Making Use of CLT （Communicative Language Teaching） in Practical English Courses of Vocational College Students in China

牛菲

1.Introduction

English as a foreign language plays a key role among Chinese students who learn English when they are in primary school. But the effect of English language teaching in Vocational College is not as good as we expect. This paper tries to explore a different way of English teaching in Practical English course of vocational college students in China. Making use of CLT is a practical and operable way for vocational students. I have three reasons for my choice. First， the basic English knowledge of vocational college students is not quite good. Second， they have no much interest in English because the traditional teaching method cannot arouse students interest and attract their attention. Third， English is just being regarded as compulsory subject， which is worthless because students never have a chance to use it. Based on these reasons， I think CLT is a practical teaching method， which can meet students communicative needs and fill the gap between English knowledge and practice of English. It stresses that language learning is learning to communicate. So it is necessary to introduce CLT in Vocational College English class.

2. Defining approach and design of CLT

Communicative language teaching （CLT） is an approach to the teaching of second and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of learning a language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach”， which starts from a theory of language as communication.

2.1 Theory of language and theory of learning

As for approach， it consists of two theories： theory of language and theory of learning. For language theory， the functional view of language is the primary one behind the communicative approach. The communicative， or functional view of language is the view that language is a vehicle for the expression of functional meaning. The semantic and communicative dimensions of language are more emphasized than the grammatical characteristics， although these are also included. At the level of language theory， Communicative Language Teaching has a rich， if somewhat eclectic， theoretical base. Some of the characteristics of this communicative view of language follow （Richards & Rodger， 1986）. Language is a system for the expression of meaning. The primary function of language is for interaction and communication. The structure of language are not merely its grammatical and structural features， but categories of functional and communicative meaning as exemplified in discourse .

For the theory of learning， not a great deal has been written about the learning theory behind the communicative approaches， but here are some principles maybe inferred. The first one is communication principle： Activities that involve real communication promote learning. The second is the task principle： Activities in which language is used for carrying out meaningful tasks promote learning （Johnson， 1982）. The third principle is the meaningfulness principle： Language that is meaningful to the learner supports the learning process. Learning activities are consequently selected according to how well they engage the learner in meaningful and authentic language use （ rather than merely mechanical practice of language patterns）.

2.2 Learning and teaching activities

As for types of learning and teaching activities， as Richards states that “the range of exercise types and activities compatible with a communicative approach is unlimited， provided that such exercises enable learners to attain the communicative objectives of the curriculum， engage learners in communication， and require the use of such communicative processes as information sharing， negotiation of meaning， and interaction”（ 1986， p.76）. Classroom activities are often designed to focus on completing tasks that are mediated through language or involve negotiation of information and information sharing. Littewood （1981） distinguishes between “functional communication activities” and “social interaction activities” as major activity types in Communicative Language Teaching. Functional communication activities include such tasks as learner comparing sets of pictures and noting similarities and differences and so on. Social interaction activities include conversation and discussion sessions， dialogues and role plays， simulations， etc..

2.3 The advantages of CLT

It is known to us that traditional methods are teacher-centered and spoon-feeding. In a typical approach， students sat quietly at their places and listened to teacher providing with knowledge or information in an oversimplified way. Based on the above analysis of the approach and learning activities， CLT is suitable for the English course of Vocational College students while traditional methods arent. Three reasons will be used to explain. First of all， CLT can stimulate students interests and mobilize the enthusiasm of them， because CLT is learner-centered method so students can be largely involved in the learning process. Moreover， it can combine the teaching context with students hobbies. As a result， students can generate strong motivation to learn English. In the model of CLT， students can choose proactively whats their interests. It is beneficial to students to cultivate their ability to find question， come up with question and solve the problem. The mastery of knowledge from low level to the analysis and innovation of high level is good for discovering learning.

Secondly， CLT is a useful method to cultivate communicative ability of students. This is the most important part for vocational college students. As mentioned above， CLT not only pays attention to the meaning of language， but also the function of language， which can largely meet vocational college students needs， because what they need most is the communicative competence. While the characteristics of CLT can make teachers combine the certain language environment with the content to develop students ability in listening， speaking， reading and writing. For example， English teacher can create a business meeting environment based on textbook， teaching students the knowledge of business and practice it in class. In this way， students not only master the knowledge in a certain field， but also can communicate effectively and appropriately with different people in different occasions in English.

Third， the material of language teaching is authentic. With the advent of digital age， multimedia application can also be used in the language teaching to enrich the form of class and the content. Besides， English teacher can get a number of real material from the Internet to let the students practice.

3. Application of CLT

In this part， I mainly discuss the application of CLT in vocational college from two aspects： the design of lesson plan and the application of CLT in English class.

3.1 Design of lesson plan

I create a speaking lesson plan based on the design of CLT and Blooms Taxonomy Plus. For the lesson plan， it is divided into three parts： Objectives， Procedures and Extra Activities. Procedure is the most important part， which consists of Review/ Warmup/ Lead in， 3P（presentation， practice and production）， Evaluation and Homework. Designing a lesson plan has to meet students needs. According to their needs and current English competence， I mainly focus on three aspects in objectives based on CLT and Blooms taxonomy plus： remembering， understanding and applying.

As for objectives， every student should be able to explain the meaning of new words， describe the topic of lesson in several sentences and analyzing his/er attitude towards a certain topic. These requirements are in accordance with Piephos discussion （1981） about the levels of objectives in a communicative approach， like an interactive and content level， a linguistic and instrumental level and an affective level of personal relationships and conduct， etc..

