Chinese secondary school EFL teachers' attitudes towards communicative language teaching and their classroom practices

Abstract

This study was motivated by previous research that has shown that Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is rarely followed in the classroom although teachers claim to teach communicatively. This study aimed to investigate why CLT classrooms are so rare and what can be done to make a class communicative by studying Chinese secondary school EFL teachers' attitudes towards CLT. This study consists of three parts. In the first Part, a questionnaire survey was carried out to explore teachers' beliefs, attitudes, reported classroom practices as well as situational constraints. In the second part, based on information from the questionnaire, four self-acclaimed communicative teachers were selected for classroom observations. And in the final part, the teachers were interviewed about the rationale behind their classroom teaching practices. It was found that the majority of participating teachers held very favourable attitudes towards CLT but that some teachers had misconceptions of CLT (e.g.teacher's role in a CLT class is that of a "director") and that situational constraints were a serious hindrance to their use of CLT. It was also found that three of the four observed teachers failed to teach communicatively as a result of their misconceptions of CLT and situational constraints such as the grammar-based textbooks they were required to use and their students' low level of English. Thus misconceptions and situational constraints were found to be the major factors that hindered the teachers' use of CLT. On the other hand, one teacher used Weak CLT successfully. It was found that she possessed a clear understanding of CLT and was able to overcome the situational constraints. The teacher's teaching experience showed that situational constraints, although powerful, can be overcome. Thus, in addition to favorable attitudes towards CLT, a teacher must have a clear understanding of CLT and either overcome situational constraints or not encounter any situational constraints in order to use CLT successfully. It is argued that CLT adoption in China is necessary and that CLT is applicable to the Chinese context. But in order for Chinese EFL teachers to use CLT successfully, they need accurate knowledge of CLT theory and practice and must be able to overcome situational constraints.