{"id":134,"date":"2010-03-26T10:55:08","date_gmt":"2010-03-26T10:55:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.eltweekly.com\/elt-newsletter\/?p=62"},"modified":"2010-03-26T10:55:08","modified_gmt":"2010-03-26T10:55:08","slug":"55-article-factors-and-problems-of-teaching-english-as-second-language-at-rural-areas-by-nukesh-yellapu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltweekly.humbeestudio.xyz\/?p=134","title":{"rendered":"#55, Article: ‘Factors and Problems of Teaching English as Second Language at Rural Areas’ by Nukesh Yellapu"},"content":{"rendered":"

Factors and Problems of Teaching English as Second Language at Rural Areas for +1 Students in Andhra Pradesh<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nukesh Yellapu, M.A.,B.Ed.<\/p>\n

With the long and varied experience of teaching English to young students in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh at +1 level, the columnist would like to share some of the vengeances and their probable remedies in teaching English as second language. The main aim of the essay is to dispel the illusion of English language learning. It tells that English can be learnt comfortably even by the people who were born and bred up in adverse conditions.<\/p>\n

Most of the students accomplish their schooling in their mother tongue i.e. Telugu. Though they have attained heaps of marks in core subjects, they remain very poor at English still. The students have an unknown fear and fever over English all these years. Now, let us examine some of the various factors which make English as a souring grape for rural students even today.<\/p>\n

To begin with, the first and the fore most factor is the socio-cultural and financial background of the family. As most of the parents are illiterate, they cannot directly take part in the daily routine of their children though they aspire for their childrens’ future prospect. Hence, the students’ performance lacks parental supervision and guidance which is very necessary at this part of their education. The illiterate parents cannot realise what their children pursuing neither they do afford time to consult the teacher about the progression in studies of their children. Every minute during the day time is valuable for them as they have to struggle to get their livelihood. The boy or girl is also sent for work on wages at the specified time of the year which affects their education very dearly.<\/p>\n

An interesting observation studies that the performance in English of the students whose parents are employees and belong\u00a0to higher middle class is better than that of the students whose\u00a0parents are illiterate and belong to lower middle class. The\u00a0probable reason perhaps is that the parents in the first case can\u00a0spare time to consult the teacher about the on going of their\u00a0children once a while and can guide them if necessary. Thus there\u00a0has emerged an undesirable difference between the two classes.<\/p>\n

Consequently, It is established in rural areas as a proven fact to\u00a0say that English is tough to study and understand despite the fact\u00a0that English is the easiest language in the world to learn.<\/p>\n

But it was also proved every now and then that the students\u00a0from the second group also showed greater interest and expertism\u00a0in English Language Learning. The credit goes to the student and\u00a0their teacher who was successful in inculcating curiosity among\u00a0the students in spite of their financial irregularities and improper\u00a0brought up. So, mere poverty cannot create a gulf between\u00a0students and their English language efficiency.<\/p>\n

The second major problem is the inefficiency of the\u00a0teachers. These students generally pursue their studies in\u00a0Government public schools in which the medium of instruction is\u00a0Telugu, their mother tongue. The methodology of ELT in these\u00a0schools is bilingual or translation method. The teachers simply\u00a0translate every thing into their mother tongue and explain them on\u00a0the name of bilingual or translation method. Though this method\u00a0offers them sound knowledge in the content, it prevents them in\u00a0acquiring communication abilities in English which has become\u00a0the norm of the day. The teacher here plays more as a translator\u00a0than a genuine English teacher. Hence, virtually, there is no\u00a0much difference between a telugu teacher and an English teacher.<\/p>\n

The English teachers at these schools are untrained and more over\u00a0they are unaware of the current trends and techniques of ELT.<\/p>\n

The reason for these unskilled English teachers may be as a\u00a0result of the Government policy of promoting school teachers as\u00a0Junior Lecturers in colleges. The Andhra Pradesh Government\u00a0used to have a strategy of promoting school teachers as Junior\u00a0Lecturers. A certain quota or amount of teachers were recruited as\u00a0JLs on promotion. It enabled a school teacher who taught any\u00a0subject (not English, mandatory) was entitled to be promoted as\u00a0Junior Lecturer in English provided that the teacher has a post\u00a0graduation certificate in English. The columnist personally knew\u00a0a teacher who taught Science at school for 20 years and held\u00a0various positions in District school administration became a\u00a0Junior Lecturer in English later; and even worse case was that\u00a0another teacher who taught Hindi for more than two decades\u00a0happened to be a JL in English. Fortunately, The Government\u00a0has decided to drop this G.O. very recently.<\/p>\n

The case with many of the private English medium schools in\u00a0rural areas is no better than this. The situation is even worse with\u00a0them. The teachers who teach English are those who persuaded\u00a0their schooling in English medium and failed in Intermediate and\u00a0so. The columnist doesn’t consider this is the case with every\u00a0organization, but with most of them. Definitely, this kind of \u00a0teachers make English as a nightmare to students and they\u00a0instigate students to habituate by-heart method which deprived\u00a0students the communication abilities in English. Thus English\u00a0appeared or is rather made as a dreadful demon or a dangerous\u00a0monster for long years in Andhra Pradesh.<\/p>\n

