In your language class which methodology will be used (how and

why) .For example, teaching literary text “A Poem” applying

communicative approach.
 CHAPTER 1- Introduction:

1.1 Poetry is a form Art

Poetry is an art form in which human language is used for its aesthetic qualities in addition to, or

instead of, its notional and semantic content. It consists largely of oral or literary works in which

language is used in a manner that is felt by its user and audience to differ from ordinary prose.

It may use condensed or compressed form to convey emotion or ideas to the readers or listener's

mind or ear; it may also use devices such as assonance and repetition to achieve musical or

incantatory effects. Poems frequently rely for their effect on imagery, word association, and the

musical qualities of the language used. The interactive layering of all these effects to generate

meaning is what marks poetry.

Because of its nature of emphasizing linguistic form rather than using language purely for its

content, poetry is notoriously difficult to translate from one language into another: a possible

exception to this might be the Hebrew Psalms, where the beauty is found more in the balance of

ideas than in specific vocabulary. In most poetry, it is the connotations and the "baggage" that

words carry (the weight of words) that are most important. These shades and nuances of meaning

can be difficult to interpret and can cause different readers to "hear" a particular piece of poetry

differently. While there are reasonable interpretations, there can never be a definitive

interpretation.

2
1.2 Nature of poetry

Poetry can be differentiated most of the time from prose, which is language meant to convey

meaning in a more expansive and less condensed way, frequently using more complete logical or

narrative structures than poetry does. This does not necessarily imply that poetry is illogical, but

rather that poetry is often created from the need to escape the logical, as well as expressing feelings

and other expressions in a tight, condensed manner. English Romantic poet John Keats termed this

escape from logic Negative Capability. A further complication is that prose poetry combines the

characteristics of poetry with the superficial appearance of prose, such as in Robert Frost's poem,

"Home Burial." Other forms include narrative poetry and dramatic poetry, both of which are used

to tell stories and so resemble novels and plays. However, both these forms of poetry use the

specific features of verse composition to make these stories more memorable or to enhance them

in some way.

In present study researcher has chosen the following piece of poetry to teach by communicative

approach:

Poem: You are old, Father William by Lewis Carroll

“You are old Father the William” young man said,

"And your hair has become very white;

And yet you incessantly stand on your head—

Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

3
1.3 History of Teaching Methods and Communicative Approach

In the history of language teaching, certain methods such as Audio-lingual, Grammar Translation,

Suggestopedia and Total Physical Response have come into view. All these methods have been

widely and extensively discussed and evaluated by researchers and scholars. Each of them has

their own focus, weak points as well as strong points and they are based on a theory. In other

words, methods are developed based on theories such as behaviourism, structuralism,

constructivism and universal grammar. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is no exception

with this regard (Larson – Freeman, 1986; Ellis, 1994). Now a day, the CLT method, which is

originated in Britain, is widely used in English as Second Language (ESL) classrooms around the

world. According to Barnaby and Sun (1989) and Ellis (1996), CLT is recognized as powerful

theoretical model in ELT by many linguists and language teachers as a useful approach to language

teaching. In this short introduction of CLT, researcher try to define Communicative Language

Teaching approach, its theoretical background and some important characteristics. Researcher will

also explain main advantages and disadvantages of CLT implementation.

1.4 Definition of Communicative Language Teaching:

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is an approach to teaching language which is defined

many writers (Cannale, 1983; Cook, 1991; Littlewood, 1981; O’Malley and Chamot, 1990;

Richards and Rodgers 2001; Rivers, 1987). According to Richards, et al. in the Dictionary of

Language Teaching and Applied Linguistics defined CLT as “an approach to foreign or second

language teaching which emphasizes that the goal of International Academic and Industrial

language learning is communicative competence” (1992: 65). Other authors in the field have

defined and characterized CLT in various ways (Howatt, 1984; Littlewood, 1981; Savignon, 1991;

Scarcella and Oxford, 1992). Littlewood explains that “one of the most characteristic features of

4
communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as well as

structural aspects of language, combining these into a more fully communicative view” (1981:1).

In general, CLT advocates go beyond teaching grammatical rules of the target language, and

purpose that, by using the target language in a meaningful way, learners will develop

communicative competence. The communicative approach is concerned with the unique individual

needs of each learner. By making the language relevant to the world rather than the classroom,

learners can acquire the desired skills rapidly and agreeably.

1.5 The origin of Communicative Language Teaching:

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has its roots in England, which is a primarily English

as a Second Language (ESL) environment. In the early 1960s concepts about second language

teaching were changing, and the theoretical assumptions behind them were also being rethought.

It was during this time of re-evaluation that CLT was born. Galloway says that the communicative

Approach could be said to be the product of educators and linguists who had grown dissatisfied

with the Audio-lingual and Grammar Translation methods of foreign language instruction.

Richards and Rodgers (1986), on the other hand, claim that the origins of communicative language

teaching are to be found in the changes of situational language teaching approaches, which

influenced the British language teaching tradition till the late 1960s. Meanwhile, Savignon (1991)

asserts that the emergence of CLT can be traced to concurrent developments on both sides of the

Atlantic, i.e. in Europe and the United States.

Educators and linguistics such as Candlin (1981) and Widdowson (1978) saw the need to focus in

language teaching on communicative proficiency rather than on mere mastery of structures. They

felt that students were not learning enough realistic, whole language in those methods, i.e.,

Situational Language Teaching, Audio-lingual or Grammar Translation method (Richards and

5
Rodgers 1986; Savignon 1987, 1991; Galloway 1993). Students did not know how to communicate

in the cultures of the language studies.

1.6 Some major features of Communicative Language Teaching:

The communicative approach to language teaching is, relatively, a newly adapted approach in the

area of foreign / second language teaching. Communicative Language Teaching is a “hybrid

approach to language teaching, essentially ‘progressive’ rather than ‘traditional’…” (Wright,

2000). CLT can be seen to derive from a multidisciplinary perspective that includes, at least,

linguistics, psychology, philosophy, sociology and educational research (Savignon, 1991). It is

generally accepted that proponents of CLT see it as an approach, not a method (Richards and

Rodgers 1986; Savignon 1991; Brown 1994). For Brown, for instance, “Communicative Language

Teaching is a unified but broadly – based theoretical position about the nature of language and

language learning and teaching” (1994: 244-245).

