Appropriateness-of-CLT-and-TBLT-in-the-Chinese-Con

张晚霞09级专五班200903040067AppropriatenessofCLTandTBLTintheChineseContextInfact,nomethodisperfectintheworldforChinesecontext,andCLTorTBLTisnotanexception.Inmypaper,lwillshowmyopinionsonwhetherthesetwoteachingmethods--CommunicativeLanguageTeachingandTasked-baseLanguageTeachingareappropriatefortheChinesecontextornot.一．CommunicativeLanguageTeaching(CLT)InCLT,theinstructorgenerallyteachesthesecondlanguageentirelyintheforeignlanguage,evenattheearlylevelsoflearning.ItcanbeadaptedtoanylevelrangingfromPre-Beginnertoadvanceandissuitableforclassescomprisingstudentswithdifferentlinguisticbackgroundsandvaryinglevelsofcommunicativecompetence,thusallowinglearnerstointeractwitheachaccordingtotheirlevelofproficiency.Thestudentscommunicatetoeachotherandtheinstructorusingmeaningfulsentences,andgrammarinstructionisalmostneverexplicitlytaught,insteaditisimplicitlytaughtthroughactivitieswhichinvolvegamesorprops.ThestudentsaremuchmoreinvolvedinCLT.Withcommunicationattheforefrontoflearning,thestudent,afterseveralweeks,willalreadyhaveanastoundingabilitytoconverseinthesecondlanguage.Theapproachdoesnotcatertolearnerswhocomefromcultureswithdifferentlearningstyles.ThesestudentscannotseethevalueofCLT,becomede-motivatedandareoftenreluctanttoparticipateinactivities.Yetwhenthesesamestudentsaregivenarole-playsituationwhichrelatestoameaningfulcontext,theystrugglebecausetheycannotdoit.AnotherdisadvantageisthattheCLTapproachfocusesonfluencybutnotaccuracy.Thustheymayproduceincoherent,grammaticalincorrectsentences.Theweakerlearnerswhostruggleandcannotusethetargetlanguagecontinuetomakemistakesandeventuallygiveup.Thestrongerstudentstendtolosepatiencewiththeweakerlearnersandhesitatetoparticipatebecausetheydonotseethebenefit.二．Task-basedLanguageTeaching(TBLT)TBLTisstrictlydesignedtofosterstudents’participationconsciousness,andgreatlyhelpstudentsmobilizeandmotivatetheirpotentialitiesbycompletingthetasks.TBLTcanalsohelpstudentslearntocommunicate,learntothinkaboutaquestion,learntomakeadecisionanddealwithanemergency.Furthermore,byaccomplishingthetask,studentscanalsoexperiencethesenseofachievementandrealizetheirownvalue.TBLTinvolvesthecollaborationbetweenteacherandlearners,andamonglearners.ThesizeofEnglishclassesinChineseisaproblemfortheimplementationofTBLT.Whentherearegroup-taskstobedone.Therearesometimesmorethanahundredstudentsinasingleclass.Soitishardtodividestudentsintogroupsorpairs.Ononehand,eachstudentgetslittlechancetospeakifthegroupislargebecausetasksareusuallytime-limited.Ontheotherhand,itisdifficultfortheteachertowalkaroundandmonitorallthestudentsinordertogivefeedbacktoeachgroupiftherearelotsofsmallgroups.TBLTrequiresahighlevelofcreativityandinitiativeonthepartoftheteacher.Ifteachersarelimitedtomovetraditionalrolesordonothavethetimeandresourcestoimplementtasked-basedteaching,thistypeofteachingmaybeimpossible.