Arab World English Journal (AWEJ) Volume 14. Number 3 September 2023                                Pp.124-136
DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no3.8

Full Paper PDF   

Teachers’ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in English
Grammar Teaching

 Ke Liu
Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia
Corresponding Author: cathylk927@163.com

 Farhana Diana Deris
Language Academy, Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities
Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Johor Bahru, Malaysia

 

Received: 05/29/2023         Accepted: 08/10/2023                Published: 09/24/2023

 

Abstract:
Over the decades, the reform and opening-up policy of the 1970s has pushed China to become increasingly connected to the world, leading to a growing demand for foreign exchange. The need for English language talents has promoted the transformation of teaching methods and reforms to the national curriculum. In the early 1980s, Communicative Language Teaching was introduced into the EFL setting in Chinese English classes. However, there is minimal time to practice speaking and communicating, and researchers have debated its applicability in China. This study aims to explore the effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching in English grammar teaching in three public secondary schools; the current teaching environment affects its application, and the constraints that may prevent teachers from using it. Through semi-structured interviews, qualitative thematic data were collected from five English teachers working in three cities in Henan province. The results show that the uneven distribution of teachers between the capital city (Zhengzhou) and the other two prefecture-level cities (Xinmi and Xinxiang), the difference in the textbooks used, and the disparity in the English proficiency of the students led to five teachers’ different views on the feasibility of CLT. The findings will provide pedagogical insights for Chinese English teachers and contribute to the government’s efforts to improve Chinese public secondary schools’ teaching and learning environment.
Keywords: Communicative competence, challenges and constraints of application, communicative
language teaching, English grammar teaching, teachers’ perceptions

Cite as:   Liu, K. , & Deris, F. D. (2023). Teachers’ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in English Grammar Teaching. Teachers’ Perceptions of Communicative Language Teaching Approach in English Grammar Teaching.  Arab World English Journal, 14 (3) 124-13h6.  DOI: https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no3.8

References

Alakrash, H. (2021). Factors affecting the application of communicative language teaching CLT in Syrian schools. TESOL and Technology Studies, 2(1), 1-14.

Alamri, W. A. (2018). Communicative language teaching: Possible alternative approaches to CLT and teaching contexts. English Language Teaching, 11(10), 132-138. Retrieved from https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1192263.pdf.

Busetto, L., Wick, W., & Gumbinger, C. (2020). How to use and assess qualitative research methods. Neurological Research and Practice, 2, 1-10. Retrieved from https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s42466-020-00059-z.

Chen, C. (2022). A Study of Middle School English Grammar Teaching in the CLT Framework. Frontiers in Educational Research, 5(3), 97-101.

Çiftci, H., & Özcan, M. (2021). A Contrastive Analysis of Traditional Grammar Teaching and Communicative Language Teaching in Teaching English Grammar and Vocabulary. International Online Journal of Education and Teaching, 8(2), 709-729.

Creswell, J. (2012). Educational research: Planning, conducting, and evaluating quantitative and qualitative research (4rd ed.). Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson Education.

Doeur, B. (2022). Implementation of Communicative Language Teaching: Cambodian EFL Teachers’ Attitudes toward Communicative Language Teaching. International Journal of Instruction, 15(2), 155-170.

Dubin, F. & Olshtain, E. (1986). Course design: developing programs and materials for language learning, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. Retrieved from https://sc.panda321.com/.

Edmonds, W.A. & Kennedy, T.D. (2017). An applied guide to research designs: Quantitative, qualitative, and mixed methods (2nded). Los Angeles: SAGE Publications.

Eng, L. S., & Jiaxi, L. (2022). Challenges and Strategies for English Language Learning in a Higher Education Institution in China. Journal of Services & Management. 17, 21-41.

Eng, L. S., & Peidong, Z. (2021). An Investigation of The Use of Communicative Language Teaching in A Higher Education Institution in China: A Case Study. BERJAYA Journal of Services & Management, 15, 3-24.

Han, I. (2022). Contextualization of communicative language teaching in confucian heritage culture: Challenging pedagogic dichotomization. SAGE Open, 12(1), 21582440221079895.

Hymes, D. (1972). On communicative competence. Sociolinguistics, 269293, 269-293.

Holbekova, M., Mamajonova, M., & Sh, H. (2021). Communicative approach to teaching foreign languages. Экономика и социум, 3-1(82), 83-85.

Liu, S. (2015). Reflections on Communicative Language Teaching and its Application in China. Theory and Practice in Language Studies, 5(5), 1047–1052. Retrieved from http://www.academypublication.com/issues2/tpls/vol05/05/20.pdf.

Liu, W. (2022). Language teaching methodology as a lived experience: An autoethnography from China. RELC Journal, 53(1), 71-84.

Mi, X., Chen, W., & Zhang, Y. (2018). A study on negative transfer of Non-English majors’ writing under the error-analysis theory. In 2018 8th International Conference on Management, Education and Information (MEICI 2018). 1209-1212. Retrieved from Atlantis Press. https://www.atlantis-press.com/proceedings/meici-18/55910215.

Radosavlevikj, N. (2021). TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ PERCEPTIONS AND CHALLENGES IN COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING. Journal of Teaching English for Specific and Academic Purposes, 307-317.

Savignon, S. J. (2002). Communicative Curriculum Design for the 21st Century. In Forum, 40(1), 2-7.

Sun, C., Wei, L., & Young, R. F. (2022). Measuring teacher cognition: Comparing Chinese EFL teachers’ implicit and explicit attitudes toward English language teaching methods. Language Teaching Research, 26(3), 382-410.

Wu, H., Su, H., Yan, M., & Zhuang, Q. (2023). Perceptions of Grammar-Translation Method and Communicative Language Teaching Method Used in English Classrooms. Journal of English Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics, 5(2), 96-104.

Zhang, D. Y., Li Y. X. & Wang Y. F. (2013). How culturally appropriate is the communicative approach with reference to the Chinese context? Creative Education, 4(10), 1–5. Retrieved from https://www.scirp.org/html/36715.html.

Zhang, C. (2023). The Adaptability of CLT in China and Teaching Suggestions. International Journal of Education and Humanities, 9(1), 175-178

Facebook
Twitter
LinkedIn
Tumblr
Reddit
Email
StumbleUpon
Digg
Received: 05/29/2023
Accepted: 08/10/2023 
Published: 09/24/2023 
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4573-2884
https://dx.doi.org/10.24093/awej/vol14no3.8 

Ke Liu is an assistant at Henan University of Chinese Medicine and also takes on administrative work in the university president’s office. She is currently a PhD candidate at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Her main research interests include Second Language Acquisition (SLA), Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), and Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL).ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4573-2884

 Dr. Farhana Diana Deris is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Social Sciences and Humanities, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia. Her research interests include technology enhanced teaching and learning for engaging 21st century English language learners and building and sustaining partnerships through new media communication in the context of HEI internationalization.
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0319-9938.