International TESOL Training and EFL Contexts: The Cultural Disillusionment Factor

Abstract

This article reports on a study examining the implementation of communicative language teaching (CLT) in Bangladesh in general and at the University of Dhaka in particular. When CLT was first introduced across Europe, the English as a foreign language (EFL) context in which it would inevitably be applied was not considered. Here university EFL teachers discuss the problems and contradictions associated with adopting this western-forged methodology. One paradox faced by the teachers was that of an essentially learner-centred curriculum in a tradition where the centrality of the teacher is the culturally and socially sanctioned basis of teaching. Although in developing countries we cannot afford simply to retreat to traditional teaching methods, the study suggests the need for an educational agenda set within a new post-colonial framework which acknowledges the importance of the adaptation of CLT and recognises the significance of its applicability in Bangladesh.