With China's door opening wider and wider to the outside world, the number of English learners in China is increasing rapidly. Of these, postgraduate students have made up an important part. The postgraduate students, according to the requirements set forth by the Chinese Ministry of Education, should pass the training in basic language skills and have a vocabulary of about 6,000 English words. That is to say, they should be able to use the English they have learned to take part in international communication. However, as matters stand now, many of them are unable to do so. Some of them even 'don't know what to say to whom, when, under what circumstances or in what contexts exactly.' Questions or doubts may arise as to whether traditional courses like 'Advanced Reading', 'Intermediate Listening and Speaking' and 'Practical Writing', can improve the communicative competence of postgraduate students as effectively as expected. If not, is there a better way?

To answer the questions, let us look at the matter in the following way.

Foreign language teaching in many cases segregates language skills for instructional purposes, often highlighting just one skill at a time. Accordingly, we frequently encounter foreign language teaching classes labeled 'Intermediate Reading,' 'Advanced Writing,' or 'Basic Listening.' Even if it were possible to develop one or two skills effectively in the absence of the other language skills at the beginning stages, this does not ensure adequate preparation for real international communication, in which not only language skills but also communicative skills are employed simultaneously, especially for postgraduate students who have gone beyond basic language training. This situation also contradicts the integrated way that people use foreign language skills in normal circumstances, and clashes with the direction in which experts in foreign language teaching have been moving in recent years.

It seems that new courses and new teaching approaches are needed to improve learners' communicative competence, including language skills and communicative skills. The 'Language + Communication (L+C) Approach', therefore, has been developed and practiced in an attempt to teach postgraduate English as international communication. The article presents this teaching philosophy, teaching modes and some further reflections.

1 What is the 'L+C' Approach?

The L+C Approach is a teaching approach which closely integrates linguistic competence with communicative skills and communicative culture in the process of language teaching so that the learners' linguistic competence and their communicative skills can be improved simultaneously. 'Communicative skills,' as the name implies, refer to language strategies and principles that are used for communication. 'Communicative culture' is used in the sense of the term as it is used by most researchers. It refers to the cultural factors that influence communication very directly, such as mode of thinking, norms of behavior, and customary practice.

The fundamental philosophy of this approach is to simultaneously raise both the learners' language ability and their communication ability, or rather,

to integrate the teaching/learning of a foreign language with the teaching/learning for interna-tional communication. Foreign language teaching and learning should not be separated from international communication practice. As the American linguist Dell Hymes points out in 1971, language training and communication training should be done at the same time. Language is communication, and learning a language is learn-ing to communicate. Therefore, in terms of the teaching philosophy, any separation of these two aspects should be overcome if the approach is to be adopted. We can also see that the approach is the outcome of combined studies of languages and communication, and it carries the features of interdisciplinary study.

2 Two teaching modes

The teaching philosophy of this kind brings about the two significant teaching modes of skills integration, namely the integration of the four language skills and the integration of skills of language and communication. We will explain the two modes in detail.

The integration of foreign language skills, as the term suggests, is the integration of the four main language skills (listening, reading, speaking, and writing). The integration of foreign language and international communication skills is learning foreign languages in situations as authentic as possible so as to enhance skills of both language and communication. In actual language use - the way we actually communicate - any single skill such as listening is rarely employed in isolation from other language skills like speaking or reading. This is because communication, by definition, requires the integration of the main language skills. In integrated-skill instruction, learners are exposed to authentic language and are involved in activities that are meaningful and interesting. The content-based and task-oriented instruction, therefore, is adopted. According to the findings of Hu Gengshen, a Chinese researcher in the study of international communication, international communication can be grouped into three categories: Daily Communication, Professional Exchange and Diplomatic Negotiation; the contextual formality is progressively elevated; the language features are accordingly varied; the strategy employed is gradually intensified. With professional exchange and diplomatic negotiation as the main content and participation in professional exchange and diplomatic negotiation as the task, the courses in the series of English for International Communication are specially designed for postgraduate students.

These include

English for International Conference Communication
English Paper Writing and Publication
Reading and Translation of Professional Literature
English for International Negotiation Communication
Formulation and Translation of International Business Contracts
Interpreting in International Communication
Language Strategies and Tactics in International Communication
Pragmatic Studies on International Communication
In the course of English for International Conference Communication, for example, the aims are twofold: to upgrade the learners' com-prehensive language skills - especially the practical written skill for preparing conference papers, and necessary oral skills for presenting professional papers at international academic conferences and other cross-cultural occasions - and to develop learners' ability to participate in various inter-national exchanges and cooperation. The course, based on the entire communication settings of modern international academic conferences, is an integration of language skills of reading, writing, listening, speaking, etc. (covering various activities of obtaining conference information, writing papers, orally presenting papers, orally defending, talking with professionals, etc.). At the end of the course, a simulated conference, which is part of the course, can be organized to bring all the skills together, including the language skills and the skills of attending international conferences, organizing conferences, presiding over meetings and so on.

3 Some reflections on the 'L+C' Approach

Since the 1970s more and more researchers have come to agree that the aim of learning language is to acquire the communicative competence of using the language, rather than the pure linguistic competence. Many teaching approaches/methods have been employed to achieve this goal. The L+C Approach was born at the beginning of China's opening and reform, it has been developing while China deepens her reform and opening, so its emergence shows the reform of the times, which brings about some reflections on the approach.

The L+C Approach, which started in the 1980s, has proved to be effective for postgraduate students in enhancing their communicative competence. Under the guidance of the approach, 'International Communication HOW-TO' seminars, a series of English programs produced by the China Central Television (CCTV) in 1992-1994, were welcomed by viewers all over China. In order to carry out and popularize the approach, special courses in the series mentioned above were specially designed and taught in Tsinghua University and other universities. The L+C Approach, based on nearly 20 years of experience, offers some insights on language teaching and learning in China, namely:

as regards teaching philosophy, language training and communication training should be done at the same time
as regards teaching materials, taking respective language skills as the main guideline should give way to taking international communication as the main guideline (especially at the advanced level)
as regards teaching methods, students should be required to take part in various simulated international communication activities
as regards teacher training, communicative skills, especially international communicative skills should be emphasized rather than the mere training of linguistic ability
as regards course testing, the existing 'language-oriented' testing should be changed to 'language-oriented' testing + 'communication-oriented' testing.
It is also worth pointing out that performance of a teaching approach is a complex and systematic project, and so it is with the L+C Approach. The wider appli-cation of the 'Language + Communication' Approach certainly involves not only teaching philosophy, teaching methods, syllabus revising, and textbook compiling, but also test designing and teacher training.

Email: hugs@mail.tsinghua.edu.cn

References

Hu Gengshen (2000) Hypothesis and its Verification of 'Triple Contextual Categories' of international communication. Foreign Languages, No.3

Hymes D (1971) On Communicative Competence. Sociolinguistics, Penguin Books

Shen Yunzhen & Hu Gengshen (1998) 'Language + Communication' Approach - A New Approach to College Foreign Language Teaching Reform. Foreign Languages & Foreign Language Teaching No. 5

Email: lkrauser@onda.com.br