Abstract:
This study investigated the beliefs of EFL teachers about communicative language teaching (CLT)
viz -a-viz their classroom practice. That means the main purpose of this study was to explore
teachers’ beliefs towards CLT and see if their belief matches or mismatches their classroom
practices. In this research work, descriptive research design was chosen because of its
appropriateness to gather the necessary data in the actual classroom while the teaching and
learning of English as a foreign language was taking place. It is also appropriate to collect data
with little expense. Data were collected through classroom observations, interviews and
questionnaires. The total population of the study was 48 EFL teachers. And data were collected
from the randomly samples (for the interview and classroom observations) and total population
sampling for questionnaire. That is, the researcher used total population and random sampling
techniques. Quantitative and qualitative approaches were employed in the study; 48 teachers
responded to a questionnaire. The questionnaire , classroom observation and interview covers six
aspects of CLT (the role of learners; the role of teachers; the role of grammar; the role of the
learners’ native language; pair and group work activities, and learner error correction and
evaluations). The teachers’ questionnaires which include 39 closed ended items were filled by
forty-eight teachers from six high schools in woreta town administration and Fogra woreda. Then,
in the course of data collection process, classroom observations were made. Finally the interviews
with teachers were made. Based on collected data, it was revealed that the majority of teachers
had high levels of understanding or belief about CLT tenets .However, the study conversely
showed that there is a clear mismatch between their beliefs and practical application of CLT. The
overall findings of this study revealed that teachers had a better understanding or good beliefs
towards CLT methodology. However, the result of this study proved that their belief and what they
actually practice or perform in CLT classrooms is quite the opposite. Their belief and their
classroom practice do not match. Therefore, whatever the obstacles may be, teachers should be
encouraged to use CLT in the language class rooms. That means, concerned bodies should
encourage teachers to implement CLT as much as possible by arranging or giving school based
CLT training on department base. Conducting action research and assessing their own
performance in line with the effect on students’ successful learning