Research on a Teaching Model of Improving Chinese EFL Learners’Comprehensive Communicative Competen

Research on a Teaching Model of Improving Chinese EFL Learners’Comprehensive Communicative Competence

WANG Jian-kun
(Foreign Languages Department, Harbin Engineering University, Harbin, Heilongjiang 150001, China)

Abstract: The paper intends to carry on a research on a teaching model of improving Chinese students’ comprehensive communicative competence. This research is based on reading course combined with the writer’s teaching experiences of many years. It puts forward a multilayered model of teaching reading which can develop both reading proficiency and linguistic competence.
Key words: comprehensive communicative competence; reading course; teaching model
1. Introduction
Comprehensive communicative competence is becoming more and more important for Chinese students. In classes, teachers should not only teach students the four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, but also provide them the appropriate cultural context to use them. So how to improve students’ comprehensive communicative competence in class is the main task for English teachers in China.
At present, some problems still exist in college English teaching in China. Traditional teaching models always attach much attention to students’ English grammar and ignore their practical communicative competence. This thesis will expound a multilayered model of teaching reading which can be used to foster this competence, for the teaching of reading in EFL class in China is by far the most important course for English learners in colleges and universities.
2. Culture-oriented Sense of Reading Process
The goal of English teaching is to train and develop students’ competence in intercultural communication.
Intercultural communication is, of course, a two-sided experience, and the success or failure of cultural communication depends on how much awareness and sensitivity each side has of the other side’s culture.
1.1 Arousing students’ intercultural communicative awareness
Because of different cultural background, life experience, profession, sex, education, even age, character, people may have different modes of interaction. People learn to think, feel, behave and strive for what their culture considers proper. So the teaching of English reading should set an example to show that there are a number of different cultural outlooks and perspectives. Students should be provided with tools to analyze fundamental cultural aspects so that this cultural awareness will eventually lead to tolerance and mutual respect. Learners will be able to recognize misunderstanding and to find ways to overcome them. They will be able to appreciate cultural diversity without losing sight of their national identity or their cultural norms and values.
1.2 Introducing culture information in accordance with texts
English texts include every type of writing, all kinds of subjects, such as politics, economy, history, religion, customs, social sciences a

nd the arts, which are different from Chinese ones and tend to form a block in the student’s understanding of the texts. So cultural explanations wherever are necessary will help students understand the target culture, master the language and arouse their interest of English study.
To integrate culture teaching into language teaching, textbooks should be made full use of, which can inform students of some culture facts or draw their attention to culture comparisons in interesting and readily accessible ways. Before reading, some cultural background knowledge or culture information relevant to the text not only enables students to absorb the text well by reducing cultural interference but also help them understand better the culture of English-speaking countries so that they are able to communicate successfully. When teaching a text about manners, teachers can explain the differences of manners between Chinese and western people before the text explanation. On explaining a text, teachers can integrate the content of the text with the relevant culture. Take Contemporary College English published by Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press as an example. In Lesson 12, Book 1, there is a sentence “Several states later I was still thinking about the hitchhiker.” In China, most students could not comprehend the full meaning of “hitchhiker”. Therefore, teachers should explain the meaning based on American culture. Language teaching and culture teaching are closely related to each other and should not be separated. The meaning of a sentence must be understood on the basis of cultural tradition and social conventions. With this kind of accumulation over a long period of time, students will be much more interested in English-learning and will diminish the pragmatic failures in their intercultural communication.
In the teaching process, a teacher can compare the culture of target language with that of native language, for instance, both English and Chinese words have their own symbolic meanings. In the west “white” is a symbol of purity; girls wear white clothes in their wedding, but Chinese people wear white in funerals. Chinese people like to say “east, south, west and north”, while English takes this order “north, south, east and west”. Thus by contrast, students can have an awareness of the different cultures represented by the two languages.
3. Text Analysis Approach to Reading
Text analysis can be carried out on two aspects: how idea is developed and how words are arranged to achieve the coherence and cohesion of text. This approach not only contributes to students’ reading ability but also writing ability. The organizational patterns of a text involve in theme and support. According to Widdowson (1996: 136), the pattern of text can be illustrated as follows:


