This research traces the researcher's reading of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Second language (L2) (especially Mandarin) during her journey in Australia as a Volunteer Teacher Researcher. In simple terms, Communicative Language Teaching is an approach to L2 teaching which puts emphasis on the function of the language, especially communication which is considered as both the means and goals of learning a new language. Based on Freebody's and Luke's four resources model (cited in NSW Department of School Education, 1997), the researcher follows four different reader roles (code-breaker, text-participant, text-user and text-analyst) to interact with and reflect her learning of CLT. Therefore, the researcher's reaction to and reflection on her reading of CLT is emphasised in the context of Australia, instead of pure analysis of CLT. Autoethnography is used as the major methodology to trace the researcher's reading because it allows her to oscillate between her personal experience of encounters with CLT, and the context (the text of CLT, literature and the cultural context of L2 teaching in Australia). After framing the general context of Mandarin teaching in Australia"" the new "'policy continent', this research was developed into two parts: first, it sought the meaning of CLT and its manifestation in documents, along with the researcher's own reflections on her prior learning experience as CLT code-breaker and text-participant; second, it went further to the text-user stage and focused on how the researcher made use of CLT in her Mandarin class in NSW. From the researcher's experience, it is found that classroom management and class control issues were the most challenging obstacles to implementing CLT. Although the researcher made progress in obtaining some effective teaching techniques in a CLT-oriented class, one and a half years of teaching is not enough for developing one's overall skills in effective teaching, especially in balancing the relationship between classroom control, pedagogy (CLT) and learning. Nevertheless, it is believed that the researcher's unsmooth development in the use of CLT was not because of the methodology itself, but mainly due to lack of confidence, and engagement with a CLT class of low-motivated students. CLT requires teachers to empower themselves to be reflective with teaching problems, seeking for alternative ways to make CLT appropriate to different classroom contexts. Finally, the work looks at the implications for China, of what the researcher learnt from her journey in Australia. It discusses both enabling and limiting factors in the context of China. Under this context, the researcher suggests a compromise solution combining measures of the traditional Chinese method (the Grammar-Translation Method) and CLT in language classes, in order to make CLT adapt to China's particular context. Overall, this research aims to explore and reflect what the researcher thinks about the usefulness and feasibility of CLT in different contexts (especially Australia and China) by unfolding her own reflections on her prior learning experience in China and learning and teaching with CLT during her reading process in her "'journey to the west' as a Volunteer Teacher Researcher in Australia.
Date of Award | 2010 |
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Original language | English |
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- study and teaching (secondary)
- foreign speakers
- language and languages
- communicative competence
- second language acquisition
- communicative language teaching (CLT)
- Chinese language
- Mandarin dialects
Journey to the West : reading communicative language teaching in Australia
Zhang, W. (Author). 2010
Western Sydney University thesis: Master's thesis