简述交际法

简述交际法
A Brief Overview of Communicative Approach
Ren Yongdong
MIANYANG NORMAL UNIVERSITY
 摘  要：Communicative Approach has become a popular teaching strategy. This essay mainly reviews and introduces the development and the features of Communicative Approach in order to apply this teaching methodology in English teaching for students’ better learning results.
关键词：Communicative Approach; development; features
Ⅰ. Introduction
  There is no question that the main purpose of learning a foreign language is to master it for communicating with others. Communicative Approach (CA) is also named “Functional Approach” or “Notional Approach” by some masters of methodology. Whatever name they give it, they all agree that communication is not only the purpose of foreign language teaching but also its content and method.
 
Ⅱ. The Development of Communicative Approach
 1.The Definition
  Longman Dictionary of Language & Applied Linguistics defines the “Communicative Approach” or “Communicative Language Teaching” as “an approach to foreign second language teaching which emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence”.
2.The Theoretical Basis
  Sociolinguist Dell Hymes’ On Communicative Competence published in 1972 was regarded the direct theoretical grounds of CA. He argued that a speaker can be able to produce grammatical sentences that are completely inappropriate. Moreover, he criticized Chomsky’s advocating abstract language communicative competence. In addition, he pointed out that Chomsky had taken away the social and cultural feature of language and so abandoned the communicative function of language. He thought competence should not only include correctness of grammar form and acceptance of language, but also the appropriateness.
3.The Development
  Since it appeared in 1970s, CA attracted more and more people’s attention. In Europe—especially in Britain, articles and books of introducing and expounding it came to the world in large quantities and various textbooks organized with CA also rushed into readers’ eyes continually. Most of these publications were stuck on with the popular label—communicative. And the theory of sociolinguistics was quickly reflected and applied in foreign language teaching. Some of those typical ones are Strategies (Longman 1975), Functions of English (C.U.P, 1977).
  It is easy to see that CA was more advanced and some masters of methodology turned to CA. Alexander, the famous master of teaching materials，applied structuralism approach in coupling New Concept English in 1969, however, he also shift to CA in the middle of 1970s.
 
Ⅲ. The Features of Communicative Approach
  Although advocators of CA disagree with each other at some points, they still have a lot in common.
 1.Viewpoints about Languages
  Advocators of CA think language is the means to communicate with each other. To master a language, one should not only know well its form and usage, but also know how to use it properly. They emphasized the fostering of learners’ communicative competence as the main purpose of language teaching. They arrange teaching mainly following the clue of communicative function and involving notion, situation, topic, pronunciation, intonation, vocabulary and grammar.
  English master of methodology Henry G. Widdowson emphasized repeatedly the difference between usage and use. He pointed out that a sentence with correct grammar but used at a wrong place could not reach the purpose of communication. In other words, grammatical competence is not communicative competence.
 2.Content of Courses
  Different from structural linguistics, CA syllabus took notion, function and communicative event as its content of courses. It emphasized using real language materials in text, such as news report, advertisement, notice, form, news broadcasting and so on. In short, CA took notion and functional items as the key link. D. A. Wilkins’ Notional Syllabus put CA onto a more reliable basis and its main functional items are:
（1）Transmitting and understanding factors;
（2）Expressing and understanding rational tendency;
（3）Expressing and understanding perceptual tendency;
（4）Expressing and understanding moral tendency;
（5）Persuading;
（6）Social contact.
3.Teaching Process
  Teaching process itself is the process of communication. Some questions and answers during structural teaching process look like communication. In fact these are not real communication for they talk about what they already know well. It ran counter to the principle of communication.
   Naturally it is not easy to create absolutely real communication environment. One way is to treat an information gap. That is, the teacher provides information to some and withholds it from others.
4.Teaching Materials
  Advocators of CA deem teaching materials should match suitable teaching means. For example, telephone conversation should appear in the form of sound on tape, and introduction to some place should apply videos or movies. They think only appropriate teaching means can really reflect the demands of communication.
5.Teaching Order
  CA is also different from structural linguistics in teaching order. The following two figures respectively present the different teaching orders.
  Figure  1  Structuralism: Present→Drill→Practice in context
  Figure  2  AC: Communicate as far as possible with all available resources→Present language items for effect Communication→Drill if necessary
6.Students’ Needs
 CA makes students’ needs its starting point. Students become the main body classroom activity. Since the content of the course takes the needs of students’ real communication to go by, teachers’ task is neither teaching language knowledge nor conducting sentence pattern exercises, but organizing students to communicate with each other through all kinds of means. Teaching task will be finished by some single student or by a group. Students become more intuitive than before and just in this way can students learn and use knowledge immediately and free themselves from “knowledge receivers”
Ⅵ. Conclusion
There is much in CA that is still open to debate, and people have reacted in various ways to and against the communicative movement since the 1970s. However, the main principles, with varying degrees of change and modification, have had a lasting impact on materials and method that should not be underestimated.

参考文献：
[1]Chomsky, N. Aspects of the Theory of Syntax[M].Cambridge, Mass: M.I.T. Press,1965
[2]Hymes, D. On Communicative Competence[M].in Brumfit & Johnson, (eds.),1979.
[3]Liao Guoqiang.Improving Communicative Competence through ELT Activities. Beijing: TEACHING ENGLISH IN CHINA2006,(29/4):93-105.
[4]Widdowson, H. G. Teaching Language as Communication[M].Oxford:Oxford University Press,1978.