A case study of action research on communicative language teaching

Abstract

In English as a foreign language (EFL) context, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has been advocated to train students’ communicative competence to improve their oral skills for decades. Nevertheless, whether CLT is appropriate for different levels of EFL learners is still debatable, especially when ‘no native language (L1)’ or ‘target language (L2) only’ in the classroom is the topic. From preschool education to higher education in Taiwan, English-only instruction in EFL classroom is recommended in order to boost effective interaction. According to some studies, some student learners are proactive and communicative speakers in CLT classroom, while others are reticent and shy learners. This study was to investigate the effects of practicing CLT in a mixed English conversion class, to examine whether L1 should be used in CLT classroom timely and if students improve their learning attitudes after a two-cycle individual action research (AR) was conducted. Twenty-seven first graders at a public senior high school in southern Taiwan participated in this study. Methodological triangulation was used to collect data through observation, oral tests, questionnaires and interviews to ensure the validity. The findings indicated that CLT was welcomed in the class and L1 would be helpful and could reduce students’ anxiety when they were lack of confidence in CLT classroom; after the teaching strategies were modified, most of the students had positive learning attitudes and became active learners. Other factors affecting the success of CLT like students’ proficiency level, personality and motivation were also found.