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CHAPTER- 3

REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The review of related literature is an essential step in any research

project. It is a survey of the current status of research works already done. It's

main function is to provide background information on the research question

and to identify what others have said or discovered about the question. Carried

out systematically, the literature review acquaints the researcher with previous

work in the field and alerts him to problems and potential pitfalls in the chosen

area. EL I being an extensive field and a globally-controlled-discursive practice11

a lot of research has been done pertaining to the study of the problems of

teaching and learning English so that it is not possible to provide a

comprehensive review bringing in all those studies or researches that have been

carried on so far However an endeavour has been made here to review some

important studies in India and abroad as well as in the north-east so as to gain

necessary information and insights to build the theoretical framework, research

design etc. for the present study.

Thus the following studies have been reviewed for the purpose of the

study.

Jayashree, S. 1989

Identification of the difficulties in Teaching and Learning English as

a second language among the High School Students. M. Phil,

dissertation, Edu. Alagappa University.1

This study attempts to identify the difficulties in the teaching and

learning of English as a second language among the high school students, with

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the following as the major objectives - ’ To find out (i) The difficulties in

teaching English as a second language to high school students (2) If the male

and the female teachers experience the same degree of difficulty (3) The

relationship between teaching experience and teaching difficulties (4) To

identify the impact of socio-economic status in learning English.(5) Whether the

place of study (rural schools / urban schools) influences the learning (6)

Whether sex of the learners influences the learning of English (7) Whether

students experience more difficulty in learning English prose or English

grammar.

Using seminar and questionnaire as tools for collection of data in its

methodology and involving more than eighty English teachers the study arrives

at a number of major findings which include the learners' improper listening

skill and inattentiveness in the class, their weak cognitive skill, lack of interest,

poor vocabulary strength, weak motivation etc. out of which the difficulties

arise in the teaching and learning of English.

Misra, J. N. 1968.

A study of problems and difficulties of language teaching at

secondary level. Ph. D. Thesis Edu. Sagar University.2

The objectives o f this study were -

i. To understand the importance of English in the all-round development

of children.

ii. To diagnose the causes of deterioration in the standard of language of

students of Higher Secondary school classes.

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iii. To understand and identity the 'practical difficulties of teachers in

teaching languages.

iv. To suggest means of improvement of the standard of language of

students.

Tools used in the study for collection of data were questionnaire,

interview, observation and study o f records. The study was conducted in

Madhya Pradesh. Questionnaires were sent to 1000 teachers o f the state while

interview was held with 500 o f them and 150 classrooms were observed.

Findings o f the study include the following -

i. About 66 % teachers found difficulties in teaching prose - the main

problems related to explanation, paraphrasing and meaning of words.

ii. More than 50% teachers preferred to use Translation Method.

iii. 25% teachers believed in the Direct Method and made use of it.

iv. Only 32% teachers encouraged students to develop reading ability.

v. 60% teachers felt that the facilities for general reading were inadequate.

vi. In teaching poetry more than 60% teachers experience difficulty in

developing appreciation.

vii. 10% teachers find difficulty in paraphrasing of poems and the meaning

of words.

viii. There are problems of pronunciation.

ix. Short and weak memory of students causes weakness in speaking.

x. Home background of students influence learning and teaching.

xi. Shortage of time and lengthy syllabus stands in the way of effective

teaching of English.

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xii. Lack of practice of teaching composition hampers the development of

the writing skill of good English.

xiii. More than 60% teachers did not use drilling.

xiv. The present examination system tests only knowledge and memory

of students.

Dasgupta, N. 1975

A critical study of the vocabulary in English of the students of class

VI (usually 12+) reading in the non-English medium schools of

Meghalaya and the influence of socio-economic background on the

actual vocabulary. Ph.D. thesis, education, G.U.3

This study examines the impact of the socio-economic background of

students on learning vocabulary in English in a non-English medium situation in

Meghalaya and advocates the needs for preparation of vocabulary lists aimed at

fulfilling the learning needs of students of varied socio-economic backgrounds

so as to reduce the gap between the expected vocabulary and the actual

vocabulary that is acquired. The study established that the socio-economic

background had a strong bearing on the achievement level of students in

learning vocabulary. The findings revealed that upper socio-economic group

students had richer vocabulary than those of the lower socio-economic group

i.e. there was correlation between higher socio-economic status of students and

richer vocabulary acquirement. The major educational implication of this study

is that vocabulary lists prepared carefully and with a consideration of learner

needs in view of varied socio-economic backgrounds are sure to prove

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instrumental in improving educational and communicational practices in

schools.

Bhattacharyya, R. 1976.

A critical study of the Present Teaching of English in the Secondary

Schools of G reater Shillong. Ph. D. Thesis G. U.

The work undertakes to study the educational qualifications and

professional equipment of the English teachers of the Secondary Schools of

Greater Shillong, their work load, financial status, views and opinions on

various aspects of teaching of English and evaluate their performance in actual

classroom situation. The ultimate purpose of the piece of work, as the

investigator asserts, was to ensure better teaching of English by way of

suggesting some practical measures for improvement of the situation.

The major findings of the study are as follows

On Teachers' Professional Qualification: Majority of the teachers

were graduate with a very small percentage of them being post-graduates and

undergraduates. Only 30.36% of them were trained, number o f trained teachers

being higher in urban areas than in rural areas. Again, of the trained teachers,

only 56.47% had English as method subject in B.Ed. or B.T. 5% of the teachers

possessed other professional degrees/diplomas like diploma in English teaching

and diploma in Montessori Method etc.

On work load: Majority of the teachers taught other subjects besides

English. The teachers were used to doing correction work, conducting o f class

test, utilization of the tiffin time and off periods in correction work, spending

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time on lesson planning, doing other extra academic work and making

themselves accessible to students beyond class hours. The investigator discovers

similarity of the workload of the English teachers of Meghalaya with those of

the Madras State.

Teachers' views and opinions: As the findings of the study reveal

teachers are divided on their views as regards the objectives of teaching

English. Whereas 69.64% view development of the practical command of

English as the chief objective of teaching English 6.07% regard appreciation of

English literature as the main objective. Besides, urban teachers are more in

favour of the former aim unlike their rural counterparts who advocate the latter.

On Methods of Teaching: 62.5% of the teachers favoured Direct

Method with occasional use of mother tongue, 12.14% without mother tongue

and 25.36% favoured the Translation Method where the rural-urban variation is

negligible. Only 15.71% used teaching aids, majority ensured pupils'

comprehension before going for the next lesson, majority are happy with the

syllabus, performance of all teachers is satisfactory, female teachers perform

better and trained teachers perform better than the untrained teachers.

Suggestions:

The investigator offers some suggestions for improvement of the

teaching-learning situation of English in the secondary schools of Greater

Shillong to teachers, teacher educators and other concerned authorities.

Suggestions to teachers:

Proper training, awareness about the latest developments in the

pedagogy of teaching English, familiarity with the true aims of teaching

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English, emphasis on oral work, proper and effective use o f teaching aids,

proper care to correct pronunciation, familiarity with the techniques, homework

and their checking, and the practice of taking demonstration classes by trained

teachers for the benefit of untrained a id under graduate teachers of English are

the suggestions made by the investigator to the teachers.

To Teacher Educators: Suggestions to teacher educators include the

following : Revitalization of the in-service training programmes o f English

teachers at all levels, popularization of action research projects on programmed

instruction device among in-service and pre-service teachers during training and

emphasizing sound evaluation of classroom performance of teachers during

training.

