EFL Teachers’ Awareness, Practices and Challenges of Teaching English Communicatively in Oman Post Basic Education Schools

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Abstract

This study investigated the perceived knowledge and actual practice of Communicative Language
Teaching (CLT) among post basic education teachers in Omani schools, along with the influence of
gender and length of teaching experience years on teachers’ practice of this approach. It also explored
the different challenges faced by teachers when implementing CLT.
A total of 122 EFL Omani teachers took part in this study. The respondents completed the following: (1)
a twenty-five item questionnaire concerning CLT principles; and (2) a questionnaire regarding the
challenges of CLT.
The results revealed that Omani EFL teachers have a high degree of awareness of the principles of CLT.
However, they practice this approach at a moderate level, while their gender and length of teaching
experiences have little impact on their actual practice of this approach. The findings further indicated
that the implementation of CLT in Omani classrooms is hindered by: (1) teachers’ lack of training in
CLT; (2) lack of time to prepare communicative activities; (3) students’ low levels of proficiency in
English; (4) large class sizes; and (5) difficulties assessing the linguistic aspects of the language. This
resulted in the drawing up of a number of recommendations.
Original languageEnglish
Article number ISSN 2329-311X
JournalEFL Teachers’ Awareness, Practices and Challenges of Teaching English Communicatively in Oman Post Basic Education Schools
Volume7
Issue number3
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 2019

Keywords

  • Communicative language teaching, CLT awareness, CLT practices, Omani Schools, Post Basic Education

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