CLT-based Curricula and Pedagogical Recommendations in EFL Contexts: A Textual Analysis of the 10th-grade English Curriculum in Burkina Faso

This study critically evaluates the 10th-grade English as a Foreign Language (EFL) curriculum in Burkina Faso to understand some of the implementation challenges reported in most empirical research about teachers’ use of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) principles. For this purpose, the article reviewed the literature on CLT principles, its theoretical background, and the pedagogical implications in multilingual contexts. Empirical research on implementing CLT-based curricula in different EFL contexts was also reviewed to identify common issues highlighted regarding CLT curricula implementation in EFL contexts. These reviews helped define the methodological guideline for this critical assessment of the CLT-based grade 10 EFL curriculum in Burkina Faso. It leads to a thorough examination of the grade 10 curriculum, whose findings indicate a lack of contextualization of CLT principles in the curriculum to reflect the national and local teaching and learning realities in Burkina Faso. The analysis reveals that the 10th-grade EFL curriculum prescribes specific topics, lesson content, and instruction time, leaving teachers with little autonomy to adapt lessons to students’ needs and community realities. The control of what teachers can do regarding teaching and learning planning reduces teachers to policy implementers rather than facilitators of learning. To address these challenges, the article recommends a collaborative approach to curriculum design and implementation in which teachers serve as the last-mile planners. Granting this role to teachers can ensure that students’ needs and local realities are considered in curriculum planning, implementation, and assessment.