Journal/NELTA...Prithvi N. Shrestha Vaishna Narayan Harunur Khan Hima Rawal Prem Phyak Bal Krishna...

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Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015

Journal of NELTAVolume 20 Number: 1-2 December 2015AdvisorMeera Shrestha

Editor-in-ChiefProf. Dr. Vishnu S RaiDeputy Editor-in-ChiefDr. Laxman Gnawali

Guest EditorDr. Christina ManaraEditorsDr. Binod LuitelDr. Gopal Prasad PandeyBalaram AdhikariMadhu Neupane

Reviewers

Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA)GPO Box No.: 11110, Kathmandu, Nepal

Phone: 977-1-44720455E-mail: [email protected]

Journal of NELTA has been indexed in: Academicindex.net Journalseek.net Linguistlist.org

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e R

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50/-

Rama MathewTikaram Poduel

Kalyan ChattopadhyayaTika PoduelKR DhakalPhuong Le

Surabhi BharatiPrithvi N. Shrestha

Vaishna Narayan

Harunur KhanHima RawalPrem PhyakBal Krishna SharmaGanga Ram GautamRam Ashish GiriHemanta Raj DahalRishi Rijal


AdvisorMeera ShresthaEditor-in-ChiefProf. Dr. Vishnu S Rai

Deputy Editor-in-ChiefDr. Laxman GnawaliGuest EditorDr. Christina Manara

EditorsDr. Binod LuitelDr. Gopal Prasad PandeyBalaram AdhikariMadhu Neupane


Central Executive Committee 2015-2017

PresidentMs. Meera Shrestha

[email protected]

Senior Vice PresidentMs. Motikala Subba [email protected]

General SecretaryMr. Padam Bahadur [email protected]

SecretaryMr. Kunjarmani Gautam

[email protected]

Vice PresidentMr. Ishwori Bahadur

[email protected]

Membership SecretaryMr. Ashok Sapkota

[email protected]

TTTTTreasurerreasurerreasurerreasurerreasurerMs. Sarita Dewan

[email protected]

MembersMembersMembersMembersMembersMr. Hemanta Raj Dahal [email protected]

Prof. Dr. Anju Giri [email protected]. Binod Luitel [email protected]

Dr. Gopal Prasad Pandey [email protected]. Dinesh Kumar Yadav [email protected]

Mr. Nabin Prakash Mahat [email protected]. Laxmi Prasad Ojha [email protected]

Mr. Jaya Ram Khanal [email protected]. Damodar Regmi [email protected]. Chet Raj Regmi [email protected]

Mr. Prem Prasad Paudel [email protected]. Jagadish Poudel [email protected]

Ms. Usha Kiran Wagle [email protected]. Keshav Prasad Bhattarai [email protected]

Mr. Surya Prasad Ghimire [email protected]. Purna Bahadur Kadel [email protected]

Mr. Kamal Raj Lamsal [email protected]. Surendra Raj Ojha [email protected]

Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015IV


The birth of this issue of the Journal ofNELTA took place in the aftermath of thegreat earthquake of 2015 that affected,among others, the key stakeholders ofclassrooms i.e. students and teachers. Theirreparable loss of lives and property atschools left scars in minds of the old andthe young. The classes had to be suspendedwhich, in many cases, were never resumedat the original place. The ELT professionalswho survived joined hands with othervolunteers in rescue and relief of thevictims. Gradually life came back tonormalcy, at least for those who werefortunate to survive. And this normalcywas also seen in the continuity of thecontribution from the teachers, teachereducators, material writers and researchersfrom Nepal and abroad. The earthquakedid not shatter the professionalcommitment we collectively possess for thecontinuous improvement and innovationsin ELT.

Several changes have been witnessed in thefield of ELT. On the one hand,communicative language teachingapproach enjoys the centre stage in themainstream ELT in many contexts. On theother hand, it is challenged in a way that itmay become a history. The recent additionsin the language pedagogy include Contentand Language Integrated Learning (CLIL),project-based language teaching, flippedclassroom, alternative assessment andseveral others. But the major leap in theway we teach English language isembracing the use of InformationCommunication Technology (ICT). WithICT, we now have mobile assisted languagelearning, Computer Assisted Language

Editorial

© Nepal English Language Teachers’ Association (NELTA)ISSN: 2091-0487

Learning (CALL), Media Assisted LanguageTeaching (MALT), online learning andseveral other modalities of learning andteaching of English.

We are happy to see that the papers in thisissue cover a variety of ELT practices andinnovations reflecting the development inELT classroom pedagogy mainly in EFLcontexts. The issue includes papers oncontextualization and culture integrationin EFL contexts, project-based learning asa pedagogy, and managing and survivingin difficult classrooms. Likewise, there arepapers dealing with learners’ roles,language proficiency and standardizedtests and the use of ICT to enhance thequality of classroom teaching as well aswidening access to education. We expectthat all these articles will be interesting andvaluable to our valued readers. As aninformed professional, we anticipate thatyou will provide constructive feedback onthese papers so as to make the future issueseven more professional.

We are very grateful to all the authors andreviewers for their support throughout theprocess. We are equally grateful to NELTACentral Committee for their continuoussupport. Thanks are also due to the designer,Mr. Gambhir Man Kapali for elegant designof this volume.

Happy reading!Prof. Dr. Vishnu S RaiDr. Laxman GnawaliDr. Christina ManaraDr. Binod LuitelDr. Gopal Prasad PandeyBalaram AdhikariMadhu NeupaneV

Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015VI


Table of contents


Six Ways of Looking at Context.Alan Maley 1

Contextualized Culture Integration through Project-Based Learning in EFLClassrooms in VietnamElvira Sanatullova-Allison and Thanh Do 5

Surviving in Difficult EFL Classroom: Teachers’ Perspectives andCoping StrategiesShankar Dhakal 16

Information and Communication Technologies and TeacherEducators of English in NepalPrem Prasad Poudel 27

Learner Role in CLT: Practices in the Higher Secondary ClassroomsMd. Abdur Rouf & Khanam Nargis Sultana 34

“Reading” ability of students in NepalKumar Shrestha 41

Developing Communicative Competence of ESL Learners through LearningStrategiesPurna Kandel 51

Changing Scenario of Language Classrooms in the Present Day WorldArun Nepal 63

Content and Language Integrated Learning for Nepalese EFL classesTara Sapkota 71

VII

Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015VIII

Journal of NELTA, Vol 20 No. 1-2, December 2015 1

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Six Ways of Looking at Context

Alan Maley

Abstract

This short article is an attempt to specify more clearly what we might mean by the term ‘context’. I examine six aspects of context: Physical, ametrial and economic; Socio-poloitical and religious;l Linguistic; Philosophical and educational; Family and peer group; Psychological, relationaland affective. I discuss each of these relating to the classroomteaching and learning of English.

Language learning and the context

Learning involves a ‘something’ to be learned and a context of circumstances in which it takesplace. It is this rich texture of factors, ranging from the material to the ethereal, that I want toreflect on in this article. Clearly these factors intersect and overlap in complex and not alwayspredictable ways, but I shall nonetheless attempt to separate out the following six strands fordiscussion:

~ Physical, material, economic factors.~ Socio-political and religious factors.~ Linguistic factors.~ Philosophical /educational factors.~ Family and peer group factors.~ Psychological, relational, affective factors.

Physical, material and economicfactors.

On the face of it, it appears obvious thatmaterial circumstances have a massiveinfluence on the effectiveness of learning.In the 1960’s I worked with primary schoolsin Ghana. Many of them, particularly inrural areas, lacked even the most basicfacilities: no desks or chairs, few books,blackboards pitted likebattlefields…Classes were crowded intoclassrooms as hot as ovens. Children hadsometimes to walk long distances to schoolafter performing early morning chores suchas foraging for wood and collecting water.

Many were under-nourished or sufferingfrom malnutrition.

Poverty, disease and malnutrition are thedaily reality in many educational settingsworldwide, including parts of Nepal andIndia. They are certainly not confined toWest Africa. Neither are they the exclusivereserve of rural communities. However, Iwant to suggest that such deprivedmaterial settings can sometimes – all toorarely but sometimes - be overcome byaffective and relational factors. I have seensome of the most joyful and creativeeducational moments of my career in justthese kinds of classrooms: an improvised


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puppet show using old newspapers to makethe puppets and a table on its side as a stage,with the kids performing a play they hadthemselves written; an art exhibition ofcollages made from the clippings of theseamstresses stalls in the market… I do notsuggest for a moment that such deprivedenvironments are in any way desirable, butwe should not assume that materialcircumstances are everything. I have seensome of the most lacklustre, deadeninglessons given in classrooms with ergonomicfurnishings, designer lighting and with allthe technical equipment one could desire.The material circumstances are importantbut not always decisive.

Socio-political and religiousfactors.

These factors can exercise a negativeinfluence on learning when, for example,the belief systems in place exclude (ordowngrade the importance) of women ineducation. There are also cases wherecertain sections of the population are givenprivileged access to education to thedetriment of other sections, as, for examplein Malaysia or India. Or the system maytake a non-scientific stance towards science,as in the Creationist approach in the US, orview science as a fixed body of expertise tobe used for political objectives rather thanas an open-ended practice of inquiry. Theyclearly affect the way geography or historyare taught. Even the Mercator projection,which forms the basis for many maps, hasa lot to answer for. Politics can affectlanguage learning too, as in cases of post-colonial resistance to the language of thecolonisers, or in views of one’s ownlanguage as being inherently superior to theone being learned. Factors such as these aremore influential and more stubborn thaneven material factors, partly because thosewho hold such views are often unaware thatthey do so.

Linguistic factors.

The linguistic environment can havesignificant effects on language learning inparticular. Is the society monolingual (theexception), or plurilingual, where it iscommon for people to switch betweenseveral languages, and where they do notregard learning another language asdifficult? Is the target language beinglearned in a country where it is in useoutside the classroom, or not? How distantare the mother tongue and the targetlanguage, and what effect does this have?(Curiously, languages which are close toone’s own are not always the easiest tolearn.) What difference does it make if thelanguage being learned is high prestige orlow prestige? Because English is the majorinternational language, are native speakersof English disadvantaged in their learningof other languages? How do folk beliefsabout language impact on learning?(‘French is the language of culture’, ‘Italianis so musical’, ‘German sounds harsh’,‘Greek sounds really masculine.’ etc.). Andhow do attitudes toward the targetlanguage affect the learning of it? Do Iresent having to learn this language, or doI embrace the opportunity? Are my mostcherished values put at risk when I acquirethis language?

Philosophical and educationalfactors.

Some societies accord greater prestige toeducation than others and this clearlyaffects the educational environment. Ofcourse, it may also have a negative impacton some members of the society, who maybe excluded or who simply drop out of arace they feel certain they can never win.There are also clear differences betweenbroadly elitist systems and ‘democratic’ones. Sadly, it is often the case that equalityof access to education may not guaranteeequal quality of provision however. Butthere are winners and losers in all societies,


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and to teach or learn in an environment of‘losers’ is all too often a guarantee of failure,leading to more failure in a downward andirreversible spiral.

Other factors include the overall beliefsabout how learning should be conducted.Broadly conservative or traditional beliefsplace a high value on discipline, effort,competition, memorisation and testing, andtend to view learning as something difficultand painful. By contrast, more liberal orexploratory approaches view learning as apleasurable, creative and cooperativeenterprise where the emphasis is on thequality of the process rather than the short-term product in the form of examinationresults. I am aware of the dangers ofstereotypes, of course, but it is nonethelesstrue that generalisations can sometimesusefully be made. There are societies wherethe form is more important than thesubstance, the word more important thanthe deed. It is important however to avoidattributing such beliefs to whole societies,(“the Chinese are all influenced byConfucian values”, etc.). There is oftenmore variation within societies thanbetween them. Things change, and onecomplaint increasingly heard about young‘nouveau riche’ Chinese students abroad isprecisely that they do not conform to theexpected disciplined and obedient model!

Family and peer group factors.

The family, and in particular parentalinfluence, is still paramount in theenvironment of most learners. Parents canexert positive influence through activeinvolvement in their children’s education,by non-coercive encouragement, bysupporting them in moments of crisis andthrough their example as role-models. Thisis perhaps nowhere so apparent as in thedevelopment of literacy. Those childrenwhose parents read to them at bedtime, whoprovide reading material of compellinginterest to their kids, who show themselves

to be avid readers themselves – thosechildren become readers, and reading is thebest predictor of academic success that wehave. Children whose parents are not likethat will have a struggle ahead to achieveeven minimal standards of literacy. Mostpeople learn more from their parents – forbetter or worse – than they ever do fromtheir teachers.

Arguably, they also learn far more fromtheir peers, both positively and negatively.The pressure to conform to group norms hasnever been stronger, supported as it is byan aggressively consumerist ethos and bythe social media. How they look, what theyown, how they speak, how quickly they canadjust to the latest change of fashion – allare subject to the unforgiving judgementsof their peers. But they also learn how tobe with other people, to respect and berespected by them, to give and receiveunderstanding…and much else. Wesometimes forget just how much kids learnoutside school: arguably more than theyever learn inside it. And this too is part ofthe wider learning environment, especiallywhen so much information is so readilyavailable on the Internet.

Psychological, relational, affectivefactors.

An article of this length can scarcely dojustice to the multitude of personal factorswhich pervade the learning environment.All I can do is remind myself, and you, ofsome of the stronger currents runningbeneath the surface of the learning-teaching surface. Hormones, hangoversand hyper-activity can cause havoc in anylearning group. The moods, expectations,aspirations and attitudes of both teachersand learners also form an important partof the learning environment. Just how theskilful teacher manages to harness andorchestrate the energies and tensions of agroup, and direct them in productivedirections remains one of the greatest


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pedagogical mysteries. As teachers, wehave all experienced classes which went likea dream, and those which felt like endlessnightmares. How to achieve the ‘flow’experiences of the former, where bothteacher and class are lost in the ‘effortlesseffort’ of the moment is elusive, though JillHadfield’s book, Classroom Dynamics givesvaluable signposts. Nancie Atwell, in TheReading Zone, also gives some guidance inhow to harness the energy of a group in theshared and powerful experience of reading.And the ‘flow’ bible is, I guess, still The InnerGame of Tennis by Timothy Gallwey. Asteachers we need to be ‘present’ in thefullest sense, yet simultaneously absent, sothat we leave space for the individuals andthe group to enact their learning. I have aparticular conviction that it is the teacher’svoice quality which is a key to this, thoughI have only anecdotal evidence to supportmy case (Maley, 2000). But is certain thatteachers’ voices remain with us for good orill throughout our lives. The immediatechemistry of a class, requiring split-seconddecisions by the teacher is unlikely ever tobe completely anatomised, yet it is thiswhich ultimately overrides virtually everyother factor I have discussed.(Underhilland & Maley, 2012) Good luck!

References

Atwell, N. (2007) The Reading zZone. NewYork: Scholastic.

Gallwey, T. (1974) The Inner Game of Tennis.London: Pan Books.

Hadfield, J. (1992) Classroom Dynamics.Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

Maley, A. (2000) The Language Teacher’sVoice. Oxford: Macmillan/Heinemann

Underhill, A. and Maley. A. (2012) Expectthe unexpected. English TeachingProfessional, Issue 82, Sept. 2012 .

Author’s bio

Alan Maley’s career in ELT began with TheBritish Council in 1962. Since retiring fromAssumption in 2004, he has occupiedmany visiting professorial posts at manyInstitutions. He was a founder member ofthe Extensive Reading Foundation, and co-founder of The C Group. He is a past-President of IATEFL, and was given theELTons Lifetime Achievement Award in2012.


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Contextualized Culture Integration through Project-Based Learning in EFL Classrooms in Vietnam

Elvira Sanatullova-Allison and Thanh Do

Abstract

Integrating culture into language contexts in EFL classroom has been an issue of substantial concernfor years. Different methods or approaches have been introduced for the integration of culture andlanguage learning. Recently, project-based learning (PBL) seems to be a favorite choice amongmethodologists. This paper analyzes the syllabi of a drama project and a cultural project to addresscultural aspects in PBL in EFL classrooms. The findings show that PBL provides opportunities to enhanceand improve students’ language skills and soft skills. More importantly, a wide range of knowledge ofdifferent cultural perspectives may be collected during the projects.

Key words: Project-based learning, cultural project, cultural awareness

Introduction

Through the growing trends incommunication and integration acrosscountries, the need to learn foreignlanguages is increasingly important forlarge and growing numbers of people in theworld. Although English is not the mostwidely spoken language in the world, it isan international language. Teaching andlearning English as a foreign language (EFL)in non-English speaking countries isgrowing increasingly common. At the sametime, the notion that English languagelearning is merely confined to masteringvocabulary, grammar, or languageproficiencies is becoming outdated. Thegoal of learning English in EFL classroomstoday is to equip learners with culturalknowledge in order to communicatesuccessfully with people in differentcultures. Thus, the integration of teachingculture into EFL curriculum becomesextremely important, and the selection of

appropriate methods to incorporatecultural awareness in English classesbecomes an interesting issue to explore.

In the recent years, the integration ofcultural aspects within the context ofEnglish language learning at the School ofForeign Languages, Thai NguyenUniversity in Vietnam has beenimplemented in a number of ways. PBLimplemented at this university has gainednoticeable attention for identifying culturalknowledge and understanding in EFLclassrooms. This paper focuses on thecultural issues in PBL in EFL classrooms atThai Nguyen University.

Culture in EFL Classrooms

Culture is defined and addressed innumerous fields of study such ascommunication, education, culturalstudies, and sociology. In the study ofintegrating culture into Vietnamese


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university EFL teaching, Nguyen (2013)reviews definitions of culture andsummarizes five core themes. He thenproposes his own definition of culture as “asystem of patterned beliefs, values andnorms that shape and guide the observablebehavior of members of a community,created and transmitted by the members insocial interactions. Such a community isconsidered a cultural group” (p. 19). Thisdefinition is used as the basic definition inthis paper.

There is a large body of literature thatexplores the connections between languageand culture. According to Brown (1994), “Alanguage is a part of a culture and a cultureis a part of a language; the two areintricately interwoven so that one cannotseparate the two without losing thesignificance of either language or culture”(p. 165). Culture should be included in EFLcontext in providing learners withnecessary knowledge to communicateeffectively. In addition, the importance ofintegrating culture in EFL classrooms hasbeen pointed out in a number of researchpapers. Turkan and Celik (2007) state thatintegrating culture into EFL teaching willhelp EFL learners “act flexibly andsensibly” when they interact with “the linesof cultural norms.” On the other hand,insufficiencies of cultural knowledge maylead EFL learners to miscommunicate ormisunderstand the target language (Tran,2010). Interestingly, in Dema and Moeller’sstudy (2012), they discuss the interrelationof the components of culture (products,practices, and perspectives), which willhelp teachers design cultural contents inEFL lessons. Similarly, in the recentresearch Frank (2013) again analyzes thethree components of culture to emphasizehow to integrate culture into EFLclassrooms. He describes the model ofculture as follows:

Perspectives: what members of aculture think, feel, and value

Practices: how members communicateand interact with one another

Products: technology, music, art, food,literature, etc.; the things members ofa group create, share, and transmit tothe next generation)

He considers products to be easier to identifythan perspectives and practices becauseproducts tend to be ingrained in a society.

The need of teaching and integratingculture into EFL classrooms is highlyrecommended by Liton and Madanat(2013). Their study shows that students’intercultural competence and effectivecross-cultural communication skill whichis a must in this era of globalization. Thisleads to a question of how to integrateculture into language contexts effectively.The utilization of PBL in EFL classroomsmay serve as one of the appropriatemethods to incorporate culture intolanguage contexts. This paper focuses onthis issue.

Methodology

Given the information for the culturalaspects in PBL in EFL classrooms, this paperemploys a content analysis approach toexamine the syllabi of two projects – Dramaand Culture – in the School of ForeignLanguages at Thai Nguyen University.These projects offer students importantopportunities to enhance language skillsthrough the integration of cultural learning.The projects follow the proposedframework (Moss & Van Duzer, 1997) aspresented in the following section. Whilethe scope of this paper is limited toanalyzing the opportunities to learn asrevealed through the syllabi, other research(Tran & Do, 2014) shows students’improvements in cooperating, planning,communicating, and obtaining knowledgeof various kinds through PBL.


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Project-based learning in EFLclassrooms

Solomon (2003 as cited in Simpson, 2011)provides an explanation of PBL as a learningprocess where students workcollaboratively to solve problems that are“authentic, curriculum-based, and ofteninterdisciplinary” (p. 10).

The Arlington Education and EmploymentProgram in the resource manual forteachers (Moss & Van Duzer, 1997)developed a project-based learningframework as described below:

FRAMEWORK FOR PROJECT WORKA project:

builds on previous work.integrates the four skills areas -speaking, listening, reading, andwriting.incorporates collaborativeteamwork, problem solving,negotiating and other interpersonalskills.challenges learners to engage inindependent work.challenges learners to authenticallyuse English in new and differentcontexts outside the class.develops life-long learningstrategies.involves the learners in choosingthe focus of the project and in theplanning process.engages learners in activities wherethey need them to acquire newinformation that is important tothem.has clearly articulated outcomes.incorporates self-evaluation, peerevaluation, and teacher evaluation.enhances the development of real-life skills.

Figure 1: Framework for Project Work (Moss & Van Duzer, 1997)

As is evident in the framework, studentswill have the opportunity to developvarious types of skills such as languagecompetence, interpersonal working skills,and soft skills.

