Characteristics of communicative English A study on application of English teaching for non language major classes at Quang Binh University

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES LE THI HANG Characteristics of communicative English: A study on application of English teaching for non- language major classes at Quang Binh U

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES



LE THI HANG

Characteristics of communicative English:

A study on application of English teaching for non- language major classes at Quang Binh

University Academic field: Applied linguistics

Ref No: 62.22.01.05

DOCTORAL THESIS IN PHILOLOGY

HANOI, 2014

GRADUATE ACADEMY OF SOCIAL SCIENCES

Name of supervisors: 1 Assoc Prof Dr Vu Thi Thanh Huong

Reviewer 1: Prof Dr Nguyen Van Khang

Reviewer 2: Prof Dr Mai Ngoc Chu

Reviewer 3: Assoc Prof.Lam Quang Dong

This dissertation will be defended to academic evaluation committee of the

Graduate academy of social sciences, held at:

at…… am, October 2014

The thesis can be found at:

1 National Library of Vietnam

2 Library of Graduate academy of social siences

3 Library of Institute of linguistics

1 Rational

The tendency towards communicative language teaching (CLT)appeared in 1970s, since then this learning - teaching approach hasdeveloped worldwide and brought about highly educating and trainingeffects for the learner However, there is no one specific model applicable toall trained subjects and instructing environment nor are there any studies tounderstand the nature of CLT and the way to adapt this approach to teachingnon-major English at univerities in Vietnam That is the main reasons

urging us to select the thesis title ‘Characteristics of communicative

English: A study on application of English teaching for non- language major classes at Quang Binh University’

2 Review of previous studies

2.1 Previous studies in the world

CLT has so far developed and expanded in its different aspects, theBritish and American initiators considered it as the way or approach to gainthe target communicative competence Curriculum development, syllabusdesign, materials and facilities, learning-teaching activities were researchedand applied basing on the fundamental characteristics of communicativelanguage and theories of second or foreign language acquisition process ofhuman beings

Teaching activities and techniques are designed and created toenhance excitement and motivation for learning and help the learner to uselanguage in natural communication contexts or in connection with real life.Nevertheless, the primary tenets and approaches of CLT have mainly beenstudied in English speaking countries or those in the Council of Europe It

is, therefore, neccessary to carry out research with the aim of understandingmore thoroughly the nature of CLT and how to adapt it to specific trainedsubjects and educating environment

2.2 Previous studies and application of communicative English teaching for non-major language university students in Vietnam

Our preliminary survey shows that there were not many studies oncharacteristics of communicative English and application of communicativeEnglish teaching to non English major students in Vietnam There was only

‘an investigation into the application of communicative language teaching

to non-English major students in Thai Nguyên College of Economics andFinance, school year 2007-2008 A Vietnamese Experience’ studied byNguyen Thi Minh Thu The results indicate the effectiveness andimportance of adapting this approach to teaching English speaking skills forstudents Most studies focused on searching for the causes of low Englishteaching results and solutions to the problems

3 Aims, questions and contents of the study

3.1 Aims of the study

The author’s study purpose is to further the understanding of thenature of CLT and learn how to teach English effectively for non Englishmajor students at Quang Binh University

2 What are properties and conditions of English teaching at Quang BinhUniversity? Which of those have/have not met requirements of CLT?

3 How to teach communicatve English writing for non English majorstudents at the Quang Binh University?

3.3 Contents of the study

To answer each research question we will respectively carry out theresearch contents as follows:

a, Analysis and synthesize previous studies of theory and reality onproperties of English under the context of communication theory, andcharacteristics of English learning classes in communicative approach

b, Investigate the reality of teaching-learning, and needs analysis written

English learning of non-language majors students of courses 49 to 52 at

Quang Binh University

c, Teach pedagogical experiment in communicative English writing for language majors students of courses 49 to 53 to find out the appropriateways to apply CLT effectively to teaching English for non-language majorstudents at Quang Binh University

4 Objects and scope of the study

The objects of our study are properties of communicative Englishand applying it to learning-teaching English Subjects whom are applied tothis teaching approach are non-language major students at Quang BinhUniversity In this study, we will only focus on the application of teaching

of communicative English writing and carry out investigations, verification,and experiment with non-language major students of courses 49 to 53

6 New contributions of the thesis

- Theoretical contributions: the reasearcher analyzed, synthesized,and linked a wide range of relatively new resources to draw out some basiccharacteristics of communicative English and make sense of the nature ofcommunicative language teaching

- Practical contributions: the autor initially identified appropriateways to apply teaching communicative English writing to subjects of thestudy.