The suggestions to others include an appeal to the Education Department

of the Government of Meghalaya to take up the programme of in-service

teacher training on a vigorous way, to the Central Institute of English and

Foreign Languages to provide access to the secondary school teachers of

Meghalaya to use its language laboratory to help improve their pronunciation.

Besides, improvement of the service conditions o f the teachers, improvement of

the school libraries with books on up-to-date methods o f teaching English are

some of the other suggestions to the concerned authorities.

Walia, A. 1981

An evaluative study of English a t the Secondary Level in Rajasthan,

Ph.D. thesis, Eng., Rajasthan University4

In this study Walia. A. comes out with a number o f interesting findings

on the teaching of English at the secondary level in Rajasthan. His evaluative

128

study of the programme done with a thorough investigation into some core

issues of ELT in the state including the adequacy of curricular materials, teacher

competency, the evaluation mechanism, rural-urban variation in the quality of

teaching, teachers' professional awareness and growth and students' perceptions

of the syllabus and teaching of English comes out with the discovery of a

number of inadequacies in the programme like curricular inadequacy in terms of

a mismatch between text books and other materials and curricular expectations,

heavy workload and large classes, inadequate question papers etc. The study

further finds out that the teaching approach followed by the teachers falls short

of professional and pedagogic effectiveness as it was seen to be one-way,

detrimental to student participation and resulting in classroom anxiety for the

learners. Yet another finding was that supplementary readers were not properly

taught and grammar rules were only mechanically presented.

Koul, B. N. 1981

A critical study of the fundamental curricular issues relevant to the

teaching of English in India leading to an Alternative Integrated

ELT Curriculum. Ph. D. thesis (ELT) CIEFL, Hyderabad.5

This investigation critically studies the ELT curricular considerations

specifically relevant to the Indian situation and then suggests an Alternative

ELT Curricular framework for India. The researcher hypothesized that the

crises in ELT in our country remained unsolved on account of a failure on the

part of the investigators or reformers to take cognizance o f the curricular

considerations specifically related to the Indian context. The investigation is

centred round three basic questions - namely (1) why is English and should

English be taught and learnt effectively on a mass scale in India? (2) what are

129

the socio-cultural constraints that hinder'effective ELT and reforms in ELT

from being effective ? and (3) what are the instructional constraints that hinder

effective ELT in India? Investigation into these questions / domains were made

on the basis of data collected from the students of Rajasthan, Andhrapradesh

and Kashmir using the tools o f questionnaires and experiments.

The findings of the study establish the fact that in actual practice there is

nothing like a curriculum for ELT in India for the curricular components stood

in a disjoint relationship with one another. This suggests that an ELT

programme could not be successful if it was put into the framework of the

general model of the syllabi currently in operation.

The study asserts that the century-and-more old educational-pedagogic

paradigm for ELT in India had given rise to isolated reforms in teaching

materials, methodology or techniques or syllabi resulting in a "hotch-potch

patchwork of purposeless repairs" that fails to mitigate the crises in ELT. To

overcome this the investigator suggests a new paradigm from which would

emerge an overall unified curriculum for ELT - a curriculum in which the

curricular components stood in conjoint relationship at each and every level and

also across the various levels of instruction. A few methodological and

implementational problems were also visualised in order to make the suggested

overall unified curriculum a success at the pragmatic level.

Thomas, M. 1982

The teaching of English in India with special reference to the

Madras Presidency, A Historical Survey (1835-1947). Ph. D. thesis

Edu. Osmania University.6

This study was an attempt to trace the evolution of the teaching of

English in India from its official beginning in the days of Macaulay to the last

days o f the British rule that saw the consolidation of the position of English as a

130

major subject in the school curriculum. The'scope of the study encompasses the

English Teaching at the school stage in the Madras Presidency.

Based on the historical survey method the study comprised the tools of

(1) Library study for identification, analysis, interpretation and evaluation of

both primary and secondary sources of data from documents, reports, syllabi,

question papers, text books, articles, speeches, research reports (2) Interviews

and (3) Questionnaires that examined critically the areas of 1. Official policy of

English Education, 2. Position of English in Schools, (3) Methods and

Classroom practices (4) Courses of Instruction and teaching materials (5)

Examinations and (6) Teacher Training.

The findings of the study resulted in providing an understanding of - a.

A general picture of the causative factors that led to the introduction of English

in the Madras Presidency b. Its historical position c. Its position in school

curriculum, d. Historical survey of the practices in testing and examinations in

English e. Review of the teacher-training programme and f. An increased

understanding of the history of English teaching in the Madras Presidency.

Nanda, Kamala. 1982

An investigation into the causes of poor attainment in English

comprehension of the students of class V M in Cuttack City and

their remedial measures. Ph. D. Thesis, Sambalpur University.7

The study attempts to investigate causes of poor English comprehension

among the pupils o f Secondary Schools and their remedial measures. The main

Objectives were -

131

i. To detect causes o f poor attainment in English in the H. S. C.

examination.

ii. To detect weaknesses of comprehension skills.

iii. To investigate the causes of poor attainment in English, particularly in

the areas relating to simple comprehension, vocabulary items, structural

items and critical thinking.

iv. To suggest remedial measures for developing power of comprehension.

v. To suggest remedial measures for better teaching and learning process.

vi. To suggest remedial measures to be adopted by teaching staff,

administrative and controlling authorities of schools.

The study was conducted in 26 secondary schools of Cuttack City. 500 students

were selected for the study. Detection of the weak areas of comprehension skills

was made through a preliminary test on comprehension. Other tools used for

collection of data includes, opinionnaires to teachers of English, interview of

teachers of English and Interview of students.

The study comes out with the following major findings -

i. Significant causes thwarting comprehension of pupils according to

pupils included - lack of knowledge in structural usage and vocabulary

items taught in the previous classes, lack of stronger foundations in

elementary reading, distraction and carelessness in reading, absence of

reading readiness, lack of reading practice, intelligence and interest,

negative attitude to reading.

ii. Difficulties that hinder effectiveness in teaching are- Lack of teaching

aids, library, reading facilities and initiative on the part of teachers,

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suitable textbooks, besides poor salary structures, overburdened time

table and lack of preparation of lessons due to shortage of time,

iii. Socio-economic condition of both teachers and pupils, lack of study

atmosphere and favourable environment, apathy of teachers, lack of

effective supervision and administrative control, and poor financial

conditions of schools are the other factors that hinder effectiveness in

teaching.

Bhattacharjee, R. 19S4.

An investigation into the teaching of English in the High Schools of

East Khasi Hills District of Meghalaya, Ph. D. Thesis NEHU,

Shillong.8

This study was undertaken with the following objectives -

i) To study background characteristics of the teachers of English of East

Khasi Hills high schools, their views and opinions as well as practices

followed by them in respect of various aspects of teaching English;

ii) To identify the present status of teaching English through observation of

teachers' performance in the classroom situation;

iii) To study strengths and weaknesses in the teaching of English.

iv) To tryout the effectiveness of training in selected skills under micro-

teaching strategy for improving teaching competence of the teachers of

English and

v) To suggest measures for improving teaching of English in the high

schools of the district.

