Text-Based Language Teaching in the New-Normal Era to Achieve Communicative Competence: Challenges for EFL Teachers

Abstract

Abstract
 Background:
 To live in this communicative era, people need to have communicative competence. The main aim of ELT is to enable the students to communicate or to produce a text. Thus, EFL teaching needs to facilitate them to achieve communicative competence so that they can participate actively in their communities. EFL teachers can utilize text-based teaching to realize this. Text-based teaching involves the use of texts, which are context bases for achieving communicative competence. This paper is a reflection, describing the teachers' common problems in implementing text-based teaching, especially under the COVID-19 pandemic.
 Methodology: 
 This study is qualitative survey research to gain in-depth information about the topic of the study. The goal of this study is to describe the teachers' perception of Text-Based Approach in ELT and to describe their challenges to implement text-based online teaching. Open-ended survey questions were delivered to 15 research participants. To get a comprehensive understanding of the research participants' opinions, the researchers followed up their answers with an interview via a telephone call.
 Findings: 
 The questionnaire, interview, and teachers’ self-written reflection revealed the teachers’ common problems in implementing text-based teaching, i.e. in selecting texts, in adapting or in modifying texts, in designing tasks, in overcoming students’ boredom, besides the problems of online teaching.
 Conclusion: 
 The main root of the problems is the teachers' lack of knowledge of text-based approach. Thus, updating the teachers' knowledge can be one of the solutions to the problems.

Constraints and Challenges in Implementing Text-Based Teaching in Particular Contexts

“…The next study on the constraints and challenges of implementing textbased teaching comes from Rustipa et al (2021) and is titled "Text-based language teaching in the new normal era to achieve communicative competence: challenges for EFL Teachers." This is a qualitative study with 15 research participants who answered open-ended survey questions.…”

“…According to their perspectives in Rustipa et al's (2021) study, all of the teachers had implemented text-based instruction. They are optimistic that proper implementation will help students improve their communication skills (Rustipa et al, 2021). However, improper implementation may prevent students from achieving communicative competence (Rustipa et al, 2021).…”

“…The preceding statements imply that we should expose our students to English texts and facilitate their engagement with English texts because language in the form of texts occurs for communication (Rustipa et al, 2021). This approach is referred to as text-based teaching.…”

“…Because communication occurs at the discourse level or text level, it places a strong emphasis on teaching and learning at that level. The ultimate aim of language education and learning is discourse or text competence (Rustipa et al, 2021).…”

Rethinking social interaction in English first additional language classrooms during the post Covid-19 era

“…A number of scholars attribute the decline in education to a number of factors. These include lack of social interaction among learners (Yin et al, 2021;Makena and Mpithi, 2022;Coman, 2020;Farrah and Jabari, 2020), technological issues affecting both students and teachers (Sugarman & Lazarin, 2020;Eraslum, 2021), and lack of specified curricula to adopt during this era (Rustipa et. al 2021).…”