The application of PBL in EFL classroomshas been considered an effective pedagogyfor over twenty years although it is not anew method in language learning (Beckett,2006). This approach in English languagelearning can be understood as studentsinvolved in doing a project themselves,from choosing a topic, solving problems,and generating products in the form ofmeaningful solutions. Poonphon (2011)indicates that learning through PBL notonly enhances English proficiencies, butalso helps leaners improve communicatingabilities in real life contexts. For furtherinformation, Poonphon summarizes someof methodologists’ evaluations of PBL asthe combination of interdisciplinarypractices and integrated skills, a student-centered approach where the teacher’s roleis a facilitator or coach. Moreover,adopting PBL “enables teachers to bridgeacademic instruction with real-lifeexperience in communicating acrosscultures” (Kean and Kwe, 2014, p. 191).

In the progress of language learning andteaching, the School of Foreign Languagesat Thai Nguyen University hasimplemented the PBL approach to helpstudents achieve communicativecompetence and experience cultural issuesin the target language.

Drama Project

Drama is defined as any activity which asksthe participant to portray himself in animaginary situation or to portray anotherperson in an imaginary situation (Holden,1981, as cited in Sam, 1990). The drama


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project can be considered as a typicalsample for PBL because it provides aperson’s opportunity to express hisimagination in verbal expressions andgestures.

This project is required for freshmen duringtheir first or second semester, and it isdivided into the following stages:

Stage 1: Grouping and assigning tasks. In thefirst week, students will join in groups of 4-6 members. Formally, a teacher/instructorwill provide the project’s guidelines andrequirements in order that all students areable to complete their project.

Stage 2: Locating materials and writingscenarios. Students spend 4 to 5 weeks tocomplete this stage. Students are instructedto find popular literary work (such as anovel, or a short story) from Englishspeaking countries. After deciding theirfavorite work, students have to writescenarios based on the chosen material. Thisstage is extremely difficult because studentsneed to create a screenplay from the storyor literary work. The students, asscreenwriters, are responsible for theirscripts and the formats of their plays thatneed to be consistent with the originalversion.

Stage 3: Assigning roles and learning scripts.Students will choose or be assigned one ormore different roles in their play relatingto their abilities. They have to learn thecharacters’ lines and practice reading aloudevery word in the scripts.

Stage 4: Practicing and acting. Studentspractice reading scripts and acting inscenes. Two language skills (productive

and receptive) will continue to be improvedthrough the repetition of scripts. Students,in this stage, learn to act naturally toexpress their characters. Following lines,expressing character’s emotions, designingcostumes and props, and reacting withother students’ role in the drama are allimportant during this part of the project.

Stage 5: Performing. This final stage will bea show of students’ products. Each groupwill perform their scenes and will beassessed by two instructors. Students indifferent groups will also participate inevaluating other groups’ performance.

To evaluate students’ efforts andachievements, there are differentassessment rubrics for the stages of thisdrama project (see Appendix A). Each of theassessment rubrics provides numerouscriteria to appraise students’ work.

From the information in theimplementation of this project and theassessment rubrics, it can be understoodthat in order to have a drama product, theissue of culture needs to be considered fortwo main reasons. First, students have tochoose a literary work from an Englishspeaking country, this means that there willbe cultural values reflected in thedocument. Students will need to examineany cultural aspects in the content of theirchoice, which will assist them in developingscripts and scenes for their drama. Second,designing costumes and props earns extrapoints in this project since these things willbe representative examples of distinctivecultures.

In brief, after considering the above-mentioned highlights in the drama project,


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PBL approach could be an effective tool forincorporating culture issues into EFLcontexts. Students will be motivated inexploring underlying cultural values ineach product presented.

Cultural Project

This project aims to provide students achance to explore their motherland’sculture, and approach some basic featuresand cultural perspectives of English-American countries. In this course, studentswill nourish their love for their motherland,and they will be encouraged to discoverbeautiful cultures from English speakingcountries.

Students will work in groups of 4-5 to choosea cultural region to produce a brochure andorganize an activity to introduce the culturein realistic context. The project is dividedinto two stages in accordance with twosemesters.

Stage 1: My homeland - a study of culturalperspectives of a typical cultural region inVietnam. The final products will be shownin a practical event called “A real museumvisit” in the last weeks of thecourse.Students work as guides in theMuseum of Ethnics in Vietnam to introducetheir region. Some faculty members, staffs,foreign teachers, and students may beinvited to join this visit. The informationgathered will be presented in a brochure.The assessment rubric for the brochure isshown in Appendix B.

Stage 2: The city I love - a study of a famouscity in an English speaking country. For thefinal product, there will be an in-classpresentation event, “Travel Exhibition.”Students work as guides to the cities; eachgroup member is in charge of oneperspective. The exhibition will be

WEEK THEMES OBJECTIVES introducing the project introducing My Homeland

introduction to the project grouping decision of groups’ cultural regions

field work visit to the Museum of Ethnics in Vietnam

cultural regions: a snap-shot writing: description introduction of the cultural region

presentation by two group members

clothes writing: description food and drink writing: process/recipe cooking class instruction to ma ke a typical dish

with real objects: the whole-group work

arts and architecture writing: description place to visit presentation by two members traditions and customs writing: narrative folk game festival each group introduces and holds a

typical folk game of their region brochure production the whole group gather the writings

and edit a brochure on My Homeland field work another visit to the museum to

prepare for the guide field work preparing for the museum guide museum visit working as guides in the museum,

each group introduce their region, each group member is in charge of one perspective

reviewing My Homeland introducing The City I Love

reviewing the achievement of stage 1, drawing lessons introducing stage 2

introduction of the city writing: description introduction of the city presentation by two group members people/clothes writing: description people/clothes presentation by two members food and drink writing: process/recipe cooking class instruction to ma ke a typical dish

with real objects: the whole-group work

arts and architecture writing: description place to visit presentation by two members traditions and customs writing: narrative folk game festival each group introduces and holds a

typical folk game of their region spiritual life writing: description brochure production presentation by two members preparation for the exhibition preparing for the exhibition exhibition

working as guides to the cities, each group member is in charge of one perspective

For each stage, each group chooses acultural region (stage 1) or a city (a typicalone in an English speaking country) toproduce their final products. A number oftopics were recommended in this project:

introduction of the cultural region(geographical feature, transportation)people (life, life style, work)clothes

Table 1: Culture Project Timeline

advertised to staff and students in thecollege for the public attendance. Theassessment rubric for the presentation isdisplayed in Appendix B.

The timeline for this project is displayed inthe following table:


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typical food and drinkarts, architecture (attractivedestinations)customs, traditions, festivals, folkgamesspiritual life (music, literature, folksongs)

To sum up, on the basis of the cultureproject’s syllabus, students will experienceculture in diverse contexts. This project willbenefit students in acquiring culturalknowledge from their homeland to theoutside world.

Conclusion

From the outcome of analyzing the syllabi,it is possible to conclude that PBL is amethod that helps ensure the integration ofculture in EFL classrooms. The paperdemonstrates that students will becomeinvolved in the process of real experienceand good knowledge of culture, just as thespirit of the Chinese proverb: “Tell me andI will forget, show me and I will remember,let me do it, I’ll understand.” PBL changesthe traditional methods of teaching cultureand language with book and chalk. Hence,students can express their creativity andeagerness in examining different culturalvalues in EFL classrooms. Once again,cultural aspects included in EFL contextsthrough PBL help students learn thelanguage effectively and developcommunicative competence.

References

Alan, B., & Stoller, F. L. (2005). Maximizingthe benefits of project work inforeign language classrooms.English Teaching Forum, 43(4), 10-21.

Beckett, G. H., & Miller, P. C. (Eds.). (2006).Project-based second and foreign

language education: Past, present, andfuture. Charlotte, NC: InformationAge Publishing.

Dema, O., & Moeller, A. J. (2012). Teachingculture in the 21st centurylanguage classroom. In T. Sildus(Ed.), Touch the World: SelectedPapers from the 2012 Central StatesConference on the Teaching of ForeignLanguages (pp. 75-91). Eau Claire,WI: Crown Prints.

Frank, J. (2013). Raising cultural awarenessin the English language classroom.English Teaching Forum, 51(4), 2-11.

Kean, A. C., & Kwe, N. M. (2014).Meaningful learning in theteaching of culture: The projectbased learning approach. Journal ofEducation and Training Studies, 2(2),189-197.

Liton, H. A., & Al Madanat, T. A. (2013).Integration of culture into ESL/EFL classroom: A pedagogicalperspective. English for SpecificPurposes World, 14(39), 1-13.

Moss, D., & Van Duzer, C. (1997). Project-based learning and assessment: Aresource manual for teachers.Arlington, VA: The ArlingtonEducation and EmploymentProgram.

Nguyen, T. L. (2013). Integrating culture intoVietnamese university EFL teaching:A critical ethnographic study(Doctoral dissertation). AucklandUniversity of Technology.

Poonpon, K. (2011). Enhancing Englishskills through project basedlearning. The English Teacher, XL, 1-10.

Sam, Y. W. (1990). Drama in teachingEnglish as a second Language - Acommunicative approach. TheEnglish Teacher, XIX.


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Simpson, J. (2011). Integrating project-basedlearning in an English languagetourism classroom in a Thaiuniversity (Doctoral dissertation).Australian Catholic University.

Turkan, S., & Celik, S. (2007). Integratingculture into EFL texts andclassrooms: Suggested lesson plans.Novitas-ROYAL: Research on Youthand Language, 1(1), 18-33.

Tran, T. H. (2010). Teaching Culture in theEFL/ESL Classroom. Paperpresented at the Annual Meeting ofthe Los Angeles Regional CaliforniaTeachers of English to Speakers ofOther Languages, Fullerton, CA.

Tran, N., & Do, T. (2014). Learning foreignlanguage through drama:Implementation at School ofForeign Languages, Thai NguyenUniversity (in Vietnamese). Journal

of Science and Technology (ThaiNguyen University), 118(04), 109-112.

Authors’ bios

Elvira Sanatullova-Allison is an AssociateProfessor and Program Director in ForeignLanguage/ESOL Education in the Collegeof Education at Oklahoma State University-Stillwater, U.S.A. She holds a Master of Artsin Modern Languages and Literatures anda Ph.D. in Administration, Curriculum, andInstruction from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, U.S.A.

Thanh Do is a Ph.D. student in CurriculumStudies at the College of Education atOklahoma State University-Stillwater,U.S.A. She holds a Master in English fromVietnam National University in Hanoi.

Appendices

Appendix A

Scenarios Assessment Rubric

Other comments:................................................................................................................................

Criteria

Quality Excellent

(9-10) good (7-8)

Fair (5-6)

Unsatisfactory (below 5)

Preparation The scenario is well-written which shows that the students have read about the story very carefully and have some creativity

The scenario is quite well-written with some adjustment to meet the students’ level of proficiency

The scenario is suitable for the students’ level with few adjustments and creativity

The scenario is just the copy of the orig inal one without any changes or creativity and is too simple

Language requirements

The scenario contains a good number of words just beyond the students’ word stock and is challenging enough to develop students’ competencies

The scenario contains some words just beyond the students’ word stock and is quite suitable to develop students’ competencies

The scenario has no new words but can help to improve some language skills

The scenario is too simple and easy or so complicated that it is of no help to improve any language skills


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Rehearsing Assessment Rubric

Other comments:......................................................................................................................................

Attitude

Prepare for theplay carefully andthus fulfill the rolesatisfactorily; beself-confident

Prepare for theplay carefully;be quite self-confident butunsmooth insome utterances

Do not preparefor the playcarefully so forgetsome words; bequite timid andembarrassed

Do not prepare forthe play so forget alot of words; cannotfulfill the role

Acting skills

Play the rolenaturally; havegoodcommunicationskill withsuitable bodylanguage

Fulfill the rolequite naturally;communicationskill is quite goodbut stillunsmooth insome details

The role is fulfilledbut body languageis not usedsufficiently, whichdoes not make thescene interestingenough

The whole role isboring because ofno gestures,insufficient bodylanguage

PronunciationAll the words arepronouncedclearly andcorrectly

Thepronunciationis good withfew errors

Have a numberof errors inpronunciation

Have lots oferrors inpronunciation

Intonation

All the utterancesare said in correctintonation, whichcan convey thespeaker’s feelingand attitude andwhich can makethe conversationinteresting

Most of theconversation iscompletednaturally butfew utterancesare producedwith irrelevantintonation

A number ofsentences areuttered withincorrectintonation, whichcannot expresssome states ofemotion

The whole scene isboring because ofincorrect intonation

Criteria Quality

Excellent (9-10) Good (7-8) Fair(5-6) Unsatisfactory(below 5)


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Performance Assessment Rubric

Acting skills

Play the rolenaturally; have goodacting andcommunication skillwith suitable bodylanguage

Fulfill the rolequite naturally;communicationskill is quite goodbut still unsmoothin some utterances

The role is fulfilledbut body languageis not usedsufficiently, whichdoes not make thescene interestingenough

The whole role isboring because of nogestures, insufficientbody language

Pronunciation

All the words arepronouncedclearly with correctstress position andfinal consonantclusters

The pronunciationis good with fewerrors of stressposition andconsonant clusters

Have a number oferrors inpronunciation

Have lots of errors inpronunciation

Intonation

All the utterances aresaid in correctintonation, which canconvey the speaker’sfeeling and attitudewhich can make theconversationinteresting

Most of theconversation iscompletednaturally but fewutterances areproduced withirrelevantintonation

A number ofsentences areuttered withincorrect intonation,which cannotexpress some statesof emotion

The whole scene isboring because ofincorrect intonation

Fluency

All the utterances aresaid smoothly andnaturally with normalspeed and withoutany hesitation orbeing stuck

All the utterancesare said smoothlywithout hesitationor stuck but moreslowly or fasterthan usual

Some utterances aresaid with muchhesitation or beingstuck

Much hesitation andbeing stuck make therole difficult tounderstand andcannot convey theideas clearly enough

Criteria Quality

Excellent (9-10) Good (7-8) Fair(5-6) Unsatisfactory(below 5)


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Appendix B

Brochure Assessment Rubric

Presentation Assessment RubricExcellent Good Fair Poor

Organization

The presentation is logicaland well designed; it iseasy to follow from thebeginning to the end

The ideas are logicallyarranged but it is notvery attractive

The ideas are quite logicallyarranged but the speakersshould have been able to makeit better

The presentation is difficultto follow and understand

Non-linguistictechniques

The presentation showsmastery of non-linguistictechniques, such as gestures,eye-contact, etc.

The presentation shows agood command of non-linguistic techniques but itis still not professional

It is acceptable but lacks the usenon-linguistic techniques

Lacks the use of non-linguistic features

Visual aidsThey know how to usevisual aids and examplesand the presentation showscareful preparation

Visual aids or factssupport their ideas butthey still do not knowhow to use it sometimes

It is acceptable but they do notuse many visual aids or examples

There is no visual aidsused

VocabularyThey show a wide range ofvocabulary

They show a wide range ofvocabulary but there arestill few minor mistakes

They seem to have made aneffort to prepare propervocabulary but they mostly useroutine words

They have a poor vocabularyand make numerousmistakes

Grammar Speakers make nogrammatical mistake andthey use varied structures

It is acceptable but there are stillsome grammatical mistakes made;they could have done better

There are too many mistakesand the structures are toosimple

Their grammar is correctand structures are varied

Pronunciation Really excellent atpronunciation, nearly likenative speakers; no mistakesare found

Pronunciation is good;only a few mistakes arefound

Pronunciation needs to beimproved as mistakes are found

It is difficult to understandwhat they say as theirpronunciation isunintelligible

Fluency

They speak in a natural,vivid and striking way; thelevel of fluency they show ishigher than expected

They speak fluently mostof the time

Tt is acceptable but they need toimprove their speaking skillsmore

They speak like a-b-clearners; it is not acceptablefor a tertiary level

Criteria 1 – 4 5 – 7 8 - 9 10

Information

The writing contains someinformation; but most of it isredundant or unnecessary;information has low accuracyand is not updated

The writing contains a lot ofinformation; but a lot of it isredundant or unnecessary;information has adequateaccuracy and is quiteupdated but there is a lot ofwrong information

The writing is rich ofinformation; some redundantor unnecessary information;information has highaccuracy and is updated butthere is some wronginformation

The writing is rich ofinformation; none or littleredundant or unnecessaryinformation; information hashigh accuracy and is updated

Content

Most of the articles focus onthe main topic of thebrochure; content is too longor too short

Most of the articles focuson the main topic of thebrochure; content islonger or shorter thanexpected

All the articles focus onthe main topic of thebrochure; content lengthmatches the descriptionof the project

All the articles focus on themain topic; content lengthmatches the description of theproject; new and interestingreal life information added

Inappropriate writing stylein most articles; repetitiveand limited vocabularywith a lot of mistakes; a lotof grammatical mistakes

Language use

Inappropriate writingstyle in some articles;varied and accuratevocabulary, a lot ofmistakes when it comesto difficult terms; correctgrammar with somemistakes

Appropriate writing stylein most articles; variousand accurate vocabulary,some mistake when itcomes to difficult terms;correct grammar with afew mistakes

Appropriate writing style inall articles; various andaccurate vocabulary; correctgrammar

Clear and suitable design;most of pictures are incorrectand/or of low quality

DesignClear and suitabledesign; a lot of picturesbut some are incorrectand/or of low quality

Clear and suitable design; alot of demonstrative pictures

Clear, creative, and suitabledesign; a lot of clear andhighly demonstrative pictures

ImprovementNo improvement at allduring the semester,repetitive mistakes

Some improvementduring the semester;make a lot of mistakesbut improve some ofthem

A lot of improvement inwriting during thesemester; make somemistakes but improve mostof them

A lot of improvement inwriting during the semester;make no mistake or somemistake but improve all ofthem


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Appendix C

Culture Project Photos


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Surviving in Difficult EFL Classroom: Teachers’Perspectives and Coping Strategies

Shankar Dhakal

Abstract

English language teachers often encounter with the situations in which they are faced with defiance,aggression and multiple verbal and physical abuses in their classroom. Moreover, they have pressuresof unrealistic expectations and blamed for complex failures of students and the whole system, whichmakes their survival in difficult classroom even more difficult. So, this is a small-scale research studythat investigates EFL teachers’experiences and the perspectives on the difficult classroom situations.The study reveals that teachers are not the only responsible persons for students’ unexpectedbehaviours; but there are several other reasons to contribute to it.

Keywords: Difficult classroom, survive, disruption, reward

Surviving in Difficult EFLClassroom: Teachers’Perspectivesand Coping Strategies SceneSetting

To retrospect my teaching career as an EFLteacher for about a decade, I did not alwayshave crystal stairs to walk through. I hadso many pleasant and unpleasant timesduring those days. It was in 2008, when Ishifted to a new private school, one of thehigher secondary schools in Lalitpur, as asecondary level English teacher. In my firstclass, I had a difficulty even to spend forty-five minutes in the classroom, when I wentto grade X to teach English. I had a problemeven to survive in the classroom, althoughI was not teaching them the subject matterbut simply trying to warm them up withactivities and language games. Studentsoften shouted at friends and ignored the

activities that I conducted in the class,which abominated me a lot. I repeatedlyasked them to follow my instructions;however, they deafened towards it. Manystudents were shouting in their mothertongue i.e. Nepali. At the same time, I askedthem, “Could you please be quiet andrespond me in English when you are askedto do so?””We have always been using Nepalilanguage to communicate in our classroomsince grade one, then, why start in Englishnow?” one of the students said. I was muchfrustrated. Nevertheless, I tried my best tocontrol the class but all my attempts wentin vein in the initial days.

Next day, I decided not to take the job, butthe school director requested me not to giveup. Then, I went to the class the next day,yet, the same situation repeated.Unexpectedly, the situation changed after


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long and tiresome efforts that I made toimprove the classroom environment. Thestudents who disappointed and kept meboiling all the time became very co-operative and supportive with greatenthusiasm for classroom participation.After all, I succeeded to survive well andworked about five years in the sameinstitution with high dignity. Themiraculous change in students’ behaviourand the classroom environment made thelife of all other teachers and the schooladministration comfortable. Finally, I wasin the vital position in the same schoolwhen I resigned.

Many teachers might often encountersimilar problems to properly survive intheir classrooms, as they find their studentsnot ready for learning or they try to disturbthe class intentionally. Such disruptivestudents do not let the teachers surviveeasily and efficiently fulfilling theirtargeted objectives, which is a big problem.These circumstances keep the position ofthe teachers in jeopardy. So, it is good todevelop skills enough to tackle with theproblems without any sense of loss andbring our classroom into a right track.

In this exploratory small-scale researchstudy, I mainly focus on the situations ofthe classroom disruptions and the strategiesthat the teachers adopt to make theirlearners ready for learning and alsocontribute and participate in the learningprocess, so that it helps for better survivaland eases the life of teachers to promotelearning. When we are supposed to teachthe students of different levels, then, at first,we are expected to have a proper planningof the lesson. Not only that, we need to actas we plan. For this reason, this study triesto investigate how EFL teachers perceivethe phenomenon of difficult classroom andwhat strategies they adopt to make theirclassroom conducive to learning.

Difficult Classroom: AnIntroduction

Teachers’ job is not always easy. Sometimes,we might be able to drive the cart easily,whereas the other times we may havebumpy roads, which might even jeopardizeour whole career. Teachers are oftendemotivated with the classroom situationswhen they find their position vulnerable asit is difficult for them to survive easilybecause of the problems like misbehavioursof the students, poor attention towardsstudy, poor motivation and so on.Highlighting the multiple cases of difficultsituations inside the classroom, Rachel andDaniel (2012) state that studentmisbehaviours such as disruptive talking,chronic avoidance of work, clowning,interfering with teaching activities,harassing classmates, verbal insults,rudeness to teacher, defiance and hostility,ranging from infrequent to frequent, mildto severe, is a thorny issue in everydayclassroom and they are intolerable.

