Beliefs of Thai EFL teachers about communicative language teaching

The purpose of this qualitative study was to ascertain beliefs of Thai teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) about communicative language teaching (CLT). These teachers taught EFL at 16 universities in Thailand. From (1) the questionnaire survey of 208 teachers, (2) the semistructured interviews with 30 teachers, and (3) the classroom observations of four teachers, four salient themes emerged that reflected the teachers' ambivalent tendency toward CLT. They included (1) beliefs about the viability of the general CLT concept; (2) beliefs about grammar instruction; (3) beliefs about the institutional environment that impacts the implementation of CLT, and (4) beliefs about the feasibility of planned use of eclectic teaching methods. These four themes pointed to the necessity of the middle path approach to teaching and learning in which, rather than adherence to a universal model of CLT, teachers are empowered to choose among teaching options. The middle path framework and its accompanying particularized definition of CLT were shown to serve the teacher, not the theorist. In addition, the findings represented the teachers' voices, underscoring the need to study teaching effectiveness in context. In essence, this study sought to maintain a proper balance between theorists' stance and that of the practicing teachers. Finally, the study provided implications for teaching, teacher education, and curriculum design as well as directions for future research.