Bangladesh Army International University of Science and Technology

Assignment On: Needfulness of Improvement within the Existing

Communicative Language Teaching Approach: Bangladesh Perspective

Course Title: ELT and Teacher’s Education

Course Code: ENG- 423
Date of submission: 27/01/2022

Submitted By Submitted To
Priyanka Bhattacharjee Md. Habibur Rahman

Id-5105026 Lecturer

Level-4, Term-ii Department of English, BAIUST

 Needfulness of Improvement within the Existing Communicative Language Teaching
Approach: Bangladesh Perspective

Abstract:

English language learning and teaching in Bangladesh has always faced challenges in generating
positive and effective results. Our educational system has implemented the Communicative
Language Teaching method in the field of English Language Teaching, putting an end to the
years-long practice of the old Grammar Translation Method. Unfortunately, the CLT approach
has been shown to have a negative impact on ELT outcomes in Bangladesh. Taking all of these
factors into account, the current study aims to determine whether any changes to the existing
CLT strategy are necessary and if so, what changes could be necessary for the betterment of our
ELT environment.

Keywords: English Language Teaching; English as a Foreign Language; English as a Native

Language; English as a Second Language; Target Language; Grammar Translation Method;
Communicative Language Teaching.
I. Introduction

The situation of English, a widely spoken language across the world, is that of an international
language. The English language is divided into three contexts across the world: English as a
Native Language , English as a Second Language, and English as a Foreign Language . Despite
the fact that English is utilized as a second language in practically all former British colonies,
Bangladesh remains in the EFL context as a former colony. People study English in an EFL
situation for a variety of reasons, including work, school, entertainment, and social interaction.In
a developing country like Bangladesh, English is used by a particular group of individuals, and
only a few people use it in a specific situation. The majority of Bangladeshi natives do not use
English beyond their academic careers, and some even quit using it before they graduate. When
compared to the old method of Grammar Translation Method, Communicative Language
Teaching is the most contemporary way to improving the existing English Language Teaching
condition. CLT was used in Bangladesh in the late twentieth century to compensate for the
disadvantages of GTM and to meet a current worldwide demand.And now, at the turn of the
twenty-first century, the need to modify the CLT approach has become a critical problem for
achieving a successful outcome. The elimination of familiar elements is not a requirement of
communicative language education; what important is the instructors' indulgence in how
language learning occurs. The essential attitude of communicative language education is one of
orientation toward communal participation and cooperation among both learners and
teachers.Language learners must be involved in as many instances as possible where they may be
able to convey knowledge from their own dispute, and they must acquire it in a systematic way
so that they may master it effectively and successfully even in a non-English context like ours.

II. Objectives

The purpose of this study is to identify the current problems in Bangladesh's existing CLT
approach. This study will also provide potential ideas for improving the country's ELT
environment.
III. Methodology

The research initially explores the fundamentals of the CLT approach before attempting to
assess the country's ELT condition. The research also evaluates many works on ELT, CLT, and
related issues, as well as the historical sequences of Bangladesh's ELT situation and its
consequences up to the current day. Findings and suggestions are provided based on the
outcomes of the GTM and CLT techniques for achieving favorable results in the field of English
language learning and teaching in Bangladesh.

IV. Background of ELT in Bangladesh

The history of the English language in Bangladesh demonstrates how respectable the language
has always been, as well as how influential it has always been in the national and international
socio-cultural context. The British were the first to bring English to the South Asian subcontinent
in the 18th century. Lord Macaulay's minute of 1835 was the first to emphasize the need to teach
English in this subcontinent. As early as 1759, Christian missionaries were established in India,
and a telegram from 1787 praised Rev.Swartz established English-teaching schools. Gradually,
English's dominance in the socio-historical setting began to take shape, at least by the end of the
18th century, as The Tutor, the first book created to teach English to non-Europeans, attests.
McArthur (1996), a well-known academic, places Bangladesh inside the ESL territories.
However, he also states that English is neither a second nor a foreign language in Bangladesh.
Bangladesh proclaimed Bengali the state language after independence in 1971, and English's
prominence was drastically decreased.Except in foreign missions and military, where English is
still used as an official language, Bengali has replaced English in all official communications and
correspondences. Not only that, but the same requirement was implemented in academic areas,
with Bengali being the only main medium of instruction in secondary and upper secondary
education. This outcome led to the translation of English books into Bengali in order to
accommodate the demand for books on various topics. Throughout secondary and higher
secondary school, however, English remained a required subject. Furthermore, the Bengali
Implementation Act of 1987 ended the use of English as an official second language at the
graduation (degree) level (Hasan, 2004).The old Grammar Translation Method (GTM) was
replaced by the CLT technique to complete the ELT, which corresponded to the needs of
emerging countries. GTM treats language as a collection of structures, with the goal of learning
being to improve solely reading and writing abilities. The CLT method was developed with the
goal of improving communicative purpose and developing the four fundamental skills in a
balanced manner; it plays a critical role. Since July 1997, the English Language Teaching
Improvement Project (ELTIP) has been created by the Ministry of Education (MoE) to increase
English teaching and learning in secondary level education in Bangladesh.For the first time,
ELTIP incorporated the Communicative Language Teaching technique into the country's official
English curriculum (Rahman, 2001). During the early stages of CLT adaption, academic
academics in Bangladesh praised the choice, and various measures were done to assist this new
approach in an EFL setting. Unfortunately, the new CLT's outcome has been turned on its head,
necessitating a modification.

