Effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching in Non-Urban Areas’ Primary Schools: The Case of Afif, Saudi Arabia

The main purpose of the study was to investigate the effectiveness of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) at primary schools in Afif city. The responses given by students covered their feelings towards CLT in terms of their English speaking levels, their motivation, their efforts, their grammar and vocabulary learning, their confidence in using English in real life, and their opinion towards other additional ways of learning English such as games and social media. A qualitative approach was used, with a sample of seven female students from two primary schools in the Afif district selected using a concentrated sampling procedure. Two instruments were used: the Students’ Attitude Scale, adapted from Savignon and Wang (2003), and peer observation. The Students’ Attitude Scale was used to evaluate students’ impressions of CLT, while peer observation was used to identify the impact of CLT in teaching English to non-native speakers. Overall, the most significant results of the study indicate that CLT has a positive effect on learners’ English comprehension skills, builds up their confidence to use English in different situations, and gives them more/more satisfaction with the experience. CLT also helps to motivate the students and bring about improvement in their dialogue/ communicative proficiency. Based on these results, the study recommends the continued implementation of CLT in English language teaching, ongoing professional development for teachers, promotion of student engagement, fostering confidence building, integration of technology, and encouragement of peer observation among teachers. These recommendations aim to enhance the effectiveness of CLT in TESOL settings in primary schools in Eastern Saudi Arabia.