International Journal of Humanities and Social Science Research

Authors
Judith Chishipula, Maurice Moono

Abstract
The study aimed at exploring the implementation of CLT Approach by teachers of English Language in selected secondary schools of Chongwe District. The objective of the study was to explore the extent of the absence of CLT in English Language lessons. The research design employed in this study was a case study and mixed methods approach was used to collect data from a purposively sampled population of fourty one participants; all of them teachers of English Language drawn from the six public secondary schools in Chongwe District, Zambia. The instruments used to collect data for the research were structured questionnaires and classroom observation check lists. The findings of the study revealed that to a very large extent, CLT was absent in the English language lessons. All the lessons were organised around teacher centred, whole class pedagogical activities without noticeable form of communicative activities and CLT instructional procedures. What dominated was the explicit teaching of structure and no opportunities were afforded to the learners to negotiate meaning through engagement in information gap tasks. The text based course books were also pedagogical in nature. The study provided a range of practical recommendations that included; the need for the trainers of English Language teachers to be practical and not theoretical in as far as training in CLT is concerned. The study also recommended that teachers should be sensitised during Continuing Professional Development (CPD) Meetings so that they are aware of the pedagogical requirements of the English Language syllabi. The other recommendation was that there should be increased funding to schools, the Literature and Languages Department in particular, to support CLT.