Teaching a second language, especially Chinese languages, is as complicated as it is fun. There are a number of methods to teach Chinese, the greatest of them being the Communicative Teaching method. This is a reliable method that establishes communicative competence as the main target of language learning (Chen et al, 2010). The Communicative Teaching method lays emphasis on gaining communicative competence especially when used to teach Chinese language. This is because it is observed that a Chinese often lacks communicative competence even after several years of studying English. This is what informs the need to use communicative teaching method when teaching in the Chinese ESL classroom.
However, it is worth mentioning at this early point that a foreign teacher in a Chinese educational, cultural and linguistic environment is very likely to encounter a number of limitations when employing the communicative teaching method. These bottlenecks range from the unique syllabus of China, the different examination system, as well as the abilities of teacher himself. As such, the million dollar question is how a foreign teacher can go about such limits and utilize the communicative teaching method in the most effective way for the greater good of him/herself and the students taking the Chinese language (Xing, 2006). In this paper, therefore, there will be insight on the meaning and the specific roles of the Communicative Teaching method, the current limitations in the Chinese ESL classroom, and finally an detailed analysis of how to effectively employ the Communicative Teaching Method in the Chinese ESL classroom on the grounds of the particular limitations that have established.
In a conventional Chinese classroom, instructors use a grammar translation method to conduct their teaching. In this approach, linguistic competence is the set goal, which explains why many Chinese students have the inability to effectively communicate in a foreign language despite having studied it for quite some time. This is where the communicative teaching method has an upper hand. There have been a several studies by sociolinguistics on foreign language that communicative competence is the best end result for a learner in learning a foreign language. This is further necessitated by the growth of new global communication which renders it utterly necessary to develop the communicative competence of a student in the foreign language teaching sector, in this case teaching of Chinese language (Xing, 2006). In this respect, the Communicative Teaching method is best placed to help students to master the Chinese language in varied ways and then use the Chinese language effectively in both professional and social settings.
The communicative teaching method was first adopted in China in 1977 and it is referred to as the “functional approach.” The method has grown more popular with the increasing number of resident lectures from especially English-speaking nations moving to teach in China.
Xiaoqing Liao (1996) defines communicative teaching method as one that lays emphasis on communicative competence in instances where a foreign language is to be taught.
Communicative Competence. Chinese communicative competence is taken in the meaning of the ability of a learner to use Chinese language to communicate with other people. Communicative competence can be categorized into four components, namely: (1) grammatical competence – this means having an understanding of the Chinese grammar rules coupled with the ability to make use of the Chinese grammar rules in the accepted manner, (2) discourse competence – the ability to communicate the meaning of a given Chinese word or phrase in the context that it is used, (3) sociolinguistic competence – this points to the ability to pick language usage as expressed in a social context, and (4) strategic competence – this is a component of communication competence that refers to the strategies of coping that those in communication use to mimic, end, sustain, repair, and re-channel communication.
One of the sure way for a foreign language teacher ought to employ so as to reap the full rewards of communicative teaching method is make much great us of real-life situations when teaching. This is especially the case because that way a teacher is able to render the communication necessary. In this respect, it is imperative that the Chinese language teacher comes up with a situation that the learners are most probable to meet in real life (Xing, 2009). For instance, the teacher can choose to have the students watch a relevant short film on an much publicized moment when there was communication breakdown between a foreign diplomat and a Chinese official. Employing such a strategy helps the Chinese language teacher to grab full attention of his/her students having indicated to them prior to viewing the video that their reactions and responses will form the class exercise of the day. The language teacher is thus better off being creative with the situations to set for different topics during different lessons. When students learning the Chinese language are made able to have meaningful communication on meaningful as well as intriguing suspenseful subjects, their motivation is boosted and thus will always be looking forward to the Chinese language lesson from their creative teacher.
In all fairness, the communicative teaching method for Chinese language is by far better than the audio-lingual method of language teaching that is commonly used. The latter method draws on repetition along with drills (Chen et al, 2010). This would translate that language teachers in the Chinese ESL classroom employ the same conventional way of teaching day in day out. As such, they follow pre-determined steps to about the language lessons. In this respect, the teacher first guides the students in a session of reading new words of the study text. This is followed by the teacher directing students to read out the text by themselves and establish their areas of difficulty (Galloway, 1993). A fourth step is usually the teacher restructuring the study text for the learners while they note grammar points from the explanation of the instructor. The final step in the language learning process is often having the students to complete worksheets in the aim of strengthening new words as well as grammar points. There is no doubt that the use of repetition and drills to teach Chinese language to students is not only boring but also makes them lose interest in the lesson so fast. In other words, the monotonous nature of the audio-lingual method of language teaching does not go down well Chinese language learners thus underscoring the flexible teaching techniques offered by the Communicative Teaching method.