In addition, LIU Chen-dan(1999: 129-137) thinks that concrete textual patterns include: (1) problem-solution pattern; (2) claim-countercla

im pattern; (3) narrative pattern; (4) general-specific pattern. The above can be seen as devices for developing learners’ awareness of the structure of text. Meanwhile, it is also very necessary for teachers to guide their students to judge the text type of an article. The most common text types include narration, description, exposition and argumentation.
Cohesion and coherence are two obvious features of discourse. According to Michael Hoey, lexical cohesion is the main part to create texture. He (2001: 10) points out that the study of cohesion in text is to a considerable degree the study of patterns of lexis in text. He refers to lexical cohesion as one kind-repetition, which includes simple lexical repetition, complex lexical repletion, simple paraphrase, complex paraphrase and some other ways of repetition. Other ways of repetition include Superordinate and hyponymic repetition (such as the superordinate “flower” including hyponyms: rose, daffodil, tulip, chrysanthemum, daisy, dandelion, carnation, etc.). According to Hoey, a link occurs when there is a repetition of an item in a text. And a bond is formed only when there are no less than three links between two sentences. In other words, any two sentences are connected as packages of information if they share at least three points of repetitions. This lexical patterning plays an important part in textual organization and in other words it contributes greatly to the coherence of a text.
Hoey’s theory aims at observing and noting how words come together and organize the text. In reading classes it is better for teachers to try to make use of patterns of lexis to analyze texts in order to improve students’reading and writing ability.
4. The Cultivation of Stylistic Awareness in Text
In English teaching, it is very necessary for teachers to cultivate students’ English thinking mode which is different from Chinese one. As we know that culture not only lies in the content of texts but also can be seen in the form which the text takes. Thus, Chinese writers encode Chinese culture; American writers encode American culture and so on. The cultural variability in text structuring can be seen in many different kinds of discourse. In Chinese letters of request the reason for the request commonly precedes the request itself, while in English the reverse order is typical. Thus, the Chinese order used in English appears unordered, while the English order in Chinese appears abrupt. So in classes teachers must point out the features of different kinds of English discourse in order to help improve their students’ writing ability.
According to DENG Yan-chang (2001: 101), there are some stylistic differences in English and Chinese writing. Narration and description in Chinese seem to be a bit more ornate, or “flowery”, than in English. In persuasive writing such as social or political essays and editorials, English-speaking writers tend to be less militant in tone and langua

ge than most Chinese. The idea is to let the facts speak for themselves. So in such types of writing they seldom use such phrases as “we must”, “we should not”, “it is absurd”. However, in Chinese articles writers tend to use them. In English discourse general-specific pattern is the most popular way which reflects the linear thinking mode of westerners, and however, in Chinese discourse metaphorical and indirect way is usually found, which reflects the spiral thinking mode of Orientals.
Awareness of the above-mentioned Chinese-English differences in writing style can help students improve their writing skills as well as their reading skills. In this way, students can write an English article of both linguistic and social appropriateness.
5. The Close Combination of Reading with Listening and Speaking
In reading classes, we find it very necessary to form students’ evaluative judgments about what they have read. This after-reading process could be conducted by students’ oral presentation about the text. In this way, students can make use of the context of the text to practice oral communication. For example, in reading classes after learning the text “Going Home”, students were asked some questions around the text, for instance:
(1) What do you think Vingo (the protagonist) had done that got him in prison?
(2) What do you think he wanted to do after his release?
(3) Did Vingo feel certain that his wife would accept him and still wait for him on the bus?
(4) What made him know that he was forgiven and welcomed home?
(5) What does the yellow ribbon symbolize? What did it mean to Vingo?
By means of the questions the conversation between the teacher and students can be made and most students tend to be interested in the discussion as far as the topics in text they just learnt are concerned. Therefore, students can improve their conversational skills on the basis of good understanding of a text.
In addition, another after-reading activity can be conducted by oral reproduction of the text. After reading, students are instructed to summarize what was read, then express it out in class by oral speaking. Through this, both reading proficiency and linguistic competence can be developed.
6. Conclusion
The above-mentioned teaching strategies may be applied to reading course, whatever intensive or extensive.
The approach combines reading with writing and speaking as well as listening in connection with relevant textual and cultural context. The purpose is to try to research on a model of the cultivation of students’ comprehensive communicative competence in reading teaching. It is hoped that this tentative study will be beneficial to both English reading teaching practice and EFL learners.

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