Developing the communicative competence of Chinese EFL students

Abstract

Increasing contact between China and English-speaking countries in recent years calls for competent language workers to fulfil various communication tasks. To meet this need, it is of great importance and urgency for the Chinese EFL teaching profession to be conscious of the existing problem of communicative incompetence of Chinese EFL learners and to strive for ways and means of reducing it. This study was undertaken as an exploratory study of this problem. As recognised by many now, linguistic competence alone is not sufficient for a successful foreign language learner, one needs to acquire communicative competence as well. In this study, a historical overview of the theory of communicative competence is provided. Following it is a detailed description of a survey which aimed to measure several areas of communicative competence of Chinese learners of English and to find out existing problems. Possible causal factors of those problems are also discussed and are categorised into two groups: communicative interference and weaknesses in the present curriculum, teaching methodology and teaching materials. Finally , implications of this study are examined and tentative suggestions are made in the hope that more and more Chinese EFL teachers will respond to the problem and search for ways to bring about effective learning.

Date of Award	1983
Original language	English