133

The study was conducted in two phases using Survey Method in Phase-I

and experiment under micro-teaching strategy in phase-II and the major

findings o f the study include the following

i) The majority o f the teachers were not professionally equipped to teach

English.

ii) Teaching at the foundation stage was neglected.

iii) There was no uniformity in the workload o f teachers o f English in

different categories of schools.

iv) English Readers which were written according to the latest approach

were not accompanied by teachers' handbook.

v) Differences in sex and material status as well as participation and non­

participation in co-curricular activities had no impact on teaching of

English.

vi) Experience and professional training played significant roles in the

teaching of English.

vii) Significant differences in teaching quality between teachers working in

government, English-medium and urban schools and those working in

adhoc and private-run non-English medium and semi-urban schools

were noticed. The former taught much better than the latter.

viii) Majority o f the teachers were not aware o f appropriate teaching methods

as well as the objectives o f teaching English.

ix) The classroom practice was devoid o f giving assignments, evaluation o f

students' progress and providing remedial measures.

x) In-service training facilities for the teachers were inadequate.

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xi) Training in selected skills through micro-teaching was effective in

improving teaching competence of the teachers of English. Micro

teaching supplemented training in English teaching methodology.

Sing V.D. 1984

A study of the Linguistic and Communicative abilities of High

School Teachers of English in relation to their class room functions.

Ph D thesis, ELT, CIEFL 9

This study investigated the linguistic and communicative abilities of

high school teachers o f English in relation to their classroom function. The chief

research questions on which the study was based were to ascertain the adequacy

of the speaking ability and the writing ability, the grammatical and stylistic

competence, the norm and concept of correctness, the syntactic control and

fluency and whether there was any significant difference between speaking

ability and writing ability of the teachers teaching English as a second language

at the Secondary and Higher Secondary levels. The sample for the study was

drawn from 15 Central Schools located in the states of Rajasthan, Uttarpradesh

and the union territory of Delhi and the tools used included various test

measures and a questionnaire and the following are the major findings of the

study.

i) Speaking ability of three-fourths of the teachers was adequate though it

was deficient in accuracy but the writing ability of most o f them was not

adequate.

135

ii) The teachers possessed grammatical competence to correct pupil errors

but not stylistic competence to the same extent They were concerned

with sentence level accuracy but oblivious o f discourse level or

contextual constraints.

iii) They possessed syntactic control.

iv) There was significant difference between speaking ability and writing

ability and speaking ability was better than writing ability.

v) MAs in English performed better than non-MAs.

vi) Most of the teachers favoured a normal teaching of grammar.

Sharma, A.K. 1985

Aspects of English Language Teaching in India. D.Lit. Eng.

Bhagalpur University10

The main objective of this study was to unravel the multi-dimensional

problems, socio linguistic implications, technical requirements and situational

needs o f English Language Teaching (ELT) in India.

The study critically investigates the various theoretical and practical

aspects of teaching English in India. These include - language learning and

teaching, the case for English in India, the objectives of teaching English as a

foreign / Second /third language, teaching language skills, methods and

techniques, curriculum planning and course design, ideas and resources of ELT,

evaluation and remedial teaching etc. And the following are some of the major

conclusions:-

i. Principles and methodology o f ' second language teaching have

undergone a drastic change over the last few decades,

ii Traditional methods of teaching English in India were incommensurate

to the language needs of the learners.

lii. ELT in India has always tended towards idealism, elitism and status quo

rather than becoming realistic and need based and has therefore become

more of a hindrance than a help in bringing about an equalitarian

transformation in the country.

iv. The system programme fails as far as curricular requirements are

concerned, to cater to the needs of the diverse social/civil backgrounds-

- rural, semi-urban, urban and cosmopolitan,

v Emphasis should be laid on the linguistic aspect rather than the content

aspect or cultural aspect while teaching English and this should be taken

serious note of by the teachers teaching English

vi. There is urgent need for teachers of English in India to update their

professional competence in terms of growing familiarity with language

learning processes, linguistic requirements of the nation and the

importance of English as a global resource so as to be able to evolve a

pragmatic and effective approach to teaching English.

Sharma, R. K. 1986.

A study of the problems of teaching English in Bihar, Ph. D. thesis

Eng., Bhagalpur University.11

The main aim of the research was to study the position of English in

India and the problems of its teaching and learning in the schools and colleges

of Bihar.

137

R e l e v a n t i n f o r m a t i o n f o r t h e s t u d y w a s c o l l e c t e d f r o m v a r i o u s s o u r c e s

a l l o v e r t h e s t a t e o f B i h a r w i t h t h e t o o l s o f q u e s t i o n n a i r e s , f i e l d v i s i t s ,

i n t e r v i e w s , d i s c u s s i o n s e t c . w i t h H e a d s o f i n s t i t u t i o n s , s t u d e n t s , t e a c h e r s o f

E n g l i s h i n t h e s c h o o l s , c o l l e g e s , t r a i n i n g c o l l e g e s a n d u n i v e r s i t i e s i n B i h a r . T h e

r e s e a r c h e r a l s o s t u d i e d t h e s o c i o - p o l i t i c a l f a c t o r s a f f e c t i n g t h e p r o g r a m m e o f

t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h i n t h e s t a t e .

T h e m a j o r c o n c l u s i o n s o f t h e s t u d y w e r e —

i . D u r i n g t h e p a s t f e w d e c a d e s t h e s t a n d a r d o f E n g l i s h t e a c h i n g h a s

u n d e r g o n e a g r a d u a l f a l l o w i n g t o v a r i o u s r e a s o n s i n c l u d i n g t h e

s o c i o - e c o n o m i c o n e s .

i i . S h o r t a g e o f t r a i n e d a n d q u a l i f i e d t e a c h e r s r e s u l t e d i n i n e f f i c i e n t

t e a c h i n g o f E n g l i s h , t r a d i t i o n a l m e t h o d s a n d c o n s e r v a t i v e b a s e s o f

t e a c h i n g c o n t i n u e t o b e p r a c t i s e d w h i c h f a i l t o c o p e w i t h t h e

l a n g u a g e n e e d s o f t h e l e a r n e r s .

i i i . M i s c o n c e p t i o n r e g a r d i n g E n g l i s h L a n g u a g e T e a c h i n g , f a u l t y

t e a c h i n g m e t h o d s , u n p a l a t a b l e t e x t b o o k s a n d t h e i r m i s h a n d l i n g e t c .

w e r e t h e m a i n p r o b l e m s a t M i d d l e a n d H i g h S c h o o l s .

i v . I n c o l l e g e s f a u l t y t e a c h i n g m e t h o d s , i m p r o p e r s e l e c t i o n o f t e a c h i n g

i t e m s e t c . w e r e t h e m a i n p r o b l e m s . T e a c h i n g o f E n g l i s h i n c o l l e g e s

w a s m i s t a k e n a s t e a c h i n g o f E n g l i s h l i t e r a t u r e o n l y a n d p o i n t s o f

l i n g u i s t i c i n t e r e s t w e r e g e n e r a l l y i g n o r e d .

v . I n t r a i n i n g c o l l e g e s t h e p r o g r a m m e a p p e a r e d t o b e t h e o r e t i c a l o n l y .

138

vi. Students found difficulty in picking up correct pronunciation of

English. I4 interference was seen as one of the major factors

affecting learning of correct pronunciation,

vii There was confusion about the aims and objectives o f teaching

English at various stages.

Jain, Brij. 1987

A Study of English Language Teaching in the Secondary Schools of

Gujarat State. Ph.D thesis, Edu. the Maharaja Sayajirao University

ofBaroda. 12

This study attempts to examine in detail the teaching o f English in the

secondary Schools o f Baroda with regard to human resources, classroom

teaching, evaluation system, methods o f teaching used and difficulties

encountered by teachers. The main objectives w ere:

i. To examine the objectives of teaching English in a historical

perspective.

ii. To analyse the curriculum in view o f the objectives of teaching English.

iii. To survey the human and material resources available for teaching

English and their utilization in the classroom.

iv. To survey the methods of teaching English and evaluation.

v. To survey the difficulties encountered by teachers in teaching English.

