Rethinking Communicative Language Teaching in College English Teaching: Strategies and Lesson Plan
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.17507/jltr.1502.29Keywords:
oral English proficiency, developmental research design, CLT strategies, CLT classroom activities, Chinese vocational college studentsAbstract
Oral English competence is crucial for the learners’ life and potential professional success. Numerous studies on communicative language teaching were conducted; however, there is a dearth of literature on the application of CLT strategies in Chinese vocational colleges. The objective of this study was to identify CLT techniques that can improve the oral English skills of vocational college students in China. Specifically, it sought to answer the following: (1) What CLT strategies can be adapted for improving the oral proficiency of Chinese vocational college students? (2) What activities can be designed integrating adapted CLT strategies to help enhance Chinese vocational college students’ oral proficiency? The study made use of a developmental research design using systematic document analysis as the method. Findings showed that group-oriented CLT strategies like role-play, pair and group work, interviews, information gap activities, etc., and individual-oriented CLT tactics like storytelling, picture description, and opinion-sharing activities can be adapted to improve Chinese vocational college students’ oral proficiency. To help enhance Chinese vocational college students’ oral proficiency, communicative language activities that integrate these identified CLT strategies were designed as instructors’ guide in implementing CLT. Teachers are the primary change agents in educational practice, only by being more aware of what is truly going on in their classrooms can they assist students to achieve their learning goals. In the hands of a well-balanced instructor, CLT can breathe new life and enthusiasm into the classroom and truly make a difference in enhancing student’s oral proficiency.
References
Abdul, N. B. (2013). The implementation of information gap activities to improve students' speaking and reading skills. Exposure Journal, 2(1), 68-75.
Afri, E., Marpaung, E. E., & Maulina, I. (2021). Enhancing Students' Speaking Skills through Debate Techniques. International Journal of English and Applied Linguistics (IJEAL), 1(2), 141-146.
Afrizal, M. (2015). A classroom action research: Improving speaking skills through information gap activities. English Education Journal, 6(3), 342-355.
Aisyah, L., & Hidayani, R. (2018). Applying Running Dictation Strategy to Improve the Students’ Speaking Ability in Ix-B Class Students at Medan State SMP 28 Medan. In: Proceedings of the 1st International Seminar on Foreign Language Teaching, Linguistics, and Literature (ISFLATEL-1) 2018, 04 October 2018, Digital Library of Medan State University. http://digilib.unimed.ac.id/id/eprint/31598
AL-Garni, S. A., & Almuhammadi, A. H. (2019). The Effect of Using Communicative Language Teaching Activities on EFL Students' Speaking Skills at the University of Jeddah. English Language Teaching, 12(6), 72-86.
Al‐Issa, A. S., & Al‐Qubtan, R. E. D. H. A. (2010). Taking the floor: Oral presentations in EFL classrooms. Tesol Journal, 1(2), 227-246.
Anggraini, A. (2018). Improving students’ speaking skill through CLT an action research. Wanastra: Jurnal Bahasa dan Sastra, 10(1), 17-23.
Antoni, R. (2014). Teaching speaking skill through small group discussion technique at the accounting study program. Journal Education and Islamic Studies, 5(1), 55-64.
Arroba, J., & Acosta, H. (2021). Authentic digital storytelling as alternative teaching strategy to develop speaking skills in EFL classes. LEARN Journal: Language Education and Acquisition Research Network, 14(1), 317-343.
Arung, F., & Jumardin, J. (2016). Improving the Students’ Speaking Skill Through Debate Technique. Journal of English Education, 1(1), 70-76.
Azizah, F. (2018). Using Discussion Technique to Improve Students’ Speaking Skills in English. Undergraduate Thesis. Makassar: Universitas Muhammadiyah Makassar.
Brandl, K. (2008). Communicative language teaching in action. Upper Saddle River, NJ.
Brooks, G., & Wilson, J. (2014). Using oral presentations to improve students’ English language skills. Kwansei Gakuin University Humanities Review, 19(1), 199-212.
Chauhan, V. (2004). Drama techniques for teaching English. The Internet TESL Journal, 8, 59-65.
Duyen, N. T. (2021). EFL Teachers’ Perceptions of Information Gap Activities in Teaching Speaking and Their Reflections on the Use of These Activities in their Classrooms. International Journal of Science and Management Studies (IJSMS), 347-359.
Flick, U. (2018). Doing qualitative data collection–charting the routes. The SAGE handbook of qualitative data collection, 1-16.
Friese, S., Soratto, J., & Pires, D. (2018). Carrying out a computer-aided thematic content analysis with ATLAS. ti.
Harmer, J. (2008). How to teach English (Vol. 62, No. 3, pp. 313-316). Oxford University Press.
Hassan, T., & McKee, G. T. (2021, September). Encouraging student engagement through storytelling. In International Conference on Interactive Collaborative Learning (pp. 1009-1020). Cham: Springer International Publishing.
Hattie, J., & Clarke, S. (2018). Visible learning: feedback. Routledge.
Hedge, T. (2001). Teaching and learning in the language classroom (Vol. 106). Oxford, UK: Oxford university press.
Heng, K. (2014). Communicative language teaching in EFL contexts: Challenges and suggestions for successful implementation. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Faculty of Arts and Design, University of Canberra, Australia.
Ho, Y. Y. C. (2020). Communicative language teaching and English as a foreign language undergraduates’ communicative competence in Tourism English. Journal of Hospitality, Leisure, Sport & Tourism Education, 27, 100271.
