Constructing and Validating a Questionnaire on Perceived Barriers to Implementing CLT in the Iranian EFL Context

The full implementation of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in EFL contexts, as originated in ESL contexts, has not been successful due to several challenges and barriers. In the absence of a valid instrument, this study aimed to construct and validate a questionnaire to measure the perceived barriers to implementation of CLT in the Iranian EFL context. Within an exploratory sequential design, two groups of English teachers (n = 23 & n = 217) were selected randomly and required to rate how seriously they perceived the barriers in their context. The thematic analysis of the qualitative data obtained from semi-structured interviews indicated a 5-component pattern of barriers for constructing an initial draft of a scale. The results of the exploratory factor analyses indicated a multifactor solution model with 28 items clustered around five components, namely teacher-related, learner-related, institute-related, culture-related, and methodology-related barriers. The subsequent confirmatory factor analyses using Structural Equation Modeling validated the five-dimensional structure of the scale. The reliability coefficients were found to be 0.70 for the whole scale and 0.85, 0.82, 0.79, 0.96, and 0.87 for the subscales, respectively. These findings demonstrated that the scale was valid and reliable in measuring the barriers in the context of the study.