Communicative-Cognition Method: a TESOL Eclecticism with Chinese Characteristics

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AUTHOR Liao, Xiaoqing TITLE Communicative-Cognition Method: A TESOL Eclecticism with Chinese Characteristics. PUB DATE Mar 96 NOTE 100p.; Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages (30th, Chicago, IL, March 1996). PUB TYPE Reports Evaluative/Feasibility (142) Guides Classroom Use Teaching Guides (For Teacher) (052) Speeches/Conference Papers (150)

EDRS PRICE MFOI/PC04 Plus Postage. DESCRIPTORS *Chinese; Classroom Techniqi,es; *Communicative Competence (Languages); Cross Cultural Training; *Cultural Context; *Cultural Traits; *English (Second Language); Foreign Countries; Grammar Translation Method; Second Language Instruction IDENTIFIERS *China

ABSTRACT It is argued that a method for teaching English to speakers of other languages (TESOL) combining the communicative approach with the traditional grammatical orientation and Chinese teaching traditions may be more effective than any one of these single approaches in the Chinese educational and cultural context. The resulting approach is termed the communicative-cognition method. First, the grammar-translation method is criticized for its stress on language usage and its under-emphasis of communicative language use. The communicative approach is found to reflect better both the nature of language and the process of language learning, but it is noted that in the Chinese educational, cultural, and linguistic environment, and the current eclectic trend of TESOL, the communicative approach should be adjusted somewhat. Communicative competence should be used as the kernel approach, integrating advantages found in other methods and in traditional Chinese teaching. Six basic principles of this method ar elaborated: development of both linguistic and communicative competence; use of communicative activities to bridge the communication gap;developing awareness in cross-cultural communication;extensive use of English nd limited use of Chinese; student-centered orientation, with teacher as facilitator; and integrative development of languageskills. (MSE)

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PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL Communicative-cognition Method: HAS BEEN GRANTED BY A TESOL Eclecticism with Chinese Characteristics

TO THE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES INFORMATION CENTER (ERIC) Abstract

This proposalexpressesapersonalstandpoint concerning the establishment ofa teaching method with Chinese characteristics: "to make foreign methods serve China and the ancientmethods serve the present;but critically assimilate them andcombine their advantages intoan eclectic but novelmethod' INibt104Mjittniik alkfilik).The author willarguethatstrengthsofthe traditional grammaticallyorientedmethod and the modern communicativeapproachaswellastheChinese excellentteachingtraditionscanbe combined together to createan eclecticmethodfeasiblein China's classrooms and with Chinesecharacteristics, aiming at both linguistic competenceand what Hymes calls -communicative competence. Chapter One criticizesthegrammar-translation methodforoveretressing language usage and neglecting language use,thus calling forareform, then reviews the theoretical basis ofcommunicative cf approach with respect to social behaviot-, language r6 function, improvisation and culturaldiversityand concludes that the linguisticcompetencealoneis not enough foreffective communication andthe

, 2 ;

communicativecompetenceneedstobespecially developed; andfinallysummarises somespecial features of the communicative approachincontrast of those of the traditional method:the communictive competenceasitsdesiredgoal, the two-way communication, communicative activities with information gap, exposuretotargetlanguagefor acquisition, an all-round development of four skills. Chapter Two holds thatsincethecommunicative approach better reflects the nature of languageand theprocessoflanguagelearning, itshouldbe applied into the classrooms in China to achievethe communication aim set by the new Syllabus.However, when applying it we should keep in mind: (1) the current TESOL situation in China , includingthe Syllabus, College Entrance Examination, teachers and students, influence of Chinese cultureandChinese linguistic environment; (2)thecurrenttrendof eclecticism in TESOL; and (8)the historylessonof foreign language teaching that theoryandpractice should be united. ChapterThree concludesthat to create a TESOL method with Chinese characteristicswe shoulduse the theory of communicative approach asthekernel whilecollectingadvantagesfromothermethods, whether ancient or modern,foreign or domestic, and also retaining otherChinese excellentteaching traditions. Alltheseadvantagesareorganically combined together into an eclectic method. Stressing bothappropriateuseoflanguageaswell as cognition of correct usages of language, itmay be tentatively calledthe°communicative-cognition

2 Ou 3 method'. Specifically,itembodiesatleastthe following teaching principles: I)Developbothlinguisticand communicative competences. This principleexplains theimportance oflinguisticand communicative competencesand provides the tentative frameworkof the communicative- cognition method, i.e. the rolesof the teachers and students, teachingmethods andmaterialsinthe development of the above two competences. 2) Perform communicative activitiesand introduce the informationgap. Thisprincipleshowsthe importance of the communicativeactivities and their types and forms, and ways tobridge theinformation gap. 8)Increasetheawarenessofcross-cultural communication. Thisprincipleshows theclose relationshipbetweenlanguageandculture and provides some culture-teachingtechniques on the3 aspects of syllabus design,teachingmaterialsand teachers after analyzing students'cultural mistakes. 4) Use EnglishbutnotexcludeChinese. This principle deals with the use of nativelanguageand target language in conductinglessons and emphasizes the use of English as much as possibleanduseof Chinese when necessary. 5)Ensurestudent-centeredorientationand teacher's role asafacilitator. Thisprinciple deals with the relationship betweenthe teacherand the students and shows the importanceand waysto motivate students' initiative. 6)Develop integratively four skills withvarying stresses on different skillsatdifferentstages.

3 .000 4 This principle deals withthe relationshipbetween listening, speaking ,reading and writingandholds that °listening andspeakingfirst, followedby reading and writing, with an all-round development of four skills and with a final emphasison the reading skill. Chapter Fourrestatesthefour contents concerning the establishment of a TESOL method with Chinese characteristics: (1)ourgoalistohelp change for the better the TESOL outlook in China and propel the TESOL forward into modernization; (2)our attitude is to take in eveiything valuable and avoid going to extremes; (3) our method isadialectical one with critical and heritable componentsbutnot the abstract metaphysics; (4)our process is to unite analysis with compromise and compromiee with creation. Taking in everything valuable to becomeanorganic unity is a process of creation. We hopethatthese standpoints be valuable to developing countries with local conditions similar to China intheirefforts tcexplorea TESOL method bycombination of °tradition° and °innovation.°

4 5 Chapter One Going off the Beaten Track to CLT

1. The Beaten Track

China has a relatively longhistory of TESOL beginning in the Qing Dynasty in 1862,butithas beendominated bythetraditional grammatically- oriented methoe2, suchasthespoon-feeding Or cramming method.Soon after liberation in 1949, TESOL in China was carried on after the patternofthat in the former Soviet Union. Under theinfluenceof the Contrastive Method, much attention waspaidto sentence analysis and vocabulary work. Duringthe ten- yeardisastrous"CulturalRevolution°which discourages learning aforeignlanguagewiththe notorious slogan of °Making revolution all thesame without ABC",, TESOL almost terminated insecondary schools. After the'Revolution° cametheChina's °Renaissancein1979, but many middle school teachers have still goneonthebeatentrack. An official investication guided by the State Education Commission of China indicates that 87% teachersuse the traditional method in China's middle schoolsin the 1980s(Zuo,1990:40). From the earlynineties,a growing number of teachers began to be aware ofthe development of the communicativelanguagete-ching (CLT). Butsincethetraditionalmethodis deep- rooted and widely prevailing, andsincethetwo national unified Syllabi for middleschoolEnglish

LI 6 (one issued in 1981, the other revised in1986)and the textbooks set no communication aim but knowledge aim,itisdifficulttochangeoverfromthe traditional waya to the new ways. Therefore the traditional ways of teachingstillprevail, even though there are some attempts madeb.- implementing communicative principles of TESOL in some places. In traditional classes,many teachersalways tend to over-emphasize the importance ofgrammar and reduce the process of language learning to themere masteryofgrammar andvocabulary.They are enthusiastic about sentenceanalysis, whether it is simple or difficult to understand.Af tergrammatical analysis is done,each English sentenceisgivena Chinese trimslation.Mostteacherseventranslated and asked students to translate Karl Marx'sarticle in Senior Book One in which Marxgave some advice on avoidance of translation: °When a person is learning aforeignlanguage, hemustnot always be translating everything into his own language...', thus going contrary to thegreatleader'sadvice. The classroom teachingproceduresarealwaysthe same three steps as follows:

Presentation of the text to exemplify the grammatical and lexical items,with Chinese as the chief medium of instruction --> Drills on these linguistic items --> Presentationandconsolidationof grammar through illustrativesentences andspecially designedexercises. (Zhang and Yang,1982).

6 Stressing the grammaticalusage rather than appropriate use of language,thetraditionalmethod produces very poor teaching results. Theofficial investigation shows that °students' abilitytouse English is much lower than thatofknowledge*and °this is even worse in common middle schools°( Zuo, 1990:42) .Thus, students become almost communicatively incompetent. They are able to compose and understand well-formed sentences but still unable tousethem appropriately in real-life situations. Many students often greet foreign teachers: °Have youeaten? °Where are you going?' °What are you busy with?' and the like.They don't knowthesegraciousChinese greetings are true questions which arenotencoded as greetings by English-speaking people, so they use them in every social situation,thusmakingforeign teachers puzzled and embarraseed.lt is admitted that there are other factors causing students' communicative incompetence, suchastheteachers' low proficiency ofEnglishandunsteadyteaching personality to be confident, enthusiastic, patient etc., the students' lowinterestinatudy, poor learning methods and habits, and the use of grammar- based teaching materials. We will also try tosolve these problemson the following pages. Poor teachingresultshaverecentlyledmany teachers to reevaluate the traditional method. It ie contrary to the essence of language asatoolfor communication and overlooks an importantaspectof languageteaching the teaching of the communicative use of the language. They have come to realizethatlearningalanguage involves a competence more important than linguistic competence, a competence to use language for communication. This competence'doesnotfollow as a necessary consequence of learning thelanguageasaformal system and has to be developed in some way"(Widdowson, qtd. in Zhang and Yang, 1982). Thisisbecause the linguistic competenceis'onlyapartofthe communicative competence(Allright,1979:168). So the true mastery of a languageinvolvestwotypesof competence linguisticandcommunicative.Some teachers even proposed that the developmentofthe communicative competence beconsideredasanother dimensioninthenationalunifiedSyllabusfor middle school English in China.Therefore, in1992 came the new era.Forthefirsttime, theState Education Commission stipulatedthe°communication aim° in the new-edition Syllabus of Teaching English for Compulsory Education in J-rnior School or Nine- year Systemandatthesametimeunderthe cooperation with the British Longman GroupLimited published the three new textbooks Junior English for China, thus calling on a radical reforminthe deep-rooted traditional method in order to reach the communication aim.

2. The CLT Theoretical Basis

The communicative language teaching (CLT)isan approachtof oreign language teaching which emphasizes that the goaloflanguage leachingis communicative competence. AccordingtoCanaleand 0 rinr, Swain, a communicativeapproachis designedon communicative functions(eg. apologizing, describing, inviting, promising)to teach studentsto know and emphasize how grammatically correct sentencesare used to express functions appropriately(1979:1). Chomsky describesthecompetenceasamere linguistic system or abstractgrammatical knowledge (1965:3), i.e. °the mastery of theabstractsystem of rules by which a person is able to understandand produce any and all of the well-formedsentencesof hislanguage° (Monby, 1983: 7). However, many sociolinguists argue that linguistic system alone is not enough for effective communication. To contrast Chomsky's theory of competence,Hymes putforward the term communicativecompetence whichcontains both knowledge and abilityforlanguageusewith respect to four factors: °possibility,feasibility, appropriateness and accepted usage(1979:19).Other sociolinguistsagree with Hymes, sayingthat°The speaker must know what to say,with whom, andwhen, and where° (Cooper, qtd. in Monby, 1983: 17). Thus Hymes's concept of competence hasthesociological component which Chomsky's lacks.Amorerecentbut reit '.,edanalysisofcommunicativecompetenceis found in Cana le and Swain (1980), inwhichfour dimensions of communicative competenceare identified: grammatical competence,sociolinguisticcompetence, discourse competence, and strategic competence(qtd. in Richards and Rodeges, 1986: 71).By considering language socialbehavior, languagefunctionand improvisation, and culturedifference, we cansee that the sociolinguists'view ofcompetenceis

9 .1 10 correct. Language containssocialrules. We must speak 'anguage according to them;otherwise wewillcause offense.Asking a stranger in a street for direction, we should not say "Hi, you.Tell me the way to ...." or 'Excuse me,kind sir.I wonder if you wouldbeso kindastodirect meto..." Althoughboth grammatically correct, they are notappropriateto the common social situation because the first is too rude and the second overpolite-bothcancause offense to people. Therefore, intheprocessof communication, we must pass judgement on thesocial acceptability of our utterance and decide whether or not it is anappropriateresponsetothesocial context. Hymes states that anytheoryoflanguage must contain a sociological component. A.theoryof communicative competence must deal withnotionsof the 'speech community, speech situation,speak event, speech act,fluentspeaker, componentsofspeech events, functions of speech,etc."(qtd.in Zhao:1991). Language function is another aspect for effective communication. Only understanding language forms and meanings is not enoughtoexpressand understand language functions.The function of asame formof words may changewithcontext. Thesentence °Why don'tyouclosethedoor? "canperform many different functionssuch asquestioning, imperative, complaint,etc. depending on thesituationandthe other sentences surrounding it.Similarlythereare many different ways toexpressone andthesame function. Students should know asmany functionsas aformexpresses; otherwisetheywill cause a

