TLM 30 ISLAM

An investigation of belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). Student’s name: Md Rafiqul Islam Student’s No. 09829867 Supervisor’s name: Barbara Chamberlin Academic year: 2010-2011 Course Title: TLM 30 (Dissertation) MA English Language Teaching (ELT) Faculty of Arts University of Brighton  Acknowledgments: First of all, I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to my supervisor, Barbara Chamberlin, for her invaluable advice, guidance and constant encouragement. I could not complete this study without her personal and academic support. She suggested me to change some parts of my study and guided the way how I can develop them. Secondly, I would like to express my sincere appreciation to Dr. Angela Pickering for her motherly support to me. I wanted to go back my country for my homesickness without completing the course but I talked every time to her and forget my affection. Thirdly, I am grateful to the writing team and Dr. Sarah for analyzing my writing skill. I had no idea about the academic writing before joining the group. The team helped me to understand how to write academically. Finally, I must to show my gratefulness to my research assistant and my friends, Tanvir Hossain Nayon and Evan Reza, for their mental support to accomplish this study. I also thank my grandparents (Hares Ali Mondal, Late Abdus Samad Mondal, Razia Begum and Tahera Begum) for their financial help in my whole student life. I also want to extend my gratitude to my uncles (Sohorab Hossain Mukul, Abu Bakkar Siddik, Harun-Or-Rasid, Rejun Karim and Jhilu Khan) and aunts (Simi and Begum) for their mental support for me. What is more, I must to express my gratefulness to my relatives, neighbors, village people and local areas’ people for their great expectation on my academic achievement.  Dedication: I dedicated this study to my parents (Deloara Bagum and Md Abu Taher Mondal) and my younger sister, Tamanna, for their encouragement to continue my study.  Abstract: The aim of this study was to explore the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. To fulfil the objective of this study, a mixed method was applied which employed quantitative and qualitative analysis through questionnaire and interviews. Forty English teachers were invited to complete the questionnaire from the colleges of Dhaka which was designed in the perspective of present educational system, classroom activities and the belief and attitude of teachers towards CLT. Additionally, 3 teachers were interviewed to find an in-depth idea about the research topic. The result of the study shows that the Bangladeshi teachers hold positive belief and attitude towards CLT and the teachers also like the present educational system of Bangladesh as it follows communicative language teaching. However, they confront obstacles to implement CLT because of the large classroom, lack of materials, lack of training, lack of support from the administration, inadequate time of the teachers and form focused exam system. On the basis of the research findings, I concluded that the Government should provide adequate CLT material, employ more teachers and train them prior to teach CLT and the administration should support the teachers to implement CLT.  Table of content: Page No: Chapter One: Introduction: 10 1.1 Purpose: 10 1.2 Rationale: 10 1.3 Research aim and question: 11 Chapter Two: Literature review: 12 2.1 English education in Bangladesh: 12 2.2 CLT in Bangladesh: 12 2.3 Communicative Language Teaching (CLT): 13 2.4 Defining Communicative Language Teaching: 14 2.5. Features of CLT: 17 2.6 Communicative competence: 19 2.7. Misconception of teachers towards CLT: 23 2.8 EFL contexts and barriers for CLT: 24 2.9 Definition of belief: 26 2.10 The relationship between teachers’ belief and language teaching: 26 2.11 The role of belief: 27 2.12 Definition of attitude: 28 2.13 The relationship between teachers’ attitude and language teaching: 28 2.14 The role of attitude: 28 2.15 Empirical studies on teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT: 29 2.16 Issues which bring discrepancy between teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT: 30 Chapter Three: Methodology: 32 3.1 Research design: 32 3.2 Participants: 33 3.3 Questionnaire: 34 3.4 Questionnaire design: 34 3.4 Interview: 35 3.6 Interview design: 35 3.7 Procedure of the research: 36 3.8 Data analysis: 36 3.9 Data analysis of the questionnaires: 36 3.10 Data analysis of interviews: 37 3.11 Ethical considerations: 37 Chapter Four: Research findings and discussion: 39 4.1 Research findings and discussion: 39 4.2 Analysis of the questionnaires: 39 4.2.1 Participants’ age, gender and years of experience: 40 4.2.2 Educational background, classroom size and course of teaching: 41 4.2.3 Teachers’ belief about communicative activities: 43 4.2.4 Teachers’ activities in classroom while teaching English: 44 4.2.5 Belief of teachers about CLT: 47 4.2.6 Teachers’ perceived difficulties in implementing CLT: 51 4.2.7 Teachers’ opinion on the priority of training: 55 4.3 Reliability tests analysis: 56 4.4. The analysis of the interviews: 57 4.4.1 Background information of interview participants: 58 4.4.2 Belief and attitude of the participants towards present educational system: 58 4.4.3 Teachers’ belief about CLT 59 4.4.4 The challenges of the teachers to implement CLT 60 4.4.5 Suggestions to confront challenges while adopting CLT 62 4.5 Discussion: 63  Chapter Five: Conclusion and recommendation: 66 5.1 Conclusion: 66 5.2 Limitations of the study: 68 5.3 Recommendation for further research: 68 Bibliography: 69 Appendices: 81 Questionnaire: 82 Interview Questions: 86 Transcript of the interviews: 87  List of tables: Table 1: Participants’ age, gender and years of experience: 40 Table 2: Educational background, classroom size and course of teaching: 41 Table 3: Teachers’ perception about communicative activities: 43 Table 4: Teachers’ activities in classroom while teaching English: 44 Table 5: Belief of teachers about CLT: 47 Table 6: Teachers’ perceived difficulties in implementing CLT: 51 Table 7: Teachers’ opinion on the priority of training: 55 Table 8: Reliability Test: 57 Table 9: Background information of interview participants: 58  1 Introduction: 1.1 Purpose: The study examined the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi English as a foreign language (EFL) teacher towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This kind of research is essential to adopt a teaching approach or method in the curriculum of EFL in Bangladesh because it might be helpful to identify the issues that will make the strategy effective for the teachers. As many researches (Burnaby & Sun 1989, Ellis 1994, Karavas-Doukas 1996, Li 1998, Mustafa 2001, Penner 1995, Thompson 1996) found that teachers have different perceptions about the principles of CLT for teaching, Bangladeshi teachers might have distinct perception and attitude towards CLT. Additionally, the researches identifies that the issues, which are helpful to implement CLT, are quite distinct from one context to another (Aleixo 2003). Therefore, it is essential to investigate the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi EFL teachers towards CLT. The study might have identified the belief of English language teacher in Bangladesh and showed the way how it might be possible to adopt CLT. 1.2 Rationale: I am interested in CLT as it is used in all private and public colleges in Bangladesh for intermediate level students. A decade ago, Bangladeshi colleges would follow Grammar Translation method to teach English as the learners might be fluent in English; but this method was not able to make the students proficient in speaking as the teachers would teach writing and reading skills only (Hasan and Akand, 2009). For this reason, the Government changed the language teaching method and choose CLT as it might enable students to be proficient in speaking (Shahiduzzaman, 2003). However, the government did not train the teachers for this new teaching system. As the teachers are not trained, they do not know what they will have to teach in the class and go back to teach grammar, translation and comprehension. Moreover, the government provided the material for teaching, which arguably, is not completely appropriate for CLT as they are related to form focused syllabus. The curriculum board provides a book in the High Schools and Colleges named as “English for Today” which includes only comprehension and grammar practice activities (Shahidullah et al, 2001). However, the Board of Education claims that the book will help the students to be proficient in speaking although there is no indication of speaking practice activities in the book (Shahiduzzaman, 2003). In addition, there is a misconception among teachers that CLT means only speaking (Thompson, 1996). Moreover, the teachers think if the students can use grammar appropriately and answer the questions of the comprehensions they will be able to communicate in English. Therefore, they insist the students to learn only grammar instead of all the skills of communicative ability and the goal of CLT fails in Bangladesh (Khan, 2007). Under these circumstances I would like to examine the belief and attitude of teachers in Bangladesh towards CLT. 1.3 Research aim and question: My research aim is to investigate the belief and attitude of teachers towards CLT in Bangladesh. In addition, I would like to examine how the belief, attitude and motivation of teachers might affect CLT in Bangladesh. Therefore, the following questions have been designed to conduct the study: What are the Bangladeshi English teachers’ beliefs regarding CLT? What are the Bangladeshi English teachers’ practice activities of CLT? What contextual factors do Bangladeshi English teachers think should be changed in order to utilize CLT in Bangladesh?  Chapter two: Literature review: 2.1. English education in Bangladesh: The Bangladeshi educational system consists of four levels such as primary (class 1 to 5), secondary (0’ level), higher secondary (Intermediate) and tertiary (Karim 2004). The learners are to complete primary education to start secondary education and when they achieve secondary certificate they can proceed for higher secondary certificate. When they pass their higher secondary certificate, they are to compete to get admission in a university for Under-graduation. Finally, they begin post-graduation and research programmes after under-graduation (Campus, 2011). The sixty eight percent people of Bangladesh are literate and ninety five percent of them speak in Bangla and the rest of them use dialects and English is used as second language officially (2nd November, The Daily Observer, 2010). English is introduced in the primary level and both English language and literature is compulsory for secondary and higher secondary level education. In the primary level English is taught three hours per week and four hours in the secondary and higher secondary level. The teachers do not require training to teach English for all the level. They complete their education and compete in the written and spoken exam to get job and begin to teach straightway (Middlehurst & Woodfield 2004). 2.2. CLT in Bangladesh: Though English is the official second language in Bangladesh, Bangladesh might not be regarded as second language country for English language teaching since learners and teachers do not use it outside classroom and even in the classroom (Karim 2004). Thus, the context of CLT in Bangladesh might be compared to English as a foreign language (EFL) country. However, the government emphasises the teachers and learners on using English outside the classroom. For that, the ministry of education has been trying to adopt CLT in Bangladesh over almost the last ten years providing CLT related books in secondary and higher secondary level and running textbook writing projects like English Language Teaching Improvement Project (ELTIP) (Shahiduzzaman 2003). Presently high schools and colleges under seven secondary and higher secondary Board of Education, public and private universities and language institutions follow communicative language teaching (CLT) to teach English (Khan 2007). However, the secondary and higher secondary Education Boards fail to adopt CLT appropriately in Bangladesh because of the lack of materials, inconsistency in the syllabus, untrained teachers and influence of traditional teaching system (Hasan and Akand 2009). The ministry of education and Boards of Education are trying to change this situation such as they develop the English language teaching syllabus every two/three years and train the teachers. 2.3. Communicative Language Teaching (CLT): In recent decades, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has become a popular theoretical model in English language teaching and has been widely accepted by language teachers and linguists as an approach. According to Richards and Rodgers (2001), the origin of CLT was found in the British language teaching tradition in the late 1960s to compensate for the limitations of the traditional language teaching methods. CLT has been extended in English as a second language (ESL) and English as a foreign language (EFL) settings over the past 20 years to improve the students’ ability in English to use it in their daily life (Littlewood 2007). Many research studies have also been conducted about the theories and practices of CLT to implement in the EFL or ESL contexts (Anderson 1993; Burnaby & Sun 1989; Chang 2011; Coskun 2011; Ellis 1996; Karim 2004; Li 1998; Liao 2000; Nunan 1987; Sun & Cheng 2000; Takanashi 2004; Xiaoju 1984; Yu 2001). These studies might be helpful to examine the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers as they have already identified what kind of difficulties the teachers are to confront to adopt CLT and provide some suggestions for future implementation of CLT in ESL and EFL countries. The majority of the studies highlight the challenges of teachers that they would have to face to implement CLT. Studies show that EFL and ESL teachers are to confront obstacles because of the educational system and classroom environment of their countries (Anderson 1993; Barlow & Lowe 1985; Burnaby & Sun 1989; Gorsuch 2000; Li 1998; Penner 1995). The research shows that the teachers follow the traditional way of teaching such as curriculum and exams are grammar based for large number of students in unequipped classroom. Moreover, in some cases EFL and ESL teachers and students fail to understand and use CLT appropriately because of the situational diversity in language teaching and use in the ESL and EFL countries (Penner 1995). Though English is regarded as a second language in Bangladesh, it is used as a foreign language in Bangladeshi education (Karim 2004). Therefore, it might be important to identify the difficulties that the teachers might have to confront to teach CLT in Bangladesh. 