吳和平

【Abstract】 The communicative approach is such a teaching methodology that rises and develops in the latest 30 years. Its overall accepted now and most language teachers regard it as a method that aims at developing language communicative competence. But how to develop and how to avoid the frustrations of a none-communicative conversation class are still the problems. This thesis focuses on the topic about communicative language teaching of English. Ill discuss it from the following aspects： l） the factors influencing communicative competence； 2） stimulate the students communicative interest； 3） the cultivation of communicative competence.

【Key words】 communicative competence interest cultivation drill encourage

“Websters New world Dictionary offers several senses of the word “l(fā)anguage”， namely， （a） human speaks； （b） the ability to communicative by this means； （c） a system of vocal sounds and combinations of such sounds to which meaning is attributed used for the expression or communication of thoughts and feelings； （d） the written representation of such a system”. That is to say， language is an important means of verbal communication. So in foreign language teaching， we should lay stress on the communicative functions of language to cultivate the learners communicative competence and regard communication as an important target of foreign language teaching.

The conception of Communicative Competence is the ability to not only apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where it uses these sentences and to whom.

Thereby， we cultivate the students ability to communicate means to cultivate their systemic abilities of listening， speaking， reading and writing. Here， Id like to talk about the factors influencing students communicative competence， how to stimulate students interest in learning English and how to cultivate their communicative competence.

1. The factors that influence communicative competence

a） Mother language has disturbed English learning， Chinese characters are pictograph， and have no impact on the target language. For junior students， they are often confused with the different ways of expressing between Chinese and English.

b） The conflict between quality-oriented teachings requirements and examination-system requirements. According to the syllabus design， it requires that the students have the basic ability to listen， speak， read and write when they finish junior English， but the examination system less even doesnt embody the require of the ability to the listen and speak. In order to get high mark， teachers neglect the cultivation of listening and speaking.endprint

c） Another hindrance to communicative competence is the low ratio of teachers to student and a lack of qualified language teachers.

2. To stimulate the students communicative interest

Einstein said， “Interest is the best mother”. Interest is needed in English learning. Therefore， the teachers must focus on language form as well as on meaning. We have to take advantage of all situations in which real communication occurs naturally. We should enforce language-information stimulations to students and be more concerned with creating more suitable situations in which students can practice their communicative skills.

a） Design warming-up exercise

Well begin is half done. Good warming-up exercises can stimulate students interest. For example： quick responses， talking in pair， free talk， etc. Varied forms of warming-up exercises can arouse their interest and make them active in the class

b） Encourage students properly

The students need the teacher and classmates encouragement， which can arouse their interest and confidence in English learning.

c） English songs

To teach English songs is an artistic way and play a non-substitute role in practice. Its like the flower blooming in class that attracts the learners attention and exerts an edifying influence in their soul. Singing English songs can release the learning pressure and promote the learning interest. Eabersley once said， “The way students love to learn is the best way to teach.”

3. To Cultivate communicative competence

3.1 Speech drill

It is not the same as speech communication， but its the basis of it. Students communicative competence can be judged by what theyve learnt. The way the students learn language knowledge is drilling， which can be mechanical， meaningful and communicative.

3.2 Mechanical drill

It is a simple drilling of language knowledge including sentence patterns， grammars and uses of words， which make the students not only understand but also learn language knowledge forms subconsciously. The basic drillings are bilingual ex-translation exercises in workbook， which focus on the uses of words and sentences in the text.

3.3 Meaningful drill

It is situation-based speech drills according to what the students have learnt before. And as its done above， the drills can be variable. For example， text-based workbook exercises. These exercises require the students to use correct English expression as well as cheek them the contents of the text. They are all meaningful drills.endprint

3.4 Communicative drills

They are based on the above two. That is， the students use the words or expressions in the text to express their own feelings connected to their own actual life.

The goal of speech drill is to communicate. So we should shift speech drill to speech communication gradually.

4. Conclusion

Communicative teaching gives the teacher a role not only as the organizer of the activities， babysitters， but also as an instructor. This makes many teachers feel uncomfortable， but above all， with the idea we may influence our students some way. Teaching is of communication， by communication and for communication. We not only teach them the English language， but also help them to become more aware of the world of the language around them， and to better interact with that world. But to cultivate the students communicative competence is a long term program. And I believe Communicative Approach can play an important role in English teaching.

【References】

[1] 胡壯麟. 語(yǔ)言學(xué)教程[M]. 北京：北京大學(xué)出版社， 2001.

[2] 黃繼芳. 英語(yǔ)歌曲——小學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)的有效載體[J]. 中小學(xué)英語(yǔ)教學(xué)與研究， 2002（12）.

[3] 文秋芳. 英語(yǔ)學(xué)習(xí)策略論[M]. 上海： 上海外語(yǔ)教育出版社， 1996.endprint