Although we have different versions and various ways in which CLT is interpreted and applied,

educators in the area, Littlewood (1981); Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983); Brumfit (1984);

Widdowson (1978, 1979); Johnson and Morrow (1981); Richards and Rodgers (1986); Larsen-

Freeman (1986); Celce-Murcia (1991) and Johnson (1982) put some of the major characteristics

of CLT as follows:

(a) It is felt that students need knowledge of the linguistic form, meaning and functions. However,

CLT gives primary importance to the use or function of the language and secondary importance to

its structure or form (Larsen-Freeman 1986; Johnson 1982). This does not mean that knowledge

of grammar is not essential for effective communication, rather systematic treatment of both

functions and forms is vital. Stressing on this, Littlewood says “one of the most characteristic

features of communicative language teaching is that it pays systematic attention to functional as

6
well as structural aspects of language” (1981: 1). “CLT suggests that grammatical structure might

better be subsumed under various functional categories… we pay considerably less attention to the

overt presentation and discussion of grammatical rules than we traditionally did” (Brown 1994:

245). Emphasis is also given to meaning (messages they are creating or task them are completing)

rather than form (correctness of language and language structure). For Finocchiaro and Brumfit

“meaning is paramount” (1983:91) since it helps the learners to manage the message they engage

with the interlocutors.

(b) "Fluency and accuracy are seen as complementary principles underlying communicative

techniques” (Brown 1994:245). However, at times fluency may have to take on more importance

than accuracy because "fluency and acceptable language is the primary goal" (Finocchiaro and

Brumfit 1983:93) and accuracy is judged not in the abstract but in contexts. Fluency is emphasized

over accuracy in order to keep learners meaningfully engaged in language use. It is important,

However, that fluency should never be encouraged at the expense of clear, unambiguous, direct

communication. And much more spontaneity is present in communicative classrooms (Brown,

1994).

(c) Language teaching techniques are designed to engage learners in the pragmatic, authentic,

functional use of language for meaningful purposes. Classrooms should provide opportunities for

rehearsal of real-life situations and provide opportunity for real communication. Emphasis on

creative role plays, simulations, dramas, games, projects, etc., is the major activities which can

help the learner provide spontaneity and improvisation, not just repetition and drills. Another

characteristic of the classroom process is the use of authentic materials because it is felt desirable

to give students the opportunity to develop the strategies for understanding language as it is

actually used by native speakers. In the classroom, everything is done with a communicative intent.

7
Information gap, choice and feedback are thought to be truly communicative activities (Johnson

and Morrow 1981).

(d) Grammar can still be taught, but less systematically, in traditional ways alongside more

innovative approaches. Savignon (2002:7) says "... for the development of communicative ability

research findings overwhelmingly support the integration of form-focused exercises with meaning

- focused experience". Grammar is important; and learners seem to focus best on grammar when

it relates to their communicative needs and experiences. Disregard of grammar will virtually

guarantee breakdown in communication (Savignon 1991, 2001; Thompson 1996).

These writers also say there are some misconceptions about CLT that makes difficult for many

teachers to see clearly what is happening and to identify the useful innovations that CLT has

brought. One of the persistent misconceptions is that CLT means not teaching grammar although

“the exclusion of explicit attention to grammar was never necessary part of CLT" (Thompson

1996:10). In CLT involvement in communicative event is seen as central to language development,

and this involvement necessarily requires attention to form (structure).

(e) Communicative approach is not limited to oral skills. Reading and writing skills need to be

developed to promote pupils' confidence in all four skills areas. Students work on all four skills

from the beginning, i.e., a given activity might involve reading, speaking, listening, and perhaps

also writing (Celce-Murcia 1991).The idea of emphasizing the oral skills creates uncertainty

among teachers. They misconceived CLT as if it were devoted to teaching only speaking. But,

"CLT is not exclusively concerned with face to face oral communication" (Savignon 2002:7). The

principles of CLT apply equally to reading and writing activities that engage readers and writers

in the interpretation, expression, and negotiation of meaning. In other words, it is important to

recognize that it is not only the speaker (or writer) who is communicating. Instead, communication

8
through language happens in both the written and spoken medium, and involves at least two

people. Thompson (1996) further states that, though there is a complaint that CLT ignores written

language, a glance at recent mainstream textbooks shows that reading and writing materials have

been given attention too.

Students regularly work in groups or pairs to transfer (and if necessary to negotiate) meaning in

situations where one person has information that others lack (Celce-Murcia 1991). More emphasis

should be given to active modes of learning such as pair or group work in problem-solving tasks

in order to maximize the time allotted to each student for learning to negotiate meaning. Many

people assume group/pair work is applicable in all contexts. However, classroom group and/or pair

work should not be considered an essential feature used all the time, and may well be inappropriate

in some contexts.

Thompson (1996) and Savignon (2002) claim that group and/or pair work are flexible and useful

techniques than that suggests, and they are active modes of learning which can help the learners to

negotiate meaning and engage in problem- solving activities. The use of pair / group work is a

physical signal of some degree of control and choice passing to the learners; but that needs to be

complemented by real choice (learners need to be given some degree of control over their

learning). Therefore, the use of pair / group work needs to be complemented by real choice for the

following reasons: (1) they can provide the learners with a relatively safe opportunity to try out

ideas before launching them in public; (2) they can lead to more developed ideas, and therefore

greater confidence and more effective communication; (3) they can also provide knowledge and

skills which may complement those of their partners which in turn lead to greater success in

undertaking tasks (Thompson 1996).

