System 30 (2002) 85–105

www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Chinese students’ perceptions of communicative

and non-communicative activities in EFL
classroom
Zhenhui Rao
School of Education, University of South Australia, Holbrooks Road, Underdale, South Australia, 5032,
Australia

Received 30 October 2000; received in revised form 23 June 2001; accepted 28 August 2001

Abstract
This article reports the views of 30 Chinese university students on the appropriateness
and effectiveness of communicative and non-communicative activities in their English-as-a-
Foreign-Language (EFL) courses in China. Using multimethod, qualitative research proce-
dures, the researcher discovered that the perceptions of these students sometimes surprised
their teachers, and that the students’ perceived difficulties caused by Communicative Lan-
guage Teaching (CLT) had their source in the differences between the underlying educational
theories of China and those of Western countries. The results suggest that, to update English
teaching methods, EFL countries like China need to modernize, not westernize, English teach-
ing; that is, to combine the ‘‘new’’ with the ‘‘old’’ to align the communicative approach with
traditional teaching structures. It is apparent from the study that only by reconciling com-
municative activities with non-communicative activities in English classrooms can students in
non-English speaking countries benefit from CLT. # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights
reserved.
Keywords: Chinese students; EFL learners; Perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activ-
ities; Learner behaviour; CLT; Difficulties in adopting CLT; Traditional teaching methods; Teaching
English in China; Education settings; Culture

E-mail address: raozy001@students.unisa.edu.au (Z. Rao).

0346-251X/02/$ - see front matter # 2002 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.
PII: S0346-251X(01)00050-1
86 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

1. Introduction

Recent attempts to introduce CLT into EFL teaching in China have provoked a
great deal of comment and debate. Whereas some accounts have emphasized the
value of adopting CLT in China (e.g. Li, 1984; Maley, 1984; Spenser, 1986), others
have noted the importance of Chinese traditional ways of teaching and learning (e.g.
Harvey, 1985; Ting, 1987; Sampson, 1990). However, the majority of accounts have
focused on the need to adapt CLT to the demands and conditions for language
learning and teaching in China (e.g. Scovel, 1983; Anderson, 1993; Rao, 1996).
Within this heated debate on English teaching methodology, the study of Chinese
students’ response to CLT deserves particular attention. Do they enjoy activities
involving communication and real use of language? Are they receptive to the teach-
ing techniques that may be new to them? Do they agree that real-language activities
emphasizing language content are more effective than non-communicative activit-
ies that stress formal correction? Do they believe that such activities are helpful to
them as language learners?
With these questions in mind, researchers and English teachers have conducted
extensive studies on Chinese students’ learning strategies. Most of these studies
revealed that Chinese students’ learning strategies consisted of many of the follow-
ing features: concentration on intensive reading as a basis for language study; a
preoccupation with the careful, often painstaking examination of grammatical
structure and a corresponding lack of attention to more communicative skills; the use
of memorization and rote learning as a basic acquisition technique; a strong emphasis
on the correction of mistakes, both written and oral; the use of translation as a learning
strategy (Maley, 1983; Scovel, 1983; Barlow and Lowe, 1985; Harvey, 1985). One
exception this researcher has found in literature is a recent study made by Littlewood
(2000), in which he discovered that ‘‘the stereotype of Asian students as ‘obedient lis-
teners’—whether or not it is a reflection of their actual behaviour in class—does not
reflect the role they would like to adopt in class’’ (Littlewood, 2000, p. 33).
All these research reports of Chinese students’ learning strategies in EFL learning,
except Littlewood’s, have generally been based on anecdotal evidence and the
intuitive sense of teachers and researchers. This sort of evidence can be valuable,
but it is surprising that almost nobody seems to have actually asked Chinese stu-
dents themselves to rate the extent to which they enjoy communicative and non-
communicative activities. Recent researches have shown that the perceptions of
teachers and their students do not always match (e.g. Kumaravadivelu, 1991; Block,
1994). Block (1994, 1996), for example, has found that ‘‘teachers and learners oper-
ate according to quite different systems for describing and attributing purpose to
tasks’’ (1994, p. 473). Block’s findings are supported by Nunan’s study (1986),
in which he found clear mismatches between learners’ and teachers’ opinions about
which activities were important in the learning process.
In order to deepen our understanding of how students react to communicative and
non-communicative activities, Barkhuizen (1998, p. 86) has called for ‘‘teachers to
discover their learners’ feelings and beliefs about their language learning experiences
and consequently to review and possibly change their teaching process’’. For this
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 87

reason, I undertook a case study of Chinese university students’ perceptions of

communicative and non-communicative activities in the English classroom. While
this study was based on the studies previously done in second-language settings,
there was a shift in focus to a foreign-language context. Next, by directly involving
the students in the study, I explored their personal feelings and beliefs in English
learning. Finally, I discussed the implication of the findings for EFL teachers in the
Chinese context, as well as for those teachers who may share the same characteristics
of English teaching worldwide.

