2。1。3 The Communicative Approach

Reacting to the traditional methods and emphasizing language functions, D。A。 Wilkins set out the Notional-Functional Syllabus(NFS)。 His book Notional Syllabuses (1976) paves the way for the development of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)。

The Communicative Approach was formed according to linguist Hymes’ and Halliday’s theory。 Dwell Hymes, an American sociolinguist, is the first person proposed Communicative Competence。 Hymes held that linguistic theory needed to be seen as part of a more general theory incorporating communication and culture。 In his view, communicative competence refers to the ability to use English impromptu in real-world situations。 (Zhang 164) American 

linguists Tracy D。 Terrell and Stephen D。 Krashen put forward together that educationists should develop learners’ ability of using language in natural and communicative situations and help them master common rules of the target language unintentionally。 (Terrell and Krashen 32)

2。2 The development of CLT research abroad and at home

2。2。1 Researches of CLT in foreign countries

The theoretical underpinning of CLT is “communicative competence” which was proposed by D。 H。 Hymes。 Hymes thought that language ability not only means making a grammatically-right sentence, but also using languages properly。 Therefore, he firstly proposed two aspects of communicative competence --- “linguistic ability” and “linguistic performance”。 Subsequently, in 1980, Canadian scholars M。 Canale and M。 Swain based on Hymes’ theory, pided communicative competence into four components, consisting of grammatical competence, discourse competence, sociocultural competence and strategic competence。

The Communicative Approach started from the revolution of English traditional language teaching in 1960s。 British applied linguists realized that the core of language teaching lies in cultivating communicative competence, instead of merely grasping language structure。 Later on, quite a few influential articles had been published。 In 1972, the famous British linguist D。 A。 Wilkins published a book of Notional Syllabus in 1976 which bitterly points out the limitation of traditional grammar syllabus and situational syllabus。 (Wilkins 21)

2。2。2 Researches of CLT in China

In China, the research of CLT can be pided into three stages: introduction, acceptance and development。 By the end of the 1970s, Candlin and Hu Wenzhong first tried to bring CLT into China。 Subsequently, the Communicative Approach had made a great impact on Chinese English language teaching。 Many scholars tried to introduce and explore this new method。 Li Xiaoju was the earliest to apply CLT in practice。 Lots of textbooks which are written on the basis of CLT spring up, such as Communicative English for Chinese Learners, which was edited by Li Xiaoju (Li 35)。 This textbook was regarded as the successful combination of the CLT theory and Chinese national situation。 In the 1990s, the Communicative Approach has been researched and praised by scholars widely and has been listed into five English teaching methods in China。 

2。3 Theoretical basis of the research

2。3。1 Chomsky’s language competence theory

Chomsky criticized structural linguistics and put forward “Transformational-generative Grammar” which set off a revolution in the field of linguistics。 In 1965, Chomsky proposed the term of “linguistic competence”。 For Chomsky, the focus of linguistic theory was to characterize the abstract ability speakers possess which enables them to produce grammatically correct sentences in a language。 (Zhang 166)

2。3。2 Hymes’ communicative competence theory

In 1971, Hymes coined the term “communicative competence” to present the use of language in social context, or the observance of sociolinguistic norms of appropriacy。 (Celce-Murcia 16) In Hymes’ view, “communicative competence” refers to the ability not only to apply the grammatical rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentences but also to know when and where to use these sentences and to whom。 (Cao 454) He set forth the theory of communicative competence which reflects the social points of view of language, and thus became the fundamental basis of the communicative approach。