2.4. Defining Communicative Language Teaching: Many books and articles have been published to define CLT and explain its characteristics (Canale 1983; Celce-Murcia 2001; Cook 1991; Lee & Vanpatten 1995; Littlewood 1981; O’Malley & Chamot 1990; Richard & Rodgers 2001; Richards & Schmidt 1983; Rivers 1968; Rivers 1978; Savignon 1983, 1997; Scarcella & Oxford 1992). Some articles also explain communicative competence as the main elements of CLT (Byram 1997; Canale & Swain 1980; Celce-Murcia 2001; Doenyei & Thurrell 1991; Fotos 1994; Habermas 1970; Hymes 1971; Jakobovits 1970; McGroarty 1984; Rivers 1968; Savignon 1971, 1972, 1983, 1991, 1997, 2000; Xiaoju 1984). Although there are various kinds of opinions among the linguistics and writers about the definition of CLT, they agreed upon a concept of CLT that the aim of CLT is communicative competence (Aleixo 2003). Richards et al (1992: 65) claim that CLT is an approach which helps to teach second and foreign language and its aim is to achieve communicative competence in language learning. Richards and Rodgers (1986) also argue that CLT aims to develop the ways to teach the language skills and make competence as the goal of language teaching which allow the independence of communication and language. Therefore, it seems that CLT is a kind of teaching approach or method which aims to achieve communicative competence of the target language. Other linguists present CLT in different way, for example, Howatt (1984: 279) focuses on CLT by the term of “strong” and “weak” version. The weak version has been practiced in a smaller range in the last ten years which emphasises on the importance of giving opportunities to the learners to use English for communicative purposes and tries to integrate this kind of activities into a wider range of language teaching. On the other hand, the strong version claims that a language can be achieved from communication and it is not only activating the existing inert knowledge of language but also stimulating the language development by itself. Therefore, the weaker version could have helped to explain the learning activities to use English and the stronger one might show how to use English. Though both the versions were presented in a different way, their aim seems to be similar as they attempt to acquire communicative competence in English. Therefore, it might be claimed that although Howatt (1984) tried to present CLT in a distinct way, it is evident from the two versions of discussion that the goal of CLT is to achieve communicative competence. Canale & Swain (1980) also describes the classroom activities of CLT and explain that the teachers will have to emphasis on grammatical competence, sociolinguistic competence, discourse and strategic competence. Then they describe the grammatical competence as the knowledge of phonology, syntax, morphology and semantics and the sociolinguistic competence as the knowledge of the socio-cultural rules and the discourse of the target language. Here discourse might be regarded as transferring a simple spoken conversation to written texts such as articles and books for what Brown (1994: 247) illustrates the discourse competence as the ability of connecting the sentences in the stretches of discourse and making meaningful something from the utterances. Finally, Canale & Swain (1980) explain communicative competence as the communication strategies of people which they use when there is a ‘breakdown’ in communication. Therefore, it might be claimed that these four components of language in CLT class (grammatical, sociolinguistic, discourse and strategic competence) should be practiced to achieve the communicative competence. Larsen-Freeman (2000) might also have supported this view as he regards these components as the goal of CLT. Similarly, Savignon (1991) supported the explanation of Canale & Swain (1980) for CLT and proposes some other components for communicative curriculum such as language arts, theatre arts, personal second language use, language for a purpose, and beyond the classroom. Therefore, it might be claimed that the goal of CLT is to achieve communicative competence but it has several components and all of these will have to be practiced in a CLT classroom to acquire the competence level of the target language. Richards and Rodgers (2001: 155) explain that the activity of CLT is more than an integration of functional and grammatical teaching. Here they might have indicated that the aim of CLT should be to achieve all kinds of competence which could have included grammatical, discourse, strategic, socio-linguistic and other competence. Littlewood (1981: 1) may also have supported this view as he explains that the important characteristics of communicative language teaching is that it concentrate on both the structural and functional parts of language integrating them into a broader view of communicative competence. Therefore, it might be said that CLT suggests teaching more than grammatical and functional syllabus using the target language in a meaningful way to improve communicative ability of the learners. In the activities of CLT, communicative intention might have been encouraged as unlimited exercises and communicative activities are used in CLT classroom which engage learners in communicative curriculum and present interactive, information sharing and meaningful syllabus to achieve the competence level of the target language (Richards & Rodgers 2001). The classroom activities might have engaged the students in communicative activities in CLT class -such as role plays, pair works, group work, games, etc – to improve the communicative ability of students. Johnson and Morrow (1981) claims that communicative activities might be done in CLT classroom which might have three features: information gap, choice, and feedback. In information gap activities, teacher might engage the learners in games, group works and pair works. Here the learners might get the chance what they will say and how they will say it. After every activity, the teacher may give feedback to the learners for further improvement in communicative activities. Therefore, it might be argued that these activities could have helped the learners to achieve communicative competence of the target language. The learners might play the role of negotiator in CLT classroom between the learning process, self, and the objective of learning as the achievement of the class will depend on their activities (Breen and Candlin 1980). In addition, the learners might have to contribute as much as they can in the group and pair works in order to learn the target language in an independent way. Therefore, it could be said that the learners will have to play a vital role in CLT classroom and the learning process will depend on the participation of the learners and as much as they will engage themselves they might be able to achieve communicative competence to that level of the target language. CLT might have highlighted the roles of teachers to adopt CLT in a class (Richard and Rodgers 2001: 167). Breen and Candlin (1980: 99) explain the roles of teachers in a CLT classroom is that firstly the teacher will facilitate the communication process among the learners in the classroom and between the learners, texts and activities. Secondly, the teacher will participate in the learning-teaching group as an independent contributor; then will play the role as an organiser of resources and as a guide of the classroom activities and procedures. Thirdly, the teacher will act as researcher and learner to contribute more in the learning and teaching process of CLT. Therefore, it might be said that the teachers might play role of counsellor, facilitator, and contributor and needs analyst in a CLT classroom. Moreover, it might be argued that though CLT is regarded as a learner-centred approach (classroom activities depend on learners), the teacher has some responsibilities to facilitate the learning process in CLT class to achieve the communicative competence. 2.5. Features of CLT: Berns (1990: 104) argues that there are eight useful principles of CLT. Berns (1990: 104) points out: Language teaching claims language as a way of communication. Here language is presented as a social tool of meaningful communication where speakers communicate with someone either orally or in writing for some purpose. Diversity is recognized as a part of language development and use in the second language learners as it exists with the first language users. The learners’ competence is considered in terms correctness. The variety of a language is considered as a model for teaching and learning. Culture is important for learners to achieve communicative competence both in the first and subsequent languages. Single methodology or technique will not be prescribed. Language use is known as serving textual, ideational, and interpersonal functions and has relation with the learners’ development of competence. Engaging learners in the communicative activities is essential for learning purposes. Larsen-Freeman (1986: 133) also presents some principles of CLT. Firstly, he argues that meaning is important in CLT because it comes from written word between the readers and writers through an interaction and the oral communication between the speakers and the listeners becomes meaningful through negotiation. Secondly, Larsen-Freeman (1986:133) argues that language is a vehicle for communication and CLT should have communicative interaction. Finally, Larsen-Freeman (1984: 132) asserts that the most important characteristic of CLT should be communicative intention because it might not be possible to achieve communicative competence without the communicative intention between the learners and teachers. Therefore, it might be argued that the principles presented by Larsen-Freeman (1986) could have supported the view that CLT should aim and help the learners to achieve all kind communicative competence of the target language. Richards and Rodgers (2001) point out some principles of CLT. They argue in CLT: Learners can learn a language using it for the purpose of communication. The aim of classroom activities of CLT should be meaningful and real communication. Fluency is important for communication. All kinds of language skills are important in communication. Learning can be compared to a process of creative construction which involves error and trial. Therefore, it can be claimed from the principles mentioned by Richards and Rodgers (2001) that CLT engage learners in a learning process to achieve the competence level of the target language. Numan (1991) also found five main features of CLT. Numan (1991) explains that, firstly, CLT focuses on teaching the learners in the target language and how to communicate them through interaction. Secondly, CLT offers to use authentic materials in the class through which students can get an opportunity to practice both classroom language and everyday communicative language. Using authentic materials in the class will help to learn a language as they will make a connection between the classroom language and outside the classroom language which is one of the key features of CLT (Numan 1991). Similarly, Long and Crookes (1992) emphasis on using authentic materials in a CLT class as these materials will fulfil the learners’ need to use the target language in realistic situations. Moreover, Numan (1991) argues that learners should have the opportunity both to focus on the language and to be able to focus on the learning process. Finally, learners’ experience should be considered with importance for learning a language as language teaching in CLT is learner-centred (Numan 1991). Therefore, it might be argued that these features show that CLT classroom activities, learners and teachers participation, and using of materials might have helped the learners to achieve communicative competence. Finally, Brown (2001: 43) proposed six features as a description of CLT: CLT classroom aims to highlight on the components (grammatical, discourse, functional, sociolinguistic, and strategic) of communicative competence. The teachers will engage the students in authentic, pragmatic, and functional activities for meaningful purposes. Both fluency and accuracy are important factor to learn a language in CLT. The learners will have to use the target language inside and outside the class. The teachers will provide all kinds of opportunities to the learners to understand the learning process through the classroom activities. The teacher will play the role of facilitator and guide in a CLT classroom. From the above discussion about CLT, activities of CLT classroom and the principles of CLT, it might be said that the goal of CLT is to improve the communicative competence of learners. Almost all the linguists mentioned above express that the primary objective of CLT is to develop communicative competence of learners in the target language. As the term ‘communicative competence’ seems be important factor while talking about the aim of CLT, I am going to explain it in the following part. 2.6 Communicative competence: The term ‘communicative competence’ was introduced in the early 1970s into the discussions of language use and second or foreign language learning as the main concept of CLT (Habermas 1970; Hymes 1972; Jakobovits 1970; Savignon 1971). Savignon (1972, 1997) describe ‘competence’ by the terms of the expression, negotiation, and interpretation of meaning and take into account in the perspectives of Second Language Acquisition (SLA) research for its development. Hymes (1972) first speaks about communicative competence in the perspectives of communicative language teaching (CLT) (Richards & Rodgers 2001). Hymes (1972) argues about the concept of ‘communicative competence’ in order to react to Chomsky’s characterization of the linguistic competence (Savignon 2002). Chomsky (1965) describes the linguistic competence as “the abstract abilities speakers possess that enable them to produce grammatically correct sentences in a language” (Richard and Rodgers 2001: 159). The concept of Chomsky’s linguistic competence might be explained by the way that it highlights how to make correct sentences in the target language and it does not concern about the communicative activities of a language. However, Hymes’s theory of communicative competence illustrates what the learners need to do to be communicatively competent in a speech community (Richard and Rodgers 2001: 159). In this case, Hymes (1979: 17) claims that linguistic theory should represent mostly on the constitutive application of socio-cultural factors that he indicates as ‘performance’. Additionally, Hymes (1979) refers the ‘actual performance’ which means the use of language in concrete situations. Hymes (1972) also argues that a learner who has achieved the communicative competence should acquire both knowledge and ability for language use. For this reason, Hymes (1972; 281) advocates for taking into account of four kinds of communicative considerations in language learning: What is formally possible What might be implemented What is appropriate for a context What has been done and for which purposes. Therefore, it might be argued that Hymes’s theory presents a broader view about competence than Chomsky. Hymes’s first concept about competence is that a person who is communicatively competent should have knowledge how to use grammatical rules. Secondly, communication should not only be limited to linguistics but also take the cultural behaviour into consideration. Thirdly, the contextual features should be based on a certain context and finally it should be concerned with probability. Therefore, Hymes’ theory presents several kinds of communicative competence which represents both the use of language in social contexts and the use of grammatical knowledge in real situations (Richard and Rodgers 1986). Savignon (2002: 7) claims that CLT classroom model should present “the hypothetical integration of four components of communicative competence.” Canale and Swain (1980) identified these four parts of communicative competence which are grammatical competence, discourse competence, strategic competence, and sociolinguistic competence. These components are explained below: According to Canale & Swain (1980: 29) and Canale (1983: 7), grammatical competence refers to sentence-level grammatical forms which include the ability to understand the lexical, morphological, syntactical and phonological characteristics of a language and to use them to make words and sentences. Therefore, it might be claimed that grammatical competence is not related to a single theory of grammar and does not include the ability to explain the rules of usage. Moreover, it could be argued that one might show his/her grammatical competence not by telling a rule but by using it in the actual communication. Canale and Swain (1980) explains that sociolinguistic competence extends beyond linguistic forms and is an interdisciplinary field of inquiry deals with the socio-cultural rules of language use. Therefore, the socio-cultural rules might have focused on the understanding of the social context in which a language might be used such as the role of the participants, settings, and the function of the interaction. Additionally, it might