2. Defining characteristics of CLT

There is considerable debate as to appropriate ways of defining CLT, and no sin-

gle model of CLT is universally accepted as authoritative (McGroarty, 1984; Mar-
kee, 1997). However, according to Richards and Rodgers (1986), CLT starts with a
theory of language as communication, and its goal is to develop learners’ commu-
nicative competence.
CLT consists of a strong version and a weak version. The strong version of com-
municative teaching, according to Holliday (1994), advances the claim that it is not
merely a question of activating an existing but inert knowledge of the language, but
of stimulating the development of language itself. The weak version emphasizes the
importance of providing learners with opportunities to use their English for com-
municative purposes and, characteristically, attempts to integrate such activities into
a wider program of language teaching. Howatt (1984, p. 279) describes the former as
‘‘using English to learn it’’ and the latter as ‘‘learning to use English’’. What I must
stress here is that characteristics of CLT to be described below reflect only the defi-
nition of the weak version of CLT, which has become more or less standard practice
in China in the past two decades.
The most obvious characteristic of CLT, according to Larsen-Freeman (1986, p.
132), is that ‘‘almost everything that is done is done with a communicative intent’’.
In CLT, meaning is paramount. There are a variety of communicative activities (e.g.
games, role plays, simulations, and problem-solving tasks), which give students an
opportunity to practice communicating meaningfully in different contexts and in
different roles. In the process of the performance of these activities, students’ native
language is avoided and error correction may be infrequent or absent.
Another characteristic of CLT is that ‘‘activities in the Communicative Approach
are often carried out by students in small groups’’ (Larsen-Freeman, 1986, p. 132).
Students are expected to interact with each other in order to maximize the time
allotted to each student for learning to negotiate meaning. Through these small
group activities, the students are engaged in meaningful and authentic language use
rather than in the merely mechanical practice of language patterns. Furthermore,
CLT favors the introduction of authentic materials (Larsen-Freeman, 1986; Dubin,
1995; Widdowson, 1996). It is considered desirable to give learners the opportunity
to develop strategies for understanding language as it is actually used by native
speakers (Canale and Swain, 1980).
88 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

The final characteristic of CLT is ‘‘its learner-centered and experience-based view of

second language teaching’’ (Richards and Rodgers, 1986, p. 69). In CLT, classroom
performance is managed not just by the teacher, but by all present. Teachers are not
seen only as teachers, learners simply as learners, because both are, for good or ill,
managers of learning (Allwright, 1984). Instead of being the dominating authority in
the classroom, one primary role for the teacher is to facilitate the communicative
process in the classroom where students feel secure, unthreatened and non-defensive.

3. The study

The study reported here used a case study approach to investigate Chinese stu-
dents’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activities in EFL
classroom.

3.1. Background: CLT in China

The last decades bear witness that China’s modernization program needs thou-
sands of people with a working command of English. Realizing that the traditional
grammar-translation method and audiolingual method could not help much to
develop learners’ communicative competence, EFL teachers in China started intro-
ducing CLT into English teaching at both the secondary school level and tertiary
level in the early 1980s. In most schools, students are encouraged, from the very
beginning of English learning, to develop communicative competence through
meaningful drills and communicative activities.
Accompanying the introduction of CLT was the publication of a series of new
textbooks. Various kinds of English textbooks are now available to English teach-
ers, who are free to choose any set provided that the whole school adopts it. The
new textbooks incorporate a communicative perspective and more listening and
speaking materials and activities relative to the older ones.
Nevertheless, the outcome of teaching English exclusively using CLT did not
provide the expected results. On the one hand, students did not like to participate in
communicative-type activities and preferred more traditional classroom work; on
the other hand, teachers felt discouraged from continuing with CLT, both because
of students’ negative responses and because of their lack of training in using CLT
and low English proficiency. What is responsible for this phenomenon? Is CLT a
viable approach for EFL teaching in China? To answer these questions, I investi-
gated Chinese students’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative
activities in the EFL classroom. Specifically, the study attempted to answer the fol-
lowing questions:

1. What are the students’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative

activities in the EFL classroom; and
2. What are their perceived difficulties in an EFL class exclusively conducted by
a teacher using CLT?
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 89

3.2. Subjects

3.2.1. Survey subjects

The participants in the formal questionnaire were 30 Chinese university students
majoring in English in Jiangxi Normal University, China. They were randomly
selected from the enrollment lists, so as to provide each member of the population
an equal opportunity to be included in the sample (Dane, 1990). Fifteen of them
were second-year students and another 15 were third-year students. The first- and
fourth-year students were not included because the former had been in university for
just a short time and were in the process of adjusting themselves to university study
while the latter were busily engaged in hunting for jobs or preparing for Bachelor’s
theses at the time the study was conducted. All the subjects had been exposed to
CLT both in secondary school and in university, and were therefore familiar with
the terminology applied in the investigation. The questionnaire was administered
immediately after the class time and the response rate was 100%. Among the 30
subjects, 21 were females and nine were males. The age ranged from 18 to 23, with
the average being 20. By the time of the study, these students had all had 6 years of
English learning experience in secondary school (932 contact hours). In university,
the second-year students had just completed 1 year of English learning (532 contact
hours) and the third-year students 2 years of English learning (1062 contact hours);
their courses covering listening, speaking, reading and writing.