7 Organization of the thesis

Besides introduction, conclusion, references, and appendixes, thethesis consists of three chapters:

Chapter 1: Theoretical background

Chapter 2: Reality of English teaching-learning and needs analysis oflearning English writing of non-language majors at Quang Binh UniversityChapter 3: Pidagogical experiment in teaching of communicative Englishwriting for non-language majors at Quang Binh University

CHAPTER 1 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND 1.1 Characteristics of communicative English

The term communicative English in this thesis refers to the English

style in association with communication function which is used to exchangeand negotiate meanings

1.1.1 Transactional model of communication process

To better understand the characteristics of English communication,

we will revise the transactional model of communication process of DCBarnlund (1970) Looking at the chart 1.1, we can see that the participantsnot merely mean to send and receive from one person to another and thenfeedback to each other, but rather they are building a common meaningthrough this process Shared meaning lies in the area where the two ovalsintersect with each other The keys to communicate successfully are notonly to master conventions of using codes or transmitting intact contents of

a message but also to pay attention to a wide rang of other related problemssuch as non-verbal cues, context, cultural values, noise, styles andpreferences of the listener or reader to have a communication strategyaccordingly

Two dimensions Commuincator A Social systems Commuincator B

Channel

Field of Field of

experience Code interactions over time experience

Meaing Shared meaning Meaing

Shared field of experience

Feedback Message

Context

Chart 1.1 Transactional model of communication adapted from DC

Barnlund’s viewpoints

1.1.2 Characteristics of communicative English

1.1.2.1 Primary characteristics

Like all languages, communicative English has six following basic properties: duality, displacement, productivity, discreteness, arbitrary, and cultural transmission The first four properties force the learner or the user

to use English flexibly and creatively One meaning can be expressed in a variety of language forms and one word can be combined with other words

in different ways to express different meanings Displacement probably help people use language with 'poetry function', for example, they may use rhetorical forms to indicate other latent meanings Productivity and discreteness can help users express and understand meanings of sentences they never heard before thanks to their mastering grammar and reasoning

Noise

skills Therefore, learners have to learn to memorize common conventions

of using codes such as the rules of syntax, pragmatics, semantics andphonetics The arbitrary, and cultural transmission make students learn tograsp the cultural characteristics of the target communities as norms, habits

- customs, beliefs, attitudes and values which rule over their communicationbehaviors

1.1.2.2 Functional characteristics

The main function of English is a means of communication toexpress meanings, for example, expressing gratitude, asking for directions,verbalizing the knowledge of certain topics, etc However, one meaning can

be expressed and interpreted in different ways, so the dual function ofcommunicative English is means to exchange and negotiate meanings withthe aim of achieving a common meaning or any communication purposes.Besides, English has got fuction of a foreign language used to meet thecommunication needs of the social community groups whose first language

is not English With the role of international communication language,English has both the functions of the first language and those of a language

of intercultural and international communication

1.1.2.3 Characteristics of stylistics and register

In terms of style, English can be varied from the ritual, the formal,the negotiating, the casual to the intimate in order to accommodate the userachieve their communication goals Register is governed by the relationship

of three elements: topics, roles of participants and communication channels.Therefore, the language always associates with the communicationenvironment and the user’s needs Based on the topics regularly referred to,situations of context, roles of participants, and communication channel,English can be classified into a variety of types such as General English,Academic English etc Stylistics and register have reciprocal relationshipimpacting and governing each other Depending on the type of Englishtaught, conventions of style and selection of register such as vocabulary,grammar, genre will be designed to facilitate the goal of that teaching

1.1.2.4 Socio-cultural characteristics where the language is used

To communicate naturally and effectively, people must beharmoniously combined 8 elements dominating communicative activities inlanguages Those contain setting and scene, participants, ends, act sequence,key, instrumentalities, norms, and genre Defining the content of thoseelements depend entirely on the social context where the language is used.Relying on the communication context, the purpose of the action, socialnorms, type of the text in question, the participants will establish their socialroles and those of their partners, then they select and use appropriatelanguage Therefore, communicative English always indicate socioculturalfeatures in which it is used

1.2 Communicative approach in second languages teaching

Putting of English teaching in communicative approach intopractice of a foreign language classroom concern a number of problems Itsprimary process is probably perceived from the sytematic model of syllabusdesign adapted from Brown that you can see in the feagure 1.5 Of those,needs analysis to determine syllabus objectives, testing and evaluation take

up vitally important stages in CLT process

Chart 1.5 Sytematic model of syllabus design (adapted from Brown, 1996)

EvaluationObjectives

Teaching

Testing

Materials

Needs analysis

The main tenets and approaches in CLT are to help students useEnglish, flexibly and creatively, and to express meanings appropriate to thetext type, topic, roles and norms in a specific situation of communicationcontext with the aim of having their communication goals Communicativeapproach is expanded under the viewpoint of seeing language ascommunication, the learner learn a forein language to have the ability ofinteracting and negotiating meanings in an attempt to gain a commonmeaning or a communication goal satisfying all participants’ wants; andthrough this process, language acquisition will be happened Besides, CLT

is also developed on the base of theories of second language acquisition and

the terms communicative competence and communicative performance.

