Abstract
This paper examines Bangladeshi secondary school English teachers’ preparedness for teaching and their understanding of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). For this mixed methods case study, data were collected through a questionnaire and semi-structured open-ended interviews. The participants were 70 English teachers selected from three secondary schools: one public and one private school were from an urban area and one semigovernment school was from a rural area of the Dhaka Division of Bangladesh. The findings indicate that Bangladeshi EFL teachers are not adequately prepared for teaching using CLT. Moreover, they do not have sufficient training and teaching skills to conduct an effective communicative class. Furthermore, a significant number of teachers do not have a sound understanding of the goals of CLT. The main reason is that most of the teachers (72.9%) did not receive any pre-service training in relation to ELT or CLT. Although more than half of the teachers (55.7%) received in-service training in relation to ELT and CLT, they claimed that the training was inadequate to conduct CLT classes effectively. Additionally, most of the teachers do not have the requisite language skills. Based on the findings, this study recommends systemic reforms, including (i) comprehensive and recurrent teacher training, (ii) alignment of assessment practices with communicative goals, (iii) provision of classroom resources and manageable class sizes, and (iv) fostering an English-friendly environment within schools. Such measures, if implemented consistently, could help improve teachers’ preparedness for teaching and their understanding of CLT, and thereby enhancing students’ communicative competence in Bangladesh.
Keywords: Bangladesh, Communicative Competence, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), EFL, Preparedness for Teaching, Teachers’ Understanding.