10 communication breakdownjustastheLittlewood's example illustrates(1983:12).Therefore, language forms and functions are twocrucialcomponentsin TESOI; any one of them should not beoveremphasized to the neglect of the other. The improvisational and creative use oflanguage is an important skill foreffectivecomniunication. We haveto make andinterpretmessage'saswe communicate without prior preparation orrehearsal. Even in a simple conversational exchangethereis an element of the unexpected and unpredictable. This means that one speaker cannot predict what the other will say. His own response will thereforehaveto be made up on the spot, and he will havetodecide how to react, and what to say.Inresponding, he will be forced to exploit the language he knowsin the most creative way,butnottorepeatthe dialogues learned in the classrooms. For instance,if he either does not know or cannot remember aneeded word, he can use known or remembered language instead. If he cannot remember the word °friendship",then he could substitute a phrase like "a goodrelationship between twofriends'. Thisis one of the improvisatory skills that ESOL students should master. Finally,the culturecompetenceshouldalsobe gained for cross-cultural communication. Finocchiaro and Brumf it pointed out that"culturalsystem'is one of the four subsystems of language(1983:80).It should be learned just asthesoundsystem, the grammar system, and the vocabulary system should be, in orderto"speakappropriately, fluentlyand correctly"(Ibid). Alsotheculturegoverningthe

12 11 appropriateness of native language is notnecessary the game as the culture governing thesameuseof targetlanguagebecauseculture in different countries may be different. Greeting people in China is different from greeting in USA. Chinesepeople regard eating as more important to their friends and acquaintances, thus using °Have youeaten? ° as a graciousgreetingataboutmealtime. Thisis consideredinappropriateinUSA. Therefore, °Differences in cultural meaningsacrosslanguages are a problem in learning asecondlanguage(Lado, 1979:28). Cultural differences and speaking rules of thetargetlanguageshouldbelearnedby ESOL students. To some extent TESOL is reallyaprocess of enculturation.

8.The CLT Characteristics

From thereviewoftheliteratureabout communicative language teaching, wecan draw some majorfeaturesaboutthecommunicativea;proach which are greatlydifferentfromthoseofthe grammar translation method, so different that it has been a reaction away fromtraditionalmethod and initiated the communicativeera in the TESOL history, 1) The communicative approach sets the communicative competence as its desired goal because language is a tool for communication. It holds that language should be learned throughuseand through communication. Based onthisnotion, theteacher usually creates real life situationsinclassand has students to play roles, simulations and true-to-

12 13 life interactions,etc.Thus, studentslearntouse languageappropriatelyindifferent types of situations, use language to perform differentkinds of tasks and uselanguageforsocialinteraction with other people, etc. Incontrast, the grammar translation method sets thelinguisticcompetence as its desiredgoal, whichgoes away fromthe essence of language as a tool for communication.It stresses only language structures,soundsorwords, thus separating language from use,situation and role. This communicative feature fundamently differs from that ofthetraditionalmethod, thus makinga radicalreforminthe modernforeignlanguage teaching. 2) The communicative approachinsiststhat interactionalspeakingactivitiesusedin the classroom be instances of real communication,based on a genuine information gap. The gap exists when a teacher/student in an exchange knows something illat the other student does not. If students know todai is Monday and the teacher asks,'What day is today?' and they answer,*Monday,° then the exchange is not

_ really communicative. Consequently, the approachis violently opposed to such exchanges. Itarguesthat the activities aremechanicalandartificialand even harmful because they willleadstudents away from theuseofthelanguageforcommunicative purposes. 8) The approach stresses two-way communication. When communicating in real life,we donotsayto ourselves, nor monologize as inadramaplay, but alwaysexchangetheinformationwith others.

13 14 Thereforeinclass, theteacherusuallybrings students' initiative into full play, and by limiting his talking time and preventing the cramming method, lets them practice more. Thusthewbecomeactive agents communicating throughouttheclassesrather than passive recipients.This is alsoacritical difference from the traditional ''one-waywteaching in which the teacherrepeatswhatthebooksays while students take notes quietly. In' China students are constantly told from children to sit quietly and listen to the teacher, and not to stand up and speak out unless called upon. 4) Itensuresthatslaidentshavesufficient exposuretothetargetlanguage. Thisexposure provides many opportunities for language acquisition to occur. Studentsareencouragedtocreateand internalize language;they are not asked to learnby memorizing grammarrules and vocabulary. Therefore students' communicative competence can bedeveloped as they try todealwithavarietyoflanguage situations.However, in traditional classrooms, the teacher uses the native language to conduct lessons, thus preventing studentsfromacquisitionofthe target language. 5) Finally, the communicativeapproachembraces all four skills. By integratinglistening, speaking, reading and writing,students cannotonlydevelop these skills but also constantly combine them in use as peopleusetheminreallifesituations. In contrast,the traditional methodemphasizesreading in isolation and treats listening, speaking, reading and writing asseparatesubjects, thustraining

14 students to become what wecall*deaf- mutesof English°. Sincethecommunicativeapproachstresses language use, many teachersthink, and we admit, that it may overlooklanguage knowledgesothat studentsareunabletomake up andunderstand grammatically correct sentences, sotheyraisethe question: "Does it requireexistinggrammar-based syllabus to be abandoned ormerely revisee.This may be thecasebecause we believethatlinguistic competenceisapart and a foundation of communicative competencellowever,thisproblem can be solved by adding languageknowledge into the practice of communicative practice..Because'thereisno single text or authority oncommunicative language teaching, nor any single modelthatisuniversally accepted as authoritative(Gautom,1988:82), because itstheoreticalbase is °somewhat eclectic° (Richards and Rodgers,I986:71),andbecause it is only an "approach" withinwhich therecanbe many methods, we canuseitasaneclecticmethod, collectingany advantagesfrom othermethods, including (and retaining)thegrammartranslation methodtoteachlanguage knowledge. Thus,both linguisticand communicativecompetencescanbe fully developed. The communicative approachbetterreflectsthe nature oflanguage andtheprocessoflanguage acquisition and learning. It hasbeenemployedin recent years by ESOL teachersinwidelydiverse settings in the world. It should alsobeintroduced and applied into the classroomsin China toachieve

15 010 16 the communication aim set by the Syllabus.Alsoby applyingitwe cancatchupwiththe rapid developmentinthestudyand application of communicative approachto TESOL in many foreign countries in recent years. Althoughithassome unsolved problems, it has far more advantagesover disadvantages and can serve Chinaiftheproblems will be solved satisfactorily.

11 1 7 Chapter Two

Principles Underlyinga New TESOL Method

It has been shown thatwe shouldintroducethe communicative approach into ourclassrooms. But should we take overitcompletelyorshouldthe traditional method be discardedaltogetherwithout any advantagesleftforuse? To answerthese questions, we hadbetter make an overall considerution and rational estimation ofthe current TESOL situation in China,pay due attentiontothe current trend of language teachingmethodologyand learn something valuable from thehistory of foreign language teaching.

1. The Current TESOL Situation inChina

The situation can be summarizedin one sentence: °For Chinese teaching aims, Chineseteachersteach ChinesestudentsinChina's classrooms° with reference to the following mainaspects: (1). Teaching objectives The new Syllabus statesthat.machingaimsof middle school Englishare °by training in listening, speaking, reading and writing, toteach studentsto gain basic English knowledge andcompetencetouse English for communication.° Thisstatementcontains three teaching contents.The firstis four skills and the second is the communicativecompetence. To fully develop these two abilities, it isbettertouse communicative approach .The thirdcontent is language

4-1(. 18 _

knowledge, also needed to be taught.For this purpose. some useful and effective techniques such as retttern drill from the traditional method could beretained for proper use. Therefore, toachieveabovethree goals, boththe communicative approach and traditional method could be combinedtogetherfor classroom use. (2). National College Entrance Examination This is one of the large influences determining a TESOL method.The English exam isoneofthefive exams forseniorschoolgraduatestopassinto colleges and universities.Passingitisthe most important consideration for students whilelearning. It has such a big influencetodetermineteaching contents and methodsthat it is usually calledthe °baton°. Recent exams consist of two parts: language knowledge and language skills.The knowledgesection is to test students' linguisticcompetence, which the traditional method canhelptoachieve. The skill section is to test the fourlanguageskills, thus the communicative approach shouldbeproperly employed. This alsodeterminestheemploymentof reasonable and effectiveteachingtechniquesfrom both the traditional and communicative methods. (8). Teacher capacity A qualifiedteacher'sEnglishproficiencyis expected to be native ornear-native. TheChinese teachers are non-native speakers of English and most teachersinruralschoolslackthisability, especially the ability to listen andspeak well. Accordingtotheofficialinvestigation, the percentage of China's middle school teachers with B.A.

18 degrees is only 28% and 12% ofthemare Russian majors and 8% were graduatedduringthe'Cultural Revolution' with a 3-year B.A. program. Teachers with A.A. gnd withsecondary diplomas are 4% and 29% respectively (Zuo,1990:84).Sopooristeachers' higher or teacher-trainingeducation that many have difficultyspeakingEnglishthroughout classes. Therefore, the Chineselanguagecansometimesbe used to help conduct lessons, and thetraditional method is thus unable to be discarded altogether. On the other hand, not many teachers are familiar with current trends in TESOL methods. They have stuck to the old method and find itdifficultto make a change. Li stated that in Tangshan city today there are still20% teachers who areusingthe grammar-translationmethodtoteachthe new textbooks(1994). Therefore,at thepresenttime we should advocate greatly theadvantages of communicative approach and help them tomasterand use new teaching techniques. Howeveritwilltake some time before most of them canadaptthemselves toradicalchangesinTESOL methods. Alsosome teachers with a long teaching experience havetheir own specialteachingtechniqueswhich havebeen proved effective and useful. In these conditions, we should allow them to continue their own 'old° methods. Thus our °new' TESOL method should be a methodwith communicative approachasacorewhichwillbe blended with advantages of othermethodsincluding the traditional method. (4). Student capacity Most students begin learning English at age 12.At

19 2 0 this age, they are still in the transitionalperiod from childhoodto youthhood, so their imitating and memorizing ability is stronger than their understanding andlogicalability. Accordingto psychologyrit is better to use the direct method and audio-lingual method to help them toformlanguage habits and skills. But these studentsstilldiffer greatly from 7-year-old children who aregenerally good at imitation and memory. Therefore, itisnot proper for the teachertodependfullyontheir imitation and memory,skills and habits; butalong with their growing up,tend to rely on theirlogical abilitytoanalyze, synthesizeand summarize knowledge, thusarousingandmaintainingtheir learning interests. This is- better done by using the traditional method. Therefore, we shouldusean eclectic method which collects advantages from many methods including the directmethod, audio- lingual method and grammar-translation method. As to intelligence, middle schoolstudentshave almost acquired the Chinese language whichtakesa firm hold in their mind. LearningEnglishatthis time is reallyaprocessoftransferring Chinese languagesystemintoEnglishsystem. Soitis important for teachers to speakEnglishtoreduce and even prevent negative transfer. However, since there are many similarities and differencesbetween Chinese and English,itisnecessarytoutilize comparison and contrast techniques to find them,so that the positive transfer canoccur andnegative transfer can be prevented. For this,Chinese should be usedrand comparison techniques from thegrammar-

20 A:21 translation method should be retained. (5). Traditional teaching method Although thetraditionalmethodoverlooksthe communicativelanguageteaching, itscertain elements have been usefulandeffective, which should not be discarded altogether. For example, the pattern drill hasbeen found auseful meansto familiarize studentswithgrammaticalstructures. Without a good grasp of the grammar, there wouldbe no linguistic competence. So the pattern drillwill be retained; but instead ofdrillingpatternsfor the sake of patterns, it is necessary thatlanguage structure practice is to be given on contextswhich involve some basic principles of appropriacy.Besides, vocabulary work andtranslationhavecoztributed much to students' language improvement. They must still be consideredas essentialpointstobe covered in our method. Also, for the past thousands of years, Chinahas developed many excellent traditions of itsownfor language teachingsuch as °reciting model text:it'll #Irajc),'"reading widely°(r MOM site °working hard at writing° (0T330), to namejustafew. Long experience has shown thattheyareeffectiveand efficient to formlanguagehabitsandskillsof studentslearningundertheChineselinguistic environment. These traditions must also beretained and supplemented into our own teaching method.

