Navigating the Pedagogical Shift: Implementing Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the 21st-Century Secondary Classroom in Pakist

Abstract

The introduction of 21st-century skills into English Language Teaching (ELT) has caused a controversial tension between classical structuralism and 'modern' Communicative Language Teaching (CLT). This qualitative case study seeks to explore and understand this phenomenon in Sialkot, Pakistan in secondary schools. Through semi-structured interviews with six teachers and six students, the case study describes the case of ‘pedagogical hybridity’ as teachers’ alternating CLT and Grammar Translation Methods (GTM) depending on students’ test needs versus students’ engagement needs. Most importantly the case study presents as a ‘novel’ contribution the idea of ‘digital paradox’ in that students’ eagerness to learn English as a global language has been complicated by the rise of Artificial Intelligence (AI) as teachers consider educational technology ‘digital defiance’ and thus, a barrier to student learning. The current research indicates that the absence of coherent systemic curriculum restructuring in which students’ oral language skills rather than rote written skills are valued, the 21st-century classroom will continue to exist as a paradox rather than a reality