Teachers' Attitudes Towards Communicative Language Teaching in Senior High School

Abstract

This study attempts to investigate teachers? attitudes towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in senior high schools. Since the Indonesian latest curriculum, students are asked to be active and teachers should facilitate them, CLT is the most appropriate approach used in the classroom. However, the implementing of CLT in senior high schools in Salatiga has not been effective yet. One of the causes of the incompatibility between the existing theory and implementation of CLT in the classroom may be teacher attitudes (Karavas-Doukas, 1996). Therefore, it is important to investigate teachers? attitudes towards CLT. This study was conducted in three different senior high schools in Salatiga. The subjects of the study were six English teachers in those schools. The data for the study were collected from interview using open-ended questions. The analysis of the data shows that teachers believe that CLT is the most appropriate approach in improving students? speaking ability. However, grammar is also important to be learned in this approach to make the students able to deliver messages of the communication well. Therefore, when students make some errors in their speaking practice, teachers will make the correction and give the right examples. Pair or group work is also believed as the effective way in implementing CLT since it can reduce the tension in the classroom. Teachers? roles in CLT are as the facilitator, motivator, and controller of teaching and learning process in the classroom. Within this sense, the teachers all agree that students are the main subject who involving directly in this approach.