2. Eclecticism: a Current Trend of TESOL

In the field of foreign languageteaching, the

21 22 eclectic method or compromise method is built with a certainmethodasitscore while collecting advantages from many othermethods. Itisfirst created to avoid the extreme belief inoneofthe two schools of thought( thetraditional and the direct methods). Itsmaincharacteristicsis to accept as many advantages as_ possibleaccordingto the actual situationsoastodevelopthefour language skills. Resourcefulteachershave used theseadvantagestoconstructamethodological framework that may suit their own personalteaching style as well as theneeds andinterestsofthe students. Theeclecticismconfirmstothelawofthe development of foreign language teaching. Usuallya teaching method, at its early practice, waspraised highly and actually had its own specialadvantages. But inthecourseofapplication, becausethe teaching aims, teachersandstudents , teaching materials, conditions and environments were changed, it inevitably became contradicted with all ofthem, so it had to be modified more or lessinorderto suit the new situations. The usualpracticeisto use one or two methods as acorewhilecollecting many other advantages which werecombinedintoan organic unity. Teaching experience alsoshowsthat it is rare for teachers to use only onemethod, but more frequent to use many advantagesfromdifferent methods which aremixedtogetheroruseseveral methods at the same time.According to Omaggio (1988: 69-86), there are three kinds of modern adaptations of the direct method which haveevolvedtosome extent from direct methodology.The first adaptations, known as the Multiple Approach aswell as aclosely related variant known as the VerbalActiveMethod, have been in use for quite a few years.The second and third adaptations, Total PhysicalResponse (TPR) and the Natural Approach, arerelativelyrecent innovations in language teaching methodology.All of thena do not preclude the explanationof grammar nor the use of the native language. Inaword, the eclecticism is an unavoidable and normalphenomenon in foreign language teaching. The eclecticism began in Chinaearlyin1960s. Chinesescholarsput forward some eclectic principlessuchas °combination of language knowledge with practice°, °developmentoflanguage skills comprehensively°, which haveproduced good teaching results and which have still made agreat impact on the current TESOL methods.At thepresent time, theeclecticismisstillprevailingin universitiesandcolleges. TheCollegeEnglish Syllabus points out:'Strong points should be drawn from different approaches . Differentapproaches should be adopted for different students,different stages and differentpurposes/1(1991:10).Therefore, "in China today, most college teachers areusing the eclectic method....Fromtheviewofteaching- material compilation andconcreteteaching-method usein common universitiesandcolleges, the eclectic method is still widelyused° (Xu, 1991). This is also the samein some secondary schools. In mid-eighties in some keyschoolsinBeijing and Shanghai appeared atendencyofeclecticism. An

23 24 investigationto31keyschoolsindicatesthis tendency:

Volume(junior)BookBookBookBook Method I II III IV

Composite method 67%70%70%70%

Near audio-lingual 16% 13% 0 0

Grammar-translation 0 0 10% 10%

(Tang, 1985:265)

The eclecticism isalsoverypopularirsome foreign countries. According to Gaunlett, a majority of Japanese teachers arein favor of it.He said, 'If my observations are right, it is my beliefthat the majority of progressive Japanese teachersthink theeclecticmethodtobethebestand most sensible° (qtd.in Xu, 1991). AccordingtoXu, in SovietUnionforeignlanguageteachingisalso tending towards compromise. The teaching principles include °IcompTehensiveteachingofphonetics, grammar and vocabulary, and integrative trainingof the four language skille(Ibid). Inaword, °The curzentteachingmethodologyistocombinethe merits of the past language teaching practicesinto some formofaviablelanguageteachingmethod according to the learner's needs and thelinguistic environmentinwhichheistaughtthetarget

25 24 language"((autam,1988:25). To create a TESOL method, we should consider this trend.

3. A Lesson from the TFSOL History

It is more than 100 yearssincethelate19th century when the teaching methodology was studied as a branch of science. From thishistory, we find that the research for teaching methodology waszearried on almostconcurrentlywiththedebateoverwhich abilities are formed in the domain ofthe"' teaching theory. This is because bothofthem dependedon nearlythesametheoreticalbasis, and were unavoidablyinfluencedbythe development of philosophy,pedagogy and other sciences of that time. The research for teaching methodology also depended on linguistics, psychologyandeventheteaching theory. It is therefore necessary to reviewbriefly the developmentofteachingmethodology andits revellent science to find out a law from which the go- ahead orientationandtrendcanbegraspedfor reference. Theresearchlikethedebatefalls approximately into the following three periods: (1) The first period. In the 17-18th centurythe teaching theory, based on the rationalismthat man is born with an ability tothink andlearn human language, emphasized the development of intelligence and ability. Under its influence emerged the grammar translation method,whichstresseslanguagetheory while neglecting language practice. Its teachingis grammar-based,requiring students torecitegrammar rules and to learn language by analyzing its grammar

25 26 structures. (2) The second period. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries the teaching theory, basedonthe empiricismthatlearningprocessis a habit formation process andthatlanguageisprimarily speech and not writing,insisted on the development of language skills and habits. Under thisinfluence evolved thestructurallinguisticsand behavior psychology. The direct method andafterwards, the audio-lingualmethod and audio- visualmethods, belong to this school. They gave tit for tat towards _the traditional school, putting forwardthetheory of'stimulusandresponse', andholdingthat language learning is a process of skill training and habit formation, but not of intellectual activities. (3) The thirdperiod. Inthe19606-70sthe cognitive psychology and then Noam Chomsky'stheory of transf ormationalgenerative grammarrestressed intelligence and abilities. Itisbelievedthat language is a "rule-governedcreativity" (Chomsky's term) and amatteroftheirconstruction through insightratherthan°habitformationandskill development° throughrepetition. Based onthese theories, the cognitive approach was created by J.B. Carrol. It stresses the language knowledge whichcan help master a language. It is clear that thispoint of view is very similar to that ofthetraditional school,but it does not devalue language practice and insistsonmeaningfuldrillsandalsorequires visual aids and teaching situations thisisto carry forward the advantage of the structural school. From the above three periods wecan find two laws

26 27 of development of teachingmethodology as follows: 1) The debate in the teachingtheory was focused on the relationship between knowledge andability, and underwenta zigzag course firststressed, then unstressed and finallyrestressed the knowledge. The research for teachingmethodology was focused on the relationship between knowledge andpractice and also went throughasimilarcourse first stressed, then unstressed and finallyrestressed the knowledge. Thus, "language-teachingmethods have followed the pendulum of fashionfrom one extreme to the other"(Mackey, 1965:188).Theirsimilarfaults were to set two sidesofacontradictionagainst each other and tooveremphasizeonesideandto negate the other asa result of goingtoextremes. This is a lesson. 2) However, both the debateand research were not carried far enough, circling backto the pointthey started, but renewed and improvedintheprevious foundations. Every school ofthought,inthecourse of application,was unavoidably in conflict with the then teaching aims, teachersand students,teaching materials and conditions,so hadto berevisedmore or less to becomebetterand moresuitable. lt should be pointed out that theabove developmentis normal because itconformstotheuniversallaw thateverythingadvances throughthecourseof negation and develops in spirals.

In the above situations,theanswer to what method should be used now is:we haveno theoreticalground and itis harmful inpracticetotakeoverthe

21' 28 communicative approach completelywhilediscarding the grammatically-orientedmethodaltogetherand neglecting advantages of other methodsaswellas Chinese excellent teaching traditions. We shouldgo our own way: to make foreign methods serve China and the past methods serve the present;butcritically assimilate them and combinealltheiradvantages eclectically and originally(XtrPnbtt+iii, lit P4 II , *M). Tobespecific, byintegrating dialectically all advantages of any existing methods and according to China's present TESOL conditions, we should choose one or two methods as a corewhile mixing it with many otherstotakeineverything valuable so as to create an eclectic method which is appropriate for China and with Chinese characteristics. Chapter Three

TheCommunicative-cognition Method: A Framework andPrinciples

Considering the pointsmentioned above,ourTESOL method with Chinesecharacteristics shouldbe: to use thetheory of communicativelanguage teaching as a corewhilecollectingotheradvantagesofany existing methods and alsoexcellent Chinese teaching traditions. All these advantagesaredialectically and organicallycombined together inperfect harmony anddevelopedintoaneclecticmethod witha teachingaim at thelinguisticand communicative competence& Stressingcommunicative use of language as well asconscious cognition oflanguage usages,it may betentativelycalled the °communicative- cognition method° orcommunicative-cognition teaching (CCT). Specifically, itmust embodyatleast the following teaching principles:

Principle One:Develop Both LinguisticCompetence and CommunativeCompetence

This principle provides atentative frameworkfor the communicative-cognitionmethod abouttheroles of the teacher, students, teachingmethods and materials. Thelatterprincipleswillgo on explaining some relevant aspectsabout the method. Linguistic and communicativecompetences are both needed for effectivecommunication which aredesired

3 0 J

goals of our method.The true masteryof alanguage involves the two competence.Linguistic competence generally refers to the masteryofbasiclanguage knowledge about phonetics, vocabularyand grammar. Communicative utterances must becorrectinthese three aspects to be superficiallywell-formed and acceptable.Also the Syllabusstatesthatteaching aimsinclude°basicEnglish knowledge' to comprehend and compose phonologically,semantically and grammatically correct sentences and the National College Entrance English Examtestsonit. These determinetheimportanceoflanguageknowledge teaching in China. The communicative competence generally refersto the ability to usethewell-formedsentencesto expresscommunicativefunctionseffectivelyand appropriately. It is the ultimateaimoflanguage teaching,whichthe Syllabus has already stipulated. As a matter of fact, language is a communicative tool, learningofwhich without any communicative functions will certainlyleadtothedivorceof learning and application.Knowledgelearningdoes not guarantee its developmentbecause linguistic competence is a partofcommunicativecompetence. Second,learninglanguageformsisnotenough; language functions also needstobelearned. If students still fail to know the functions, they may cause communicativebreakdown. Third, socialrules which the communicative competence dependson must also be studied. They arenolessimportantthan grammar rules.If used inappropriately in COMI, numication , agrammaticallycorrectsentence may causemisunderstanding; however, °evenwhere there is grammaticalinaccuracy, communicationcan still takeplace successfully° (Wilkins, 1974:14). These make it important to develop the communicative competence. Lingui 3ticcompetenceisfocusedon the acquisition of linguistic formswhile communicative competence is aimedatappropriateuseofthese forma:nsocialcommunication, thus, their relationship is that of means andend. Linguistic competenceisprerequisitefor communicative competence, without which there is nocommunicative competence to speak of. Butsuchanabilityhas little value on its own. It has tobesupplemented by knowledge ofusingsentencesappropriatelyin communication tri perform a variety offunctions. On the other hand, thecommunicative competencedoes notresultfromthe linguistic competence automatically. In the process of teaching, therefore theteachershouldnotonlyimpartnecessary language knowledge but also provideas much practice as possible for students to acquire theabilityto use the language forcommunication. Justasthe CollegeEnglishSyllabusof China requires, 'importance shouldbeattachedbothtolanguage trainingatsentencelevelandtothegradual improvement of students' communicative competence at discourse level° (1991: 9). Itisnottruethatoncethelinguistic competence is acquired,the communicative competence

32 will follow as a more or less automatic consequence. On the contrary,/foveremphasis on drills and exercises for the production and reception ofsentencetends toinhibitthe development of communicative abilities° (Widdowson,1978:67). This means that the emphasisshouldbelaidonthedevelopmentof communicative competencebecause"thetarget linguistic system willbe learned best throughthe process of strugglingtocommunicate° (Finocchiaro and Brumfit,1983: 92). AsAllrightpointedout: °teaching comprehensively for linguisticcompetence will necessarily leave a large area of communicative competence untouched, whereasteachingequally comprehensively forcommunicative competencewill necessarily caterforallbutasmallpartof linguistic competence(1979:168). For Chinese middle school students,the linguistic competenceattheendofthesix- yearcourse requires:1) abasicEnglishpronunciationand intonation; 2) a basicEnglishvocabulary of 2000- 2600 mords and a certainquantityofphrasesand idioms; 8) a good grasp ofthebasicsofEnglish grammar; and 4) a fairly highdegreeofskillin listening, speaking, writing, and reading independently with the help of dictionaries. On the other hand, the communicative competence consists of a reasonable degreeof the following: I) a knowledge ofthebasicprinciplesofappropriacyand an abilityto apply such principles in real communication, 2)a knowledge of rules of speaking (eg. knowing how tobeginandendconversations, knowing what topics may be talked about in different types of speech events, knowing which addressforms should be used with different persons one speaksto and in different situations; and 3) aknowledgeof the basic strategies forusing and respondingto different types of speech acts, suchasrequests, apologizes, thanks and invitations. To developboth the competences we provide therolesofteachers, students, teachingmethodsandmaterialsinthe communicative-cognition teaching (CCT):

The Four Ms' Roles in CCT

Teaching is a four-way relationshipbetween Men (teachers), Materials/Methods the teachersuse,and Masters (studenta) .Any successful classroom teaching involves the four cardinal factors as follows: the teacher's roletoimprovestudents'learningby creatively using teaching methods and materialsand thestudents'enthusiasticparticipationinthe learning. This is a basic principle of alllanguage teaching including the CCT. Since CCT's goalisto have students become linguistically and communicativelycompetent, itinsists on the teacher's role as a facilitator, the students'role as active communicators, and theteachingmethods andmaterials' role as a promoter.

