ESL Primary Teachers’ Perceptions on the Use of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach to Teach CEFR Speaking Skill

Abstract

As the world heads into digitalisation, the ability to speak fluent English has become increasingly important due to its emergence as an international language among speakers of different countries. Nevertheless, many ESL pupils have struggled to speak and convey their ideas well throughout the years despite learning English very young. Along with abolishing centralised exams like UPSR and PT3, the English curriculum in Malaysia was spontaneously reshaped by introducing the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). Consequently, Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) Approach is being revived to sustain spoken interaction among the pupils. Despite countless studies on the CLT approach in ESL classrooms, there is insubstantial past research focusing on integrating CLT and CEFR curriculum in teaching ESL speaking skills. Hence, this study aims to explore ESL primary teachers' perceptions of the use of CLT in teaching speaking and their readiness to use the said approach. This study focuses on 305 English primary teachers teaching on the east coast of Peninsular Malaysia. By adopting a cross-sectional survey design, data is collected quantitatively through purposive sampling. The research instrument used is an online questionnaire created via Google Form to be administered via a web-based survey procedure. The findings revealed at least 4.15 mean intervals across the first ten items and 4.07 and above for the following ten items, indicating that most respondents held positive perceptions and were ready to use the CLT approach in teaching speaking skill under the CEFR curriculum. Future recommendations included using localised CEFR textbooks and integrating Virtual Reality (VR).