How to Motivate Students’ Autonomy and Interest in BasicEnglish Class through CLT Setting

【Abstract】CLT refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language learning. It advocates the fluency and acceptability in the first place on language teaching， and emphasizes effective communication， thus puts the correctness of language form in the second place. The traditional teaching method is good for activating students abilities of listening， speaking， reading， writing， and translation. However， it fails to motivate the students creative thinking， and the conventional teacher-centered approach gives the absolute authority to teachers in the classroom， so that the students are not ready to take those responsibilities upon themselves and enjoy autonomy. Based upon a 2 semesters Basic English teaching， the author of this paper evaluates effective ways to motivate students autonomy and interest in the process of teaching while bearing the related CLT theories in mind.

【Key words】CLT； Basic English； autonomy and interest； student-centered

Introduction

CLT refers to a diverse set of principles that reflect a communicative view of language learning. In CLT， the basic function of language is as a communication tool， and the ideal objective of language teaching is to develop communication skills and to distinct from purely grammatical or linguistic ability. It emphasizes the function， pragmatics and authenticity of the language， rather than the form. Therefore， the learners can achieve communicative purpose through the form of language. It requires not only the students listening， speaking， reading， writing and other aspects of language skills， but also teaches them to use these language skills to language flexibly in communication. It advocates the fluency and acceptability in the first place on language teaching， and emphasizes effective communication； on the other hand it puts the correctness of language form in the second place. 1

In CLT， it is acceptable for language errors， especially， grammar error. The classroom activities are student-centered， emphasizing students autonomy and interaction. The teachers role is to facilitate the communicative process and to act as an independent participant within the language-teaching group. Classroom teaching should be task-oriented rather than practice-centered. The students should devote themselves into the task of solving problem. Besides the procedures of classroom activity should be conducive to the interaction between students， for example， the classroom layout should be fit for a pair or group activities.endprint

The CLT setting examined in this paper comprises a Basic English teacher and twenty-four freshmen in English major of one university. The whole course lasted for two semesters. During these two semesters， they should finish A New English Course 1 and A New English Course 2. There are two Basic English classes each week， which are set on Monday and Friday. The students come from all over the country and broadly consistent with their proficiency of English. However， they are quite different with each other on speaking， listening and some other abilities， such as the scope of knowledge， the abilities of using some computer software， and so on. Besides， students are unfamiliar with each other and are deeply affected by the traditional teacher-centered teaching method， lacking the autonomy in study， easy to lose their interests. Then what does the teacher do that contributes or facilitates the autonomy and interest of the students， which is the point of this paper.

Pre-teaching Activities

（1） Setting some principles

In the first semester， in order to facilitate the mutual understanding between the students， the teacher plays the game of drawing lots before the class in order to give the students the fixed seats and partners. To some extent， even if this method brings in the uncertainty to the students； however， it can effectively bring the students in to a authentic environment when making dialogues and can prevent the rehearsal before showing in the classroom.

After a semesters contact， the whole class are quite familiar with each other， and nearly everyone has been the partner of all the others at least once. Thus， in the second semester， the students are free to choose their partners and seats.

Besides， the students are free to propose any questions when the teacher is making a lecture， and can answer questions without standing up， just raising their hands. Owing to these principles， the classroom environment is quite comfortable and students are concentrated on their studies and show some degree of interest. Then the intrinsic motivation will spring from an interest in what is being communicated by the language.

（2） Task-setting

1. Preview before class

The students are required to preview the text in advance， mainly in checking the new words and phrases， as well as the background of the text. With the full-preparation， the students are more active and confident to answer the questions proposed by the teacher. Whats more， the preview makes the student more initiative and independent.endprint

2. Monday talk presentation

In the first semester， the students are asked to make a Monday Talk presentation on Monday with each group two person. The students are free to choose their partner and topic. When choosing the topics， at first， the teacher provides some topics to them； second， if someone has problems in deciding the topic， they are welcome to consult the teacher. The instructor would provide useful resources to help them get familiar with their topic. In this part， the initiative of the students is motivated， for they are centered to do whatever they like. Besides， when preparing the talk， the students need to make the PowerPoint， prepare the dialogue， and rehearsal it in advance. During this period， the students are motivated to learn more about how to make PowerPoint （most of them have never made any in their secondary schools.）， search more information about their topic， arrange them orderly， and explicitly present it.

3. Friday PK

In the second semester， divided into four group with each group six people， the students are require to make a role play on Friday. In this program， students can freely choose their form of performances under their preferences. Plays， short sketches， mimes， yakitori of songs and advertisements are some of their chosen forms. The winner is the group that gets the largest number of votes from the members of the other groups. The team that accumulated the largest number of votes in the end of the semester would become the star of the groups and get the award from the teacher. The competition and mutual cooperation in the PK not only stimulate students initiative and interest， but also inspire their creative thinking and flexible ways of solving problems.

Both the Monday talk presentation and the Friday PK largely emphasize the meaning and practical application of language， which is conducive to help learners develop their communicative competence； besides， they stress on the initiative and interaction of students， which is for the benefit of stimulating students interest in learning and developing their autonomy.

Teaching Activities

（1） Trying to stimulate the enthusiasm of all the students

In a CLT class， the lead-in plays an essential and primary part in the whole teaching. The teacher of the examined class always shows the lead-in properly and fairly.

Sometimes she would propose a question with no fixed answer； therefore， students can answer it respectively and come to realize that with the same question， one holds the comparatively different attitude towards the other， and each one seems to keep to the point. Besides， the teacher is always patient to listen to all the students answers and responses appropriately. This question proposal encourages the students to think and answer logically， and arouses them to form the good habit of expressing their ideas freely and loudly.endprint

Sometimes the lead-in may be a short moving text that the teacher downloads from the internet， or the gift-leaves of ginkgo that she picks on the way. She always gives the students surprises， and creates a fairly good environment for the classes.

（2） Enhance the students confidence

In a CLT class， there are several kinds of question-answering， dialogues， role plays， and presentation， and etc. During these periods， students are encouraged to continue when making some linguistic errors， without the interruption of the teacher. Fluency and acceptable language is the primary goal； accuracy is judges not in the abstract but in context.

The teacher always shows a tolerant and positive attitude towards the students performance. With the teachers approval， the student can acquire more confidence and can stir their enthusiasm and interest towards the learning， so as to gain their own autonomy in the class.

Conclusion

From the above emphasized characteristics and goals of CLT， we could summarize the advantages of it compared with the traditional teaching methods. But there are still some problems. No matter what， the introduction and use of CLT in China have played an important role in promoting the teachers to update their concept and practice of teaching； more and more language teachers come to recognize that the process of foreign language teaching is to develop the language learner communication capabilities.

References：

[1]Hedge，T.Teaching and learning in the language classroom，Oxford University Press，2000.

[2]Wen Qiufang，Jin Limin.ELT in China（5）.Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.

[3]Wang Xusheng.Communicative Language Teaching：A Literature Review.Oversea English，2010：438-440.

[4]冉育彭.英语交际教学法：回顾与再思考.黔南民族师范学院学报，2009（5）：76-78.

作者简介：喻梦（1987-），女，汉族，武汉音乐学院助教，文学硕士，主攻英语教学、英美文学。endprint