The way to improve the English communicative competence of vocational college students

舒红+刘康

【Abstract】In order to improve the communicative competence of the vocational college students， the corresponding teaching strategies are studied in depth. Firstly， the several aspects of the problem exited in the vocational college students are analyzed. Then some teaching methods and strategies are summarized. Especially unpon “One belt and Road” idea， it is very important to improve the English communicative competence of the vocational college students to enhance cultural and trade exchanges with other country.

【Key words】communicatice competence； vocational college students； English teaching

I. Introduction

English teaching is a very wide and complicated topic. Here I would like to focus on how to improve the English communicative competence of vocational college students in China.

China has become a much more international country for the time being. In September and October of 2013， Chinese President Xi Jinping visited Central Asia and Southeast Asia， and he raised the initiative of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st-Century Maritime Silk Road， which have attracted close attention from all over the world.

English is a basically common language in “The belt and Road” countries. For much more open and communication， I believe that one of the keys to accelerating the process of internationalization is to help develop students English language ability. That will open so many more doors for the Chinese.

II. Problem and Solution

1. Problem

At present， the past few years of my English teaching， I observed that vocational college students are prevalent in the communication process following several aspects of the problem.

（1） Poor English language competence

Most of vocational college students got a low score of college entrance examination. It seems they have not gained a good English command skills at high school.

（2） Lack of oral expressions

As we know， many Chinese people can not speak English very well even if they have learned English for six years in primary school and six years in high school or they graduated from the university. In high schools， students just learn hard for passing the examination， and for teachers put emphasis on teaching grammar and writing. Listening and speaking skills of English are neglected in high schools. I think it is the reason that the students can not express by oral English.

（3） Lack of communication with foreigners

When some college students meet foreigners， they are so nervous that they cannot speak English right and fluently. The reason is they have no any contact with foreigners at usual. So they cannot communicative with foreign people in real situation.

2. Solution

Thus I have some suggestions for English class in the vocational college of China.

First， we know that English needs to be used for communication. Both teachers and students should only use English in class， and avoid using native language， Chinese.

Second， teachers should make students listen to more and more authentic English， for example， listen to the dialogue， see the video， then let students copy the sound and retell the sentence they listened. Dont make the language dust. Imitation is very important because native language stop students from learning English， especially in pronunciation such as Japanese.

Third， teachers should not only teach students English but also provide them some information about culture， custom， business etiquette， etc. Because a deepening apprehension of culture of other nations can gain a good communication. Lack of culture information gap， on one hand， is due to the limitation of the learning and living environment， which makes most of the students only talk about the topics related closely to study and life. On the second hand， the information gap also appears in the “English-Chinese” information transferring process， because of the lack of language knowledge.

Fourth， teachers should give more opportunities to students to state their own opinions in English. Discussing about some questions or disputing on a subject in class can make students use English positively. Then it leads to more oral practice， such as role play of business negotiation in class， etc. Among the four English abilities， speaking and listening ability should be paid more attention by learners and by English teachers. As another advice， teachers should take part in community activity with students together， such as Celebration Day organized by China European Chamber. This is a big chance to meet foreign friends and challenge to speak English.

On the other hand， teachers should also keep on improving their teaching methods， and teachers should view their profession as a lifelong process of studying and learning. Unfortunately in China， teachers tend to view once they reach a certain position they dont have to learn anymore. If Chinese teachers who teach English dont try to improve themselves， I believe it is impossible to improve English competence of students. I would like to suggest three ways for Chinese teachers.

First， give one class technique A， and another class technique B， then keep a diary of which technique worked better， and what they did， just writing down some detailed notes.

Second， two teachers may agree to watch each others lessons， and maybe focus on one aspect or another that they would like to improve. It is important however， to work not in a critical way， but to try to work together to learn from each other and improve each others teaching.

Third， deep thinking on teaching strategies.

Communicative Strategies teaching must be integrated with the specific content of courses， a few views on the communicative strategies， such as the definitions of paraphrase， translation， the use of formulaic expressions， repetition and gestures， etc. Then discuss how to properly use the communicative strategies to complete communicative tasks.

III. CONCLUSION

So the conclusion is that Vocational college should concentrate on improving listening and speaking skills of students first in order to improve the communicative competence of college students.

From this point of view， in the classroom， we must strengthen this kind of teaching， create a foreign language learning environment， and provide plenty of opportunities for communicative strategy training.

To promote mutual understanding and friendship among people of all countries along the Belt and Road， we need more communication by language. English is the most common and widely used language in these countries. So the very important and emergent thing of English teaching in vocational college is to improve the English communicative competence of students.

References：

[1]LI Shangjiao.如何提高高職学生英语口语交流能力[J].教改与教材教法，2016.02.

[2]CHEN Shang.英语视听说课程设计《Journal of Jiamusi Education Institute》[J].外语研究，2014.01.

[3]Walsh，Steve.Classroom discourse and Teacher Development. 2013.

作者简介：

舒红（1968-），女，汉族，重庆人，硕士，副教授，海外留学和工作数年，主要研究方向：国际贸易，商务英语和日语。

刘康（1987-），男，汉族，重庆人，在读硕士，讲师，主要研究方向：商务英语，跨境电商与报关技能。