The Social Communicative Style

【中圖分類號】H31 【文獻標識碼】A 【文章編號】2095-3089（2013）10-0102-02

Since language teaching became an essential part in education， many teaching approaches have existed. Through research and teaching practice， the approaches have been developed and brought forth new ideas continuously.

At present， various teaching approaches and methods are used in language classes， according to different teaching purposes and varied situations. Among them， one approach is enlightened by most researchers and teachers——that is the social communicative style. In truth， it’s a very good choice in second language teaching.

The social communicative style is an aspect of communicative Language Teaching， which emphasizes on communicative competence （what a speaker needs to know in order to communicatively competent in a speech community） rather than linguistic competence. And this style has many obvious merits.

It goes without saying that language learning is essentially for communication. While the desired goal of the social communicative style is to develop the students’ ability to communicate fluently， just meeting the essence of language learning. According to this style， language is defined as communication between people， and language is for forming relationships between people and for interrelating with them. So with this style， students will surely gain the ability to communicate in the real world.

In syllable design， contextualization is a basic condition. Afterwards， on the one hand， language items are chosen according to learners’ proficiency level and communicative needs. Because the items based on learners’ actual level will be more acceptable to learners， and the emphasis on the communicative needs also lay a foundation for students to communicate in the outside world. On the other hand， the sequence of language items is determined by consideration of content and function. The integration of the syllabus makes students easily understand the language items， and then digest and master them systematically.

Besides， the materials are related to authentic context， also emphasize on genuine everyday language. Except text?based materials， there are some task?based materials， such as cue cards， activity cards， student?interaction practice booklets； and also language?based realia， such as signs magazines， advertisements and newspapers.

Nowadays， task?based activities are being focused to stimulate communication in the classroom. The problem?solving or practical tasks are always designed to interest and challenge the learners sufficiently to use English they already knew and incorporate new items provided by input materials and the teacher. The use of different tasks can make language teaching more communicative， and can help students to become a better communicator in the social world beyond the classroom.

In social communicative classes， learners are divided into pairs or small groups， and they can participate fully and effectively by carefully preparation and organization. Working with peers， learners will feel relaxed. In other words， the low?stress private practice can develop learners’ autonomy， so that they can express their own opinions and ideas. As learners acquire experience in working in pairs and groups， and achieve success， they usually begin to work better and enjoy the work more. Evidently， this is an effective way for learners to gain communicative ability and strategies.

Furthermore， the roles of teachers and learners are worth mentioning. Unlike other teaching approaches， stressing that the teacher is the controller and dominates the whole class， while in a social communicative class， the teacher is less dominant. Their foremost role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom， and between these participants and the various activities and texts （Breen and Candlin， 1980）. Other roles of teachers are co?communicator， needs analyst， counselor， and so on. All these roles are unified to a common purpose—helping learners in anyway that encourages and motivates learners to engage in interaction activities. In this way， learners become the center， and they are actively involved in using language. And then learners will be more aware of themselves as learners， overcoming their weaknesses， as well as developing their communicative ability. The learner autonomy is generally considered essential for success in language teaching.

In addition， since the social communicative style concentrates on the communicative fluency， errors are permitted in activities. Whereas， the feedback and correction are still necessary， because feedback provides learners with knowledge how successful the communication has been. Teachers always give the feedback after the activity， and the correction consists of three steps. The first one is self?correction： give learners the opportunity to correct themselves； and then peer?correction： if a learner cannot self?correct， invite other learners to make the correction； if no other learner can make the correction， the teacher should make the correction （teacher correction）， which should be used as the last resort. Obviously， communicative feedback can encourage learners to speak and express their own ideas.

To sum up， the social communicative style proves itself to be a better teaching approach. Nevertheless， the traditional methods （Grammar Translation Method and Audiolingual Method） are still being used in most classes. The main reasons are analyzed from the following two respects.

Despite all the advantages， the social communicative style also has some weaknesses. For on thing， it lacks views on discourse process， communicative strategies， systematic knowledge， and it is also black box model of learning. For another， it is always hard for teachers to give marks objectively. Finally， there may be cultural conflicts because of its cofigurative basis.

Meanwhile， the other important factor is the educational system in China—test oriented principle. In China， standardized tests are designed to test language competence， which brings much obstruction to the application of the social communicative style. And there are also the constraints of teaching resources， such as teacher’s preference， class size and class hour， as well the teaching environment.

As a result， some improvement should be made on our educational system. We should change the test?oriented education， and attach great importance to quality education， which is rather essential to apply the communicative approach， enhancing students’ multiple and practical ability.

Comparing with traditional teaching methods， the social communicative style raises more requirements to the teachers， so teachers’ professional development is undoubtedly necessary. The teacher should not only have the ability to observe and analyze， but also possess the capability to integrate the teaching content as well as to organize the classroom activities.

From what have been discussed above， we can find the social communicative style complies with the current trends of language teaching. Precisely speaking， it is the result of elaborate exploration and research in both theory and practice by many researchers. Though weaknesses existing， this style is much more efficient in English teaching for its conspicuous advantages. So effective measures should be made to provide a vast field for the social communicative style. It is believed that with this style， language teaching will certainly achieve great success.

References：

[1]Nunan， D. （2001）. Second Language Teaching and Learning. Beijing： Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press

[2]Celce-Murcia， M. （1991）. Grammar Pedagogy in Second and Foreign Language Teaching. TESOL Quarterly， 25：288-309

[3]Davies， P. Pearse， E （2002）. Success in English Teaching. Shanghai： Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press