be claimed that the sociolinguistic competence is very important factor to understand the social meaning of a language (Canale 1983: 8). Discourse competence deals not with isolated words or phrases but with the communicative functions in a given context (Canale and Swain 1980). Canale (1983) explains that discourse competence is an amalgamation which combines grammatical forms and meanings to produce spoken and written discourse in different texts. Canale (1983: 9) also argues that the text might be an oral or written narrative, a poem, e-mail, novel, business letter, message, scientific report, telephone conversation or sportscast. Canale (1983) also presents two more notions with discourse competence which belong coherence in meaning and cohesion in form. The coherence is associated with interrelationships between the sentences according to different meanings within a text and cohesion related to the structural links and characteristics of a text (Canale 1983). Therefore, it might be claimed that the discourse competence means not using a single word or phrase of the target language rather learning both grammatical forms and meanings and using them in spoken and written discourse. Canale and Swain (1980) claim that strategic competence is related to the learner’s ability to master verbal and non-verbal communication strategies. Alptekin (2002) also explains that strategic competence refers to the ability to function effectively in the real world communication and keep the communication options open. Similarly, Canale (1983: 10) also argues that strategic competence is needed for two reasons – to recover insufficient competence and to increase the effectiveness of communication. Therefore, it could be claimed that the strategic competence might help the learners to keep the flow of conversation and at the beginning level it might help the learners to communicate with their limited vocabulary. Savignon (1983) investigated on communicative competence and advocated a classroom model of communicative competence which includes Canale and Swain’s (1980) four components of competence. Savignon (1997: 14 - 15) also presents the features of communicative competence which are: It is a dynamic concept which depends on the negotiation of meaning among the people. It is adopted in both spoken and written language. It depends on a context and the communication may vary on the basis of situation. Competence and performance is different from each other. The first one is described as a presumed underlying ability and the second one is explained as the overt manifestation of competence. It is relative and depends on participation of all the respondents. From the above discussion, it might be said that communicative competence is the main feature of CLT which consists of grammatical, strategic, discourse, and sociolinguistic competence and it aims to make the learners competent both in spoken and written language. 2.7. Misconception of teachers towards CLT: Many researchers (Burnaby & Sun 1989; Fox 1993; Gamal & Debra 2001; Karavas-Doukas 1996; Rollman 1994; Sato & Kleinsasser 1999; Thompson 1996) investigated the attitude of teachers towards CLT and found that they have misconception about CLT. Thompson (1996) claims that there are four main misconceptions about CLT: CLT means not teaching grammar, teaching only speaking, pair work or role play and expecting too much from teacher. Thompson (1996) believes that CLT might be adopted properly if the misconceptions of CLT could be removed first. For example, Sato and Kleinsasser (1999) found some misconceptions among Japanese as a foreign language (JFL) in-service teachers in Australia while examining the views and practices of CLT. They believe that CLT means teaching speaking, listening and very few grammar teaching. Therefore, it might be said that there are some misconceptions among the teachers about CLT which are: not teaching grammar or very few grammar teaching, teaching speaking and listening only, much expectation from teacher and pair work and role play. Additionally, there might have more misconceptions of teachers about CLT which might be found in the following discussed studies: In a study Karavas-Doukas (1996) investigated the teachers’ attitude and classroom practices in CLT. He took 14 Greek English language teachers as participant and found that there is inconsistency of the teachers’ attitude towards CLT and their classroom activities because of their misconception. The teachers were mingled both the traditional method and communicative approach. They would like to focus on form and sometimes they engaged the students in pair work but not in group activities. Karavas-Doukas (1996) concludes that the teachers misinterpret the activities in CLT and translate everything believing that they are doing what is called form in CLT. In another study Burnaby & Sun (1989) examined the views of Chinese English language teachers on the appropriateness and effectiveness of western language teaching methods to use in China. The data was collected from Canadian Chinese cooperative program in English and French language training and cultural orientation in Canada. They found that the teachers believe that CLT is applicable for the students who want to go to an English speaking country not for others. Additionally, the teachers believe that CLT activities are time consuming and these are not serious learning rather they are games. When they engage the students in communicative activities, they feel that they are not teaching and students might complain against them. Gamal and Debra (2001) also conducted a study among 120 Egyptian EFL teachers and investigated their beliefs and attitudes towards CLT. They highlighted the importance of the social and cultural context on teachers’ attitude to adopt CLT. The result of the study shows that the specialist teachers have more interest than non-specialist teachers to implement CLT activities. However, the experienced teachers expressed their negative attitude to practice communicative activities as they believe that the new theory might be harder for them to implement. Therefore, it might be mentioned from the above mentioned studies that there might have some other misconceptions besides CLT means teaching speaking and listening only, no grammar teaching, much expectation from teachers, role play and pair work which are: CLT is for the students who want to go English speaking countries, it is a new theory which might be harder to implement and translating everything in English. 2.16. EFL contexts and barriers for CLT: Teaching in a foreign language context might create a conflict between the two different culture (target & foreign). Ellis (1994) found that the teachers follow a deep-rooted tradition in teaching a foreign language which is the main problem in implementing communicative approach in Vietnam. The Vietnamese tradition might have represented the focus on grammar translation and might have the cultural reluctance to challenge written words in language teaching. Moreover, CLT may not be suitable for Vietnamese contexts though there is a great demand for communicative competence in Vietnam as the culture lacks adequate teacher training, suitable learning environment and communicative teaching materials (Ellis 1994). Therefore, it might be said that foreign language context might have several kinds of barrier to implement CLT such as traditional teaching system, lack of teacher training, lack of materials and lack of learning environment. Lewis and McCook (2002) investigated the lacking of uptake activities of Asian teachers for CLT and found that the teachers tried to implement CLT but they fail to avoid the traditional characteristic of their educational system. As the Asian teachers might have mixed both the CLT and traditional teaching activities in the CLT classrooms, the teachers might have been hindered to adopt CLT as traditional teaching system is opposite to communicative activity (Lewis and McCook 2002). Chang (2010) also argues that the factors which might promote or hinder the implementation of CLT are related to teachers, students, educational system, and the suitability of CLT in the local context. Therefore, it might be said that the traditional teaching system in EFL context might be a hindrance to adopt CLT. Gorsuch (2000) examined the communicative activities of Japanese teachers and found that the teachers are highly influenced by the University entrance exam as both the institutions and the students emphasis them to cover the exam related syllabus first. As the exam is grammar related, the teachers might teach grammar to their students which might not improve the learners’ communicative competence. In addition, the teachers might prefer to follow the traditional way of teaching and might not like the new teaching environment required for CLT. Similarly, Liao (2000) also found three types of obstacles to implement CLT in China which are lack of knowledge about the target language culture, no familiarity with the new method and the influence of traditional education system. From the studies of Gorsuch (2000) and Liao (2000), it might be said that CLT might be successful in an EFL context if the teachers could achieve a higher level of target culture knowledge, follow the new teaching method and come out from the traditional educational system. Therefore, it might be said from the discussion of the above mentioned studies that the EFL teachers might have confronted many types of obstacles to implement CLT for cultural difference, misconception of teachers, lacking of teachers’ knowledge towards CLT, exam oriented syllabus, influence of traditional teaching method, classroom size, lack of assessment instrument, lack of teachers’ time, insufficient funding and lack of support, lack of training in CLT and deficiency in spoken English. These difficulties might not be same for all the EFL countries that might be said from the findings of the above mentioned studies. In one EFL country CLT might be failed because of cultural difference while in other country it might not be successful for lacking of instrument and administrative support. Similarly, in Bangladeshi EFL context the teachers might have different types of hindrances to implement CLT and it might be essential to investigate the attitude of teachers towards CLT to adopt CLT. 2.8. Definition of belief: As the study investigated the belief of teachers, it seems that it is essential to explain the meaning of belief. Clark and Peterson (1986) argue that the term ‘belief’ is connected to the cognitive behaviour of teacher and related to personal values and principles. Clandinin and Connelly (1987) also claim that the term ‘belief’ means a personal experienced knowledge. Therefore, it might be said from the explanation of these researchers (Clark & Peterson 1986; Clandinin & Connelly 1987) that belief might be related to the personal values, principles and experienced knowledge of the teachers. Nespor (1987) explains belief in a different way and argues that belief is stronger than the knowledge which works independently of the cognition. Richardson (1996) also supported the view of Naspor and claims that belief is more direct than the influence of knowledge in language teaching. However, Fang (1996) describe ‘belief’ in a different way and claims that belief makes a type of knowledge which helps the teachers to teach in a class. Therefore, it might be claimed that belief is stronger than general knowledge and it helps the teachers to teach in a classroom. Borg (2001) also presented four features to explain belief which are: the truth element, the relationship between belief and behaviour, conscious versus unconscious belief and belief as value commitments. There might have several features of belief but it functions as thought, behaviour and action and might be held by a person consciously or unconsciously. 2.9. The relationship between teachers’ belief and language teaching: Language teaching is characterized according to the activities and behaviour of the teachers in the classrooms which affect the learning process of the students. Richards & Lockhart (1996) argue that it is important to investigate the perception or belief of the teachers as it might be helpful to understand how the teachers deal with the learning activities, prepare the learners for learning process and check the understanding of the learners. Therefore, it might be claimed that the belief of teachers may play a very important role in language teaching as teachers’ belief, knowledge and experience may affect their activities in the classrooms. Moreover, teachers’ belief might influence the learners’ behaviour and academic performance as the students might engage themselves according to the suggested activities of the teachers (Clark & Peterson 1986; Good 1987). Communicative language teaching has become an important issue in secondary and higher secondary level education in Bangladesh as it might improve the communicative abilities of the students. In order to improve the communicative abilities of the learners, it might be essential to examine the belief and practice activities of the teachers in the classroom. The exploration of teachers’ belief might show what the Bangladeshi teachers may need while teaching and what kinds of changes they expect in their teaching environment and also help to find the obstacles that the teachers are to confront in teaching CLT (Breen 1991; Dingwall 1985). 2.10. The role of belief: Many linguists and educational researchers (e.g. Borg 2001; Brown 1990; Fang 1996; Hampton 1994; Pajares 1992; Richards 1998) focus on the role of teachers’ belief about language teaching. Teachers’ belief might have a great influence on classroom activities in language teaching and the majority of the materials of the lessons might be created according to the teachers’ belief and perception (Hampton 1994; Tsang 2004). Brown (1990) also argues that all the teachers have their own beliefs about language teaching and they teach according to their beliefs. Similarly, Richards (1998) claims that teachers’ beliefs make the base of their teaching ability. Therefore, it might be said that there is a great relationship between the teachers’ beliefs and practice activities in a language classroom. However, the beliefs and activities of the language teachers might not be similar to teach a new language teaching theory (Fang 1996). As there might have discrepancy between teachers’ belief and activities, this study aims to examine if there is any similarity or not between belief and attitudes of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. 2.11. Definition of attitude: Attitude might be an important issue in this study as it might have a connection with the teachers’ belief in language teaching. Therefore, it is important to explain the meaning of attitude in language teaching. Fazio & Williams (1986) argue that the term ‘attitude’ is connected to the behaviour of a person which might influence the status. Eagly & Chaiken (1995) also claim that attitude is related to individual liking and disliking of a person for something. Furthermore, Breckler & Wiggins (1992) explain that attitude might be defined as positive and negative ideas and activities of a person about anything. Therefore, it might be said that attitude is an individual behaviour of a person which might be positive or negative ideas and activities and might affect the personal status. 