Reconsideration on CLT in College English: Theory and Practice/RECONSIDERATION SUR L'APPROCHE COMMUNICATIVE DANS L'ANGLAIS UNIVERSITAIRE : THEORIE ET PRATIQUE

Abstract: Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which is believed in many counties to be a successful method to train communicative competence, has been more widely talked about and practiced in college English teaching since its being first introduced in China in 1980s. However, during about 2 decades of practice, Communicative Language Teaching has met with some inevitable difficulties and barriers. Considering the current impossibility of removing those difficulties and barriers such as the unfavorable learning environment and inconsistent testing system within years, we suggest that an eclectic approach be brought into college English teaching as the present expedient. It is an integration of the revolutionary Communicative Language Teaching principles and traditional Grammar-Translation Method, in coordination with Computer-Assisted Language Learning. Key words: communicative competence, Communicative Language Teaching, Grammar-Translation Method, Computer-Assisted Language Learning, Eclecticism Resume: L'approche communicative dans l'enseignement des langues, qui est consideree comme une methode reussie d'exercer la competence communicative, a ete beaucoup discutee et pratiquee dans l'enseignement de l'anglais universitaire depuis son introduction en Chine dans les annees 1980. Cependant, durant les deux decades de pratique, l'approche communicative a connu des difficultes et barrieres inevitables. Etant donne l'impossibilite d'eliminer dans les prochaines annees ces difficultes et barrieres telles que l'environnement defavorable de l'apprentissage et le systeme de test inegal, nous proposons d'introduire l'approche eclectique comme expedient dans l'enseignement de l'anglais. C'est une integration de l'approche communicative et la methode traditionnelle de grammaire -traduction, qui a combine aussi l'apprentissage des langues avec l'assistance de l'ordinateur. Mots-Cles: competence communicative, approche communicative, methode de grammaire-traduction, apprentissage des langues avec l'assistance de l'ordinateur, eclectisme 1. INTRODUCTION Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), which is believed to be an effective methods to train communicative competence, has been widely talked about and practiced in college English teaching ever since its being first introduced and applied in China in 1980s. It seems as if CLT, which has proved more successful than traditional methods overseas would have brought on a new look to our college English teaching. However, over 20 years' practice of CLT to college English has not been so satisfactory as expected since many teachers and scholars have realized that the goal of developing communicative competence had far from reached. CLT is even labeled as an impossibility and failure to college English teaching in current China (Zhu Yijia, 2000). Why such a popular and convincing teaching method has confronted such confusion? Should we have no choice but stick to me former tradition (most possibly, the Grammar-Translation Method)? Or is mere a reasonable way out of the dilemma? COMMUNICATIVE COMPETENCE AND CLT THEORIES For much of the 20th century, language teaching has been strongly influenced by Bloomfieldian theories and Structuralism where the principle focus has been on the grammar of the language (Nunan, 1991). GT Method, which has long and pleadingly found its way into Chinese college English classroom, is mainly structure-based and teacher-centered. Students depend too much on the teacher and can not cope with communicative tasks effectively though they are linguistically competent (Shu Baimei, 1992). A revolution in language teaching is therefore urgently called for. The theory of communicative competence and CLT fades in meeting this urgency. In 1970s, Hymes delivered his famous article On Communicative Competence arguing that there are several sectors of communicative competence, of which the grammatical is one. …

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