Every teacher knows that it only takes onebad egg to ruin the dozen. The reality is thatmost teachers have dozens of students tocontend with and more than onemisbehaved student per dozen. For noviceteachers, an early experience withdisruptive students can get them out of theprofession. So, the strategies to tackle withsuch problems will assist them to build upconfidence and continue their passion inteaching. Hence, in the situationsmentioned above, “the priority here is to actquickly in order to get the class to revert tosmooth routine as fast as possible. Often itis preferable to take a decision, even if nota very good one, fast, than to hesitate or donothing”(Ur, 2008, p. 266). So, there areseveral ways to handle those problems.


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Strategies to Cope with DifficultSituations

When we have students with behaviouralproblems, at first, it is advisable todetermine the actual cause of theirbehaviour. It is said that no student acts upjust to act up. There are always somefactors behind it. There may be someproblems at home; the student may alsohave poor self-concept, a different learningstyle, or the student may be nervous or maybe avoiding an intimidating task. In thesame way, the student may be seekingattention, the student may simply befighting to control the class, or the studentmay be bored. So, diagnosing the problemcan be the very first step. It is better to think‘cause’ rather than ‘symptom’. Then, afterwe diagnose the real causes ofstudents’behaviour, then it is advisable tostart treating the problem. The steps wetake to address vary from student tostudent and from situation to situation. Inthose situations, a more humanisticapproach can be adopted, byunderstanding and appreciating theirfeelings and emotions. As Head and Taylor(1997) say, “Humanistic education is fun”(p. 45).

However, there are habitually disruptivestudents who disrupt the class constantly,repeatedly and intentionally. Generally,these students disturb the class and theteacher, regardless of the measures thatteachers implement. Many of these studentscreate problems in the classroom severaltimes during the class period and tend tohave problematic lives outside the schooltoo. In most cases, parents and the schooladministration may also be unable todiscipline these students, as they do notrespect the limitations or restrictions thatthey have to set. So, in such circumstances,it is difficult for teachers to handle thesituation properly and survive himself/herself in happy and prosperous manner.

According to Blum (1998), “To create aneffective learning experience in anyclassroom (whatever the school) the teacherhas to be able to create a purposeful andcalm atmosphere in which the ‘momentum’for learning can be built” (p. 11). So, theteacher, whatever the behaviour of thestudents and the classroom situation is,might always develop strong degree ofinternal self-motivation to make theclassroom teaching purposeful with theingredients needed. If they encounter withthe problems with students’behaviour,then first, it is better to determine the actualcause of it. Moreover, “you will survive andsucceed in difficult school if you aresteadfastly enthusiastic, plan carefully andcommunicate colourfully when you get thechance. You must try to stay calm in the faceof constant provocation andconfrontation.” (Blum, 1998, p. 16) So, inevery lesson, teachers can pursue positivebehaviour management strategiesenergetically to create an environment forstudent motivation. It helps a lot when theteachers make their classroom teachingeffective through practice. In this regard,Ur (2008) says, “…most of our effort shouldbe invested in practice; in making the taskin hand as attractive as possible, andencouraging our students to engage in it,invest effort and succeed” (p. 276).

When the teacher finds his/her studentshaving no profound interest in learning andthis kind of behaviour often leads toclassroom distraction, then the teacher hasto adopt certain measures. First, it is helpfulif the teacher fights for control in theclassroom using his/her own style andpositive behavioural systems, which willdramatically impact on the behaviour andmotivation of students that ultimately willform the teachers’ own personal crusade tosurvive. When we are struggling with adifficult class, we can make liberal use ofthe smiley face, as it is most important togalvanize the attention of the students in


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that critical time when the students areignoring the teacher and talking amongthemselves. We do not need to harshourselves because of the problems we face.“The ultimate measure of a man is notwhere he stands in moments of comfort, butwhere he stands at times of challenge andcontroversy. Courage faces fear andthereby masters it; cowardice represses fearand is thereby mastered by it. We mustconstantly build dikes of courage to holdback the floor of fear”. (Martin Luther King,as cited from Blankstein, 2010, p. 29)

Motivation Strategies

The letter of praise and positive rewardeither to a particular student or the wholeclass may be useful to the teacher indifficult situations. In the word of Blum(1998), “…. reward will often stop the mostmalignant individuals from spoiling theatmosphere by talking or mucking around”(p. 21). But some teachers have the habit ofpunishing the students for the terrible actsof verbal abuse, bullying, fighting andlesson interruptions that occur every day.Punishment does not work and is not thesolution to improve those students. Instead,“to survive and to succeed in difficultschool you must change the way you think.Reward, reward and reward. The mostdifficult class, the more rewards” (Blum,1998, p. 32), We should always rememberthat prevention is more effective than curein tough situations. So, reward is aneffective prevention but punishment is notan effective cure.

Emphasizing the importance of positiveremarks to the students, Baker and Westrup(2000) state, “A comment is more helpfulthan just a grade. Be positive, but truthfuland encouraging- Good, but……better thanlast week” (p. 130). Hence, being positiveeven in difficult circumstances andproviding encouragement and reward to

the students might be helpful for theteachers to overcome the possibledisruptions in the classroom.

Teaching Strategies andProfessional Growth

In a very difficult class, there are someother strategies to best help the teachers fortheir survival. Sometimes, teachingstrategies might help the teachers tosurvive easily. So, we need to change thestrategy so as to get the learners’ attentionand as per need, being up-to-date with therecent teaching techniques and alsocontinuously developing ourselvesprofessionally. Moreover, teachers canlearn themselves from their own practicesyear after year. In the same line, Geert(2004) states that teachers continue todevelop in their job. They keep on ‘learningfrom practice’and become ‘moreexperienced’with every passing year in thecareer. Similarly, we can also entertain thelearners relating their learning to theirexperiences or life stories. At the same time,teachers may try to encourage goodpractice by rewarding them rather than byconstantly punishing bad or incompetentpractice, which will ultimately de-motivatethe learners.

Additionally, teachers are benefitted a lotif they keep themselves up-to-date with therecent trends of language teaching andenhance their professional skills andpractice in the same in the classroomsituations, which will sometimes help toconfront the situation well. Similarly,teacher training and teacher developmentalso contribute to a teachers’improvedperformance. At the same time, we mighttransform ourselves changing ourclassroom roles as well. As Karn (2007)says, “Language teachers have to play therole of facilitators in the classroom, not theauthorities.” (p. 63) Sometimes classroom


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activities and interaction might help theteachers to get success in classroomteaching by getting the students’ attentionand their active involvement. Whenteachers make their classroom moreparticipatory by involving students in thelearning process, it helps to distract themfrom being disruptive. To make the classlivelier, student-centred and more ofparticipatory, “there should be lots ofactivities, where students get chance toinvolve themselves.” (Dhakal, 2012, p. 11)

Creating Awareness inStakeholders

In difficult moments, school managementmay also help the teachers to survive. Theycan help teachers treating troublemakersand support as the teachers try to settle aclass. Sometimes, parents of those studentsmight help them to avoid the problems. Inthis context, Blankstein (2010) says, “It isclear that the proper support and theinvolvement of students’ families andcommunity at large is fundamental tostudents’ achievement in schools” (p. 192).So, progress up the ladder is possible if theteachers not only try to avoid the situationson their own but also get enormousassistance from all the stakeholders likeother teachers, school management,parents, community and so on, as Knezevicand Scholl (2002) say, “Collaboration is apowerful vehicle for exposing anddeveloping knowledge of teaching”(p. 79).In this way, in most difficult situations,teachers can collaboratively work withother stakeholders to resolve the problems.

Additionally, when there is a problem, it isrequired to develop our zeal, dedication andcommitment towards avoiding the problemrather than being an incompetent, lazy andmalicious teacher. It is better to beconsistent on our effort and keep workinghard until we get success, disregarding thefact that we may have to spend a long time.

Objectives of the Study

The principal aim of this study was toexamine the situations of classroomdisruptions to identify whether the EFLteachers face any behavioural problemsinside the classroom. In addition to this, thisstudy also aimed at investigating EFLteachers’strategies for maintaining goodclassroom atmosphere. It also examined therole of stakeholders to improve theclassroom environment.

Research Methodology

This investigation adopts an interview-based descriptive and exploratoryqualitative research. I used informalconversational interview, as Rossman andRall (1998, as cited in Richards, 2003) state:“Interviewing is the hallmark of qualitativeresearch” (p. 47). “A popular approach ineducational research, the one-to-oneinterview, is a data collection process inwhich the researcher asks the questions tothe participants and records answers fromonly one in the study at a time”(Creswell,2011, p. 218). In this regard, Cohen, Manionand Morrison (2007) opine that interviewis a powerful instrument for qualitativeresearchers. So, for the authenticity andconfidentiality of the study, I have collecteddata through interviews, by interviewingthree in-service teachers about the difficultmoments they faced in their classroomduring their teaching career. I also askedthem about the measures they adoptedwhen they had hard times to survive in theirclassroom. Moreover, they were asked whothey think are responsible for such issuesand would help the teachers for bettersurvival. In this study, the interview wassemi-structured, where “the interviewer isfree to follow up a question with additionalquestions that probe further” (Perry, 2005,p. 119). There was no predetermination ofquestions, rather the researcher preparedsome guidelines or interview themes beforeinterview.


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Data Analysis Procedure

For this small scale investigation, Iinterviewed three in-service EFL teachersfrom Kathmandu valley teaching atsecondary and higher secondary level andanalyzed the information subjectively. Tomask their real identity, I have identifiedto the teachers as T1, T2 and T3. The datagathered from the interviews were codedand categorized under different themes.These codes were organized aroundresearch objectives, and there appearedthree main themes: (1) Students’behavioural problems that teachersencounter inside the classroom; (2) Teacherstrategies for maintaining good classroomatmosphere; and (3) Role of stakeholders toimprove the classroom environment.

Finding and Discussion

After interview, a clear image evolved withregard to their experience on the topic. So,for discussion and interpretation, Ischematized the information related to theobjectives of my topic, and presented thefindings under the themes as given below.

Students’ behavioural problemsinside the classroom

I interviewed the teachers teaching Englishfrom school level to college level, andhaving experience of more than a decade.When I asked them about the problemsregarding students’ behaviour theyencountered inside the classroom, I foundthe responses of all the participants almostsimilar, even though they, at first, hesitatedto share their personal experiences or thehappenings. When I asked them to recallthe day when they were misbehaved by thestudents in the class (if any), they said thatthe most unexpected behaviour wasdisrespecting teachers in terms ofdisobedience and rudeness and verbal

aggression. In the same vein, T2 shared aninteresting story. He said,

“I don’t easily get angry. Considering myprofession, I think I am pretty patientcompared to my friends. I don’t scream or yellin my classroom although I frequently hear itin other classrooms. As a matter of fact, I rarelyhave to raise my voice. But, there is one thingthat boils my blood, it is disrespect by students.One day, while I was correcting the papers ofthe students, one boy sprinkled ink in my jacket.I was infuriated in such a way that I slappedhim several times…..”.

In addition, teachers reported that mostcommon and disruptive problem behaviourwas talking out of turn followed by non-attentiveness. So, from the discussion, itwas revealed that students create problemswhen they talk out of their turn. Accordingto them, ‘talking out of turn’mainly refersto students chatting among themselves onirrelevant topics that disrupts the lesson,calling out and making remarks onsomebody or something withoutteachers’permission. Apart from them,some students even ridicule teachersshowing disrespectful behaviour, rudeness,talking back and also confronting withteachers. Recalling similar experience, T1said,

“Students sometimes dispute against theteacher. Once, a student gave an irrelevantanswer to my serious question and gave acasual answer. When I commented, the studentbecame enraged and hostile, and then disputedagainst me.”

After the discussion with the participants,I came to know that they faced severalbehavioural problems from their students,mainly in the beginning of their teachingcareer and in the institutions where theywere new to the students. The problems theyfaced are like classroom bullying, making


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unnecessary noises as the size of theclassroom was big, reluctance to participatein the classroom activities and variousbehavioural problems like creatingdisturbances, ignorance to the teachers, notbeing attentive in the class, being negligenttowards the activities that teachersconduct, and so on. They said thatsometimes they found no eagerness andenthusiasm in students for classroomparticipation. Interestingly, T3 said,“Especially in class 11 and 12 it takes about15 minutes to manage classroom environmentbefore teaching”.

Strangely enough, another participant saidthat when his students created theproblems in the classroom, he felt likechanging his job to something else, otherthan teaching. Additionally, the teachersrevealed that students’disruptivebehaviours retard the smoothness andeffectiveness of teaching and also impedethe learning of the students. As theyreported, students’misbehaviour not onlyescalated with time, but also loweredacademic achievement and increaseddelinquent behaviour. So, from theexperiences of the participants, I came torealize that many teachers confront withthe situations when they have difficult timeeven to survive in their classroom teaching.They face various problems created by thestudents in the classroom, which reallymake their journey of teaching troublesome.

Teacher strategies for maintaininggood classroom atmosphere

While interviewing the participants, I askedthem about the strategies they adoptedwhen they found the students disturbingthe class and not being ready to learn. Theyresponded that, whatever their effort, all

went in vein in the beginning. But,gradually they started succeeding in theclassroom getting the attention of thestudents by asking them what the problemwas and trying to solve them, if possible.They responded that there might be somereasons behind the disruptive nature of thestudents. T2 said,

“There may be several causes of misbehaviour.Consider that we might havedone something to incite a student to actinappropriately. Perhaps a student isbored and is causing a disruption because ofour poor lesson planning, or maybethe student is angry and causing a disturbancebecause of a sarcastic remark we made”.

Similarly, answering my question about thestrategies they adopt, T1 and T3 respondedthat they plan more than usual, when theyhave a problem in a particular class. T1said,

“My number one classroom managementstrategy is solid and tight lesson planning. Ifound that the students who are engaged in alesson and have specific goals are workingtowards having a lot less time to be distractedand get-off task”.

In the same way, they said that they madethe students play games and do theactivities of their interest under theircontrol for several days to divert theattention of the students towards learning.They tried a lot to convince and motivatethem and to involve them in the learningprocess with recreational activities,language games and even punished themgiving additional assignments and askingquestions to especially the troublemakersfrequently. Regarding the strategy tocontrol disruptive students in his class, T3said,


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“We should make our students positivetowards school environment, teachers andtheir friends. What I experienced is that whenthey are bored and are negative towards theirteachers and school, then they often disturb theclass in different ways. Once, when I askedthe students to prepare the examples after Itaught them simile and metaphor, one studentshared an unexpected example to the class-‘School is a jail, classes are the cells, teachersare the security guards and we are the prisoners.”

In this way, making students positive playsa crucial role to avoid their disruptivenature. They further added that they toldstories and shared their real life experiencesto the students for controlling theirmisbehaviours. They focused on activitiesinvolving the learners in the learningprocess directly rather than only focusingon lectures.

In addition, the participants reported thatsometimes a student misbehaves simplybecause he/she may need special supportin learning or express feelings or may betrying to fulfil the needs that he/she doesnot know how to handle otherwise: Theneed for attention, power, revenge or anavoidance of failure. Inevitably, teachersneed to respond to minor disruptions thatprevent the misbehaving student, andperhaps his/her classmates from learning.We might respond to these oftenunintentional interruptions by using one ormore of the following techniques:proximity, individual signals, physical cues,touch, ignoring and silence. T2 said thatwhen we have a problem, we must dosomething consistently and respectfully,providing the student with some controlover the outcome and an opportunity toachieve a fresh start. He further added thatwe should also communicate to the studentthat his/her choice to violate the rulesrepresents, perhaps, an unwitting choice to

accept the consequences for breaking thoserules, and that the ultimate consequence ofmisbehaviour is interrupted learning. So,we should also consider our own plans forany major incidents that might arise in ourclassroom, whether due to studentbehaviour or other outside factors.

From the entire discussion with theparticipants, it can be concluded thatmotivation, various classroom activities,language games, stories and anecdotes,sharing real experiences and knowing thestudents well, understanding their feeling,interest and emotions best help the teachersto manage the classroom environment andmake their survival comfortable ratherthan punishing them physically.

Role of stakeholders to improvethe classroom environment

When I asked my participants who theythink was responsible for the classroomproblems created by students and who theythink would help the teachers to bettersurvive in the problems, then the responseswere very close to each other. Theyresponded that, not only the teachers, butalso the society, parents, schooladministration, friends and studentsthemselves are responsible for theproblems. In this regard, T2 said that, theyall play the pivotal role in improving thesituation. Accentuating this, he added,

“When problems become severe, then theteachers cannot solve them alone. In suchsituations, we have to work in partnershipwith the school administration, family and thecommunity to form the school rules and counselthe students because, in most of the cases,students’behaviours are highly influenced bytheir parent’s role at home or their homeconditions and the community, as they learntheir behaviours from them”.


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Similarly, a study conducted by Domina(2005) also showed that when parentsvolunteered at school and supervisedstudents’ homework, students’ behavioursimproved. Correspondingly, T3 reported,

“In our context, the role of parents and thecommunity is basically ignored; but, I think,when we engage families and the communitypartners, this helps to make a d i f f e r encein helping students develop good behaviourand make them well cultured”.

Moreover, they said that teachersthemselves are also responsible as theysometimes fail to understand the feelingsand emotions of the students. “Teachers haveto act as per the wish and desire of thestudents”, T1 said. In the same way, badbehaviours of the students are associatedwith their family environment and theinfluence of television, movies and theother cultures they adopt. At the same time,students act in an undisciplined mannersimply to show themselves different fromothers, according to them.

In this way, based on the perspectives of theteachers I interviewed, it can be concludedthat there is not a single factor to thedisruptive behaviour of the students in theclassroom. There are many factorscontributing to make the life of teachersdifficult in classroom teaching. Moreimportantly, the students’ behaviour inschool also affects other students’attitudesabout school and overall learning. A well-behaved and well-managed classroom is aproductive place for learning. So, ifstudents’ behavioural problems are solvedin time, it helps to create conduciveenvironment for learning; and for this, thestudents, teachers, parents, schooladministration and the community shouldwork together to improve the situation; asSheldon (2009) states that family and thecommunity are to be seen as the partners

of the school in children’s education anddevelopment.

Conclusion and Implications

There are many EFL teachers who facemultiple behavioural problems in theclassroom. Difficult classroom situationsmainly refer to the problems like disruptivestudents, poor motivation, lack ofenthusiasm, readiness of the learners in thelearning process, and various disciplinaryacts inside the classroom. These problemsaffect the teachers quite a lot and maketheir classroom survival difficult, whichmight create demotivation in the teachers.Of course, these problems may not becreated in every teacher’s classroom.Nevertheless, when the problems arise, itis better to be ready to tackle and overcomethe problems rather than running awayfrom them.

The findings of this study suggested that inthe situations when teachers find theirclassroom survival diabolical, they need towiden their role by not only being aclassroom teacher, but also being achanging agent by motivating the students,change the pattern of classroom instruction,making an effective plan and classroomstrategies and creating awareness in thestakeholders as teachers themselves are notonly responsible for the problematicsituations. Apart from them, the studyrevealed that teachers have to learn totolerate and have to do their best for theirpupils by being more efficient and effectivetrying to make ‘impossible things possible’.In this context, Blum (1998) says,“surviving in difficult school is similar tosurviving life as a foot-soldier in the first


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world war trenches, where the strategists,ten miles far from the front, have anunrealistic grand plan for winning the war”(p. 140). So, in order to survive in theclassroom instruction effectively, thebaseline goal as a teacher is to establishgood relationship with all the stakeholdersand build constructive relationships withthem.

References

Baker, J. &Westrup, H. (2000). The Englishlanguage teachers’ handbook. London:VSO.

Blum, P. (1998). Surviving and succeeding indifficult classrooms. London:Routledge.

Blankstein, A. M. (2010). Failure is not anoption. New Delhi: Sage Publications.

Cohen, L., Manion, L. and Morrison, K.(2007). Research methods in education(6thed.). London: Routledge.

Creswell, J. (2011). Educational research:Planning, conducting, and evaluatingquantitative and qualitative research(4thed.). New Jersey: PearsonEducation.

Dhakal, S. (2012). Teachers’ perceptions andpractices of participatory teaching inELT. An unpublished M.Ed.dissertation, Kathmandu University,Dhulikhel, Nepal.

Domina (2005). Leveling the homeadvantage: Assessing the effectivenessof parental involvement in elementary

school. Sociology and education, 78,233-239.

Geert, K. (2004). CPD for professionalrenewal: Moving beyond knowledgefor practice. In C. Day and Sachs, J.(Eds.). International handbook on thecontinuing professional development ofteachers (pp. 217-237). England: OpenUniversity Press.

Head, K. and Taylor, P. (1997). Readings inteacher development. Oxford:Heinemann.

Karn, S.K. (2007). Current trends in ELTaround the globe. Journal of NELTA,12, 60-66.

Knezevic, A. and Scholl, M. (2002).Learning to teach together: Teachingto learn together. In D. Freeman and J.C. Richards (Eds). Teacher learning inlanguage teaching (pp. 79-96).Cambridge: CUP.

Perry, J.F. (2005). Research in appliedlinguistics. New York: Routledge.

Rachel, C. F. and Daniel, T. L. (2012).Student classroom misbehaviour: Anexploratory study based onteachers’perceptions. The scientificworld Journal, 1-8. Hong Kong: TheUniversity of Hong Kong. Available:http://dx.doi.org/10.1100/2012/208907.

Richards, K. (2003). Qualitative Inquiry inTESOL. New York: Palgrave,Macmilan.