2.12. The relationship between teachers’ attitude and language teaching: As language teaching is featured by the activities and behaviour of the teachers in language classroom, the teachers’ attitude might play a vital role in teaching a language theory ( Desmarais 2002; Doherty 2002; Murday & Ushida 2002; Warschauer 1996). Dornyei (2001) argues that the teachers’ attitude is reflected on their classroom activities which might be a reason of their learners’ educational success or failure. Therefore, it might be claimed that the teachers’ attitude might have a great influence in language teaching as the classroom activities of a language teacher may be based on his positive or negative attitude to the language theory. Moreover, the teachers’ attitude might affect the learners to achieve the target language as they engage themselves according to the suggested activities of the learners (Gilbert 2001). As CLT has become a very important issue in language teaching in Bangladesh, it seems that it is essential to explore the teachers’ attitude towards CLT in Bangladesh. The investigation of the teachers’ attitude might help to identify whether the teachers like CLT or not, understand CLT or not and what kinds of changes the teachers might expect to achieve the goal of CLT in Bangladesh (Brandl 2002). 2.13. The role of attitude: Many researchers and linguists (e.g. Pennycook 1994; Phan Le Ha 2004; Flowerdew and Miller 1995) investigated on the teachers’ attitude in language teaching. The teachers’ attitude might have a great impact on language teaching and they might adopt the classroom activities according to their attitude to the language teaching theory. Pennycook (1994) argues that the teachers’ attitude might be different from each other and their activities for a language teaching might be various types. For example, Eastern teachers are authoritarian, knowledge transmitter and traditional where the Western teachers are opposite to them. Similarly, Flowerdew and Miller (1995) explain that the teaching system may be different for the teachers’ attitude to a theory. For example, in Confucian teaching system teachers are authoritative and they should not be questioned for anything but in Western teaching system the teachers are facilitator and they are open to take challenge. Therefore, it could be said from the above discussion that there might have a connection between the teachers’ attitude and the activities of teachers in a CLT classroom. However, all the teachers’ attitude and classroom activities might not be similar to teach CLT. As a result, this study aims to examine if there is any difference or similarity among the teachers’ attitudes to adopt CLT in Bangladesh. 2.14. Empirical studies on teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT: As teachers’ belief and attitude play an important role in language teaching, many studies (e.g. Karavas-Doukas 1996; Karim 2004) have been conducted on teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT. The findings of the studies found that the teachers have both positive and negative attitude towards CLT. For example, Karavas-Doukas (1996) investigated the belief and attitude of Greek teachers towards CLT and found that the teachers have positive attitude about CLT. However, they tend to follow the traditional teaching approach while doing the activities in the CLT classroom and they lack the understanding of CLT principles. Karim (2004) examined the perception, attitude and expectation of Bangladeshi University English teachers towards CLT in post-secondary education. The finding of the study show that the teachers hold a good understanding about CLT and they practice CLT relevant activities in the class but they do not get adequate support from the authorities to implement CLT. Similarly, the study of Chang and Huang (2001) found that Korean teachers have positive belief about CLT and they practice communicative activities in the class. The study of Choi (1999) investigated the beliefs and practice activities of Korean English teachers in CLT. The researcher found that the teachers have positive beliefs about CLT and practice communicative activities. However, they confront difficulties because of large classroom, lack of materials and form focused examination. On the other hand, Li (1998) conducted a study on Korean secondary EFL teachers and found that there is a great discrepancy among Korean teachers between their practice activities and beliefs. The researcher reports that the teachers practice CTL activities combining both traditional and communicative approach. Similarly, Thornbury (1997) also found that communicative activity is not only weak but also very weak for usages in the classroom for EFL elementary and secondary schools. The researcher reported that there is discrepancy among the EFL teachers’ belief and activities in the CLT classroom as they mingle both communicative and non-communicative activities in the class. From the above mentioned studies, it might be said that there might have different types of belief and attitude among the teachers about CLT such as it might be positive or negative; or the perception might be positive but the activities might be negative. For example, the studies of Karim (2004), Chang and Huang (2001) and Choi (1999) show the positive belief and attitude of teachers and they had consistency with their classroom activities though they face some difficulties because of institutional or personal problem. However, the studies of Karavas-Doukas (1996), Li (1998) and Thornbury (1997) found positive attitude of teachers but they had discrepancy between their belief and classroom activities. Similarly, Bangladeshi teachers might have positive attitude towards CLT but their activities might be different from their belief. Therefore, it seems that it is essential to investigate the belief, attitude and activities of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. 2.15. Issues which bring discrepancy between teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT: Linguists and educational researchers (e.g. Bailey et al 1996; Karavas-Doukas 1996) identified several reasons which might be responsible for discrepancy between teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT. Bailey et al (1996) argue that teachers’ belief about a language theory depends on what they have been taught and what is not. Similarly, Freeman and Richards (1993) claim that theories and beliefs establish according to the teachers’ previous experience. However, Karavas-Doukas (1996) expresses that the disparity between belief and attitude is originated because of the curriculum designer as they forget to consider the responsibilities of language teachers towards a language theory. The study of Li (1998) also identified some issues which might be reasons for discrepancy among teachers attitude. Li (1998) argues that the teachers might have positive attitude to teach CLT but the discrepancy might be originated because of little opportunities for training, misconception among teachers, lack of time for material development, educational system and the theory itself. Thomson (1996) also argues that there are some misconceptions among teachers about CLT (e.g. CLT means not grammar teaching, teaching speaking only, too much expectation from teachers and teaching listening only) which might create discrepancy among teachers’ belief and attitude. Moreover, the study of Li (1997) identified that the discrepancy between teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT is originated in Korea as Asian teaching system is different from Western but CLT is formulated and developed in Western countries. Therefore, it might be said that the discrepancy between teachers attitude might be created because of the lack of training, experience, curriculum designing, educational system and disparity of the teaching cultures between the Western and Eastern countries. Therefore, it might be said that there might have many issues which can originate discrepancy between teachers’ belief and attitude. Similarly, many factors might create discrepancy between Bangladeshi teachers’ belief and attitude to teach CLT. As a result, it seems that it is essential to investigate the discrepancy between Bangladeshi teachers’ belief and attitude towards CLT.  Chapter Three: Methodology: Research design: The purpose of this study is to explore the belief and attitude of English college teachers towards CLT in Dhaka (the capital of Bangladesh). Additionally, the study tries to focus on the present environment of communicative language teaching in the colleges of Bangladesh and the obstacles the teachers face to adopt CLT. Both the quantitative and qualitative research methods have been applied in the study in order to achieve the objective and to have a clear knowledge about the research area. Firstly, quantitative research was launched as Neuman (2003) suggests that this kind of research stresses on detail planning before collecting and analysing data as well as deals with measurement, sampling and designed issues. Then, qualitative research was conducted as Neuman (2003) suggests that this type of research emphasises on the feeling, texture and richness of raw data and its inductive approach is related to developing ideas, generalizations and intuitions from the collected information. Questionnaire was used with some closed questions in order to collect data and interviews were semi-structured. The two types of focus on the study involve a mixed-method approach (Bryman 2001; Creswell and Clark 2007; Greene 2008; Teddlie and Tashakkori 2003). This methodology presents a mixture of both quantitative and qualitative data in the research process. This combination of both quantitative and qualitative approaches provides a better understanding of the research problem (Creswell and Clark 2007). Additionally, the mixed methodology suggests different kinds of objectives, rationales, and strategies to mix qualitative and quantitative data in the study (Greene, Caracelli and Graham 1989; Johnson and Onwuegbuzie 2004). Creswell and Clark (2007) explain that there are four types of mixed-methods designs such as embedded, triangulation, exploratory, and explanatory. Rudestam and Newton (2007) argues that triangulation is helpful for crosschecking and corroborating evidence from various sources such as previous studies, other methodologies, and additional participants. Moreover, it seems to be important to observe the study from different points of view to get an exact result from appropriate location (Neuman 2003). Therefore, triangulation has been adopted in order to measure the result of the study through crosschecking evidence from previous study. 3.2 Participants: As the purpose of the study is to explore the belief and attitude of English teachers in Bangladesh towards CLT, the participants in this study are from Dhaka who is employed at eight different government and public colleges. Twenty-nine teachers responded to the questionnaire and three of them participated in the interviews. A report on educational institution (Prothom Alo 2011) expresses that there are 5 governments and more than 100 private colleges in Dhaka. Invitation letters and questionnaire (Appendix A) were distributed through the research assistant and English department chairs in 3 governments and 5 private colleges and the participation was voluntary. The letter (Appendix A) was friendly and academic which describe the reason of this study in a brief to collect data through the questionnaire. Moreover, the participants were requested to inform about the practice activities of teachers in the classroom, belief, and difficulties of teachers in implementing CLT in the questionnaire. The questionnaires (Appendix A) were sent on 5th of November 2011 to the research assistant by mail to distribute them to the college teachers in Dhaka. He asked permission of the head of the departments of the colleges to distribute the questionnaires and they were given on 6th and 7th of November to 40 teachers. Out of 40 questionnaires 29 were completed (collected by the research assistant) that represent the response rate of 72.5% and returned by postal mail (DHL) to the researcher on 15th of November 2011 by the research assistant. Then, the research assistant requested the participants of the questionnaires to take part in interview through Skype. Three out of 29 participants who responded in the questionnaires took part in the interviews. As the researcher is conducting the study from London, the research assistant communicated the participants and appointed them to participate in the interviews through Skype with the researcher. The researcher conducted the interviews and took the e-mail address and phone number of the participants after the interviews for further help in the study if necessary. 3.3 Questionnaire: The questionnaire (Appendix A) was designed in order to adopt a quantitative approach to get a broad idea about the perception and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT and the content was embedded on the research questions. Cohen et al (2007) argues that the questionnaire might be used to achieve numerical data and it can also present a rough picture of the situation and descriptive information. Additionally, McDonough and McDonough (1997) claim that researchers prefer questionnaire to collect data since it can present clear and accurate information about the project and the information is based on the questions that the researcher used for the study. In this study, the adaptation of the questionnaire was helpful for me to get basic information to examine the belief and attitude of teachers towards CLT. 3.4 Questionnaire design: The questionnaire (Appendix A) was designed with 10 closed questions as it might not bore the participants and take less time from them. Additionally, in order to ensure the clarity and comprehensiveness of the structure of the questionnaire, a pilot testing was conducted among 6 Bangladeshi friends before sending to the participants. Munn and Drever (1990) explain that the researcher should discuss with some people about the questionnaire as they might suggest him to change unclear questions, words and terminology. Moreover, they might suggest how the researcher could change the questionnaire. In this pilot study, some unclear questions and unfamiliar words were found and according to the participants’ suggestion the structure of the questionnaire were changed and unfamiliar words were explained to the research assistant as he can clarify everything to the teachers. Moreover, the researcher discussed about the questionnaire with the supervisor to ensure whether it was relevant to the research area. At the very beginning of making the questionnaire, both the closed and open questions were used but later only the closed questions have been used as the participants of the pilot study and the supervisor of this study suggested that using both kinds of questions might be time consuming. Some questions provided boxes to put tick sign and rest of them were designed according to a 5 point scale and 3 point scale in the questionnaire ranging from use it regularly, sometimes, never tried; strongly agree, agree, disagree, strongly disagree, neutral; no problem, manageable and major problem. McDonough and McDonough (1997) argue that scaled questions can provide numerical value for large number of respondents to show their strong, weak and normal support. In this study the scaled questions were used to see in which extant the participants support the activities of CLT and to ascertain the extant of agreement or disagreement about their view on CLT. 3.5 Interview: Since the questionnaire only presents a general insight of the participants, interview (Appendix B) was adopted in this study in order to have a deep understanding about the belief and attitude of the teachers and to identify more viewpoints that might not have been achieved by the questionnaire. Drever (1995) claims that interview can explore responses, examine motives and feelings, achieve extra information and provide the up-to-date data about the explanation and thinking of the respondents. Additionally, Bells (2005) argues that the researcher can have an idea from the body language, tone, facial expression and hesitation of the participants about the study which might not be possible to explore by paper response. In this study the interview was conducted after getting the questionnaire response in order to have a deep understanding about the belief and attitude of the teachers. The semi-structured interview (Appendix B) was conducted in this study to collect data. Drever (1995) explains that the semi-structure interview means the interviewer will plan in advanced what he/she will ask in the interview and which ground will be explored by the questions. However, McDonough and McDonough (1997) argue that though the interviewer establishes the structure of the semi-structure interview in advance, he/she can be flexible and change questions during the interview. In this study the semi-structured interview was used in order to engage the participants in a natural interaction than just in the formulated questions. 