Communicative Language Teaching in Bangladeshi Rural Schools

This study provides a comprehensive investigation into the implementation of CLT in higher secondary level in rural Bangladesh. It reveals that CLT has been espoused minimally by the rural teachers in their English Language Teaching (ELT) classroom. An ethnographic approach was employed to investigate how the rural teachers utilize CLT in their classroom. A total of 46 teaching sessions of two participant teachers from two different schools were observed for six months, from April 2018 to October 2018. Every teaching session lasted for 45 minutes. In total, 34 hours and 50 minutes were spent for classroom observation. Thematic approach was employed to scrutinize the collected data. The research findings revealed lack of exposure to target language, teacher-centred classroom practices, exam-oriented classroom instead of communication-oriented and logistic limitation as the factors affecting the implementation of CLT. Finally, to address these factors for a successful implementation of CLT in rural Bangladesh, this study calls for improved teacher training, examination system with the incorporation of listening and speaking tests, and better classroom facility with technological support.