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Sheldon, S.B. (2009). Improving studentoutcomes with school, family andcommunity partnerships: A researchreview. In J.L. Epstein et. al. School,family and community partnerships:Your handbook for action (pp. 40-56)(3rd ed.). Thousand Oaks, CA: CorwinPress.

Ur, P. (2008). A course in language teaching.Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Author’s bio

Shankar Dhakal is an MPhil (ELE) scholarin Kathmandu University. He has workedas an EFL teacher for more than a decadeand a teacher trainer for about five years.He has conducted mini-researche studieson various EFL issues in Nepal. He is a lifemember of NELTA. His research interestsinclude critical pedagogy and issues relatedto large EFL classes.


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Information and Communication Technologies andTeacher Educators of English in Nepal

Prem Prasad Poudel

Abstract

Nepal’s teacher education is witnessing a number of hurdles and the case has been deterioratingfurther. It is imperative to improve the existing situation with no delay. Regarding Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs), I have tried to figure out the present situation of knowledge,practice and expectations of the teacher educators of English working in both public/community andprivate teacher education institutions of Nepal. A survey was conducted using a questionnaire. A totalof twenty-five informants fully responded to the questionnaire. It was found that they were aware ofthe need for including ICTs in classroom instruction but due to the resource constraints, lack of trainingsand lack of readiness in the administrative systems, they have not been able to make use of ICTs inclassroom instruction.

Keywords: teacher education, information and communication technology, ICTs policies

Introduction

Nepal’s teacher education programme hasa history of almost seven decades. Withinthis period, teacher education in Nepalseems as if it is continuing in the same orsimilar pattern. There were and are anumber of challenges piled up in front ofit. One of them is the case of utilization ofICTs. Since the turn of new millennium,there have been visible impacts of globalexpansion of Information andCommunication Technologies (ICTs) almostin all parts of the countries in the world.There have been rapid transformations.Due to such inevitable happenings, theteachers, students, and teacher educationinstitutions have faced numerous newproblems, challenges and uncertainties. Inthe context of developing countries, ICTs

are often seen as empowering tools whichprovide people with access to opportunitiesand choices that were hitherto not available(Shrestha, 2011). In the present context,there is a huge demand from the generalpublic that there should be integration ofICTs in classroom instruction and theservice providing institutions should createan ICTs friendly teaching and learning. Itis an additional quality demand onteachers; and cultivating such knowledgeand skills is the responsibility of teachereducators and the institutions they work in.In such changed contexts, teacher roles andresponsibilities have to be redefined andaccordingly the curricular changes have tobe made. One of the crucial challenges forEnglish language teachers and teachereducators (similar is the case with all othersubject teacher educators) at present is the


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use of ICT in teaching learning process.Cheng (2005) writes,

In such a rapidly changing context, howteachers can be empowered and preparedto take up new roles and perform teachingeffectively to meet the challenges and newexpectations from education reforms is acrucial concern in policy making, reformand practice of teacher education. (p.39)

It is true that well-prepared and well-equipped teachers can help learners adjustto rapidly changing socio-economicconditions and digital technologies. Weknow that our societies expect oureducation systems to go beyond simpletransmission of subject knowledge. Toenable our learners to adjust to thechanging needs of the labour market andeveryday life, we need to facilitate themobtain new competencies, viz. digitaltechnologies. It is mandatory now that theteacher education programmes must beprepared to cope with ICTs challenges. Wehave seen that throughout the world,schools expect to recruit new teachershaving the ability to adopt ICTs in theirteaching and learning situations. There areopportunities and challenges posed bydigital technologies in delivering qualityeducation for all. If the digital technologiescan be used properly, there is a chance ofprofoundly improving the quality andefficiency of our education programme.Due to the paradigm shift from traditionalsite-bound learning to modern triplizedlearning (Cheng, 2001b), the quality androle of a teacher in the new century iscompletely different from the traditionalone.

In order to address this challenge, teachereducators themselves should be able toexhibit this competency. Lee and Sparks(2013) found that teachers lack technologyintegration skills. Nepalese teacher

education programmes also suffer fromsuch a problem. It is high time to makeNepalese teacher education morecompetitive, comprehensive and as a wholequalitative on a par with the global trend.Quality education can be a reality onlywhen there is sufficient investment inteachers. Preparing quality Englishteachers comes under the responsibility ofteacher educators of English. A reportpresented by EFA Global Monitoring Reportteam (2015) in Oslo Summit declared toensure that teachers and educators areempowered, adequately recruited, well-trained, professionally qualified, motivatedand supported within well-resourced,efficient and effectively governed systems.So the teacher educators of English shouldnot only think of developing pre-serviceteachers’ knowledge of English and itspedagogy, but also the skills in using ICTsfor better classroom delivery as demandedby the 21st century socio-cultural context.

Objectives

The objectives of this survey were two-fold:

To find out the existing knowledgeand skills in ICTs of English languageteacher educators in Nepal and

To find out the needs of those teachereducators regarding the use of ICTs inthe classroom

Methodology

In order to get a broader picture of theexisting knowledge and skills of Englishlanguage teacher educators teaching inpublic/community and private teachereducation institutions in Nepal, aquestionnaire format was adopted. A totalof twenty-five teacher educators of Englishfrom ten teacher education institutions


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(both public/community and private)located in Kathmandu, Bhaktpur, Lalitpur,Kaski, Surkhet, Dadeldhura, Chitwan, andButwal were selected purposively as therespondents. The informants whose viewswere sought were all involved in teachingEnglish at Bachelor and Master levels in theconstituent and affiliated campuses ofTribhuvan University. These campusesselected represent the major teachereducation institutions in the valley andother regions of the country. It ruled out thepossibility of clarifying face-to-facewordings of the questions and precisemeaning of the responses, though I couldmake short interactions informally with thecolleagues in my workplaces and alsothrough telephone contacts.

Results and Discussion

There was a time when society believed thatteachers were born, not trained. But today,teachers are made by continuous inputthrough training and refresher courses.This is necessary in order to keep pace withthe developments in the related areas andto work as the maximum efficiency level.

ICT policies at national andinstitutional level

Government of Nepal (GoN), Ministry ofEducation some years ago through itsNational Curriculum Framework includeda provision of ICT as a subject and as a toolfor instruction in school education (ICTMaster Plan, 2013-17). In line with this,Tribhuvan University, Faculty of Educationdeveloped a separate course in ICTeducation. This reveals the fact that thegovernment as well as the universities haveinitiated to introduce the courses in ICT;but still there is a huge gap inunderstanding that instead ofencompassing ICT as a subject, it is moreimperative to adopt it as a tool for

instruction and learning. For instance,English language teacher educators are tobe enabled to use ICT tools and resourcesin their classrooms so that they can preparebetter teachers who in immediate workplaces can implement national policies ofICT-based teaching and learning. Wheninquired, a huge majority of TeacherEducators of English (TEEs) were aware ofthe existence of the national policies for ICTin education, however, a few of them couldjustify the influence of the policy in theirinstitution and their behaviour in the classas a whole. They claimed that there hadbeen no any professional initiative forempowering them from the institutionallevel even though it has been years since theICT policies were developed.

ICT knowledge and practice amongTEEs

In order to transform the society to tacklewith the 21st century challenges, teachersmust be more informed and empowered inthe latest developments. In doing so,teacher preparation courses are to be socompetitive that there is no stone unturnedregarding their knowledge and skills so thatthey can better provide good input to thefuture teachers. Competency in ICT is oneof the obligatory aspects on the part of theirexpertise. In the survey of English languageteacher educators teaching in the public/community and private teacher educationinstitutions in the country, it was found thatmore than half of them were unable tohandle basic computer programmesnecessary for and useful in classroomdelivery.

Figure 1: TEE’s knowledge of computer programmes


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Figure 1 shows that all the teachersconsulted for data collection had theknowledge of using Msword. Very few ofthem could use Ms excel well, i.e. only 30percent of them. Similarly, 60 percent hadthe knowledge in power point and 90percent of them claimed that they knowhow to use email and Internet. Very few,almost negligible, teachers had knowledgeof other programmes such as BB Flash back,PRO 4 recorder, etc. This provides us witha picture that English language teachereducators at present need further input inusing ICT comfortably.

Use of computer and the Internetfor classroom instruction

Technology in general and informationtechnology in particular is affecting theeducation system all over the globe in arevolutionary way. Both learners andteachers cannot be untouched by its effects.Srinivas (2004) writes that technology isaffecting education in revolutionary waysand the momentum towards these changesis irreversible. TEEs have felt the need forusing the Internet as one of their mostfeasible tools for finding out the most usefulresources for necessary content andmethodologies. All of them responded thatthere is high importance and necessity ofusing ICT tools for classroom instruction.There is a satisfactory situation that theteachers visit websites for the resources. Onaverage, the TEEs surfing and usingcomputer for classroom teaching werefound in majority.

They claimed that they would accumulatethe content and develop skills for usingICTs.

Figure 2. Frequency of internet surfing amongst TEEs

This shows that TEEs use the Internet fordownloading or consulting the resourcesfor teaching and learning. This situation isnot embarrassing since Nepal’s teachingprofession has not been modernized yet asexpected. However, it is a good signal thatteacher educators have the readiness foradopting the requirement of ICT. Utilizingthis existing potential of TEEs, we can makea great shift from traditional forms ofteaching to modern methodologies.

Trainings and professionaldevelopment activities

For the success of any institution, its humanresource should be competitive, skilled,proficient, willing, and professional. To beprofessional, they are to be able to adoptnew innovations in the respective fields. Inteacher education as well, the Internet, webtechnologies and digital-based electronicinformation are exerting pressure on thetraditional systems. In this survey, it wasattempted to find out how often the teachereducators get opportunities whileidentifying training needs for using ICTs intheir classrooms. It was found that they arerarely involved in the process of needanalysis in using ICTs by the governmentalorganizations, their university and thecampuses they work in. The teachersresponded that they had never got trainingopportunities organized or sponsored by theconcerned institutional and administrativesystem. However, it was found that theyhad obtained trainings (mostly basic


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computer course) through their owninitiation in out-of-campus situations. Onaverage, they had attended trainings of 5-15 hours. Very interestingly, they are notsure of the effect of such training in theircareer advancement because theinstitutions they work do not demand themandatory and proper use of suchknowledge and skills. One of the TEEsresponded,

‘I am sure that the institution I work doesn’tknow the level of ICT skill I have and howthe students would have been benefittedfrom my competency in classroom delivery.It is very important in our subject that thepre-service English teachers are to beexhibited or at least familiarized with theprocedures of using ICT in teaching Englishand the activities they can design whiledoing so with the resources available.’

This is a reflective image of the Englishlanguage teacher education situation inNepal. It is common to both public/community and private institutions.Teachers have the similar plights since morethan 90 percent of the classroom deliveriesare made through the use of the traditionaltransmission and ‘jug-mug’ type ofteaching methods.

ICT obstacles, needs andexpectations

In the teacher preparation courses inTribhuvan University and PurbanchalUniversity of Nepal, there are a number ofcourses that deal with English languageteaching methods; however, no space hasbeen given to the type of course for thedevelopment of the ICT skills on the partof the teachers. There are some chaptersthat deal with the theoretical topics suchas CALL, OHP, multimedia projector, etc.However, learning these concepts developsawareness towards ICTs but not the skills

in using them. Very frequently, teachers areasked to learn new methods of teachingsuch as communicative language teaching,reflective teaching, TBLT, etc. but there isless discussion and concern made aboutgreater challenges of rapidly increasingtechnological changes.

In the survey, they were asked about themain barriers or problems and needs forthem related to the adoption of ICT-basedinstruction in English Language TeacherEducation (ELTE). The data elicited werecoded and grouped into the followingmajor obstacles.

a. Resource constraints: It is true that,considering the situation of resourcesand technology, both in-service andpre-service teacher educationprogrammes are run in crisis. Thereseem to be both institutional andindividual concerns and problems.Some institutions want to have someor limited resources but they do notpush their teaching staff to makemaximum and most effective use ofthe available resources. On the otherhand, some institutions do not havesuch resources at all. The majority ofthe institutions under the universitysystem are under-resourced. Some ofthem have internet WIFI, but this isslow and irregular due to frequentpower-cuts.

b. Low motivation amongst TEEs andpoor collegiality: It was frequentlyreported that the TEEs themselves arenot motivated as expected towardsthe learning process. They claimedthat they do not participate in therarely available ICT learningopportunities due to theadministrative biasness they hadbeen experiencing for long. Some oftheir colleagues are well-familiar or


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skilled in using the ICTs but due tothe lack of the culture of sharing orcollegiality, others have not beenbenefitted from those learned ones.

c. Poor access and competency inusing ICTs: Many of the respondentsreported that they use mobiles andtheir own personal devices such aslaptops, PCs for surfing the Internet.When they search the valuable andmost significant learning materialsuseful for their classroom delivery,they cannot get access to them. Theaccess facility has not been madeavailable to them through thelibraries or administrative system ofthe institution they work in. The caseis further miserable in students. Manystudents do not respond to the web-based resource sharing done by someteacher educators. From my ownexperience, I can strongly claim thatthe access and competency of theteacher educators and their studentsis very poor. Hence, lack of access andpoor competency are the commonproblems for both teachers andstudents.

With these obstacles, TEEs have beenworking for long. They know and are awareof the value of ICTs as a part of theirprofessional and personal life. They wantto make changes, but they also expect somechanges or provisions made in theinstitutions they have been working in.Some of the expectations are:

Inclusion of ICTs as one of the core areasof English language teacher educationprogrammes: The course developersand academic institutions shoulddevelop positive attitude towardsvalue of ICTs in teacher education.

Training packages to be developed anddelivered to all the teacher educators of

English: In-service teacher educationwould be more effective in adoptingthe latest innovations in using ICT inclassroom instruction.

Management of resources in theclassroom and within the premises: TEEsexpect their classroom to be well-equipped with ICT resources andavailability of the high speed Internetfacility in the premises of theinstitutions where they work.

A visionary leadership: There was astrong voice to have the leadership agood vision to reshape Englishlanguage teacher education. Only awell-informed and dedicatedleadership can make changes inadopting innovations and execute forthe best use of the resources available.

Conclusion

Information and communicationtechnologies have been indispensable toolsfor the effective teaching leaning systems.To prepare the teachers for the 21st century,the teacher education programmes andteacher educators are to be much morecompetitive, competent and skillful. Inorder to do so, the inclusion of ICTs is abasic requirement in teacher educationprogrammes. In the same line, through thesurvey, I would like to conclude thatNepalese teacher educators of English arenot competent enough in using ICTs inclassroom instruction. They need trainings,resources and support in order to be capableof adopting ICT-based instruction andprepare more able, competent andprofessional teachers of English to tacklewith the 21st century global challenges ofteaching English.


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References

Ayers, W. (1993). To teach: A journey of ateacher. New York: Teachers CollegePress, Columbia University.

Cheng, Y. C. (2001a). Educational relevance,quality and effectiveness: Paradigmshifts. Invited keynote speechpresented at the InternationalCongress for School Effectiveness andSchool Improvement held in Toronto,Canada, 2001, January, with thetheme ‘Equity, Globalization andChange: Education for the 21stCentury’.

Cheng, Y. C. (2001b). New education andnew teacher education: A paradigmshift for the future. In Y. C. Cheng, K.W. Chow, & K. T. Tsui (Eds.). Newteacher education for the future:International perspectives (pp. 33–88).Hong Kong &The Netherlands: HongKong Institute of Education andKluwer Academic Publishers.

Cheng, Y. C. (2005). Three waves of teachereducation and development:Paradigm shift in applying ICT. InMohamed Chaib & Ann-KatrinSvensson (Eds). ICT in TeacherEducation: Challenging Prospects.Jonkoping : Jonkoping UniversityPress.

EFA Global Monitoring Report Team (2015).Investing in teachers is investing inlearning: A prerequisite for atransformative power of education. Abackground paper presented for theOslo Summit on Education forDevelopment. Oslo: Author.

Lee, J.C & Sparks, P. (2013). Three hurdles intechnology integration: A case study oftechnology integration in Bungamati.Journal of NELTA, 18 (1-2), 105-114.

Ministry of Education (2013). Informationand communication technology ineducation master plan 2013-17.Kathmandu: Author.

Shrestha, P. (2011). The potential of mobiletechnologies for (English) languagelearning in Nepal. Journal of NELTA,16 (1-2), 107-113.

Srinivas, K. (2004). Globalization andchallenges for education. New Delhi:Shipra Publications.

Author’s bio

Prem Prasad Poudel, M. Ed. and M. Phil,is a faculty at Tribhuvan University, Nepal.He has been carrying out research studiesin English Language Teaching and TeacherEducation and has published in variousnational and international journals. He is ateacher trainer, textbook writer, translatorand Master Trainer of Critical ThinkingMethodology.


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Learner Role in CLT: Practices in the HigherSecondary Classroomsssss

Md. Abdur Rouf &Khanam Nargis Sultana

Abstract

Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) is a learner-centered approach for language teaching andlearning. In the CLT context, learner’s role changes from that of a passive receiver to an activeparticipant engaging in diverse classroom activities that promote communicative competence. Again,L2 learners are supposed to learn the language by using it for different tasks, and taking part in pairwork, group work, role play, and discussion inside classrooms. This study aims to find out gaps, ifany, between learner roles as advocated in CLT theory and as practiced by learners in the highersecondary classrooms in Bangladesh while teaching/learning English following this approach, and itsrelation to poor ‘learning outcomes’.

Keywords: Learner role, CLT, higher secondary classrooms, practices, learners

Background of the study

In Bangladeshi secondary and highersecondary educational institutions,Grammar-Translation Method (GTM) wasfollowed for teaching/learning English fora long time. Teaching and learning ofgrammatical rules and sentence structureswas the key target in EFL classrooms. Therewas no effort to engage L2 learners inmeaningful communicative tasks. The shiftin the paradigm from GTM toCommunicative Language Teaching (CLT)occurred in the 1990s. The rationale was tomake L2 learners competent incommunication so that they can use thelanguage in practical situations and becomelinguistically equipped for the globalizedworld. Unfortunately, it was not properly

planned, and readiness of English languageteachers and other stakeholders for CLT hasbeen a much-talked-about issue since then.Again, there is a growing consensus inBangladesh that ‘learning outcomes’ havebeen really poor. Many L2 learners havefailed to achieve the expected academicresult because of poor command over theEnglish language. More and more peopleare questioning the appropriateness ofintroducing CLT for teaching and learningEnglish in Bangladesh. In this context, thisstudy aimed to find out gaps, if any,between the learner roles as advocated inCLT theory and as practiced by learners inhigher secondary classrooms in Bangladeshwhile teaching/learning English followingCLT, and its relation to poor ‘learningoutcomes’. Two related issues should bediscussed here.


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CLT, learners have a major role in L2teaching/learning. The functional aspectsof language can be achieved when learnersengage themselves in meaningfulcommunicative tasks inside a classroom.Finocchiaro and Brumfit (1983) suggest thatlearners create language ‘through trial anderror’ (pp. 91-93). American poet WaltWhitman said ‘he most honors my stylewho learns under it to destroy the teacher’(as cited in Mclean, 2012, p. 32). Criticizingthe dominant role of teachers, Mclean(2012) explains that ‘only when theteacher’s authority recedes can the learnerbe thrown back on his own resources’ (p.33). Thus, CLT advocates ‘teacher-directedstudent-centered’ (Rance-Roney, 2010, p.20) L2 teaching and learning.

Again, most of the classroom activities inCLT are carried out around learners. Theteacher is supposed to direct the learner-centered class, and work as a guide, afacilitator. Learners often completedifferent tasks assigned by teachers toengage themselves in real communicationusing authentic materials and realia. Theywork in pairs and groups to get these tasksdone. Larsen-Freeman (1986) suggests thatteachers must make sure that studentsinteract a lot in the classroom amongthemselves and with teachers. Teachers incommunicative classrooms talk less andlisten more; consequently, they will beactive facilitators of students’ learning.

Then, CLT does not target mastery oflanguage forms rather it emphasizes theprocesses of communication; consequentlylearners find themselves in different rolesin a L2 class (Richards & Rodgers, 2002).Explaining the role of learners, Breen andCandlin (1980) comment as follows:

The role of learner as negotiator – betweenthe self, the learning process, and the objectof learning – emerges from and interacts

The traditional learner role

Before the introduction of CLT in secondaryand higher secondary educationalinstitutions, the role of learners in alanguage class was restricted as classeswere utterly teacher-centered. Learnerswere supposed to follow their teachersblindly. Jug and mug practice of learningwas followed for learning/teaching Englishwhere the teacher was the full jug, andteacher’s job was to pour knowledge fromthe full jug to the empty mug-learners.

Thus, ‘functional aspect’ (Halliday, 1970,p.145) of language use and ‘communicativecompetence’ (Hymes, 1972, p. 281)weretotally ignored. There was very little oralwork and a few written exercises (Richards& Rodgers, 2002). Again, learners’ needs,learning styles, preferences, learning goalswere not taken into consideration duringmaterial selection. They did not have thescope even to suggest the contents ofclassroom activities. New languagematerials were introduced by the teacherall the times. Byrne (1986) commented thattheteacher was the center of activity at thispoint.

Then, student practice was strictlycontrolled by teachers in GTM. There wasno or very limited student-student orstudent-teacher interaction in a class.Learner activities were confined tobasically ‘presentation and study ofgrammar rules’ (Richards & Rodgers, 2002,p.6). As a result, entire teaching/learningprocess of English language was ratherboring and monotonous.

