Issues with Communicative Language Teaching Implementation in Saudi Arabia Concerning the Government Policy, Teachers, and Students: Two Decades of Research

Abstract

This paper focuses on the most significant empirical studies on the topic of challenges facing the communicative language teaching approach in Saudi Arabia. The communicative language teaching method has been used for more than two decades in Saudi Arabia and research conducted during this period offers some insight into the main challenges of the implementation. The main goal of this paper is to synthesize findings from research studies conducted in the past and by doing so, suggest the possible avenues for tackling these challenges. Four broad categories of challenges have been adopted from Li’s (1998) comprehensive framework in an attempt to structure the challenges under meaningful labels. This, in turn, enabled us to categorize the challenges according to their source which helped our understanding of how to resolve them. The findings suggest that the most frequently observed policy-related challenges are the current exam system, overcrowded classes, no AV equipment, and low quality of in-house training programs for teachers. Teacher-related challenges mostly relate to conflicting ideas about CLT, low confidence in these methods, preference for the traditional learning model, focus on developing skills that feature in the exams, and deficiencies in teachers’ English. Student-related challenges are found to be their low-level proficiency, passive learning style, lack of motivation to learn the target language, and fear of their marks being negatively affected if they are paired with weaker peers during communicative activities. This paper concludes that these challenges are all interconnected, and a systematic approach is essential in trying to tackle these with the government intervention being a potential first step.

Exploring Motivational Dynamics: The Role of Oral Activities in Improving Arab Students’ Learning of English

“…Within the CLT approach, there is a notable emphasis on incorporating authentic materials into language instruction (Alharbi, 2022). The approach also encourages offering students opportunities to address authentic communicative requirements in realistic settings.…”

An appraisal of recurring grammar errors in Saudi premedical EFL learners' academic writing

“…CLT stresses more upon developing communicative competence of learners and less upon their mastering the language structures (Richards and Rodgers, 2014). In Saudi Arabia, CLT has been prevalently employed as an approach to teach English for more than two decades (Alharbi, 2022). The main reason for the preference for CLT in Saudi Arabia is to enhance the communicative competence of learners, with particular emphasis on university students' communicative competence, to enable them to cope with the demands of the world language.…”

“…In Saudi Arabian academic contexts, it was Batawi (2006) who is credited to be the first researcher to investigate the challenges of CLT in Saudi Arabia classrooms. The other studies, for example, Abahussain (2016), Al Asmari (2015), Alharbi (2022), Almohideb (2019), and Farooq (2015) followed the suit. In Saudi Arabia, research studies on CLT are focussed not on its failure to accommodate explicit grammar teaching with language functions but on other structural challenges the teachers face in class, such as policy-related challenges like the exam system, overcrowded classes, lack of facilities to use CLT, and lack of in-house training programs for teachers (Alharbi, 2022).…”

“…The other studies, for example, Abahussain (2016), Al Asmari (2015), Alharbi (2022), Almohideb (2019), and Farooq (2015) followed the suit. In Saudi Arabia, research studies on CLT are focussed not on its failure to accommodate explicit grammar teaching with language functions but on other structural challenges the teachers face in class, such as policy-related challenges like the exam system, overcrowded classes, lack of facilities to use CLT, and lack of in-house training programs for teachers (Alharbi, 2022). There are student-related challenges as well, such as low-level proficiency of students, their passive learning style, lack of motivation among learners to learn the target language, learner conformity to CLT (Wajid and Saleem, 2017), and lack of motivation to be paired with weaker peers during communicative activities (Alharbi, 2018;Alharbi, 2022).…”