V. The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach

We use language in order to communicate and interact since it is an oral phenomenon. The
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method begins with a communication philosophy of
language. Language is viewed as a method for expressing meaning in this context, and it
performs two fundamental functions: interaction and communication (Hasan, 2004). In a
nutshell, according to Hymes, it is communicative competence, and it is via communication that
meaningful tasks may be completed, hence promoting learning (Richards and Rodgers, 2002).
The actions connected to actual communication, carrying out meaningful tasks, and encouraging
learning while recognizing learners' level of comprehensiveness are included in this approach to
learning theory (Alam, 2008; Numan, 1989).

CLT's curriculum includes practically all of the prerequisites for effectively learning a foreign
language. All elements are led or ordered according to their hierarchy, including structures,
functions, conceptions, themes, and tasks. Facilitating students' engagement with their learning
materials and activities, such as sharing, meaning negotiation, and interaction, are examples of
activity types. The teacher's job in this technique is to act as a facilitator, catalyst, counselor, and
process manager to help pupils communicate effectively. The teacher gives comments to the
students based on their needs.

VI. Current situation of CLT Approach in Bangladesh

The newly adopted approach CLT has taken over the current state of Bangladesh's ELT
predicament. The English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) was formed on
April 1, 1998, with the goal of increasing the quality of ELT using the CLT approach at the
general academic levels of elementary, intermediate, and upper secondary education in
Bangladesh. ELTIP eventually developed two new textbooks for higher-secondary and
secondary levels in the academic years 2001 and 2002.
These two new textbooks are:

1. English for Today (Classes 11-12)

2. English for Today (Classes 9-10)

CLT approaches and activities are used in a poor nation like Bangladesh for a variety of reasons,
including the belief that they are beneficial in improving the ELT situation of Bangladesh. With
the combination of four key language abilities of reading, writing, listening, and speaking, CLT
seeks to get students to communicate in the target language. The CLT textbook is expected to
provide accurate, factual, and realistic samples of Target Language (TL) conversation, as well as
context-based exercises of pertinent inductive grammar and diverse listening, speaking, reading,
and writing activities and tasks. Learners have the chance to practice both the receptive and
productive abilities of reading and writing simultaneously practically throughout all of the
courses (Admin, 2004). In a nutshell, a language's worldwide mission is to facilitate
communication by providing thorough pronunciations, and the CLT method is aiming to fulfill
that goal.

Teachers at schools and colleges were given some instructions to help them utilize CLT
effectively before the planned syllabus was introduced. In the combined education curriculum,
there're three levels or stages of secondary schooling. Junior Secondary, Secondary, and Higher
Secondary are the three levels of education available. There are three sub-systems in secondary
and higher secondary education:

1. General Education
2. Madrasah Education
3. Vocational Education

The eight general education boards' curriculum and syllabus are prepared by the National
Curriculum and Textbook Board (NCTB). The Madrasah Education Board and the Technical
Education Board are in charge of developing curricula and syllabuses for Madrasah and
vocational education, respectively. They are also in charge of scheduling exams and presenting
certificates to their students (Admin, 2004).

The ELTIP has created a Teacher's Guide (TG) for higher secondary English instructors, in
collaboration with the British Council, to help them utilize the new textbook successfully
communicatively.It includes a compact package of CLT tools that includes the rationale for the
tasks and activities, a detailed suggestion of techniques that can be used in the classroom,
suggestions for teachers to plan their lessons ahead of time, and devise interesting ways of
classroom teaching that would be appealing and enjoyable for the students, open-ended sample
answers, suggestions to frame the test items within the new NCTB format and to assess the
students' language skills, open-ended sample answers, and suggestions to frame the test items
within the new NCTB format and to assess The book's creators suggest that if utilized correctly,
TG may be a valuable tool for teacher development and training (Islam, et. al, 2001).