Learner role in CLT

At the very core of CLT philosophy isHymes’ (1972) theory of what constitutes‘communicative competence’ (p. 281). In


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with the role of joint negotiator within thegroup and within the classroom proceduresand activities which the group undertakes.The implication for the learner is that heshould contribute as much as he gains, andthereby learn in an interdependent way. (p.110)

Finally, a teacher-directed learner-centeredclass scenario is advocated in CLT wherelearners’ role is ‘to construct meaning andinteract with others in authentic contexts’(Rance-Roney, 2010, p. 20). Cooperativelearning is another key feature of CLT wherelearners work in teams to build knowledgeand achieve tasks through mutualinteraction (Rance-Roney, 2010). Thus, in aclimate of trust and support in theclassroom, learners are expected tocontribute (Belchamber, 2007).

Thus, it is apparent that as far as the role ofL2 learners is concerned, GTM and CLTadvocate totally opposite directions; GTMis teacher dominated while CLT is ateacher-directed learner-centeredapproach. In this context, this study aimedto find out whether Bangladeshi highersecondary L2 learners carry out theirexpected roles in classrooms.

Research question

· What roles do L2 learners actually playin the higher secondary classroomswhile learning English through CLT?

Research methodology

Both quantitative and qualitativeapproaches were adopted for this study.The data collected with the questionnairehas been analyzed quantitatively. Based onthe literature reviewed a questionnaire wasused to collect responses from the highersecondary students for this study. While

preparing the questionnaire, utmostattention was paid to the roles of learnersas advocated by CLT. The questionnaireconsisted of fifteen (15) questions. Again,the student participants who answered thequestionnaire were higher secondarystudents of different colleges of Bangladesh.This sample group consisted of eighty (80)students both male and female. The studentparticipants were in the age group of 15-20. They came from both rural and urbanareas of Bangladesh. Finally, it could havebeen more satisfactory to work with alarger sample size. There is doubt as wellwhether all the respondents couldcomprehend the questionnaireappropriately.

Data presentation, analysis, andfindings

Research question

· What roles do L2 learners actually playin the higher secondary classroomswhile learning English through CLT?

Responding to qn.1, only few learners(16.25%) said that their teachers always orvery often asked them what they wantedto learn in English language classes; manylearners (38.75%) told teachers sometimesasked; however, a major portion (45%) ofthe learners reported that teachers rarelyor never asked them what they wanted tolearn. Thus, many learners have no say inthe selection of content in L2 classes. Inreply to qn.2 on communication in Englishin classrooms, not a single student (0%)claimed that they always communicated inEnglish with their classmates/teachers;only very few learners (6.25%) very oftendid that; 23.75% of the learners sometimescommunicated in English. On the otherhand, most of the participants (70%)informed that they rarely or nevercommunicated in English with their


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classmates/teachers. Thus, learners’inadequate use of the target languageinside a classroom remains a serioushindrance for effective L2 teaching/learning. CLT advocates that L2 learnersshould use the target language most often.

Then, replying to qn.3 on class activities/tasks, only 1.25% of the participantsreported that they did their L2 classactivities/tasks in pairs; again, only 6.25%of them worked in groups; interestingly,92.5% told that they did their class activitiesindividually. As such, the bulk of thelearners do not get opportunity to interactwith their classmates. Qn.4 asked whetherlearners were given enough opportunitiesto use English in the class. Less than onethird (30%) of the respondents told theyalways or very often got enoughopportunities to use English; many learners(38.75%) sometimes did so; however,31.25% of the learners said they rarely ornever got enough opportunities to useEnglish. So, very often learners are notgiven enough opportunities to use Englishin the class. Responding to qn.5 onparticipation in role plays, only a smallportion (10%) of the learners said that theyalways or very often took part in role playsin the English class; 18.75% of the learnerssometimes did that; but most of the learners(71%) rarely or never took part in role plays.This proves that in spite of vast significanceof role play in CLT, many learners do notget the opportunity to practice it.

Again, answering qn.6 on sharing theiropinions with classmates, a certain number(30%) of learners responded that theyalways shared their opinions with theirclassmates; 28.75% of the learners veryoften did so; 30% of the learners sometimesdid that; more than 11% learners rarely ornever shared their opinions withclassmates. Thus, learners are eager toshare their opinions with their classmates;teachers have to properly structure this

sharing. In reply to qn.7 on participation ingroup activities, a meager portion (10%) ofthe participants told that they always orvery often took part in group activities inthe English class; 26.25% of the learnerssometimes did so; however, many learners(more than 63%) rarely or never took partin group activities. This again depicts thefact that many learners are deprived ofinteractive classroom activities in L2classes.

Moreover, in response to qn.8 on givingfeedback on classmates’ work, more than16% of the learners told that they alwaysor very often provided feedback on theirclassmates’ work; 32.5% of the learnerssometimes did so; however, more than 51%of the participants rarely or never gavefeedback on classmates’ work. Peerfeedback is very helpful for engaging thelearners in real communication in the targetlanguage, and building confidence amongthemselves but many teachers ignore this.Answering qn.9 on contribution in theEnglish class, more than 51% of the learnerssaid that they contributed in their Englishclass; 40% of the learners sometimes did so;about 9% of the learners told that theyrarely or never contributed in English class.Learners’ contribution is one major featureof CLT. If given opportunities, most of thelearners would like to contribute in their L2class. Qn.10 asked whether learnerspracticed writing in their English class.About 49% of the learners said that theyalways or very often practiced writing;28.75% of the learners sometimes did so;about 23% of the respondents rarely ornever practiced writing in English class. Ina CLT class, learners are supposed topractice the four skills of a language in anintegrated way. This is a positivedevelopment that many learners practicewriting in their L2 class.

Next, replying to qn.11 on materialspreparation for the English class, only


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3.75% of the learners told that they alwaysor very often prepared materials for theirEnglish class; 6.25% of the learnerssometimes did so; an overwhelmingmajority (90%) of the learners informedthat they rarely or never preparedmaterials. Thus, most of the learners haveno role in preparing class materials. Ifstudents are involved in materialspreparation for their L2 classes, it wouldcertainly increase their motivation andinterest for L2 learning. In answer to qn.12on teachers’ delivery of lectures, the bulk(95%) of the respondents told that teachersalways or very often delivered lectures intheir English class; 3.75% of the learnerssaid sometimes teachers did so; only 1.25%of the participants said teachers rarely ornever delivered lectures. If teachers deliverlectures in L2 classes, learners would neverget the opportunity to practice the targetlanguage; again, there would be nointeraction among the learners; it would,therefore, certainly lead to poor learningoutcomes.

Finally, responding to qn.13 on nature oflearning, half of the learners (50%) told thatlearning in their English class wascollaborative; other half opined that it wasindividualistic. If the class is notcollaborative, L2 learners would not get thescope to perform the roles as advocated inCLT. Thus, learners would behave as‘island’ in their L2 classes leading to moreand more isolation among them. Answeringqn.14 on in-class talking time (TT), only atiny portion (6.25%) of the learners told thatmost of the talking in English class wasdone by students; on the other hand, amajor portion (93.75%) of the participantsinformed that teachers did most of thetalking in their English class. Hence,teachers do not let learners interact andcommunicate in classes making it virtuallyteacher-dominated. In reply to the lastquestion, the bulk of the learners (92.5%)told that their English class was teacher-

centered; only a meager 7.5% of theparticipants reported that it was student-centered. This fact confirms that manyteachers still have the mindset ofdominating L2 learners inside classrooms.

The gaps between CLT theory andpractice

The data analyzed above shows some gapsbetween learner roles as advocated in CLTtheory and as practiced in higher secondaryclassrooms in Bangladesh while teaching/learning English following CLT. Firstly,most of the learners (about 84%) have littleor no say in the selection of contents/learning points in L2 classes. A significantnumber of learners (70%) rarely or nevercommunicate in English with theirclassmates/teachers to developcommunicative competence (Hymes, 1972).Then, instead of working in pairs andgroups, the bulk of the learners (92.5%) dotheir class activities individually. A notableportion of learners (31.25%) rarely or neverget enough opportunities to use English inthe class. Again, most of the learners (71%)rarely or never take part in role plays.Similarly, more than half of the learners(63%) rarely or never take part in groupactivities as recommendedbyFinocchiaroand Brumfit (1983). Next, half of thelearners (51%) rarely or never give feedbackon classmates’ work.

Again, almost a quarter (23%) of thelearners rarely or never practice writing inthe English class. Further, an overwhelmingmajority (90%) of the learners rarely ornever prepare materials for their L2 class.The bulk of the learners (95%) reveal thatteachers always or very often deliver alecture in their English class. Half of thelearners (50%) claim that learning in theirEnglish class is collaborative; on the otherhand, other half opines that it isindividualistic. According to a major


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portion (93.75%) of the participants,teachers do most of the talking in their classwhich contradicts with the idea of Larsen-Freeman (1986). Finally, most of thelearners (92.5%) confirm that their Englishclass is teacher-centered.

Implications for L2 teaching andlearning

To begin with, teachers need in-servicetraining on their role and learners’ role inL2 classes as advocated by CLT. Learnersmust know what they are supposed to doin a communicative English class fromtheir teachers. While selecting classcontents, L2 learners’ preferences andsuggestions should be taken intoconsideration. Then, learners must beencouraged to use the target language asmuch as possible inside a L2 classroom. Toensure use of the target language,interaction among the learners has to begiven high priority. So teachers shouldcreate enough opportunities for learners touse English in the class (Larsen-Freeman,1986). Again, learners must take part inrole plays and group works (Finocchiaro &Brumfit, 1983). Thus, learners’ eagerness toshare their opinion with their classmatescan be properly structured. Then, the natureof activities in L2 classes has to beinteractive (Rance-Roney, 2010). Moreover,learners should get the opportunity toprovide peer feedback on classmates’ work.Learners have to be involved in preparingclass materials. In any case, teachers shouldnot deliver a lecture in a language class. Acollaborative classroom environmentwould motivate the learners for languagelearning (Belchamber, 2007). Teachers-talking–time (TTT) has to be reduced(Larsen-Freeman, 1986). Therefore,teachers have to make the class learner-centered (Rance-Roney, 2010).

Conclusion

There were a lot of expectations when CLTwas introduced in L2 classrooms inBangladesh leaving behind Grammar-Translation Method. Apparently, it hasfailed to fulfill those expectations. One ofthe probable reasons might be, as supportedby the findings English language teachershave ignored or have not appropriatelycomprehended the CLT-advocated role oflearners in L2 classes. As a new approachCLT demands a new mindset from all thestakeholders. However, the precedingapproach of GTM has been still at workparticularly regarding role of learnersinside L2 classrooms. As a result, learnersare not allowed, to a great extent, toperform their expected roles in L2 learning/teaching. The learning outcomes, notsurprisingly, have been poor. For changingthis dismal scenario, in L2 classroomslearners have to play more active roles.

References

Breen, M. P., & Candlin, C. N. (1980). Theessentials of a communicativecurriculum in language teaching.Applied Linguistics1(2), 89-112.

Byrne, D. (1986). Teaching oral English.Harlow: Longman.

Belchamber, R. (2007). The advantages ofcommunicative language teaching.The Internet TESL Journal, XIII (2).Retrieved from http://iteslj.org/Articles/Belchamber-CLT.html

Finocchiaro, M., & Brumfit, C. (1983). Thefunctional-notional approach: Fromtheory to practice. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

Halliday, M. A. K. (1970). Languagestructure and language function. In J.Lyons (Ed.), New horizons in linguistics(pp. 140-465). Harmondsworth:Penguin.


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Hymes, D. (1972). On communicativecompetence. In J.B. Pride and J.Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics (pp.269-293). Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Larsen-Freeman, D. (1986). Techniques andprinciples in language teaching. Oxford:Oxford University Press.

Mclean, A. C. (2012). Destroying theteacher: The need for learner-centeredteaching. English Teaching Forum, 50(1), 32-35.

Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2002).Approaches and methods in languageteaching. Delhi: Replika Press Pvt. Ltd.

Rance-Roney, J. A. (2010).Reconceptualizing interactionalgroups: Grouping schemes formaximizing language learning.English Teaching Forum, 48 (1), 20-26.

Authors’ bios

MD. Abdur Rouf, M.A. in English Literature,is an Assistant Professor, JagannathUniversity, Dhaka. Now he is pursuing hisPh.D in Malaysia. His areas of interestsinclude teaching methodology, syllabusdesign, materials development andAmerican literature.

Khanam Nargis Sultana, M.A. in EnglishLiterature, is an Assistant Professor ofEnglish at Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology, Dhaka. Shehas participated and presented papers innational and international conferences. Herareas of interests include technology basedELT, syllabus design, materialsdevelopment and the interface betweenliterature and language teaching.

Appendix ATable 01: Data collected from the respondents with the questionnaire

Qn.No

Questions Percentage of Learners’ Responses Always Very often Sometime

sRarely Never

1 Your teacher asked you what you want to learn in your English class....

2.5% 13.75 % 38.75 % 27.5 % 17.5 %

2 In your English class you communicated in English with your classmates/teachers ……………..

0% 6.25% 23.75% 25% 45%

3 You were given enough opportunities to use English in the class…………….

22.5% 7.5% 38.75% 20% 11.25%

4 You took part in role plays in English class……………..

1.25% 8.75% 18.75% 27.5% 43.75%

5 You shared your opinion with your classmates……………..

30% 28.75% 30% 8.75% 2.5%

6 You took part in group activities in English class ……………..

3.75% 6.25% 26.25% 12.5% 51.25%

7 You gave feedback/evaluation on your classmates’ work………………

2.5% 13.75% 32.5% 17.5% 33.75%

8 You contributed in your English class………………

32.5% 18.75% 40% 7.5% 1.25%

9 You practiced writing in your English class……………..

27.5% 21.25% 28.75% 16.25% 6.25%

10 You prepared materials for your English class………………

2.5% 1.25% 6.25% 20% 70%

11 Your teacher delivered a lecture in your English class………………….

88.75% 6.25% 3.75% 1.25% 0%

12 Learning in your English class was ……………..

Collaborative/cooperative Individualistic

50% 50%

13 Who did most of the talking in your English class?

Students Teacher 6.25% 93.75%

14 Your English class was …. Teacher-centered Student-centered 92.5% 7.5%

15 In your English class activities/tasks were done…

In pair In group Individually 1.25% 6.25% 92.5%


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“Reading” ability of students in Nepal

Kumar Narayan Shrestha

Abstract

Reading is the main means of exposure for English as a second or foreign language learner. Thepresent study aimed at finding out the reading comprehension ability (RCA) of the master level students,majoring in English at Tribhuvan University (TU), Nepal in relation to IELTS academic reading test.Administering a sample testand analyzing its data, it was found that the RCA of the master level studentsis not adequate in terms of IELTS standard since their RCA is 41% and the IELTS score is 3.70 band.This shows that they are at ‘Extremely Limited User’ level for the admission policies in IELTS recognisedcountries and not eligible to get the admission in the IELTS recognised Universities. The implication ofthe study is that there is a need for reading skills development programme incorporating theenhancement of inferential, predictive and interpretive skills.

Key words: Reading Comprehension, Reading Skills, IELTS, IELTS Academic Reading

Introduction

Reading is one of the basic skills oflanguage. Among listening, speaking,reading and writing; reading is the third buta vital skill required for developinglanguage. It is an active receptive skill.Reading is to grasp information fromgraphic representation of language (Lado,1962). It is the most common and the easiestmeans of receiving printed information.Similarly, it is the sole means of frequentexposure to language for the second orforeign language learners. It is thecombination of both the visual and mentalexperience. The visual process is to look atthe text in the meantime the mind decodesit for comprehension. The mental processneeds interaction of the visual input withthe prior knowledge of the reader forcomprehension.

In any text, information is presented in thewritten from, but the way of obtaining theinformation may require different skills andsub-skills of reading. Harmer (2008) pointsout that the readers should acquire somereading skills: scanning, skimming, readingfor pleasure and reading for detailedcomprehension. Using these skills, a goodreader can obtain the required information.The information may refer to ourintellectual, factual, emotional contentsand so on.

Sadoski (2004 as cited in Althiemoolam &Kibui) claims that comprehension is pivotalto reading as it occupies the central placeon the continuum where input from theprint and the reader is in central balance.Reading comprehension is a process ofobtaining the required information from awritten text as efficiently as possible. That


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is to say, it is thorough understanding of amessage in a text. Comprehension does notsimply mean to decode the words in thetext. Even after the individual words havebeen identified, the other skills are alsonecessary to perceive the underlyingmeanings. The meaning of an individualsentence, paragraphs and sometimes otherhigher unit(s) of the text should beassimilated to obtain the main idea of thetext. Therefore, the reader has to activelystrive and work to get the meaning out. AsNuttall (1996) mentions that a good andcompetent reader grasps the significantvalue of the written text. Similarly,Goodman (1976) and Smith (1978) (as citedin Awasthi et al.,) have pointed out thatinformation is richly available on theprinted page, and there are a number ofways of determining the identity of a letteror a word. The ways of determiningmeanings from the texts need reading skillsand the skills of the readers may have tostretch from the lower level to the higherlevels of language for bettercomprehension. This involvesunderstanding the writer’s presuppositionssufficiently to recognise what he means bya particular statement, not just what hesays, but why he says it. That is to say, thelack of understanding of the commonintentions between the reader and thewriter may make the reader’scomprehension incomplete.

Similarly, for Chall and Stahl (2009),reading comprehension comprises a seriesof sub-skills, such as understanding wordmeanings in context, finding the main idea,making inferences about informationimplied but not stated, and distinguishingbetween fact and opinion. It means readingcomprehension includes many sub-skillssuch as deriving meaning in context,getting gist, making underlying inferencesand recognizing fact and opinion. Hui-lungChia (2001) believes that readingcomprehension is an interaction between a

reader’s prior knowledge and theinformation encoded in the text. Basically,reading comprehension needs the masteryof two interrelated skills. Firstly, to perceivethe specific relationships between thewritten symbols and its meaning andsecondly, understanding the meaningfulrepresentation of the basic grammaticalstructures in the given context. Similarly,reading comprehension is also necessaryfor the better learning of a language. AsNation (1997) concluded, “Success inreading . . . makes learners come to enjoylanguage learning and to value their studyof English” (p.16).

The learning and mastery of Englishlanguage in Nepal poses more complexchallenges because the classroom is the onlyenvironment where the learner can hear,learn and try to speak it. In the context ofthis study also, the participants havelimited exposure and reinforcement outsidethe classroom. Therefore, reading is one ofthe prominent means of exposure to learnEnglish. In this regard Gebhard (2000)points out that in English as a secondlanguage setting there are feweropportunities for learners to apply whatthey study to communicative situationoutside the classroom since the onlycomprehensible English some of theselearners hear and read is in the classroom.Furthermore, in the modern society thelearners are confronted with variousmaterial in their daily life that need to beread, analysed, interpreted and understood.More precisely, the craze for internationaldegree in the youngsters has made Englishand standardised English language testvital. Therefore, reading comprehension isnecessary for a purpose other than learningthe language itself.

This study is on IELTS based readingcomprehension ability of graduate studentsat TU. It deals only with academic readingof IELTS. The participants in the research


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project speak Nepali as their mother tongue.The acquisition of English, however, is quitedifferent from Nepali as it is only learnedin schools and colleges where it is taughtas a subject. It means that the participantsof the research hardly practise English afterschool/college because Nepali language isused in their homes and outsides.

What is IELTS?

The International English Language TestingSystem (IELTS) is designed to assess thelanguage ability of candidates who need tostudy or work where English is used as thelanguage of communication. IELTS test isindependent of any curriculum or teachingmethod, the proficiency level of any testtaker can be compared with that of anyother students, regardless of academicbackground or English training. IELTS isprobably the most often used examinationin the admission process of foreign studentsto colleges and universities in British,Australian, Canadian, New Zealand andAmerican education institutions. It is alsorecognised by professional bodies,immigration authorities and othergovernment agencies.

IELTS is a proficiency test administered atthe authorized centres throughout theworld. It has two modules of the test:Academic Module and General TrainingModule. The Academic Module is meant forthe candidates taking the test for entry toundergraduate or postgraduate studies orfor professional reasons in the universitiesand colleges in the United Kingdom,Australia, New Zealand, Canada and theUSA. And the General Training Module ismeant for the candidates taking the test forentry to vocational or training programmein these countries. IELTS covers the fourlanguage skills, namely listening, speaking,reading and writing. It comprises 2.45 hoursfull length test.

The IELTS academic reading test isof 60 minutes. Listening, Reading andWriting are completed in one sitting. TheSpeaking test may be taken on the same dayor up to seven days before or after the othertests. All test takers take the same Listeningand Speaking tests, while the Reading andWriting tests differ depending on whetherthe test taker is taking the Academic orGeneral Training versions of the test. IELTSis designed to assess the language ability ofcandidates needing to study or work in thecountries where English is used as the firstlanguage both for communication and formedium of instruction. IELTS resultconsists of a score in each of the four skills(listening, speaking, reading, and writing)which is then averaged to give the OverallBand Score or final mark. The performanceof candidate is rated in each skill on a scaleof 9 to 1 band(s). The minimum scoreaccepted for a course ranges from 5.0 to 7.5depending upon course and dependingupon courses and institutes. The mostcommon requirement is a band score of 6.0to 6.5. Mostly undergraduate programmesrequire minimum IELTS scores of 5.5 andgraduate programmes require a minimumscore of 6.5. IELTS scores are valid formaximum two years. The researcher hasselected IELTS not other international testsystem because of its increasing popularity.

Main Aspects of IELTS AcademicReading

The topics in IELTS are of general interestsbut they are related to an academic subject.They often deal with global issues, such asthe environment, language, conservation,tourism, etc.

