Studying Teachers’ Perceptions of Teaching Methods in Pakistan: A Pedagogical Study of Pakistani Classrooms

This study aimed at exploring teachers’ perceptions regarding communicative language teaching (CLT) and investigated its effectiveness and barriers that hinder the utilization of this method to the fullest possible degree. Pakistan, being a special case of pedagogical import, lags behind in the field of sciences and arts. Built on a qualitative paradigm, the study employed structured interviews adapted from Sherwani and Kilic (2017) and thematic categories were analyzed. The researchers found that the teachers prefer CLT over traditionally popular method like Grammar Translation Method (GTM) for certain merits as it is teacher-directed, it stimulates learning and it employs real-life situations to prepare for real-life communicative tasks. The study pointed out that objectives associated with CLT are conditioned by the context of us, and factors like students’ habit of cramming, use of GTMand obstructions, like lack of resources and qualified teachers, are the cause of failure to achieve maximum out of this method. The teachers’ proper training is required so as to enable them to act as good manager of time, space and knowledge even in large classes