FACTORS CONTRIBUTING TO THE SUCCESSFUL IMPLEMENTATION OF COMMUNICATIVE LANGUAGE TEACHING AT THE INTERNATIONAL SCHOOLS OF NORTH AMERICA

Abstract

This thesis is designed to explore the factors affecting the success of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which is currently implemented in private high schools in Vietnam with a case study in the international schools of North America. There are various factors highlighted in the research, including students, teachers, materials used, teaching and learning environment and school curriculum. To do this, a qualitative method was used with the support of different tools, including interviews, class observation, group discussion and informal dialogue. In addition, the researcher is an insider of the international school which beneficially enhance the validity of the research and directly find out what factors influence the success of CLT implementation. Moreover, classroom observations were done by the author to directly collect and note down necessary information for the research with the support of a communicative language teaching observation scheme. Furthermore, it was found that the private school is more successful in supporting students to be proficient English communicators than Vietnamese public high schools. In the discussion, the author gathers the findings from previous studies regarding the CLT in public schools in Vietnam to have some comparisons and gives out explanations for the differences. Several suggestions are also recommended for the application of CLT, which are based on the success of CLT in the international school. By this means, the author aims to show the success of the international school and see whether this model can apply in public high schools in Vietnam and to what extent.