The first higher secondary batch in the ELT scenario was students from the academic session
2001-2003 who passed the HSC exams in the academic year 2004 from Bangladesh's school
boards. New CLT texts were also being used in all primary and secondary school classrooms. In
this regard, ELTIP, BRAC, and UKBET conducted a number of training programs for secondary
English teachers in order to help them deliver effective CLT lessons (Billah, 2005; Islam, et. al,
2001; Admin, 200
V. Findings

1.1. Is the current CLT practice in Bangladesh appropriate?

Now, for fair reasons, it may be said that the CLT approach's concepts and procedures are
acceptable for teaching a second language, but that in order to get the most out of it in an EFL
context in a poor nation like Bangladesh, many modifications are needed.

In our nation, not all schools and madrasahs have the same possibilities or are assisted similarly.
Some metropolitan schools, for example, make computer education a mandatory subject and hire
well-educated teachers to properly educate their students. However, contemporary language
teaching facilities are only accessible in only some urban schools. There aren't many English
teachers in local schools. In many schools, English is taught by teachers of other courses.
Furthermore, various textbooks are used in different schools. Although all schools in the
country's eight general education boards are required to teach their students the NCTB's English
for Today as the major textbook, teaching techniques vary greatly from school to school.

It should be noted that the NCTB has issued two sets of books (in English and Bengali editions)
for all curricular topics except English and Bengali for grades VI to XII. Students in a few urban
schools have the option of choosing between the two sets. Those who take the English version
demonstrate a higher level of skill than those who take the Bengali version. Furthermore, there
are certain English medium schools that do not follow the NCTB's curriculum. The bulk of these
institutions claims to teach the British curriculum and prepare their pupils for GEC 'O' and 'A'
level exams. Other schools, on the other hand, follow the American curriculum while others
follow other curricula. Students at these English medium institutions are not just better in
English, but they are also in worse conditions in Bengali (Hasan, 2004).

Even after switching from the years-long practice of the conventional and age-old GTM to the
most modern and advanced approach CLT, the effect in generating scholastic generations in
English, the all-excepted media for international communication, has been the same or, to some
extent, more disastrous. While the GTM formerly produced some English academics in
Bangladesh, the CLT has recently been determined to be a failure. The results of the last several
years' education boards clearly show that the same academic institutions are doing comparatively
better in producing good outcomes in English than they were previously.What's more dangerous
than previously is that now, lesser students from other universities around the country are now
presenting themselves with strong English scores, despite their communicative skills being in
question.

1.2. CLT in Classroom: Bona Fide Picture

According to the accounts of English language teachers from across the country, inefficiency of
ELT practitioners, economic constraints, administrative set-up, cultural conflicts, classroom
seating arrangement, class size, and language teaching and learning techniques are among the
major factors that can be identified as limitations to putting CLT into practice in Bangladesh. To
achieve this goal, interaction is crucial. Some classroom activities, such as pair and group work,
might help facilitate this contact. There is no replacement for pair and group work if you want
meaningful engagement. When people join an organization to fulfill a duty, they perform a
variety of activities. Learners get the opportunity to assertively present their thoughts in pair and
group activities. When they discuss topics with their peers, they feel emancipated. However, how
teachers in the classroom begin and encourage pupils to complete the assignment is critical.

VI. The Importance of a Few Changes in Current CLT Practice

The amount to which the language is utilized in everyday life or outside of the classroom
influences the methods employed in the language classroom. Students in a monolingual language
context, such as Bangladesh, have relatively limited opportunities to utilize English in daily life.
Also, upper-class individuals are more fluent in English than middle and lower-class people, and
middle-class people are more competent in the target language learning English than lower-class
people.

Still, in order to cope with modern society, it is necessary to master the target language; English,
which requires extensive pronunciation as well as meaningful and successful communication.
Planning for CLT practicing according to the context and degree of students' competence is
required, syllabus and activities that take into account both students' or instructors' abilities to
handle the target language would improve the CLT method's outcome in Bangladesh.
Md. Kamrul Hasan's study paper, A Linguistic Study of English Language Curriculum at the
Secondary Level in Bangladesh - A Communicative Approach to Curriculum Development,
identified the following as essential components of a language syllabus:

