Is the Grammar-Instruction Approach an Old-Fashioned Method in Comparison to the Communicative Approach in Non-Native Contexts? A Case Study of Students and Teachers’ Perceptions

Abstract

With the height of the new and updated approaches in English Language Teaching (ELT), the communicative approach rises among them as the ultimate solution against the so-called oldfashioned methods. Therefore, in a globalized world, institutions in the non-native realms started to adopt the new trends to cope with the international change that occurred in the English teaching field. Grammar Translation was and is still used at an educational level because it is considered to be more effective in teaching a foreign level with restricted opportunities of use. Thus in English Foreign Language (EFL) circumstances, can a communicative approach fulfill its effectiveness in terms of proficiency without grammar instruction? Are EFL students fully adept to acquire a foreign language without a focus on its rules? Do teachers promote the communicative approach to be solely used in their classrooms? This paper examines this concern by taking into account those questions from students and teachers’ perceptions in an English language course in a private university in North Lebanon. This paper will discuss both students and teachers’ attitudes towards both the communicative and grammar approaches in terms of learning and teaching the English language in an EFL context