have no the same interest and topics. There is a need for us to require a good understanding of our students, so that we can stretch their present capabilities and assign them tasks that will produce effective result. We can use our free time to look for the topic or things the students really like, so that in the class, we can have something in common to share and speak with our students. Therefore, what the teachers and the students do in class is learning teaching and second language acquisition. We will want to create the information gap if we are to encourage the real communication. 3.3English Speaking Circumstances Acquiring language and developing language skills depend on the learning circumstances provided by the teachers and materials, so we should offer the best opportunity for learners to direct their own learning. English speaking circumstances are the most important for our English class, and we should encourage the students to speak their own ideas as possible as they can without the limit of time. So the teachers should use all the means at hand for the learners to achieve all that they are capable of achieving. The teachers should keep in mind the aim of the lesson, the level of students, stages of the lesson learning activities and mood of the students to create English-speaking circumstance. They will not be nervous and which can create a lively atmosphere for our learning. Most of all, they will feel what they say is paid much attention by teachers and the others, and they will feel they are successful and they will like English better. Without sense they can increase their learning potential. 3.4 Teaching TrainingHow to teach a language entails ones perception of the nature of language and the nature of language learning. The teachers may have a fairly good command of the language but we almost have no teaching means in general and what foreign language means in particular. So as English teachers, we should take further learning in our free time. Teaching training for foreign language teachers often refers to further provision of language programs and advice on classroom behavior. Without a good mastery of the language, a teacher does not know what she/he is doing; without knowing the basic in classroom management, a class can easily go amiss. So we should take the training program as much as we can, such as the courses of educational psychology, teaching methodology and a doze of the foreign language, this type of training has a role to play in helping us young teachers mature quickly, and have our language proficiencies enhanced. So we can design and control our class well. (1) The results are fairly satisfying.3.5 some possible approaches and process to communicative activitiesIn the following, some possible approaches and process to communicative activities are discussed, which can be used widely in the classroom.3.5.1Giving and following constructionsThis communicative activity is quite simple but valuable it represents an important aspect of English teaching, which Johnson has called the principle of task dependency, teachers can give simple instructions according to the teaching hints and tasks fulfillment. It is quite suitable for the students of low level and acceptable in the early stages. Let s look at one exampleFirst the teachers tells students to write a command for one of their classmates on a piece of paper, the students might white something like this:Lin Tao: Give me your ruler, Ok?Then, the written messages are passed to the students who have to obey the commands.The practice proves it is very useful and interesting. The students are able to write out the simple sentences with their own thought and also understand what their partners write and also are able to act out the instructions. 3.5.2Problem solvingThe problem solving is a useful communicative activity, and it involves use of the target language. As English teachers, we can design some activities to present the students with problems, such as riddles and puzzles, which are superlative teaching tools. The students can be attracted by the tactile appeal easily. A sense of intimacy in a circle around the item, and of course children is fascinated seeing the riddles or puzzles take shape, as well as satisfied in seeing it completed. We can divide the whole class into groups or pairs, and ask them to think over and talk about the problems. They want to conquer the problems, so they will concentrate on their work till solving it. It is a powerful communicative activity.Here is an example: who is who? First, the teacher arranges the class into several pairs.Then, the teacher gives each pair the following information:Tom is a policeman, and his younger brother, Sam, is a college students. The two brothers go into a restaurant to have their lunch. They sit down at a table.Sam says to Tomoh, three of my classmates are having their lunch there He points to a table in the restaurant, Three young men are sitting at the table and talking. They are Dick, Mike and Bruce but who is who, Sam? says Tom.I think the one smoking the cigar is Mike, the one wearing the hat is Dick, and the one eith moustache is Bruce.wrongsays Sam.At the moment, the one with the moustache stands up from the table.It is time for us to leave now, Dick. he says .The other two stand up and all three leave.Shall I tell you who is who? asks Sam. No , I already knew that, because I am a policeman.answers Tom.Then, after a given time, and supposing the students have not got near to a solution, the teacher can give the students some clues till they get the final conclusion.This kind of puzzle involves the students in reading and discussing and highly enjoyable. (2)3.5.3Group workIt is the best method to bring everyone initiative into full play and it needs team work. It can be used to discuss something controverted or further practice and fluency work. We teachers give the students a task, which needs their collective work and share their information, and so that they can solve a problem or reach a decision, for example, the students are put into small groups to find out their real school life and the ideal one.First, put the students into several groups.Then, the teacher tells them that he is going to give everyone a questionnaire, which they should fill in. This he does by asking the other one in the group. Here is the questionnaire:QUESTIONNAIREA11.What time does your school day start?2.What time does your first class begin