Another probable reason is that the modal of the final English\u00a0examination paper. It has not been designed in a manner that it\u00a0helps students to have an authority over English language rather it\u00a0make the students to take it for granted. The examinations used to\u00a0be content based where the students were supposed to write 3\u00a0essays in the exam. Thus students were forced to adopt by-heart\u00a0method. Their memory works helps than their intelligence there.\u00a0They reproduce the essays in the examination.<\/p>\n

The other factor which affects English language learning is the\u00a0educational system itself . There are primarily four skills involved\u00a0in English language learning i.e. Listening, Speaking, Reading\u00a0and Writing (LSRW). The students of Andhra Pradesh have been\u00a0tutored and trained well enough in reading and writing for long\u00a0ages. But Listening and Speaking skills which play a greater role\u00a0in communication have been neglected and ignored. Thus our\u00a0educational system lacks an important dimension . It enables the\u00a0students to concentrate on reading and writing only. The final\u00a0examination does also test them mainly on how good their\u00a0memory is. The examinations are not language-oriented.\u00a0Even parents are craving for marks than knowledge.<\/p>\n

Consequently, result oriented teaching has been adopted in\u00a0schools. Students are guided and specially trained to concentrate\u00a0only on the areas where they can score better. Hence, they neglect\u00a0the other two basic skills.<\/p>\n

Listening is the one basic skill which makes speaking possible.<\/p>\n

Nobody can speak a language without listening to it. Even an\u00a0infant starts speaking in a particular language after listening to it\u00a0for many months. It is why an infant who is deaf by birth remains\u00a0dumb too. Since he is not able to listen to, he cannot speak in it.<\/p>\n

Thus, our young students are deprived of speaking abilities\u00a0because they have not been properly guided in listening skill. This\u00a0may be the proper reason why they have not been able to speak\u00a0in English in a proper manner. They have become adept only at\u00a0writing and reading of English.\u00a0With the advent of Information Revolution or software\u00a0booming in Andhra Pradesh a few years back and its impacts like\u00a0highly perked opportunities in Multi Nation Companies, people\u00a0came to recognise the importance of English language.<\/p>\n

Communication in English has been playing a major role in\u00a0business world too. Despite the marks and percentage, the\u00a0communicative abilities fetched them opportunities. The people\u00a0who were poor at their speaking skills were deprived of their\u00a0wonderful chances of making their life beautiful. It is not\u00a0exaggerating to say that today every family has at least one\u00a0foreign returned or foreign-dwelling.<\/p>\n

Knowing the growing demand for good English, Andhra\u00a0Pradesh State Council of Higher Education started working on it.\u00a0They included a Comprehensive Course in Listening and\u00a0Speaking at degree level of late. The syllabus for degree students\u00a0in all universities has been changed entirely where students are\u00a0tested both on paper and in person. Their speaking and listening\u00a0skills are nurtured with the help of audio and video devices. The\u00a0paper has two parts as Theory and Practical. Practicals have been\u00a0introduced for the first time at this level. The concept of\u00a0Language Labs have been introduced.<\/p>\n

This new way of teaching has been appreciated and welcomed\u00a0by every teacher, student and parent. The students are exciting to\u00a0learn things in this new way. Instruction has been changed from\u00a0teacher-centric to student-centric. This concept encouraged and\u00a0helped student to talk in the class. He can actively participate in\u00a0the class room activities with his\/her peer group. Student Talk\u00a0Time ( STT) should be higher than Teacher Talk Time(TTT).<\/p>\n

Fortunately,It started working positively. The students’ level of\u00a0understanding English enhanced slowly with this mammoth\u00a0effort. The students are gradually picking up the ability of\u00a0speaking in English within a less time.<\/p>\n

This system starts working more effectively when the ratio of\u00a0computer and student is 1:1. The system does not make it’s\u00a0impact on students when thirty or forty students are taught with\u00a0a single computer. Special training should be offered to the\u00a0teachers who have to work with the new system. However, the\u00a0ideology and effort should be appreciated in any way.<\/p>\n

This is high time that the Board of Intermediate Education,\u00a0Andhra Pradesh adopted this kind of practice. In this system ,we\u00a0cannot find any difference between the students who belong to\u00a0various groups in learning English neither their socio-cultural and\u00a0financial backgrounds do play a major role .Let us hope these\u00a0days will come soon.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Factors and Problems of Teaching English as Second Language at Rural Areas for +1 Students in Andhra Pradesh Nukesh Yellapu, M.A.,B.Ed. With the long and varied experience of teaching English to young students in rural areas of Andhra Pradesh at +1 level, the columnist would like to share some of the vengeances and their probable 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