Communicative Language Teaching in Public and Private Schools: A Classroom Ethnographic Study

Abstract

The present research study entitled Communicative Language Teaching in Public and Private Schools: A Classroom ethnographic Study aims to compare communicative activities adopted by secondary level English teachers and the role and support of school environment to implement CLT in the classroom. I selected four secondary level English teachers, two from private school and two were from public school of Kathmandu district. I applied a non-random sampling procedure to select the respondents for the study. Classroom observation and interviews were used as research tools. I observed twenty eight classes of those selected teachers, seven classes of each and interviewed them. The main objective of this research was to compare communicative activities in public and private schools, to analyze the support of the school administration in implementing CLT in the class and to analyze the problems faced by secondary level English teachers to implement CLT in the classroom. It was found that private schools' teachers implemented CLT better than public schools' teachers in the classroom. The public school teachers faced problems in implementing CLT in classroom because students had low level of linguistic ability; there was lack of support of school administration to the teachers in conducting extra activities, in making rules and regulations. On the other hand, private schoolteachers got good support from the school administration in managing teaching materials, in conducting extra activities; the students were also more active and motivated in the classroom. Teachers used different types of audio visual materials to teach English and spent more time with students for speaking. Therefore, the communicative skills and fluency of students was found better in private schools compared to the students of public schools. This thesis consists of five chapters. The first chapter deals with background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definitions of the key terms. Similarly, chapter two includes the review of related literature, review of theoretical literature, review of empirical literature, implications of the study and conceptual framework. On the other hand, the third chapter deals with the design of the study, population, sample and sampling strategy, research tools, source of data, data collection procedures, data analysis procedures and ethical considerations. In the same way, fourth chapter deals with analysis and interpretation of data and results. Finally, the fifth chapter presents findings conclusion and recommendation made on the basis of analysis and interpretation of data.