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济南大学毕业论文 A Study of Middle School English Grammar Teaching in the CLT Framework（小二加黑，times new roman,居中） 1.0 Introduction（一级标题小三加黑，times new roman,左 对齐） As an essential component of language, grammar plays an important role in the process of language learning. Grammar is also a hot topic in foreign language teaching research. Looking back at the history of foreign language teaching in China, we can find that people’s different attitudes to grammar have become a clue of modern foreign language teaching research. Grammar-translation method occupied English teaching for a very long time. In the traditional class, the teacher was the center of the classroom and the focus was on teaching grammatical structures and rules, and students were forced to memorize these rules. In the 1970s, communicative language teaching (CLT) arose and won great popularity among many countries. CLT aims to cultivate learners’ communicative competence, and it advocates learning language through use. In the 1980s, CLT was introduced to China and carried out throughout the whole country. However, the application of CLT in middle school English teaching makes grammar teaching a prominent problem. Because of vague or even misleading conceptions of CLT, some teachers think that CLT excludes grammar teaching and it is unnecessary to teach grammar in a CLT class, while some other teachers, deeply influenced by traditional ways, still spend too much time teaching grammatical structures. Both of the two cases are bad to students, because the former makes students fail to output grammatically correct sentences, and the latter makes students lose interest in learning English. On the basis of CLT, this thesis aims to make clear two points: (1) Should grammar be taught in middle school English teaching? (2) How to teach? In this thesis, a brief introduction to CLT is made at first, which can help clarify the understanding of CLT. Then an attempt is made to illustrate the necessity of grammar teaching in middle school - 1 - 济南大学毕业论文 from four perspectives: (1) The relationship between communicative competence and linguistic competence demonstrates that CLT dose not exclude grammar teaching, because linguistic competence is part of communicative competence; (2) The environment of English learning in China requires grammar teaching; (3) The goal of English learning needs grammar teaching; (4) Grammar is still an important component in various examinations. Finally, some strategies are put forward concerning grammar teaching in the CLT framework. （小四，times new roman，1.5 行距，下同） 2.0 An Introduction to Communicative Language Teaching 2.1 Features of CLT（二级标题四号加黑，times new roman,左对齐） Hymes (1972) first introduced the concept of communicative competence, which refers to the ability not only to apply grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these rules and to whom. However, “Hymes’ communicative competence, which is socialinguitically-oritented on the basis of one’s native language, does not seem to be very suitable for foreign language teaching” (Gao, 2003: 51). Later, Canale and Swain (1980) combined the concept of communicative competence with foreign language teaching, and developed it into four components, namely, grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse competence and strategic competence. On the basis of the theory of communicative competence, a new approach to language teaching — communicative language teaching — arose, and it emphasizes that the goal of language teaching is to develop learners’ communicative competence. In order to help understand CLT clearly, many scholars make statements about the features of CLT. As pointed out by Littlewood (2000: 1): “one of the most characteristic features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as structural aspects of language, combining these into a more fully communicative view.” Nunan (1991) lists five features of CLT: 1. an emphasis on learning to communicate through interaction in the target - 2 - 济南大学毕业论文 language. 2. the introduction of authentic texts into learning situation. 3. the provision of opportunities for learners to focus not only on language but also on the learning process itself. 4. an enhancement of learners’ own personal experience as important contributing elements to classroom learning. 5. an attempt to link classroom language learning with language activities outside. These five features show that CLT pays much attention to the needs and interest of learners, so students become the center of the class and the language teacher do not play a dominant role. CLT is quite different from traditional approach, so it is necessary to understand the principles of CLT. 2.2 Principles of CLT On the basis of previous literature (e.g. Nunan, 1991), the principles of CLT could be summarized as being context-oriented, experience-based and learner-centered. By being context-oriented is meant that a new item should be presented and practiced in context. From a communicative point of view, language items only take on meaning as a result of the context in which it is used, that is to say, an item devoid of context cannot properly be said to have a meaning at all. For example, one word may have many meanings in the dictionary, but it is the context in which it is set that decides which meaning is right and suitable. Learner-centeredness means that learners are the center of the classroom. CLT lays emphasis on learners and learning. Learners are seen as active participants, rather than passive recipients of information provided by the teacher or the textbook. CLT involves learners in the whole process of learning and makes learners learn by doing. Therefore, teachers are no longer regarded as an authority on language, but a facilitator, a manager and an advisor of learners. 