3.2.2. Interview subjects

Ten of the 30 subjects were chosen for interviews. In selecting interview infor-
mants, following Patton’s ‘‘maximum variation sampling’’ (Lincoln and Guba,
1985, p. 200), I allowed for maximum variation in subjects’ age, sex, grades and
English proficiency. First of all, based on the previously completed questionnaire, I
tabulated the background information on the survey subjects. Then, I started to
select the interviewees that would represent all the variations mentioned above. The
result (Table 1) was a group that was representative of the 30 survey subjects
(the students’ names have been changed).

Table 1
Background of interview subjects

Subject Sex Age Grade English proficiency

Li Hui F 20 3 Fair
Gao Ming F 22 3 Good
Wang Dawei M 18 2 Good
Jing Tao F 19 2 Poor
Zhong Qing M 19 2 Fair
Liu Peng M 21 3 Good
Sheng Hao M 23 3 Poor
Wu Wei F 20 2 Fair
Liang Qian F 21 3 Good
Zhang Jiangse M 19 2 Poor
90 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

3.3. Instruments

3.3.1. Questionnaire
The questionnaire consists of three parts (Appendix). Part A concerns the sub-
jects’ personal details (that is, name, sex, age, grades, English proficiency) and their
general views on communicative and non-communicative activities in the EFL
classroom.
Part B consists of 19 questionnaire items, which were designed as a representative
mix of communicative and real-language practice on the one hand, and non-
communicative form-based techniques on the other. Items involving communicative
and real use of language included activities characterized by student-to-student
interaction with little or no monitoring of student output by the teacher (items 4, 8
and 11); oral situations characterized by student–teacher interaction with the teacher
monitoring and sometimes responding to student output (items 7, 14, and 15); con-
tent-based teacher responses to students’ journals (item 10); and the use of songs in
the classroom (items 2 and 17). Singing and listening to songs were included in the
communicative group because such activities tend to focus on the meaning rather
than the grammatical form of what is being sung or listened to, and because singing
and listening to songs are real use of language. Non-communicative items empha-
sizing formal correctness included workbook type drill and practice exercises (items
1 and 16); audiolingual style substitution drills (items 12 and 13); dictionary work on
a list of words before reading a selection containing the words (item 3); explicit
grammar instruction conducted entirely in English (item 5); explicit grammar
instruction conducted in Chinese with examples in English (item 6); teacher correc-
tion of errors in the students’ journals (item 9, deliberately in contrast to item 10);
and students’ obedience to the teacher (items 18 and 19).
Part C consists of some difficulties that Chinese EFL students may have in using
communicative activities in the EFL classroom. All the question items in the ques-
tionnaire were simply and concisely stated so as to avoid any misunderstanding. To
each item in Part B and C, only two responses were given. The subjects were
instructed to express their personal opinions on each item by choosing ‘‘Yes’’ or
‘‘No’’.

3.3.2. Semiconstructed interview

This interview was conducted to help the researcher gain an in-depth under-
standing of the students’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative
activities and their perceived difficulties in using communicative activities in the
classroom. In this partially structured interview, I posed a few predetermined ques-
tions but had considerable flexibility concerning follow-up questions pertinent to
their learning experience, then I listened to their response for clues as to what ques-
tion to ask next, or whether it was important to probe for additional information
(Maykut and Morehouse, 1994).
While formulating interview questions, I made sure that the questions were clear,
precise and motivating (Denzin, 1989). Each interview, which lasted 1 h or so, was
conducted in the students’ native language (Chinese) so that the subjects were able
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 91

to express their ideas fully. All the interviews were audiotaped and transcribed verba-
tim. The transcripts of the interviews were later given to the subjects for verification.

4. Data analysis

Data analysis is not a simple description of the data collected but a process by
which the researcher can bring interpretation to the data (Powney and Watts, 1987).
The themes and coding categories in this study emerged from an examination of the
data rather than being determined beforehand and imposed on the data (Bogdan
and Biklen, 1992). In the process of data analysis, I adopted analytic induction
(Goetz and LeCompte, 1984; Bogdan and Biklen, 1992). By reading through the
completed questionnaire and the interview transcripts over and over again, I dis-
covered the students’ perceptions of communicative and non-communicative activ-
ities and identified the recurrent themes and salient comments in regard to the
constraints that Chinese students had encountered in using communicative activ-
ities.

5. Results

5.1. Research question 1: What are the students’ perceptions of communicative and
non-communicative activities in the EFL classroom?

The reported favored activities in the EFL classroom, both communicative and
non-communicative, are shown in Table 2. Items in this table follow the order of the
descriptive listing above.
The survey results suggest that the students favored a variety of classroom activ-
ities, but that they liked non-communicative activities more than communicative
ones. Of the 10 non-communicative activities, six were favored by more than two
thirds of the subjects while in communicative activities four out of nine items were
claimed to be favored by most students. This reflected to a certain degree the current
English teaching situation in Chinese classrooms. Although CLT was gradually
introduced into the Chinese EFL classroom from the early 1980s, it still has not
become a dominant method in most EFL classrooms. Most students felt, on the
other hand, that such traditional classroom activities as audiolingual drill (items 12
and 13), workbook type drill and practice (items 1 and 16) were still effective ways to
facilitate their English learning. The following comment was typical.

