The Discussion of Communicative Language Teaching in Language Classrooms

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), also known as communicative approach, has witnessed a tremendous growth of research since it was developed by British applied linguists, as an effective approach to L2 learning and teaching. The basic idea of CLT is that language instruction should focus on communicative proficiency instead of on mere mastery of structures. With the guidance of five interconnected principles summarized by Richards and Rodgers, various implementations are realized. However, the implementation of CLT in Asia still encounter a number of difficulties due to some conceptual and contextual mismatches. In the short discussion of CLT, its background, definition, main characteristics as well as its strengths and limitations are contained. The article aims to help foreign language teachers to acquire a comprehensive understanding of CLT and adapt their teaching beliefs to cope with the challenges in practical teaching.