This study identifies and describes the difficulties faced by secondary school Teachers of English as a Foreign Language (TEFL) in Qinghai Province (China) in adopting the communicative approach to language instruction. It examines the perceptions of both teachers and teacher trainers. Data were drawn from semi-structured interviews with one trainer and five trainees following workshops on the communicative approach and from a program evaluation questionnaire completed by 19 participants (transcripts of both appended). Salient problems in implementing the communicative approach include: pressure of external examinations on both teachers and students; the textbook-centered nature of the uniform curriculum; problems inherent in ethnic minority education; the low status and poor motivation of teachers; teachers' distrust of educational administrators and their ideas; teachers' low levels of English proficiency; poor facilities; and the location of training sessions far from the province itself. It is concluded that the results provide a snapshot of English language education in Qinghai Province and the problems to be addressed in future teacher training programs. (Contains 73 references.) (MSE)