Abstract:
This paper examines the effectiveness of the teaching methodology adopted for teaching
English in four government schools in Colombo. The curriculum specifies Communicative
Language Teaching (CLT) as the teaching methodology that should be used in Sri Lankan
schools for teaching English. The data gathered in this study was analysed in relation to
three the main principles of CLT, namely use of a variety of teaching materials, reasonable
use of the students’ mother tongue and a pupil-centred teaching approach. It was observed
that the textbook was the sole source of teaching material and classroom activity and that
teachers and students depended excessively on the mother tongue during classroom
activities. Furthermore, it was also observed that the classrooms were more teacher-centred
than pupil-centred. Students were observed to be more comfortable with this ‘dominant
approach’ adopted by teachers. These circumstances hindered the possibility of carrying
out an effective communicative classroom as idealised by the proponents of CLT.
Teachers’ lack of English proficiency and the national examination system which focuses
solely on students’ reading and writing skills were identified as causing these classroom
circumstances. These findings imply a need to improve teacher-training programs and to
change the national examination system.