Although the topics may seem unfamiliarto examinees, none of the passages containstechnical information or specialistvocabulary that is not explained or cannotbe understood by an educated reader.Sometimes, however, the examinee will


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need to ignore unknown words or guesstheir meaning.

IELTS tests a range of reading skills that alearner needs for study purposes. Accordingto Jakeman and McDowell (2006, p. 31),these are following main skills that IELTStests:

reading quickly to get a general ideaor finding a particular word

finding detail or factual information

understanding themes and mainideas

identifying views, arguments andclaims

identifying the overall theme of thepassage.

The Study

This study was a survey done among thestudents at TU. The subjects were thegraduates in English and studying Masterdegree at TU. The data was collected fromlearners representing four colleges namelyUniversity Campus (UC) Kritipur,Mahendra Ratna Campus (MRC), Tahachal,Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus (RRC),Exhibition Road and Patan MultipleCampus (PMC) Patandhoka of Kathmanduvalley on the bases of three comprehensionpassages given as a sample test in ACTIONPLAN for IELTS (see appendix I). Thedetails of the study are briefly presentedhere:

Objectives of the Study

The objectives of the research were to findout English reading comprehension abilityof the graduate students in IELTS test andto suggest some pedagogical implications.

Methodology

The study was entirely field based. It wasconducted using quantitative researchmethodology. Mainly two types of sourcesof data were utilized; primary andsecondary. The researcher visited thedifferent four colleges of TU. andadministered the sample test paper to thestudents of M.A. and M. Ed. Among them,two were colleges of Humanities and SocialSciences and two were colleges ofEducation. The responses were interpretedand analysed using simple statistical tools.Similarly, different books related to IELTS,web sites, journals and articles, etc. wereconsulted to back up the obtained data.

Population

The population of this study consisted ofeighty-eight master’s level students of TU.They were from four different campuses asmentioned above. They were selected as thepopulation of the study since the researcherwas interested in knowing their readingcomprehension level in comparison toIELTS academic reading test. So, the studyarea and the population were selectedpurposively. Then, the students wereselected randomly from among theinterested students.

Research Instrument

The tool used in the research was a testwhich was a sample test paper of IELTStaken from ACTION PLAN for IELTS. Itconsisted of three sections with fortyquestions. There were three texts, which aretaken from journals, magazines andnewspapers. The texts were the topics ofgeneral interests. At least one textcontained detailed argument.

A variety of question types was used,including multiple choice items, identifyinginformation (True/False/Not Given),


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identifying writer’s views /claims (Yes/No/Not Given), matching information,matching headings, matching features,matching sentence endings, sentencecompletion, summary completion, notecompletion, table completion, flow-chartcompletion, diagram label completion,short answer questions.

Analysis and Interpretation

The researcher analyzed the readingcomprehension ability of students withreference to IELTS score and with referenceto the evaluation scheme of TU. Theevaluation scheme of TU categorizes themarks into four different categories. Whileanalyzing the data, responses were assignedmarks. At master level, TU has followingmarking scheme:

· Third division or pass division 40%

· Second division 50%

· First division 60%

· Distinction 75%

On the contrary, IELTS has different systemof marking. It has certain criteria to assignthe band score (see appendix-II). Its resultconsists of a score in each of the fourlanguage skills (listening, speaking,reading, and writing) which is thenaveraged to give the Overall Band Score orfinal mark. Performance is rated in eachskill on the scale of 9 to 1. According toJakeman and McDowell (1996), the nineoverall Bands and their statements are asfollows:

Expert user 9Very good user 8Good user 7Competent user 6Modest user 5Limited user 4

Extremely limited user 3Intermittent user 2Non user 1Did not attempt the test 0

While analyzing the data, the responseswere assigned allocated marks. For onecorrect response, one mark was given. Theresearcher determined the students’responses correct or incorrect on the basisof answer sheets provided by IELTS. Theband score was provided following theIELTS band score table. The band scoreincreases as the number of correctresponses increase. Out of total 40questions, one correct response equal to 2,4 to 9 correct responses equal to 3, likewisethe marking scheme goes on more or less inthe same way till 9 band score (seeappendix-2).

The Total RCA of the students as awhole

The total RCA of the students can be shownin the table as follow:

The total RCA of the students can beshown in the table as follow:

This table shows that out of 9 band score,the students of University Campus obtained4.13 band, i.e., 45.89% and MahendraRatnaCampus obtained 3.90 band, i.e., 43.39%.This indicates that the RCA of the graduatestudents of the Faculty of Education of TUis not so satisfactory. Regarding IELTSpolicy for the admission, 4 band score islevelled as ‘Limited User’. So, the students

S.N. Campuses Band Percentagescore score

1 University Campus, Kritipur 4.13 45.892 Mahendra Ratna Campus 3.90 43.39%3 Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campus 2.86 31.724 Patan Multiple Campus 3.90 43.335 Total (RCA) 3.70 41.01

Table 1: Total RCA of students


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S.N Reading Passages Average Percentage RemarkScore

1. Reading Passage 1 6.11 47% Highest2. Reading Passage 2 3.19 24.54%3. Reading Passage 3 1.35 9.64% Lowest

of Faculty of Education do not meet therequired level of reading proficiency inIELTS for entry to academic programmesin IELTS recognised countries.

Similarly, their score is third division/passdivision in terms of evaluation system of TUsince their percentage is 44.64% in average.So, we can conclude that the proficiency ofthe students of Faculty of Education of TUis below the expected level of proficiency.

Likewise, out of 9 band score, the studentsof RatnaRajyaLaxmi Campus obtained 2.86band and the students of Patan MultipleCampus obtained 3.90 band. This datashows that the students of Patan MultipleCampus have higher RCA than those ofRatna Rajya Laxmi Campus. According toIELTS system, Ratna Rajya Laxmi Campusis levelled as ‘Intermittent User’ due to their2.86 band likewise Patan Multiple Campusis levelled as ‘Extremely Limited User’ dueto their 3.90 band. In total, their averagescore is below the pass division if weanalyze from the point of view of theevaluation system of TU.

The table above also shows the overall RCAof the graduate students of TU. on the basisof IELTS. The students obtained the overallband score of 3.70, i.e. 4.01% as a whole inIELTS. This means that the overall RCA ofthe graduate students of TU in the Englishlanguage is not adequate. The researchfurther shows that the average RCA of thestudents of the Faculty of Education is7.05% more than that of Faculty ofHumanities on the basis of IELTS.

However, there is not fixed pass mark inIELTS; the institution where the studentswant enrolment decides whether the scoreis appropriate for the demands of thecourse of study or training they want to

undertake. As a general result, scores belowband 5 in any one skill are considered to betoo low for academic study; scores aboveband 6 are deemed to be adequate to good.Overall band scores of 5 or 6 are borderlinesand may not be acceptable at manyUniversities. In this study, out of 9 band asfull band, students securing more than 6band scores were not found.

Out of the total population of the study i.e.88, only 16 candidates i.e. 18.18% obtainedthe score between 5 and 6 band scores. Mostundergraduate programmes requireminimum IELTS score of 5.5 band andgraduate programmes requires a minimumIELTS score of 6.5 band. This shows thatonly 5.68% students scoring 6 band areacceptable for undergraduate programmes.But some of the institutes also accept 5 to 6band score for graduate and post-graduateprogrammes.

On the other hand, 72 students out of 88obtained the scores ranging from 1 to 4band scores. These students’ academic levelis relatively quite unsatisfactory than thoseof the earlier group on the basis of IELTS.Even though, some of them deserve passdivision marks on the basis of TUevaluation system.

Table 2: Text-wise Analysis of theProficiency

The order of the passages are of increasingdifficulty on the topics of general interestand related to academic subjects such as theenvironment, language, conservation,


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tourism, etc. It is the general convention ofthe IELTS.

The table 2 shows that RAC of the studentson the basis of the type of text. The differenttexts contain different subject matter(theme) i.e. the Reading Passage-1, isrelated with ‘Egyptian Civilization’, theReading Passage-2 is related with ‘insectshaving sticking power’ and the ReadingPassage-3 is related with ‘the attributes ofnatural and social sciences’. The studentshave obtained different scores in differenttexts. They have performed the highestscore in the Reading Passage-1 i.e. 47%.Their RCA in Reading Passage-2 andReading Passage-3 is not satisfactory sincetheir scores are 24.54% and 9.64%respectively. It shows that the studentshave performed better in the easy passagethan that of difficult ones. To be morespecific, since the activities of the ReadingPassage-2 and the Reading Passage-3 needthorough understanding of the text, theirperformance is comparatively low.Therefore, it can be said that the studentslack inferential, interpretive and analyticalskills.

Table 3: Item-wise Analysis of theProficiency

The table 3 shows the item-wiseperformance of eighty eight students inSentence Completion, Labelling, True/False/Not Given, Multiple Choice, Pickfrom a list, Finding Information inParagraphs, Sentence Completion with aBox, Paragraph Headings, SummaryCompletion and Classification. As the tableshows, the students showed the very goodperformance in Labelling a Diagram i.e.62%. On the other hand, the studentsshowed only satisfactory performance inTrue/False/Not Given and Multiple Choiceitems. It means they obtained 40% and 44%in these items respectively. But in SentenceCompletion, Pick from a list, FindingInformation in Paragraphs, SentenceCompletion with a Box, ParagraphHeadings, Summary Completion andClassification, they deserved, 39.33%,32.8%, 11.75%, 27%, 5.33%, 4.75% and21.25% respectively which are satisfactory.It gives the impression that students aremore proficient in Labelling a Diagram i.e.62.75% and least proficient in SummaryCompletion i.e. 4.75%. In other words, therespondents are more proficient in factualreading than in inferential reading. Itshows that a number of learners wereunable to identify context clues in thereading texts.

Findings

This research has shown that the graduatestudents of TU specializing in English donot have adequate RCA, since their averageRCA is 41.11% and the IELTS score is 3.70band. This has shown that they are at‘Extremely Limited User’ level as per theadmission policies in IELTS recognisedcountries and do not get the admission intheir universities. Only 16 students i.e.18.18% obtained the scores between 5 to 6band. It shows that only 18.18% studentshave ability to get admission in the collegesin IELTS recognised countries. Thesefindings further show that the RCA of

S.N. Test Items Average Percentage RemarksScore

1. Sentence Completion 1.18 39.332. Labelling a Diagram 2.49 62.25 Highest3. True/False/Not Given 2 404. Multiple Choice 0.44 445. Pick from a List 1.64 32.86. Finding Information

in Paragraphs 0.47 11.757. Sentence Completion

with a Box 1.08 278. Paragraph Headings 0.32 5.339. Summary Completion 0.19 4.75 Lowest10. Classification 0.85 21.25


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Nepalese graduate students is lower thanthat of IELTS recognised countries. Theresearch shows that the average RCA of thestudents of the Faculty of Education is7.05% more than that of Faculty ofHumanities on the basis of IELTS. On thebasis of texts, the RCA of the students ofboth the faculties is 47% in Reading Passage-1, 24.54% in Reading Passage-2 and 9.64%in Reading Passage-3. There is significantdifference (57.5%) between the mostdifficult items i.e. Summary Completionand the easiest item i.e. Labelling aDiagram.

Discussion of findings

The study revealed that the graduatestudents at TU do not have wide knowledgeof world and the English. Since the textswere not literary in nature they failed toperform well. More specifically the studentsfrom arts faculty deserved (37.52%) lowerscore than students from education faculty(44.64%). It showed that their course doesnot include varieties of content areas andthey do not have proper skills of reading.Similarly, the students had the bestperformance in ‘Labelling a Diagram’which could be directly picked out from thetext. On the other hand, their performanceis the poorest in ‘Summary Completion’which needs thorough understanding of thetext. This showed that they know thedictionary meaning of the words but fail tounderstand the message. In other words,they are good at factual reading andskimming but not in inferential reading. Inreading comprehension, only dictionarymeaning of the words is not adequate. Inthis regard Schckle (2009) in Ferreira (2009)says that for learners to read successfullythey need a combination of decoding andunderstanding where they are able to usetheir knowledge of letters and words tomake sense of when they read. It means thereaders should be able to infer or deduce

the underlying meaning of the text forcomprehension.

Similarly, Compton (2005) in his study onword recognition, transfer, and readingacquisition found that skilledcomprehension readers are rapid at worddecoding than less skilled readers. He alsofound that the establishment of decodingskills through structured intervention actedas a boot strapping mechanism to improvereading skills, such as word recognitionskill, reading fluency, and comprehension(as cited in Althiemoolam&Kibui, 2012,p.11). From this it is evident that skilledreaders use their reading skills forconnotative reading rather than denotativeone. Therefore, reading comprehension isnot a mechanical activity. It needs variousskills of reading and other sub-skills.According to Althiemoolam and Kibui(2012),”Reading for meaning depends uponvocabulary knowledge, syntacticintegration, inferences, and other higherorder overlapping skills that makedemands on the same mechanismresponsible for converting and the printedcode into the language code” (p.11). Thissuggested that reading comprehensiondepends on the knowledge of vocabulary,syntactic integration, inference and otherhigher skills.

Likewise, in a study on the role ofcomprehension of meaningful languageinput in young adults’ second languagelearning by Paribakht, and Wesche (1992)indicated superior gains in thecomprehension-based class in textcomprehension and discourse processing,despite smaller gains in grammaticalknowledge. It shows links betweencomprehension of meaning and acquisitionof vocabulary. That is to say explicitgrammar instruction is not needed toenhance comprehension skills, butvocabulary knowledge is necessary.


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The most of the studies aforementionedhighlighted the significant role ofvocabulary as a means to analyse the text.In addition to this, vocabulary alsoprovides the context clues to the reader toderive the meaning of the author. Insteadof vocabulary, the readers also need theknowledge of morphology, syntax anddiscourse as a whole. Furthermore, theknowledge of genres, content areas andstyle of writing are equally crucial to inferthe meaning of any text.

Implications of the findings

The study shows that the learners need theexposure to adequate vocabularies throughvarieties of text, genres, and contents areas.While teaching language, they should bemade familiar with all the skills that arerequired for effective readingcomprehension including inferential,predictive and interpretive skills.Furthermore, poor proficiency can beaddressed through appropriate curriculumand modern approaches of teaching.

Conclusion

The study has shown that the graduatestudents at TU are experiencing difficultyin reading comprehension. Some readingdifficulties experienced by the learnerswithin the context of this study couldinclude lack of background knowledge,reading skills, the style and complexity ofthe language, inadequate experience andexposure to the varieties of texts. One of thecausative agents behind these difficulties ispoor and traditional teaching method.Therefore, the teachers should use modernteaching methods that would improve theirlearners’ reading skills. The teachers shouldenhance their learners’ interpretive,critical, predictive and analytical skillsthrough their teaching.

Similarly, the learners should be exposed tovarieties of authentic texts. As Guarientoand Morley (2001) believe that usingauthentic text is an important way tomaintain and increase learners’ motivationin language learning. That means theauthentic texts motivate the learners andhelp them acquire the foreign languagenaturally. Along with authentic texts,simplified texts also help learnersaccelerate the process of language learning.As McGregor (1989) found that, wheneverlearners face difficulty in comprehendinga reading text, their problem can beremedied if the text is presented to themafter simplifying it by using the high-frequency words, as learners understandthe more frequent ones (Wang &Koda,2005, p. 89

Finally, as Nuttall (1996) observed,“Reading is caught, not taught” (p.229). Thestudents should be self motivated forreading. They should be aware that readingis not an overnight activity. A sustainedreading effort makes a good reader in along run.

References

Athiemoolam, L., & Kibui, A. (2012). Ananalysis of Kenyan learners’proficiency in English based onreading comprehension andvocabulary. Journal of NELTA, 17, (1-2), 1-13.

Awasthi, et al. (Eds.). (2009). New GenerationEnglish. Kathmandu: VidhyarthiPrakashan.

Chall, J.S., & Stahl, S. (2008). Reading.Microsoft® encarta® 2009 [DVD].Redmond, WA: MicrosoftCorporation.

Chia, H.(2001). Reading activities foreffective top-down processing. EnglishTeaching Forum, 39 (1), 22.


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Gebhard, J.G. (2000). Teaching English as aforeign or second language: A teacherself-development and methodologyguide. Michigan, U.S.A.: TheUniversity of Michigan Press.

Guariento, W., & Morley, J. (2001). Text andtask authenticity in the EFL classroom.ELT Journal 55, (4), 347-353.

Harmer, J. (2008). How to teach English.London: Longman

Jakeman, V., & McDowell, C. (1996).Cambridge practice tests for IELTS 1.Cambridge: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Jakeman, V., & McDowell, C. (2006). Actionlan for IELTS. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Lado, R. (1962). Language teaching. London:Longman.

Nation, P. (1997). The language learningbenefits of extensive reading. TheLanguage Teacher, 21(5), 13–16

Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills ina foreign language (2nd ed.). Oxford:Heinemann.

Paribakhat, T. S., &Wesche, M. B. (1992). Amethodology for studying the

relationship between comprehensionand second language development ina comprehension-based/ESLProgram.Retrieved on January 25, 2012 fromhttp://web28.epnet.com

Sadoski, M. (2004). Conceptual foundationsof teaching reading. New York: TheGuilford Press.

Schckle, E. (2009). Strategies and practicesfor effective reading. In A Ferriera(Ed.), Teaching language (pp.133-146).Gauteng: Macmillan.

Wang, M. & Koda, K. (2005).Commonalities and differences inword identification skills amonglearners of English as a secondlanguage. Language Learning, 55 (1), 71-78.

Author’s bioKumar Narayan Shrestha, M.Ed. and M.A.,is an English faculty at Tribhuvan University,Nepal. He has been associated with thefield of teaching for sixteen years. He hastaught to nursery to tertiary level students.His professional interests include ELT,translation and literature. To his credit, thereare some co-edited books and translations.

Appendix-1

IELTS Band Score Tables for Reading

S.N. Scores Band Scores(Correct Responses)

1. 1 1

2. 2 to 3 2

3. 4 to 9 3

4. 10 to 15 4

5. 16 to 22 5

6. 23 to 28 6

7. 29 to 35 7

8. 36 to 39 8

9. 40 9


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Developing Communicative Competence of ESLDeveloping Communicative Competence of ESLDeveloping Communicative Competence of ESLDeveloping Communicative Competence of ESLDeveloping Communicative Competence of ESLLearners through Learning StrategiesLearners through Learning StrategiesLearners through Learning StrategiesLearners through Learning StrategiesLearners through Learning Strategies

Purna Bahadur Kadel

Abstract

Learning strategies are special behaviors and actions which are employed to develop communicativecompetence of learners (Oxford, 1990). Second language learners can communicate their ideas,feelings, and emotions through learning strategies: cognitive, metacognitive, memory, social, affectiveetc. as well as communicative strategies in the process of developing communicative competence.Learning strategies and communicative strategies work as a panacea to develop communicativecompetence. The researcher conducted an exploratory research through survey to collect data usingquestionnaire, semi-structured interview and classroom observation to find out the existing learningstrategies in developing speaking skills and to discover the attitude of secondary level teachers towardslearning strategies and communicative strategies in developing communicative competence of learners.He selected 30 secondary level teachers as sample population of the study. The findings of the studywere: a) the teachers did not use collaborative learning and scaffolding techniques to help the learnersdevelop speaking skills, b) they were unable to employ collaborative learning, group discussion, andpeer talking owing to overcrowded classes and time-constraint; most of the teachers taught speakingskill without using language functions, c) there is positive attitude of secondary level teachers towardslearning strategies and communicative strategies to develop communicative competence of learners.

Key words: learning strategies, self-regulated, cognitive, metacognitive, compensate, multidimensional,milestone, communicative task, communicative strategies, collaborative learning, motor-perceptiveskills, paramount importance

Background of the Study

Communicative competence andperformance are hardly practised duringthe classroom interaction despite the factthat they are prescribed in the syllabus.Listening and speaking skills are primarywhereas reading and writing skills aresecondary. In the past, reading and writingskills were considered useful rather thanlistening and speaking skills.Communicative tasks entailcomprehending, interpreting, interacting,discussing etc. The communicative tasks

are communicative-oriented whereas non-communicative tasks focus only on theexercises of grammar. The mastery overspeaking skill is essential to communicateones’ feeling, emotions, and ideas to others.Learning strategies play a crucial role todevelop communicative competencewithout which interpersonal interactioncannot be launched properly.

If the learners develop their speaking skills,they can attain communicativecompetence. So speaking skill and


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communicative competence should havedeep relationship with each other toenhance second language learning. The roleof speaking is of paramount importance tofacilitate the learners in enhancingcommunicative competence.

Learning to speak a foreign languagerequires more knowledge and skill thanknowing its linguistic rules. The speakersshould have mastery over both linguisticknowledge and language skills in order todevelop their speaking skills. Theknowledge of language refers tocompetence in grammar, vocabulary, andpronunciation whereas the knowledge oflanguage skills is related to interactive andnegotiation skills which help accomplishcommunicative activities successfully. Thespeakers can attain the language skillsthrough rigorous practice, role play,simulation, narrative, descriptive,instructive, comparative, and decisionmaking activities.

Most of the students who have passed fromgovernment-aided schools have very poorcommunicative competence due to the lackof trained competent teachersimplementing learning strategies amonglearners.

Bygate (1987) argues speaking as a skillwhich is made up of two skills: motor-perceptive skills and interactive skills.Motor-perspective skill refers to perceiving,recalling, and articulating in the correctpronunciation and structures of thelanguage. He argues that “this is relativelysuperficial aspect of skill which is a bit likelearning how to manipulate the controls ofa car on a deserted piece of road far fromthe flow of normal traffic. It is the context-free kind of skill…. (p. 5).”

