Course Title: Approaches and Methods in English Language Teaching
Course Code: LET-6105
Assignment on: The challenges in Implementing CLT in the context of Bangladesh,
How to Overcome those Challenges.
Submitted to
Sudipta Basak
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Jagannath University
Submitted by
Mahmudul Islam Kanak
ID: M200102508
ELT, Jagannath University
Submission Date: 17th September 2020
Communicative language teaching
Communicative language teaching (CLT) is an approach to the teaching of second
and foreign languages that emphasizes interaction as both the means and the ultimate goal of
learning a language. It is also referred to as “communicative approach to the teaching of
foreign languages” or simply the “communicative approach”. In other words we can also say
that Communicative language teaching (CLT) is a style or method of language teaching that
involves learning to communicate by interaction in the foreign language and which has
interaction or communication as its ultimate aim. According to YEMEN TIMES this method
aims at developing procedures for the teaching of the four skills that acknowledge the
interdependence of language and communication. It aims at having students become
communicatively competent. The outset of CLT is to be found in the modification of the
British language teaching convention dating from the late 1960s (Richards and Rodgers,
1986). According to Richards and Rodgers (1986), “Until then, Situational Language
Teaching represented the major British approach to teaching English as a foreign language.”
Objective of Communicative language teaching
CLT is deployed to develop communicative proficiency. It has some basic objectives
to improve communication skills. Some of the objectives of communicative language
teaching are given below:
CLT improves communicative proficiency of all the skills
including reading, writing listening and speaking.
Gradually it focuses on the grammatical, discourse, functional, sociolinguistic of
communicative competence.
It used to engage the learners in the pragmatic and functional use of language.
It enhances the productivity of the language in scientific ways.
CLT usually appreciates the learners to engage in linguistic interaction with real-life
objectives.
Fluency is the first priority rather than accuracy.
Role of the Teachers and Learners in CLT
Teachers play a very vital role in Communicative language teaching. They remain in
the classroom as a guide or a facilitator to be done the communication process among the
participants. Teachers can also encourage the participants to join in various activities.
Teachers also play the role of communicator in the learning progress where they can answer
the questions of participants and also care about their performance and activities. On the
other hand, the students must have to cooperate and support each other in the group to
complete their all tasks assigned by the responsible teacher. They have to create some groups
among themselves for their learning purpose and taking care of how they are able to perform
in the classroom. Also the students should be more interactive and create an interactive
environment in the classroom for making the learning more easy and attractive.
CLT in Bangladesh
After being an Independent country since 1971, English has been a compulsory
subject for the student of Bangladesh at every level of schooling from primary to tertiary. At
first the Bangladesh Education Board implemented the Grammar Translation Method (GTM)
for teaching and learning English. This was a teacher centered method and the role of the
student was passive. For that reason, the classes of English were not so interactive during
those days. It seems that the GTM was not very effective and by this method students were
taught only to perform well in examinations. It is also notable that in the examinations,
questions were designed mainly to test the students’ grammatical knowledge. By doing that
GTM failed to developed students communicative competence. Therefore, with a view of
achieving communicative purposes CLT was introduced in 2001 from grade six to grade
twelve in Bangladesh. The goal of introducing CLT in Bangladesh was to develop learners’
ability to speak English. However, the goal of introducing CLT in Bangladesh is still not
achieved as most of the students cannot speak English fluently even after they completing
their twelve years of education.
Challenges in Implementing CLT in the context of Bangladesh
In spite of the government’s introduction of CLT in Bangladesh, the successful
implementation of CLT is still hampered due to various reasons. One of the biggest
challenges is the unusual large size of the classroom and the huge number of students in one
classroom. According to Larsen-Freeman, to implement CLT successfully the size of a class
room need to be smaller in size so that the group of learners can easily deal with the teachers.
But in Bangladesh almost all the class sizes are large in number for the teacher to arrange or
organize a group work for the learners. An ideal classroom for CLT should consist 25-30
students where in Bangladesh the usual classrooms have 80-100 students. Also in
Bangladeshi cultural context assumes the teacher as an honored figure where student must
passively listen to them. This prevents genuine communication from happening in the class.
Also the lack of training for the teachers is another challenge to apply the CLT method in
Bangladesh. Most of the teachers in Bangladesh both in primary and tertiary level are not
well trained to teach the learners. Besides that cultural appropriateness is also a great barrier
to implement CLT in Bangladesh. Students in Bangladesh lack in team spirit. They are not so
well in doing group work to improve their abilities. The reason for that is, from childhood the
parents of the students of Bangladesh teach their children to never argue with the teachers in
the classroom nor asking any questions. Just follow the command of the teacher and do it.
Therefore a sense of fear and detachment develops on them. It seems that only five percent
students can occasionally share their ideas with the teachers. Therefore the main goal of CLT
remains unachieved in the context of Bangladesh. Also teacher deficiency in Spoken English
is also a challenge to apply CLT in Bangladesh. It seems many of the teachers in Bangladesh
do not have the ability to speak in English fluently and in classroom they do not use English
while teaching English in Classroom. Still now some teacher use GTM which is the main
barrier to achieve the goal of CLT. Many institutions in Bangladesh are still using age-old
blackboard and chalk in classrooms as they even do not have whiteboard and marker
facilities. A large number of Bangladeshi students do not have any access to computer. In
addition, another challenge to implementing CLT in Bangladesh is the students’ low
motivation.
Possible way to Overcome the Challenges
Above discussion, it can be said that there are many challenges to implementing CLT
in Bangladesh. The large class size, mismatching between curriculum and assessment, lack of
training for the teachers, cultural inappropriateness and poor socio-economic conditions are
the main barrier to implementing CLT in Bangladesh. To implement CLT successfully some
changes can be made. Like making the class size smaller and provide a proper teaching
material which is appropriate for CLT. Also government can provide a mass CLT training
for the teachers and decrease the work load for English teachers. Also it seems that modifying
the examination system to make it communicative and fruitful can achieve the target of
implementing CLT. Also teachers can motivate the learners to speak in English. It will bring
a great result if a language club is being established in every school. However, this is not
possible to do in Bangladesh overnight as we all know we are such a densely populated
country with poor socio-economic status.