9
Errors are seen as a natural outcome of the development of the communication skills and are

therefore tolerated. Learners trying their best to use the language creatively and spontaneously are

bound to make errors. Constant correction is unnecessary and even counter-productive. Correction

noted by the teacher should be discreet. Let the students talk and express themselves and the form

of the language becomes secondary. If errors of form are tolerated and are seen as a natural

outcome of the development of communication skills, students can have limited linguistic

knowledge and still be successful communicators (Larsen-Freeman 1986).

Evaluation is carried out in terms of fluency and accuracy. Students who have the most control of

the structures and vocabulary are not necessarily the best communicators. A teacher may use

formal evaluation i.e., he/she is likely to use a communicative test, which is an integrative and has

a real communicative function (e.g., Madsen 1983; Hughes 1989). The students’ native language

has no role to play (Larsen Freeman 1986). The target language is used both during communicative

activities and for the purpose of classroom management. The students learn from these classroom

management exchanges, too, and realize that the target language is a vehicle for communication.

Whatever the case may be, "the teacher should be able to use the target language fluently and

appropriately"(Celce-Murcia 1991:8). However, for others (e.g., Finocchiaro and Brumfit 1983)

judicious use of native language is accepted where feasible. Teachers may provide directions of

homework, class work and test directions by using the native language.

The teacher is the facilitator of students' learning, manager of classroom activities, advisor during

activities and a 'co-communicator' engaged in the communicative activity along with the students

(Littlewood 1981; Breen and Candlin 1980). But he does not always himself interact with students;

rather he acts as an independent participant. Other roles assumed for the teacher are needs analyst,

counsellor, researcher and learner. Students, on the other hand, are more responsible managers of

10
their own learning. They are expected to interact with other people, either in the flesh, through pair

and group work, or in the writings. They are communicators and actively engaged in negotiating

meaning in trying to make themselves understood. They learn to communicate by communicating

(Larsen-Freeman, 1986). Above all, since the teacher's role is less dominant, the teaching / learning

process is student-centered rather than teacher-centered. In other words, it is the learner who plays

a great role in a large proportion of the process of learning.

11
 CHAPTER 2- Literature Review

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is successful in western context but it is failed to get

desire outcomes in ESL context like ours. Though new syllabus and textbook were designed to

implement CLT, some key concepts like its principles, teacher-student role, and classroom

activities are still out of concern.to teach poetry effectively at primary level is a big challenge.

Researcher is discussing the effectiveness of CLT in teaching poetry at primary level. For this

purpose she through the light on the following earlier studies which supports or criticize the CLT

according to their own approach.

2.1 Characteristics of CLT:

At the level of language theory, Communicative Language Teaching has a rich, if somewhat

eclectic, theoretical base. Larsen-Freeman (2000), Brown (2001), Richards (2006) describe more

or less similar key principles of CLT. These are as follows:

 Classroom goals are focused on communicative competence. The target language is a

vehicle for communication not only the object of study.

 Language techniques are designed to engage learners to use the language for meaningful

purposes.

 Fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in order to keep the learners

engaged in language use. Accuracy can be judged not in abstract but in context.

 Students have to use language productively and receptively as these are needed in authentic

communication.

12
  Students should be given opportunities to be coached on strategies for how to improve their

comprehension, their learning style and process.

 The teacher acts as a facilitator in setting up communicative activities and as an advisor or

guide during the activities. Students are therefore encouraged to construct meaning through

genuine linguistic interaction with others.

2.2 Communicative competence:

Communicative competence helps a learner acquire the ability not only to apply the grammatical

rules of a language in order to form grammatically correct sentence with the way of its use.

Communicative competence includes:

 Knowledge of grammar and vocabulary of the language.

 Knowledge of how a conversation has to start and stop with different people in different

situation.

 Knowing how to use and respond to different types of Speech Acts such as requests,

apologies, thanks and invitations.

 Knowing how to use language perfectly. (Richards, Platt, Weber, 1985,p.49)

2.3 Communicative activities:

There are two kinds of communicative activities. They are: pre-communicative activities and

communicative activities. Through pre-communicative activities, the teacher isolates specific

elements of knowledge or skills which compose communicative ability, and provides the learners

with opportunities to practice them separately. The learners exercise some parts of skills rather

than practicing the total skills. The learners learn different structures of target language through

pre-communicative activities. For example, the learners must produce the correct form of simple

13
past. Then the learners learn to relate structure to communicative function. These activities give

importance to not only the structures but also the meanings. After that the learners learn to relate

language to specific meanings. Question-and-answer activity based on the classroom situation is a

part of situational language teaching.

In communicative activities, the learners have to activate and integrate their pre-communicative

knowledge and skills in order to use them for the communication of meaning. Then they practice

the total skills of communication. In functional communicative activities, the learners are placed

in a situation where they must perform a task by communication as best they can; with whatever

resources they have available.

The criterion for success is practical: how effectively the task is performed. In social interaction

activities, on the other hand, the learners are also encouraged to take account of the social context

in which communication takes place. They are required to go beyond what is necessary for simply

`getting the meaning across’, in order to develop greater social acceptability in the language they

use. At first a learner gathers grammatical accuracy and later he produces speech which is socially

appropriate to specify situations and relationship. (Ferdous, 2009)

2.4 Language Classroom Based on CLT:

According to Brown (2001) students are the members of a team and should be able to see one

another, to talk to one another (in English) and should not make to feel like they just walked into

a military formation. An ideal arrangement of a classroom promotes interaction, involves

arranging the desks in a semicircle. This type of arrangement is most feasible in getting students

involved in acquire communication competence in English Language students need to participant

in different activities.

14
Richards (2006) highlights some “activities for students in learning language focusing on fluency:

 They reflect natural use of language.

 They focus on achieving communication.

 They require meaningful use of language.

 They require the of communication strategies.

 They produce language that may not be predictable.

 They seek to link language use to context.” (Ozsevik, 2010, p.41)

2.5 Teachers’ Role

In CLT classroom teacher has to play dimensional role. She/he has to know when it is high time

to play which role. Breen and Candlin (1980, p.99) describe teacher’s roles as follows:

 Facilitator- who facilitate the communication process in the classroom.