1. We are Chinese students learning English in China. Though we do need, to a

certain degree, communicative activities to help us improve our communicative
competence in the classroom, we should not discontinue the use of our traditional
classroom activities. Of course, it is not all the non-communicative activities that
we should keep, but those which have proved to be very efficient for our English
learning nowadays. (Liang Qian, 11 October 1999)
92 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

Table 2
Reported favored activities in EFL classroom

Item No. of mentionsa

Communicative items
Student–student interaction
4 29
8 28
11 9
Student–teacher interaction
7 28
14 30
15 8
Personal response to students’ exercises
10 17
Songs
2 14
17 7

Non-communicative items
Workbook type drill and practice
1 25
16 27
Audiolingual drill
12 30
13 30
Dictionary exercise
3 11
Grammar rule explanation by teacher
5 30
6 11
Error correction
9 16
Obedience to teacher’s instruction
18 12
19 27
a
The number of times the research subjects referred to an item in the questionnaire. The maximum
number of mentions possible for each item is 30.

Indeed, the students’ comments here reflected their current attitude towards
some of the outdated traditional classroom activities. For example, dictionary
exercise (item 3), which was quite welcome and popular before the 1990s, was
reported to be favored by only 11 of the 30 subjects. The same was true for error
correction (item 9).

2. While speaking English, I don’t like to be always interrupted by my teacher or

classmates. I am happy if the teacher can help me correct some serious mistakes in
my speaking, but certainly not all the mistakes. Otherwise, I will never be able to
speak freely and fluently. (Wu Wei, 15 October 1999)
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 93

What surprised the researcher even more from the study was the students’
response to the explanation of grammar rules by the teacher. All 30 students reported
that they would like the teacher to explain a grammatical rule that is printed in the
textbook in English (item 5). However, when asked if they would like the teacher to
explain a grammar rule in Chinese (item 6), only 11 of them said ‘‘Yes’’. This indi-
cated that most of the students had taken up the mother-tongue-avoidance strategy
in the classroom, which was one result from the introduction of CLT in China. Even
respondents whose English proficiency was poor insisted that teachers should use
English whenever they could.

3. I would like to be exposed to the English language as much as possible in the

EFL classroom. I don’t mind a few Chinese words when the teacher is explaining
some complex and abstract grammatical rules, but too much Chinese is absolutely
unwelcome in an English class. (Jing Tao, 15 October 1999)

Similarly, the students’ belief in obedience to the teacher in the classroom had
also undergone a certain change. While 27 reported that they would still rely on
the teacher to tell them how much they had learned (item 19), 12 reported that
they would like to depend on the teacher to explain everything to them (item 18).
This result supports Littlewood’s study, in which he concludes: ‘‘Asian students do
not, in fact, wish to be spoonfed with facts from an all-knowing ‘fount of knowl-
edge’. They want to explore knowledge themselves and find their own answers’’.
(Littlewood, 2000, p. 34).
There were also some striking features in the reported favored communicative
activities by the subjects. Almost all of the students stated that they liked group
work (item 4) and pair work (item 8), which involved a great deal of student–student
interaction. Nevertheless, when asked whether they would like to move around the
classroom (item 11), only 9 provided positive answers. Li Hui expressed her distress
when asked to perform such activities in class.

4. There are 38 students in my class. It is all right for us to organize group dis-
cussion or pair work. But there is chaos when we are asked to interact with each
other by moving around the classroom, which is only spacious enough to hold all
of us. I feel quite frustrated when such an activity is going around. (Li Hui, 11
October 1999)

This suggests that, while most of the students did like to be involved in the com-
municative activities for language practice, this involvement should be confined to
the practical learning condition. The research result indicated that any attempt
to teach English in a communicative way without taking into account the actual
teaching circumstances would lead to a failure.
The same rule also applied to student–teacher interaction. In this section, 28 sub-
jects found it stimulating to report on a newspaper or magazine article in English
(item 7), and all 30 subjects considered it helpful for the teacher to lead a class dis-
cussion (item 14).
94 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

5. I like these activities because they prompt me to express myself in English.

These activities also enable me to know the latest news and enlarge my knowl-
edge. (Sheng Hao, 15 October 1999)

However, the same sort of activity as interviewing English speakers outside of

class had mostly met with negative answers (item 15), with only eight claiming to
like this activity.

