A Study On The Application Of The Eclectic Method To English Language Teaching In China

For about a hundred years there are dozens of influential methods and approaches in FLT in western countries. But there are only several methods and approaches which have a strong impact on ELT in China. According to their theoretical basis and basic tenets, etc., they can be divided into two schools, e.g.. school of rationalism and school of empiricism. The former includes grammar-translation method, conscious comparison method and cognitive approach, etc.; the latter includes direct method, audio-lingual method, audio-visual method and communicative approach, etc. The two schools each have advantages and disadvantages. The school of rationalism considers the learning process as a cognitive process, emphasizing students' intellectuality and language knowledge, but ignores students' communicative competence. The grammar-translation method is its representative. The school of empiricism considers learning process as a habit-formation process, emphasizing students' language training and communicative competence, but ignores the instruction in systematic language knowledge and students' intellectuality. The communicative approach is its representative.After analyzing the English language teaching situation in China, the author thinks that it is unsuitable to adopt any method of the two schools. Because of the environment of Chinese as the first language, the pressure of the entrance examination to universities, frequent communication with the world and the entry to WTO. etc., we should adopt a method which can compromise the contradictions of the two schools to take the place of some unsatisfactory methods, such as the grammar-translation method or the communicative approach, etc.The current trend in FLT in western countries is an eclectic integration which combines rationalism with empiricism. On this basis the paper proposes the eclecticmethod which makes full use of the strong points of other methods in ELT especially in the college English teaching including to English majors.Then the paper has made a systematic study on the eclectic method from its origin, definition, theory, research situation at home and abroad to its basic ideas, and proposed some concrete suggestions, e.g., adopting different emphasis between structures and functions at different teaching stages; adopting different teaching methods to learners of different learning styles, etc.Finally, the author elaborates on the feasibility and possibility of the eclectic method applied in China. And under the guidance of the eclectic method the author attempts to carry out some reforms such as syllabus designing, material editing and method choosing, etc., gives some specific and practical suggestions, and makes a complete teaching plan to illustrate the application of the eclectic method to the teaching of English.