Teachers’ Role in the Application of Communicative Language Approach in Teaching Listening and Speaking in Schools in Lugari District, Kenya

Abstract

The role of the teacher is to be facilitator of his students’ learning. Teachers are the managers of classroom activities. They are charged with the responsibility of establishing situations likely to promote communication. This paper is premised on a study which set out to determine if the role of the teacher in a Listening and Speaking class is relevant to the tenets of CLT. A descriptive research design was adopted using direct observation and interview methods for data collection. Note-taking and tape-recording were used to record class proceedings and interviews. A total of twelve secondary schools were selected using stratified and simple random sampling techniques. Fourteen teachers of English were involved. A descriptive analysis of data was done. Frequency tables were used to highlight the data. The findings revealed that while learners were passive participants in the process of learning the listening and speaking skills, the teacher played a very active role. He took centre stage. The teacher concentrated on instructing the learner. He planned the lesson alone, and while in class he talked, asked questions, demonstrated, gave notes, answered questions, explained, narrated, described, responded and even read extracts. The learner was hardly involved. For communicative competence to be achieved, there needs to be less teacher control and more pupil centeredness in any listening and speaking task. The findings of the study may provide impetus for the teacher to reflect upon his own, and other colleagues choice of methodology in the teaching of not only Listening and Speaking but also Reading and Writing. This indeed will boost the performance of English language and make it more acceptable as a language of communication.