3.6 Interview design: The interview questions (Appendix B) were designed in English and the participants were informed about the questions before the interview as they can be able to remove their hesitation and speak naturally and fluently. Moreover, they were told that the interview questions are based on the response of the questionnaire and they are allowed to engage in extended discussions. Furthermore, the interview questions were piloted before the interview among the friends of the researchers as the confusion and problems might be removed from the questions. 3.7 Procedure of the research: Since very few people are involve in academic research and the English language teachers are requested very occasionally to be respondent of a study in Bangladesh, they were interested to help the researcher taking part in completing the questionnaire. The research assistant explained the purpose of this study to the teachers while distributing the questionnaires although it was mentioned in the cover letter (Appendix A). The questionnaires were distributed at the beginning of November 2011 and 29 participants out of 40 completed and returned them to the head of the departments by mid of November 2011; the research assistant collect the questionnaires on 14th and 15th of November from the head of the departments of each college and send them to the researcher in London by DHL. The interviews were taken and recorded on 22nd, 23rd and 24th of November 2011 taking the consent of the participants. The research assistant arranged the schedule of each interview and provided the technological support to the participant as the interviews were conducted by Skype. Moreover, both the researcher and the research assistant contacted the participants over mobile and explained the purpose of taking the interviews. Additionally, the researcher promised the confidentiality of the content of the interviews to the participants. Finally, each of the interviews took 10 to 12 minutes. 3.8 Data analysis: The data analysis of the present study contains both the answers of the questionnaires and the information achieved in the interviews. 3.9 Data analysis of the questionnaires: The questionnaires of this study were analyzed taking help of the software tool Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS). Bryman and Bell (2003) argue that SPSS is very popular among the educational researchers to analyse questionnaire as it can focus on many functions when data is presented in the system such as various tests and calculation can be made and table, chart and graph might be produced. In this study the questionnaire was evaluated through a descriptive statistics/calculation to analyse the data. Pallant (2007) argues that descriptive statistics might be used for several purposes such as explaining the nature of the participants and focusing on the research questions. The data analysis of the questionnaire focuses on both the participants and the research questions. 3.10 Data analysis of interviews: While analysing the interview the researcher listened to the recorded interviews several times and transcribed them. Drever (1995) argues that a transcription can present a true record of the interview and increase the soundness of the research. In this study the researcher transcribed the interviews (APPENDIX B) as an evidence of the arguments of the interviewees in this dissertation. 3.11 Ethical considerations: The researcher of this study took ethical consideration into his account both in the questionnaires and the interviews. Cohen et al (2007) argue that confidentiality, consent and consequence are the main ethical issues about interviews. All these ethical issues are ensured both in the questionnaires and in the interviews as neither the name of the participants nor the name of the colleges where they are employed have been mentioned in the study. The researcher contacted the head of the departments of each college over mobile and explained the purpose of the study before distributing the questionnaires. Additionally, he ensured them that the name of the colleges will not be mentioned anywhere in the study. Moreover, the researcher sought the consent of the participants for using a tape recorder in the interviews. They were also informed the result of the study but they did not disagree to keep them in the dissertation. Creswell (2003) explains that the researchers should assure the participants that the study will not affect their career. Therefore, I contacted the participants and the chairs of the departments of the colleges over phone as well as explained the purpose of the study in the cover letter (Appendix A). Additionally, the transcript of the interviews (Appendix B) was sent to the participants for verification by E-mail and asked them if they had consent to use it in my dissertation. They were agreed and they had no complains about the transcript of the interviews. Furthermore, the anonymity of the participants was highly assured as pseudonyms (such as participants A, B and C) were used in the transcripts. Finally, the participants were assured that the interviews will not video-recorded though they were conducted through Skype and they will not be used anywhere else except in the dissertation. Chapter Four: Research findings and discussion: 4.1 Research findings and discussion: The study presents a descriptive analysis about the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. This chapter focuses on the results of the study based on the information collected from the questionnaires and the interviews along with the discussion of the findings. The result of the study is presented in three sections in this chapter. The first part focuses on responses of the questionnaire; the second part highlights on the interviews and the final part discusses about the findings. 4.2 Analysis of the questionnaires: This section presents the demographic information of the participants first. Then it analyses the responses of the participants which provides teaching environment and belief of teachers towards CLT. The first 6 questions provide demographic information only. This information has been presented in table 1 to explain the characteristics of the participants who were surveyed.  Table 1: 4.2.1 Participants’ age, gender and years of experience: Number Percentage Total Age 25-30 3 10.34% 29 31-40 15 51.72% 41-50 7 24.13% 51-60 4 13.79% 61-70 00 00 Gender Male 21 72.41% 29 Female 8 27.58% Years of experience 1-5 4 13.79% 29 6-10 11 37.93% 11-15 7 24.13% 16-20 3 10.34% 21-25 2 6.89% 26-30 2 6.89% Source: The Present Study The majority of the participants’ age was between 31 and 40 years (51.72%), while 24.13% of them were between 41 and 50 years; 13.79% were between 51 and 60 years; 10.34% were between 25 and 30 years; and none of them were between 61 and 71 years old. About the gender of the participants, the majority of them were male (72.41%) and only 27.58% of them were female. The table also presents the participants’ years of teaching experience which shows that the majority of respondents (37.93%) teach English for 6 to 10 years while 24.13% for 11 to 15 years, 13.79% for 1 to 5 years, 10.34% for 16 t0 20 years, 6.89% and 6.89% for 21 to 25 and 26 to 30 years respectively. Table 2: 4.2.2 Educational background, classroom size and course of teaching: Percentage Total Highest degree of the participants Masters 21 72.41% 29 Masters from other country 5 17.24% Phd 2 6.89% Phd from other country 1 3.44% Major course of teaching Reading 29 100% 29 Writing 29 100% Speaking 9 31.03% Listening 3 10.34% Others 4 13.79% Classroom size 0-30 00 00% 29 31-60 4 13.79% 61-90 20 68.96% 91-120 5 17.24% Source: The Present Study Table 2 reports the highest educational background of the participants which shows that the majority of the respondents (72.41%) achieve Masters Degree from Bangladesh, 17.24% from other country, 6.89% Phd from Bangladesh and 3.44% from other country. Moreover, the table shows that all the participants (100%) teach both reading and writing skills but very few of them teach speaking (31.03%), listening (10.34%) and others (13.79%). Additionally, it presents that the majority of the participants (68.96%) are used to teach in big class which contains 61 to 90 students while 17.24% teachers teach in the magnificent classes that consist 91 to 120 students, very few of them (13.79%) teach in the medium classes consist of 31 to 60 students and none of them teach in the small classes that could consist 0 to 30 students.  Table 3: 4.2.3 Teachers’ belief about communicative activities: Number Percentage Total Grammar exercises 12 41.37% 29 Pair work 23 79.31% 29 Story telling before the class 9 31.03% 29 Joining chat group (on the internet) 7 24.13% 29 Writing essay 1 3.44% 29 Memorising vocabulary 6 20.68% 29 Group discussion 26 89.65% 29 Fill in the gap 4 13.79% 29 Reading dialogues 5 17.24% 29 Explaining picture 9 31.03% 29 Looking up words in the dictionary 2 6.89% 29 Role play 18 62.06% 29 Dictation task 21 72.41% 29 Source: The Present Study Table 3 was designed in order to focus on the belief of teachers about the activities that they think as the features of communicative activities. In order to highlight the teachers’ perception about communicative activities both CLT characteristics and grammar teaching activities were presented in the questionnaires and asked them to tick the boxes that they think communicative. After gathering the data it was presented in table 3. The table shows that the majority of the teachers (89.65%) considered group discussion as communicative activity while 79.31% of them choose pair work, 72.41% dictation task, 62.06% role play, 31.03% both story telling before the class and explaining picture, 24.13% joining chat group, 20.68% memorising vocabulary, 17.24% reading dialogues, 13.79% fill in the gap, 6.89% looking up words in the dictionary and 3.44% writing essay as communicative activities. Therefore, the table represents that the majority of the teachers chose the right activities as the features of communicative activities as few of them selected the grammar teaching activities as communicative. However, 72.41% teachers choose dictation task as communicative though it could not be regarded communicative. In this case the teachers might have thought it as a listening activity which might help the students to comprehend and response in real communication. Table 4: 4.2.4 Teachers’ activities in classroom while teaching English: Regularly Almost regularly Sometimes Tried once/twice Never tried Grammar exercises 21 72.41% 7 24.13% 1 3.44% 0 00% 0 00% Pair work 3 10.34% 5 17.24% 11 37.93% 8 27.58% 2 6.89% Vocabulary practice 4 13.79% 21 72.41% 2 6.89% 1 3.44% 1 3.44% Translation 2 6.89% 7 24.13% 12 41.37% 7 24.13% 1 3.44% Role play 1 3.44% 4 13.79% 12 41.37% 9 31.03% 3 10.34% Group discussion 1 3.44% 3 10.34% 17 58.62% 8 27.58% 0 00% Games 2 6.89% 3 10.34% 16 55.17% 8 27.58% 0 00% Reading dialogue 0 00% 3 10.34% 9 31.03% 11 37.93% 6 20.68% Reading and reporting from newspaper & website 1 3.44% 1 3.44% 2 6.89% 16 55.17% 9 31.03% Listening audio and answering question 0 00% 0 00% 3 10.34% 18 62.06% 8 27.58% Pronunciation drill 0 00% 0 00% 2 6.89% 16 55.17% 11 37.93% Source: The Present Study Table 4 highlights the activities which are used by the teachers in the classroom. The activities that are regularly used by the teachers in English language classes are: grammar exercises (72.41%), pair work (10.34%), vocabulary practice (13.79%), translation (6.89%), role play (3.44%), group discussion (3.44%), games (6.89%), reading and reporting from newspaper and website (3.44%) but listening and answering question (00%), reading dialogue (00%) and pronunciation drill (00%). The table also presents the almost regularly used activities of the teachers which are: grammar exercises (24.13%), pair work (17.27%), vocabulary practice (72.14%), translation (24.13%), role play (13.79%), group discussion (10.34%), games (10.34%), reading and reporting from newspaper and website (3.44%) and reading dialogue (10.34%) but listening and answering question (00%) and pronunciation drill (00%). Sometimes used activities are: grammar exercises (3.44%), pair work (37.93%), vocabulary practice (6.89%), translation (41.37%), role play (41.37%), group discussion (58.62%), games (55.17%), reading and reporting from newspaper and website (6.89%), listening and answering question (10.34%), reading dialogue (31.03%) and pronunciation drill (6.89%). Once or twice tried activities are: grammar exercises (00%), pair work (27.58%), vocabulary practice (3.44%), translation (24.13%), role play (31.03%), group discussion (27.58%), games (27.58%), reading and reporting from newspaper and website (55.17%), listening and answering question (62.06%), reading dialogue and pronunciation drill (55.17%). The never tried activities are: grammar exercises (00%), pair work (6.89%), vocabulary practice (3.44%), translation (3.44%), role play (10.34%), group discussion (00%), games (00%), reading and reporting from newspaper and website (31.03%), listening and answering question (27.58%), reading dialogue (20.68%) and pronunciation drill (37.93%). The report shows that the majority of teachers use grammar teaching activities regularly (72.41%) in the classes instead of communicative activities such as listening audio and answering question (00%). Similarly, 72.41% participants were almost regularly engaged the learners in vocabulary practice activities rather than pair work (17.24%) and group discussion (10.34%). Moreover, the table presents that all the participants used both all grammar teaching and communicative activities either sometimes or at least once or twice while teaching. Therefore, it could be said that the teachers might have done these kinds of activities in the class not only for communicative purposes but also for grammar teaching. They might have taught only about the communicative activities if their aim would be merely teaching English for communicative purposes rather than mixer of exam-oriented form focused and communicative syllabus. Table 5: 4.2.5 Belief of teachers about CLT: SA % A % N % D % SD % CLT is learner-centred approach 21 72.41 7 24.13 1 3.44 0 00 0 00 CLT is teacher-centred approach 00 00 1 3.44 2 6.89 13 44.82 13 44.82 CLT means pair work 23 79.31 6 20.68 0 00 0 00 0 00 CLT means group work 22 75.86 5 17.24 1 3.44 0 00 0 00 CLT means grammar teaching 1 3.44 1 3.44 7 24.13 15 51.72 5 17.24 CLT means teaching speaking only 3 10.34 2 6.89 0 00 4 13.79 20 68.96 CLT means socio-linguistic and strategic competence 16 55.17 9 31.03 2 6.89 2 6.89 0 00 CLT means discourse competence 4 13.79 18 62.06 3 10.34 3 10.34 1 3.44 CLT emphasis on fluency than accuracy 0 00 5 17.24 1 3.44 2 6.89 21 72.41 CLT emphasis on using the target language 23 79.31 5 17.24 1 3.44 0 00 0 00 CLT emphasis on listening and speaking 21 72.41 4 13.79 2 6.89 0 00 0 00 CLT needs adequate time for classroom activities 11 37.93 9 31.03 4 13.79 3 10.34 2 6.89 CLT is an ESL not EFL method 0 00 2 6.89 3 10.34 14 48.27 10 34.48 CLT requires highly proficient teacher 15 51.72 7 24.13 5 17.24 2 6.89 0 00 CLT requires high level of knowledge about target culture 4 13.79 16 55.17 1 3.44 5 17.24 3 10.34 Source: The Present Study Through table 5 both the major characteristics of CLT and some other features which do not describe CLT (commonly hold as misconceptions of CLT) have been presented in order to identify the belief of teachers about CLT. For that, the respondents have been asked to take part any one of the five points of the characteristics provided in the table. The table shows that the majority of