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International Journal of Applied Linguistics & English Literature E-ISSN: 2200-3592 & P-ISSN: 2200-3452 www.ijalel.aiac.org.au A Pragmatic Data Based Evaluation of CLT in the EFL Curricula at Higher Secondary Level in Bangladesh Md. Masud Rana*, Md. Mahmud Hasan Chowdhury English Language Institute, Jazan University, Saudi Arabia Corresponding Author: Md. Masud Rana, E-mail: [email protected] ARTICLE INFO ABSTRACT Article history This paper evaluates the scope and relative unfeasibility of communicative language teaching Received: February 14, 2020 (CLT) that was introduced at higher secondary level in Bangladesh to innovate English language Accepted: April 19, 2020 teaching (ELT) by replacing grammar translation method (GTM). To substantiate the evaluation, Published: May 31, 2020 a survey intended to determine the feasibility and relative drawbacks of CLT was made. A total Volume: 9 Issue: 3 of 100 teachers and 100 students participated in the survey of 10 different colleges of Dhaka and Advance access: May 2020 Khulna metropolitan cities of Bangladesh and two different questionnaires were used to collect quantitative data from randomly selected teachers and students. The study reveals that most of the EFL students in Bangladesh could not succeed in learning English language through CLT in Conflicts of interest: None spite of studying it for twelve years at their secondary and higher secondary levels. The paper Funding: None also examines multifaceted problems affecting English language teaching and learning through CLT such as most of the classrooms of Bengali medium colleges are not well-furnished with modern language teaching equipment, lack of training and teaching materials, student’s lack of background knowledge, motivation etc. Therefore, the real outcome of CLT in Bangladesh could not meet the initial dream and promise with which it was introduced and eventually became inappropriate and ineffective.This article critically evaluates CLT focusing on multiple barriers and factors instrumental for the failure of the approach at higher secondary level in Bangladesh. Finally, the study concludes with several recommendations to promote English language teaching at higher secondary level in Bangladesh. Key words: EFL Students in Bangladesh, Higher Secondary Certificate (HSC), Communica- tive Language Teaching (CLT), Grammar Translation Method (GTM), Curriculum INTRODUCTION people and of the total population, 98% people use Bangla as Before the introduction of CLT, English proficiency of a stu- their first language. This predominately-monolingual iden- dent was tested in terms of his knowledge in grammar, trans- tity of the nation is emphasized in its nationalist discours- lations, and writing question-answer etc. at higher secondary es (Rahman et al., 2019). Hence, it is quite challenging to level in Bangladesh. As this system could not bring fruit- practice CLT exclusively in language teaching classrooms ful results to improve English language proficiency of EFL as both students and teachers are highly interested in using students for ages, it was required to reform the curriculum, Bangla as their medium of communication, and the overuse methodology, course materials, and testing and evaluation of their own language means that they will have less chance procedures to enhance the development of English language to learn English (Harmer, 1998). On the other hand, the in- learning and teaching in the country. To ensure English lan- terference of the learner’s first language (L1) in the learning guage proficiency, the ministry of education (MoE) replaced and teaching process of English as a foreign language plays traditional GTM and introduced CLT theories and practices a negative role in some crucial aspects of the target language in the curricula for EFL students at secondary and higher i.e. pronunciation, vocabulary, grammar etc. are affected secondary levels in Bangladesh in the mid-nineties with lot by the learner’s first language (L1). Having a psychological of promises and expectation. However, after a decade and point of view, Ellis, (1985) says that there is never a peaceful more, it has been found that this new method too could not co-existence between two language systems in the learner, succeed due to a number of factors. but rather constant warfare, and that warfare is not limited to The analysis of recent literature shows that the appropri- the moment of cognition, but continues during the period of ateness and promotion of CLT for EFL students in non-na- storing newly learnt ideas in memory. tive context have been critically questioned (Khan &Wette, The past research also finds various other problems of CLT 2013). Bangladesh is a monolingual country of 160 million that cause its failure in Bangladeshi context. For example, the Published by Australian International Academic Centre PTY.LTD. Copyright (c) the author(s). This is an open access article under CC BY license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) http://dx.doi.org/10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.9n.3p.11 12 IJALEL 9(3):11-17 conflict or