1. Teacher's Role as a Facilitator.

CCT regards the teacher's roleasafacilitator A

ofstudents'learningtocommunicate. Thisis different from the traditional role ofa teacheras an authority or master. As such the teacher has many new roles to fulfil. (1). Manager. Theteacherisamanager and organizer of classroom activities. Inthisrole, "one of the major responsibilities istoestablish situation likely to promote communication"( Larshen Freeman, 1986:131),trying "to organize the classroom asa setting forcommunication andcommunicative activitiee(Richards and Rodgers, 1986;78). Language is not spoken in a vacuum and communicationtakes placeina real situation, so classroom communicative activitiesshouldnotbeperformed abstractlybutrealisticallyinanappropriate situation. Any classroomexchanges, inwhich students do not have to think about the situation in which the language is used, belongtomechanical exercises. The teacher should setupsituationby using words, visual aids,teacher's facial expressions, gestures, actions, etc. inclassesWherestudents exchange messages,solveproblemstobridgethe information gap, thuslanguageislearnedasit actuallyusedinreallifesituation. Takea Littlewood's role play forexample, afterteaching the new items likeShall we...? I feel like going.... What about going...?" theteachersetaupthe following situation: "Your friendmakesalotof suggestions, but you feel too tired to do anything', then asks students in pairs to makea dialoguesuch as this:

35 Sl: Shall we go to the cinema? S2: Oh no, I don't feel like going to the cinema. S1: Shall we go swimming? (or What about a swim, then?) S2: On no, I don't feel like going to swim. (or have a swim) (Littlewood, 1981:10)

°At the conclusion of the activities, the teacher leads in the debriefing of theactivity, pointing out alternatives,extensions andassistinggroups in self-correction discussioe(Richards and Rodgers, 1986:79), thUs students learn to use the phrases in a particular situation. (2). Adviser.During learningactivities, some students may have learning difficulties and need help, others may have problems .and confusions to be settled, sotheteacheris'expectedtoexemplify an effectivecommunicatorseekingtomaximizethe meshing of speaker intention and learner interpretation, throughtheuseofparaphrase, confirmation and feedbacle(Richards and Rodgers,1986: 78). He or she may walk aroundtheclassroomtoa particulargroup, pairorindividualtosolve problems. Stillotherstudents may be not communicating effectively and makingerrorsduring conversation, so the teacher should alsoactasa monitor, taking note of their mistakes, butusually will not intervene to correct amistake when they are expressing themselves creatively soasnotto

36 interrupt students' train of thoughtsormake them unfluent. Usually the teachercorrectmistakesin other ways. For example, after theactivities, he points out the uevere mistakes without referringto student names for their self-correctiondiscussion. CCT insists more on fluency and comprehensibility of language rather on grammaraccuracy. This is also an opposite view on student errors from the traditional one which stresses mainly accuracy, and in which, if students make errors or don't know ananswer, the teacher usually supplies them with the correctone. (3). Co-vmmunicator. At other times, the teacher mightbeaffco-communicatoe, actingas an independentparticipantwiththestudents thus ensuring the two-way communication inclass. When communicating in real life, peopledonotsayto themselves, nor monologize as in a drama play, but always exchange informationwithothers. So CCT emphasizes the teacher's communication with students in the following ways; teacher - individual student teacher group teacher whole class However, in theseroles, theteacherisnota communicator formainpurposesinordernotto occupy students' communicating time. HeOrsheis only to demonstrate haw to do activities, tohelp weaker students or to substitlf.,eanabsentstudent because anotherimportantformofactivitiesis preferable; student-student interactionasinthe above Littlewood's example. It hassomeadvantages

36 .' 37 over the previousthree formsofactivities, eg. every studentis kept communicating,listeningand speaking;and the teacher has time to goaroundthe class acting asanadviser, monitor,and co- communicator. This is also a differentfeaturefrom the traditional class where most ofthe interaction is from the teacher to thestudents andthereis little student initiation and littlestudent-student interaction. (4). Motivator. Besides the abovethree, there are other roles such as °motivator° and°evaluator'. To ensure students tobecome active communicators,the teacher should motivate them becauseonlystrongly motivated students are active in learning;otherwise English learning is a failure. Studentswill be more motivated if they , for example, haveinterestand needs of study. As a general rule,Chinesestudents in junior grade one have a stronginterest in English, butalongwith language becomingdifficultor improper teaching methods beingused,theysharply lose interest in juniorgradetwo, thuscausing polarization - half students fallbehind theothers and terminatetheirEnglishlearningthere. To prevent these extremes, the teachershouldtryto make activities so interestingthatstudentslook forward to them and feel regretfulwhen they are over. students' -(5). Evaluator.To examine how good performance in class is,and how muchdegree of their linguistic and communicative competencestheyhave gained, the teacher should also act as anevaluator 80 as to improvehis/her teaching if theevaluation

38 does not reach the desired goal. Theteachercan informally evaluatestudents'performance onthe role as an advisor, monitor or co-communicator. For example, during the above Littlewood's dialogue, the teachermay examinethestudents'fluency of speaking as well as theaccuracyofgrammar. If finding students havenotmasteredsome language items such asHI don't feel like doing...."heor she may drill it if necessary. For some formal evaluation, the teacher is likely to use communicative test. Thisisanintegrative test which contains °rules of speaking° aswellas °rules of grammar". For example:

You were applying to a university and needed a letter of recommendation. You wenttoa professor who was also your friend, and said: A: I'd appreckate it if you could write aletter ofrecommendation for me. (Correctanswer, 2 points) B:I want to ask you to write a letter of recommendation for me. (Grammar accuracy but inappropriateness, 1 point) C: Iwonderifyou wouldwritealetter recommendatingme. (Some appropriateness but incorrect grammar, 1point) D: Hey, give me recommendation letter. (incorrect grammar and inappropriateness, no point)

2. Students' Role as a Communicator. According to Larshen-Freeman,°students, above all, communicator.They are actively engaged in negotiating meaning - intrying to makethemselves understood even whentheir knowledge of thetarget knowledge is incomplete.They learntocommunicate by communicating°(1986:131).Thereforetheteacher should device a varietyof activitiesforstudents toperforminordertodevelop communicative competence. Theteacher must introduce the information gap the essence ofcommunication. In real life, we usuallytalk in order totellpeople things they do not alreadyknow, ortofindout things from otherpeople; we haveareasonto communicate, a °communicativeneed°. In classroom activities, the teacher cancreate asimilarneed to communicate byintroducing an informaLwigap, some studentshad information thatothers do not have, so there is a reasonto talk and askquestions. Larshen-Freemanalsopointsout, °Sincethe teacher's role is lessdominant thanin a teacher- centeredmethod, studentsareseen as more responsible manager oftheir own learning°(1986:131). This means that ifstudents want tostudymore independently they mustcultivate correct °attitudes to learning° and°approaches to learning°(Richards, 1990:13). In simple words,studentsmust -knownot only why to learn butalso how to learn. Therefore the teacher shouldbeginfrom theverybeginning with the °learning-aimeducation° toclearabout the true learning purposes.InaChinesecontext, this involves linking upstudents' studies withthe

40 realization ofthefourmodernizations, helping students see present of futureneedsthatEnglish can satisfy, and helping them realizethatEnglish is a golden key to thestore house ofknowledgein the world. On the otherhand, the teacher should help students to acquire scientific,effective method of study so that studentsmay gradually learntowork and achievesuccess on their own.

3. Role of Teaching Materials.

Richards and Rodgers said,i'practionereof CLT view materials asa way of influencing the quality of classroom interaction and languageuse. Materials thus have the primary role of promoting communicativelanguageuse. /t( 1986: 79). The practionersalsoadvocatetheuseofauthentic language materials to(1) overcomethetypical problem that studentsare unabletotransferwhat theylearnintraditionalclassestothereal situation outside theclassand(2) toexpose studentstonaturallanguageinavarietyof situations.

The authentic materialsare pieces of language , either spokenorwritten, which wereoriginally messagesproducedforcommunicationin anon- teaching situation. They aregenuinepiecesof communication designed for nativespeakers,sonot structurally graded. Norare they organized in order to demonstratea language teachingpoint. On the contrary, theyarelinguisticallyrichandgive

41 students opportunities to extend their experience of English. Moreover, theyarepotentiallymore interesting than textswhich havebeenspecially contrived for language teaching purposes. Because the authentic materails are designedfor native speakers,they are may be too difficult tobe materialsto many ESOLstudents with lower proficiency. Larshen-Freeman have twosolutionsto this problem. Oneistousesimplerauthentic material (eg. the use ofaweatherforecastwhen working on predictions), or at least materialsthat are realistic. The other is to userealiathatdo not contain a lot of language, but about which a lot ofdiscussionwouldbegenerated. Menus and timetables are two examples.

4. The Teaching Procedures

As regards to the teaching procedures used in a lessonbasedon CLTprinciples, thereare controversies. Some CLT practioners believe that the teacher should provide communicativepracticefrom the start of the instruction, which is a reversal of the traditional procedures,as the followingdiagram illustrates:

Traditional III

Present + Drill + Practice in context

4 2 Communicative:

Communicate Present language Drillif as far416 items shown to be necessary possible with necessary to all avail- achieve effective able resources communication

(Brumfit, 1980:121)

However, others suspect that ESOL students in non-English-speaking environment are able to use new language for communication effectivelybeforethey have gained enough individual skills of pronunciation, vocabulary and grammar. How canstudents use "How about going to see the ship?' to make asuggestion if they may ha ve confused"ship°with°sheep°in sounds and areunabletopronounceotherwords correctly? They argue that even if theycan, then the communication may be not very effective. So they concludethatitisnotadvisabletoprovide communicative practice before students have mastered the new language in the skills of sounds, vocabulary and grammar.For example, FinocchiaroandBrumfit suggestedthat CLT proceduresareevolutionary rather than revolutionary(1983: 107-8).Thismeans the teaching procedures retain somestagesofthe traditional method such as the °presentation' as the first stage forteachingthefunction°making a suggestion"(Jbid). The teacher needs °to offerboth controlled and guided activities leading to fluency,

dEST COPYAVAILABLE accuracy, and habitformation(eg. theabilityto move lips and tonguequickly in forming a sound..." (Ibid,100). Inaddition, accordingtoLittlewood, students need structural practicebefore goinginto communicativeactivitiesashisteachingmodel illustrates:

Structural activities Pre-communicative activities Quasi-communicative activities

Functional communicative Communicative activities activities Social interaction activities (1988:86)

As we can see from the diagram, thecommunicative strategiesconsistoftwostagesofactivities :precommunicative stage and communicativestage.The precommunicative stage is further dividedintotwo periods: structural period andquasi- communicative period. During thestructuralperiod, thefirst period in the firststage, theteacherprovides activities that will helpstudents"toproducea certain language form inacceptable activities"(Ibid, 86). Duringthequasi-communicativeperiod, the teacher "isolates specific elementsof knowledgeor skillwhich compose communicativeability, and provides the learners with opportunitiesto practice

44 them oeparately°(Ibid,85).By the tinthestudents finish the first stageofactivities, theyhave developed °partial skills ofcommunication°(Ibid). Now theyarereadyforthesecondstage of activities. In China we use the °fivestage° method toteach for communication, which isrequired by the national unified Syllbus. The stages are°review, presentation, drill, practice, and consolidation°which winsthe teacher and students' popularity. Considering the points mentionedabove, it may be practical to consider how thestrengths of boththe traditionalprocedures and the communicative procedures might be combinedsoastosolvethe problemof°language-knowledgeshortage°.Our suggestionistocombinetheabove necessary procedures into the following:

Review + Present + Drill +

Communicate as Present language far as possible items shown to be with all avail- + necessary to able resources achieve effective communication

, 45 .. .

- Drill if Consolidate necessary

Specifically, after reviewing oldlessons, the teacher begins the new lesson. --->He presents new language,eitherinspokenorwrittenformby necessaryexplanationand/or demonstration in teaching situations to make pronunciations,forms and meanings as clear as possible.--->Thenbyasking questions or by using teaching aids or gestures, etc. he drills the items, using mechanical, meaningful and communicative drills with stress on makingcorrect forms,to help students consolidate previous learning and form language habits and skills.---> Nexthe organizesstudentsto practicecommunicative activities to use the new items for communication. --->He also presentslanguage items shownto be necessary to achieve effective communication---> Finally,if necessary drill the itemsstudentshave not mastered and goes onfor consolidation of above achievements and for development of writing skills, i.e. students use what has been learned topractice writtenactivities. It is clear that the presentationisforstudentstounderstand new language items;thedrillistomasteritemsto develop the linguistic competence;the practice is to develop the ability to use items forcommunication; and the consolidation is to form the two competences.

4 4 6 ff-

As to the stage timings, moretimeshouldbe spent on practice than on any other stage. The rough proportion of partsofthe45-minutelessonis suggestedbelow: forrevisionuse5minutes; presentation 10; drill 10; practice 15; and drillif necessary and consolidation 5. Of course this timing can be changedflexiblyaccordingtotheactual conditions. Let's take 'begoingto"forexample. After reviewing the meaning and usage of 'shall" and °will°, the teacher presents the new phrase°begoingto° for comparison and explains its pronunciation,form and meaning. He alsocan compareits°notionof futurity° to the learned 'notion of movement° such as: (a) Is he going to help you? (=will) (b) Is he going to town? (=move) Then the teacher drills the phrase in the form of (1) mechanical drill such as the substitutiondrill or transformation drill; (2)meaningful drill, eg. T: I'm hot. 8: I'm going to turn on the Wectric fan. T: I'm cold. 8: I'm going to open the window. T: I'm thirsty. 8: I'm going to get you something to eat. and (8) communicative drill. For example, the teacher asks: °What time are you going to get up tomorrow? ° °What are you going to have forbreakfast? °°What are you going to do after breakfast?"andstudents answer them according to their gctual plans. Next, theteacherprovidesasituationfor

47 students in pairs to playroles: °Yourfriends makes a lot of suggestions, but youfeel too tired to do anything. First make a rejection andthen suggest some other day to doit," and asks students to make a dialogue in pairs. Finally the teacher drillstheitemsstudents have failed to master andassigns written workfor consolidation.