1. The contexts wherein the foreign language would be used, as well as the topics that will be
discussed;

2. The language activities that the student will participate in;

3. The functions of language that the learner will do;

4. What the student will be able to do on each topic;

5. The basic concepts that the student will be able to deal with;

6. The exact ideas that the student will be able to deal with;

7. The types of language that the student will be able to utilize;

VII. CLT's Effectiveness in the Bangladeshi Context

Learners can exercise the four linguistic competence in a well-balanced fashion using the
communicative method. It stimulates learners' desire to study. It also helps students improve
their ability to use English in real-life circumstances. The learners are able to utilize the language
creatively and accurately because of the variety of settings and assignments, as well as the
interaction between students and teachers. Learners themselves gain knowledge by debating
topics in groups and pairs, and the entire process is built on "learning by doing."As a result, the
classroom is learner-centered, with students actively participating in the learning process. Almost
each textbook from class VI to class XII has a TG (Teacher's Guide) for the instructors to help
and guide them in making a lesson plan for the lesson, knowing the goal of the lesson, how to
teach terminology, how to utilize and where to find visual aids, how to cope with a big class, and
so on. As a result, teachers who are teaching the old book must adapt their teaching methods to
meet the new criteria.

VIII. Suggestions

Simply adopting a communicative curriculum and textbooks in a monolingual setting, such as

Bangladesh, a poor nation in the EFL context, does not guarantee an efficient teaching and
learning process. Everything will be thrown out if the teachers do not use it properly. As a result,
each school and Madrasah should set up a teacher development program that will last for a set
amount of time.Some development projects can be implemented at the sub-district level, with
higher-level professionals overseeing them. Teachers can improve their teaching skills by
participating in a self-development program. Because the basis of a language helps pupils
achieve competency and confidence in developing control over the target language, school, and
Madrasah levels teacher training in elementary, secondary, and even upper secondary levels are
important.

The CLT technique, in addition to the technological infrastructure, requires some modification
and additions. Complete structural knowledge of a language, which was the GTM theory of
language, can be reintroduced along with its translation parts according to the learners' needs;
Oral practice can be vividly practiced for thorough pronunciation and meaningful
communication, offering or producing low-anxiety mode as much as possible at the time of
learning, keeping in mind that language is related to the situation. Qualified and financially
stable teachers, as well as a small number of pupils, should be taken into account when
determining the teacher's capacity to supervise the class, material, and time to assure the greatest
effort from the teacher.
IX. Conclusion

CLT is claimed to make learning English a lot simpler than other approaches. However, if the
strategy does not last for a long time, all of your efforts will be for naught. In this context, the
government should take appropriate measures. We have a large number of GTM students in our
nation since it has dominated our English education system for the past fifty years. In the
meanwhile, strategies have shifted multiple times. It irritates our students. Our students were
ultimately unable to be effective in English due to the introduction of new methods and norms
during the previous two decades. In both EFL and ESL situations, the Communicative Language
Teaching technique is utilized to teach the target language.

In comparison to other approaches, CLT is believed to make learning English easier. However, if
the method does not last a long time, all of your efforts will be in vain. In this regard, the
government should take proper action.We have a large number of GTM scholars in our country
because it has dominated our English teaching system for the past fifty years. But meanwhile,
approaches have been changed several times. It perturbs our learners. Our students were
ultimately unable to be effective in English due to the introduction of new methods and rules
during the last two decades. The Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) method is used
worldwide to teach the target language in both EFL and ESL contexts. In a developing country
like Bangladesh, the CLT technique was chosen over the world's oldest and most conventional
GTM, with high hopes for improving the current state of the ELT situation. Because of several
inadequacies and limits in this system, it was not as popular as it once was. So, in order to
establish the Communicative Language Teaching approach in Bangladesh's current ELT setting,
a few changes are required.
Work cited

Hasan, K., 2004, A linguistic study of English language curriculum at the secondary level

in Bangladesh - a communicative approach to curriculum development, Language

in India: Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow, Volume 4:8.

http://www.languageinindia.com/aug2004/hasandissertation1.html

Alam, A. M., 2008, The CLT Approach in ELT: Its Effectiveness in the ESL and EFL

Contexts - With Special Reference to the Context of Bangladesh, Manarat

International University Studies, Vol.1, No.01, Page 131-142

Mahbub-ul-Alam, Ahmad, et al. "Necessity of Modification in Existing Communicative

Language Teaching (CLT) Approach: Bangladesh Perspective." IOSR-

JHSS 19.10 (2014): 52-56.

Numan. D., (1989). Designing Tasks for the Communicative Classroom, Cambridge:

Cambridge University Press

Admin, (2004), The Drawbacks of Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) for a

Developing Country Like Bangladesh at Present and Its Solution. Languages.

http://www.activereadingroom.com/cat=111