the respondents (72.41%) were strongly agreed that CLT is learner-centred approach while 24.13% participants were agreed, 3.44% were neutral and none of them were disagreed or strongly disagreed. Then they have been asked if they think CLT is teacher-centred approach. Almost half of the participants disagreed (44.82%) and strongly disagreed (44.82%) while 6.89% were neutral, 3.44% were agreed and none of them were strongly agreed about this view. Therefore, it might be said that the respondents thought CLT is a learner-centred approach rather than teacher-centred approach. Turning to the point of pair work and group work activities of CLT in the classroom, the teachers support that these are communicative activities of CLT. For example, the majority of the teachers (79.31%) strongly agreed that pair work is communicative activity and rest of them (20.68%) were normally agreed to the view while none of them were neutral, disagreed or strongly disagreed. Similarly, 75.86% participants were strongly agreed that group work activities are the features of CLT while 17.24% were agreed, only 3.44% neutral and none of them were either disagreed or strongly disagreed. Therefore, it might be claimed that almost all the participants believed that both the pair work and group work activities are the features of CLT. When considering their belief about teaching grammar and speaking, it is found in the table that 51.72% participants were disagreed that grammar teaching is the characteristic of CLT while 17.24% were strongly disagreed, 24.13% were neutral, 3.44% agreed and 3.44% strongly agreed. Similarly, the majority of the respondents (68.96%) were strongly disagreed and 13.79% were normally disagreed that only teaching speaking is the feature of CLT while 10.34% were strongly agreed, 6.89% normally agreed and none of them were neutral. Therefore, it could be said that almost all the respondent did not take for granted either grammar teaching or only teaching speaking as the features of CLT. The table also shows that the majority of the respondents (SA 55.17 + A 31.03%) believe that socio-linguistic and strategic competence are the characteristics of CLT while 6.89% were neutral, 6.89% disagreed and none of them were strongly disagreed. Similarly, 62.06% participants were agreed and 13.79% strongly agreed that discourse competence is the feature of CLT while 10.34% were neutral, 10.34% disagreed and 3.44% strongly disagreed. Therefore, it might be claimed that few teachers disagreed or they had no opinion about these competence level that these are characteristics of CLT. However, the majority of the participants believe that the aim of achieving these competences is the characteristics of CLT. The majority of (SD 72.41% + D 6.89%) the participants were not agreed with the concept that CLT emphasises on fluency than accuracy while 3.44% of them were neutral, 17.24% agreed and none of them were strongly agreed. As more than three-quarters (72.41% + 6.89%) of the respondents were disagreed about this view, it might be said that the belief of the teachers was similar to the explanation of Brown (2001) that both fluency and accuracy are important in CLT. Turning to the characteristic that CLT emphasises on using the target language, the table reports that 79.31% participants were strongly agreed and 17.24% normally agreed while 3.44% neutral and none of them were disagreed or strongly disagreed. Similarly, when considering the perception about the view that CLT emphasises on listening and speaking, 72.41% participants were strongly agreed, 13.79% agreed, 6.89% neutral and none of them were disagreed or strongly disagreed. Therefore, it might be said that the majority of the respondents believe that CLT needs the target language culture and it emphasises on both speaking and listening. The table also highlights that 37.93% respondents were strongly agreed, 31.03% agreed, 13.79% neutral, 10.34% disagreed and 6.89% strongly disagreed about the feature that CLT needs adequate time for classroom activities. This is unexpected as the majority of the teachers were able to identify the other basic features of CLT. This unexpected response were chosen by the participants as they might have thought that all the communicative activities such as group work and pair work might take extra time for the large number of students who were used to participate in the form focused classes. The participants may also have thought that as they follow grammar teaching approach in the classes, they may need some extra time to prepare themselves for communicative classes. It is noteworthy that almost all the respondents (D 48.21% + SD 34.48%) were disagreed that CLT is an ESL not EFL method and 10.34% of them were neutral. Moreover, only 6.89% of them were agreed about this view. In the literature review research evidence shows that there is misconception among teachers that CLT is an ESL not EFL method (Burnaby & Sun 1989; Ellis 1994). However, the response of the teachers of this study suggests that CLT is not only an ESL method but it might also be an EFL method. Finally, when the participants were considering the characteristics that CLT requires highly proficient teachers and high level of knowledge about the target culture, three-quarter (SA 51.72 + A 24.13%) of the participants agreed that highly proficient teachers are essential for teaching CLT while 17.24% of them were neutral, only 6.89% disagreed and none of them strongly disagreed. Similarly, the majority of the participants (SA 13.79% + A 55.17%) agreed that knowledge of target culture is important for CLT while 3.44% of them were neutral and one-quarter of them (SD 10.34% + D 17.24%) disagreed. The respondents might have some weakness in speaking and they might not also be quite knowledgeable about the target language culture for what they perceive that both highly proficient teachers and knowledge of target language are required for CLT. Table 6: 4.2.6 Teachers’ perceived difficulties in implementing CLT: No problem % Manageable % Major problem % Traditional grammar-based exam 1 3.44 5 17.24 23 79.31 Large class size 0 00 1 3.44 28 96.55 Teachers’ knowledge about target language culture 3 10.34 21 72.41 5 17.24 Teachers’ competence level 4 13.79 6 20.68 19 65.51 Teachers’ time to prepare communicative materials 2 6.89 4 13.79 23 79.31 Lack of training in CLT 4 13.79 4 13.79 21 72.41 Lack of support from administration 0 00 5 17.24 24 82.75 Teachers’ misinterpretation of CLT 1 3.44 11 37.93 17 58.62 Lack of assessment instruments 2 6.89 8 27.58 19 65.51 Students’ resistance towards communicative activities 2 6.89 14 48.27 13 44.82 Students’ low level proficiency 4 13.79 7 24.13 18 62.06 Source: The Present Study Table 6 reports that the major problems identified by the teachers are large class size (96.55%), lack of support from administration (82.75%), traditional grammar-based exam (79.31%), teachers’ time to prepare communicative materials (79.31%), lack of training in CLT (72.41%), teachers’ competence level (65.51%), lack of assessment instruments (65.51%), students low level proficiency 62.06%, teacher’ misinterpretation of CLT (58.62%) and students’ resistance towards communicative (44.82%). The teachers selected the manageable problems are the teachers’ knowledge about the target language culture (72.41%), students’ resistance towards communicative activities (48.27%), teachers’ misinterpretation of CLT (37.93%), lack of instruments (27.58%), students’ low level proficiency (24.13%), teachers’ competence level (20.68%), lack of support from administration (17.24%), lack of training in CLT (13.79%) and teachers’ time to prepare communicative materials (13.79%). The items selected by few participants ‘no problem’ while implementing CLT are teachers’ competence level (13.79%), students’ low level proficiency (13.79%), lack of training in CLT (13.79%), teachers’ knowledge about the target language (10.34%), students’ resistance towards communicative activities (6.89%), lack of assessment instruments (6.89%), teachers’ time to prepare communicative materials (6.89%), traditional grammar-based exam (3.44%), teachers’ misinterpretation of CLT (3.44%), large classroom size (00%) and lack of support from administration (00%). Therefore, it might be said that the teachers were confronted these kinds of difficulties while teaching CLT and almost all problems were identified as major problems to implement CLT in Bangladesh. However, the majority of them found only one problem as manageable which is the teachers’ knowledge about the target language culture (72.41%) and half of them selected that (48.27%) as manageable. As these problems were identified as major problems, they will have to be removed first to implement CLT.  Table 7: 4.2.7 Teachers’ opinion on the priority of training: Very important % important % Not important % CLT techniques 21 72.41 7 24.13 1 3.44 Cultural knowledge of English 14 48.27 13 44.82 2 6.89 Using the computer to teach English 19 65.51 10 34.48 0 00 Preparing materials 17 58.62 11 37.93 1 3.44 Fluency in English 23 79.31 6 20.68 0 00 Reading and writing in English 4 13.79 5 17.24 20 68.96 Assessing students 15 51.72 12 41.37 2 6.89 Source: The Present Study Table 7 uses three points to highlight the teachers’ opinion on the priority of training. The table reports that the participants choose the very important items for training are CLT techniques (72.41%), fluency in English (79.31%), using the computer to teach English (65.51%), preparing materials (58.62%), assessing students (51.72%), cultural knowledge of English (48.27%) and reading and writing in English (13.79%). When it was considered the not important items, the majority of the participants selected the reading and writing in English (68.96%) while in case of choosing the other items very few of them mentioned CLT techniques (3.44%), assessing students (6.89%), cultural knowledge of English (6.89%), preparing materials (3.44%) and none of them focus on fluency in English (00%) and using the computer to teach English (00%). Therefore, it might be said after achieving the reports about the training priority that all the items except reading and writing in English should be estimated as very important factors to train teachers to implement CLT. 4.3 Reliability tests analysis: Cronbach’s Alpha coefficient (α) has been used to measure the scale reliability in this study to increase the efficiency of the research. Pallant (2007) expresses that Cronbach Alpha coefficient of a scale should be higher than 0.7 and if the value is more than that, the study is more reliable. The result of the test has been presented in the table 8 through two dimensions. The first one presents the teachers’ activities in classroom while teaching English following the current educational system of Bangladesh and the second one addresses their belief of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. The first dimension consists of 11 items, presents the teachers’ activities in classroom while teaching English following the current educational system in Bangladesh, got the Cronbach Alpha value 0.688. However, the other dimension consists of 15 items regarding their belief about CLT has alpha value 0.832. Though the alpha value of teachers’ activities following present educational system shows the low level reliability about the study, the overall alpha value of 26 items is 0.76. Therefore, on the basis of Pallant’s suggestion (2007) it might be claimed that the result of the study is reliable as the overall alpha value is more than 0.7.  Table 8: Reliability tests: Items Cronbach Alpha value First: teachers’ activities in the classroom 0.688 Second: teachers’ belief about CLT 0.832 The overall alpha o.76 Source: The Present Study 4.4. The analysis of the interviews: The study adopted qualitative analysis of the interviews of 3 teachers in order to achieve a high quality of the research. Through the interviews, the study aims to investigate in-depth perception and attitude of the participants towards CLT. As the questionnaire might have provided a rough idea about the participants’ perception and attitude, the interviews might present a deeper understanding of the research. The analysis of the interviews has been presented into 5 sections. The first part provides the background information of the participants, the second one highlights the perception and attitude of the participants towards present educational system, the third section focuses on the perception of CLT, the forth one presents the challenges that the teachers are to encounter in Bangladesh and the final part seeks to find the solutions of the problems related to CLT.  Table 9: 4.4.1 Background information of interview participants: The participants of the interviews are college teachers in Dhaka. Their information has been provided in the table: Participants Gender Age Years of experience Major A Male 25-30 2 English language & literature B Male 31-35 6 English language & literature C Male 36-40 9 English language & literature Source: The Present Study All the participants are male and they are specialists in English language and literature. The age of the participants is between 25 to 40 years. The name of the participants has been used as A, B and C in the discourse of the interviews. Participant A had taught English for 2 years, participant B for 6 years and participants C for 9 years. 4.4.2 Belief and attitude of the participants towards present educational system: As the researcher aims to investigate the perception and attitude of the participants, he feels the necessity to examine the perception and attitude of the teachers towards present educational system. The findings of the responses are based on the question: What are the Bangladeshi teachers’ belief and attitude towards present educational system? A mixed response was achieved from all the respondents. The results of the interviews show that the participants have a positive attitude towards present educational system of Bangladesh but they believe that some change should be brought to make the system fully successful. Participant A stated that “I believe that the government has taken a nice initiative for the students to make them proficient in English. However, the government should provide adequate support to both the teachers, students and schools.” Participant B also indicated that the policy will be helpful for students to improve communicative ability. Participant B stated that “the policy is good for the students as they got an opportunity to improve their communicative ability. But the government will have to take proper steps to make the policy successful as the learners are used to follow the form focused syllabus.” Similarly, Participant C also believed that the educational system was helpful but it was not properly being used. He claimed that “the communicative language teaching is helpful for students but it could not be fully successful in Bangladesh for several reasons such as lacking of resources, traditional teaching system and form focused exam. I believe if the government can provide sufficient resources according to the proper CLT syllabus it must help the students to be proficient in English.” 4.4.3 Teachers’ belief about CLT It is already mentioned in the literature review that CLT has some features such as emphasizing target language, pair works and group work activities in the class. Therefore, this part intends to examine the teachers’ belief about the characteristics of CLT and the finding was based on the question: What is the teachers’ belief about CLT in Bangladesh? According to the data of the interviews, the teachers believe that the communicative activities in a class are group work/discussion, pair work, role-play, storytelling, using the target language and emphasising on listening and speaking. Participant A stated that “As CLT is a learner-centred teaching approach; it might help the learners to concentrate in practical activities which is really good for Bangladeshi students as they usually do not get such kinds of opportunities for learning English. Through this teaching approach the teachers may be able to engage the learners in group work and pair work activities and encourage them to use the target language in the class.” Participant B stated that “CLT is a nice teaching approach which makes an opportunity for learners to speak in English and help them to communicate in English in their real life.” Similarly, participant C shows a good attitude towards CLT and stated that “CLT is really a good teaching approach. It might make a lesson very interesting through various types of games, pair works, group discussion, role play and storytelling activities. Again, it seems that this teaching approach is much better than the traditional teaching approach as the learners do not feel the necessity to memorise anything and learn everything with great enthusiasm.” 