Similar to development of first language acquisition process, secondlanguage acquisition normally goes through certain stages; therefore,General English has been designed according to levels At each level ofproficiency, knowledge of communicative competence and communicativeperformance is compiled in association with the needs and abilities of users.The theory of working memory of Alan Bladdley proves that Englishlearning and acquiring as a foreign language are two processes requiringrelatively different types of practising activities In the first process, studentsneed to learn to memorize new patterns of language structure by receiving

or using them repeatedly and implementing meaningful association Theother knowledge of communicative competence is also received andmemorized by listening and reading comprehension In the latter process,students have to practise English regularly in natural or unrehearsalcommunication contexts This will help students get quick reactions toprocessing language and use it fluently and naturally

1.3 Characteristics of foreign languages classes in communicative approach

Douglas Brown summarized four interconnected characteristics of aCLT class as follows:

- Classroom goals are focused on all of the components ofcommunicative competence and not restricted to grammatical or linguisticcompetence

- Language techniques are designed to engage learners in thepragmatic, authentic, functional use of language for meaningful purposes.Organizational language forms are not the central focus but rather aspects oflanguage that enable the learner to accomplish those purposes

- Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principlesunderlying communicative techniques At times frequency may have to take

on more importance than accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfulengaged in language use

- In communicative classroom, students ultimately have to use thelanguage, productively and receptively, in unrehearsed contexts

CHAPTER 2 REALITY OF TEACHING - LEARNING ENGLISH AND NEEDS ANALYSIS OF LEARNING ENGLISH WRITING OF NON- LANGUAGE MAJORS AT QUANG BINH UNIVERSITY 2.1 Reality of teaching and learning non-major English at Quang Binh University

2.1.1 Characteristics of English taught for non-language major students

at Quang Binh University

The type of English requried to instruct for non-English major

students at the Quang Binh University is General English.

2.1.2 Characteristics of non-language major students and conditions on English teaching at Quang Binh University

Approximately 70% of students at Quang Binh University come fromQuang Binh province, most of them are passive in learning English.Although students wish to enhance communication activities in order toimprove the efficiency of learning English, they still need to be facilitatedand guided properly In addition, written English communication skills ofthe students is very low, up to 85% of the student do not gain level A1 of

English This makes it difficult for them students to study B1 levelimmediately as requirements

Survey on English teaching-learning conditions for non-language majorstudents at Quang Binh University showed a number of issues which werenot guaranteed for teaching communicating English successfully, includingsyllabus design, assessment test, document and facilities, teaching-learningactivities, and students' learning strategies

2.2 Survey on needs analysis of written English learning of language major students at Quang Binh University

According to training requirements, output English of graduate students

at Quang Binh University must reach level A2 The results of needs analysis

of learning communicative English writing helped us identify the objectivesand contents of teaching and learning English in order to serve designingsyllabus for students at experimenta classes Accordingly, we proposed that

the adverbs: first, second, then, and the conjunctions and, but, because need

for reviewed, so that the student could use them in writing sentences andparagraphs For Mathematics Pedagogy class (the students have better

English qualification), we could introduce more conjunctions: so, however.

A number of language texts will be taught including simple forms, shortfunctional texts such as greetings on cards, messages, or notes; informal e-mails; description; instructions, directions; recounts; reports; and narratives

2.3 Research and propose solutions application of teaching communicative English writing

2.3.1 Review of some theoretical matters related to teaching communicative

English writing

2.3.1.1 Communication by written English

Writting communication is a communication activity where people usewriting language symbols to exchange meanings with one another, but theother non-verbal means can be used to support, illustrate, and supplementmeaning of the message

2.3.1.2 The nature of writing

Writing is an action that has got both material and spiritualcharacteristics At the most basic scope, writing is a physical act to transferideas on a certain means, it may be the pictograms on leather or anelectronic message typed on the computer On the other hand, writing is also

a brain-related activity to reflect in the creation of the ideas, to think ofways to express them, and to align them into statements and passages whichare clear with the readers

2.3.1.3 Developing proficiency in written communicative English for lower learners

When learning to write, there are two major matters that emerge andparallel with each other: learn to understand the knowledge for serving ofcommunication activities also known as communicative competence andlearn to have the ability of conscious communication, also known ascommunicative performance Rivers (1975) called them respectively:support-skill/skill-getting and skill-using For students at low level, teaching

communicative English writing focuses more on skill-getting But Savignon,

a scholar of communicative approach, confirmed that learners can performactivities to obtain communcation ability from the beginning, and that it isnot necessary to learn the language structures in such a mechanical andtraditional manner