Integration of Audio-lingual method and CA in college oral English class

黃瑩

Introduction

With the development of science and technology, the world is becoming a global village and communication among countries is booming. English, as the most popular language in the world, is frequently used by world people for communication and plays an indispensible role in the development of a society. Therefore, more and more people realize the importance of learning English, especially, the importance of cultivating the speech competence of English.

Audio-lingual method as a frequently used traditional teaching method in oral English class is criticized as mechanical and boring. In order to solve this problem, CA (communicative approach) which emphasizes on learners communicative competence can meet this requirement. According to Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics, communicative approach is an approach to foreign or second language teaching, which stresses communicative competence as the goal of language teaching. CA aims to create a real-life context with the usage of authentic materials, and motivate English learners actively involve in the interaction and communication with others by the target language. Therefore, it is necessary to consolidate the basic linguistic knowledge, such as grammar, structure and pronunciation, which is an indispensible part of cultivating English learners speaking competence.

This paper intends to discuss about the possibility of combining the Audio-lingual methods and CA on the basis of previous studies.

Comparing Audio-lingual method with Communicative Approach

I. Audio-lingual method

Audio-lingual method and CA are two different kinds of teaching methods applied in oral English class, with respective emphasis, advantages and theoretical basis.

Audio-lingual method is the representative of traditional English teaching methods which focus on the linguistic competence rather than the communicative competence. Therefore, Audio-lingual method should not be totally abandoned and should be applied in oral English class with the combination of CA which emphasizes on developing English learners communicative competence and creating a not threatening classroom atmosphere.

One of the characteristics of Audio-lingual method is teacher-centered classroom atmosphere. Although the teacher-centered classroom atmosphere is criticized as lack of interest and motivation, and mechanism, it still has significance on English learners, especially the freshmen in college to some extent. For the freshmen in college, they havent developed the ability of learning by themselves and they need more guidance about how to learn a language form their teachers.

Another characteristic of Audio-lingual method is the pattern drill practice of grammar and structure. Although the pattern drill practice has been criticized as mechanical, boring and dull, it is still meaningful for English learners to consolidate their basic linguistic knowledge which is the basis of proficient communicative competence. In the long-term, the learners can better express themselves with the target language because of their consolidated knowledge about the linguistic form of the target language.

II. Communicative Approach

In recent years, CA is very popular in the field of English teaching, because of its emphasis on developing learners communicative competence and peoples awareness of the importance of English speaking ability. According to Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics(1985)，CA, also named as CLT, is an approach to foreign or second language teaching, which stress communicative competence as the goal of language learning. It pays more attention to using the language rather than learning the rules of usage．

One of the characteristics of CA is learner-centered atmosphere. Teacher is not the dominator in the classroom anymore, and learners in English classroom are encouraged to be actively involved in the class activities. For CA, language learners should be motivated to express themselves freely without thinking of accuracy. Although the neglect of accuracy will result in mistakes in grammar and structure, it is still meaningful for motivating college English learners, especially the freshmen, because they are often not willing to express themselves in the target language for frightening to commit mistakes.

Another characteristic of CA is it emphasizes on creating a real-life communicative atmosphere. From this perspective, CA is a useful method for developing English learners communicative competence, especially for the freshmen in college who are very shy and unwilling to express their ideas by target language in public. Through these no threatening classroom activities advocated by CA, English learners can not only improve their communicative competence, but also enhance their self-confidence and motivation in learning.

In recent years, the advantages of CA are overemphasized and the deficits of CA are neglected. As a result, some teachers blindly pursue the newly CA and totally abandon the traditional Audio-lingual method. Therefore, it is unwise to blindly pursue the newly teaching methods and totally abandon the traditional methods, instead, we should think of integrating Audio-lingual method with CA to improve the English oral class and meet learners learning requirements in the long-run.

Conclusion

Although many teachers and learners have realized the importance of speaking proficiency, it is still a hard nut to improve the learners speaking proficiency because of the inadequate opportunities of speaking out and undesirable environment for practicing the oral English. CA with its emphasis on creating a real communicative context and using authentic materials can meet the requirements of improving the learners real-life communicative competence. CA focuses on communicative competence and fluency, while Audio-lingual method emphasizes on accuracy. There is no need for the two teaching methods to compete for which is better. As English teachers, we should not refine to one teaching method, instead, we should integrate the advantages of different methods to better contribute to the English learning.