Communicative Language Teaching in Malaysian ESL Context: A Qualitative Exploration into In-service Teachers' Beliefs and Practices

Abstract

In contrast to the plethora of research on teachers’ beliefs and practices to implement communicative language teaching (CLT), research into in-service primary school teachers’ beliefs has earned less focus to evaluate its impacts on their instructional and evaluation practices, particularly in Malaysian ESL context. This qualitative study intended to mitigate the knowledge gap by investigating prevalent communicative language teaching practices in the primary schools in Malaysia. Analysis of our survey and interview data reveals some common problems that affect the proper implementation of CLT. Although teachers faced challenges and had their shortcomings, they endeavored to integrate various instructional and assessment practices to improve students’ competency on all four language skills. The study also highlights some key issues which may provide practical implications for the application of CLT in Malaysian primary schools.

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