ESL college lecturers' understanding, perception and expectations of CLT and the challenges and difficulties in its implementation in higher secondary institutions of Gazipur and Narsingdi, Bangladesh

Abstract

Bangladesh is a monolingual country. However, the education strategy of Bangladesh and the curriculum show that English is compulsory as the second or most significant foreign language because of its global nature. The aim of implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach is to ensure the effectiveness in the teaching of English language in secondary (high school) and higher secondary (college) levels of education in Bangladesh. However, this relatively new approach of language teaching faces different types of challenges and difficulties in its proper implementation. The research examines Gazipur and Narsingdi higher secondary English lecturers’ understanding, perception and expectations of CLT. Besides, it also investigates the challenges and difficulties of implementing CLT. Finally, this research analyses the lecturer’s expectations and suggestions in order to implement CLT effectively in the higher secondary institutions of Gazipur and Narsingdi, Bangladesh. In this study, the qualitative and quantitative (mixed method) research approaches are applied. The participants of the study are 60 lecturers teaching English at Gazipur and Narsingdi higher secondary institutions. The qualitative data were gathered by undertaking 11 face to face interviews with audio recording. The researcher used a set of questionnaires to gather quantitative data. For the qualitative data analysis, the researcher identified four main themes from the interview transcripts. For the quantitative data analysis, the researcher used the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. This research has shed light on recommendations for overcoming the challenges provided by the participants. Finally, the research concludes with the recommendations for further research to explore effective ways to implement CLT not only in higher secondary institutions of Gazipur and Narsingdi, but also Bangladesh as a whole.