5.Concise explanation and ample practice

During these teaching procedures,thereisone thing the teachershouldbearinmind: concise explanation and ample practice. Languageisbestlearnedthroughpractice. Learning a language has much in commonwith learning such a skill as swimming, which can beformedafter great numbersofpracticalactivities. SoOtto Jesperson required the teacher to'plunge thepupil right down into the sea of language andenablehim to swim by himself" who needs not'learning too many special rules or the aid of elaborate explanation.° Much talk by the teacher, a popular practicein Chinese classes,is no way toteachalanguage. It causes little practice bystudents. Itsubstitutes teaching forlearning. Itpreventsstudentsfrom learning. Without learning and practice,students are apt to make errors andsooftenblamedfor°not paying attention" and "notlearningcarefully°. In fact it is the teacher who is to blame.Ofcourse, when training students to listen andunderstand, the

48 teachei. has to speak more,buttryandstrikea balance.Therefore,the teacher should make explanation asconciseaspossibleandstrictly limit teacher's talking time(TTT), soastoleave more of the each period for students'talkingtime (STT).The mostsuccessfulclassisonewhere students, not the teacher, do most of theclassroom work. A class where the teacher alone is tooactive while students are too passive is a failure. Asa generalrule, classexplanationshouldonthe average take no more than one-thirdofthetotal time of each period and practice take two-thirdor more.Our slogan is 'silent teacher,talking students."

The CCT goal is to acquirethelinguisticand communicative competences. We shouldnotoverlook teaching the language knowledge andskillsbefore communicative practice. For this, it is necessary to combine more kinds of procedures, thus being more "evolutionary°. The combinationoftraditionwith innovation is a way to create something originalin TESOL. Principle Two: Perform CommunicativeActivities and Introduce the Information Gap

Thisprincipleexplainstheimportanceof ommunicative activities and the types andformsof performance aswellasthewaystobridgethe information gap. To develop communicative competence, the communicative approach introducescommunicative activitiesinto classrooms. Accordingtoteaching contentsthe teacher sets up communicative situations and motivates students toparticipatein such activities as role plays,simulationsand social interactions in a near-natural linguistic andsocial environment to learn to use Englishfor communication. Communicative activitiesmakecontributionsto language teaching. They allow naturallearning. By setting up situations , the teachermakes students learn just as native speakers acquiretheirmother tongue. Second,they are relaxingactivities. If mechanicaldrillsare taken too long,then interesting communicativeactivitiescanovercome students' tiredness and boredom. Third,theycanbe usedtotrainallthefourskills, notonly listening and speaking but also reading andwriting, thus ensuring an all-round developmentof thefour skills. Fourth, they can help shy studentstoopen mouthstospeakEnglish when theyare doing interesting activities. Fifth, they canchangethe traditional way ofteaching tothe way of appropriate use of language. Finally, theyarea

49 model of eclecticism, adoptingteachingprinciples of many methods,thusbeing morescientificand reasonable. Take arole play for example:

Student A You like dancing and going to discos.Suggestto your partner that you go out this evening . Try to persuade him/her to go where youprefer.

tStudent B You don't like dancing and going to discos.You prefer going to the cinema or to a concert.Try ro persuade your partner to go where youprefer. (White,1982:21)

There are five teachingprinciplesimplicitin thisactivity: 1) information gap from the communicative approachbecausestudentsarenot allowed to peep at the partners' cues; 2)situation fromthesituationalapproach. Thedialogueis supposed to happen on the telephone exchangeorat any one of the partner'shome; 8) student- centered orientationfromthecognitiveapproachbecause activities are performed chieflybystudents; 4) using the target language, andnonativelanguage being allowed from the direct method,and 5)pattern drill from the structural method onthestructures such as "How about going to...? " or "Would you like going with me?" etc.

Types of Communicative Activities and Forms ofPerformance

According to Paulston(1976,60-79), thereare four basic types of communicativeactivities. The firsttypeis"socialformulasanddialogues" designed to teach appropriate use of language. For example, the teachersums upformalphrasesfor "excuses and apologies",suchas"Excuse me for being late. That'squitealright", andalso informal ones such as "Sorry,I'm late.--- It's O.K.° Then students use them to play roles in bothformal and informal situation.. The second is "community- orientedtasks°. For example, the teacher gives students questionsabout how to deposit money in a bank. Thenstudentsfind answers in real situationsoutsidetheclassroom. Latertheyreportfindingstotheclass. An alternative to cm! report is tohave them act their answers in a role play. One student acts asabank employee and the other as a customer who wantsto deposit hisjher money. Thethirdis"problem- solvingactivities°. Students aregiven problems andpuzzlestosolve through discussion such, asanoldChinesepuzzle about how a man together with hie wolf and vegetables gets across the river in a small boat. The fourth is "role play°. Each ofthe pairsis

51 riven A role card ancLasked to improviseandcreate using language according tothe cues. For an example see the above White'srole play. Therearefivedifferentconfigurationsto perform communicative activities: pairs, triads, foursomes,smallgroupsandwholeclass. Allcan ensure students to participatein activities in some degree; but as the class size in Chineseclassrooms is rather big usually with more than 50students and as every pair of studentssit by a deskfacingthe teacher, the pair work is preferabletotheother forms because: 1) studentsneed notchangetheir seats and move together; 2) everystudentiskept working, talking and listening; and eventhe weakest are not afraid tospeak because only his partneris listening to him. During the triad andfoursomeactivities, the teacher may arrange the students in such a waythat they do notmove their chairs butwith only oneor two students turning their backs inorder to maintain the discipline in class like this(-0----0--- means two students sitting by a desk): Triads 0-0--Foursomes

0-0-- 0-0-- 0-0--

53 The small groupactivitywithmorethanfive students is hard to control in arrangementand may cause disorder if 5 groupsof10studentsare leaving their seats and moving together. Besides,a student in the big group may not haveachanceto speak in a short-time activity.However, suchan activity has some other values. For example asa demonstrationitmay showthemeaningofan utterance or the way to perform activities. The wholeclassactivityistheinteraction between theteacherandthestudents. Although useful in some ways, it does not usually attractthe attention of all the students. Many studentsdonot for onereasonoranother( eg. uninteresting, tiredness) listen attentively to theirclassmate, especially when his or her Englishispoor, thus losingopportunitiestopracticelisteningand speaking. The teacher has many rolestofulfilforthe activity performance. In short, he is theinitiator and manager of the activities but he does notalways interact with students. Sometimes he is anadvisor, walking around the classroom and answeringstudents' questions and monitoring their performance. Atother times, he might be a *co-communicatoe, engagingin the activities along with thestudents. But more often he has toestablishsituationsthatprompt communication between and among students.

Information gap: How to Introduce in CCT

53 54 To perform true communicativeactivities in class, the teacherneedsapainstakingandthoughtful preparation beforehand becausenoteveryclassroom exchange is communicative. Oneoftheimportant considerationsistheinformationgapthatthe activities should contain. Information gap is the essenceofcommunication. Communication occurs when thereceiverdoesnot already know the informationin the sender's message. In classroom terms,an informationgapexercise means that onestudent or the teacher mustbeina position to tell anothersomething thatthesecond student does notknow. However, intraditional classroomteaching, activitiesalwayslackthe information gap.Manyteachersoften ask students: "Are you a student?" or ask astudent holding a pen in his hand: "Do you have apen?" From the pointof communicativelanguageteaching, thiskindof dialogues lackinformationgapbecausetheyare exchanging information alreadyknown to both sides. There are many reasons thatthis kind of exchange is not communicative.First, the dialogueisalien to real communicativeneeds of students since itis rarely heard in real-lifesituation exceptinsuch places as hospitals and courtrooms.Second,thereis nofunction-teachinginvolvedsincethenon- gap dialogue teaches onlyforms and meanings. Third,it trains noimprovisationalandcreativeuseof language. Since ithasoneand alreadyknown answer,students lack opportunities tocreateand

5.5 improvise language. Fourth, appropriate use hasnot been taught since it teaches nosocialrules. So they are °mechanical and artificial"( Richards, 1985: 140)andarenotrealcommunication. They only demonstrate "signification° rather than"value"of language(Widdowson, 1981:11). Forremedies, the followingteachingtechniquesaresuggestedfor classroom use: 1). Try to use gap languages Stubbsnoticesthatpeopleoftenusethe following sentences to exchange information: If we do this, then ;we may/might/ could What do you mean? I don't understand; What I meanis ; What you mean to say is etc.(1976). In order to reduce or evenprevent non- gap dialogues andtomake teachingrealisticto social life, theteachershouldoftenusethese sentences and the similar expressions such as"What do you mean? I can't understand your meaning, please explain. Please sum up what you said. Do youagree? Why or why not?"Thusstudentsthinkanduse languagecreativelyandimprovisationally. The teacher should also teach students to use them among students themselves. 2). Vary techniques for asking questions Questions are a way of introducing the information gap. Try to avoid askingfoolish questions mentioned above. Alsochangetheaskingway. Seeinga student's hair has just been cut, the teacher should not ask: "Have you had yourhaircut? butask: "When or where have you had yourhaircut? "thus

55 56 introducing the information gap. 3). Transform to communicative drills If theteacherdoesneed non-gapdrillsto demonstratemeaningsorpracticestructures, he should transform themtocommunicativedrillsto ensure what Rivers calls "the great leap forward° to communication. There are three such drills suggested: (1) imaginabledrills. Studentslearnto gain information in an imaginable situation such as ina street topractice"Where is...?" "It is.... ° (2) guessinggames. Students gaininformationby guessing. e.g. by using °Have you...? "toguess what thepartner'spictureisabout?(3) true questions. For example, after drillingmechanically "My f ather is a doctor", the Leacherasksstudents individually to answer °What's yourfather? °with the name of their father's real profession. 4). Transform further to communicative activities According to Lithewood, communicative drills are not communicative activities, butbelongto"precommunicative activities° which train "part-skills" in orderto lay a foundationtodocommunicative activities for trainingof°totalskill"( 1983). Therefore, pre-communicativeactivitiesshouldbe transformed tc communicative activitiestodevelop commun ....tive competence. For his teaching procedures see pa ge 43. Littlewood's communicativeactivitieshavetwo ty,acs Oneis "functional communicativeactivity", tocompleteatasksuchascomparingsetsof pictures and noting similarities and dif ferencesand

56 57 solving problems fromshared cues.Thesuccessful criterion is functionaleffectiveness.The other is "social interaction activity"which hasasocial context. Itincludesconversation anddiscussion sessions, dialogues and roleplays, simulations and improvisations. The successful criterion is appropriate use of languageaswellaseffective expression of functions. Principle Three: Develop the Awareness in Cross-cultural Communication

This principle deals with therelationshipthat obtains between language and culture and to *aropose approaches to ensure the culture teaching inChina. Culture is the totalsetofbeliefs, attitudes, customs, behaviors, socialhabits, etc. ofthe members of a particular society,to whichlanguage is inextricably tied to.Chinesestudentslearning Englishcannothopetoobtain communicative competence in the targetlanguagewithoutagood knowledge of the culture relatedtothelanguage. ESOL teaching involves two languagesandnaturally two cultures.

1. Cultural mistakes

Since a language is partoftheculturewhich governs the appropriate use of language,we should speak according to the culture;otherwise wewill make "cultural mistakes"(Hu,1989: 168). Hu refers themtoinappropriate use of language and unacceptable socialbehaviorsincross- culture communication.Hisinvestigationhasshownthat Chinesestudents may produceperfectlycorrect sentences and behave gracefully by Chinesecultural norms, yettheirlanguagebehavior may appear awkwardor peculiar to an Englishnativespeaker. There arefour types of cultural mistakesmade by Chinese students when communicatingwithforeign

58 59 teachers in China: (1) inappropriate use of language from the point of sociolinguistics, as inthecase where "Have you eaten?" is used as a greeting;(2) unacceptabilityincustoms, such as Chinese overmodesty in responsetoproperpraises; (3) contradiction between the English and Chinesevalue senses like interfering in foreign teachers' privacy; and (4) simple and general view of foreign countries like the belief that all Americans are rich.Itis clear that these mistakes are made by unawareness of the target culture. Culturalmistakescanleadtomoreserious resultsthan linguistic mistakes do during communication. When wesayasentencewithout conforming to a grammar rule such as losing ahs-s" to aplural noun,westillcanbeunderstoodand forgivenbyforeigners. Butasentence that interferesinpeople'sprivacy may lead to misunderstanding, or evenworse, acommunicative breakdown. Fromthepointofcross-cultural communication,itismoreimportanttoprevent culturalmistakesthanlinguisticmistakes.As Wolfson notes, "Ininteractingwithforeigners, native speakers tend to be rather tolerant of errors in pronunciation or syntax.In contrast, violations of rules of speaking are ofteninterpretedasbad manners since the native speakers are unlikely to be aware of sociolinguistic relativity"( 1983:62).

