Learning English and CLT approach: A Bangladeshi perspective
Fakhrul Islam | Sunday, 6 July 2008
AT present English has become the common language of the world. It has become the working language of almost a quarter of the global population. Most of the international trade and commerce, scientific research, publication, interrelation, higher studies are based on English language. So, learning of this language is very important. But the question is, how are our school students learning this language?
Language learning is a very difficult task because it is a continuous process. In fact, learning in general and English language in particular can never remain static rather it is changing its shape continually with the change of time and people. As a result communicative language teaching and learning has been put forth around the world as the new and innovative way to teach English as a second or foreign language.
Communicative language teaching does not necessarily mean the rejection of familiar materials, what matters is the teachers' understanding of how language learning happens. The basic principle of communicative language teaching is involved in an orientation towards collective participation and cooperation of both learners as well as the teachers. Language learners should be involved in as many situations as possible where they might have the scope to share information from their own contest, they must learn it in a methodical way to so that they can master it functionally and effectively even in a non-English environment like ours.
With a view to learning English language for real communication, English for Today is introduced from class 6-12. Here, learners have the scope to practise different activities by discussing in group and pair. The four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing should be followed strictly. In the past all basic skills were not practised in a simultaneous way. We know English is a skill based subject which is changing continuously, much like life. So, our curriculum has been changed so that that our students learn it effectively and successfully.
The communicative approach. offers learners the opportunity to practise the four basic language skills in a well-balanced way. It promotes learners' interest of learning. It also promotes learners' ability of using English from their real life situation. The variety of contexts and tasks with interaction between students and students, students and teachers, allows learners to use the language creatively and accurately, learners themselves learn by discussing in group and pair and the whole process is a spontaneous participation of the learners themselves which is based on "learning by doing". So, the classroom is learners centered, learners themselves are directly involved in the learning process. EfT (English for Today ) provides learners every opportunity to learn from there own real contest , almost every EfT from class 6 to class 12 having a TG (Teacher's Guide ) for the teachers to help and guide in order to make a lesson plan for the lesson, to know the aim of the lesson, how to teach vocabulary, how to use and where to get visual aids, how to deal with a large class and so on. So, teachers who have been teaching the old book need to change their behavior in teaching as per requirement. However, learners have reason to feel isolated if they find that learning a foreign language is reduced to drill and has no connection with real life situations.
Interaction plays a key role to serve this purpose. This interaction can be done by some activities in the classroom through pair and group work. To have meaningful interaction there is no alternative to pair and group work. There are many things that people do when they join in a group that they are unaware of. In pair and group work, learners have the chance to share their ideas confidently. They feel free when they discuss things with their peers. But this depends on how teachers in the classroom initiate and encourage the students to do the task.
At the same time it is also worth mentioning how much efforts were taken to improve skills of teachers to teach in a desired way. In my last five years experience as a teacher trainer, I had ample opportunity to work with secondary and higher secondary English teachers around the country. I had also had some scope to observe what was horrible to me was that the teachers were always complaining. They complained that their students were not good enough to listen to in English, that they are not ready to do pair and group work in the real life situation.
On many occasions I noticed that the teachers themselves were not practicing what we call the new way of teaching and learning. I talked to the learners immediately after the class was over and I found them enthusiastic and interested in participating in the activity. What I understood from the analysis of my observation is that teachers need training which will commission them to teach students in the way the curriculum desires. It was really a matter of shock that many of them even did not know the primary stage of giving instruction in English. The way they were teaching their students is still traditional which is called grammar-translation method. When, for example, a teacher teaches students reading skill from any lesson of EfT, it is the teacher who reads the passage aloud to the students and then translates it in Bangla. This is of course, a typical Bangladeshi teaching style. So, a short briefing of the process can raise awareness of the teachers with the new methodology. I was even astonished when I found that the trained teachers were neither of the tracks. They were not even ready to share their ideas with their colleagues which is quite contrary to the idea of CLT. Of course, there might be some confusion and exception. But if learners get used to hearing nothing but English lesson, they will very soon understand and later learn to say words like 'good', 'alright', 'fine' etc. This will help them to use relevant word/words in specific context. Thus they will be able to reduce the amount of interference from their own mother tongue.