Methodology: The sample was drawn from 76 schools from Baroda

District in Gujarat of which 60 were Gujarati-medium and 16 English medium

139

schools. Tools used were questionnaire, opiftionnaire and an interview schedule.

Necessary data were collected from 62 Heads of schools, 188 teachers and 3557

students.

Major findings:

The study comes out with the following findings :

i. Objectives of teaching English have been an evolutionary process that

have been made to undergo changes to suit different needs from time to

time and as of now the main emphasis is on acquiring the four skills of

language.

ii. As regards the human resources the vernacular-medium (Gujarati-

medium in this case) schools suffer from teacher incompetence as far as

their educational qualification as well as professional competence are

concerned as compared to the English-medium schools. In material

resources also these schools are in a disadvantaged position.

iii. Lecture and Grammar-Translation Method predominate with 70%

teachers using them in classroom teaching.

iv. Evaluation of students’ performance was not merely based on written

examination alone but also on internal assessment in which their oral

competence was also taken into consideration.

v. Teachers teaching English were found overburdened with teaching load,

clerical duties, cocurricular activities etc. Over crowded classrooms also

added to their burden.

1 4 0

B o r a h , K r i s h n a K a n t a . 1 9 8 8

A n a n a l y t i c a l s t u d y o f t h e f a i l u r e i n E n g l i s h b y t h e s t u d e n t s i n

H S L C e x a m i n a t i o n . M . A . D i s s e r t a t i o n , G . U .

T h i s s t u d y a i m s t o - < i ) I n v e s t i g a t e i n t o t h e c a u s e s o f f a i l u r e o f t h e

s t u d e n t s i n t h e s u b j e c t o f E n g l i s h i n t h e H S L C e x a m i n a t i o n , ( i i ) T o s u g g e s t

r e m e d i e s f o r t h e r e m o v a l o f t h e p r o b l e m s .

T h e s t u d y s i n g l e s o u t t h e f a c t o r s o f

I m p r o p e r u n d e r s t a n d i n g o f t h e g o a l s o f t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h , l a r g e c l a s s e s ,

p r o b l e m o f s u i t a b l e t e a c h i n g m e t h o d , l a c k o f p r o p e r s t u d y m a t e r i a l s , i m p a c t o f

p h o b i a f o r E n g l i s h o n s t u d e n t s , w r o n g a n d a r t i f i c i a l m e t h o d o f t e a c h i n g ,

d o m i n a n c e o f G r a m m a r T r a n s l a t i o n M e t h o d , i n e f f i c i e n c y o f t e a c h e r s , l a c k o f

p a r e n t s ' s e n s e o f r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , u n s u i t a b l e s c h o o l e n v i r o n m e n t , c u r r i c u l a r

d e f i c i e n c y , l a c k o f p r o p e r g r a m m a r t e a c h i n g , l a c k o f r e g u l a r u p d a t i n g o f

t e a c h e r s ' p r o f e s s i o n a l c o m p e t e n c e , l a c k o f s i n c e r i t y o n t h e p a r t o f t e a c h e r s a n d

t h e i m p a c t o f b a z a r n o t e s a s t h e m a i n c a u s e s o f f a i l u r e i n E n g l i s h b y t h e

s t u d e n t s .

R e m e d i e s S u g g e s t e d :

T h e i n v e s t i g a t o r o f f e r s s o m e s u g g e s t i o n s f o r i m p r o v i n g t h e s i t u a t i o n .

T h e s e a r e -

U s e o f m o d e m m e t h o d s o f t e a c h i n g E n g l i s h , c r e a t i o n o f f a v o u r a b l e

c l a s s r o o m s i t u a t i o n , i n c l u s i o n o f s u i t a b l e c u r r i c u l a r m a t e r i a l , t e a c h e r - e f f i c i e n c y

d e v e l o p m e n t t h r o u g h t r a i n i n g , c o m p u l s o r y g r a m m a r t e a c h i n g , h o l d i n g o f

s e m i n a r s , w o r k s h o p s e t c . a t r e g u l a r i n t e r v a l s , d e v e l o p m e n t o f l i b r a r y w i t h

s u i t a b l e E n g l i s h b o o k s , f r e e t i m e - t a b l e f o r t e a c h e r s i n s t e a d o f r i g i d o n e s a n d t h e

141

development of English Departments with atleast three English teachers in each

school.

Shome, Mandira. 1988.

The teaching of English in Secondary Schools : A study of its

problems for improvement with special reference to the schools of

Guwahati, M.Ed. dissertation, G.U.

This study, as the investigator states at the beginning, was carried out

with the following questions in the mind - what are the causes behind the low

performance and large-scale failure of the students of secondary schools of

Assam, particularly Guwahati, in English? Why are majority o f the students

weak in English? Is it the fault of the teaching method or the influence of some

other factors? The primary objectives of the study were thus

(i) To find out the methods of teaching English followed in the secondary

schools of Guwahati.

(ii) To find out their problems and

(iii) To suggest remedies.

The investigator surveys ten secondary schools o f Guwahati for her

study of which six are Higher Secondary Schools and four High Schools using

the tools of (1) Interview with Heads of Institutions (ii) Interview with teachers

[of English] (iii) Observation of class-teaching etc. The investigator comes out

with the findings that the teaching of English in the secondary schools of

Guwahati is plagued by the problems of pedagogic inadequacy to fulfil the aims

of teaching English, overcrowded classes, improper method of teaching,

inadequacy of proper reading materials, poor language aptitude of students,

heavy course, insufficient teaching time, indifferent attitude of students to

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learning English, weak grounding of students in mother tongue, incompetent

and untrained teachers, poor library facilities and Hindi superseding the

importance of English in some of the schools.

Solutions Offered :

The investigator offers suggestions for solution of the problems in terms of

replacement of the traditional method of teaching with modem and effective

methods with adoption of the situational approach, adoption o f the multiskill

approach, providing sufficient drilling of learning materials, providing adequate

training to teachers, sufficient exposure to students by means of suitable reading

materials, debates, extempore, symposia etc., putting emphasis on the spoken

aspect of the language and equipping the students with the working knowledge

of English rather than mastery of its structures, avoidance of the practice of

giving homework in favour of effective and exhaustive classroom teaching,

holding of oral tests, weekly examinations, and seminar among students and

teachers' use of English in the classroom etc.

Sarnia, Madan Mohan. 1991.

Errors in written English of Assamese Learners at the Higher

Secondary Level - A study of Pedagogical implications. Ph.D. Thesis,

Dibrugarh University.13

This study focusses on the problem of acquiring English as a Second

Language (L2) in the classroom where English is not the language of

interaction. It also critically examines learners' errors as part of their

interlanguage system. The main objectives of the study were to (1) Identify and

also describe in linguistic terms the errors in English committed by Assamese

143

learners at the Higher Secondary level coming from diverse social backgrounds

(2) To discover and explain the linguistic, psychological and sociological

factors that cause these errors and (3) To suggest necessary changes in the

approach to the teaching of English as a second language in Assam and

consequent changes in the development of teaching materials and methodology

The data for the study were collected from 207 students and 30 teachers

of English chosen from three higher secondary schools and a college of

Tinsukia district. The data were of two types - one relating to the L2 (English)

teaching-learning situation and the other on errors made by students in their

written English The same also covered the language-learning background and

parental status of the learners.

