English Teachers’ Experiences of Implementing Communicative Language Teaching in Pioneering Senior High School Alternative Learning System Contexts: An Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis

Abstract

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) has long been promoted as a learner-centered approach that prioritizes meaningful interaction and real-life communication. However, its implementation in non-traditional educational settings, such as the Senior High School Alternative Learning System (ALS), remains underexplored. This study explores the lived experiences of English teachers implementing CLT within a pioneering ALS context, with the aim of understanding how they interpret and construct meaning from their pedagogical practices in a flexible and diverse learning environment. Guided by Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis (IPA), this qualitative study involved seven DepEd English teachers teaching in the first-year implementation of the SHS-ALS program. Data were collected through in-depth semi-structured interviews and analyzed following the IPA framework of Smith, Flowers, and Larkin (2009), allowing for both idiographic and cross-case thematic interpretation.
Findings reveal that CLT implementation in ALS is a dynamic, context-sensitive, and transformative process shaped by pedagogical demands and structural constraints. Six superordinate themes emerged: (1) negotiating linguistic limitations through multilingual, scaffolded, and confidence-building communication; (2) contextualizing CLT into functional, real-life, and localized learning; (3) implementing CLT within structural constraints and disrupted learning conditions; (4) reframing pedagogy from grammar-centered instruction to meaningful, learner-centered communication; (5) reconstructing the teacher’s role as facilitator, mentor, guide, and affective support; and (6) undergoing personal-professional transformation through reflective, adaptive, and empathetic practice. These themes highlight teachers’ continuous adaptation to learners’ diverse backgrounds, limited proficiency, and irregular participation, while prioritizing communication over accuracy.
The study concludes that CLT in the ALS context is not merely a methodological approach but a flexible, relational, and human-centered practice. It necessitates contextualization, empathy, and instructional innovation, while simultaneously reshaping teacher identity. These findings contribute to the growing discourse on language teaching in alternative education and underscore the importance of context-responsive pedagogies and supportive policy frameworks