3.0 Necessity of Grammar Teaching in the CLT Framework As the fact that the goal of English teaching is to cultivate learners’ communicative - 3 - 济南大学毕业论文 competence has been accepted by researchers and English teachers, CLT has been widely applied in our country. The emergence of CLT makes some teachers think that CLT is advanced and objects to the traditional method, so they neglect grammar teaching in the classroom. However, the overlook of grammar brings about bad influences, that is, students cannot output grammatically correct sentences. Many teachers are confused whether grammar should be taught or not. Of course the answer is affirmative. In fact, CLT does not exclude grammar teaching, and this can be illustrated from the relationship between grammatical competence and communicative competence. According to Hymes, communicative competence refers to the ability of how to use knowledge of rules to understand and produce appropriate language in a variety of sociocultural settings, and he (1972) thinks communicative competence includes: 1. knowledge of the grammar and vocabulary of the language; 2. knowledge of rules of speaking (e.g. how to begin and end conversation ); 3. knowing language function (e.g. agreeing, disagreeing, arguing and advising. etc.); 4. knowing how to use language appropriately (talking to a friend is different from talking to your boss); Hymes’ interpretation of communicative competence puts grammar in the first part, so grammar is necessary to cultivate communicative competence. Latter, Canale and Swain (1980) developed a new interpretation of communicative competence consisting of four components: 1. Grammatical competence. It is the knowledge of lexical items and of rules of morphology, syntax, sentence, grammar, semantics and phonology. 2. Sociolinguistic competence. It is the knowledge of social-cultural rules of language and discourse. 3. Discourse competence. It is the ability to connect sentences in stretches of discourse and form a meaningful whole out of a series of utterances. 4. Strategic competence. It is the verbal or nonverbal communicative strategies that may be called into action to compensate for breakdowns in communication due to performance variables or due to insufficient competence. - 4 - 济南大学毕业论文 Canale and Swain (1980) agreed that both grammatical competence and sociolinguistic competence are important elements in any theoretical framework of communicative competence. They (1980: 5) say: “just as Hymes (1972) was able to say that there are rules of grammar that would be useless without rules of language use, so we feel that there are rules of language use that would be useless without rules of grammar.” So grammar is necessary and essential for communication to take place Littlewood (2000) suggests that the following four domains of skill make up a person’s communicative competence and must be recognized in foreign language learning and teaching. 1. The learner must attain as high a degree as possible of linguistic competence, that is, he must develop skills in manipulating the linguistic system, to the point where he can use it spontaneously and flexibly in order to express his intended message. 2. The learner must distinguish between the forms which he has mastered as a part of his linguistic competence, and the communicative functions which they perform. In other words, items mastered as part of a linguistic system must also be understood as a part of communicative system. 3. The learner must develop skills and strategies for using language to communicate meanings as effectively as possible in concrete situations. He must learn to use feedback to judge his success, and if necessary, remedy failure by using different language. 4. The learner must become aware of the social meaning of language forms. For many learners, this may not entail the ability to vary their own speech to suit different social circumstances, but rather the ability to use generally acceptable forms and avoid potential offensive ones. In Littlewood’s definition of communicative competence, linguistic competence also occupies a prominent position. He stated the importance of grammar as follows: “A communicative approach to the content of a course need not involve abandoning the use of structural criteria for selection and sequencing, …, Mastery of the structural system is still the basic requirement for using language to communicative one’s own meanings” (Littlewood, 2000: 77). - 5 - 济南大学毕业论文 Wilkins (1976: 66) also admitted the importance of grammar: “it is taken here to be almost axiomatic that the acquisition of the grammatical system of a language remains a most important element in language learning. The grammar is the means through which linguistic creativity is ultimately achieved and an inadequate knowledge of the grammar would lead to a serious limitation on the capacity for communication”. From the analysis and statements above, it could be safely concluded that grammar is necessary in the CLT framework, and the application of CLT does not exclude grammar teaching. “Without grammatical knowledge as the foundation, it is impossible for language learners to go far in developing their communicative competence of a foreign language” (Gao, 2003: 51). 