Investigating EFL Teachers’ Attitudes toward CLT

Communicative language teaching (CLT) aims at developing learners’ abilities to communicate in a second language. It represents a change of focus in language teaching from linguistic structure to communication skills. CLT has expanded beyond English as a second language (ESL) to English as a foreign language (EFL). In recent decades, CLT has been accepted and used by many EFL teachers. The review of related literature showed that although teachers` attitudes play an important role in their practicing of CLT, few studies have been conducted about teachers` attitudes toward CLT in a particular context, Iran. The study aimed at investigating EFL teachers’ attitudes toward CLT. The three main purposes of this study are: firstly, investigating EFL teachers` attitudes toward CLT. Secondly, exploring teachers` underlying reasons for their attitudes. Thirdly, investigating if there is any discrepancy between teachers` beliefs toward CLT and their practice in classroom. A mixed method approach was used in this study. It was a three-phase research design, starting with quantitative data collection through a questionnaire, followed by two qualitative data collection through interviews and observation. The qualitative phase was used to explain the results of the quantitative phase. The results of this study indicated that generally the EFL teachers held favorable attitudes toward principles of CLT and displayed characteristics of CLT in their beliefs and practices. Not much gap was observed between the teachers` beliefs toward CLT and their realized practices in the classroom.