4.4.4 The challenges of the teachers to implement CLT Although all the participants expressed positive belief and attitude towards CLT, they encounter some challenges to implement CLT. The researcher used the following question to identify the challenges: What are the challenges of Bangladeshi teachers to implement CLT? According to the interviews, some challenges were encountered by the participants to implement CLT such as large class size, lack of instruments, lack of support from administration, time to prepare communicative materials and students’ low level of proficiency. Firstly, all the participants argue that the large classroom size is an obstacle to implement CLT in Bangladesh. The average students in their classes are 60 to 90. They believe that it could be possible for them to apply CLT in their classes if they would get a smaller number of students in the class. Participant A argued, “I never get less than 60 students in my class. I think the number is too much for a CLT class. Yes, it might be possible to teach CLT in Bangladesh if the number of the students in a class is smaller than 20. Otherwise, CLT will never be successful in the colleges of Bangladesh.” Participant B stated, “We have many students in each and every class. No teacher can imagine a smaller number of students in his/her class. Because of the large number of students we fail to engage students in communicative activities such as role-play, pair work and group work. We can be successful to teach CLT when we will get smaller number of students in our class.” Participants C also explained, “We teach 45 minutes in each lesson but we teach more than 60 students in each class. As a result, we fail to take care each and everybody. Therefore, we deliver speech in the classes which is opposite to communicative activities. If we get a smaller number of students, we will get the opportunity to engage the learners in communicative activities.” Secondly, they mentioned the traditional educational system of Bangladesh which interrupted the teachers to apply CLT in Bangladesh. The participants believe that the traditional form focused exam system compel the teachers to teach grammatical syllabus rather than communicative syllabus. Participant A argued, “Traditional teaching system interrupts the teachers to teach CLT in Bangladesh because they always try to practice the grammar teaching activities instead of communicative activities for form focused exam.” Participant B stated, “As the teachers are used to follow the form focused syllabus in the classes, they always go back to teach the form focused syllabus in communicative classes.” Participant C also argued, “Form focused exam system interrupts us to follow the communicative activities in the class because we think how the learners will perform better in the exam and help them to follow that way.” Thirdly, the participants argued that they do not get enough time to prepare communicative syllabus for the students. They claim if they can provide appropriate syllabus, CLT might be successful in Bangladesh. Participant A stated, “As the teachers do not get adequate time, they fail to provide communicative syllabus.” Similarly, participant B argued, “As there are shortages of English language teachers, the teachers are to cover this taking extra class and do not get time to prepare CLT syllabus.” Fourthly, all the participants indicated that the lacking of materials is challenging for teachers to adopt CLT. Participant A argued, “We do not have materials to teach CLT.” Similarly, participant B stated, “I understand that CLT aims to emphasis on listening and speaking activities. But we have lacking of listening instruments.” Participant C also claimed, “We lack technological support such as computer, recorder, projector and so on to apply CLT.” Finally, the participants mentioned the problem of administrative support. Participant A claimed, “The educational institutions always pressure the teachers to follow the exam focused syllabus for learners rather than communicative syllabus.” Participant C also argued, “The teachers could implement CLT in Bangladesh if they would get support of administration.” 4.4.5 Suggestions to confront challenges while adopting CLT As the participants expressed that they confronted challenges to adopt CLT, they were asked to give some suggestions to remove difficulties which might be faced by the teachers in the classes. In the interviews they were asked the question: How might the difficulties of teachers be confronted to implement CLT in Bangladesh? Some suggestions were provided by the participants that might be helpful to adopt CLT in the classes. Firstly, all the participants mentioned that as classroom size is a major problem in Bangladesh to implement CLT, smaller size of classes might be used to apply CLT. For example, participant A argued, “15 to 20 students might be kept in a CLT class instead of 60 to 100.” Similarly, participant B expressed, “the large class might be divided into 3 or 4 parts to prepare it for communicative class.” Participant C also stated, “the large number of students might be divided into several groups to make it competent for communicative classes.” Secondly, they argued that the administration will have to support the teachers to implement CLT as well as provide adequate materials related to CLT classroom. Participant A argued, “the educational institutions should provide enough materials to make the communicative activities successful.” Similarly, participant B claimed, “the institutions should not only provide the supportive documents but also encourage the teachers to adopt CLT in the classrooms.” Thirdly, the participants suggested that the government could employ more teachers to prepare and teach CLT. Participant A argued, “if the government employs extra teachers, they could be able to prepare CLT syllabus.” Participant C also claimed, “if we would get many teachers, we could give enough time to apply CLT.” Finally, participant B suggested that the teachers could teach the learners according to their proficiency level. He stated, “I think that the learners could be taught according to their level of proficiency to make the lesson successful. For example, the students who have lower level of proficiency could be given some extra class to improve their level.” 4.5 Discussion: From the questionnaires and interviews analysis based on the research questions the findings of the study suggest that: First, the teachers have positive belief about CLT and think that the present educational policy is helpful for students to achieve communicative ability in English. For example, all the participants of the interviews report that communicative language teaching is beneficial for Bangladeshi students but the policy should be improved according to the learners’ need. Moreover, the teachers do not express their misconception about CLT which is mentioned by Sato & Kleinsasser (1999) and Thompson (1996) in the above discussion. Second, the findings of the study show that the majority of the teachers have positive belief and attitude about CLT. For example, 72.5% teachers responded the questionnaires and majority of them were agreed about the right concepts of CLT such as they choose that CLT is learner-centred approach and it engages the learners in pair work, group discussion and role play. Moreover, all the interviewees reported accurately what is CLT such as Interviewee A expressed that CLT is a learner-centred approach. Therefore, the result of the study is similar to the study of Karim (2004), Chang and Huang (2001) and Choi (1999) which show the positive belief and attitude of teachers towards CLT. Third, the result of the study shows that the majority of the teachers who completed the questionnaires have positive beliefs about communicative activities. For example, they believe pair work (79.31%) and group discussion (89.65%) as communicative activities while very few of them think writing essay as communicative activity (3.44%). Moreover, all the participants of the interviews reported that pair work, group discussion, role play and storytelling are communicative activities. Therefore, the findings of this study confirm the significance of the principles of CLT found in Berns (1990), Larsen-Freeman (1986), Richards & Rodgers (2001) and Brown (2001). Forth, the findings of the study show that the teachers do not practice the communicative activities in the classes regularly though they have positive attitude towards CLT. For example, 72.41% participants regularly practice grammar in the class while only 10.34% of them use pair work and 3.44% of them having group discussion regularly. Therefore, the result of the study is similar to the study of Li (1998) which shows the discrepancy between teachers’ belief and practice activities. Though the participants do not have similarity in their belief and activities, it does not present the same result like the studies of Lewis & McCook (2002) and Karavas-Doukas (1996) as the participants of these studies follow traditional method because of their misconception. However, the participants of this study practice grammar in the class because of the assessment system and they also believe that grammar practice might help to bring accuracy in communicative function. In this case, they might teach grammar in a communicative way as some researchers (e.g. Garrett 1986; Lightbown 1991; Lightbown & Spada 1990; Lee & VanPatten 1995; Riggenbach & Lazarton 1991; Sachter 1991; Smith 1981; Widdowson 1996) believe that mastering grammatical knowledge helps learners for the development of target language use. Therefore, it seems that Bangladeshi teachers are aware of grammatical need of learners and they practice grammar in the class to achieve and facilitate communicative competence in the target language. Fifth, both the questionnaires and interviews show that the Bangladeshi teachers face difficulties to adopt CLT. For example, they have lack of materials, inadequate support from the administration, teach in the large classrooms and prepare students for form focused exam. Therefore, the result of the study has similarity with Karavas-Doukas (1996) and Choi (1999) who conclude that the teachers have positive belief about CLT but they confront difficulties because of form focused exam, large classroom and lack of materials. Though Karim (2004) mentioned that Bangladeshi teachers might be self-sufficient in preparing CLT materials but the result of this study shows that they do not have time and experience to make CLT materials. Sixth, both the questionnaires and interviews show that the teachers suggest how the difficulties might be encountered to implement CLT in Bangladesh. They propose that the students might be divided into several groups and taught according to their fluency level. Additionally, they suggest the teachers to take some extra classes after dividing the group. Moreover, they propose the government to employ more teachers to improve CLT materials. Furthermore, the teachers suggest that the administration of an educational institution should support the teachers to teach CLT and create interest in learning English. Finally, it seems that the Bangladeshi teachers hold positive belief and attitude about CLT but they confront obstacles to implement CLT such as they are to teach in a large classroom, have lack of materials and lack of administrative support. Additionally, they have discrepancy between their belief and practice activities because of the difference between the syllabus and assessment system.  Chapter Five: Conclusion and recommendation: 5.1 Conclusion: CLT has been regarded as an important language teaching approach in second and foreign language teaching and promoted by linguists and researchers all over the world (Littlewood 1981; Karavas-Doukas 1996). In this study the belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT have been investigated through different research questions to examine the discrepancy or similarity between the teachers’ belief and activities. The result of the study reveals that the Bangladeshi teachers hold positive belief and attitude towards CLT but they confront several types of obstacles to apply and they have discrepancy in their activities. For example, the teachers believe that CLT is beneficial for language teaching in Bangladesh but they face challenges to implement because of inadequate materials, lack of administrative support, teachers’ time and large classroom. Moreover, as the teachers are not trained prior to teach CLT, they fail to keep similarity between their belief and activities. Therefore, it might be said that CLT might be beneficial for language teaching in Bangladesh as the teachers hold positive belief and attitude about CLT though they confront challenges to implement communicative activities in the classes. In the research questions, I wanted to investigate the belief of teachers, their practice activities and expected to get their suggestion to change the contextual factors to adopt CLT in Bangladesh properly in future. Therefore, I tried to highlight the result of some studies about the belief of teachers in EFL countries and found that most of the studies (Burnaby & Sun 1989; Li 1998; Mustafa 2001; Sun & Cheng 2000) show the negative belief and attitude of teachers towards CLT. However, the finding of this study is different from others as it shows the positive belief and attitude of Bangladeshi teachers towards CLT. For example, the study of Burnaby & Sun (1989) expresses that CLT is essential for the students who will study in English speaking countries and it is not helpful for the rest of the students. On the other hand, in this study the teachers believe that CLT is helpful for the students to improve their communicative ability in English. Though the teachers hold positive belief and attitude about CLT in Bangladesh, they have discrepancy in the practice activities like the study of Li (1998). This study shows that the teachers follow grammar translation method because of the form-focused examination system in Bangladesh instead of communicative activities in the CLT class. They might have integrated the grammar instructions and communicative language following the grammar-consciousness-raising tasks as claimed by some researchers (Ellis 1995; Fotos 1994; Rutherford 1987; Smith 1981) that it might help the learners to occur the grammar structures naturally. It is evident from the above discussion that speaking is very important in CLT. However, as the exam system of Bangladesh is form focused, the teachers fail to assess the speaking ability of students. Gorsuch (2000) argues that if the exam system is grammar-based, the communicative competence of the students might not be developed. Ellis (1994) also expresses that the content of text books and examination system should be relevant to achieve the communicative goal of CLT. Therefore, the content of the text of CLT should be considered in Bangladesh while designing the exam question for students to apply CLT. Additionally, in order to change the form focused exam system and implement CLT in Bangladesh both the educational institutions and the Government should have support towards teachers and supply enough CLT materials. According to the result of this study it is found that the teachers hold positive belief and attitude towards CLT but they fail to practice communicative activities in the class because of the form-focused exam system in Bangladesh. Therefore, the following suggestions are proposed by the participants of this study to implement CLT in Bangladesh: First, the educational policy of language teaching in Bangladesh should be changed according to the learners’ need. The policy makers need to prepare syllabus being consistent with both the exam-oriented syllabus and lesson-based syllabus as the present CLT syllabus and exam-oriented syllabus is different. Second, the large group of students might be divided into several small groups to make them competent for CLT classroom. Third, the administrations should support the teachers to implement CLT. They should realize the problem of teachers that they might face and should help the teachers to solve the difficulties. Forth, the teachers should have pre-service and in-service training to teach CLT as it might help them to teach properly. Finally, the teachers should provide adequate time to make materials and the administration should help the teachers to prepare materials according to the learners needs. 