2. Cultural competence for reading and translation

59 60 Thecultural knowledge canfacilitatereading comprehension and maketranslationmoreaccurate. Readingdoesnotonlydependongrammar and vocabulary but also on the competencetofindthe. cultural information in readings. If wedon'tknow the meteorological phenomena in England,we arehard to understand why Shakespeare compared hisfriend to 'summer's day' in the famousverse "Shall Icompare thee to asummer'sday? " Therefore, we need culturalknowledgetoavoidmisunderstandingin reading. When translating, theculturalcompetence is alsoneededtomake translationsaccurate . Lackingtherelevantastronomicalknowledge, a Chinese scholar once translated the 'Milky Way' into "41151r1(=a road covered with milk), thus leavinga standing joke in the circle of translation. Also, learning the cultural knowledge isagood way for theideologicaleducation. The Syllabus requires thattheteachercarry` outideological education through the whole teaching process so that students can get ideological benefits.Knowingthe targetculture, studentscan have a better understanding offoreigncountriesandlearnto "discard the drossandselecttheessence°. By comparison of the two cultures, they canalsofind better traditions of ourcountryand promotethe creamofournationalculture, thusgetting ideological benefits.

3.Measures to culture teaching

60 61 Causes ofculturalmistakesvary. The major causes are unquestionably inadequate knowledge of and insufficient exposure to the target culture aswell as lack of comparative studies of the twocultures. All these come down to the failure to give sufficient attention to culturally-oriented courses inEnglish teaching.To changethesituationandincrease -ultural awareness, we need to take measures inthe following aspects:

8.1. Syllabus design and examination

A syllabus isadescriptionoftheaimsand contents, etc. of a course ofinstruction. Cultural awareness must be made one of the goals inlanguage teaching. Special studies should be made to show the negative effects of lackingculturalawarenessin cross-culturalcommunicationsoasto enable teachers 132wellasthose who holdresponsible positions in educational establishments toseethe importanceofculturalfactorsininterpersonal contact. TESOL Syllabus shouldalso provideand explain the ways and procedures in which thetarget culture is to be taught. Many foreignsyllabihave recently given such detailed requirements. In USA in 1988, the ACTEL ProvisionalProficiencyGuideline was added by the aim of culturalcompetenceasan important component of the communicrie competence. Since China's College English Entrance Exam has a great influence on teaching contents, itisbetter tocontainaproperamountofculturetesting

62 contents such as different ways of greetingChinese and American people; and the formal or informal ways to ask a stranger or a close friend for a favor,etc. thus callingforteachers'attentiontoculture teaching.Forexample, theexaminerscantest students' cultural competence such as how toaska stranger or a friend for a favor.

3.2. Teaching-material compilation

Textbook writingshouldbeapproachedfroma cultural perspective. Traditional text materials were arranged for the convenience of grammar presentation. Therefore,mostofthetextbooksavailableare grammar-based, givinglittleornoattentionto cultural content. For example,our priortextbooks have been almost characteristic of °Chineseculture plusEnglishlanguage'suchasaskingforeign teachers about their names, ages, political likes or dislikes. The teaching materialscompiledduring the Cultural Revolution contained such an ideological content of language practice: °Long live Chairman Mao! Workers of all countries, unite!' Such materials do not teachanythingaboutthetarget culture. To support teaching culture,"cultural information should be integrated into language materiale(Jarvis, 1977:161). Let's compare two dialogues.

Jack: Hello, Pete. Whereareyougoing? The movies/cinema?

63 Pete: No. I am hungry. I haven't hadlunch yet. Jack: Neither have I. Pete: Come on then! Let's go and getsomething to eat. Jack: Fine! Where do you want togo? Pete: Look! There' Helen. I don't wantto see her. Pete: Neither do I. Let's hurry.

This is well-composed dialogue from alinguistic pointofview. Thepatternsareuseful, the utterances are short and easy tosayand memorize and can be reproduced in newsituations. However, from the viewpoint of culture acquisition,itlacks something, for the students canhardlyobtainany cultural information from it. If itscontentswere altered, doses of culture could beinjected into it.

(In Britain) Helen: Hello, Jean. Where are yougoing? Jean:I'm goingtogetamagazineandsome chocolate. Helen: Let's go to that news-agent onthe corner. I want some cigarettes. Jean:I want to go to theone down theroad. I'vegottosendoffhisparceland there's a post office in that one.

This dialoguetellsthatinBritaina news- agent's shop not only sells sweets andtobacco,but sometimes contains a branchpostofficeaswell. Through practicestudents learn the language and at

64 .4.-

the same time acquire cultural information. In addition, textbooks must reflectthechanges of modern languageandculture, thusenlivening TESOL and keeping it up with modern developmentof our society. Opening thecurrently- usedtextbook Senior Book Two we are impressed withthemedieval social environment.Of18texts, 14arethe literature works written before 19th century. Only one text entitledt'At Home in the Future°describes the modern social life. Finally, textbooksmustcontainasmany expressions usedwidelyinsocialsituationsas possible. Our prior textbooks often contain only one sentence: "Would you mind shutting thewindow? I"or °Would you mind opening the window?" Actually,there are many other waysof expressions. Wilkins (1983:51) gave eight expressions tothe first; and Finocchiaro and Brumfit gave seven to the latter(1983:16). The expressions should also be accompanied by knowledge ofhow thedifferentexpressionsareusedin different social situations so that students know to take one of them according to their judgementof its appropriateness. For example, if we wanttoteach students how to get a match fromotherpeoplein order to light a cigarette,we mightexplainhow every expression is used in aspecific situationas in the Ervin-Tripp's example (1976:29):

(1). Make a statement about his or her need: "I need a match.° (2). Use an imperative:

64 65 °Give me a match.% (3). Use an embedded imperative: "Could you have a match?" (4). Use a permission directive: "May I have a match?" (5). Use a question directive: "Do you have a match?" (6). Give a hint: "The matches are all gone, I see.° (qtd.in Richards,1990)

8.3 Teacher's responsibilities

The teacher plays adecisiveroleinculture teaching. As an interpretor and transmitter of two different cultures, he must ensure that students (1) know the closerelationshipbetweenlanguageand culture; (2) gain the cross-cultureawareness; ( 8) overcome the "barriers to culture perception such as the ethnocentrism, andprejudiceand prejudgment" (Trifonovitch, 1980:660-553). Tobespecific, the teacher can try the following ways. (1) Cultural comparison.Since differences between Western and Asian cultures are maximal and different culturalfeaturesproducedifferent linguistic features, it is necessarytofind manydifferent cultural features throughcomparisonandcontrast between Chinese andEnglishlanguageswhichfall approximatelyintothreetypes: ( a)Cultural commonality. Both languages have somethingmostin common but little different. e.g. Chinese TV and

66 English °cadre°, (b) Cultural variation.Bothhave something with the same referential meaning but with quite different associations. Chinese itg ( dog) can refer to an evil but English dog a friend; and( c) Cultural gap. One culturehassomethingthatthe other lacks. Chineseculturehasnolegendsand words such as Zeus, Apolo and Jupiter. (2) Culture aside.The teacher mustconsciously reflectculturalperspectivesinthecourseof teaching. He shouldexplainnotonlygrammatical usagebutalsoreferentialmeanings andsocial meanings.These include the following four aspects: (a) appropriatenessoflanguagetothesocial situation; (b) gestures, distancesmaintained, inarticulated sounds, (c)values,mores,taboos, rituals, habits, artforms, and(d) social institutions (Finocchiaro and Brumfit: 1988:30).In teachingadialogue, forexample, trytotell something about the situation in which thedialogue occurs, the sentence functional meanings,theways to speak appropriately in the situation,etc. but notalwaysthe3 teachingsteps: vocabulary explanation, thenstructureanalysisandfinally translation. (8) Culture topics. Theteachershouldtryto createsituationalactivitiesandthroughrole- playing explain and demonstrate the differences in a society.Forexample, askstudentstodiscuss cultural differences within China. Chinaisabig country whichhasover60peopleswithculture features different from each ()then Eventhe Han

67 nationality has differences in differentplacesin China. This kind ofdiscussioncan makestudents understandthattheculturaldifferencesisa natural social phenomenon. (4) Visual aids. Studentsshouldhaveeasier access to visual aids such as films,video tapesand radios. It is generally agreed thatwhathelpsin culture acquisition is first and foremostpersonal; contact with native speakers,followed by access to films and videotapes.Organizestudentstowatch CCTV's English teaching programs, videorecording such as Going throughU. S. A.and programsfor teaching the textbooks Junior EnglishforChina ; and listen to VOA's English teachingprograms, like English 900.On watching and listening, theteacher asksstudentstopay attentionto everyday conversation such as telephone language and dialogue in the street. Thesewill°forcefullymake the students sense that they are entering another culture, not merely taking upstrangenoisesforfamiliar things°(Lado,1979:152). (5) Culture Readers. Culture acquisitioncannot beachievedmerelythroughclassroom teaching, therefore,apartfromclassroomreadings, give students extracurricular reading materialssuchas novels, drama and plays like Britain Today,Living in the USA, etc. through which theycan alsolearn some cultural features. Ladopointedout: °since literature is expressed through language, one cannot understand it unless he understands the meaningsof the culture expressed by the words ofthelanguage

67 68 2111

andunlessthevaluesandculturalexperience against which the literatureiswrittenarealso understood"(1979:151). Consider the following:

'When her father took the phone she went overto the window, forgetting that there was no needto place herself out of earshot of this silent man.' (Anderson,1982:100, qtd. in Hu,1990:142)

from these words,atudents learnthat inwestern countries, people usually go away when othersare making a telephone, even a daughter andherfather are doing so. This is acultural phenomenon different from Chinese. To ensure theaboveresponsibilities, Chinese teachers should strive to be bicultural, or at least familiar with the target cultural. If possible, they ihould be provided with an opportunity to betrained in the country of the target language so as tohave a period of total exposureto the c-ilture. Atthe same time theythemselvesshoulduseeverymeans available to enlarge their knowledge of thecountry and familiarized themselves with thetarget culture. They must bearinmindthatonly whenlanguage acquisition and culture acquisition are synchronized, will theybeabletoobtain what Hymescalled zommunicative competence." Principle Four: Use English as Much as Possible; Use Chinese when Necessary

Thisprincipledeals WI dah thecontradiction between the use of target .languageandthenative one inclassroom. Historically, therearetwo extremes on this contradiction. Some methods such as the grammar-translation method depends on the native language. It believes that ther-Aivelanguageis the keystone of the learning process, andclassroom instructionisamatterofusingthenative language to acquirethe foreign. Others such as the direct methodexcludesoravoidsuseofit. It advocates the direct learning, directcomprehension and direct application of the target language, and stresses heavy use of the target language as a means of instruction and communication in class. Between these two extremes is our eclecticism whichinsists on using both languages. As a matterofprinciple, English must be used not onlyduringcommunicative activities but also in conducting lessons throughout the classes and Chinese can be used when necessary.

1. Much Use of English

We prefer the monolingual teaching and 'Lire object teaching for many reasons. A richEnglish- speaking environment isadecisivefactorforsuccessful languagelearning. Onlyinarichlinguistic environment can four skills begainedquickerand better. In China the classroom instruction is a main

69 70 way for students to be exposed to English. Ifthe teacher does not speak English in class, thatmeans students have no opportunitytolistenandspeak English. In thiscondition, how cantheylearn English? Second,the use of English for communicative activities and forclassroom managementexchanges will make students realize thattheEnglishisa vehicle for communication, not just as object tobe studied. Third, the measure of students' masteryof English is their ability to think in it. Any useof Chinese encouragesstudentstothinkinitand meanwhilediscouragesstudentsfromthinkingin English. Fourth, Chinese explanation makesstudents spend time not in learning English directlybutin learning about it, thus obstructing thedevelopment of language skills.Finally, students who habitually resort to translation to Chinese will neverachieve ease and fluency in English just as E. C. Kittson pointed out, the enemy of the language to be studied is the language alreadyinpossession. The most proficient studentsdonottranslatewhen using English. In a word, useof English mayfacilitate learning of English, and use of Chinesemayhinder more or less learning of English. English may be possibly used toconductlessons from the very beginning. At juniorgradeone, students have a good imitationand memoryability, so much Chinese explanation isnotneeded. Their introduction courses are simple and easier tolearn and can betaughtbyusingvisualaidsandby setting up teachingsituations. Moreover, young

70 71. students' level of Chineseisnotveryhighand habit is not very firm, so there is no great Chinese negative influence on English learning. Therefore, it is possible to use English at this stage, which long teaching experience hasproved. Everyteacher of juniorgrade one should recognize this truth and consciously and positively use English from the very beginning inordertoearlydevelophabitsand skills to speak English and think in English. Some teachers might object, "What is the use of my speaking when beginningstudentsareunableto understand a word of English?" Quite alotofuse. TheywillhearEnglishsoundsand intonation constantly, thusbeingsurroundedbyanEnglish atmosphere. Children learn their native languagein such as environment as they may not understand every sentence. Only justtothink how studentscan understand English without anyormuch chanceto hear English being spoken! Teaching experience shows that if the teacher speaks a little more slowlyand with proper repetition, try to say simple wordsand sentences and uses visualaidsofvariouskinds, students will surely understand and then get used to teaching in English gradually. If necessary, some of the words and sentences can be repeated inChinese But this kind of explanation is done only when they would be very difficult for studentctounderstand

and when they would take a great.deal of time. At the later stage, use of English stillremains possible and even expands. With theimprovementof students' languageknowledge andabilities, the

71 72 chances of English explanation become greater, and the role of Chineseweakensgradually. Practical experience shows that a ratio of about 10%Chinese to about 90% English is possible and thiswouldbe more profitable for English teaching. It should be pointed out that quite a numberof teachers use the °fear° that students are unableto understand as an excuse for not using English in class. The real reason is their inability todoso. The best solution isforthemtoimprovetheirown language proficiency and teachingtechniques, and gain g. higher spirit of utter devotiontoteaching work. For a qualified teacher, thereisnoreason for notspeaking English in class.

