The Application Of The Communicative Approach In English Teaching In Junior High School

For a long time, under the pressure of the examination-oriented education, teachers of the Junior English laid so much stress on grammars and vocabularies that they neglected to train students to use the language in contexts. Consequently, students couldn't satisfy the requirements of the Knowledge Economy Age for lack of language skills, language knowledge, emotional attitudes, learning strategies and culture awareness. In light of this the traditional teaching modes cannot meet the requirements of modern times any longer.Now in China a new curriculum reform in elementary education is being deepened in an all-round way. According to the new curriculum standards, great emphasis must be placed on how to turn the tendency (i.e. paying excessive attention to the vocabulary and grammatical knowledge and correspondingly neglecting to develop the students' communicative competence). Meanwhile, it is proposed in the new standards that the curriculum should help develop the students' comprehensive competence on the basis of their interests, experiences and cognitive level, so as to make the language learning as a process for the students of forming a positive attitude, thinking actively, practicing bravely, improving their intercultural awareness, and learning to study on their own initiative.The Communicative Approach is a method of designing the syllabus. It, as a students-centered teaching method, attaches much importance to developing the students'innate ability to learn and thus use a language, aiming at the acquisition of the communicative competence for the students. Nowadays, English teachers are making every effort to perform the learning activities in class with the Communicative Approach. This paper, which is devoted to the application of the Approach in Junior High School, is composed of four parts:Part One is to bring forward the problems, including the analyses of the English textbook, the curriculum standards and the tendency of the talent selection in China, the introduction of the experience at home and abroad with regard to the Communicative Approach and the corresponding enlightenments, as well as the reflections on our traditional English teaching.Part Two is to introduce the concept of the Communicative Approach and its teaching principles.Part Three is to explore the application of the Communicative Approach to the English teaching in Junior Middle School, including the aims, the procedures and the means of implementing.Part Four is to draw conclusions, pointing out the influences of the Communicative Approach on the English teaching in Junior High School and the problems arising during the course of implementing as well.