Implementing Communicative Language Teaching at Tertiary Level:A Case Study.

Abstract

The English language, which is taught as a second language in Sri Lanka from the primary level is not considered as a compulsory subject in the secondary level education or at the Advance level Examination. Therefore, students do not pay much attention to learn English. In Sri Lanka, after the secondary level education, minimum numbers of students are selected to the universities. Majority of the students are enrolled to other tertiary level institutions. Most of the tertiary level learners start their English education in their tertiary level. Therefore, it is essential to teach tertiary level learners to fit the world of work because employers consider the competency in English when recruiting their employees. In the world, different types of language teaching methods are applied to teach a second language. Communicative language teaching (CLT) is one of the well-known teaching methods. This study based on CLT, which was conducted with the purpose of implementing it at tertiary level. The research intends to anayse the teachers‟ perception about CLT and challengers they face while implementing CLT in their classroom. Qualitative descriptive method was employed for this study. Data collected through classroom observation, questionnaire and teachers‟ interview. English teachers who are working at College of Technology Jaffna were taken for the study and 15 teachers were selected for answer questionnaires. Additionally, four English teachers were selected for an interview, whereas three English classrooms were observed. Then the qualitative data generated through these instruments were presented using tables and charts and they were analyzed in narrative form. The findings of the study indicated that teachers who participated this study have some ideas about CLT and they prefer to implement CLT in tertiary level. They have faced different challenges when implementing CLT in their classrooms. These challengers should be overcome to implement CLT in tertiary level.