Teachers' and Lerners' awareness of Psychological disposition towards communicative language teaching (CLT) in Bangladesh

Abstract

The topic for this study is teachers’ and learners awareness of and psychological disposition towards communicative language Teaching (CLT) in Bangladesh. Positive and negative attitudes towards a pedagogic approach are an important variable to measure its effectiveness in a particular context. Tn this research paper, I try to argue for the importance of teachers’ and learners’ positives attitude towards an approach to teaching and learning and survey the Bangladeshi learners and teachers’ attitude towards communicative language teaching. The origins of communicative language teaching (CLT) are to be found in the changes in the British language teaching tradition dating from the late 1960s. The work of the council of Europe, the writing of Wilkins, Widowson, Canlin, Christoper Brumfit, Keith Johnson, William Littlewood and other British applied linguistics on the theoretical basis for a communicative or functional approach to language teaching ; the rapid application of these ideas by textbook writers; and the equally aroid application and acceptance of these new principles by British language teaching specialists, curriculum development centers, and even governments gave prominence nationally and internationally to what came to be referred to as the communicative approach, or simply communicative language teaching. Communicative language teaching has been the most widely used approach to English teaching and learning over the last ¾ decades in the world. In Bangladesh also, it is being recommended as an ideal approach. In many contexts, however, this approach does not seem to work as it is now seen from many research works published from many countries of the world. There are many constraints in the teaching-learning situation such as the beliefs and attitudes, teaching materials, classroom and institutional realities. These are not favorable, and hence it fails to produce the expected results many contexts. In Bangladesh, over the last 16 years or so, CLT has been proposed as the best solution to our ELT problems. Teachers are being trained, textbooks are being written to implement it. Seminars and symposiums are being trained, textbooks are being written to implement it. Seminars and symposiums are being held to create a positive attitude for it. But unless there is a positive attitude towards it, its effectiveness will remain a far cry. This study, therefore, tries to share this psychological disposition, the learners’ and teachers’ attitude towards CLT through an empirical survey. The communicative approach in language teaching starts from a theory of language as communication. It has various objectives; the main objective of CLT is to use language as a means of expression. Although, psychological factors such as learners’ attitude and motivations have been given as considerable importance in language teaching and learning research, variables which are largely socio-culture in nature and include such feature as learners’ experience of previous language learning, their beliefs and expectations about the process of what should happen, or what the teachers and learners should do in the class room have not yet been given due recognition in language teaching and learning programs expect from academic discussion and research publications. Research in recent year’s shows that these are of paramount importance for learning and teaching of language. So, this study argues and tries to find out and present teachers’ and learners’ attitude to CLT and their psychological disposition towards this approach.