Is the communicative approach a panacea? Thoughts from Hong Kong

The Communicative Approach has been dominant in the field of second language education since the 1970s. Although other teaching methods like the grammar-translation method, the audio-lingual method cannot be said to have disappeared completely, they become lifeless residues that are under the shadow of the Communicative Approach. A language course cannot be attractive without the label of the Communicative Approach. Along with an increasing number of proponents and publications concerning the effectiveness of the Communicative Approach, the circle of using it keeps expanding.