The role of motor-perceptive skill is ofparamount importance to developcommunicative competence of the learners.

Statement of the ProblemCommunicative competence is essential forlearners to interact with peers and to havequery with the teachers in the class toclarify the ambiguous stuff in the class. Thepass outs from government-aided schoolshave very poor communicative competenceowing to so many factors, such asinadequate teaching learning materials,lack of adequate teaching methods,strategies and techniques, lack ofprofessionally sound teachers, politicalinterference etc. The adequate learningstrategies have not been employed in theEnglish classroom in most of thegovernment-aided schools despite the factthat most of the teachers are more qualifiedthan in private schools of Nepal. However,the teaching and learning activities havenot been running smoothly vis-à-visprivately owned schools due to the lack ofconcrete policy of the government. The SLCgraduates from government-aided schoolsare unable to communicate accurately,fluently and appropriately in comparisonwith those who have passed out from theprivate boarding schools. If the teachers areskillful and competent in employinglearning strategies and they have positiveattitude towards learning strategies ofdeveloping communicative competence,the secondary level learners can developcommunicative competence properly.

Objectives

The objectives of this study were:to find out the existing learningstrategies that are being used atsecondary level to enhancecommunicative competence,to find out the attitude of teacherstowards using learning strategies todevelop communicative skills,to suggest some pedagogicalimplications from this study.


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Research QuestionsWhat are the existing learningstrategies that the learners employ inthe classroom to enhancecommunicative competence atsecondary level?

What attitude do the ESL teachershave towards using learning strategiesto develop communicative skills?

Significance of the StudyThis study would be a building block ofknowledge in the field of teaching andlearning specifically for teachers. Moreimportantly, the finding of the study wouldbe impetus for professional development ofEnglish teachers regarding the role oflearning strategies in developingcommunicative competence. In addition, itwould help the syllabus developers,researchers, subject experts, professionals,policy makers, particularly to pre-serviceand in-service teachers etc.

Review of Related LiteratureLearning strategies are special behaviorsand actions which are to be employed todevelop communicative competence oflearners (Oxford, 1990).

Learning StrategiesLearning strategies are any behaviors,thoughts or actions that learners adopt inthe process of learning. They can succeedto store, integrate, and retrieve newknowledge and skills in the long-termmemory for future use through learningstrategies. On the other hand, learningstrategies help them to be aware of learningprocess of new information. They help thelearners internalize new techniques andskills in enhancing learning proficiency inthe target language.

They are also procedures which facilitatethe learners to accomplish learning taskssuccessfully. Any complicated tasks can besolved through learning strategies. In

addition, they are very useful to examinewhether the learners have administeredappropriate learning strategies in theprocess of learning and whether lesssuccessful learners succeed to employeffective learning strategies in theirlearning.

According to Oxford (1990), there are sixtypes of learning strategies, such asmemory strategies, cognitive strategies,compensation strategies, metacognitivestrategies, affective strategies, and socialstrategies. She categorized these strategiesunder direct and indirect strategies.Memory, cognitive, and compensationstrategies are direct strategies whereasmetacognitive, affective, and socialstrategies are indirect strategies.

The taxonomy of learning strategies ispresented as below (Chamot and O’ Mally1990, pp. 198-199):

1) Metacognitive Strategies: Some ofthe metacognitive strategies are givenbelow.

Source: Chamot & O’Malley (1990)

Description

Previewing the main ideas and conceptsof the material to be learned, often byskimming the text for the organisingprinciple.

Rehearsing the language needed for anoral or written task.

Planning the parts, sequence, and mainideas to be expressed orally or inwriting.

Attending to or scanning key words,phrases, linguistic markers, sentences,or types of information.

Checking one’s comprehension duringlistening or reading or checking one’soral or written production while it istaking place.Self-evaluation Judginghow well one has accomplished alearning task.Self-management S e e k i n gor arranging the conditions that helpone learn, such as finding opportunitiesfor additional language or contentinput and practice

Advanceorganisation

Metacognitivestrategies

Advancepreparation

Organisationalplanning

Selectiveattention

Self-monitoring

Self-management


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3) Social and Affective Strategies:Social strategies help the learners to learnthrough sharing ideas and experiences withtheir peers and teachers publicly. Likewise,affective strategies help them to cultivatetheir learning by reducing anxiety, tension,fatigue, and boredom to some extent. Thereare some affective strategies, such asquestioning for clarification, cooperation,and self-talk. In addition, music, songs,rewards, incentives, and self-appraisal areaffective strategies which play a vital roleto gear up motivation, attitude, and belieftowards learning. Affective strategies areessential to brush up intrinsic motivationfor enhancing learning.

4) Memory Strategies: Memorystrategies are also called mnemonics whichplays a vital role to store the knowledge andto retrieve the information from the longterm memory. Memory strategies fall intofour sets: creating mental linkage, applyingimages and sounds, reviewing well; andemploying actions. Memory strategies arevery effective to use metacognitivestrategies like paying attention, andaffective strategies like reducing anxietythrough deep breathing (Oxford, 1990).Memory strategies are needed whileordering things, making association, andreviewing.

5) Compensation Strategies: Compen-sation strategies enable the learners to usethe new language for comprehending andproducing language. Compensationstrategies are guessing and inferencingusing wide variety of linguistic and non-linguistic clues. They can be categorizedinto guessing intelligently and overcominglimitations in speaking and writing.Overcoming limitations refers to switchingto more languages, getting help, usingmime or gesture, avoiding communicationpartially or totally, selecting topic, coining

2) Cognitive Strategies: Cognitive strategies play a vital role in the process of secondlanguage learning. Cognitive strategies are presented concisely below:

Cognitive Strategies Descriptions

Resourcing Using reference material such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or textbooksGrouping Classifying words, terminology, numbers, or concepts according to their attributesNote taking Writing down key words and concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numerical forms.Summarising Making a mental or written summary of information gained through listening or readingDeduction Applying rules to understand or produce language or solve problemsImagery Using visual images to understand and remember new information or to make a mental

representation of a problemAuditory representation Playing in back of one’s mind the sound of a word, phrase, or fact in order to assist

comprehension and recall.Elaboration Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of new information to

each other or making meaningful, personal associations with the new information.Transfer Using what is already known about language to assist Comprehension and productionInferencing Using information in the text to guess meaning of new items, predict outcomes, or complete

missing parts.

Cognitive Strategies Descriptions

Resourcing Using reference material such as dictionaries, encyclopedias, or textbooksGrouping Classifying words, terminology, numbers, or concepts according to their attributesNote taking Writing down key words and concepts in abbreviated verbal, graphic or numerical forms.Summarising Making a mental or written summary of information gained through listening or readingDeduction Applying rules to understand or produce language or solve problemsImagery Using visual images to understand and remember new information or to make a mental

representation of a problemAuditory representation Playing in back of one’s mind the sound of a word, phrase, or fact in order to assist

comprehension and recall.Elaboration Relating new information to prior knowledge, relating different parts of new information to

each other or making meaningful, personal associations with the new information.Transfer Using what is already known about language to assist Comprehension and productionInferencing Using information in the text to guess meaning of new items, predict outcomes, or complete

missing parts.


Questioning for clarification Eliciting from a teacher or peeradditional explanation,rephrasing, examples, orverification

Cooperation Working together with peers tosolve a problem, pool information,check a learning task, or getfeedback on oral or writtenperformance

Self-talk Reducing anxiety by using mentaltechniques that make one feel todo the learning task.

DescriptionsSocial and Affective

Strategies



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words etc. (Oxford, 1990). In addition,guessing intelligently refers to usinglinguistic clues and non-linguistic clues.

Purpose of Language Learning Strategies

The main purposes of learning strategies areenhancing learning, performing specialtasks, solving special problem, and makingthe learners self-directed.

1) Enhancing Learning: Secondlanguage learning is a bit more complicatedthan first language since second languagelearners are frequently intervened by theirprior knowledge of first language. Sosecond language learning is exclusivelyconscious learning which cannot beaccomplished effectively in the absence oflearning strategies. The setting of secondlanguage learning can be made natural andsubconscious learning through employingappropriate learning strategies.

2) Performing Special Task: Languagelearning strategies help them to solvecognitively demanding tasks easily. Thelearners would fail to encounter withproblem-solving task without learningstrategies. In order to perform special task,the learners should deploy task-appropriatestrategies. Particularly, the high proficiencylearners are efficient to employ appropriatelearning strategies to carry out their tasks(Green & Oxford, 1995). On the contrary,low proficiency learners cannot grade andemploy appropriate learning strategieswith tasks accordingly. Language learningstrategies make the learners aware ofemploying different types of strategies viz.top-down, bottom-up, and interactivestrategies accordingly (Abbott, 2006).

3) Solving the Specific Problem:Language learning strategies are in voguein second language learning due to theirmultidimensional specific plans andprocedures to solve specific problems. The

second language learners are made readyto diagnose their strengths and weaknessesin learning and thereby managinginstructions of learning strategies toencounter learning problems throughlearning strategies for example,metacognitive strategies are aboutmonitoring learners’ own ability andprogress of learning second languagethrough using different types of learningstrategies. In fact learning strategies makethe learners self-regulated andautonomous.

4) Making Self-Regulated andAutonomous Learners: One of the mainpurposes of language learning strategies isto make them self-regulated. The successfullearners usually employ cognitive,metacognitive, and social strategies indeveloping learning. The learners can befacilitated to be self-directed for successfullanguage learners through employinglearning strategies in their learning. Thereis a significant relationship betweenlearning strategies and self-regulatedlearners. If the learners adopt some specialtechniques and procedures of learningstrategies to encode and decode the text,they can acquire language skills andlinguistic structures effectively.

Communicative Competence

Hymes (1972) argues that Chomsky’sdistinction between competence andperformance did not pay attention to theaspect of use of language and related issuesof appropriacy of an utterance to particularsituation. Thus, Hymes (1972) devised theterm ‘communicative competence’ to referto the language use in social context andappropriate situation. Communicativeability can be developed through linguisticcompetence, pragmatic competence,intercultural competence, discousecompetence, and strategic competence.


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should have a sound knowledge ofgrammatical structures and vocabulary toproduce accurate discourse in speaking.The speakers should have acquiredgrammatical system and a wider variety ofvocabulary in order to makecommunication successful. Moreover, thespeakers must acquire the syntactic andmorphological rules of the targetknowledge to enhance linguisticcompetence which in turn corroborate toaccelerate speaking skill.

Additionally, the speakers should have theknowledge of suprasegmental, or prosodicfeatures, such as rhythm, stress, intonationetc. for accuracy in pronunciation in thetarget language.

3) Pragmatic Competence : The speakersshould develop pragmalinguistic andsociopragmatic knowledge to develop thepragmatic competence for a successful oralcommunication. EFL learners should havea broad knowledge in sociolinguisticaspects of target language to communicateappropriately in the society. Language isdeveloped with social conventional normsand rules. So the speakers are to besensitized with social norms and rules ofthe target language to makecommunication interactive since there issymbiotic relation between language andculture. The speakers should be aware ofparalinguistic features. Brown, (1994, p.238) states that “adult second languagelearners must acquire stylistic adaptabilityin order to be able to encode and decode thediscourse around them correctly”. Thesociolinguistic knowledge is concerned withstyle, register, appropriateness and so on.

4) Intercultural Competence :Intercultural competence refers to theknowledge of how to produce anappropriate spoken discourse within aparticular sociocultural context. The

Source: Alice Martinez-Flor, Esther Uso-Juan and Eva Alcon, 2006

1) Discourse Competence: Martinez-Flor, Uso-Juan and Alcon (2006, p. 147)argue that “the proposed communicativecompetence framework has at its heart thespeaking skill since it is the manifestationof producing spoken discourse and a wayof manifestation of the rest of thecomponents.” Discourse competenceinvolves speakers’ ability to use a varietyof discourse markers to attain the unifiedspoken text. The discourse features are theknowledge of discourse markers. Themanagement of the second languagelearners must have knowledge of discoursecompetence to connect the intersententialrelationship. In discourse, the role ofcohesion and coherence is very paramountto hold the communication in meaningfulmanner. The speakers should have asubstantial knowledge of discourse markersto express their desired ideas and opinionsin the process of interaction. The speakersare to be concerned with the linguistic formand appropriacy. Moreover, they should becompetent strategically in the course ofspeaking.

2) Linguistic competence : Linguisticcompetence comprises grammar,vocabulary, and phonology. The speakers


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speakers should have knowledge regardingnon-verbal communicative factors and thecultural knowledge to avoidcommunication breakdown. The speakersshould have knowledge of non-verbalcommunication, such as body language,facial expressions, eye contact etc. to makethe spoken discourse successful sinceparalinguistic, body language, and socio-cultural perspective have symbioticrelation with one another.

5) Strategic Competence: Strategiccompetence embraces speakers’ knowledgeof both learning and communicationstrategies. Confirmation check, comp-rehension check, clarification request, andrepetition requests are also the strategies tomake oral communication successful.

Learners can enhance speaking proficiencythrough inferring, predicting, guessing,paraphrasing, circumlocution, repetition,planning and so on. Moreover, they canfollow the cognitive, metacognitive,compensation, social, affective, andmemory strategies to make thecommunicative interaction successful andeffective. The speakers should haveimmense knowledge of how to start andhow to end the communication with theinterlocutors effectively through the use oflearning strategies.

Methodology

The following procedure was adopted tocarry out the research addressing theobjectives and research questions.

Design

This is an exploratory study through whichthe researcher has collected the data usingsurvey method. He has carried out thisresearch qualitatively.

Sample Population and SamplingProcedure

The researcher has selected 30 secondarylevel teachers from Kathmandu district foradministering questionnaire. Tensecondary schools were selected forcollecting data. Three teachers wereselected from each school purposively. Outof the 30 teachers, classes of 10 teacherswere observed. He selected 30 teachersusing purposive non-random samplingprocedure. The researcher administeredsemi-structured interview and informalinterview to 10 teachers who were selectedrandomly regarding the use of learningstrategies.

Data Collection Tools

The researcher used questionnaire, semi-structured interview, and classroomobservation checklist as tools to collect datato carry out the research. The researcherobserved the classes of 10 teachers to findout whether they used learning strategiesto develop communicative competenceusing classroom observation checklist. Healso employed informal interview to collectthe data regarding the attitude of teacherstowards using learning strategies andexisting learning strategies that teachersuse in developing communicativecompetence in the classroom.

Data Collection Procedure

The researcher administered questionnaireto 30 teachers. Subsequently, he conductedclassroom observation of 10 teachers.Furthermore, he gathered the data throughinformal interview with 5 teachers.


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Analysis of the Data Collectedthrough Questionnaire and Semi-structured Interview

A majority of respondents stated that mostof the learners used memory strategy todevelop speaking since the learners feltdifficulty to use metacognitive, cognitive,compensation, social and affectivestrategies. A minority of respondents statedthat they prioritize metacognitive,cognitive and compensating strategies todevelop communicative competence oflearners. A majority of respondents stronglyagreed that visual pictures and images helpthe learners to guess the meaning andencourage discussion with peers and ingroup regarding the information given inthe picture. However, they are unable toteach them through using visual images andpictures to develop communicativeperformance and competence owing toovercrowded classes and lack of overheadprojectors etc in the classes. Most of therespondents agreed that they sometimesasked the students to summarize andconvert the text verbally in their own wordsin the classroom. However, a large numberof respondents asserted that they usually donot ask to revise and summarize the lessonverbally after teaching due to the lack oftime and reluctance of the students to speakin front of their friends and teachers. Therewas positive response regarding theguessing of meaning while holdingconversation to avoid the breakdown incommunication when there is doubt.Approximately, majority of the respondentsstrongly agreed that collaborative learningand scaffolding help the learners to developspeaking skills; however, they are unable toemploy collaborative learning, groupdiscussion, and peer talking due toovercrowded classes and time-constraint.Most of the respondents agreed thatpractices of carrying out communicativetasks rather than merely focusing ongrammar oriented exercises facilitate thelearners to develop communicative

competence, but they have to teachgrammatical forms more than languagefunctions because the textbook containsmore grammatical structures thanlanguage functions. A majority of therespondents agreed that communicativestrategies play a significant role to developthe competencies, such as asking forclarification and repetition, formulaicforms, negotiation of meaning, etc.

Analysis of Data Collected throughClassroom Observation Checklist

From classroom observation, it was foundthat teachers used lecture method whileteaching in the classroom. Most teachersdid not help the learners in employinglearning strategies due to overcrowdedunmanageable classes, lack of moderntechnology and power in class, and pressureof finishing course in time etc. Most of theteachers help the learners to self-check theirutterance before speaking. Most of thelearners use dictionary, textbook etc. to findout the meaning of difficult words and tocarry out the tasks. They also check theiranswer before communicating with theirpeers while talking in the group. They arevery careful regarding the accurate use oftense, vocabulary items, and correct use ofpronunciation while speaking and beforeuttering in the class. Most of the learnersuse memory strategies such as retrievingideas from the long term memory. Theresearcher found that most of the learnersdo not like to work in group and with peersin the classroom. The learners like listeningthe lectures from teachers passively.Moreover, the teachers are unable toconduct group discussion and peer talkingdue to the overcrowded class andunmanageable classroom dynamics.

Conclusion

Language learning strategies are inevitableto develop communicative competence in


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the multilingual classroom. The learnerscan be autonomous and self-regulatedlearners through the learning strategies. Itwas found that a majority of teachers usedmemory strategy to develop speakingstrategies. A minority of respondents statedthat they use metacognitive, cognitive andcompensating strategies to developcommunicative competence; for instance,learners learn through guessing themeaning from context; self-evaluation oftheir learning, and thinking critically . Amajority of respondents (60%) stronglyagreed that visual pictures and images helpthe learners to develop speaking skills;however they are unable to help them usingvisual images and pictures to developspeaking skills owing to overcrowdedclasses and lack of overhead projectors,computer and power supply in the classes.It was revealed that teachers do not usecollaborative learning and scaffoldingtechniques which may help the learnersdevelop speaking skills. More importantly,they are unable to employ collaborativelearning, group discussion, and peer talkingowing to overcrowded classes and timeconstraint. Secondary teachers havepositive attitude towards learningstrategies to develop communicativecompetence of learners since learningstrategies help the learners to learn throughpeer and group talking, thinking someissues critically, self-monitoring their ownpace of learning, and creative production.

References

Abbott, M. L. (2006). Reading strategiesdifferences in Arabic and Mandarinspeaker test performance. LanguageLearning, Vol. 56(4), 633-670

Brown, H. D. (1994). Principles of languagelearning and teaching. EnglewoodCliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.

Brown, H. D. (2007). Teaching by Principles:An Interactive Approach to Language

Pedagogy. New York: PearsonEducation Inc.

Bygate, M. (1987). Speaking. Oxford: OxfordUniversity Press.

Chamot, A. U. V. and O’Malley, J. M. (1990).Learning Strategies in Second LanguageAcquisition.Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Green, J. M. and Oxford, R. L. (1995). Acloser look at learning strategies, L2proficiency and gender. TESOLQuarterly, Vol. 29(2), 261-297.

Green, J. M. and Oxford, R. L. (1995).Acloser look at learning strategies, L2proficiency and gender. TESOLQuarterly, Vol. 29(2), 261-297.

Hymes, D. (1972). On communicativecompetence. In Pride, J. B. and J.Holmes (Eds.), Sociolinguistics.Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Martinez-Flor, A., Uso-Juan, E. & Alcon E.(2006). Towards acquiringcommunicative competence throughspeaking. In Alicia Martinez-Flor andEsther uso-Juan (Eds.). Current rendsin the development and teaching of thefour language skills. New York: Moutonde Gruyter.

Oxford, R. L. (1990). Language LearningStrategies: What every teacher shouldknow?New York: Newbury House/Harper& Row.

Author’s bioPurna Bahadur Kadel teaches at CentralDepartment of English Education,Tribhuvan University. He earned Ph.D inELT from The English and ForeignLanguages University Hyderabad, India.There are half a dozen of articles to hiscredit in national and international journals.He has presented a number of papers inconferences home and abroad.


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AppendicesAppendix I

Questionnaire for the Teachers

Teachers’ profile

Section A

1. Name:

2. Age:

3. Sex:

4. Place of Resident:

5. Name of school presently working at:

6. Academic Qualification:

7. Teaching experience (in years)

1) Level taught:

Section B

Please tick against appropriate answer below that best suits your choice.

1. Which learning strategies do you adopt while teaching in developing speaking skills?

a) cognitive

b) metacognitive

c) memory

d) compensation

e) social

f) affection

2. Visual images and pictures play significant roles to develop speaking skills of thelearners.

a) Strongly Disagree b) Disagree c) Neutral d) Strongly Agree E) Agree

3. How often do you ask your students to summarize recently taught text at the end ofeach lesson?

a) Always B) Often c) Sometimes D) rarely E) Never

4. Guessing of the meaning is very necessary to make the conversation successful andeffective.



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5. The interlocutor/listener should ask question for clarification to avoid the breakdownof conversation.


6. How often do you employ collaborative learning and assisting to developcommunicative competence?

a) Always B) Often c) Sometimes D) rarely E) Never

7. Do you think that peer talking and group discussions help the learners to enhancetheir internalizing the meaning and using it properly

a) Yes b) No

8. Which of the following strategies help the learners to speak in class?

a) The students are rewarded when they speak well.

b) Ask them to explain main theme of the song when they have listened it.

c) Ask them to review the paragraph verbally.

9. The students can develop communicative ability through audio visual movie.


10. The students can develop communicative competence through using of languagefunctions contextually rather than focusing on the linguistic structures.