2.Limited Use of Chinese

Although the Chinese language hasnoparticular role inEnglishteaching, therearealsosome reasons to use it in class. As a means ofteaching, it is loved by teachers with alimitedcommandof English or little teacher education, andalsomuch easierforstudentstofollow (butwiththe teacher's English proficiency andteachingmethods being improved, theuseofChineseshouldbe limited and abandoned as much as possible).Second, Chinese canhelptogetmeaningacrossandto prevent possible misunderstanding or confusion. Third, English explanation cansometimesbe time- consuming andagreatwasteoftimein the presentation of new teaching items; andexplanation

72 73 in Chinese preventsthis. Fourth, bythetime students start learning English, Chinese has taken a firm hold of their mind and it is useless to prevent them from using it. In an EnglishclassinChina, mental translation is going onatalltimes, 80 total exclusion of Chinese is not possible. Finally, a hypothesisinteachingmethodology claims that two types of language transfer (positive and negative) from the native to the target language may occur. Therefore, necessary use ofChinesefor comparisonandcontrastwithEnglishto find similarities and differences also can helpstudents learn quicker and better.Withsimilaritiesbeing compared, habits andskillsacquiredviaChinese will transfer positively onto English learning. With differences being pointedout, negativetransfer will be prevented or reduced. With somethingabsent in English or Chinese being found,studentswillbe warned against making Ching lish caused by Chinese negative influences. However, Chinese should not beoverusedasis often the case in many schools. Itshouldbeused sparingly and with great care.Generallyspeaking, Chinese is limitedto:(I) illustrate theplace of articulation, (2) explain meanings of abstract words andexpressions, (3) checkstudents' levelof comprehension, and 4) comparewithChinese when necessary. At the presenttime, Chineseteacher, should increase using English to conduct lessons ar I also compel students to speak English. This is not only because they need to dosointermsof a

73 74 teaching theory but also becausethey have neglected to do so in their practical work.

3. Translation as a means of teaching

Translationisthepopularpracticeinthe traditional Chinese classes. Translation as askill is of great value to students who needit andthere is of course a real place fortranslation in learning, but its place is near the endof thewholecourse, notattheverybeginning. Theprocessof translationismorecomplex anddif ferentfrom speaking,listening ,reading or writing, toocomplex and different for young studentstoacquire. Also good translation cannot beachievedwithoutmastery of English. Therefore, theteachershouldteach English first, then teach translation as aseparate skill, if that is considered desirable. Translationshouldnotbeasubstitutefor language practice because: (I) ittakestime away from practice of otherskillswhichstudentsare more likely toneed if they want to speak andwrite fluent English; (2)few wordsifanyarefully equivalentinChineseandEnglish; (3) students, thinking thatwordsareequivalent, erroneously assume that theirtranslation can be extended to the same situations asthe original and as a result make mistakes. Translation should be used as ameansbut used with great care. It canonly be usedtocheck students' understanding,to teachcertainwordsor structures which aredifficult to teachby other

74 Th )

means, or to givethemeaningsofdialoguesfor memorization. To emphasize, although total exclusion of Chinese is impossible and unwise, Chinese maybeusedin class but should not be overused.Inaword, if possible, use English and ifabsolutelynecessary, use Chinese. Principle Five: Ensure Student-centeredOrientation and Teacher's Role as a Facilitator

Thisprincipledealswiththerelationship between the teacher and the students.It isoneof the few teaching principles agreedon byteachers from different schools of thoughtafter many years ofcontroversy. Moderndialectical materialists believethatexternalcausesbecome operative through internal causes. Teachingisacombined cooperation in which the teacher andstudentswork together; however,learning outweighs teachingand students are in the center ofclassroomactivities. Language is learned, not taught.Sotheteacher's own determinationtomotivatestudentsis an important factortoensurestudentcenteredness. Only strongly motivated students are activeand only strongly motivated students can learnEnglish quickly. Successful classroom teaching, therefore, involves students' active participation mostof thetimein most of the meaningful practicalactivities aswell as the teacher's role as afacilitatortomotivate students' initiative. Someteachersmightthinkthattheweaker students have poor intelligence and thereis nothing to be done for them; sothestudentswouldthink themselves unqualified to learning English,and feel ofdepressionandinferiority when attending classes andpasstheirdaysimpatientlyoract recklessly. As a matter of fact,poorintelligence 76

77 ;

is not the cause of weakness. No matter how poora weaker student is, if he has the desire to learn, to improve, he will certainly make progress.From the practicalsituationinChina, wesuggestsome remedies to motivate students' initiative. First,begin English teaching with °learning aims°. Some students today have no correct aims of learning English. They regard English as one of therequired courses which mustbelearnedwellinorderto obtaincertaingrades for graduation;forothers it is described only as a stepping stone togetan opportunity to continue their studies in universities and colleges at home and abroad.Soit is the teacher's duty to make clearaboutlearning purposes. This involves linking upstudents' studies with the realization of the fourmodernizationsin China, helping students see clearly the presentand future needs that Englishcanhelpsatisfy, and realize that English is a golden keytothestore house of knowledge in the world and so on. Second, cultivate students' interest.°Themost vital problem in any classroom is how tostimulate and retain the interest of pupils° (de Sauze,qtd.in Gautam,1988: 101). Languagelearningcanbevery boring and tiresome. Without interest, thereisno desire to learn. As ageneralrule, Chinese secondary students in junior grade one have a strong interestinEnglish, butalongwithlanguage becomingdifficultorimproperteachingmethods being used, they sharplyloseinterestinjunior grade two, thuscausingthe polarization half

77 78 audents fall behind the others and terminatetheir Englishlearningthere. Topreventthesetwo oppositeextremes, tryto make lessons so interesting that studentslook forward to themand feel regretful when they are over. This involves the teaching techniques such as:(1) usea varietyof teaching techniques.No onetechniques, however effective, should occupy too much time; (2)connect the teaching contents with the students' reality, with what is happening at home and abroad; (3)give studentsnot onlylanguageknowledge, butalso generalknowledgeaboutthehistory, geography, literature and art of English speaking countries; 4) always be in high spirits in class. A teacher who looks and speaksasifheistired , unwell, displeased, usually has a spiritless, passive class. Some students may haveindirectinterestfrom theirsenseofnecessitytolearn, butthis recognition of necessity is motivatedby°should", not bythedesireforstudy and for interestin learning and using of language. So their interest is unable last long and isnotstable. Theteacher should stimulate theirintrinsic motivation particularly on the °use. Now matter how mucha student learns, if he can use even a little, it will arouse his interest. Third, handle well the relationbetweenfluency andaccuracy. Bothaccuracyandfluency are essential in English teaching.Theteachershould not take precedence of one over the other. Chinese secondarystudentsaretobecompetentEnglish

78 79 language users and they must have a solid foundation in English which the Syllabus has required. A solid foundation is primarily, though by no meanssolely, accuracy. Bad languagehabitsonceformedare dif ficult toeradicateafterwards. However, by accuracy we do not advocate100% error-free exactness, which is impossibletoachieve. Butduringthe mechanical, controlled drillsoflanguageatthe beginning of each class, a high degreeofaccuracy is required of students. They are notonlyallowed to make as few errors as possible, but also expected to use language improvisationally and creatively. As a matter of fact, the improvisationand creation have already included the fluency. But of course, fluency goes beyond accuracy. Immediatelyafterstudents have mastered new language, theymustbegiven fluency practice. Then control is withdrawn and they are expected to use language morefreely. Atthis stage, errors should be tolerated, and theteacher should make it clear to students that errors-making is a natural and common occurrence. Evenso,a summing-up assessmentofstudents'performance should be made at the end of each fluencypractice, so that the students are awareof their weakness and become more and more error-conscious. Inthisway, accuracy practiced andfluencypracticearedone almost simultaneously class after class.Inshort, accuracy and fluency are interdependent, theyare not mutually exclusive and they are not inconflict with each other. A rigoroustraininginlanguage skills can and should go hand in hand withconstant

79 80 fluency practice, even from the very beginning."At present, special importance shouldbeattachedto the enhancement of fluencysothatstudentswill acquirecommunicativecompetenceas soon as possible and willfurtherimprovetheiraccuracy gradually in the process ofcommunication/1( College English Syllabus, 1991:10). Fourth, teachstudentsaccordingtotheir languageaptitudes. Students dif fer in their background, interest, motivation,learningstyles, etc., and thedevelopmentoftheirabilitiesis uneven. So neverexpecteverystudenttogoat exactly the same rate of speed, nor all the students to stay at the same level.All students in aclass can be roughly divided intothreecategories who need a different attention: (1) toveryable students, set higher demands, and encourage themto progress to a higher level, to achieve still greater results and never get conceited;(2) toaverage students, encourage them tobringtheirpotential into full play and push them to the front; (3) to slow students, give them moreindividualcoaching, helpthem improvetheirlearning styles and encourage them to catch up with others. Finally, teach students to acquire scientific and effective methods of study. We havelongneglected teachingstudents howtolearn.Somestudents, particularly the weaker students are still using the old method by spelling b-a-o-k->book to remember new words. They only know *reading° and "recitation°or are just satisfied knowing someofthetermsand copying the top students' learning method mechanically. Sinceitisbeyondtheirpersonal ability, they will give it up as hopeless. Therefore, the teacher should not only enable students to learn but also and moreimportantlyteachthem ho .to learn so that they may gradually learn towork and achieve success on theirown. Thisinvolvesthe following: (1) students know thatEnglishisan instrumental language which needs everyday hard-work and systematic study and practice; (2)students adopt a conscious attitude towards theteaching process, i.e.they understandthetasktheyface, teaching methods the teacher uses,and have an ability touse them by themselves; (3) veryimportantlyfromthe point of educational theory, studentsareableto evaluate their knowledge, skills and abilitiesthey have gained; and 4) students know concretemethods of learning pronunciation,vocabulary and grammar. When training the fast-reading skills, forexample, tell students how to read: (a)to focus on themain idea of a text but not on thespecificmeaningof each word; (b)look up in the dictionaryonlythose necessarywords; (c) notanalyzea sentence grammatically if itsmeaningisclear; (d) not translate every sentence into Chinese;and (e) read silently but not utterany soundormovinglips while reading. Also teachstudentstoacquiregoodlearning habits. The teacher should help students get ridof the following poor habits and cultivate theability to find the key to learning: (1) students' listening

82 to the lesson but not memorizing,consideringthat it has nothing to do withthemselveswhileothers are communicating; (2)attending class without taking notes and without °application", (3) notdaringto raise questions, forgetting everything after class, (4) unwillingtohavetheirlevelofknowledge revealed and keeping away from good studentsand the teacher; (6) no preview, no recall and no review,and (6) doing homework carelessly and notexamining the exercises being corrected. To conclude, the teachershouldconsiderita primary task to ensure that all students arehighly motivated to be engaged all thetimeinpractical activities. The teaching quality must bejudgedby whether or not and to whatdegreetheyhavebeen able to achieve this aim. Of course there areother criteria, butthismustbeconsideredthemost important one. Just as the College EnglishSyllabus puts it,"No matter what approach ormethod is adopted, itisnecessarytobringintofullplaythe initiative of the students andto developtheir abilitytodoindependent work° (1991:10). Principle Six: Develop Integrative ly All PourSkills with Varying Stresses on ParticularSkills at Different Stages

This is the principle dealing withrelationship of listening, speaking, reading, writing. Integrated developmentindicatesthatlistening, speaking, reading and writing should supplement each otherand work in coordination, but stresstodifferin teachingstages. TheSyllabussuggeststhatthe training oflisteningandspeakingbespecially emphasized at the beginning and then the fourskills are continuously trainedwith a particular stresson the training of reading skillafterstudentshave learned a certain number of words and most ofbasic grammar items. It is evidentthat more attentionis paid to training of listening and speaking.

