Communicative language teaching in China.docVIP

Communicative language teaching in China 　　【Abstract】 In the last thirty years， the traditional approach of English language teaching （ELT） is widely used in China. From then on， to improve communicative competence of Chinese students， communicative language teaching （CLT） was introduced into China in 1980s. To adapt CLT successfully into English education， numbers efforts have been given. However， although many efforts have been expanded， adapting CLT in Chinese context seems to need a long way to go. 　　【Key words】 Communicative language teaching （CLT）， English language teaching （ELT）， Challenges 　　Definition of CLT 　　Douglas describes definition of CLT as teaching second languages for the ultimate goal of communication with their speakers of the second language. Such a focus has centred on speaking and listening skills， on writing for specific communicative purpose， and on antithetic reading text （Brown， 1994a， p. 244）. 　　Development of CLT in China 　　CLT as a new teaching approach was introduced into China by Li Xiaoju in 1979. She and her associates applied communicative English to Chinese learners， and published English textbooks of communicative English teaching. Li also published the first article in ETL Journal in 1984. She （1984） states that language is communication and learning a language is learning to communicate （p. 2）. The article has significant influence on English teachers attitude of CLT in china. 　　CLT approach was started applying in English classroom in China in the early 1990s. The goals of designing national syllabus have been changed from structure-based national unified syllabus to communication syllabus by the State Education Development Commission （SEDC） in 1992. In this syllabus， listening， reading， speaking and writing are four main training aspects that would achieve the aim of communication in English. In the middle 1990s， CLT approach has become a general and main teaching approach in English teaching in china. 　　Challeng