The major findings of the study revealed that 73% of the sentences

written by the learners contained one or more errors while 79% of the errors

emerged as serious and these occurred in word-order. S-V concord, verbs,

lexical items, sequences of tenses, prepositions, articles and negative focus 'yes'

’no' questions. The error-prone areas of the learners are identified as article

'The', prepositions, S-V concords, negative questions, sequences of tenses,

passive, relative clauses and conditional clauses. Only 39.7% of the errors could

be traced to single sources - the major sources of errors being- language

transfer, ignorance of L2 rules, false assumptions about L2 rules, ignorance of

rule-restrictions and teaching learning situation. The study also identifies the

learning strategies adopted by the learners which generally included

differentiation, simplification, overgeneralization, categorization and extension.

144

translation, transfer and communicative' strategies of paraphrasing and

circumlocution.

Mazumdar, Angira. 1992.

A study of the Relationship between attitude towards and

achievement in English of standard EX students in the Guwahati

City. M. Phil., dissertation, North-Eastern Hill University,

Shillong.14

The study attempts to survey the levels of achievement in English of

class IX students and also their attitude to English.

This study was undertaken with the following objectives -

i) To construct an achievement test in English for standard DC students in

Guwahati city.

ii) To construct an attitude scale for measuring the attitude of standard IX

students towards English.

iii) To find out the relationship between attitude towards and achievement in

English of standard DC students in Guwahati City.

The sample selected for the study comprised 500 students of standard DC

selected from 10 high schools of Guwahati City using stratified random

sampling technique. The tools used were an achievement test in English for

class DC students prepared by the investigator, and an attitude scale. The

collected data were treated using descriptive statistics, *t* test and Pearson's

product moment correlation.

Major findings of the study were -

145

i. There were statistically significant differences between the achievement

scores as well as attitude scores of students attending government and

private schools with the latter category of students showing higher

scores.

ii. There were no significant differences between boys and girls in respect

of their achievement and attitude scores.

iii. The co-efficient of correlation between achievement in English and

attitude towards English for the entire sample was positive.

Sankarappan, R. 1992

A study of some variables related to achievement in English of

standard IX pupils in Madurai District in Tamilnadu. M.Phil

dissertation, Edu. Annamalai University.15

This study attempts to probe into standard IX pupils' attitudes towards

and interests in the study of the English language, perceptions of the

effectiveness of their English teachers and its effects on their achievement

against their sex, residence and their parents' literacy level. The sample of the

study comprised 490 pupils of class IX chosen from 10 different schools of

Madurai district of Tamilnadu.

The study comes out with the finding that sex, residence of pupils and

literacy level of parents had no impact on the attitude of students to the study of

English while these factors had a significant role to play in respect of interest of

students to the study of English. In their perception of the level of effectiveness

of their English teachers also sex, residence, parental status led to no significant

146

difference. But in respect of achievement pupils of urban areas and literate

parents did better than those belonging to rural areas and illiterate parents.

Again positive relationship between attitude and interest and achievement as

well as teacher effectiveness and achievement could also be noticed as the study

revealed.

Unissa, Syalath. 1995.

An Investigation Into Factors leading to low Achievement in English

at the Secondary level, M.Phil dissertation, C1EFL, Hyderabad.

The study investigates the factors which result in low achievement at the

privately managed English medium High Schools of the old city of Hyderabad,

Andhrapradesh. The study was based on two fundamental questions namely-

(a) Is the language learning situation at the old city schools of Hyderabad

conducive for the learning of English? and (b) What are the important factors

that result in the language proficiency of learners ?

The study comes out with the findings that the main factors responsible

for the low achievement of students in English are the following —

i. Inadequate exposure.

ii. As evident with oral communication with the teachers many of them

seemed to possess a. Inadequate proficiency in English, b. Incomplete

understanding of the teaching-learning objectives, c. Large nos. of the

teachers are not trained up.

iii. Apparent negative attitude of teachers' towards the learners' capabilities.

147

iv. Most of the teachers appear to have no knowledge of some of the theories

and basic issues related to the teaching of Lj This calls for a theoretical

orientation of the teachers

v. No understanding on students' contribution to learning.

vi. No libraries and other facilities in the schools.

vii Home background, community do not support learning the language.

Though this study relates to the privately run English medium schools of the

old city of Hyderabad the factors sorted out are of universal nature and therefore

likely to lead to low achievement in learning English at the secondary level

irrespective of the medium of instruction followed by the schools.

Rajagopalan, S.

A study of the relationship of certain environmental factors to

teaching success in English achieved at the school stage. A project

financed by the UGC, New Delhi (and report thereof) published in

CIEFL monograph -I, CIEFL, Hyderabad.

This project studies the impact of certain environmental factors on the

achievement level in learning English at the school stage in the districts of

South Arcot and Thanjavar and the Madras City (Tamil Nadu). The study uses

teacher-situation inventor)’ as the main tool for collection of data and the same

is administered to 375 teachers in 25 schools of the above area.

This project comes out with the following recommendations : -

i. Steps should be taken to effect improvement in the school library

and to promote greater co-operation and understanding among all the

teachers of English working in the same school

148

ii. School-community relationship'needs to be improved.

iii. Parents' attitude to education of their children and teachers should be

studied.

iv. Teachers of English should change their method of teaching.

v. Proper care should be taken too in the selection, training and

recruitment of personnel for teaching English.

Lotherington, Heather. 1998

Trends and Tensions in Post-colonial Language Education in the

South Pacific. Research paper published in International Journal o f

Bilingual Education and Bilingualism, Vol. 1 No. 1 ,1998 .16

This research paper overviews the trends in language education across

11 small island states in the South Pacific and notes the difficulties inherent in

regional implementation of chosen bilingual educational models. The paper

situates language policy both historically and socially and explores the

realization of present day policies in public school education and mass media

with particular interest in the competing educational motives of economic

development and cultural maintenance. In the conclusion recommendations for

more ecological language policies and practices for the Pacific Island states are

made.

As the investigator states formal language and literacy education in the

small island states in the South Pacific began at the turn of the 19th Century

with the arrival of the British missionaries in eastern Polynesia with their

evangelical agenda. The history of education in the above region witnesses

gradual evolution from an insular vernacular model set in motion at the turn of

149

the 19th century to serve an evangelical agenda to an elite model to serve

colonial interests followed by a demand for more Pacific orientation in the

colonial model to suit the language demography and cultural geography in the

South Pacific region. Throughout the South Pacific education is provided

principally in a colonial language such as English, French or Spanish. This

paper considers English-stream language Education in Fiji, the Solomon Islands

and Vanuatu, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu and Western

Samoa, Kiribati and Nauru etc.

Talking on the present trends and attendant problems in the language

education the investigator states that Bilingual Education does not yet take a

strong form in any South Pacific countries. The basic problem that attends the

programme of Bilingual Education in the region is the teachers' inadequate

proficiency levels in English. The investigator observes that for the most part

teachers themselves have inadequate proficiency levels in English. Often use of

the vernacular is simply continued as the defacto medium of the classroom.

Code-mixing and code-switching are also widely reported. Another setback the

submersion bilingual education suffers in the region is the gap that exists

between policy and practice as well as lack o f community support Talking of

this situation in some of the Melanesian countries like the Solomon Islands and

Vanuatu the investigator observes that the supportive conditions needed for

successful implementation o f the programme is not met and as English is not

used in the community as it is in Fizi, the language must be learned in the

classroom. But that does not happen in the classroom. As the paper states in

policy English is used in the classroom; in practice however teachers often rely

150

on vernacular communication. As primary school teachers are themselves

products of submersion schooling their proficiency as well as confidence in

English is often lacking. Children are expected to acquire literacy skills in

English to a threshold level enabling them to do cognitively demanding work

through an English print medium in classrooms where there is insufficient oral

support resulting in immersion education becoming submersion.