By using the language for two-way communication, students will learn English for real communication in the long run.
The writer is a PhD fellow at Dhaka University,
e-mail:[email protected]
Language learning is a very difficult task because it is a continuous process. In fact, learning in general and English language in particular can never remain static rather it is changing its shape continually with the change of time and people. As a result communicative language teaching and learning has been put forth around the world as the new and innovative way to teach English as a second or foreign language.
Communicative language teaching does not necessarily mean the rejection of familiar materials, what matters is the teachers' understanding of how language learning happens. The basic principle of communicative language teaching is involved in an orientation towards collective participation and cooperation of both learners as well as the teachers. Language learners should be involved in as many situations as possible where they might have the scope to share information from their own contest, they must learn it in a methodical way to so that they can master it functionally and effectively even in a non-English environment like ours.
With a view to learning English language for real communication, English for Today is introduced from class 6-12. Here, learners have the scope to practise different activities by discussing in group and pair. The four basic skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing should be followed strictly. In the past all basic skills were not practised in a simultaneous way. We know English is a skill based subject which is changing continuously, much like life. So, our curriculum has been changed so that that our students learn it effectively and successfully.
The communicative approach. offers learners the opportunity to practise the four basic language skills in a well-balanced way. It promotes learners' interest of learning. It also promotes learners' ability of using English from their real life situation. The variety of contexts and tasks with interaction between students and students, students and teachers, allows learners to use the language creatively and accurately, learners themselves learn by discussing in group and pair and the whole process is a spontaneous participation of the learners themselves which is based on "learning by doing". So, the classroom is learners centered, learners themselves are directly involved in the learning process. EfT (English for Today ) provides learners every opportunity to learn from there own real contest , almost every EfT from class 6 to class 12 having a TG (Teacher's Guide ) for the teachers to help and guide in order to make a lesson plan for the lesson, to know the aim of the lesson, how to teach vocabulary, how to use and where to get visual aids, how to deal with a large class and so on. So, teachers who have been teaching the old book need to change their behavior in teaching as per requirement. However, learners have reason to feel isolated if they find that learning a foreign language is reduced to drill and has no connection with real life situations.
Interaction plays a key role to serve this purpose. This interaction can be done by some activities in the classroom through pair and group work. To have meaningful interaction there is no alternative to pair and group work. There are many things that people do when they join in a group that they are unaware of. In pair and group work, learners have the chance to share their ideas confidently. They feel free when they discuss things with their peers. But this depends on how teachers in the classroom initiate and encourage the students to do the task.
At the same time it is also worth mentioning how much efforts were taken to improve skills of teachers to teach in a desired way. In my last five years experience as a teacher trainer, I had ample opportunity to work with secondary and higher secondary English teachers around the country. I had also had some scope to observe what was horrible to me was that the teachers were always complaining. They complained that their students were not good enough to listen to in English, that they are not ready to do pair and group work in the real life situation.
On many occasions I noticed that the teachers themselves were not practicing what we call the new way of teaching and learning. I talked to the learners immediately after the class was over and I found them enthusiastic and interested in participating in the activity. What I understood from the analysis of my observation is that teachers need training which will commission them to teach students in the way the curriculum desires. It was really a matter of shock that many of them even did not know the primary stage of giving instruction in English. The way they were teaching their students is still traditional which is called grammar-translation method. When, for example, a teacher teaches students reading skill from any lesson of EfT, it is the teacher who reads the passage aloud to the students and then translates it in Bangla. This is of course, a typical Bangladeshi teaching style. So, a short briefing of the process can raise awareness of the teachers with the new methodology. I was even astonished when I found that the trained teachers were neither of the tracks. They were not even ready to share their ideas with their colleagues which is quite contrary to the idea of CLT. Of course, there might be some confusion and exception. But if learners get used to hearing nothing but English lesson, they will very soon understand and later learn to say words like 'good', 'alright', 'fine' etc. This will help them to use relevant word/words in specific context. Thus they will be able to reduce the amount of interference from their own mother tongue.
By using the language for two-way communication, students will learn English for real communication in the long run.
The writer is a PhD fellow at Dhaka University,
e-mail:[email protected]