The Communicative Approach And The Oral English Of Senior Vocational School Students

The communicative approach is based on the sociolinguistic theory. This pedagogical approach aims to increase the students' communicative competence. This approach is to let students use language through communication and correct the mistakes by themselves. And finally the students can grasp the language through communication. This idea appeals to those who seek more humanistic approach to language teaching and this approach has been widely employed at all levels of foreign language teaching and learning.It becomes especially important for the students to learn English since our country opened up to the outside world and entered WTO. To know a language means not only being able to understand what one reads and hears but also being able to speak and write in that language. So since the communicative approach was introduces into China, it has exerted profound influence on English teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is to survey some theoretical principles of communicative approach and explore the ways of implementing those principles in spoken English teaching and learning. The author has a systematic study of the application of the communicative approach to spoken English teaching.This paper consists of six chapters. Chapter One is the opening part. The author points out that the high-vocational school students show a low level of English proficiency in speaking and this weakness calls for an urgent reform of teaching methodology.In Chapter Two, the author introduces the characteristics of oral language and the functions of the communicative ability of oral language.In Chapter Three, the author analyzes the cause, the background and some important theories of the communicative approach and points out its influences on spoken English teaching in China.Chapter Four is made up of three sub-sections. In the first section, the author elaborates communicative activities of various kinds with an aim to achieve the students' oral competence. In the second section, the author expresses the ways to organize the successful communicative activities. In the third section, the author gives some suggestions for organizing oral activities.In Chapter Five, the author carries out an experiment at two classes in Tai Xing Vocational School for two semesters and analyses the performance of the two classes. Finally the author proves that the communicative language teaching is effective in enhancing the students' speaking proficiency.Chapter Six: Conclusion. The author suggests that the English teachers should combine communicative approach with traditional language teaching.