Integrating Communicative Approaches With Traditional Approaches In Elt Classrooms In Secondary Schools

Traditionally, English teaching in China is dominated by a teacher-centered, book-centered, grammar-translation method, audio-lingual method and an emphasis on rote learning. The result of this kind of teaching was that after many years of language learning, students were all with "High grades, low ability." However, the outcome of teaching English exclusively using the communicative approach has not provided the expected results since it was introduced into China in the 1990s. Chinese learners of English strongly resist the communicative approach. In fact resistance to the communicative approach has an explanation rooted in Chinese philosophy, culture, and basic concepts of education, for teaching is deeply rooted in the local philosophy, culture, and basic concepts of education.In an attempt to find out what are the most appropriate teaching methods for Chinese students in secondary schools, I made an investigation on the situation of English teaching and learning in three senior middle schools in Weinan; Rui Quan Senior Middle School, Du Qiao Senior Middle School and the attached middle school of Weinan Teachers College. From the responses of 218 students (114 female; 104 male) and 25 teachers (18 female; 7 male) to the questionnaires, we can see that there are five obstacles in applying communicative approaches in the Chinese educational context: non-native teachers with a lack of English proficiency; national examination; large class sizes; Chinese traditional practices; motivation. This thesis, therefore, presents that the best method is to integrate communicative approaches to the teaching of English with traditional Chinese methods. Then, it enumerates some effective measures the author has taken in EFL classrooms in the Attached Middle School of Weinan Teachers College, that is, using the PPP frame work; reducing the amount of teacher talk in EFL classrooms and making the best use of pair and group work. After making an analysis of the comments of 18 students, it shows that integrating communicative approaches with the traditional approaches can really help the students develop their communicative competence...