6. It is too difficult for me to interview an English speaker. It will make me feel at

a loss when such an activity is going on. Besides, there are not many opportunities
for us to see English speakers in our university. (Zhong Qing, 17 October 1999)

Surprisingly, even respondents who could speak English well thought their Eng-
lish was ‘‘too poor to communicate with native English speakers’’ (Liu Peng, 11
October 1999). It seems that it was not the students’ lack of English proficiency that
discouraged them from interviewing English speakers. Rather, it was lack of
opportunity for practice and lack of confidence. This problem was particularly seri-
ous for female students, who were ‘‘too shy to talk with a native English speaker’’
(Gao Ming, 17 October 1999). In other words, interviewing English speakers outside
of class may indeed be a good way for students to practice English. But it is not
realistic and practical in some non-English speaking countries, where the opportu-
nity to meet English speakers is quite rare.
The students’ attitudes toward content-based teacher responses to their journals
(item 10) were moderate, with 17 of them claiming to like it. What appeared to be
the unfavored activities for most of the students, among the communicative activ-
ities, were related with English songs (items 2 and 17). There were probably two
reasons: (1) lack of use of the English songs for English teaching in classroom by
teachers; and (2) the students’ traditional concept about education. In China, most
people take their learning seriously and associate songs and games in class with
entertainment exclusively. Therefore, they are skeptical of their use as learning tools
(Rao, 1996).
Several subjects with good English proficiency commented favorably on some
dynamic, creative activities, but noted that these activities were difficult to apply in
the Chinese context. ‘‘There is a cultural gap. Chinese don’t think in the way most
Westerners think’’. (Liang Qian, 11 October 1999).

5.2. Research question 2: What are the students’ perceived difficulties in an EFL
class exclusively conducted by a teacher using CLT?

All the 30 subjects showed interest in the methods their teacher used in the English
classroom. Twenty-two subjects reported that non-communicative activities suited
them better, and the other eight reported that they preferred communicative activ-
ities. To meet their current needs in English learning, all the subjects unanimously
agreed that a combination of communicative and non-communicative activities was
a best way. However, most of the subjects reported having encountered difficulties
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 95

caused by communicative activities (Table 3). Some of the subjects pointed out that
these difficulties made them unwilling or unable to participate in dynamic classroom
activities.

5.2.1. Lack of motivation for communicative competence

Twenty-eight subjects referred to lack of motivation as one of the principal con-
straints on their interest in communicative activities in the EFL classroom.
Although Chinese students are becoming more and more aware of the importance of
communicative competence, students in universities and secondary schools still pay
more attention to grammar than to communicative competence because all the
language tests are grammar-based.

7. I know it is very important to be able to communicate in English. But if I want

to graduate from university, I have to pass all kinds of examinations, which are all
grammar-based. That is why I like to work on English grammar. (Zhang Jianse,
15 October 1999)

Another factor causing little motivation for the students to improve their com-
municative competence originated from their career orientation. Since the university
in which the present study was conducted was a teachers’ university, all the gradu-
ates were supposed to be English teachers in secondary schools.

8. Since I will be an English teacher in a secondary school after graduation, what I

need to teach my students in secondary schools is plenty of vocabulary, a wide
range of grammar knowledge and a solid foundation in reading and translation.
With these capacities, I am sure I will be able to help my students pass the gram-
mar-based National College Entrance Examination. (Sheng Hao, 15 October
1999)

Since grammar still plays a decisive role in all examinations in China, students
complained that ‘‘they did not learn anything if they did not learn new words and
grammar in a class’’ (Liu Peng, 11 October 1999). Such an attitude makes the stu-
dents pay meticulous attention to language details rather than to communicative

Table 3
Reported difficulties caused by communicative activities in EFL classroom

Difficulty No. of mentionsa

Lack of motivation for developing communicative competence 28

Traditional leaning styles and habits 25
EFL learning situations 23
Lack of funding 21
a
The number of times the research subjects referred to a theme in the questionnaire as a constraint in
using communicative activities in their context. The maximum number of mentions possible for each of
the themes is 30.
96 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

competence. As Li (1984, p. 13) observes: ‘‘The examination is the piper that calls
the tune. Perhaps the tide will turn only when language testing has changed its
focus.’’

5.2.2. Traditional learning styles and habits

Twenty-five subjects reported that their traditional learning styles and habits had
prohibited them from being actively involved in communicative activities. As stu-
dents have already been in school for at least 12 years by the time they enter uni-
versity, they have become accustomed to the traditional language teaching style,
which is dominated by a teacher-centered, book-centered approach and an emphasis
on rote memory.

9. I was taught to behave traditionally in classroom the first day I went to school.
Since then, I have started forming my own learning habits, which have brought
me more or less success so far. I feel it awkward to change my classroom beha-
viors at my age in the English class. (Wang Dawei, 13 October 1999)

To make communicative activities in EFL classroom feasible in China, some

interview subjects suggested that language teachers in China change their teaching
approaches from kindergarten. ‘‘Only by changing language teaching methods from
the very beginning in schooling can students accustom themselves to CLT’’ (Li Hui,
11 October 1999).

