The Application Of Communicative Approach In Senior High School English Classroom Teaching

The communicative approach was first put forward in the 1970s, and its research and practice reached its peak in the mid eighties. During the 1980s the communicative approach was introduced into our country, and influenced high school English teaching from the 90s. The year 1995 witnessed the first proposition of the communicative approach in the Syllabus for Senior High School English Teaching issued that year, after which training students' communicative competence in English became the new focus of English teaching. The task-based approach, as an extension of the communicative approach, is clearly proposed in The Criteria for English Syllabus in Common High Schools, issued in the year 2001.The application of communicative approach makes a difference in traditional English classrooms, in which explanation of grammar points were emphasized while the training of communicative competence was ignored. However, the communicative approach has encountered respectable difficulties in actual English teaching. Beginning with the theoretical background of the communicative approach, this thesis briefly discusses its influence in senior high school English teaching, and issues that should be paid attention to in the implementation of the approach. Besides, the thesisanalyzes some misunderstandings and difficulties in the implementation of the communicative approach, after which a compromise of the communicative approach and traditional methodology is proposed so as to solve practical problems. Finally, the thesis insists that although the communicative approach is not all-powerful in English teaching, training the students' communicative competence should be the fundamental principle in senior English teaching.