Implementing Communicative Approaches in English Language Teaching: The Case of Burkina Faso

Abstract

This article explores the implementation of communicative approaches in English as a foreign language (EFL) teaching in Burkina Faso. Ten years after the revision of the syllabi, the implementation of communicative approaches in EFL teaching is still lagging. Teachers are still struggling to enact communicative approaches in the classroom. This article seeks to understand the factors that hinder the achievement of the communicative goals set by policymakers. This article investigates those hindrances under the lens of teachers who are the expected enactors of communicative approaches in the classroom. It used a mixed methodology for data collection, and the participants are teachers and teacher supervisors. Data analysis consisted of the integration of quantitative data into qualitative thematic units of analysis. The findings revealed that the implementation of communicative approaches did not go beyond the definition of the communicative goal and the design of communicative syllabi. The textbooks and the teaching methodologies remained traditional and teachers did not receive appropriate contextualized training to apply communicative approaches in their classes.