Degree Name

MA (Master of Arts)

Program

English

Date of Award

5-2011

Committee Chair or Co-Chairs

Theresa McGarry

Committee Members

Yousif A. Elhindi, Martha Michieka

Abstract

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been prioritized as the key instructional approach in colleges since the Chinese Ministry of Education issued a revised syllabus in 1999 that underlines college EFL students' communicative competence. The issuance of the syllabus was followed by a series of reforms on curricular designs and teaching methods. However, CLT has encountered great resistance. College teachers and learners are constrained by socio-cultural influences such as the perceptions of teachers' roles and ways of learning and teaching (Hu, 2002; Rao, 1996). Although some teachers have shown positive attitudes towards CLT, in general they have failed to practice it communicatively. This thesis discusses solutions and provides suggestions after delineating the difficulties these teachers and learners have encountered particularly. Taking into consideration China's increased global impact and internationallycollaborating programs that are currently conducted in many universities, this thesis highlights that CLT is an applicable approach to improve students' communicative competence.

Document Type

Thesis - unrestricted

Copyright

Copyright by the authors.

Share

COinS