A Study on the Roles of Teachers in CLT Classrooms by Metaphor Analysis

Abstract

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach has been a well-recognized language pedagogy for decades in the world. While most of the research of CLT approach focuses on the nature of teaching and learning, teacher roles in CLT approach are less discussed and examined in the literature. The present study thus intends to look into the roles of teachers in a communicative English course through questionnaires. The questionnaires were distributed to a group of 103 university students who had learnt a communicative English course at the university for at least one year. Students were required to use metaphors to indicate how they perceived their English teachers in the CLT course by completing the stem “While learning the communicative English course, the English teacher of the course is (like) ________ because ___________.” After data were collected and later coded, categorized and analyzed, results showed that the roles of teachers in the communicative English course mainly fell into four groups: the cognitive category of providing knowledge, the affective category of interesting students with authentic learning materials and interactive learning activities, the managerial category of assisting, guiding, monitoring the learning processes as well as designing learning activities for the class, and finally the fourth group of mainly negative perceptions. The researcher holds that the role of providing and transmitting knowledge is a constituent part of the teacher role of CLT approach. Furthermore, the affective category and the managerial category unveil more inherent traits of CLT teacher roles and characterize more intrinsic features of CLT approach.