At the level of syllabus， discussions of the nature of the syllabus have been central in CLT （Richards & Rodger， 1986）. A syllabus should include description of the objectives of foreign language courses for vocational college students I have mentioned in the former part， the situations in which they might typically need to use a foreign language （e.g.， travel， business）， the topics they might need to talk about （e.g.， personal identification， education， shopping）， the functions they need language for （e.g.， describing something， requesting information， expressing agreement and disagreement）， the notions made use of in communication （e.g.， time， frequency， duration）， as well as the vocabulary and grammar needed. Based on these needs， I will design the suitable lesson plan for students.

For a good lesson plan， learner roles and teacher roles within CLT have a vital effect on the application of class. The emphasis in CLT on the processes of communication， rather than mastery of language forms， leads to different roles for learners from those found in more traditional foreign classroom. According to Breen and Candlin， the role of learner as negotiator — between the self， the learning process， and the object of learning， emerges from and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group undertakes. The implication for the learner is that he should contribute as much as he gains， and thereby learn in an interdependent way （1980：110）. Because of the role of negotiator， I design different teaching activities to make students perform their roles. For teacher role is to facilitate the communication process between all participants in the classroom， and between these participants and the various activities and texts. At the same time， the teacher is also an organizer of resources and a guide within the classroom procedures and activities. English teachers have to organize the resources orderly and clearly so that they can be applied in classroom effectively.

3.2 Application of teaching activities and teaching principles

As I mentioned above， there are two major activity types in CLT. One is functional communication activities， the other is social interaction activities. Based on them and the topic， I design my teaching activities mainly used the latter. For my speaking lesson plan， I use role-play， group work discussion and also interview to make every student involve in the pragmatic， authentic and functional use of language for meaningful purpose. These three activities can meet students communication needs. I choose three teaching principles from twelve to support the idea， which belong to cognitive and socioaggective respectively.

First principle is Meaningful Learning， which belongs to cognitive theory and is related to students existing knowledge or experience. This principle “subsumes” new information into existing structures and memory systems， and the resulting associative links create stronger retention （Brown， 2013， p.65-66）. In this way， it is easy for students to associate their existing background and new material. Moreover， the process of making meaningful association between existing knowledge /experience and new material will lead toward better long-term retention than rote learning of material in isolated piece. For example， when teaching different types of music， students already have some background knowledge because they often listen to music. In view of this， I can let students do role-play， perform different music and other students guess what kind of music it is and speak out in Chinese. And then teacher shows some pictures about the lesson topic and gives English vocabulary related to the topic to let the students match them. Role -play and pictures are better for students to learn vocabulary.

Since the mastery of relevant new vocabulary through Meaningful Learning principle， students should be confident in expressing their own ideas about the topic. That is the second principle-Willingness to Communicate， simply defined as “the intention to initiate communication” （MacIntyre et al.， 2001， p. 369）. Then teacher let students do pair work having an interview with deskmate， which encourage students to “come out of their shells” and to engage communicatively in the classroom. It has been briefly noted that WTC combines concepts of self-confidence and risk-taking， as they are both interwoven in our human psyche （Brown， 2013， p.73）. Before doing the group work， teacher should give ample verbal and nonverbal assurances to students， affirming your belief in the students ability. Also， teacher should create an relaxing atmosphere in the classroom that encourages students to try out language， to venture a response， and not to wait for someone else to volunteer language. And last but not least， teachers should respond to students attempts to communicate with positive affirmation， praising them for trying while at the same time warmly but firmly attending to their language.

For the third principle， it is the Language-Culture Connection. Any time you successfully learn a language， you will also learn something of the culture of the speakers of that language. That is to say， when English teachers design the procedures of the lesson， they should add cultural background knowledge to the teaching. Classroom applications also include the discussion of cross-cultural differences with students， emphasizing that no culture is “better” than another， but teacher should let students know the importance of cross-cultural understanding ， which is an vital facet of learning a language. Besides， the certain activities and materials that illustrate the connection between language and culture should be included among teachers techniques. For example， when teaching the music， teacher can show the different types of music between China and western countries and tell the differences between them. Also teacher can mention values holding by different countries behind the music. All in all， these three teaching principles will cross my lesson plan from easy to difficult part.

4. Conclusion

The paper mainly discusses why and how English teacher can make use of CLT in Vocational English course. At the beginning， I briefly describe the current English teaching condition in Vocational College and find the problem what it has. Later I come up with an idea that how to make use of CLT in order to improve the English teaching effect. Then， I explain the approach of CLT from two perspectives： theory of language and theory of teaching. Meanwhile， I also discuss the design of CLT， including learner roles， teacher roles in language learning and learning activities applied into classroom. Based on these analysis， I make a conclusion that CLT has many advantages for English language teaching. In this way， for the third part I illustrate the application of CLT from two perspectives： the design of lesson plan and teaching activities based on CLT and three teaching principles.

According to what I have described in the paper， I suggest three specific steps I will take in order to enact what Ive analyzed. First， before every class English teacher should make a clear and organized lesson plan related to one topic based on CLT， Blooms Taxonomy Plus and teaching principles. Second， teaching activities should be specific and meaningful， avoiding teaching as an amusing activity. So teachers have to make sure the effectiveness of each step of activity. Third， I think the design of homework is also quite important， which can let teacher know which part students didnt master well so that teacher can take measures to help students. These three suggestions are beneficial to the English language teaching.

References：

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