5.2 Limitations of the study: There were several limitations of the study. First, all the participants were taken from the colleges of Dhaka only. Therefore, the result might not be applicable for all the college teachers of Bangladesh. Second, the research assistant was used in this study; he might not provide the appropriate information about the belief and attitude of teachers because he could not distribute enough questionnaires to the teachers because of his lack of time. Third, there was limited time for this research which hindered the researcher to gather enough information about the belief and attitude of teachers. Forth, there was limitation of fund for the researcher which compelled him to use questionnaires and interviews than having observation. Fifth, the interviewer did not take face to face interviews rather he used the Skype for interviews which might not help the researcher to identify the belief and attitude of the teachers properly. 5.3 Recommendation for further research: As the study has some limitations, I would like to recommend for further research in future. First, as the participants were taken only from the capital of Bangladesh, in future research the participants might be taken from both rural areas and the other cities of Bangladesh. Secondly, the researcher might observe the activities of teacher instead of using the questionnaires and having interviews through the research assistant. Third, as I investigated the belief and attitude of teachers only, further research should be conducted on the belief and attitude of the students. 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The questionnaires and the interviews will be used for academic purposes only and I believe it will not affect your career. I would be grateful to you if you would participate either in the questionnaires or in the interviews; or in both of them to complete the study. Thank you in advance for your help. Sincerely Md. Rafiqul Islam Supervisor, MA in ELTS Barbara Chamberlin University of Brighton University of Brighton Personal Details: 7 Durham Road Manor Park London E12 5AY Mobile: 00447883170338 Email: md.rafiqulislamdon@yahoo.com Questionnaire: Please tick the appropriate boxes: Age- 25-30 31-40 41-50 51-60 61-70 Gender- male female Educational background- Masters Masters from other country Phd Phd from other country How many students do you teach on average in a class? 0-30 31-60 61-90 91-120 How long have you been teaching English in the college?(years) 1-5 6-10 11-15 16-20 21-25 26-30 What kinds of courses do you teach in the college? Reading Writing Speaking Listening Others Which of the following activities do you think communicative? (Please tick) Grammar exercises Pair work (discussion) Story telling before the class Joining chat group (on the internet) Writing essay Memorising vocabulary Group discussion Fill in the gap Reading dialogues Explaining picture Looking up words in the dictionary Role play Dictation task 8. Which of the following activities do you use in the class (Please circle one of the numbers: 1- use it regularly ------ 3) sometimes------- 5) never tried. a) Grammar exercises 1 2 3 4 5 b) Pair work 1 2 3 4 5 c) Vocabulary practice 1 2 3 4 5 d) Translation 1 2 3 4 5 e) Role play 1 2 3 4 5 f) Group discussion 1 2 3 4 5 g) Games 1 2 3 4 5 h) Reading dialogue 1 2 3 4 5 i) Reading and reporting from newspaper and website 1 2 3 4 5 j) Listening audio and answering question 1 2 3 4 5 k) Pronunciation drill 1 2 3 4 5 What is communicative language teaching (CLT) approach in your view? (Please tick anyone of them: SA/A/D/SD/N) (SA: strongly agree, A: agree, D: disagree, SD: strongly disagree, N: neutral) CLT is learner-centred approach SA A N D SD CLT is teacher-centred approach SA A N D SD CLT means pair work SA A N D SD CLT means group work SA A N D SD CLT means not grammar teaching SA A N D SD CLT means teaching speaking only SA A N D SD CLT means socio-linguistic and strategic Competence SA A N D SD CLT means discourse competence SA A N D SD CLT emphasis on fluency than accuracy SA A N D SD CLT emphasis on using the target language SA A N D SD CLT emphasis on listening and speaking SA A N D SD CLT needs adequate time for classroom Activities SA A N D SD CLT is an ESL NOT EFL method SA A N D SD CLT requires highly proficient teacher SA A N D SD CLT requires high level of knowledge about target culture SA A N D SD 10) The following difficulties some ESL/EFL teachers face to implement CLT in other countries. Do you think these might be the difficulties to implement CLT in Bangladesh? (please tick one of the numbers to measure the level of difficulties: 1- no problem --- 3 manageable ---- 5 major problem) 1 (no prob)...............3(manageable)..................5(major prob) a) Traditional grammar-based exam 1 2 3 4 5 b) Large class size 1 2 3 4 5 c) Teachers’ knowledge about target 1 2 3 4 5 language culture d) Teachers’ competence level 1 2 3 4 5 e) Teachers’ time to prepare communicative materials 1 2 3 4 5 f) Lack of authentic materials to use 1 2 3 4 5 g) Lack of training in CLT 1 2 3 4 5 h) Teachers’ misinterpretation of CLT 1 2 3 4 5 i) Lack of assessment instruments 1 2 3 4 5 j) Lack of support from administration 1 2 3 4 5 k) Students’ resistance towards 1 2 3 4 5 communicative activities l) Students’ low level proficiency 1 2 3 4 5 11) What should be the priority for teacher training in Bangladesh? (Please circle one of the numbers: 1-very important-------- 3-important-------- 5- not important) Requires training for teachers: 1 2 3 4 5 CLT techniques 1 2 3 4 5 Cultural knowledge of English 1 2 3 4 5 Using the computer to teach English 1 2 3 4 5 Preparing materials 1 2 3 4 5 Fluency in English 1 2 3 4 5 Reading and writing in English 1 2 3 4 5 Assessing students 1 2 3 4 5  APPENDIX B: Interview questions: What are the Bangladeshi teachers’ perception and attitude towards present educational system? What is the teachers’ perception about CLT in Bangladesh? What are the challenges of Bangladeshi teachers to implement CLT? How might the difficulties of teachers be confronted to implement CLT in Bangladesh?  Transcript of the interviews: Interview 1 Key: I = Interviewer, A = Participant 1, B= Participant 2, C= Participant 3. I: First of all, could I know how long you are teaching English? A: Well, I have been teaching CLT for last two years though my specialty is in language and literature. As there is no syllabus for language and literature for intermediate level students, I must to teach CLT. I: So, you mean that you have no prior experience to teach CLT? Or, you are not trained to teach CLT? A: Yes, I did not have any prior experience to teach CLT. Even the institution did not train me to teach. Actually, it is not only me but also almost all the English teachers are not trained to teach CLT though it is compulsory in all the Educational Boards to teach CLT to the intermediate level students. I: What are the Bangladeshi teachers’ perception and attitude towards present educational system? A: I believe that the government has taken a nice initiative for the students to make them proficient in English. However, the government should provide adequate support to both the teachers, students and schools. I: Why do you think CLT might be helpful for students? A: Well, I got a CLT course in Honours fourth year. I could know there that CLT is helpful to improve the communicative ability of the learners. Again, I saw my students to improve their communicative ability in English after studying CLT. I: What is your belief or perception about CLT in Bangladesh? A: I believe that as CLT is a learner-centred teaching approach; it might help the learners to concentrate in practical activities which is really good for Bangladeshi students as they usually do not get such kinds of opportunities for learning English. Through this teaching approach the teachers may be able to engage the learners in group work and pair work activities and encourage them to use the target language in the class.” I: Do you think that the teachers might confront difficulties to implement CLT in Bangladesh? A: I believe that the teachers face many kinds of obstacles to implement CLT. For example, I never get less than 60 students in my class. I think the number is too much for a CLT class. Yes, it might be possible to teach CLT in Bangladesh if the number of the students in a class is smaller than 20. Otherwise, CLT will never be successful in the colleges of Bangladesh. I: Do you find anymore difficulties? A: Yes, I think that the traditional teaching system interrupts the teachers to teach CLT in Bangladesh because they always try to practice the grammar teaching activities instead of communicative activities for form focused exam. Moreover, we do not have materials to teach CLT. Again, as the teachers do not get adequate time, they fail to provide communicative syllabus. Beside these, the educational institutions always pressure the teachers to follow the exam focused syllabus for learners rather than communicative syllabus. I: Do you think that the difficulties of teachers might be confronted to implement CLT in Bangladesh? A: I think, Yes. I: How? A: First of all, classroom size could be done smaller. For example, 15 to 20 students might be kept in a CLT class instead of 60 to 100. Then, the educational institutions should provide enough materials to make the communicative activities successful. Again, if the government employs extra teachers, they could be able to prepare CLT syllabus. I: I think I asked you all the required questions for my study. Thank you for your time. A: Thank you too. Best of luck. Interview 2: I: First, could you tell me how long you are teaching English? B: Well, I have been teaching English for last 6 years. But I taught CLT for 2 years and literature for 4 years. I: Why did you do that? B: I would teach poetry to the intermediate level but I started to teach CLT as the Government changed the curriculum which includes CLT syllabus and excludes the literature. I: Why did the Government do this? B: The Government believes that CLT might help the students to improve their communicative ability. I: What do you think about the present educational system of Bangladesh? B: Personally I believe that the policy is good for the students as they got an opportunity to improve their communicative ability. But the government will have to take proper steps to make the policy successful as the learners are used to follow the form focused syllabus. I: What do you think about CLT? B: After teaching two years it seems to me that CLT is a nice teaching approach which makes an opportunity for learners to speak in English and help them to communicate in English in their real life.” I: Do you think that the teachers might face difficulties to implement CLT in Bangladesh? B: Yes. I: Why? B: There are several reasons. First of all, We have many students in each and every class. No teacher can imagine a smaller number of students in his/her class. Because of the large number of students we fail to engage students in communicative activities such as role-play, pair work and group work. We can be successful to teach CLT when we will get smaller number of students in our class.” I: Anything else? B: Yes, as the teachers are used to follow the form focused syllabus in the classes, they always go back to teach the form focused syllabus in communicative classes. Again, as there are shortages of English language teachers, the teachers are to cover this taking extra class and do not get time to prepare CLT syllabus. Moreover, I understand that CLT aims to emphasis on listening and speaking activities. But we have lacking of listening instruments. I: How the difficulties might be removed to implement CLT in Bangladesh? B: I think that the large class might be divided into 3 or 4 parts to prepare it for communicative class. Then, the institutions should not only provide the supportive documents but also encourage the teachers to adopt CLT in the classrooms. Again, I think that the learners could be taught according to their level of proficiency to make the lesson successful. For example, the students who have lower level of proficiency could be given some extra class to improve their level. I: I think I asked you all the questions that I require for my study. Thank you for your time. B: Thank you as well. Best of luck.  Interview 3: I: Could you tell me how long you are teaching English? C: I have been teaching English for 9 years but recently teaching CLT. I: Are you trained to teach CLT? C: No, I got the syllabus and started to teach. I: What do you think about the present educational system of Bangladesh? C: The government is running CLT and it became very popular. I think that communicative language teaching is helpful for students but it could not be fully successful in Bangladesh for several reasons such as lacking of resources, traditional teaching system and form focused exam. I believe if the government can provide sufficient resources according to the proper CLT syllabus it must help the students to be proficient in English.” I: What is your perception about CLT in Bangladesh? C: I think CLT is really a good teaching approach. It might make a lesson very interesting through various types of games, pair works, group discussion, role play and storytelling activities. Again, it seems that this teaching approach is much better than the traditional teaching approach as the learners do not feel the necessity to memorise anything and learn everything with great enthusiasm. I: Do you think that the teachers might face obstacles to teach CLT in Bangladesh? C: Many types of difficulties might be faced by the teachers to teach CLT in Bangladesh. For example, We teach 45 minutes in each lesson but we teach more than 60 students in each class. As a result, we fail to take care each and everybody. Therefore, we deliver speech in the classes which is opposite to communicative activities. If we get a smaller number of students, we will get the opportunity to engage the learners in communicative activities. I: Anything else? C: Yes, form focused exam system also interrupts us to follow the communicative activities in the class because we think how the learners will perform better in the exam and help them to follow that way. Again, We lack technological support such as computer, recorder, projector and so on to apply CLT in Bangladesh. I think that the teachers could implement CLT in Bangladesh if they would get support of administration. I: Do you have any suggestions to apply CLT in Bangladesh? C: Well, I think that the large number of students might be divided into several groups to make it competent for communicative classes. I also believe that if we would get many teachers, we could give enough time to apply CLT. I: I think I asked you all the necessary questions for my research. Thank you for your time. C: you too and best of luck. 90