difference between the learner’s culture and the that typically put the students in a very difficult and perplex- target language-culture, lack of physical infrastructure and ing situation. Despite its beginning with lots of promises, logistics required in the classroom for CLT, lack of teacher CLT has not effectively been implemented as intended in the training, appropriate testing system and so on. curriculum (Ali &Walker, 2014; Chowdhury &Kabir, 2014; Compared with other methods and approaches, CLT ac- Hamid &Baldauf, 2008; Rahman and Pandian, 2018a, 2018b tivities are more difficult to design, and implement, and hence cited in Rahman et al. 2019). There are multiple factors and it imposes greater burden on EFL teachers. Not only the im- issues in reality that have been affecting the implementation plementation, but also the assessment of this method seems to of CLT in Bangladesh. In Bangladeshi context, Barman, be difficult for EFL teachers who are usually used to clear-cut Sultana & Basu (as cited in Rahman, 2015) consider eight assessment procedures (Rahman & Karim, 2015). factors which were identified as constraints in implement- In spite of having worldwide acceptance of CLT, howev- ing CLT: 1) Inefficiency of ELT practitioners, 2) Economic er, the question arises here as to the effectiveness and suit- constraints, 3) Administrative set-up, 4) Infrastructural lim- ability of CLT for EFL learners in the context of Bangladesh itations, 5) Cultural conflicts, 6) Seating arrangement in the (Ali and Walker, 2014; Hamid & Baldauf, 2008). Keeping an classrooms 7) Class size in language teaching and learning eye to the problems, numerous initiatives have been taken in and 8) Testing. Roy (2016) on the other hand, has identi- recent years to make CLT a success but the performance so fied five overreaching problems to successful implementa- far is not at all satisfactory. This paper examines the existing tion of CLT in Bangladesh. They are 1) Large classrooms status of CLT in the curricula and its problems and limita- 2) Mismatch between curriculum and assessment 3) Lack of tions during the past years, which gradually turn it into a rel- pre-service and in-service training 4) Cultural appropriate- ative failure at higher secondary level (HSC) in Bangladesh. ness 5) Poor salary and socio-economic condition. Bangladesh follows top-down system for curriculum de- velopment and implementation (Rahman, Pandian & Kaur, Research Objective 2018a) that allows teachers much less scope to share their The objective of this study is to investigate the initial goal views in implementing the curricula (Ali & Walker, 2014). and outcome of CLT, and factors behind its ineffectiveness From this short review, it is evident that CLT has been fac- and failure at higher secondary level in Bangladesh. ing multiple problems to be successful in Bangladesh and eventually becoming ineffective. This paper focuses on the root causes affecting the implementation of CLT and the Research Questions limitation of CLT itself to be successful in the context of This paper addresses and analyzes the following key Bangladesh. questions: • What was the initial goal of CLT in EFL curricula at HSC level in Bangladesh? The Grammar Translation Method (GMT) • What are the major problems of CLT in Bangladesh? This method is very widely used. According to Chastain (1988), • Is CLT a relative failure in Bangladesh? the grammar translation method is also called the classical method because it was first used in the teaching of the clas- sical Latin and Greek. The purpose of this method is to make LITERATURE REVIEW the students familiar with grammar of their native language The ministry of Education ( MoE) adopted CLT theories and through the study of the grammar of the target language, and in practices at secondary and higher secondary levels ( from the process make them capable of reading and writing both the grade six to grade 12 ) in Bangladesh in 2001 with a view target language and their first language simultaneously. to reforming the curriculum, methodology, textbook, and The role of the teacher in this method is very authorita- testing and evaluation procedures to ensure the development tive and that of the students is very passive in the classroom. of English language learning and teaching in the country The students do whatever their teacher instructs in their (Rahman et al. 2019). classrooms. Students are taught to translate materials from The primary aim was to choose CLT theories by replac- one language into another. For this matter, vocabulary and ing long established GTM that has been in the curricula for grammar, reading and writing are emphasized and this meth- more than 65 years to prioritize communicative competence od gives much less attention to pronunciation and listening of English language. According to Karim et al. (as cited in (Lasrsen-Freeman, 2004). Rahman et al. 2019), the reform was implemented by the The language that is used in the classroom as a medium English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) of communication is mostly the student’s native language.

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