The Importance of Investigating TESL Trainees' Attitudes towards Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)

Objective – The importance of teacher attitudes and their influence on teacher behaviour and the learning process has been recognised by a number of teacher educators and educational researchers (Breen 1991, Burns 1990, Clark & Yingcr 1979, Garcia & Reynolds 1977, Dunkin & Biddle 1974, Gayle 1979, Grotjahn 1991, Guthrie 1984, Nunan 1990, Shavelson & Stern 1981, Wright 1990). Teachers' attitudes play an important role in curriculum innovations in the success or failure of innovation projects. Hence, investigating teachers' attitudes towards the philosophy of the innovation, help the researcher to understand the difficulties teachers face in implementing curriculum innovations (Dingwall 1985). Methodology/Technique – The study reviews previous literature in the area. Findings – Results show that CLT to be used more widely and effectively in Malaysia to improve Malaysian students’ communicative competence, greater insights into pre-service teachers’ attitudes and practices based on the theories and practices that they have learnt about CLT during their education is needed. Hence, investigating pre-service teachers’ attitudes about CLT seems necessary for informing useful ways to educate future teachers with the advantages of the CLT approach. Novelty – The study suggests that if pre-service teachers in Malaysia become more aware of the benefits of CLT, they will implement it in their classrooms and Malaysian students’ communicative competency will be improved. Type of Paper: Review.