On the Extent CLT Applied in a College Classroom

Abstract: To what content is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) likely to meet the needs of learners of English in China? It's a question still under debate， under discussion， having generated much interest in this field. By analyzing the development of CLT abroad and home， the comparison of EFL and ESL， the challenges and opportunities we meet in the application of CLT， the extent to which CLT is likely to meet the needs of learners in China is further discussed.

Key words: CLT EFL ESL college English challenges and opportunities

In the middle of 1990s some experts such as Ellis (1995: 21-7) believed that it was not \"enough\" to use just one good teaching approach-CLT， for example， \"when teaching cross-culturally\". Hird (1995: 21-7) arrived at the conclusion that English language teaching in China was \"not very\" communicative. Stephen Bax's (2003: 278-87) argument was \"teaching in accordance to specific context\"， otherwise CLT would be walking towards the dead end. Liao (2004: 270-3) expressed his disagreement in his essay arguing that Task-based approach is prescribed as the main teaching approach by the Chinese government and CLT is the \"best\" approach for English Teaching in China.

But all these were discussed in terms of middle school students. Is it acceptable at college where English learning is more difficult， complicated， and requires more time and energy to reach the desired level? As a college teacher for years， I'd like to talk about the possibilities of using this approach in English learning at college in China. Combining my teaching experiences with facts and attitudes presented by others， my answer is that CLT is necessary-we need it in order to make our students better use this language to communicate， to meet and know other people， to get a good job though we have to use it carefully and cautiously with reference to the context， and though there are many challenges both teachers and learners have to face.

CLT evolved from and overpowered the previous methods and approaches in the 1970s to 1980s as a new approach in second language teaching in the United States of American and has been extremely popular in the world ever since.

According to Nunan， CLT refers to \"the approach to language teaching in which the focus is on process of communication， rather than on structural， functional， or notional items (1988: 142) \". This means in class， content， not form is the focus.

Galoway said \"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. \"(1993: 136)

Rodgers (2001: 23-24) summed up some principles of CLT such as:

Learners learn a language through using it to communicate.

Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.

Fluency is an important dimension of communication.

Communication involves the integration of different language skills.

Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and error.

The concept of CLT has many different versions because it has been used and studied by linguists and teachers all around the world for years， but one thing is certain that it is student-oriented. It follows the principle that language is used for communication rather than just linguistic knowledge. It is not just limited to oral skills.

CLT gradually flourished in the 1980s in the United States of American where English is learned as a second language (ESL). This means that the learners are exposed to it almost 24 hours a day and they have to use it to convey their meanings and communicate with others， so they have a very strong motivation and almost immediate opportunities to practice what they have learned in the classroom and correct the errors in their language. So their learning can extend to outside the classroom， which means they have much more hours to practice and acquire it.

While English is learned as a foreign language (EFL) in China， this means that our students don't have the environment needed to practice it outside the classroom， especially if it is a small town. This also means classroom may probably the only place they talk in English with a model-their teacher; after class they talk in Chinese and try to memorize what they have dealt with during the class time-since no such environment for them to practice， no immediate need to use， they have to memorize them.

From the comparison of EFL and ESL above， especially the ESL in China， we can conclude that it is more difficult for us to use the communicative approach， but just because class time is the only time for them to communicate with their teachers or other students， we can arrive at the conclusion that we need this approach though it presents more challenges for teachers and students as well.

Class time is limited and class time is the only time when they have opportunities to communicate with a target language model， which requires that their teacher (the model) must be an all-around one with high language proficiency， which means that their teacher is \"the single source， not only of grammatical competence， but also of both sociolinguistic and strategic competence. \" (Hird， 1995: 21-7) Now most teachers are Chinese teachers of English-this is the first challenge we have. In order to meet this condition， we have to keep on studying ourselves and we need more government investment to train more adequate and qualified teachers.

The second challenge is how to balance \"the linguistic knowledge and the skill in using this knowledge\" (Ellis 1995:213-8). CLT is student-oriented， this means students should be the focus of the class and teachers are only supposed to a an organizer， facilitator， monitor etc.， but that English is taught as a foreign language in China decides that the teacher is also the only source provider and the language model students can follow-teachers have to be responsible for their master of pronunciation， intonation， collocation， meaning of particular structures and sentences and so on. It demands us to decide how much should be used to learn the knowledge and how much to practice it. If one fails to realize this， he or she can rarely experience fortune in their English teaching as a foreign language by using CLT as it is used in ESL situation.

