A Critical Study Of Role Of Communicative Language Teaching In Improving Vocational Students' Motivation To Learn English

This research study seeks to improve the vocational students'motivation to learn English through implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the English class. By adopting survey questionnaires, interviews and classroom observation, the study tries to explore the students'attitudes towards and perceptions of the classroom instruction under the communicative framework experienced by them.After one-semester implementation of CLT in the English class, the study finds out that most students'motivation to learn English has been developed owing to their increased interest in English learning. The findings reveal that most students prefer CLT, which emphasizes the communicative competence, to the traditional language teaching, which gives priority to grammar teaching and is exam-oriented. They hold positive attitudes towards communicative-based English teaching, realizing that achieving English communicative competence is their long-term goal in English learning, which corresponds with the direction that language teaching has recently moved towards.In addition, one of the findings also suggests that some students would like their English teacher to employ an eclectic English teaching methodology in the English class, which means getting CLT integrated with the traditional approach, and accordingly both their communicative skills and grammar skills will be improved.The researcher realizes that it is worth shifting the focus of English teaching in the classroom, i.e. from grammar-centered teaching to communicative competence-based teaching, to motivate the students to learn English.