Should we continue Communicative Language Teaching Approach?

The students who read CLT in private universities usually don't take up teaching as profession in the secondary and higher secondary level where the practice and propagation of CLT is a must

It naturally happens when an approach or method cannot fully serve the purpose, the alternative approach appears. Grammar Translation dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s, and in modified form it continues to be widely used in some parts of the world today.The grammar translation method showed its sluggish process to satisfy the growing needs of the time that expected quick process to develop a procession of manpower equipped with the ability to communicate in English at the global standard.  On the horn of this quick necessity, Communicative Approach appeared but how far it has served the purpose remains a debate. It started working in many countries since 1970s but it came into our part of the world in 1996-97 and our textbooks were first time designed on its principles that witnessed a paradigm shift of teaching learning English in the country. We took it easily as any jerk puzzles the passengers and it needs some time to get settled. The same we thought in the process of CLT introduction.  Two decades are almost passing but we actually find no such improvement of the learners rather it seemed to downgrade their standard in acquiring this subject that has become a serious concern for the educationists and linguists. Now is the time to ask the question to ourselves ' should we continue the CLT Approach?"
"Dr. Fakrul Alam, Professor of English at Dhaka University expressed his opinion about CLT in his article titled’ Bengali, English and the anxiety of influence, in the Eid Magazine June 2017 of the Asian Age.”Things got worse when in the 1980s the Great Dictator, as grotesque and as omnivorous as Charlie Chaplin's movie monster declared with an eye to populism that English would no longer be taught in degree colleges. He did his best, let us remember, to minimize its presence in Bangladesh although his son was sent to an English Medium school.The final blow in the downsizing of English came surely from the DFID/British Council sponsored plan to teach what British Universities and their ELT graduates branded optimistically as ' Communicative English' in 1990s. The chief consequence of this and the other initiatives discussed above was that the infrastructure that had produced Bengalis who knew Bengali perfectly and English adequately till the 1970s was done away with. From the mid-1990s schools and colleges began producing graduates supposedly equipped with English language ' Communicative  Skills' propagated through the ' teaching of English for Today' the textbook created by ELT experts mostly created and promoted by the British Council/DFID scheme, but the truth was that the products of this pedagogy knew little or no English because only the skeleton of the language was being taught to them by their trainers and that too through rote learning in most places.

What we need also is to get rid of the bunkum of so-called ' Communicative English' and reject all short term quick fix solutions to teach the language. We also need to go back to traditional ways of teaching that had worked well in our part of the world for generations and that is still working well in our neighboring country, incorporating of course, the best of ELT pedagogy that prescribes drills and teaching methodology appropriate for large classrooms. But more reading, more writing, more grammar and translation work and an attempt to make classrooms participatory must be the solutions to our English woes”
The students who read CLT in private universities don't take up teaching as profession in the secondary and higher secondary level where the practice and propagation of CLT is a must. These people either go for English Medium School teaching or corporate job or multinational job or go abroad for further higher education. It clandestinely shows that the root level people and root level necessity is hardly met up by the production of CLT people by private universities and the English departments of public universities. Some public universities have introduced special CLT courses where I know many practicing and would be teachers study. This can bring about some positive changes in the rural level schools though the smell of commercial touch surfaces here.
It now necessitates a country wide research to be conducted by a group of real CLT people who have both research experience and root level connection. Our experience shows that the CLT people clung to the city of Dhaka who have hardly any connection with the root level and rural area schools, colleges and madrasas. The teachers, students and the overall situation of these institutions are not well known to these ELT people. On the other hand the people who have connection with these root level and institutions don’t have research expertise. So, a good and judicious combination should be made to form a group that will conduct the research. The group and research must be saved and kept a safe distance from the politically motivated purpose or objective I mean it must be fully exempted from the political touch. The result of the research will be presented nationwide through print and electronic media. Finally, decision to be made whether we should continue the ' Communicative Language Teaching' as it is going on now or we should devise a complete new plan to teach English or should blend the suitable and appropriate areas of both CLT and GTM methods to bring out a new approach. We must make our learners well equipped with global Standard English covering all the four skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. The sooner we can it, the better for the nation. Today's English gets well connected with earning economic solvency of the country and reaching the SDGs. We can in no way afford to take time and linger the ongoing situation.
Just after the introduction of CLT in the 1990s the government established a special training project in the name of ELTIP (English Language Teaching Improvement Project) and a group of professional trainers were developed through special training both at home and abroad who conducted training in almost all the district level offices. The birth of this project indicates government’s concern and sincere desire to propagate and spread the CLT approach across the country targeting the secondary and higher secondary level teachers. After closing the project more than one decade ago no such specialized project under the umbrella of the ministry of education exists to equip the teachers to run the CLT approach. This stagnation helps us deduce that the government’s stance on  the propagation of CLT is confusing.