 Independent participant- He/she has to participate within the learning- teaching group.

 Resource- He/she organizes the resources of the activities or can acting the role of resource

being helpful and by giving information to students.

 Researcher- He/she is a learner or researcher with much to contribute in terms of

appropriate knowledge and activities, actual and observed experience of the nature of

learning and organizational capacities.

Other roles of teacher are:

 Monitor- During the activities teacher needs to monitor students’ performance and to give

feedback if necessary.

15
 Counselor- As a counselor teacher “is expected to exemplify an effective communicator

seeking maximize the interconnecting of speaker intention, hearer interpretation through the

use of paraphrase, confirmation and feedback.” (Richards & Rogers, 1986; 2001)

2.6 Students’ Role

The emphasis in CLT leads the students to different roles in classroom. These can be mentioned

in following terms:

 Negotiators for meaning: The learner as negotiator between the self, the learning process

and the objective of learning emerges from and interacts with the role of joint negotiator

within the group and within the classroom procedures and activities which the group

undertaken. (Breen and Candlin, 1980, p.110)

 Communicators: They need to communicate with each other and share their opinions in the

class.

 Discoverers: They have to discover how to improve their learning. (Nunan, 2010)

 Contributors of knowledge and information: the implication for is that learner should

contribute as much as he gains and thereby learn in an independent way.(Breen and Candlin,

1980, p.110)

CLT in Theory and Practice In terms of the gap between English teachers’ attitudes towards

CLT and their classroom practices, Karavas-Doukas suggests that CLT seems to have

brought innovation on the level of theory rather than on that of teachers’ actual classroom

practices. He makes further comments as follows: the few small-scale classroom studies

that have been carried out seem to suggest that communicative classrooms are rare. While

most teachers profess to be following a communicative approach, in practice they are

following more traditional approaches’ (KaravasDoukas 1996: 187). There is a relevant

16
number of other studies proving this discrepancy between attitudes and classroom practices

in different contexts. Among many these yielding contradictory results between actual

classroom practices and attitudes towards CLT, Bal (2016) did a study at five different

Turkish Public Primary Schools with twenty English teachers. He found that even though

teachers are aware of CLT in terms of theoretical aspects and hold positive attitudes towards

CLT, they do not actually use important features of CLT in their classrooms. Moreover,

common constraints like insufficient use of authentic materials, teachers’ lacking practical

knowledge, grammar–based national syllabuses and large classroom sizes were found to be

the factors preventing teachers from implementing CLT in Turkey. A contradiction between

teachers' attitudes and classroom practices was also found in Karavas-Doukas' (1996) study.

He observed 14 Greek English language teachers' classroom practices and found that

although these teachers held favorable attitudes towards CLT, their classroom practices

differed significantly from the principles of the communicative approach. Teachers showed

a tendency towards following an eclectic approach, a combination of both traditional and

communicative approaches in their lessons. The lessons were mainly teacher-centered and

showed explicit focus on form. Pair work activities were found to be used in two classrooms,

but group work activities were never applied.

2.7 Fluency and Accuracy

Fluency is another important aspect of CLT. Fluency is the natural language use which

occurs when a speaker gets involved in meaningful interaction and it is developed by

creating classroom activities in which students negotiate meaning, use communication

strategies and correct misunderstandings. On the other hand, activities featuring accuracy

aim at the production of correct linguistic utterances.

17
 Differences between activities focusing on fluency and those focusing on accuracy have

been summarized by Richards (2006) as follows:

Activities focusing on accuracy Activities focusing on fluency

• Reflect classroom-based language use • Reflect natural language use

• Focus on the production of correct linguistic • Focus on achieving communication

utterances • Require meaningful language use

• Practice language out of context • Require the use of communication strategies

• Practice small samples of language • Produce language which is not predictable by

• Do not require meaningful communication nature

• Keep the choice of language under control • Seek to link language use to context

Related to fluency and accuracy, two instruction types characterized by the focus-on form

(contextualized) and the focus-on-forms (contrived) approach should be explained. Al-Magid

(2006) refers to Long (1991) defining the former as the instruction which draws learners’ attention

to linguistic elements as they arise incidentally in lessons whose overriding focus is on meaning

or communication (Long 1991 in Ellis et al. 2003:150).

On the other hand, long highlights that the focus-on-forms approach requires teaching grammatical

structures discretely without meaningfully contextualizing them as in grammatical syllabi. It is

18
also important to note that the focus-on-forms approach is similar to the Grammar-Translation

Method whose aim is to teach L2 grammar by using a set of grammatical rules in contrived forms.

Another important point to be considered when it comes to fluency in the communicative

classroom is the use of students’ mother tongue. The consensus in the research is that English

should be the primary medium of instruction and that the use of L1 should be limited and selective

(Atkinson 1993: 2).

2.8 Challenges faced in implementing CLT

Among the various difficulties, the teachers’ teaching inability is the one most related to classroom

teaching effectively. So the most important thing is that educational administrators should do the

teachers training (Liao, 2000). Many teachers in EFL settings should have in-service training

particularly in CLT which might improve the teachers’ methodologies of teaching (Liao, 2000;

Karim, 2004).

However, there is a lack of CLT training for EFL teachers which might be one of the barriers in

adopting CLT in the EFL classroom teaching and learning. As some research projects found that

lack of training in CLT was identified as a major difficulty in adopting CLT (Liao, 2000; Karim,

2004).

In relation to this, Gamal and Debra (2001) supported that most teachers in their study identified

lack of CLT training as a barrier to successful implementation of CLT which is posing a problem

in practicing communicative language teaching in ESL settings. In Pakistan, teachers lack

professional development in order to improve their English proficiency and teaching skills. This

causes teachers in the department to lack confidence to motivate their students to participate in

CLT based activities.

19
 CHAPTER 3- Research Design

This chapter describes the design and the procedures of collecting information of this research.

