Communicative Language Teaching in Rural Schools in China: Teachers’ Perspectives by Yihan Fang, Alla Khan & Malini Ganapathy
ABSTRACT
The approach to teaching second and foreign languages that emphasises interaction as both the means and the ultimate aim in the process of learning a language is known as communicative language teaching. By introducing communicative methodologies into their national curricula, many nations, notably China, have started teaching English as a foreign language (EFL). Since 2001, the CLT technique has been encouraged at the elementary school level, and young learners' communication skills are prioritised at the primary level. However, CLT is mostly employed at secondary and tertiary levels of education in almost every education system globally. It is rarely associated with primary school teachers, whose experiences might be different from those at higher levels. To address this gap, the present study was conducted. To this end, a survey was administered to thirty primary school teachers to learn more about their perspectives and the challenges they faced when attempting CLT in China, specifically rural China. Rural settings and rural teachers’ perspectives and impressions may differ from those of urban settings. The quantitative result of the study indicated teachers' misunderstandings of CLT. Many of them claimed that CLT is a teacher-centred approach when it is a student-centred one. In addition, several obstacles were also found to inhibit the implementation of CLT, which include the teachers themselves, the students, the educational system of China, and CLT itself. Policymakers and teachers in China are mainly expected to benefit from the findings of this study. Other education systems beyond China are expected to benefit from the findings too.
Keywords: China; communicative competence; communicative language teaching; primary schools; rural schools