Barriers To The Implementation Of The Direct Method In Secondary Schools: Evidence From Teachers' Perspectives

Abstract

The study explored the obstacles in the path of effective implementation of the Direct Method (DM) in English language classrooms at secondary level in the Rustam Tehsil of District Mardan, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. The Direct Method has been well documented as a good way to develop communicative competence and to motivate learners, but it has not been extensively documented in terms of its practical implementation in under-resourced, examination-oriented school systems in the local literature. A quantitative descriptive design was used, from which 323 students from Grade 9 and Grade 10 from ten public secondary and higher secondary schools were selected using stratified and simple random sampling technique. The barriers related to DM instruction were captured using a structured, expert-developed questionnaire with a five-point Likert scale that had good internal consistency (Cronbach's alpha >= .70) after pilot testing with an independent sample. The descriptive statistics indicated that barriers to DM implementation were high overall with a composite mean of 4.16 (SD = 0.71) on 5-point scale. The main obstacles were the lack of opportunities for practice outside the classroom in English (M = 4.22), limited vocabulary (M = 4.19), problems with participation in communicative activities in large classes (M = 4.16), fear of speaking in front of peers (M = 4.13) and difficulty understanding due to English-only lessons (M = 4.08). These results suggest that even when the Direct Method has been shown to be pedagogically and motivatingly beneficial, its use is limited by a complex web of structural, linguistic and affective factors typical of under-resourced rural school environments. The barriers are discussed in relation to constructivist and socio-educational theories of language learning and finally recommendations are made for teacher training, vocabulary-enrichment activities, lessening class sizes, anxiety reducing classroom practices and extending opportunities for language practice for better implementation of the Direct Method in the secondary schools in the context of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and similar situations.