Application Of CLT In Teaching Speaking In Junior High School

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) came into being in the 1970's in the west. "It refers to any approach to language teaching which emphasizes the meaning and use, rather than the form of language and which aims at developing the learner's communicative competence in foreign language teaching and learning". (Hymes, 1974) It is an approach to foreign or second language teaching that emphasizes that the goal of language learning is communicative competence. It stresses the process of communication and using language appropriately in different social situations for communication. Communicative language teaching requires a high level of active participation from the learner.On the basis of a study of relevant literature, the author concludes that the CLT approach should be applied to the teaching of English speaking in junior high school and suggests a new type of teaching mode — EAS Model be employed in the application of CLT in teaching speaking. There are three stages in this approach, that is Engage-Activate-Study. During the Engage period, the teacher arouses students' interest by talking about some interesting topics closely related to their lives. Question bombardment, brainstorm, background information knowledge and discussion are applied during this stage. Students are motivated to take part in the activities. During the "Activate" stage, students practice using English freely and authentically through classroom activities, including role-play, information gap activities and questionnaires. In the "Study" stage, students' integrative abilities are enhanced through commenting, learning and writing. The characteristic of this kind of teaching mode is that there are definite tasks during each stage. It focuses on the content of speaking rather than the form of language. Students'...