Towards the end the paper throws light on the ascending educational

focus on the colonial languages, particularly English and the resultant

educational and socio-cultural devaluation of vernacular literacy education and

the increasing role played by mass media like television in learning English.

Deka, Bhanu. 2000

A Study of the Problem of Teaching English in Assamese Medium

Schools (from classes V m to X) in Tihu Mouza. M.Ed. Dissertation,

G.U.

The study undertakes to sort out the much-talked-about problem of

teaching English in the Assamese Medium Secondary Schools in a particular

region of Lower Assam i.e. the Tihu Mouza. Based on the hypotheses that (i)

Teachers teaching English in the Assamese Medium schools face more

problems than those working in the English medium schools and (2) Students

studying in English medium schools score better than their Assamese-medium

counterparts. This study had the following objectives -

(i) To study the problems faced by the teachers teaching English in the

Assamese medium High Schools in Tihu Mouza, (ii) To study the different

methods and techniques adopted by the teachers in the classroom situation, (iii)

151

To make a comparative study of performance of trained and untrained teachers

in the teaching of English in the Assamese Medium Schools, (iv) To find out

the reasons why majority of the students of the Assamese Medium Schools fail

in English in Annual Examinations.

Major findings o f the study include the following -

Majority of the English teachers are untrained, male teachers are larger

in number than female teachers, teachers o f both English and Assamese

Medium Schools face similar kinds of problems, highest percentage of teachers

find the course not objective-oriented, most teachers are divided over their

opinions on the aims. They are not aware of the true aims of English teaching at

the school stage, majority of the teachers use the traditional Grammar-

Translation Method, Direct Method and Bilingual Method are used by few

teachers and these two methods are yet to gain access to the Assamese Medium

schools, there is difference in performance between trained and untrained

teachers. Trained teachers perform better than untrained teachers. Trained

teachers prefer modem techniques o f teaching while untrained teachers prefer

traditional techniques, and that students studying in Assamese-Medium schools

fail to score on par with their English Medium counterparts owing to their low

interest, unsuitable teaching method and defective syllabus.

The Investigator offers the following suggestions :

i. Only B. Ed. qualified candidates with English method should be

appointed for teaching English.

ii. Number of periods for English should be increased.

152

iii. The school library should contain books not only for students but also

for teachers of English so that teachers can keep themselves uptodate in

their professional knowledge and expertise.

iv. Teachers should promote English speaking practice in the schools.

Das, Nilakantha. 2000

A Critical Analysis of Mass failure in English in the High School

Leaving Certificate Examination of SEBA. Ph. D. Thesis, G. U.

This study analyses the results of the HSLC examination under SEBA

during the period from 1987 to 1992. Its main objectives were —

(i) To critically analyse the factors responsible for mass failure in English

in the HSLC examination.

(ii) To suggest remedial measures for improvement of the situation of

English Teaching at the school stage.

The findings of the study are : -

i) The main cause of large number of failures is the absence of any real

selection or screening of students at any stage - primary or secondary.

ii) Quality of teaching personnel, the method of teaching, teaching

equipment in majority of the schools need to be improved.

iii) Present day students' casual attitude to examination considering it only

as an end in itself and their consequent abstention from any serious

studies affect their performance in examination.

iv) Students of Assamese medium and rural schools faced more difficulties

in learning English, particularly in composition, the difficulties being in

153

the areas of grammatical forms', use of suitable words, spelling,

prepositions and phrasal verbs.

v) Most teachers expressed dissatisfaction over the time allotted to English

teaching, suitability of the type of questions asked in the English

Second paper pertaining to composition items.

vi) Teachers’ role in classroom favouring autonomy of students in learning

rather than authoritarian-attitude that disfavours their free and joyful

learning is of crucial importance in teaching and learning.

vii) Female teachers are found to be better than male teachers in their role as

facilitator o f learning.

viii) Rural teachers concentrate more on the content part o f lessons than the

urban English teachers. And the higher is the concentration on the

content part the lesser is the students’ achievement in the language.

ix) Teachers of the Assamese medium schools are dominating more than

their English medium counterparts. Over-domination leads to poor pupil

participation and is detrimental to pupil achievement

Other factors held responsible in this regard as per the findings of the

study include lack of sense of responsibility on the part of teachers,

mismanagement in the Assamese medium schools, recruitment of ineligible

teachers, lack of achievement motivation, proper aptitude of students etc.

Recommendations offered -

i. The professional competence of the English teachers should be

improved.

154

ii. There should be more intensive practice introduced in the classroom to

help students acquire the language skills. Loud reading is to be

encouraged. *

iii. Teaching time is to be increased to facilitate more grammar and

composition classes.

iv. Teachers should do their best to motivate students to learn English.

Students should also reciprocate.

v. Increased use o f teaching aids is to be promoted.

vi. Teachers should inculcate achievement motivation in pupils and reduce

their achievement anxiety.

vii. Practice of providing feedback is to be improved.

viii. Teachers should be motivated through orientation programme etc. Tests

should be held from time to time to assess their talent and grip in the

subject.

Barbara, Madhumita. 2001

Comps (COMPs) in Assamese : Implications for Second Language

Acquisition, PfcuD Thesis, Tezpur University.

» This work examines the comp, position in Assamese and the Acquisition

of English (L2) by native Assamese (Lj) speakers in a formal set up. The

researcher after a study o f the acquisition o f 'Wh'- and 'Yes' 'No' questions and

the 'finite' complement clauses' comes to the conclusion that the degree of

success depends largely on how the parameter values o f the L2 are set against

those o f the LI. Universal Grammar (UG) operates independently in the L2

acquisition process. And the degree o f success is determined by the factors of

parameter setting, mother tongue interference, the teaching-learning

1 5 5

environment and the quality of input. Other factors affecting the process include

fossilization and age [of the learners].

The work also focusses on the position of English in Assam with

particular reference to a comparative study of the acquisition status o f the

learners of Assamese Medium versus English medium schools in the state.

Students of the Assamese medium schools suffer, as the study reveals, from

factors [problems] like inadequate exposure to the target language (TL), the

mother-tongue pull unlike their English medium counterparts who have

relatively a greater amount o f exposure and a lesser degree of mother tongue

pull. The English teachers also have to play a crucial role in the acquisition

process of L2 by the learners as they [the teachers] are the direct source of

input, the study opined.

Ramanathan, Vai. 2002

What does 'Literate in English' mean ? Divergent Literacy practices

for vernacular vs. English-medium students in India. Research

paper published in the Canadian Modem Language Review-volume

59, No. I September 2002.17

This paper offers a close analysis of how English is presented and taught in

state mandated vernacular and English-medium textbooks used in Grades K-12

in Gujarat, India. Based on an extended, ethnographically oriented project that

explores English language learning and teaching in India, this paper argues that

the divergent English instructions as presented in the textbooks contribute to

producing two different kinds of student populations, drawing as these texts do

on very different cultural models regarding "being literate in English'. The paper

156

also relates the implications of such differences to the unequal distribution of

social goods in the larger Indian Society.

