The Communicative Language Teaching Approach in Teaching English at the Algerian Secondary School

Abstract

The present study investigates the implementation of the Communicative Language Approach (CLT) in Labani Ahmed Secondary School and the perspectives and familiarity of the English language teachers at that school with its principles and techniques, as well as the techniques that they use to help enhance the communicative skills of learners. The data was gathered by means of a teacher interview in order to obtain the teachers’ perspectives related to the use of the CLT and to gauge their familiarity with its principles and the problems they encounter in its implementation and the techniques they use to enhance the communicative skills of learners. In addition, a classroom observation was conducted in order to check whether the CLT principles are implemented in the classrooms of Labani Ahmed Secondary School. The analysis revealed that the teachers were mainly restricted to the only recommended method, namely the Competency-based Approach (CBA)which is considered as an extension to the CLT and they listed a number of obstacles that hindered the successful adoption of CLT as well as a number of techniques they use to enhance the communicative skills of their learners. Moreover, the observation showed that EFL students were unable to communicate using English and their low level did not allow the teachers to adopt the CLT principles.