Building Active Learning Communities to Develop Students’ English Communicative Competence: Reality and Solutions

Abstract

Current trend in the teaching of English as a foreign language (EFL) in Vietnam has given emphasis on communicative language teaching (CLT), which advocates the development of communicative competence as the ultimate goal of learning a language through the extensive use of the target language as a mean of communication. In response to the pressing quest for CLT approach, the National Foreign Languages Project has launched the building of foreign language learning communities nationwide for over the past five years. However, it remains lack, if not absent, of effective language learning communities outside classroom to offer exposure to students’ English usage in real settings. There are many reasons behind this pitfall, which include, among other things, misunderstandings surrounding the concept of learning community and practice among EFL teachers, and lacking modes of activities and management. This paper attempts to address the aforementioned problems, employing qualitative and quantitative methodologies. The findings suggest that building active language learning communities beyond the classroom be a pressing quest and an indispensable trend in the present context of Vietnam’s language teaching and learning and that building learning modes and seeking a feasible model of organizing and managing activities be the most important to the sustainable development of active learning communities (ALCs).