The first section of this chapter discusses about the method applied in this study, and the research

design; the second section describes the participants taken in the study; the third section lists all

the instruments used in the study and justifies their use in the study. Then the procedure, analysis

and ethics are described.

3.1 Methodology
Researcher have applied qualitative research method in my study. Researcher think qualitative

research is appropriate and effective to find out the proper answers of my research questions.

Qualitative research methods typically include interviews and observations, but may also include

case studies, surveys, and historical and document analysis. Case study and survey research are

also often considered methods on their own. It focuses on quality rather than the quantity.

Qualitative research has several hallmarks. It is conducted in a natural setting, without intentionally

manipulating the environment. It typically involves highly detailed rich descriptions of human

behaviors and opinions. The perspective is that humans construct their own reality, and an

understanding of what they do may be based on why they believe they do it. There is allowance

for the "multiple realities" individuals thus might construct in an environment. The research

questions often evolve as the study does, because the researcher wants to know "What is

happening," and may not want to bias the study by focusing the investigation too narrowly. The

researcher becomes a part of the study by interacting closely with the subjects of the study. The

researcher attempts to be open to the subjects' perceptions of "what is"; that is, researchers are

bound by the values and world views of the subjects. In qualitative research, it is not necessarily

assumed that the findings of one study may be generalized easily to other settings. There is a

20
concern for the uniqueness of a particular setting and participants. Researcher has used three

research instruments to conduct this study. The used instruments are teachers’ interview, and

observation of L2 classes. Interviews of the teachers and observation of the ESL class are the way

to be connected with them directly and generate ideas for this study. As well as class observations

are necessary to justify the findings of interviews.

3.2 Objectives:

 Examined effectiveness of communicative language approach in teaching of poetry in ESL

class at primary level, Public sector in Pakistan.

 To investigate the challenges for teachers in adopting CLT at Primary level in Public schools

of Pakistan.

 Examine the implementations of CLT in Public schools of Lahore.

3.3 Research Questions

To explore answers, researcher have designed the following research questions:

1. Is CLT an appropriate teaching method to teach poetry at primary level?

2. What are the challenges that teachers face in implementing CLT in classrooms of Primary level

in Public schools?

3. To what extent CLT is implemented in classrooms of primary level in Public schools?

3.4 Participants/ Sample

The participants of the study are the English teachers and students of English class. The interviews

were taken individually from 3 English teachers who are currently teaching Public sector schools

in Lahore for detail and in depth data.

21
3.5 Instruments/ Tools

The main objectives of the dissertation are to find out how far CLT is effective to teach poetry and

what the challenges are to implement it at primary level in public sector. To reach the goal

researcher used four instruments: 1) teacher interview 2) observation check list for poetry class 3)

observation check list for challenges in adopting CLT.4) suggestive lesson plan to teach a poem

by researcher. For teacher interview I followed pre-prepared open-ended interview questionnaire

related to the study. English class were observed to note down the overall activities especially to

find out challenges and the effectiveness of CLT.

3.6 Procedure and Timeline

At first researcher met Headmasters of 4 schools for permission of collecting data. Two of them

did not give permission. After getting permission from 2 schools researcher observed one ESL

class where teacher was teaching poetry. After observation researcher talked to English teachers

of those schools. Some of them were interested and some not. Researcher took individual face to

face interview from the interested teachers. Since time was issue 10 minutes were spent on each

teacher. Researcher noted down the answers. At the end of the interview, each interviewee was

asked whether they had anything to add to the interview that was not addressed by any of the

questions or their responses.

3.7 Analysis

In this study, the results are analyzed in the qualitative frame of data collection. Findings from all

the instruments that researcher used are analyzed. Applying three instruments helped to analyze

from three different directions. Since qualitative method is used to conduct this study, the

emphasized are given to the participants’ responses instead of the number of participants. For

22
interviews researcher followed content analysis. At first researcher read and reread the transcribed

data then categorize those based on research question.

3.8 Ethics

Researcher took permission of the participants before collecting data and made sure that their name

and institutions’ name would not be disclosed. Summary of interview would be provided if anyone

asked for and every participant had right to leave or withdraw themselves from the study any time

they wanted.

3.9 Limitation

All research has limitations associated with the process involved and this applies to this study as

well. There are a number of limitations that have been identified and considered as constraints in

the study. Firstly, the challenge was to take permissions from the Headmasters. Headmasters of

two schools directly denied and other two schools told that they would let me know later but they

informed me. Secondly, sample size for teacher interview was limited because of difficulties to

make appointments with teachers. Finally for the time constrain I collected data only from the 2

schools of Lahore.

23
 CHAPTER -4 Findings

4.1 Observation of ESL Class:

Teacher came in class and students were ready to start the reading of the poem “You are Old

Father William” there were 24 students and all were girls. Teacher started the lesson by brain

storming. She asked the students:

1. Do you have your grandfather?

2. How does he look?

3. Is he fat or thin?

4. What are his habits?

5. What does he eat?

After getting students response she read the whole poem by herself and asked the students to

write the meaning on the book with led pencil. She explained the all the stanzas one by one.

After explaining orally she ask the students to write the main idea and summary of the poem

on note books. She observed the students as they were doing their class work after completing

the class work students were assigned homework to write the character sketch of old father

William.

24
 Observation checklist.

Observation Checklist for Teachers’ Teaching Activities in implementing CLT in teaching

English poetry class.

No Respondent / Principles Yes No

1 There is read aloud by the students 

Provides learners with activities that have to be carried out in pairs or

2 groups. 

