Grammar in Communicative Language Teaching: Teacher Beliefs about Theory versus Practice (Published)
Considerable evidence indicates that, in language learning classrooms that adopt a communicative language teaching (CLT) approach, explicit grammar instruction helps learners master specific syntactic features of the target language. The degree to which teachers themselves conceptualize explicit grammar instruction as an integral part of the CLT approach is less clear. The current study investigates the relationship between stated beliefs and reported practices among English as an Additional Language teachers regarding the integration of explicit grammar instruction into learner-centered CLT classrooms. Questionnaire data from 28 participants reveal unanimous adoption of both the CLT approach and moments of explicit grammar instruction, thus aligning in reported practice with a “weak” version of Howatt’s (1984) model of CLT. However, participants held differing and sometimes conflicting views on whether or not explicit grammar instruction constitutes a violation of CLT methods, indicating a need for greater clarity in promoting the “weak” version of CLT.
Keywords: Communicative Language Teaching, English as an additional language, explicit grammar, integrated approach, language teacher beliefs
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
ANALYSIS OF PROFESSIONAL JOB ADVERTS: A COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING APPROACH (Review Completed - Accepted)
Communicative language teaching takes cognizance of the fact that students should be made aware that sentences have a logical form as well as a practical or pragmatic function. However, teachers get little support from grammar books and are thus faced with a daunting task of finding suitable authentic material to supplement the information in the grammar books. Adverts are one of the best sources of authentic materials for language teaching as they portray a range of linguistic and stylistic features. This paper looks at the language of job adverts, with a special focus on how companies manipulate language to achieve their communicative purpose. The data for this study were adverts taken from www.jobs.ac.uk website. As this is a language awareness type of project, the data were analysed mostly qualitatively, looking at the structural organization of the ads and making a description of patterns of language use. Findings indicate that there was extensive use of attributive adjectives with connotations of superiority, success and dynamism. It was also observed that companies preferred to use a personal style typical of ordinary conversations. Hence, the use of first and second person pronouns featured prominently in the ads. The personal style, it can be argued, is a persuasive strategy employed to steer candidates into applying
Keywords: Adverts, Communicative Language Teaching