Communicative Language Teaching In Middle School: Reflection And The Cultivating Of Linguistic Competence

In order to improve the current situation and meet the requirements of the coming oral English tests, CLT was introduced into English teaching for the purpose of promoting the students' oral proficiency. However, empirical studies have proved that the outcome of teaching English exclusively using CLT in middle schools has not produced the expected results.Communicative Language Teaching has been the focus of English teachers and linguists for a long time. However, most of them have made researches on condition that English works as a second language. As is known to all, English hasn't gained official status in China. On most occasions people don't use English as the main communication vehicle. English and Chinese belong to different language families. These two languages both have strong historic and cultural advantages and both present strong vitality. In other words, according to the general rule of language evolution, English can only work as a foreign language or main foreign language, not a second language. In most parts of China, students lack appropriate linguistic settings, and so it's impossible for students to acquire English naturally. From above, we may come to a conclusion that we can't teach English as a second language.This thesis makes an effort to incorporate English teaching practice in middle school with modern Communicative Language Teaching. It also casts doubt upon some specious concepts and points out that it's not realistic to overstress communicative competence while underestimating linguistic competence.This thesis aims at helping middle school teachers out of some misunderstanding about Communicative Language Teaching and learning from others' advantages to offset our own weakness. Try to leave more room for teachers' individual practice. Teaching should not only convey knowledge but also strengthen students' creativity and imagination. Students' participation should always be in the first place and teachers should try to provide more opportunities for students to acquire English in class. In that sense we can say that communicative teaching theory has found its place in China.