PRIMARY LOTE TEACHERS' UNDERSTANDINGS AND BELIEFS ABOUT COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING: REPORT ON THE FIRST PHASE OF THE PROJECT

Abstract

Communicative language teaching (CLT) has become a buzzword in the field of second language teaching and the sub-field of LOTE teaching is no exception. However, discussions about this approach to teaching with teachers invariably produces a number of beliefs and understandings about it that seem at variance with what researchers have been saying. To state that there is variance between teachers and researchers' conceptions of CLT is not to deny that within each group there is variance also. Nor should this variance be taken to mean that one group has a lien on 'truth' while the other group is still groping towards it. It may be that there are two sets of realities that have some common features. This project sets out to investigate teachers' understandings and beliefs about CLT and determine the similarities and differences between this set of understandings and those expressed in research literature. The project itself is in three phases: The first phase seeks teachers' views about CLT through a questionnaire. It is this phase that is being reported here.