Hussain, N. (2003). Helping EFL/ESL students by asking quality questions. The Internet TESL Journal, 9(10), 1-4.
Irona, A., & Ratmanida, R. (2018). Using Information Gap Activity in Classroom Interaction to Advance the Students’ Speaking Ability. Journal of English Language Teaching, 7(1), 216-223.
Jaya, H. P., Pitaloka, N. L., & Wijaya, A. (2020). Running Dictation to Develop Students’ Listening Comprehension Ability. Indonesian Research Journal in Education| IRJE|, 543-555.
Kayi, H. (2006). Teaching speaking: Activities to promote speaking in a second language. The internet TESL journal, 12(11), 1-6.
Liao, X. (2004). The need for communicative language teaching in China. ELT journal, 58(3), 270-273.
Liao, X. Q. (2000). Communicative Language Teaching Innovation in China: Difficulties and Solutions. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED443294
Littlewood, W. (2007). Communicative and task-based language teaching in East Asian classrooms. Language teaching, 40(3), 243-249.
Maca, S. (2020). Teaching English speaking skill through pair and group interview techniques. Ethical Lingua: Journal of Language Teaching and Literature, 7(2), 329-337.
Masoumi-Moghaddam, S. (2018). Using drama and drama techniques to teach English conversations to English as a foreign language learners. International Journal of Applied Linguistics and English Literature, 7(6), 63-68.
Mengduo, Q., & Xiaoling, J. (2010). Jigsaw Strategy as a Cooperative Learning Technique: Focusing on the Language Learners. Chinese Journal of Applied Linguistics (Foreign Language Teaching & Research Press), 33(4), 113-125.
Miles, R. (2009). Oral presentations for English proficiency purposes. Reflections on English Language Teaching, 8(2), 103-110.
Mokhtar, N. H., Halim, M. F. A., & Kamarulzaman, S. Z. S. (2011). The effectiveness of storytelling in enhancing communicative skills. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences, 18, 163-169.
Nakahama, Y., Tyler, A., & Van Lier, L. (2001). Negotiation of meaning in conversational and information gap activities: A comparative discourse analysis. TESOL quarterly, 35(3), 377-405.
Namaziandost, E., Esfahani, F. R., Nasri, M., & Mirshekaran, R. (2018). The effect of gallery walk technique on pre-intermediate EFL learners’ speaking skill. Language Teaching Research Quarterly, 8, 1-15.
Nurdianingsih, F., & Rahmawati, O. I. (2018, July). Running dictation is an effective technique for teaching writing skills. In English Language and Literature International Conference (Ellic) Proceedings (Vol. 2, pp. 127-131).
Otoyo, K. (2018). The use of gallery walk to enhance speaking ability of the eleventh grade students of State Madrasyah Aliyah. Edukasi: Jurnal Pendidikan Dan Pengajaran, 5(2), 101-111.
Owen, E. A., Razali, A. B., Samad, A. A., & Noordin, N. (2019). Enhancing Libyan students’ English speaking performance through language game and information gap activities. Problems of Education in the 21st Century, 77(1), 110-125.
Panjehkoubi, E., Bonyadi, A., & Nikou, F. R. (2015). The Effect of Information Gap Activities on Speaking Ability of Iranian Female Students. Modern Journal of Language Teaching Methods, 5(2), 260-267.
Pradana, S. A. (2017). Using debate to enhance students’ speaking ability as their character building. English Education: Jurnal Tadris Bahasa Inggris, 10(1), 149-163.
Richards, J. C. (2005). Communicative language teaching today. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre.
Sakarkaya, V. (2013). 12 Pair and group work activities: Keep them or leave them? Teacher-researchers in action, 163-174.
Sartika, D. (2016). Teaching speaking using the information gap technique. English Education Journal, 7(3), 273-285.
Savignon, S. J. (2001). Communicative language teaching for the twenty-first century. Teaching English as a second or foreign language. Boston: Heinle & Heinle.
Savignon, S. J. (2007). Beyond communicative language teaching: What's ahead? Journal of pragmatics, 39(1), 207-220.
Savignon, S. J., & Wang, C. (2003). Communicative language teaching in EFL contexts: Learner attitudes and perceptions. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 41(3), 223-249. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral.2003.010
Shomoossi, N. (2004). The effects of teachers’ questioning behaviour on EFL classroom interaction: A classroom research study. The Reading Matrix, 4(2), 96–104.
Storch, N. (2002). Patterns of interaction in ESL pair work. Language learning, 52(1), 119-158.
Tianame, M., Usman, B., & Muslem, A. (2019). The implementation of debate technique to enhance the students’ speaking skill. English education journal, 10(2), 180-195.
Toro, V., Camacho-Minuche, G., Pinza-Tapia, E., & Paredes, F. (2019). The Use of the Communicative Language Teaching Approach to Improve Students' Oral Skills. English Language Teaching, 12(1), 110-118.
Wael, A., Saputra, D., & Setyawati, E. (2019). Enhancing Students’ Oral Communication By Using Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Qalam: Jurnal Ilmu Kependidikan, 8(1), 38-49.
Wahyudi, D. (2017). The Use of Questioning Technique to Enhance Students’ Speaking Ability. Indonesian Journal of Integrated English Language Teaching, 3(1), 93-117. http://dx.doi.org/10.24014/ijielt.v3i1.3971
Yeourng, S. (2021). The Effectiveness of the Gallery Walk Technique in EFL Speaking Classes. Online Learning during covid-19 and Key Issues in Education, 73.