3 Minimal use of L1 

4 Theme of the lesson is explained by the teacher. 

5 Tolerates learners’ errors. 

6 Teacher encourages learners to correct each other’s errors. 

7 Teacher encourages learners to self-correct themselves 

8 Teacher dominates classroom situations 

9 Teacher monitors classroom situations. 

10 Ask Students to present their work in front of the class. 

11 Ask Students to use dictionary in front of the class. 

12 Communicative activities focus on meaning. 

13 Practical conversation is used to achieve communicative competence. 

14 The teacher focuses on fluency. 

15 Conversation is taught through video screening 

16 Conversation is taught by doing something 

17 Conversation is taught in real life situation 

25
 18 Conversation is applied in cooperative and collaborative learning (e.g. 
work in group, in pairs).
19 Conversation is taught through interaction between students and teacher 
and students and students.
20 Dialogue is used to achieve communicative competence 

Qualitative Research for In-depth Interview Questions

1. What is Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in your opinion?

2. How long have you been teaching English?

3. How long have you been teaching English using CLT?

4. How do you apply CLT in teaching English?

5. How do you apply CLT in teaching English in conversation class at English Educational Center?

6. What are the problems encountered by the teachers in teaching English using CLT?

7. How do the teachers solve the problems of the application of CLT in teaching English in the

classroom?

8. Do you encourage your students to work in pairs or in group?

9. What do you think about using media in teaching English in conversation class

10. How do you integrate them?

11. Do you help the students to get communicative competence? How do you do that?

26
 Questionnaire about Challenges in Adopting CLT

The following are some challenges that other EFL/ESL teachers had in adopting CLT. Have you come

across these difficulties or do you think they might be difficulties for you in adopting CLT in your

classes? Try a scale (mark tick one), how much of an issue is: (1: no problem, 2: manageable problem, 3:

major difficulty)

Challenges for ESL Teachers in Adopting CLT 1 2 3

a) Teachers' lack of sufficient spoken English competence 

b) Teachers' lack of target culture (English) knowledge 

c) Teachers' little time to prepare communicative materials 

d) Students' low-level English proficiency 

e) Students resist communicative class activities 

f) Not enough authentic teaching materials to use 

g) Traditional grammar-based examinations 

h) Large class size 

j) Lack of training in CLT 

k) Lack of effective and efficient assessment instruments 

l) communicative competence 

m) Lack of support from administration 

n)Teachers' misinterpretation of CLT 

27
 Chapter – 5: Data Analysis:

In this chapter, the results collected through the instruments are analyzed to answer the research

questions. The results found from the three sources including interview with 4 teachers, one

classroom observation personally observed by the researcher with the help of checklist (see

appendix) secondly to answer the second research question researcher designed a separate

checklist about the challenges of CLT (see appendix). Researcher all conducted an interview of 4

English teachers to reach a more reliable answers to the research questions. Qualitative method is

followed to collect all the important data. This chapter is linked with the literature review chapter.

The analysis is made to answer the two research questions mentioned in the beginning of the study

5.1 CLT implementation

5.1.1 Teacher centered class:

It is found that English classroom of primary level in Pakistan is completely teacher centered.

Researcher has observed that teachers talk time is 70-80%. They give lecture and students hear

silently with few participation. Students always wait for teacher’s instruction, words of approval,

correction, advice. They do not have any chance to discuss with except teachers.

5.1.2 Language skills: Authentic communication requires use of language through four skills

(reading, writing, listening, speaking). But our teaching process is shaped according to exam which

does not include listening and speaking skills. Teachers have mentioned that there is no separate

practice session in classroom for listening and speaking. Teachers encourage students to develop

listening skill by their own effort hearing the news, watching movies and games. This finding is

supported by Rahman (et al., 2006). That study also suggests both trained and non-trained teachers

ignore the fact of enhancing four skills.

28
5.1.3 Fluency and accuracy: It is found that fluency is still out of concern while accuracy is

judging students competency. Teachers think that accuracy needs to come first in terms of

importance. In the classroom there is no activity for developing fluency of writing or speaking.

But according to Richards (2006) fluency may have to take on more importance than accuracy in

order to keep the learners engaged in language use.

5.1.4 Learners’ engagement in class: Learners are not so much engaged in the class. From teacher

interview and group interview of students it is found that they have no chance to group or pair

work or discussion. Teachers assign them individual work. In the observation it is seen that classes

are mainly lecture based where learners have little scope to participate.

5.1.5 Activities practiced in class: It is found that teachers give emphasize on pre -communicative

Activities such as question answer, forms and structure based activities. But the communicative

activities like role play, debate are not introduced in primary level of Pakistan.

5.2 Challenges that teachers face to implement CLT

5.2.1 Classroom environment: It is observed that classrooms of primary level are very large with

around 50 to 60 students. It is very difficult for teachers to give individual attention to students

especially who are sitting at the back. Sometimes teachers’ voices do not reach at the last row.

From teacher interview it is found that classrooms are equipped with easily immovable benches

so they cannot arrange group or pair work. If they try it annoys students and makes the class noisy.

This factor is considered as one of the barriers that hinder CLT implementation in the classrooms

of primary levels in Pakistan.

This result is supported by Sharmeen (2008). She identifies that large class is a problem also for

students. Beside Rahman (et al, .2006) shows setting arrangement is a great problem for

implementing CLT in class.

29
5.2.2 Power of exam: Most of the teachers in this research have noted that examination of our

country does not include any listening and speaking skills. So they focus on reading and writing

based on content of syllabi. Students also expose that they are motivated to develop their reading

and writing skills for earning good grades in exam. Therefore it is not surprising that the

examination format is a barrier for CLT adaption. This finding has been echoed by the study that

is conducted by Ullah (2013). Ullah has investigated that teachers focus on reading and writing

skills targeting testing procedure. Because of exam oriented study true communicative competence

is not developed.

5.2.3 Lack of facilities to support CLT: It is found that the schools lack appropriate facilities in

the adoption of CLT. From teacher interview it is found that in most of the schools there is no

technological teaching aid like projector, microphone, CD/VCD, tape recorder. Only board and

marker/chalk is provided by authority. This finding is similar to Rahman (et al., 2006) and

Sharmeen (2008). They also find there is lack of teaching aids.