Based on data gathered over five years the project involves studying the

ways in which English is located in divergent educational scenes in the city of

Ahmedabad, in Gujarat, India. The general point of the overall project is to gain

a relatively comprehensive understanding of how a colonial instrument such as

English works in and with current post-colonial realities to produce neo-colonial

contexts. The paper studies with particular interest the transition that students

make from their high school and ways in which they contend with English at the

college level. The paper comes out with the finding that because college-level

professional courses in India are offered primarily in English students schooled

in the vernacular-medium [in this case Gujarati] find themselves seriously

disadvantaged at the tertiary level because their English proficiency at the end

of twelfth Grade is generally deemed lacking for college level work.

This disadvantaged position suffered by vernacular-medium products is

the result of, the paper finds, low-income background of the students,

institutionally mandated practices such as tracking and an over-emphasis on the

teaching of English literature instead of English language. Other factors that

keep these students from accessing English and the social goods that fluency in

English indexes thus keeping them in their disadvantaged position include

particular state and nation-wide educational policies as well as local institutional

practices instead of the more sophisticated /advanced westernised practices

prevalent in upper middle class English medium settings. Thus another

significant finding of the study is that students from low-income family

157

backgrounds are disadvantaged not only because of their vernacular-medium

background but because of the indigenous teaching practices they have been

socialised into which doesnot prepare them for instruction in English medium

colleges. But on top of all it is the less ’Powerful' set of English-literacy models

as represented by the vernacular medium (GM) textbooks that keep such

students contented with learning only survival English and deprived of exposure

to cosmopolitan texts, to reading and writing 'critically' about social/textual

issues, to working independently, to voicing opinions etc.

Das, Debajit. 2002

The Problem faced by the students of the secondary schools of

Palasbari Revenue Circle in Learning English. M.Ed. Dissertation,

G.U.

This study was conducted with the following objectives —

(i) To find out the main problems of the students of the secondary schools

of Palasbari Revenue Circle in learning English.

(ii) To find out the major weaknesses of the English Teaching Methods used

in the schools of the said region for the failure of the students to learn

English.

(iii) To find out if the teachers are also responsible for the failure of the

students to learn English.

(iv) To find out if the schools of the said region have been able to provide

die necessary infrastructure for teaching and learning English.

(v) To offer proper and practical solutions to the problems to be found

during the study.

158

Major Findings of the Study:

The investigator sorts out the following problems as confronting the

schools under study.

i. Majority of the students are weak or average in English.

ii. Lack of proper teaching at school and lack of use o f English in day-to-

day life.

iii. Dominance of Grammar Translation Method and Bilingual Method.

iv. Poor aptitude of students for learning English.

v. Lack of parental support and guidance at home.

vi. Lack o f proper infrastructure at school.

vii. Negligence of spoken aspect of English.

viii. Professional incompetence o f teachers o f English.

Suggestions for Remedy:

The Investigator offers the following measures to improve the situation -

i. Students should be given more written assignments in English to

improve their written English.

ii. Grammar Translation and Bilingual Method should be replaced with

Direct Method.

iii. English speaking should be made mandatory in English classes.

iv. Teachers should use Audio-visual Aids while teaching.

v. Training in ELT should be made compulsory for all English teachers.

vi. The school library should be improved with suitable English books,

dictionaries etc.

159

vii. Regular talks, seminars etc. should be organised.

viii. Spoken English classes should be organised during vacations.

ix. Guardians should be made aware of their responsibilities to their wards'

studies.

x. English teachers should be made accountable for the achievement of

their students.

Hassan, Fauziah and Selamat, Nit a Fauzee. 2002.

Why aren't students proficient in ESL : The Teachers' Perspective.

Research Study Published in ENGLISH TEACHER, 2000.18

This study investigated teacher perceptions of the reasons for Secondary

Level students' low proficiency in English on the basis of data collected through

questionnaires and interviews from 58 secondary teachers chosen from the

central region of Malaysia. While addressing the deteriorating standards of

English the authors identify teaching, more specifically the gap between

curricular expectations and the real classroom practices or focus in

implementing them as one of the significant contributing variables. The central

focus of the Secondary Level English Language Programme in Malaysia is the

development o f the four language skills i.e. reading, writing, listening, speaking

which are clearly outlined in the curriculum and classroom practice is expected

to reflect them. The purpose of the study is to investigate how far the real

classroom practice reflects the curricular expectations or specifications on the

basis of teachers' perception of their classroom practices, of the effectiveness of

the syllabus in developing learners' language skills, of the examination and of

160

the challenges faced by ESL learners. The following are the major conclusions

of the study—

That-

i. Teaching and testing both in schools and in the national examinations

focussed mainly on two language skills - writing and reading. Listening

and speaking are found to be much neglected in the classroom.

ii. Speaking is the learners' weakest skill.

iii. Students are reported to be weak in writing also and the researchers

identify the following as the contributing factors to the low English

proficiency among most learners.

a) Limited opportunity to use English outside the classroom.

b) Negative attitude towards English

c) Lack of confidence.

d) Lack of motivation.

e) Insufficient exposure to English.

f) Imbalanced focus of language skills.

g) Ineffective syllabus.

h) Inadequate teaching material

i) Ineffective teaching methodology.

j) Lack o f time to study

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Kousik, Prahelika. 2003

A study of teaching English in the secondary stage of education with

special reference to the secondary schools of Greater Nagaon. M.

Ed. Dissertation, G. U.

This study is undertaken with the following objectives —

i. To study the methodology adopted in teaching English,

ii. To study the performance of students in English.

iii. To make a comparative study of the trained and untrained

teachers in teaching English.

iv. To study the problems faced by teachers in teaching English.

v. To give workable suggestions.

The investigator conducts the study in the schools of Greater Nagaon

town area and the tools used for collection of data were an interview schedule

for Headmasters and Principals, a questionnaire for teachers of English and

another questionnaire for students.

The study concludes with the following major findings - majority of the

teachers are trained but only a few of them are trained in ELT, there are

problems like the problem of large classes, the problem of students'

dissatisfaction with teaching, the problem of lack of interest on the part of the

students to learn English, the problem of inadequate stock and use of teaching

aids and the problem of absence of remedial teaching. The other findings that

deserve mention are students' being happy with the school environment, the

satisfactory practice of providing feedback and students' preference for female

162

teachers to male teachers. The suggestion put forth include appointment of

specially qualified teachers, arrangement of in-service training for teachers,

increasing the number of teaching periods to ensure coverage of syllabus,

ensuring of arrangements to get rid of the constraints of large classes,

arrangement of remedial teaching, use of teaching aids in the class and

improvement of the school library with suitable books not only for the students

but also for the teachers.

Cameron, Lynne 2003

Challenges for ELT from the expansion in teaching children.

Research paper published in ELT Journal, volume 57/2 April 2003.

This paper discusses the challenges confronting the wider field of ELT

in the wake of the continuing expansion of teaching English to young learners,

particularly at the secondary level of schooling. It argues that teacher education

and the secondary level language teaching programme and for that matter the

progamme of ELT have to rise to the challenges of the new situation. Such a

move calls for, the paper argues, an endeavour at a deeper understanding of a

number of related issues, - child foreign language learning approach,

developing appropriate assessment, a change in approach at the switch to the

secondary level and making realistic decisions about training teachers.

