Employing narrative inquiry, this research study investigates the English-using experience of an international student from China in an American graduate school, and presents how his inadequate English proficiency, especially communicative competence, has affected his academic learning and non-academic aspects of life. It vividly unfurls how the participant's lack of communicative competence, profoundly influenced by China's EFL teaching, has prevented him from achieving a greater academic

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... ss and adjustment into American life. The perceived need for communicative competence underlines a vital call for enacting the Communicative Language Teaching approach in EFL classrooms. While gaining valuable insights into China's EFL teaching effectiveness, this narrative inquiry has the potential to transcend national boundaries, spark global concerns, and provide important implications for the EFL educators around the world. This unique perspective of examining EFL teaching effectiveness can also shed light on how to help EFL students become more linguistically proficient and socio-culturally empowered in authentic English-speaking environment.