4.0 Realistic Reasons of Teaching Grammar in China 4.1 Environment of English Learning According to Krashen (1981), grammar teaching is unnecessary, because language including grammar can emerge as a result of comprehensible input. That is to say, being exposed to the target language environment, learners can naturally acquire it and internalize the grammar rules. This is partly true in acquiring a second language, but English is typically taught as a foreign language in China, and learning plays a more important role than acquisition in the process of mastering English. Second language teaching takes place within the target language community, while foreign language teaching is carried out outside the target language environment, mostly in the classroom. Foreign language learning usually requires more formal instruction for the lack of environmental support. Acquisition refers to subconscious learning in the natural environment, which is not influenced by explicit formal instruction. Learning a language is a conscious process of language development, which needs the intended and explicit formal instruction in the artificial environment such as the language classroom. As most Chinese students learn English in China, which is far away from English speaking countries, they cannot acquire English and internalize grammatical rules by being - 6 - 济南大学毕业论文 exposed to it. In some poor areas, teachers and textbooks are the only language source, so language input is limited. What is worse, students have to deal with other subjects and the time and energy assigned to English learning is limited, so the chances for them to acquire English are very small. The formal instruction in the class will overcome the difficulties of poor acquisitional environment and accelerate their learning process. 4.2 Goal of English Learning The goal of English learning is not simply to improve spoken English, but to develop listening, speaking, reading and writing skills wholly. Students will come across many long and complex sentences in the process of reading. A mastery of grammatical rules will undoubtedly help them to analyze these complicated sentences, and this will give them a sense of success and help them build their confidence. In the beginning stage of the application of CLT, many teachers paid much attention to fluency. They spent much time practicing listening and speaking skills in the classroom and avoided explicit grammar teaching. As a result, students could not output correctly without enough knowledge of grammar. Their English level could not be improved to a large extent, and their interest and confidence would be affected badly. In the course of cultivating communicative competence, accuracy is as important as fluency and is the basis for successful communication. “When people speak and write, grammar will function as a monitor to make sure that their production is accurate” (Gao, 2003: 51). 4.3 Form of English Assessment In China, it is difficult to avoid grammar-based test for students. They need adequate grammatical rules to deal with many kinds of examinations. Tests for High School and National Matriculation English Test are two important entrance examinations for Chinese students. Passing them to enter excellent high schools or colleges for further education is most students’ dream. Though the design of these examinations has changed a lot, grammar-oriented exercises still occupy an important place. Therefore students have to know the rules of English grammar in order to do well in such tests. - 7 - 济南大学毕业论文 5.0 Strategies of Grammar Teaching in the CLT Framework The goal of middle school grammar teaching is not only to make students master the grammar structures but also to make them communicate successfully using appropriate grammatical rules. As grammar is necessary and important, teachers should adopt flexible ways to promote grammar teaching. 5.1 Creating Authentic Situations In order to make students learn grammar more easily, teachers can create authentic situations to present grammatical points. The situation can be authentic or semi-authentic but should be close to students’ life. 5. 1. 1 Making Full Use of the Classroom（三级标题小四加黑，times new roman,左对 齐） If it is necessary and available, teachers can make full use of the classroom. For example, when presenting “there be” structure, the teacher can describe the classroom using the following sentences: There is a blackboard in our classroom. There are four windows in our classroom. There are two doors in our classroom. There is a box on the desk. Now, students may realize the function and the meaning of this structure, and then the teacher may encourage students to discover the rules by themselves. Next, the teacher makes some corrections and assures the students’ guesses with proper structure. Finally, the teacher encourages students to describe their bedrooms or drawing rooms with the learned structure. 5. 1. 2 Creating Authentic Situations With Pictures There are many pictures in English textbooks, so the teacher can make full use of these pictures to carry out the teaching process. The pictures can give students a lively impression. For example, if the teacher wants to teach the present continuous tense to the students, - 8 - 济南大学毕业论文 he or she can use the picture on Page 17, Book 2 of Go for it! (Liu Daoyi, 2005) Teacher: Look at the picture, what can you see? Students: We can see a lot of boys and girls. Teacher: What are they doing? (It is a new item and the teacher may translate while writing it down on the blackboard.) Students: They…(Students now have a desire to express what the boys and girls in the pictures are doing) The strong desire will make them listen to the teacher’s illustration with high attention. The teacher can also collect some pictures in daily life so that they will use them in the future. 