English as a Foreign Language Teaching Methods in Primary Schools of Armenia

Abstract

With the introduction of the communicative language teaching (CLT) approach in the field of language teaching, advocates of CLT approach emphasized the importance of enhancing the learners’ communicative competence in classrooms. According to them, this could be accomplished through engaging learners in meaningful communicative activities, where they can practice the target language in different contexts and utilize their communicative resources, through various tasks, role plays and information sharing activities. Although CLT is often viewed as the optimal approach for English Language teaching, some argue, due to some beliefs in the local culture of learning, the use of the CLT approach might not be practical in countries, where mechanical learning is promoted and teacher centered classrooms are typical (McKay, 2002). The findings in this exploratory qualitative study are based on data collected through classroom observations and interviews conducted with EFL teachers and head teachers. Activity theory, a socio-cultural descriptive framework, has been used to analyze the data. The findings highlight some of the most prevalent EFL teaching methods in both public and private primary schools of Armenia and elaborate on the factors that contribute to the choices teachers make. In addition, the study reports on the degree to which communicative activities are integrated in EFL classrooms of Armenia and reveal some of the factors that hinder their integration. Furthermore, the study provides some context for better understanding why these factors exist and proposes solutions, to promote the use of CLT in EFL classrooms in Armenia and similar contexts.