The paper lists two major areas of impact on the secondary level ELT

scenario from the on-going expansion of teaching English to young learners that

warrant serious attention (1) The secondary school teachers of English have to

cope with - classes of mixed ability groups of students ranging from proficient

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readers and writers to those in need of remedial help, (ii) Secondly they have to

cope with the task of maintaining or restoring motivation over a long period of

learning spread over 10 or so years. They have to guard against the element of

demotivation that students may fall victim to at this transitional stage following

unsuccessful early learning. Even remotivation to those who already feel that

they can't succeed in learning may also have to be considered a challenging

responsibility of these teachers. Referring to situations arising out of such

expansions in the UK during 1960s and 70s and its resultant impact on the ELT

situation at the secondary stage Lynne Cameron, the author, argues that finding

enough teachers with appropriate skills to keep pace with the expansion in

English Teaching is yet another challenge confronted in this field.

The author endeavours to explore the nature of child foreign language

learning so that the insights gained from such an exploration might help us

conceptualize language as the content and goal of ELT and then evolve a

successful programme on teaching English to young learners.

Child foreign language learning is characterised, the author states, by

two key aspects. We have to consider - (1) How children react when they

encounter new language and also consider. (II) The implication of the fact that

children don't come to foreign language learning with established literacy skills.

Children see the foreign language 'from the inside' and try to find

meaning in how the language is used in action, interaction and with intention

rather than 'from the outside' as a system and form. As a result even if the

syllabus they are taught are structural their learning remains communicative.

And herein emerges another challenge to the ELT programme. For if teaching

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or materials fall short of fulfilling the child’s search for meaning in language,

learning will be stultified As solutions to the dual problems of motivating

pupils over longer periods of learning and of building on very varied levels of

skills of learners the author suggests a course that is at once comprehensive and

learner-friendly that incorporates the use of differentiated tasks, provision of

remedial literacy skills teaching, increasing learner autonomy and more

drastically adopting a different approach altogether.

Leading the pupils on to the stage where they would learn to take an 'outside'

stance to the language and work with it as deeontextualised is yet another

challenge or problem faced by the teachers at the secondary level. To overcome

this problem the author calls upon those concerned with the ELT programme to

make realistic decisions about evolving an appropriate programme of teacher

education with focus on the aspects of - (i) an understanding of how children

think and learn (ii) Skills and knowledge in spoken English to conduct whole

lessons orally and to pick up children's interests and use them for language

teaching (iii) being equipped to teach initial literacy in English.

Koktto, Pukcho. 2003

Error Analysis : Problems and Prospects: A Diagnostic study of

Mao students at +2 Level. A project work submitted in partial

fulfilment for the Award of the Master in English Literature,

CIEFL, Regional Centre, Shillong.

This study was carried out to investigate the causes of errors made in

written English by the students at the +2 Level. Based on two written tests of

controlled and uncontrolled categories namely essay writing and tests of some

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grammar points like articles, prepositions, verbs, proper word-order etc.

conducted with 40 XII standard students from two schools the investigator finds

that the factors responsible for error making as postulated by Dulay, Burt and

Krashen like mother tongue interference, overgeneralization, ignorance of rule

restrictions, incomplete application of rules, false concepts hypothesised operate

in the case of the Mao students under study besides factors like lack of learner

autonomy, lack of professional competence of teachers and inadequate

motivation etc. The remedial measures suggested include designing of

curriculum with an eye on the learner needs, enhancement of interaction, proper

training to teachers, examination reforms like testing the communicative

competence of students rather than structural correctness and promotion of

harmonious teacher-student relationship.

Hazarika, Mousumee. 2004

Problems faced by the students of the secondary schools of the

Jagiroad Revenue Town in learning English. M. Ed. Dissertation,

G.U.

This study has the following objectives —

(i) To find out the main problems of the students of the secondary schools

of Jagiroad Revenue Town in learning English.

(ii) To find out the major weaknesses of the English teaching methods used

in the schools of the Jagiroad Revenue Town.

(lii) To find out if teachers are also responsible for the failure of the students

to learn English.

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(iv) To find out if the secondary schools of the Jagiroad Revenue Town have

been able to provide the necessary infrastructure for teaching and

learning of English.

(v) To offer proper and practical solutions to the problems to be found

during the study.

The investigator used questionnaires with students, teachers of English

and Heads o f Institutions for the purpose of collection of necessary data for the

study.

The problem is looked at from three angles and from three points of

view - namely students' point of view, teachers' point of view and Heads of the

Institutions' point of view and the investigator concludes that the problems

encountered by the students in question include the dearth of competent

teachers, the over dependence on the Grammar-Translation Method, inadequate

infrastructure facilities, paucity of resources, lack of proper guidance at home

and insincerity of students. The suggestion for remediation o f the problems are

arrangement of teacher training at regular intervals, replacement of the

Grammar Translation Method with the Direct Method, improvement of

infrastructure facilities, improvement of teaching and learning resources,

increase in guardian awareness among others.

The above studies thus embody a broad spectrum of similar researches

done into investigating the problems of teaching as well as learning English at

different times and climes and suggesting solutions for their redressal. While

most of the studies reviewed are concerned with problems of teaching and

learning English in general with reference to particular situations, the few others

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deal with some specific factors that either affect or boost up the teaching of

English mostly as a second language. A common and recurrent concern of these

studies, by and large, has been the endeavour to delve deep into the problems

with micro-level details in the light of what is useful and effective in the native

situation keeping at a bay the vagaries of imported or borrowed methodological

and pedagogic prescriptions. Besides, looking at the teaching and learning of

English as juxtaposed against that of the vernacular (LI) since the latter has a

crucial role to play in the process of acquisition o f the former has also attracted

a few researchers. The search for an alternative curricular framework to suit the

native situation, the problem of divergent literacy practices in English in the

context of vernacular versus English medium schooling in India, the rural-urban

divide, the impact of socio-economic and cultural environment o f home and

community, variation in impact on the basis of sex, training status and

experience of teachers, the role of psycholinguistic factors like interest and

attitude of learners to the study of English, the problem of linguistic and

communicative abilities of teachers, the socio-linguistic implications, the

infrastructural inadequacy, the problem of selecting proper methodology, the

problem of comprehension, low proficiency, the problem of teacher

empowerment, the problem of factors responsible for students' failure in English

and above all the theory-practice gap in ELT are some of the major problems

dealt with in the studies reviewed. The objectives of all these studies are to

investigate the problems or the causes thereof, suggest workable solutions for

their eradication and thereby ensure better teaching and learning of English. The

vernacular- medium secondary schools of the district o f Kamrup also merit a

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study of the kind in view of the urgent need for re-orienting the ELT practices

here to meet the demands of the present day world and the insights gained from

the above studies are expected to help the investigator toe the right track in

carrying on his research.

References;

1. Fifth Survey o f Educational Research (1988-92) (Voll.-II), New Delhi .

NCERT, 2000:752

2. Buch, M.B. (ed.) Third Survey o f Research in Education, (1978-83), New

Delhi: NCERT, 1987 : 596-597.

3. Buch, M.B. (ed.). Fourth Survey o f Research in Education, (1983-88), (Vol.-

I), New Delhi: NCERT, 1991 : 629.

4. Ib id : 672-673.

5. Ib id : 644-645.

6. Ibid • 670.

7. Fifth Survey o f Educational Research (1988-92) (Vol.-II): 761-762

8. Fourth Survey o f Research in Education (Vol-I) : 626.

9. Ib id : 664 - 665.

10. Ib id : 658-659.

11. Ib id :661.

12. Fifth Survey o f Educational Research, (Vol. I I ) : 750-751.

13. Ib id : 778

14. Ib id : 1887.

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15. Ib id : 777-778.16. http://www.multilingual- matters.net / beb / 001/0065/beb 0010065.pdf.17. UTPJOURNALS.COM18. h ttp : // www. melta. org. my4//ET/2002/wp 10. htm 3/7/07.