Communicative Language Teaching in Public Universities in Afghanistan: Perceptions and Challenges

Abstract

While Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been advocated in Afghanistan, little is known about the perception of Afghan EFL (English as a Foreign Language) teachers on CLT. This study aims to investigate the perceptions and challenges of CLT in Afghan public universities from the perspectives of EFL teachers. The study employed a mixed-method approach comprising survey questionnaires and a qualitative interview. A sample of sixty-two Afghan EFL teachers was selected to participate in a survey questionnaire, while five were interviewed. Findings from the questionnaires and interview showed that Afghan EFL teachers have positive perceptions regarding CLT. The results also showed that the education system is one of the significant challenges for CLT implementation in Afghan public universities. The current study is valuable for policymakers, teachers, and students for improvement of EFL classes in Afghanistan.

Cognitive strategies in the reading comprehension improvement

“…While it is crucial to understand specific conceptual content when reading, it is equally important to process information and use comprehension strategies, as well as control cognitive processes. It is Daysi Valeria Fierro López, Adriana Lara-Velarde, Mónica Noemí Cadena Figueroa, César Augusto Narváez Vilema also important to highlight the variety of factors and aspects that influence the learning process (Takal et al, 2021). Therefore, learning languages is closely related to strategies (Harmer, 2007).…”

ESL Primary Teachers’ Perceptions on the Use of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach to Teach CEFR Speaking Skill

“…Meanwhile, many struggles to switch their mother tongue to English in daily communication as they fail to comprehend the meanings and necessities of speaking in English (Khoja and Mohapatra, 2017). The available findings also revealed the related impediments such as large class size; limited teaching resources; poor infrastructure, and crowded classrooms as the contextual reasons which hindered CLT application in ESL contexts (Rahmatuzzman, 2018;Takal et al, 2021;Abdelmageed and Omer, 2020). In a way, it kills teachers' creativity to plan their lessons and demotivates the pupils to perform authentic speaking activities due to the unfavourable classroom environment.…”

“…Still, 56 (18.4%) remained neutral to take a stance on the matter, suggesting that they were unprepared to apply the CLT approach in their teaching classrooms. There were many probable reasons behind the uncertainties, including impediments such as large class sizes; limited teaching resources; poor infrastructure, and crowded classrooms (Rahmatuzzman, 2018;Takal et al, 2021& Abdelmageed, 2020. Furthermore, it was notable that a total of 261 (88.5%) respondents strongly agreed and agreed with item B7 (I will try out some CLT strategies like Gallery Walk and group works while teaching CEFR speaking lessons to enrich my pupils' learning experiences) as well 266 (87.2%) in total strongly agreed and agreed with item B8 (I plan to adapt the speaking lessons with my pupils' topics of interests such as movies, songs, news, etc).…”

Attitudes of EFL Learners towards Communicative Language Teaching

“…Although a large number of studies regarding the attitudes of students towards CLT have been conducted around the world. Only two studies have been conducted by Noori (2018) and Takal et al (2021) in Afghan context, who explored the perceptions of university lecturers towards CLT, and the challenges of Afghan university students towards CLT, but the attitudes of Afghan EFL learners towards CLT have not been investigated in the study. There are many universities including language centers in which English is taught as a foreign language to Afghans and the number is getting more since the demand for English language services have been on the rapid rise since twenty years ago.…”