5.2 Organizing Communicative Activities 5. 2. 1 Role-Playing Role-playing activities are those in which students are asked to imagine who they are in different situations and act accordingly. Most students like to play games, so role-playing will undoubtedly stimulate their interest. They will focus on the knowledge as well as the activities. For example, there is a story happening in a mall, and the passive voice of the past progressive aspect can be introduced in the story. First, the teacher assigns the role, student A plays the customer, student B plays the thief and the teacher is the director and seller. After the teacher tells A and B how to play, the rest see the following scene: A is selecting goods, B is walking to A and picking the purse out from A’s bag and runs quickly. A feels her bag moved, suddenly she sees B running nervously, and finds her purse stolen, then she shouts loudly: “oh, my bag is cut, my purse is stolen”. Hearing A’s shouts, the seller also shouts: “Let’s chase the thief”, then they are chasing the chief. At the same time, the teacher speaks in a high voice: “Her bag is cut, and the thief is being chased”, at the same time, the teacher writes the sentences on the blackboard and asks the students to follow her. When the game is finished, the teacher may ask two questions: (1) What happened to - 9 - 济南大学毕业论文 the customer? (2) What happened to the chief? Then the students will answer actively: “Her purse was stolen, the thief was being chased.” At last, the teacher summaries the rule and function of the passive voice of the past progressive aspect. 5. 2. 2 Discussion and Debate Discussions and debates are meaningful communicative activities, in which students can exchange opinions freely and illustrate their own views in the target language. However, it is likely to be successful for upper-intermediate and advanced level learners. Besides, the teacher may make some changes by starting with some controlled practice, and then lead the work into more communicative activities. Here is an example. First, the teacher tells students to write down the sentence he reads. How do you think smoking in public places? (Possibly, it’s the focus of the text that has just been learned.) Second, the teacher tells students to rewrite the sentence to suit their ideas. For example, I think smoking in public places should be banned because it is harmful for non-smokers. It’s his right for anyone to decide where he smokes. The ban on smoking in public places is taken too seriously. Third, the teacher reads or writes some of the sentences, giving students adequate time to write their own. Fourth, the teacher asks some students to read their writing and write some sentences which are controversial as topics of discussion on the blackboard. Fifth, the teacher divides students into groups, letting them do group work by discussing them. Lastly, when finishing this, every group has a spokesman to make a mini-speech on the topic. Discussions and debates will be very useful in teaching reading and writing. Some students often feel refrained when they come to writing essays. For example, they do not know how to begin or they have little information about the topic for the time being, whereas some students may know a lot about the topic but there is no central idea in their work or the central idea is away from the requirement. Therefore, through discussion, the - 10 - 济南大学毕业论文 former’s views will be broadened and the latter’s views will be in order. 5.3 Teaching Grammar in Discourse In the traditional classroom, grammatical points are often introduced in single sentences which are not set in specific discourses. What is worse, to illustrate some items, some teachers often fabricate some sentences rarely used in authentic communication. However, written sentences in specific discourses are just like spoken utterances in daily communication in which their meanings of sentences are determined by the context. Therefore, the examples used by most teachers in the past cut off the relation between grammatical rules and functions. Teaching grammar in discourse will strengthen students’ awareness of discourse and make them realized that grammatical rules are not only influenced by single sentences but also affected by the discourse. For example, when introducing the passive voice of present tense, the teacher may have students read the following essays: Which language is spoken by the largest number of people in the world? Of course, the answer is Chinese. But which language is the most widely spoken in the world? The answer is English, English is spoken as a first language by most people in the US, Great Britain, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. But it is also used very widely as a foreign language in many other countries in the world. After reading the above passage, students will realize that the passive sentences are not just the transformation of active sentences, but they are also the result of the influences of the discourse topic (Gao Qiang and Zhao Na, 2007). However, the discourse selected should be meaningful, interesting and comprehensible, and the topic should be up-to date and relevant to students’ real life, so the material can stimulate students’ interest and their desire to study. 