Another rather confusing problem among teachers is whether we should point out students' mistakes or not. It's not so simple a question as yes or no. According to CLT， we should encourage learners to focus on communication only and try their best to use the language creatively and spontaneously and all this is bound to make mistakes. In ESL environment， learners may realize their mistakes in communicating with native speakers outside the classroom and correct them consciously or unconsciously， but in China learners don't have such environment， if the teacher doesn't correct them， their mistakes may fossilize. Lu (2004: 115-20) suggested \"dealing with learner's errors properly\". In his essay， he argued that \" grasp the extent of employing negative and positive cognitive feedbacks， and offer learners appropriate cognitive feedback or as many as positive effective feedback.\"

Thirdly， in developed countries such as America， Australia， European countries where they learn in a small class and they don't have to use a certain textbook-this means they can choose the courses that suit them and improve themselves step by step. But in China， for a variety of reasons， school authority prescribes our textbooks and teachers have little freedom or right to change what they should teach， even when they really have， they have to take the tests into consideration. Let's take my class for an example. I teach advanced English， based on a textbook called \"Advanced English\" which is widely adopted in universities for English majors' third and fourth year study. This textbook has been used for 10 years and some of the materials in it were written half a century ago though they are masterpieces.

Another problem is the size of the class: we have about 3545 students in every class. The third is our students have different English level， but they have to learn the same thing. These will surely inhibit the adoption of CLT.

Last， most of the classes were still teacher-centered-teachers talked all the time while students only set down what they heard; some teachers tried to communicate with their students， but the outcome was not very desirable. This is a common phenomenon in China's colleges and universities. This is also the biggest challenge we meet now， because some teachers believe this is the right way to teach and they have accustomed to it; some know there's something wrong with it， but they think that the students are to blame， for they have tried but the students refuse to follow. How to change their concepts and make them know their responsibilities is the biggest problem we should deal with.

This is also the main and biggest challenge our students face， because they have accustomed to this way of teaching. They depend on teachers to do almost everything for them from the pronunciation and meaning of the words to the understanding of sentences as well as the content of the reading materials. According to what I observed and investigated， most students usually think in Chinese and then put it into English， so it is still very hard for them to reason and think in English directly. It can also explain why it's so difficult for them to express themselves in English.

Having analyzing the challenges and problems teachers and students may encounter and the ways to face them when adopting the CLT approach， we can arrive at the conclusion that we need it， and it is both necessary and possible for us. What we can do now is to change our traditional concepts of teaching a foreign language (Fortunately and most importantly， most of us have realized it.) and set down to business now. At the same time， try to improve us by constant studying. Second， design our teaching more carefully in order to make sure that the students will be involved in all kinds of activities in pairs or groups eagerly. Third， use visual resources， authentic resources and Internet to get fresh and real materials. Gradually CLT will be better exploited and applied in college English teaching in China.

References:

[1]Bax S.the End of CLT: a Context Approach to Language Teaching[J]. ELT Journal.2003.

[2]Ellis G.How Culturally Appropriate Is the Communicative Approach?[J].ELT Journal.1995.

[3]Galoway T.Communicative Language Teaching: an Introduction and Sample Activities [M].Oxford University Press，1993.

[4]Hird B.How Communicative Can English Language Teaching Be in China?[J]. Prospect.1995.

[5]Liao X.The Need for Communicative Language Teaching in China[J]. ELT Journal.2004.

[6]Lu L.On Interlanguage Fossilization and English Teaching in China[J].CELET Journal.2004.

[7]Nunan D. Syllabus Design[M].Oxford University Press，1988.

[8]Richards J. Rodgers T. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching (2nd ed.) [M]. Cambridge University Press， 2001.

[9]Ur Penny. A Course in Language Teaching: Practice and Theory [M]. Cambridge University Press，1996.

[10]Zhou J.How can a Chinese Teacher of English Succeed in Oral English Classes[J].the Internet TESL Journal.1999.