5.2.3. EFL situations

It was worth mentioning, during the interview, that most of the subjects were
aware of the significant differences between ESL (English as a Second Language)
and EFL (English as a Foreign Language). They noted that, in case of ESL, English
is the official language which is needed for education and full participation in the
political and economic life of the nation while EFL learning often takes place in
settings where the language plays less major role in the community and is primarily
learnt only in the classroom. Twenty-three respondents mentioned EFL situations as
a constraint for using communicative activities. Since CLT was first created for ESL
countries (e.g. Britain, the USA, and Canada), ‘‘it is unavoidable for us to meet
many obstacles when we use it in our EFL situations’’ (Zhang Jiangse, 15 October
1999). The significant differences that the students saw between EFL and ESL
included the purpose of learning English, learning environments, teachers’ English
proficiency and teaching experience, and availability of authentic English materials.

10. In an ESL situation, students have a strong motivation to improve their

communicative competence in the classroom because they need it to survive in
English-speaking countries. Here in China, the majority do not need to use the
language except in the English class. Furthermore, students in ESL situations can
hear and speak English outside class. This supportive learning environment out-
side school, which is unavailable for us, greatly facilitates their comprehensive
English proficiency. (Gao Ming, 17 October 1999)
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 97

11. Teachers in ESL situations are mostly native English speakers. They are not
only fluent in English, but also good at organizing their classes in a commu-
nicative way because they have had a lot of training in this aspect. However, our
English teachers are mostly Chinese, and most of them don’t have much experi-
ence in improving students’ communicative competence. In addition, students in
ESL situations can have access to many authentic materials whereas such resour-
ces are hardly available for us except textbooks. (Jing Tao, 15 October 1999)

5.2.4. Lack of funding

Lack of equipment was cited by 21 subjects as a constraint. In China today, most
educational institutions do not have enough financial resources to provide the
audio-visual equipment, photocopiers or sources (such as a wide range of authentic
print materials) that are required to support the dynamic teaching necessitated by
communicative methods.

12. There are five language laboratories in our department, each having 48 seats.
However, only 30 seats or so in each laboratory are in good condition. To make
things worse, there is even no two-way communication facility in the laboratory.
All the classrooms in our university are not equipped with projectors, let alone TV
sets and computers. (Liu Peng, 11 October 1999)

The respondents also complained that they had to share the costs involved in the
communicative classroom teaching in class.

13. In our extensive reading class last semester, our teacher always asked us to pay
for the photocopied materials for communicative activities in class because there
was no extra funding available from the university. Since there was so much
complaint from us, the teacher stopped providing us with any authentic reading
materials this semester. (Wang Dawei, 13 October 1999)

Faced with such a financial dilemma, some subjects doubted whether commu-
nicative activities would be feasible or effective for their English learning.

6. Implication of the study

On the whole, much of what the Chinese students said about communicative and
non-communicative activities in their English classroom is encouraging for teachers
concerned with whether students are likely to accept real-language techniques. The
students in this study were not inclined to see all activities emphasizing formal lin-
guistic competence as more effective than those emphasizing the real use of lang-
uage. They also did not tend automatically to reject what was new to them in favor
of what was familiar.
However, the results of the study do show a tendency that most of the students
favor a combination of communicative and non-communicative activities in their
98 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

English classroom. All the subjects are aware of the fact that no single teaching
method, so far, can be expected to deal with everything that concerns the form, use
and content of the target language. The only way out is to reconcile communicative
activities and non-communicative activities in English learning.
Actually, there exist some encouraging examples in teaching English in China by
combining communicative and non-communicative activities (see White, 1989; For-
seth, 1991; Tool, 1992; for details). All these examples illustrate that Chinese stu-
dents’ English learning can be facilitated if teachers can develop their own ‘‘locally
appropriate version of the communicative approach’’ (Thompson, 1996, p. 36).
However, in the process of devising such teaching methods, teachers may encounter
resistance from their students, as mentioned above by the subjects in this study. The
conflict between what communicative activities demand and what the EFL situation
in China allows must be resolved before Chinese students can benefit from these
learning activities. To find possible solutions to these problems, attention should be
given to the following areas.

6.1. Avoiding students’ misconceptions of CLT

While trying to introduce CLT, teachers need to consciously reorientate students

to ‘‘the basic function of the classroom, the role of the student and the nature of
language’’ (Deckert, 1987, p. 20). They should make their students fully understand
the features of CLT. For example, most of the students in China worry that CLT
does not provide them with adequate grammar knowledge, which runs against their
purpose of learning English, that is, to pass grammar-based examinations (Li, 1984).
However, contrary to this common misconception, CLT does not exclude the
teaching of grammar (Thompson, 1996). In fact, many researchers have provided us
with convincing arguments for including grammar instruction in English teaching
(Lightbown, 1991; Savignon, 1991; Widdowson, 1996). Meanwhile, students should
also be made aware that grammar is a tool or resource to be used rather than to be
learnt as an end in itself. If CLT is to be implemented in a previously traditional
classroom, students must shift their conceptions of what constitutes good English
teaching (Penner, 1995; Markee, 1997).

