Teachers’ Perception towards the Use of Communicative Language Teaching in Enhancing Secondary School Students’ Communicative Competence in English Language (Published)
ABSTRACT: English language which is the second and unifying language in Nigeria is taught at all educational levels in the country mainly to ensure that students have a grasp of it and should be able to communicate effectively in it in various contexts. This study investigated the perception of English language teachers towards the use of Communicative Language Teaching in enhancing secondary school students’ communicative competence in English language. This study is a descriptive research of the survey type which focuses on how secondary school students in Ibadan South –West Local Government Area of Oyo State can use English Language in real life situations. Fifty English Language teachers randomly selected from some secondary schools constituted the sample for the study. A self- constructed questionnaire consisting of fifteen items was used to collect the data for the study. Test-retest method was used to determine the reliability of the instrument and a reliability coefficient of 0.74 was obtained. The study found out that schools lack the material that can promote communicative language teaching in schools and that most teachers considered classroom interaction a time consuming activity. Based on these findings, it was recommended that the government should provide gadgets and necessary materials needed for effective utilization of communicative language teaching so that students’ confidence in speaking and communicative competence can be improved. Teachers should endeavor to make their classes interactive and employ activities that can facilitate English Language usage in real life situation.
Keywords: Classroom Interaction, Communicative Competence, Communicative Language, Pedagogy, methodologies
Developing Communicative Competence through Drama-Based Projects in an EFL Classroom (Published)
This paper examines student perceptions on the effectiveness of developing communicative competence through drama-based group projects in an EFL class in Taiwan. A whole language approach was adopted and students were required to accomplish their drama projects by conducting a series of collaborative and skill- integrated activities throughout the semester. Forty non-English major University freshmen, with intermediate English proficiency enrolled in this class. In groups, activities such as watching movie, reading movie reviews, introducing the movie plots and casts, providing feedback through presentations, choosing the plot, adapting and editing the script, and finally performing the plot were enacted in class. Questionnaires and semi-structured interviews were conducted to explore students’ perceived effectiveness on their overall language learning through the drama-based projects. The results revealed students’ positive feedback not only on the part of their improved language ability, but on their enhanced awareness and understanding of the proper use of target language. In addition, positive comments on boosted confidence and gains from collaborative learning were also reported.
Keywords: A Whole Language Approach, Communicative Competence, Drama-Based Group Project, Student Perceptions
Role Play in the English Language Classroom at the Tertiary Level in Bangladesh (Published)
Role play is an effective learning and teaching experience for both the students and the teachers. Through role play, students can have more opportunities to “act” and “interact” with their peers trying to use the English language. It also helps learners in speaking, listening, and understanding English. It lightens the classroom atmosphere and enlivens it. This paper aims at investigating students’ attitudes and perceptions of role play activities in the tertiary level English language classrooms in Bangladesh. The activity was chosen as a classroom task to create a situation for the learners to actively interact in English, and thereby to make the language learning more meaningful and interesting at the same time. The learners found the activities to be challenging as well as interesting. Finally, some recommendations are made to promote the use of role play in Bangladeshi classroom of English to develop communicative competence among the learners.
Keywords: Communicative Competence, Peer Support, Role Play
Do Teachers And Students Want CLT? A Study of Bangladeshi College Teachers’ and Students’ Perception of CLT (Published)
English is embedded, as a core and compulsory subject from years 1-12, in Bangladeshi education system. Keeping English in this position indicates that an increased emphasis is placed on learning English. In order to strengthen students’ communicative competence in English, moreover, the Government substituted CLT for GTM in 2001. However, many argued that, despite this change, most of the students are still unable to communicate in English effectively. This communicative inability of students generates a question that is whether or not students and teachers actually want CLT. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate teachers’ and students’ perceptions of whether they desire CLT or not, and of how they perceive CLT. To achieve this aim, nine participants (three teachers and six students) were selected to obtain data through conducting semi-structured in-depth interviews. Qualitative technique was followed to analyse the data. The results of this study indicated that the students and teachers desire CLT, and they also expect the problems with CLT to be resolved. Even, they also have drawn some recommendations for improving CLT in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Communicative Competence, Communicative Language Teaching, Context, college level, students' and teachers' perception