5.2.4 Students’ English phobia: Teachers in this study have reported that students have fear of

English. Because of limited vocabulary, pronunciation problem, over consciousness of being

criticized for making mistakes they hesitate to present or express their ideas in English. Their

English phobia is one of the major challenges for teachers to conduct CLT based class .In addition,

there is a research on teachers’ perceptions, attitudes and expectations about

CLT in Pakistan that has showed the majority of the teachers identified students’ low

English proficiency as a difficulty in practicing CLT.

30
5.2.5 Lack of interest and expertise in material development:

It is found that teachers have to take 5-6 consecutive classes with a little break which creates

tiredness and disinterested in them. So they ignore the fact of developing materials for

communicative classes. Besides they do not have any training or instruction to develop materials.

31
 CHAPTER-6 Teaching a Poem by CLT

6.1 How Researcher will teach the poem “You are Old Father William”

Being a teacher the researcher suggests the following methodology in form of complete lesson

plan for teaching a poem to grade level 5 with appendices based on communicative approach.

Lesson Plan

Date : 5 November 2019

Time : 10.00a.m – 11.20 am (80 minutes)

Enrolment : 24students

Proficiency : Grade 5

Previous Knowledge : Students have the poem ‘You are Old, Father William’ before.

Topic : Poem (“You are Old, Father William”- Lewis Carroll 1832-1892)

Main Skill : Writing

Integrated Skill : Reading, Listening, and Speaking

Literary Device : Tone and Mood

Objective : By reading this poem, students will be able to enjoy reading literary

works especially this poem

Specific Objective: By reading this poem, students will be able to understand the persona’s

point of view in ‘You are Old, Father William’

32
 Behavioural Objectives: By the end of the lesson students will be able to:

1. Write a personal response to the poem with proper justifications in at least 5 sentences

2. Justify answers for both questions on tone and mood of the persona in the poem.

Lesson Teacher’s Activity Student’s Activity Teaching Rationale

Stages Aids

1. Teacher will attach 2

Induction manila cards on Manila Card This activity is to

(3 minutes) whiteboard where there White board teach the tone

is a sentence written on and mood of the

each of them (Refer to poem

Appendix 1)

2. Teacher asks the

students how they feel 1. Students share how

when they read the they feel with the

sentences. teacher (expected

 How do you feel when answers)

you read these  I feel amazed after

sentences? reading these

sentences.

33
  What comes to your  These sentences

mind when you read sound very funny

these sentences? and unbelievable.

Pre

(5minutes) 1. Teacher uses the 1. Students tell how it LCD, This activity is

sentences to teach tone sounds. For Projector the teaching part

and mood. For example, example; in the lesson.

she picks the phrases  When teacher says

‘you are amazing’ says it it with low pitch

with different mood and and with a sad

tone. She asks the mood, students say

students how it sounds. that it sound as

though the young

man was amazed

and the old father

acts like a young

people.

34
 2. Teacher shows a video 2. Students watch the

to the students(Refer to video This video tune

appendix 2) in the students’

mood into

learning this

poem.

3. Teacher brainstorms the 3. Students give their

students on what they answers Brainstorming

understand by watching  It is really funny session is

the poem and wonderful as necessary to see

 How do you feel when the old father does how far students

you watch this video? the sommer-sault. understand the

 What do you understand  The young boy was video. Teacher

by watching this video amazed by his old adds up if

father’s actions. necessary

While 1. Teacher instructs the 1. Students get into

teaching students to get into their their group

(50minutes) respective group.

35
2. Teacher gives a stanza 2. Students receive

of the poem to every the stanza

group. There are 4

stanzas. Two groups get

same stanzas since there

are 8 groups (3 three

members in each group)

(Refer to Appendix 3)

 Group 1- Stanza 1

 Group 2- Stanza 2

 Group 3- Stanza 3

 Group 4- Stanza 4

 Group 5- Stanza 5

 Group 6- Stanza 6

 Group 7- Stanza 7

 Group 8- Stanza 8

3. Teacher gives the

3. Students in group
instructions. Each group
answer the
needs to work with 2
questions(expecte
questions below the
d answer)
stanza.

36
 Question 1 – What is

the tone and mood of  In the first stanza, This activity is

the persona in this the tone of the to assess the

stanza persona is students’

 Question 2- What is the surprised and understanding

persona trying to tell in amazed he can’t on what the

this stanza believe that an old teacher taught in

man can stand on the pre stage.

his head and he is The first

in a amazement question

mood assesses them

 In this stanza, the directly on tone

persona is trying to and mood and

tell that his old second question

father is still young helps the

and amazing. students to see

 In the second the stanza from

stanza, the tone of the persona’s

the persona is point of view

comic as the old

father replied that

he feels he has no

37
 brain in this age so

he can stand on his

head. This

represents his

mood.

 In the third stanza,

the persona sounds

4. Teacher asks each group interrogative he

to present their work. asked how does the

old father manage

to stand on his

5. Each group should head although he is

justify the answers they very fat.

have with the lines from  So rest of the

the poem. groups also will

share answers

4. Students present

their work

6. Other groups evaluate

their justification and

give feedbacks

38
 5. Students justify

their answers.

6. Other groups give

their feedbacks

 Group presents the

7. Teacher then asks Group points clearly and

1, 2, 3 and 4 to present a their arguments are

role play based on justified because

dialogue between the the arguments are

young boy and the old supported with line

father (any two from the poem.

members from each

group).and write a diary 7. Each group writes

based on his experience the letter or

while group 5, 6, 7, and perform the role

8 pretend that they are play as they are

young boy and write a assigned.

letter to your best friend

about your old father.

39
Post teaching 1. Teacher asks the 1. Students write the

(7 minutes) students to write a reflection and This activity helps

reflection on the share with the class the teacher to see

lesson of the day and how far the lesson

pick students at gives an impact on

random to share their the students. Apart

reflection with the from learning, she

class want to confirm that

2. Teacher will ask to the lesson has

colour and prepare instilled some good

posters based on the 2. Students will write values and

stanzas of the poem the dairy. generated

at home.( for sample realization among

poster see the the students

Appendix 4)

Closure Teacher recalls the on the

( 5 minutes) importance of tone and

mood in poem and how

they affect the poem

40
Appendices

Appendix A

Two Sentences (For Pre Stage)

1. My old grandfather can stand on his head for a long time.

2. My old grandfather is very fat yet he turned a back –somersault at the door.

Appendix B

Video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ys8mdoINiOQ

Appendix 3

(Poem) “You are old, Father William,"

"You are old, Father William," the young man said,
"And your hair has become very white;
And yet you incessantly stand on your head—
Do you think, at your age, it is right?"

