Thai students and teachers' perceptions of learning and teaching english through the communicative language teaching approach

Abstract

This study is designed in attempt to explore Thai students and teachers’ perceptions of English learning and teaching through the communicative language teaching approach (CLT) in Loei Primary Educational Service Area Office 2, and to compare students and teachers’ perceptions of English learning and teaching through the communicative language teaching approach. Both quantitative and qualitative methods were used in the study. The researcher used a quantitative questionnaire survey to explore 295 students and 20 teachers’ perceptions of English language learning and teaching through the CLT approach. A semi-structure interview with 10 students and 5 teachers to elicit their views on English learning and teaching through the CLT approach was also conducted. The results of this study indicated that the students and teachers supported the CLT principles and displayed characteristics of CLT through their reported perceptions. However, the results showed that the students and teachers in the context of this study had misunderstandings of using the CLT approach in communication class. Implications which could be used as the strategies for exploring the students and teachers’ perception of the CLT approach are suggested.