A Study On English Grammar Teaching Through The Communicative Approach In Junior High Schools

With the development of sociolinguistics, the communicative competence is of more salient emphasis in language learning classroom. Although the traditional pedagogical model centered with grammar has received the big lash from the communicative one, grammar still remains its fundamental role in language teaching and learning. In this paper an idea is illustrated that teaching grammar through the communicative approach might be much more effective than teaching grammar as a separate part. This paper also tries to give theoretical and practical analyses on the frame establishment and teaching practice of the communicative approach according to the functional and notional viewpoints. In the end, suggestions are given of using this approach appropriately in actual English grammar teaching in high schools.Firstly, the significance of grammar teaching is displayed in this essay, and a hypothesis is proposed as follows: In China, communicative competence depends on grammatical competence, so good grammatical competence provides the foundation for successful communication. However, good grammatical competence is not enough. So teaching grammar through the communicative approach in junior high schools is highly necessary. In the second chapter, a literature review is done respectively of the communicative approach and grammar teaching, which laid a solid theoretical foundation for this research. In the third chapter, the communicative approach is studied carefully. Reasons why most Chinese English teachers still prefer to teach grammar in the traditional way are listed, examples are given to demonstrate how to present, how to practice, how to produce and how to correct errors in grammar teaching. In the fourth chapter, based on the four-month(2006, 9--2007, 1) experimental teaching, comparison of the communicative approach and traditional grammar teaching is done, the data collected through the teaching experiment are analyzed, and a conclusion is drawn that Chinese learners of English as a foreign language need to master as much English grammar as they can. With the help of grammar they can communicate more successfully because it can remedy the defect of lack of English learning situations for Chinese students. However, it should be noted that learning grammar itself is not the ultimate goal of learning English because language is used for communication. To sum up, grammar is an effective tool which can promote appropriate communication. An inadequate knowledge of grammar would severely constrain the capacity for communication. So it is more important for Chinese teachers to seek an effective way to teach grammar. Based on lots of scientific researches, the researcher found grammar teaching through the communicative approach is one of the most effective methods in China.