Teaching Communicative English in the Chinese Context

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Teaching Communicative English in the Chinese Context ( A Case Study of the Gap between Teachers’ Views and Practice) Abstract The article reports on a case study that investigates (1) the extent to which the Chinese teachers of English’s views on teaching communicative English in the FL classroom setting are compatible with their teaching behaviours, and (2) the possible causes that resulted in the observed incompatibilities between their views and practice. Based on Richards & Rodgers’ (1985) approach to the analysis of a teaching method, a model was first established which identified the factors related to communicative language teaching (CLT) principles and described the relationship among the identified factors. This model was then used to develop a questionnaire which elicited the views of three Chinese teachers of English on CLT principles. Observations were further made of their teaching behaviours in oral English classes during a week’s time. Finally, each of them took part in an interview in which they responded to the questions about the observed discrepancies between their views on CLT principles and their actual teaching behaviours. The major findings are: (1) Although the subjects all agreed with the CLT principles, they spent most of the time on text-based exercises which provided few opportunities for genuine communication. (2) The subjects’ responses revealed that what prevented them from fully applying the CLT principles are mainly ignorance of the students’ communicative needs, desire to play the role of a “knowledge provider”, and washback effect of existing ways of student assessment. The relationships of these constraints are further discussed. Introduction No English teaching approach has aroused so much controversy in China as Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) since its introduction in the late 1970s. Parallel to the
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