1. All-round Drills

The communicative competenceincludesskills to listen, speak, readandwrite, whichshouldbe developed in an all-round way . To communicate effectively, people must be able to understandand speakas well as to read andwritethelanguage. Without these four skills, peoplehavenoability for production and reception. According to psychology, the employment of multiple senses,auditory, visual and kinesthetic is betterthanthatofjustone sense in learning alanguage. Sothecomprehensive training inthefourskillscontributestothe

83 84 development of abilitytouselanguagefor communication better and faster. To develop tbe skills fully, we should change the traditional teaching. Traditionally, theteacher overemphasizesreadingandwritingandneglects listeningand speaking, thinkingthatpractice of listening and speaking will hinder the development of reading and writing. In fact, thefourskillsare closely related. They supplement each other and help each other forward. Even more,listening and speaking speed up the learning of reading and writing.Atthe present time, traininginlisteningand speaking should be greatlystrengthened. Listening isthemostdifficultactivityfor Chinese students who need the teacher's much effort. Strange to English pronunciation and intonation,they are unable to pronouncecorrectlywhich, inturn, affects effective listening and speaking. Theyalso lack 'continuity memory' andtendtoforgetwhat they have heard when they go on. Moreover, they lack backgroundknowledgefor comprehension before listening. To solve these problems the teacher should: (1) do lotsofpracticetomake studentslisten correctlyandimitateaccuratelysuchas the following: listen for discrimination of words,listen and look, listenandrespond, listenandanswer, listenand write (dictation), listen to characteristics of spoken English,etc. sothat studentsgetused to the standard English pronunciation and intonation; (2) trainstudents' memory by getting them to listen, and then to answer written questions on what they havejustheardor get them to take notes and prepare awritten summary, or dictation; (3) providebackgroundknowledge before listening and direct studentstounderstand the meaning by themselves throughthe knowledge; and (4) encouragestudentstotakepartinvarious extracurricular activities suchasEnglishCorner, English Speech Contest, EnglishSociety,etc. In the traditional classroom, it seemsthatthe teacher trains all the four skills, butactuallyhe doesn't because he uses the four skills as a meansto teach language knowledge. Tochangethis situation, use the 'singletraining°techniqueby whichthe teacher trains one skill until it ismastered. When listening,students close books and listencarefully, trying tounderstandindependently. When speaking, students use thelearnedlanguagecreativelyand improvisationally.When reading, studentsthemselves guess word meaning,lookfor details andcatch main ideas of the text.When writing,studentsalso write independently and the teacher is afacilitator. In this way,the four skills aretrainedastrulyas possible.

2.Different Stress on Different Skills

The six-year learning process iscomplicatedby the fact that studenta are undergoingphysicaland emotional changeswhilehavingtolearnEnglish which becomes more and more complexanddifficult every day. This causesthe entire secondaryEnglish

816 teachingtohavedifferentteachingobjectives, differentteachingstages, different teaching methods and even differentstressesonskillsat different stages.Thus, thesix-yearschooling process is always composed of threestages, i.e. elementary (junior grade one and two) , intermediate (juniorgradethreeandseniorgradeone)and advanced (senior grade two and three). This division is set by the teaching tasksateachstagewhich must be completed before the next stage can possibly begin. As to _the four skills, they are developedat the same fine at each stage; but thescientifically valid order for presentation of skills is: listening and speaking first, followed by readingand writing with a final comprehensive development ofthefour skills.

2.1 Elementary Stage

At this initial stage, students have some special physical and psychological features:(1) theyoung students' ability to imitate is greater than tha t of senior grade students;(2) they are less shy and less afraid of makingerrors, whichisfavorableto learning aural-oral skills;(3) aural- oralskills require quick responses,which isyoung students' advantage; and (4) students are interested in spoken language which is usually morecloselyrelatedto everyday life. Thesefeaturesdeterminethat teaching emphasis shouldbe laid on spoken language and on oral communication about daily life. Thechieftask. thvreforer .is.todevelop abilities to listen and. speak in combination with learning of pronunciation and intonation. However, this does not mean to overlook reading andwriting. On the contrary, they should receivedueattention from the very beginning to help reinforcewhathas been learnedaural-orally. Afterstudentshave practiced listening toagivenbodyoflanguage content, they should strengthen their control ofit by practicing it in reading and writingsituations. Another important task istobegin"learning-aim education° to help students make clear about learning purposes, to arouse their enthusiasm to study, and to acquire good methods and habits study, i.e. not only motivate students to learn but also teach them how to learn so that students quickly getintotheright track of learning. This playsadecisiverolein their latter study. If done well, students willget much benefit all their lives. In juniorgradetwo, anemphasisislaidontrainingthestudents' ability tostudyindependently, preventingsome students fromfallingbehindtheotherorfrom dividing into two opposite extremes in learning. In view of above teachingtasks, theteaching order shouldbe: listeningandspeakingfirst, followed by reading andwriting. Theteaching methods are primarily of communicative approachand partially ofthetraditionalmethodaswellas Chinese excellent teaching traditions.Thespecial f qatures are summarized as follows: (1) Use visual aids such as objects, models, wall

87 85 pictures, stick figures, situations,etc. to perceive new- language and introduce language concepts; (2) Listening isthefirstsensetoperceive language. The order of senses is: Listening --> speaking --> reading--> writing. The word- teaching order is: sound --> meaning --> spelling; (3)Ensureplentyoflisteningandspeaking practice, beginning withthemechanical, then meaningful, andfinallycommunicativedrillsand activities. Also teach and sum up necessarygrammar rules to add language knowledge into practice; (4) Sentence is a basic unit of teaching. Teach students to use words to make sentences improvisationally andcreatively, andtouse sentences appropriately in a social context. (5) Conduct lessonsandorganize classroom work as much in English aspossiblesoastodevelop students' habits to speak English and to think in it; but do not totally exclude Chinese.ItshoUldbe used but limited to only thefollowing: tocheck students' understanding,toexplainand sum up necessary grammar rules, to find teaching focals and difficulties through comparison with English, and to direct students to practice.

2.2 Intermediate Stage

This is a transitional stage wherethereshould be a balanced development of allthefourskills. The chief teaching tasks are: (I) injuniorgrade three, toenablestudentstoapplythelearned

88 89 knowledge toimprovetheirskillsoflistening, speaking and writing,then begintoconcentrateon training of students' reading skill;(2) insenior grade one to lay special stress on correlation of the materials fromjuniortosenior, helpstudents consolidate the knowledge learnedinjuniorclass and enhance their ability to apply the language,in particular,todeveloptheirreadingskilland ability to study by themselves. Inview of these tasks,theteachingemphasis shouldbegraduallytransferredtoreadingand writing while listening and speaking are stillkept on training with an aim at an all-round development of all four skills at the end ofthisstage. The teachingmethods, therefore, shouldrely on integrative use of the best teaching techniques from the traditional method, communicativeapproachand some others. The special features are as follows: (1) Concrete meaningsarestillintroducedby visual aids, but abstract meanings can betranslated into Chinese; (2) Hearing is not absolutely the first senseto perceive language.Other senses may be used flexibly. Thus more senses participate in classroom activities to promote students' memory andfacilitatetheir thinking; - (3) Sentence is still a basicunitof teaching. Still train students to use language creativelyand improvisationally for communication,ontheother hand, teaching necessary grammarthroughsentence patterns. Some long and complex sentences shouldbe

89 givenpropergrammaticalanalysis; and some important grammar concepts necessaryexplanation; (4) Drills andactivitiesarestillperformed mainly to train listeningandspeaking, including reading aloud words, sentencesand texts;retelling and recitingstories; andaskingandanswering questions according to the texts.However,practice inreadingandwritingisgraduallystressed. Homework is completed mainlyin written language; (5) Still use English toconduct lessons. Tryto explain words,sentencesand texts in English; thus teaching new English throughthe old.However, useof Chinese may be graduallyexpanded, including: to check comprehension andexplainnecessarygrammar knowledge, and to makecomparisonbetweenE-glish and Chinese to find outsimilarities and differences.

2.3 Advanced Stage

This is thefinalstageofsecondaryEnglish teaching.Students have acquired acertainlevelof ability to listen and speak, anumber ofvocabulary and most of the basic grammar.Therefore, tothe students in senior grade two, aspecial emphasisis nowtransferred to training of readingskill, but training of listening,speakingandwritingshould not neglected. In seniorgrade three, the teacheris supposed to based on asystematic sum-up oflearned knowledge, lay a specialemphasis on training reading skill to students, takefurther measuretodevelop their ability to listen, speakand writeandstudy on their own, thus completingthe aims and tasks set by the Syllabus: an all-rounddevelopmentoffour skills, with an emphasis on reading. Actually, the four skills are not of the same value in China.For most atudents reading is the most important.It is a skill which studentsarerequiredtoacquireat school and continue touseafterleavingschool. Generallyspeaking, thegreatmajorityofthe students will not,afterfinishingmiddleschools, encounter foreigners in China or go abroad. But they may have plentyofopportunitiestoreadbooks, newspapers and magazines writteninEnglish, and even to read and translatethe literature of science, technology, culture and art later. "Itislikely that developing countries such as China, belonging to receptive type,shouldlaystressonreading skill in English language teaching" (Zhang,etal, 1993:292). In viewofthesetasks, vocabulary., teaching shouldbegreatlyincreasedf ormorereceptive vocabulary being mastered by students, and meanwhile, teach students how to analyze grammaticallylong and complexsentencesfordevelopinganabilityto understand sentences throughpatternstructures . Both of them aim at removing obstacles of vocabulary and grammar for reading comprehension. Theteaching methods come mainlyfromthebest techniques favorable for the reading skillfromthegrammar- translation method, and partially from communicative approach.The special features are as follows: (1) Try to explain words and sentences in English,

92 but those with abstractmeanings or those withmuch difference fromChinesecanbetranslatedinto Chinese or compared withChinese; (2) Text is abasicunitofteaching. Teach integratively phonetics, grammarand vocabulary.It is necessary to explainimportantlanguagepoints, but it ismore important tomake textsunderstood because this inturnenablesstudentstomaster language points morefirmly; (8) Explain important grammarconcepts and rules, which is done in combinationwith readingpractice. Analyze long and complexsentencesgrammatically. Sum up and compare wordcollocationsandidiomatic usages toconsolidate students' memory; (4) Require pre-reviewingof textsandgive the comprehensionquestions. Explainbriefly or just point out languageLocale and difficulties intexts. Do not explain, translate, oranalyzegrammatically sentence by sentence; (5) Require extracurricularreadingtodevelop this readinghabitandskill. Properlyexplain reading skills in class; and (6) Still strengthentrainingonlisteningand speaking, especially in seniorgrade two.Introduce the background knowledgeand tell the gist oftexts in English,and requirestudents to read aloud,recite, retell texts, answer questionsin English, etc.

We have given aboveonly basic principlestobe appliedinthe workofteachingEnglish for communication to Chinesesecondary students. There

93 undoubtedly are other principles which canorneed be applied in thiswork. Whateverprinciples, we should neverlosesightofthefollowingthree important aspects: (i) The aimof TESOListodevelopstudents' linguisticandcommunicativecompetencesthrough effective training on the four skills to listen,speak, read and write; (2) The main task of conducting lessons is to get studentstopracticeusingEnglishasmuchas possible with a minimum andnecessary amountof teacher's explanation; and (3) The primaryprincipleistoensurethat students not the teacher are in thecenterofall classroom work; the teacher is only the facilitator. Chapter Five

Conclusion

Finally we will briefly summarize ourstandpoint concerning the creation of a TESOL eclecticismwith Chinese characteristics with reference to ourgoal, attitude, means and process. 1) Our goal to create themethodiscompletely based on China's current teaching realityinorder to help change the TESOL outlookatthesecondary level for the better andtopropelthe TESOLin China forward into modernization.This means we have taken our TESOL cause as the main body, andallwe do has been to serve the body and to meet its needs. Therefore, thosevaluable things suitable for China, we have studied andassimilated, those in contrary, we have not. 2) Our attitude is trying to study,inheritand assimilate as many advantages of teaching methods as possible,whetherancientormodern, Chineseor foreign. We have not assimilated the modern methods to exclude the ancient just as themodernistshave proposed, norretained theChinesemethodswhile precludingtheforeignliketheconventionists suggested. In other worda,toaccepttheforeign methods does not mean to be completely foreign; to accept themodern methodsdoesnot meantobe completely modern. Our attitude isone with an open outlook to all Vie times and allthecountriesin order to be completely eclectic. 94

95 3) Our means to createamethod hasbeenthe dialectical one withbothcriticalandheritable features, but notjusttheabstractmetaphysics. Thismeans we havenottakenovera method completely without criticizing its disadvantages.On the contrary, we havetriedtoponderfromone method to another, and to discardthedrosswhile selecting the essential, to getridofthefalse while retaining the true. In this way, we have taken both affirmation and negation of a method.Thisis very similar to theHegel's concept of Msublateffin philosophy. 4) Our process isonegoingthroughanalysis, then synthesis andfinalcreation. We havefirst resolve a method into factors and then selectedand recombined what we need. This recombination intoan organic unity is really a process of creation. Based on its needs, the mainbody assimilatedeverykind of needed factors to change itself, thus creatinga new form of TESOL method. As our production of a TESOL method isanovel undertaking in China, we sincerelyinvitecomments and criticism from our colleagues at home and abroad. Work Cited

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