5.4 Making Old Things New Many professors (Editorial Board of Foreign Language Teaching and Research in Basic Education, 2007) advocate that traditional procedures may not be rejected absolutely but could be reinterpreted and extended. The history of English teaching is very long in China, and English teachers have accumulated excellent experience in teaching grammar, - 11 - 济南大学毕业论文 which should not be overlooked. For example, pattern drill was one of the major ways to teach grammar and once proved to be very effective in English teaching in China. However, with the popularization of CLT in recent years, it has become a target of attack, because the repeated training of a sentence pattern is far beyond real communication. But the teacher can go one step further to make pattern drills communicative. Paulston (1976, quoted from Rivers, 1983) groups drills into mechanical drills, meaningful drills and communicative drills, which can bring new meaning to the teaching of grammar in our country. In mechanical drills, there is complete control of the responses so that students do not even need to understand the drill to produce the correct response (as in simple substitution drills). Paulston (1976, quoted from Rivers, 1983) suggests that if a nonsense word can be inserted as effectively by the students as a meaningful word, then the drill is one of the mechanical types. For example: Pattern: I am holding a book. Cue: Magazine. Response: I am holding a magazine. Cue: Banana Response: I am holding a banana. In meaningful drills, there is still control of the responses (although it may be correctly expressed in more than one way), but students cannot complete the drill without fully understanding what they are saying. The following is an example of meaningful drill: Question: when did you arrive this morning? Answer: I arrived at nine o’clock. Question: when will you leave this morning? Answer: I will leave at six o’clock. In a communicative drill, there is no control of the response. Students have free choices of their answers, and the criterion of selection here is his own opinion of the real world — whatever he wants to say. For example: Question: what did you have for breakfast? Answer: I had toast and coffee for breakfast. - 12 - 济南大学毕业论文 Or: I did not have breakfast because I was afraid of missing the bus. Some students who are not confident about their English and know clearly what the teacher expects would remain in the area of pseudo-communication, but others may turn this into real interaction. 6.0 Conclusion This paper focuses on the necessity of grammar teaching and the strategies of grammar teaching in the middle school. The necessity of grammar teaching is illustrated in terms of theories and realistic reasons in China. Now it is widely accepted that grammar should be taught in China. The detailed discussion about the necessity of grammar teaching can help clarify the existing misconception that CLT excludes grammar teaching. Then some strategies are proposed to improve grammar teaching. Grammar teaching is a heatedly discussed topic. This paper just makes a skin-deep study of it. More studies should be carried out in order to explore the practical strategies. Bibliography（空两行，不单独起一页，小三，加黑，times New roman，左对齐） [1] Canale, M. & M. Swain. Theoretical bases of communicative approaches to second language teaching and learning [J]. Applied Linguistics, 1980, (1). [2] Gao Q. A tentative probe into grammar teaching to English majors [J]. English Teaching and Research in Normal School, 2003, (6). [3] Hymes, D. On communicative competence [A]. in J. B. Pride & J. Homels, (eds.) Socialinguistics [C]. Harmondsworth: Penguin,1972. [4] Krashen, D. Second Language Acquisition and Second Language Teaching [M]. Oxford: Pergarnon, 1981. [5] Littlewood, W. Communicative Language Teaching [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2000. - 13 - 济南大学毕业论文 [6] Nunan, D. Language Teaching Methodology [M]. London: Prentice Hall, 1991. [7] Rivers, W. M. Communicating Naturally in a Second Language [M]. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983. [8] Stern, H. H. Issues and Opinions in Language Teaching [M]. Shanghai: Shanghai Foreign Language Education Press, 1992. [9] Wilkins, D. A. Notional Syllabuses [M]. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1976. [10] 高强、赵娜. Focus on form 理论与中学英语语法教学[J]. 山东师范大学外国语学 院学报, 2007, (4). [11] 何静令. 新课程标准下的语法教学定位与对策[J]. 基础教育外语教学与研究, 2005, (4). [12] 教育部. 全日制义务教育普通初级中学英语课程标准（实验稿）[M]. 北京: 北 京师范大学出版社, 2001. [13] 《基础教育外语教学研究》编辑部. 外语教育教学基本理念辩论[J]. 基础英语 教育, 2007, (11-12). [14] 李会琴. 交际法指导原则与语法教学[J]. 渭南师范学院学报, 2004, (1). [15] 刘道义. 初中英语(新目标) [Z]. 人民教育出版社, 2005. [16] 刘龙喜. 用交际教学法指导英语语法教学的思考[J]. 甘肃广播电视大学学报, 2003, (3). [17] 宋瑞南. 论英语语法教学的必要性[J]. 科技资讯, 2007, (9). [18] 温厚一. 运用交际法教语法，培养学生运用语言的能力[J]. 外语界, 1998, (1). [19] 张瑞萍. 交际法在英语语法教学中的应用[J]. 甘肃高师学报, 2006, (11). [20] 张用友. 更新理念，重新审视中学英语语法教学[J]. 陕西教育（理论版），2006, (9). （按照英语前、汉语后排，总体原则是姓氏首字母的字母表顺序） - 14 - 济南大学毕业论文 Acknowledgements （空四行，三号，加黑，居中，TimesNew roman，下空一行） I am greatly indebted to my supervisor Mr. Li Si, who has given me valuable advice and enlightened me on a number of academic problems concerning my thesis. Thanks should also be given to teachers and my classmates, who helped me a lot during the accomplishment of my thesis. （四号，Times New roman，1.5 行距） - 15 -