PROBLEMS OF CLT IN BANGLADESH: WAYS TO IMPROVE (Published)
The introduction of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) to teach English at the secondary and higher secondary levels of education in Bangladesh is a relatively recent phenomenon. Naturally, at this stage, this new approach of language teaching faces different types of problems. The paper aims at studying the problems in effective implementation of CLT here. Experiences of some other countries in this regard are also considered. This research design collects data from ten teachers who are teaching English at secondary and higher secondary levels in Chittagong. The teachers are from different institutions- some from the urban area and some from rural area. The quantitative data come from questionnaire and qualitative data come from interviews. The findings show that teachers experience many difficulties in their classrooms. The sources of the difficulties are various- unwillingness of the teachers to adopt a new system, inadequate training facilities, insufficient teaching aids, conflict with native culture, lack of interest among the learners, etc. However, it is felt that all those difficulties can be overcome, and a favorable condition can be created for EFL teachers to be optimistic for adopting CLT in classrooms.
Keywords: :- Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), English as Foreign Language (EFL), English as Second Language (ESL), English language teaching (ELT), Grammar Translation Method (GTM)