 The writer is an educationist Email:masumbillah65@gmail.com

 

Should we continue Communicative Language Teaching Approach?

The students who read CLT in private universities usually dont take up teaching as profession in the secondary and higher secondary level where the practice and propagation of CLT is a must

It naturally happens when an approach or method cannot fully serve the purpose, the alternative approach appears. Grammar Translation dominated European and foreign language teaching from the 1840s to the 1940s, and in modified form it continues to be widely used in some parts of the world today.The grammar translation method showed its sluggish process to satisfy the growing needs of the time that expected quick process to develop a procession of manpower equipped with the ability to communicate in English at the global standard. On the horn of this quick necessity, Communicative Approach appeared but how far it has served the purpose remains a debate. It started working in many countries since 1970s but it came into our part of the world in 1996-97 and our textbooks were first time designed on its principles that witnessed a paradigm shift of teaching learning English in the country. We took it easily as any jerk puzzles the passengers and it needs some time to get settled. The same we thought in the process of CLT introduction. Two decades are almost passing but we actually find no such improvement of the learners rather it seemed to downgrade their standard in acquiring this subject that has become a serious concern for the educationists and linguists. Now is the time to ask the question to ourselves should we continue the CLT Approach? Dr. Fakrul Alam, Professor of English at Dhaka University expressed his opinion about CLT in his article titled Bengali, English and the anxiety of influence, in the Eid Magazine June 2017 of the Asian Age.Things got worse when in the 1980s the Great Dictator, as grotesque and as omnivorous as Charlie Chaplins movie monster declared with an eye to populism that English would no longer be taught in degree colleges. He did his best, let us remember, to minimize its presence in Bangladesh although his son was sent to an English Medium school.The final blow in the downsizing of English came surely from the DFID/British Council sponsored plan to teach what British Universities and their ELT graduates branded optimistically as Communicative English in 1990s. The chief consequence of this and the other initiatives discussed above was that the infrastructure that had produced Bengalis who knew Bengali perfectly and English adequately till the 1970s was done away with. From the mid-1990s schools and colleges began producing graduates supposedly equipped with English language Communicative Skills propagated through the teaching of English for Today the textbook created by ELT experts mostly created and promoted by the British Council/DFID scheme, but the truth was that the products of this pedagogy knew little or no English because only the skeleton of the language was being taught to them by their trainers and that too through rote learning in most places. What we need also is to get rid of the bunkum of so-called Communicative English and reject all short term quick fix solutions to teach the language. We also need to go back to traditional ways of teaching that had worked well in our part of the world for generations and that is still working well in our neighboring country, incorporating of course, the best of ELT pedagogy that prescribes drills and teaching methodology appropriate for large classrooms. But more reading, more writing, more grammar and translation work and an attempt to make classrooms participatory must be the solutions to our English woes The students who read CLT in private universities dont take up teaching as profession in the secondary and higher secondary level where the practice and propagation of CLT is a must. These people either go for English Medium School teaching or corporate job or multinational job or go abroad for further higher education. It clandestinely shows that the root level people and root level necessity is hardly met up by the production of CLT people by private universities and the English departments of public universities. Some public universities have introduced special CLT courses where I know many practicing and would be teachers study. This can bring about some positive changes in the rural level schools though the smell of commercial touch surfaces here. It now necessitates a country wide research to be conducted by a group of real CLT people who have both research experience and root level connection. Our experience shows that the CLT people clung to the city of Dhaka who have hardly any connection with the root level and rural area schools, colleges and madrasas. The teachers, students and the overall situation of these institutions are not well known to these ELT people. On the other hand the people who have connection with these root level and institutions dont have research expertise. So, a good and judicious combination should be made to form a group that will conduct the research. The group and research must be saved and kept a safe distance from the politically motivated purpose or objective I mean it must be fully exempted from the political touch. The result of the research will be presented nationwide through print and electronic media. Finally, decision to be made whether we should continue the Communicative Language Teaching as it is going on now or we should devise a complete new plan to teach English or should blend the suitable and appropriate areas of both CLT and GTM methods to bring out a new approach. We must make our learners well equipped with global Standard English covering all the four skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. The sooner we can it, the better for the nation. Todays English gets well connected with earning economic solvency of the country and reaching the SDGs. We can in no way afford to take time and linger the ongoing situation. Just after the introduction of CLT in the 1990s the government established a special training project in the name of ELTIP (English Language Teaching Improvement Project) and a group of professional trainers were developed through special training both at home and abroad who conducted training in almost all the district level offices. The birth of this project indicates governments concern and sincere desire to propagate and spread the CLT approach across the country targeting the secondary and higher secondary level teachers. After closing the project more than one decade ago no such specialized project under the umbrella of the ministry of education exists to equip the teachers to run the CLT approach. This stagnation helps us deduce that the governments stance on the propagation of CLT is confusing. The writer is an educationist Email:masumbillah65@gmail.com