6.2. Balancing the relationship between linguistic competence and communicative

competence

In reconciling the communicative activities with the non-communicative activities,

it is very important that we are not biased towards either of them, but rather towards
integrating the two into one. At the foundation stage, linguistic competence means
the spontaneous and flexible as well as the correct manipulation of the language sys-
tem, and communicative competence involves principles of appropriateness and a
readiness on the part of the learners to use relevant strategies to cope with certain
language situations. Linguistic competence is the basis of communicative compe-
tence. Without linguistic competence, there is no communicative competence to speak
of. But students should also be made aware that communicative competence does not
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 99

result from linguistic competence automatically. Students should actively participate

in such forms of classroom activities as role playing, simulations and true-to-life
interaction so as to develop communicative competence while practice for the
achievement of linguistic competence is given.

6.3. Creating authentic communicative scenarios for the real use of the language

Because students in EFL situations do not have many chances to be involved in

the real use of the language, it is of vital importance for the teacher to provide them
with such an opportunity. For example, class activities that simulate real-life situa-
tions can help build pragmatic, cultural, and linguistic components of L2 compe-
tence in an integrated manner (Li, 1984). Students should be given contexts, roles
and tasks that they conceivably could face someday, such as helping a foreign visitor
on the street or serving as a translator for a US company. For authentic commu-
nication, EFL students can correspond with people in an English-speaking country
or with other non-native speakers of English in countries where English is the lingua
franca. In this respect, electronic mail (e-mail) nowadays makes it quicker and easier
for EFL students to communicate through English with people all over the world.
To make students use the e-mail more efficiently, teachers should ensure that the e-
mail communication has a purpose by assigning specific tasks tied to the goals of the
course (Warschauer, 1995).

6.4. Making full use of any materials available

The study shows that lack of materials prevents students in EFL situations from
getting exposed to the authentic English language. However, this does not mean that
there is nothing we can do about it. For example, teachers and students can cut out
and circulate individual articles. They can also clip articles from local English lang-
uage periodicals (e.g. China Daily, Beijing Review, China’s Reconstruction) and
international newspapers and magazines (e.g. The International Herald Tribune,
Newsweek International). The latter offer students more insight into other countries,
people and cultures (Kitao, 1995) as well as more international news than their local
or national periodicals provide. What is more, the Internet also offers a rich source
of authentic reading materials.

7. Conclusion

Teachers, curriculum planners, and others who want to be sensitive to the needs of
the students they serve cannot always rely on their unaided intuitions (Rudduck,
1991). By using the present instrument, in which the students expressed their personal
opinions about communicative and non-communicative activities, the researcher has
discovered whether the subjects see certain kinds of activities as more effective than
others and whether they are likely to be open to techniques and practices not pre-
viously experienced. Giving this type of survey to the students has also helped the
100 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

researcher identify their difficulties in using communicative activities in classroom.

The study dealt with a group of English majors in a Chinese university and further
researches are needed for non-English majors in university or students in Chinese
secondary schools to determine the extent to which attitudes of various groups of
students would be similar or different. It would contribute to our knowledge about
learners and learner variables to know whether and how student perceptions of
various kinds of teaching and learning would vary with different variables such as
age, gender, personality, learning style, education level, or proficiency level in the
target language.
While the present study focused its subjects on English learners in China, much of
what the Chinese students said about communicative and non-communicative
activities in the Chinese classroom and about their difficulties in using commu-
nicative activities is common to many parts of the world. EFL students in these
countries share much of the same perception with regard to their classroom teaching
activities. In addition, information from this kind of survey is also crucial for
teachers to develop their teaching methods ‘‘appropriate to their learners, their col-
leagues and their societies (Edge, 1996, p. 18).

Appendix. Questionnaire

Part A: Please complete the following questions as appropriate.

1. Name ___________________
2. Age _____________________
3. Sex ______________________
4. How do you rate your English proficiency as compared with the proficiency
of other students in your class?

GOOD FAIR POOR

5. Which grade are you in? ________________________

6. Are you concerned about the teaching methods used in EFL classroom?

YES NO

7. Do you like communicative activities in your EFL class?

YES NO

8. Why do you or why don’t you like communicative activities in EFL class-
room?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 101

9. Do you like non-communicative activities in EFL classroom?

YES NO

10. Why do you or why don’t you like non-communicative activities in EFL
classroom?
_________________________________________________________________
_________________________________________________________________

Part B: The following are 19 descriptions of things that might happen in an EFL
(English as a Foreign Language) class. Please give your personal opinions about
them by choosing one of the two answers.

1. Do you like to do a written exercise in which you are asked to fill in the
correct forms of verbs in sentences?

YES NO

2. Do you like to be given the words to a current hit song in English, and then
listen to the recording, or watch the video?

YES NO

3. Do you like the teacher to give you a list of words that occur in a story or
article, and then ask you to look up the words in an English-English dic-
tionary for the purpose of copying the definitions?

YES NO

4. Do you like the teacher to divide you into small groups in which you and
your classmates talk about things you like and things you dislike?

YES NO

5. Do you like the teacher to explain a grammatical rule that is printed in the
textbook in English, and then give you examples in English as well?

YES NO

6. Do you like the teacher to speak Chinese when explaining a grammatical rule
that is printed in the textbook, and then give examples in English?

