The Challenges of Implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) In High School: EFL Teacher's Perspective

Abstract

Communicative language teaching (CLT) has become a new alternative responding to the traditional approach which is well known as grammar translation-based. The aims of this study were to display EFL teachers' understanding of CLT and their challenges in implementing CLT in the classroom for high school students. The type of research used in this study is qualitative research was carried out by using a set of instruments, i.e. online questionnaire with 15 participants (male and female) from several senior high schools and several backgrounds. Some of them come from public schools and some others come from private schools. The location of the schools is also varied. Some are located in rural areas and some are in urban areas. The participants were chosen randomly from different senior high schools in Lombok, West Nusa Tenggara. From the results of data analysis that has been done, it is found that teachers actually have a good understanding of CLT but they face some obstacles when it comes to the implementation. The obstacles come from two aspects: a) the teacher’s side and b) the students’ side. The challenges faced by teachers are teachers' limited knowledge about the appropriate use of CLT, teachers’ limited access to the target language culture, inadequate time to develop materials for communicative classes, teachers’ heavy workload, and lack of time for material preparation. These obstacles are even more challenging by the obstacles coming from the students’ side. The teachers’ revelation shows that students are having low confidence in English, are not willing to participate in classroom activities, lack motivation in learning, are not willing to follow teachers’ instructions, and having low proficiency in English. After analyzing the obstacles, it is expected that teachers, students, and stakeholders can collaborate to find a solution to this.