Furthermore, communicative teaching method of language elevates language to an activity among people as opposed to making it personal. The communicative teaching method thus effectively elevates the Chinese language and relates it to the people and society and so doing aligning it with the principles of the Chinese culture.
According to Cele-Murcia (1991) there are a number of objectives that are enlisted in the communicative teaching of language. First, there is the assumption that the aim of language teaching is to develop an ability in the student to communicate in the target language, in this case Chinese language. This is to say that during a Chinese language lesson, the teacher strives to have the learners practice a lot of Chinese speaking to learn correct pronunciation and attain fluency.
Secondly, the content of the language course will entail semantic notions together with social functions in addition to linguistic structures. In the case of Chinese language, therefore, the teacher should not just partake to teach the words, text structures, and grammar points but in addition make sure to develop the insight of students in the given subject matter (Celce-Murcia, 1991).
Thirdly, groups or pairs are the common structures in which the transfer of meaning in situations is done particularly where an individual bears the relevant information that the rest do not have. Thus, a Chinese language teacher would group or pair students so that they can have constructive engagement and get to learn aspects of the language from each other. This is communicative strategy is further beneficial in the sense that it provides the learners with the freedom to show their knowledge because they are on an equal level of student-to-student as opposed to teacher-student where they may hold back. Furthermore, Cele-Murcia holds that it is key for the teacher to involve the students in a series of role playing or dramatization so that they get opportunities to modify appropriately their use of the target language under varied social contexts. As such, a Chinese language teacher utilizes the communicative teaching method to the benefit of the learners by diversifying their use of vocabulary (Celce-Murcia, 1991). By affording the students much chance to enhance their mastery of the Chinese language, the teacher in turn undertakes the primary role of facilitating communication and correct errors at a correct errors. Above all, however, the teacher must be in a position to utilize the target Chinese language in a fluent and appropriate manner so that the students can follow and get the correct content.
To this end, it is clear that the Communicative Teaching Method has a greater beneficial role to play in the teaching of the Chinese language. This is because it first treats the Chinese language as an important tool of communication among people besides stressing that knowledge on the language should be gained through communication. This in effect breaks with the past where monotonous and ineffective methods were employed for teaching Chinese language (Celce-Murcia, 1991).
Furthermore, the communicative teaching method underscores that interactive speaking activities that occur in Chinese ESL classrooms should be examples of real communication with a basis on the existing information gap among the learners. This elevates the activities in the classroom to be as realistic as the real situations where the learners will use their communicative skills in the Chinese language. Better still, the communicative teaching method has double benefit in teaching Chinese language because it develops a two-way communication where students effectively become active participants in the lesson (Chen et al, 2010). This contrary to the conventional one-way method of teaching which has the teacher repeating what the book gives while all the learner does is take notes silently. The communicative approach thus affords the learners the opportunity to be exposed to the Chinese language, making them promote their communicate ability (Galloway, 1993).
Another relevance of using the Communicative teaching method for the Chinese language is that it encompasses all the aspects of effective communication that is listening, speaking, reading, as well as writing. These are to a larger extent facilitated by the communication in real world situations CLT entails. However, the communicative teaching method is not without limitations in China. On this, the method always runs into problems with the examination system of China where much emphasis is laid on language knowledge. As such translation and reading are the perceived most important skills in language learning as opposed the areas that the communicative teaching method stress on.
Conclusion
Using the Communicative Teaching method in Chinese ESL classrooms is a sure way of getting learners to master the language. Teachers must serve as active facilitators of the learning process of students. This should be done by the teacher first organizing the study exercise and then stay back to monitor the performance of students (Xing, 2009). On the other hand, the student have the obligation to become active communicators where they seek meaning and strive to make themselves understood because the communicative approach is largely student-centered.
References:
Celce-Murcia, M. (1991). Teaching English as a Second or foreign language: language teaching
approaches. Boston, Heinle & Heinle.
Galloway, A. (1993). Communicative language teaching: An introduction and sample activities.
Cambridge, Cambridge University Press.
Chen, Jianguao, Wang, Chuang, & Cai, Jinfa. (2010). Teaching and Learning Chinese: Issues and Perspectives. North Carolina, IAP.
Xing, Peiling. (2009). Chinese Learners and the Lexis Learning Rainbow. Bern, Peter Lang.
Xing, Zhiqun, Janet. (2006). Teaching And Learning Chinese As a Foreign Language: A Pedagogical Grammar. China, Hong Kong University Press.