"In my youth," Father William replied to his son,

"I feared it might injure the brain;
But now that I'm perfectly sure I have none,
Why, I do it again and again."

"You are old," said the youth, "As I mentioned before,

And have grown most uncommonly fat;
Yet you turned a back-somersault in at the door—
Pray, what is the reason of that?"

"In my youth," said the sage, as he shook his grey locks,

"I kept all my limbs very supple
By the use of this ointment—one shilling a box—
Allow me to sell you a couple?"

"You are old," said the youth, "And your jaws are too weak

41
For anything tougher than suet;
Yet you finished the goose, with the bones and the beak—
Pray, how did you manage to do it?"

"In my youth," said his father, "I took to the law,

And argued each case with my wife;
And the muscular strength which it gave to my jaw,
Has lasted the rest of my life."

"You are old," said the youth, "one would hardly suppose
That your eye was as steady as ever;
Yet you balanced an eel on the end of your nose—
What made you so awfully clever?"

"I have answered three questions, and that is enough,"

Said his father; "don't give yourself airs!
Do you think I can listen all day to such stuff?
Be off, or I'll kick you down stairs!"

Appendix 4

42
43
44
 CHAPTER-7 Conclusion:

Considering the research questions we aimed at the beginning of the study upon which our study is

based, we conclude that Communicative Language Teaching is teaching of a language for

communicative purposes. The techniques used for language teaching, thus, are based on

communicative and authentic means. The target language, or L2, is regarded as the ideal and final

purpose of the method, which has been set as perfect as native language. It presents many advantages

for foreign learners to acquire L2 by using the language itself and being exposed to authentic language

as much as possible. This leads to more accurate pronunciation and larger vocabulary memory for

foreign language learners during its long teaching period. It is one of the latest teaching methods, yet

it is too ambitious and the requirements for its success are too idealistic to reach. Much as CLT is still

claimed to be the best method of language teaching, our study reveals that it should not be regarded as

perfect and relied on alone in all aspects of language acquisition especially in Pakistani context of

Public schools where lack of teachers’ competence ,limited resources, a large number of strength and

traditional assessment system are the hurdle in the acquis ion of the CLT in Public schools of

Pakistan.in other words we can say CLT is an ideal method to teach poetry at primary level but in

Public schools of Pakistan it has not its worth and Teacher’s CLT implementation in classroom is

affected by various factors such as power of exam, students’ English phobia, lack of facilities to

support CLT, classroom environment.

45
 7.1 Recommendations:

Based on the findings some recommendations have been made below.

7.1.1 English teachers need training in CLT and material development:

There has been a dying need for a well-structured training program for the English teachers of

Primary level. Although some of the teachers I interviewed have training to teach English as one

of the compulsory subjects, a few of them are trained in CLT. Some of them do not have clear idea

about CLT approach and how to apply it in classroom to develop learners’ communicative

competence. The students can pass in the exam with the help of a teacher who has no idea about

CLT but they will not be competent in four skills in English. Teachers need proper materials from

the school authority to guide students properly. They should also make materials for

communicative task. Proper training can teach them how to use CLT in their classrooms and how

to create or use materials in class. For training they can be motivated to overcome the difficulties.

7.1.2 Evaluation of teaching process:

Teaching approaches and techniques should be regularly evaluated to see the achievement of

students and the improvement in teaching.

7.1.3 Arrangement of the materials regarding communication:

School authority need to provide all the equipment related to increase the four skills among the

students like- audio-video and visual materials, tape-recorder etc. so that teachers can use those

materials in class and students also be motivated and feel interested in English language classes.

46
7.1.4 Changing the classroom environment:

Large class is the core of all the problems. As there are too many students teachers could not give

emphasis on listening and speaking skills. Instead of having one or two sections of 50 to 100

students, it is better to make four or five sections of one class consisting of a maximum of 20 to

40 students. The students of last benches cannot listen to the teacher’s lecture. Schools should

provide movable chairs also so that group and pair work can be possible to arrange.

7.1.5Arrangement of student-centered classroom:

For a long time, English classrooms at primary level are dominated by the teachers in Bangladesh.

They always stand in front of the blackboard, talk all the time and students listen to them. This

kind of classroom setting is in favor of using Grammar-Translation Method. There is no interaction

between teachers and students in these classes. Most of the classes I visited have these problems.

In order to acquire communicative competence in English language; the students need to

participate in different activities. The students can play role or present a topic after discussion with

other students given by teachers. Teachers need to assign students in different types of group or

pair work or group discussion and tell them to discuss in English.

7.1 .6 Including interesting and practical topic:

Interesting and practical topics should be included in the syllabus which can motivate them to

increase their skills.

7.1.7 Reducing students’ hesitation:

Teachers need to encourage their students to speak in English without any hesitation. They have

to make students realized that learning through making mistakes is natural.

47
7.1.8 Changing the exam format:

The examination influences institution’s authority, teachers as well as students. So examination

format should be changed to CLT related one. The findings are more or less similar to other studies

which were conducted in this field. But more research is needed in this field because with change

of time our teaching pedagogy can be changed also.

7.1.9 Following textbook instruction:

The current textbook includes some instructions related to communicative task. Teachers need to

follow these instructions and tasks to make students more creative and communicative. If the

activities are confined within gap-filling, matching, ticking and teach them grammatical structure,

the learners will not able to acquire communicative competence. The teachers should arrange much

activity which will be helpful for the learners to develop their listening and speaking skills.

Whatever the lessons are related to the exam or not but teachers need to follow the textbook.

48
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