YES NO
102 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

7. Do you like to find and report on an interesting newspaper or magazine

article in English?

YES NO

8. Do you like the teacher to divide you into pairs, in which you have to ask
your partner questions, and answer the questions your partner asks you?

YES NO

9. Do you like the teacher to correct all mistakes in your exercises?

YES NO

10. Do you like the teacher to pay attention to the ideas and feelings in your
journals, and write short personal notes in response to what you say?

YES NO

11. Do you like to receive a sheet of paper with a number of sentences like:

_______________________ is a fantastic dancer.

_______________________ has visited Beijing.
and then move around the classroom, ask your classmates questions
in English, and try to fill the blanks with as many different names
as possible?
YES NO

12. Do you like the teacher to speak a series of sentences and ask the entire class
to respond orally to each sentence by changing it in some way? For example:

TEACHER: John walks to school.

CLASS: John doesn’t walk to school.
TEACHER: John is walking to school.
CLASS: John isn’t walking to school. YES NO

13. Do you like the teacher to call on all students in turn to change a sentence in
some way? For example:

TEACHER: ‘‘John walks to school’’, Maria.

MARIA: John doesn’t walk to school.
TEACHER: Very good. ‘‘John is walking to school’’, Victor.
VICTOR: John isn’t walking to school. YES NO
 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105 103

14. Do you like the teacher to lead a class discussion of a topic such as popula-
tion problem, movies, or places to visit in China?

YES NO

15. Do you like to interview English speakers and report on the interviews in
English?

YES NO

16. Do you like to do an exercise in which you should find mistakes in grammar
and correct the mistakes?

YES NO

17. Do you like to be given the words in a song and sing the song, led by the
teacher or a record?

YES NO

18. Do you like to reply on the teacher to explain everything that you should
know?

YES NO

19. Do you like the teacher to evaluate how much you have learnt?

YES NO

Part C: The following are some difficulties that other students in EFL situations
had in adopting communicative activities. Did you come across these difficulties or
do you think they might be difficulties for you in using communicative activities in
China?

1. Lack of motivation? YES NO

2. Passive style of learning? YES NO
3. Lack of authentic English reading materials? YES NO
4. Lack of facilities? YES NO
5. Grammar-based examination? YES NO
6. Large class? YES NO
7. The differences between EFL and ESL? YES NO
104 Z. Rao / System 30 (2002) 85–105

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 System 32 (2004) 143–144
www.elsevier.com/locate/system

Announcement

The prizewinners: most downloaded articles

in 2003

In our editorial in 31/4 2003 we announced that Elsevier had decided to award
prizes for the three System papers most downloaded during 2003. First prize, £200;
second prize £100; third prize £50, though the greater prize, I am sure, is the satis-
faction of seeing one’s work reach as wide an audience as possible.
The final figures are now to hand, and the lucky prizewinners are the following:

1st: Madeline E. Ehrman, Betty Lou Leaver and Rebecca L. Oxford, ‘A brief
overview of individual differences in second language learning’. 31/3 2003,
313–330.
2nd: Virginia LoCastro, ‘Individual differences in second language acquisition:
attitudes, learner subjectivity, and L2 pragmatic norms’. 29/1 2001, 69–89.
3rd: Stephen Bax, ‘CALL—past, present and future’. 31/1 2003, 13–28.

Our heartfelt congratulations to all the above!

Runners-up 4th to 10th are:

4th: Zhenhui Rao, ‘Chinese students’ perceptions of communicative and non-

communicative activities in EFL classroom’. 30/1 2002, 85–105.
5th: Bryan Smith, ‘The use of communication strategies in computer-mediated
communication.’ 31/1 2003, 29–53.
6th: Ann C. Wintergerst, Andrea DeCapua and Marilyn Ann Verna, ‘Con-
ceptualizing learning style modalities for EFL/ESL students’. 31/1 2003, 85–
106.
7th: Rod Ellis, Helen Basturkmen and Shawn Loewen, ‘Doing focus-on-form’.
30/4 2002, 419–432.
8th: Fiona Hyland, ‘Focusing-on-form: student engagement with teacher feed-
back’. 31/2 2003, 217–230.
9th: Ghazi M. Ghaith, ‘The relationship between cooperative learning, percep-
tion of social support, and academic achievement’. 30/3 2002, 263–273.
10th: Teresa Chen, ‘Reticence in class and on-line: two ESL students’ experiences
with communicative language teaching’. 31/2 2003, 259–281.
doi:10.1016/j.system.2004.02.002
144 Announcement / System 32 (2004) 143–144

Our congratulations to the above, as well! We must, however, point out that a
popularity list does not in itself say anything about the quality of those articles
which did not make the top ten. What it does perhaps indicate is those topics which
are attracting most widespread attention in our readership at the present time, here
individual differences, learning styles and strategies; the computer in language
education; communicative language teaching and cooperative learning; and the ever-
present question of the role of grammar or ‘form’. None of these come as a surprise.
Our publishers have offered to award similar prizes for downloads in 2004, so we
look forward to a new list in a year’s time. Do please let your editor know if you
have any comments on this new feature.