Communicative Approach

Language is a means of communication. Although it is not the only form of communication among human beings, it is certainly the most important. English teaching is to teach the students how to communicate with each other, to train the students good and complete language ability, to express their ideas correctly and to easily adjust themselves to every kind of social situation.

English teaching is a case in point. This paper is to discuss some problems of present English teaching approach, to state the principles and advantages of communicative approach, and to give some advice on how to make the English class more communicative and improve the student’s ability of listening and speaking.  Problems in the present English teaching and causes of these problems As 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 with classical approaches are still unable to actually use the language. For example, the students can’t understand what the teachers have said and they can’t express themselves, their ability of listening and speaking is not up to standard, and also they can’t communicate with others in English. Now the teachers have been faced with the problem of improving the student’s ability of listening and speaking. Introduce the communicative approach . The definition of communicative approach.

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Communicative approach refers to the theory of teaching according to the principle that the students and teachers should genuinely communicate with each other using the target language.  Two principles of communicative approach. Among the numerous principles of communicative approach, there are two pieces of principles, which are more important English teaching.  Create more realistic situation. The current teaching methods don’t emphasize the real world situations and fail to cultivate student’s spontaneity.

Artificial conventions and mechanical question-and-answer sequences fall short of the flexible, spontaneous kind of communicative interaction required for performing a task with the context of situation relevant to the real world. Such classroom teaching forces learners to talk about things that are not of their own choosing and not based on their actual needs. Taught in this way, the learners frequently fail when they are faced with the read to produce the language related to a specific situation.

Simulation techniques seem to be a better alternative, as they seek to place learners in a situation where they are asked to take on different roles and to. Accomplish their specific tasks, including problem solving. They offer an opportunity for the learners to practice using the language in the right place at the right time and as appropriately as possible. The most obvious advantage of these kind of techniques is that it puts the learners in realistic situations.

By simulating the physical circumstances of certain situations, the students can have the opportunity to use and to practice the sort of language, particularly the vocabulary related to that situation, so that learners are rehearsed for real life. In addition, they can express what they want to say whenever the situation calls for it. The teacher provides the best conditions for learning through creating the realist situation.  The class should be students-centered. The focus of classroom should be shifted from the teacher to students.

The teacher does most the talking and always has the whole class under his strict control by lecturing, questioning, correcting students and often supplying correct answers to the exercises. In such a class, the teacher is obviously the most authoritative person. Students always act according to what the teacher wants them to accomplish put not what they themselves want to accomplish. So it appears that sometimes, even if the students have understood the text they are reading, they do not have the courage to speak out when called upon, for fear that they may not be right.

The class should be learners-centered. Communicative approach makes learners to be themselves and requires the classroom instructor to play a secondary role, trying to keep focus on the students not on himself and encouraging students to communicate among themselves. The role and relationship between the teacher and students are fixed by the students-centered principle. It is to say that the students are the main part in communication, while the teacher helps the students to communicate.  Adopt communicative approach to improve students ability to listen and peaking 1. Three stages of communicative teaching The teacher can divide the student’s learning into three stages:

1. The first stage, the teacher is a sort of information: he selects material to be learnt and presents it so that the students can understand it and remember it as clearly as possible. The students may do little talking but they should by no means be passive.
2. The second stage is the practice stage. Let the students do the talking organized from cue by the teacher: this practice should be meaningful and memorable.
3. The third stage makes the students to be allowed, under the guidance of the teacher, to use the language freely, even if they make some mistakes as a result.

This requires a more flexible attitude from the teachers to mistakes, if the student is constantly stopped and corrected, then eventually he will become discouraged and cease to be motivated to speak. If the students can use the language for themselves, then they become aware that they have learnt something useful and are encouraged to go on learning: perhaps the most important factor is to keep up motivation in the learning process itself.

We always talk about listening and speaking together. We must be aware of the fact that oral communication is a two-way process between speakers and listeners. In our class, both the teacher and students are speakers and listeners 2. The class communicative activities Communicative activity provides opportunities for positive personal relationships to develop among learners and teachers. Because of the limitation of the classroom, this requires the teacher to create more various social situations and relationships in the class.

1. Simulation: Learners are asked to imagine themselves in a situation which would occur outside the classroom, and they are asked to behave as if the situation really excited.
2. Role-playing: is one method of getting the students to imagine they are someone else and play that part.
3. Discussion: They must present their views in a more public context, there are sticker rules governing who speaks, when and to whom, and a higher level of formality is expected. The student’s ability of listening and speaking can be improved in discussions.
4. Interaction: There will also be increasing scope which gives learners greater responsibility for creating the interaction themselves.
5. Pictures: Extremely useful visual aid. Pictures of people and places are much more interesting than ordinary objects. This is another chance for group work and genuine discussion.

Other teaching aids are important techniques for creating a wider variety of social situations and relationships. Communicative activities are very important in language learning. It may be useful to consider briefly what the teacher might hope to achieve through the communicative activity in the classroom.

Since this will determine his own attitude toward it and what he gives it in his overall methodology. The learners ultimate objective is to take part in communication with others. Their motivation to learn is more likely to be sustained if they can see how their classroom learning is related to this objective and helps them to achieve it with increasing success.

Conclusion

The traditional methods of teaching do not allow the learners to express their own ideas, activities and personality, which is though t to be important especially for students. For example, mechanical drills do not allow the students to express their own ideas, therefore, they will not be interested in listening, and their listening efficiency will be impaired. Under the present situation, communicative approach is a better way to improve our English teaching. For the teachers, the new method means more varieties to devise the lessons; for the students as well, the new method more opportunities to practice their listening and speaking, and to have the freedom to express themselves.

Thus, the communicative approach makes the teaching more fulfilling. Just as some linguists have said: English language teaching should be made of communication by communication and for communication. English language teaching is an interdisciplinary subject for which human communication is an important source. The communicative approach is no doubt a manifestation of how this theory can be applied in the student’s English learning. It is a good teaching method to improve the student’s ability of listening and speaking.

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