Elementary School English Teachers’ Beliefs in and Practices of Communicative Language Teaching in Kaohsiung City, Taiwan

• Main Authors: Ching-yi Lin, 林靜宜
• Other Authors: Su-Hwei Huang
• Format: Others
• Language: en_US
• Published: 2011
• Online Access: http://ndltd.ncl.edu.tw/handle/01332734289428787282

碩士 === 國立屏東商業技術學院 === 應用英語系(所) === 99 === The aims of this study are: (1) to explore the beliefs, confidence, practices and difficulties of elementary school English teachers relative to their implementation of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in EFL classes, (2) to provide suggestions for CLT teacher development, and (3) to enhance the effectiveness of CLT in Taiwanese EFL classes. The study focuses on this latter issue in the context of Taiwan’s present English education policy curriculum for grades 1-9. One hundred eighty-two elementary school English teachers from schools in Kaohsiung city participated in this study. Using the T-test and one-way ANOVA, the researcher analyzed and displays the quantitative data. Follow-up interviews and the narrative answers on the questionnaires provide supplementary data. The following points summarize the major findings of the study: (a) Teachers have positive perceptions of CLT. (b) Teachers are positive about and have confidence in implementing CLT. (c) 87.9% of the participants agree that it is necessary to hold workshops about CLT; 84.1% of them also agree they need to join CLT-related workshops. (d) The difficulties teachers encounter include: the students’ various levels of English proficiency, too many students in a class, a lack of sufficient class time, classroom management issues, and so on. (e) The teachers’ demographic backgrounds (education and job title at school) also affect their beliefs about and confidence in CLT. This research has some pedagogical implications and provides suggestions for educational authorities, training institutes, and elementary school English teachers.