11. Do you believe that group discussion and peer talking can develop communicativecompetence?

a) Yes b) No

12. Which of following communicative strategies are essential to develop speaking skills?

a) Using fillers

b) asking for clarification

c) adopting formulaic expression

d)using non-verbal expression

e) all of the above

13. Negotiation of meaning between speaker and interlocutor is very impotent to makethe interaction meaningful.


14. The paralinguistic features compensate the speakers to avoid breakdown ofcommunication.


15. Do you think that learning strategies help to gear up the communicative competenceof learners?

a) Yes b) No


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Appendix III

Questions for semi-structured Interview

1. Do you use learning strategies to develop speaking skills?

2. Do you believe that visual images and pictures play significant roles to develop speakingskills?

3. How often do you ask to your students to summarize orally at the end of lesson?

4. Do you make the learnersaware clarification questions should be asked to avoidbreakdown of communication?

5. Do you believe that peer talking and group discussions help the learner to developtheir communicative skills?

6. Do you think that group discussion and collaborative learning avoid shyness,hesitation, and nervousness of the learners?

Appendix II

Classroom Observation Checklist

Checklists Very good Good Normal Poor Very poorWell –organized of the ideas

Self-checking of the utterance of the ideas

Note-taking and note making to understandthe text in the classroom

Use of resources form dictionary, textbooks, Google etc.

Guess and predict the meaning and ideas contextuallywhile conversing with the peers

Work in groups and with peers to solve the tasks inthe classroom verbally

Involve in explaining and analyzing the task with peersto solve the problem in the classroom


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Changing Scenario of Language Classrooms in thePresent Day World

Arun Nepal

Abstract

The success or failure of language learning and teaching primarily depends upon the activities largelydone by teachers and students in classrooms. Moreover, modern educational experts and scholarsindicate the need for creating new kind of classroom scenario considering the various factors thatdiffer from one context to another or from one classroom to another. The difference can be in thefield of linguistic and cultural background of the students, their needs and interests, and other explicitor implicit areas. This article highlights eight different factors that contribute to creating successfuland enjoyable language learning environment addressing the demand of changing scenario oflanguage classrooms in the present day world. Finally, the article justifies the need for new kind oflanguage classrooms providing some crucial evidences.

Key words: Classroom, humanistic, success, diversity, enjoyable

Introduction

A classroom is a combination of manythings, including the students and teacheras human being. In addition, the room itself,furniture, board, multimedia, internet andother different materials that decorate theclassroom, etc. are the physical things. Themanagement of all these physical featuresand the arrangement of the furniture in theclassroom affect the learning and teachingof language to some extent. The effect ofsuch physical setting is easily noticeable,predictable, explicit and visible – whichincludes the considerations such as:Whether there is necessary light or not; thefurniture are comfortable or not; the roomconsists of modern technology such asinternet, multimedia, etc or not; and so on.However, the activities done by the students

and the teachers in the classroom seemsubtle, unpredictable, implicit, and largelyinvisible. The influence of such activitiesdiffers from one person to another. My ownexperience of learning and teaching Englishalso shows that majority of such activitiesperformed by students and teachers areindirect and contextual. The body languageand facial expressions of the students andteachers convey different meanings incomparison with the literal meaning of theutterances. Zeichner and Liston (2014)point out that classrooms are fast-pacedand unpredictable environments whereteachers must make hundreds ofspontaneous decisions each day (p. 13).

I have realized the fact that only a little isexplicitly known about the activities thatpossibly happen in the classroom. In line


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with this realization, Van Lier (1988) hasquoted the following three sayings of threedifferent scholars to prove the fact that weknow very little about what goes on inclassroom. One, ‘…our understanding ofclassroom and what goes in them is still verylimited’ (Stenhouse, 1975). Two, ‘…Ourignorance of what actually happens insideclassroom is spectacular’ (Stubbs, 1976).Three, ‘…the ethnography, the society, thesocial psychology and the educationalpsychology of the bilingual classroom areall little more than gleams in the eyes of afew researchers’ (Fishman, 1977 as quotedin Van Lier, 1988, pp. 77-78). The spirit ofall these quotations still exists in manylanguage classrooms even in the presentday world. We need to bring about a changein our behaviors in the classroomcontemplating the different factors thatmay play crucial role to make languagelearning and teaching more effective,enjoyable and successful mainly in thecontext of Nepal. Hence, the articleadvocates the need of considering muchimplicit factors that actually occur insideclassrooms. The authentic sources of suchfactors are the ideas of different scholarsand my own English language learning andteaching experience for many years. Theclaim is that the factors identified throughavailable literature and experience cancreate an enjoyable atmosphere in thelanguage classroom to make the languagelearning process more effective, enjoyableand a great success in the days to come. Thevarious factors to be considered in the newkind of language classroom are discussedin the following paragraphs.

Complex Nature of the Classroom

The physical and explicit nature of theclassroom seems very simple. Many of usbelieve that well-furnished room withmodern technologies and multimedialargely facilitates language learning andteaching. Such a class is more comfortable

where successful and enjoyable teaching-learning take place. However, such externalpart of a classroom seems to be secondary.The primary part of a classroom is moreimplicit and the success or failure ofteaching and learning is greatly determinedby the behaviors or activities thatperformed by the students and teacher inthe classroom. Such activities empowerstudents in a way that cannotbe predictedeasily. Canagarajah (as mentioned inNorton &Toohey, 2004) argues thatclassroom discourses and cultures are morecomplex than we have imagined (p. 135).Such discourse and cultures deserveunpredictable power to bring about adrastic change in the life of students.Osulaand Ideboen (2010) treat classroom as‘the most powerful space on earth’. Theyclaim that the revolutionary objectives ofsuch classroom have the power totransform culture, deepen citizenawareness, and cultivate skills andknowledge whether the classroom is largeor small, rich or poor (p.1). Moreover,Dornyei (2001) considers classroom ratheras intricate microcosm where studentsspend a great deal of their life by acquiringskills; learning about the world; makingfriends; and even falling in love (p. 13).Besides these real life activities, students canbe more responsible and autonomous insuch classrooms. Dix (2014) advocatescreating classrooms where students arekeen to accept responsibility and take morecontrol for themselves. He clearly pointsout the change in traditional classroomscenario where teachers teach and studentsonly listen without taking anyresponsibility (p. 18). Thus, the nature of theclassroom has shifted from the traditionalbeliefs, norms and values to the modernones in various ways. Tsui, A. B. M (asmentioned in Carter & Nunan, 2001)summarizes the extremely complexprocesses that have been shifted fromprescription to description, and fromevaluation to awareness raising (Carter &


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Nunan, 2001, p. 125). The ethnographicresearch can identify the complex natureand real power of the classroom thatsharpens the whole life of the students whocan achieve a great success in an enjoyableway in such a modern classroom. Complexnature of whole life of the learners in theclassroom can be treated throughhumanistic perspective as discussed below.

Humanistic Classroom

Changing scenario of the classroomrequires a balanced treatment of studentsfrom humanistic perspective. The studentsare treated as human being in a humanisticclassroom. The features of human being likerelaxation, encouragement of groupdynamics in the class, interpersonal aspects(Thomas 1987); self-esteem (Arnold 1999);ability to speak at least one language,individual differences, different social andcultural background, age (Edge & Garton2009); genuine dialogue-discussion,learner’s needs, creativity, flexibility(Gowda 2010) are considered largely whileteaching in such a classroom.Gowda (2010)argues that humanistic teaching avoids allthe manipulative techniques such asrewards, punishments and reinforcementsthat degrade humans. Instead, he suggestsfor encouragement and guidance thatbelieve in human dignity and individualfreedom (p. 213). Teacher should considerthe common humanistic features of alllearners found in the classroom. Edge andGarton (2009) describe such features as thelearners’ names, their knowledge,experience, intelligence, skills, emotions,imagination, awareness, creativity, sense ofhumor, problems, purposes, dreams, hopes,aspirations, fears, memories, interests,blind spots, prejudices, habits, expectations,likes, dislikes, preferences, ability to speakat least one language and everything elsethat goes with being a human being (p.3).The balanced treatment of such implicithumanistic features creates an enjoyable

atmosphere in the classroom that makes thelearners more successful. The treatment ofhumanistic features creates a social life inthe classroom where all the learners enjoydifferent linguistic and cultural norms,beliefs and other various behaviors thathappen in a society.

Social Context in the Classroom

A classroom is like a small society wherethe social norms and values can be sharedthrough social like interaction. Creswell(2012) focuses on the studies of singleclassroom as small societies and subculturegroups who share their behavior, beliefs,and language or a combination of all thesefeatures (p. 470). Van Lier (1988) furthertreats classroom as the social context inthree senses. One, learning as interactive,hence social activity; two, classroom as asocial setting; three, the place of theclassroom as one aspect of social life (p.77).In this way, a social context can be createdin a classroom where the learners can enjoysocial life in a social like setting doingdifferent social activities by sharing theirideas and beliefs in a natural way. Thelearners participate actively in suchactivities hoping that they will besuccessful persons in the future.Expectation of being successful leads themto be more creative and active learners.

Expectation of Success in theClassroom

Everybody wants to be a successful personin his/her respective field. The desire ofbeing successful is an attribute of humanbeing. Dornyei (2001) argues that ‘there isno better recipe for building someone’sconfidence than to administer regulardosages of success.’ He further clarifies that‘success breeds success’ (p. 89).Furthermore, Osulaand Ideboen (2010)strongly suggest the teachers to change the


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classroom as ‘hope zone’ communicatingthe hope of being success there in.Communicating hope is the springboard tolasting change in the classroom. Suchsuccess requires a connection of thestudents’ head and heart. Thetransformational classroom, where thestudents are committed to connect theirhead and heart in a consistent way, leadsthe students to achieve a great success (pp.9-156). Such success can be achievedthrough two-way communication. Lynch(1996) forwards the idea of being flexiblein the negotiation of the meaning creatingtasks for two-way communication as key tosuccessful language learning practice (p.102). Two-way communication inside theclassroom plays vital role to achievesuccess in language learning and teaching.Stevick (1980, as cited in Arnold, 1999)opines that ‘success depends less onmaterials, techniques, and linguisticanalysis, and more on what goes inside andbetween the people in the classroom’ (p. 26).Expectation of being success;communicating hope of being success in theclassroom; the connection of head and heartto negotiate meaning for two-waycommunication among the diversestudents; and the activities that happeninside the classroom seem more challengingto address in the classroom where diversestudents learn language. The challenge canbe addressed only by considering thedifferent backgrounds, levels, needs andinterests of diverse students.

Diversity in the Classroom

As mentioned earlier, a classroom reflectsa social setting where all kinds of learnersexpect to be successful persons in some way.Leung, Harris, and Rampton (1997, as citedin Burns & Richards, 2009) state thatlearners bring multiple identities to theclassroom (p.43). Similarly, Mani & Deepthi(2010) indicate that a diverse classroomconsists of different kinds of students who

may be fast and slow; older or younger;male or female; visual, auditory andkinesthetic; extrovert or introvert; teacherdependent or autonomous; and so on (p. 70).Edge and Garton (2009) further addeducational, social, and culturalbackgrounds as other diversities in theclassroom (p.3). Teacher should be able totake as many advantages as possible fromsuch diversities found in the classroom.Osula and Ideboen (2010) highlight thebenefits of diversity in the classroom. Theypoint out that diversity addresses thestrengths of each individual; cooperation;positive interaction between cultures,personalities; and individual narratives (p.162). Addressing the needs and interests ofdiverse students naturally leads to create alearning centered classroom where theteachers and the students need to changetheir traditional roles.

Learning Centered Classroom

Learning centered classroom is the cry ofthe day. Active participation of students inan enjoyable way is the basic requirementof such classroom. Mani and Deepthi (2010)point out five different features of learningcentered classroom that can contribute a lotto make the learning and teaching processa great success. The first feature focuses onthe learning process as an end in itselfinstead of being the means. The argumentis that learning occupies the centre of theteaching-learning process and bothteachers and learners concentrate onmaking the process effective andmeaningful. The second belief is that alearning-centered classroom is highlypurposeful and goal oriented in whichlearners know what they are going to learnand they achieve the goal being involvedin learning process according to their ownabilities, strengths and desires. Differentlearning styles, multiple intelligences andlearner needs replace the traditional modeof content delivery by teachers through


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monotonous lectures. A teacher onlyprovides the learners with opportunities toexplore the world around them and learnon their own. Thirdly, a learning centeredclassroom encourages higher-level thinkingskills through a curriculum based oninquiry, critical thinking and problemsolving. Such a classroom places a lot ofemphasis on activities that involve logicalreasoning, discussions, debating, etc. withthe objectives of resolving problems ortaking decisions. Similarly, involvement ofstudents in peer learning, collaborativework and group tasks is the fourth featureof learning centered classroom. Finally, theevaluation system of learning centeredclassroom differs from the traditional one.The varied forms of evaluation includewritten examinations, group presentation,interpretations of drama, films, art, etc.that help learners display their personalstrengths and focus on their learning ratherthan on a finished product in the form ofan exam paper (pp. 39-40). A teacher cancreate an enjoyable learning centeredclassroom by linking these five featureswith the class size and the classroomculture that suit the local environment.Lynch (1996) emphasizes that teachershould create interaction opportunitieswith careful planning and selection of theclassroom activity that is appropriate to theclass size and more suitable classroomculture with the local environment (p. 68).The emphasis on learning process, learningstyles, multiple intelligences, learner needs,critical thinking, reasoning, debating,collaborative work, group presentation, etc.requires devising cognition andmetacognition in the classroom.

Cognition and Metacognition in theClassroom

Cognition and metacognition play crucialrole with regard to language learning andteaching. Richards and Schmidt (2010)define the term ‘cognition’ as ‘the various

mental processes used in thinking,remembering, perceiving, recognizing,classifying, etc.’ (p.90). They also clarifythat metacognition refers to knowledge ofbecoming aware of own mental processeswhile being involved in different kinds oflearning (p. 361). Students need to beengaged in different conscious andsubconscious mental activities to developtheir unique abilities and intelligences.Unique abilities and intelligences ofdifferent individual students in a diverseclassroom can achieve the expected successonly being involved in different creativeworks. Such works require much cognitiveor mental activities and metacognitiveactivities in the classroom. Pritchard (2014)suggests creating opportunities forcognitive or mental activity that leads todeeper engagement with ideas andincreases the possibility of effective andlasting learning. Deeper understanding ispossible through discussion between pairand group works by creating meaningfulcontexts in the classroom. Furthermore,teacher encourages the students to reviewand remind the knowledge related to thenew topic by scaffolding the thoughtfullearners (pp. 35-36). Similarly, Dix (2014)points out the activities that students cando in the metacognitive classroom. Heargues that metacognition is at the heart ofall learning theory. Metacognitive activitieslead teacher and students to think about theway of planning the given learning tasks;negotiate success criteria; monitorcomprehension; and evaluate progress (p.42). Moreover, Oxford (1990) focuses onboth cognitive and metacognitive processesthat take place in the classroom. She placesthe cognitive strategies as more practicalactivities that involve the students inpracticing; receiving and sending messages;analyzing and reasoning; and creatingstructure for input and output. Similarly,she suggests being involved in differentmetacognitive strategies that go beyondpurely cognitive devices. Themetacognitive strategies include centering


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the learning; arranging and planning thelearning; and evaluating the learning by thelearners themselves (pp. 58-136). Cognitiveand metacognitive activities seem morechallenging that require much thinking andbrainwork on the part of both teacher andstudents. It seems very difficult to changethe habit of the students who have alreadyformed the habit of mechanical learning.Teacher should change the classroomatmosphere where students can docognitive and metacognitive activities in anenjoyable way lowering their anxiety thatgenerally exists in the diverse classroom.

Anxiety Free and EnjoyableClassroom

Active participation of students in differentcognitive and metacognitive interactionsrequires low classroom anxiety or ananxiety free and enjoyable classroomenvironment. Richards and Rodgers (2001)argue that low personal anxiety and lowclassroom anxiety are more conducive tosecond language acquisition (p.183).Similarly, Brown (1987) suggests creatinganxiety free classroom environment byinvolving the students in singing; laughingwith them; sharing their fears in smallgroups; promoting cooperative learningamong students; getting them to set theirown goals beyond the classroom goals; andso on (pp. 128-131). Such anxiety freeenvironment requires an activeparticipation of the students in theclassroom.Dornyei (2001) suggests a way ofenjoyable learning through creation ofclassroom situations where studentsbecome active participants. Studentsusually enjoy a task if they play an essentialpart in it (p. 77). Teacher can create aneffective and enjoyable atmosphere in theclassroom in different ways. Oxford (1990)suggests three different ways to make theclass more effective and enjoyable. The firstway is to change the social structure of theclassroom to give students more

responsibility. Secondly, it is necessary toprovide the increased amount ofnaturalistic communication. Finally,learners use affective strategies such aslowering anxiety, taking emotionaltemperature and encouraging themselvesfor learning (pp. 140-141). Dornyei (2001)suggests reducing the fear of socialcomparison, competition, mistakes, andtests while turning the language classroominto ‘anxiety free zone’ (pp.92-94). Theanxiety free and enjoyable classroom wherediverse students participate actively indifferent cognitive and metacognitiveactivities to gain expected success and otherfactors discussed above clearly indicate theneed for changing the existing scenario ofthe language classroom in the present dayworld.

Need for Changing Classroom

The factors mentioned in the precedingparagraphs clearly indicate the need fornew kind of classroom where the studentscan learn in an enjoyable way to achieve theexpected success. Such success requiresconducive classroom setting where allstudents are treated considering thecomplex nature of the classroom asmentioned above. Duncan (as cited inZeichner and Liston, 2014,) argues infavour of bringing varieties in the classroomthat is beyond a ‘one-size-fits all’ model(p.82). A shift from such a model hasbecome necessary in the modernclassrooms. Dornyei (2001) emphasizes theshift from more examination-oriented,monotonous and boring classroom settingto more process-oriented and enjoyableclassroom where students get involvedactively (p. 72). Dornyei and Murphey(2003) further suggest bringing aboutchange in the traditional classroom settingby changing the partners as necessary;changing the seating arrangements;maintaining the classroom temperatureand lighting; decorating the classroom;


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using songs and music in the classroom; andgiving the sense of ownership in theclassroom (p. 89). The sense of ownershipcreates a safe and secure environmentwhere students can take part in differentcommunicative activities without anyhesitation like in the natural setting. Ellis(2008) points out the need for an idealcommunicative classroom that leads tosuccessful L2 learning. Such settingexamines the key theoretical issues inspecific classroom contexts that promote L2acquisition in a natural way (pp. 824-825).This short discussion provides some crucialevidences to the urgent need of changingthe existing classroom scenario.

Conclusion

This article is the result of the need andrealization of the new kind of classroomsetting in the present day world that differsfrom traditional forms of the classroom(primarily the ‘one-size-fits all’ models).The realization is to bring about a drasticchange in the traditional classroom settingconsidering the various factors that wereless emphasized in the past. An enjoyableand successful language learning andteaching depend largely on the variousfactors that are still known little. The articleis an attempt to search the implicit factorsthat play very indirect and crucial role toaddress the complex nature of theclassroom.

The complex nature of classroom requirestreating the students from humanisticperspective. Natural characteristics ofhuman being should highly be respected inthe language classrooms. People enjoydifferent kinds of activities in the societyaccording to their need, interest, and desirethat have close relationship of beingsuccessful persons in their real life. Theexpectation of success in diverse studentsrequires much learner-centered classroom

where different cognitive andmetacognitive activities take place.Students can enjoy being involved in suchcognitive and metacognitive activities onlyin anxiety free classroom setting where theycan communicate freely. Creating ananxiety free, enjoyable and natural-likecommunication atmosphere indicates theneed for new kind of classroom.

The changing scenario of the languageclassroom can address the universal desireof human being to become successful in anenjoyable way to gain internal satisfaction.The new kind of classroom is expected togive such internal satisfaction to bothstudents and teachers that is possibly anultimate objective of almost all people. Thestudents will be internally satisfied if theycan achieve expected success in languagelearning and the teachers will gain suchsatisfaction if they find their teaching moreeffective and successful. Hence, thechanging scenario of the classroom placesprimary emphasis on the behaviors and theactivities of both students and teachers thattake place in the classroom. The claim ofthis article is that if the students andteachers become ready to apply the abovementioned factors and the like in theirpractical life, the deteriorating condition oflearning and teaching will be improved ina dramatic way.

References

Arnold, J. (Ed.). (1999). Affect in languagelearning. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Brown, H.D. (1987). Principles of languagelearning and teaching (3rd Ed).Englewood Cliffs, CA:Prentice HallRegents.

Burns, A. and Richards, J.C. (Eds.). (2009).The Cambridge guide to second languageteachereducation. New York:Cambridge University Press.


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Carter, R. and Nunan, D. (Eds.). (2001). TheCambridge guide to teaching English tospeakers of other languages. UK:Cambridge University Press.

Cresswell, J.W. (2012). Educational research(4th Ed.). New Delhi: PHI LearningPrivate Limited.

Dix, P. (2014). The essential guide toclassroom assessment. UK: Pearson.

Dornyei, Z. (2001). Motivational strategiesin the classroom. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Dornyei, Z. and Murphy, T. (2003). Groupdynamics in the language classroom.New York: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Edge, J and Garton, S. (2009). Fromexperience to knowledge in ELT. UK:Oxford University Press.

Ellis, R. (2008). The study of second languageacquisition (2nd Ed). New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

Gowda, M.S. (2010). Learning and thelearner: Insight into the processes oflearning and teaching. New Delhi: PHILearning Private Limited.

Lynch, T. (1996). Communication in theclassroom. New York: OxfordUniversity Press.

Mani, P. and Deepthi, S. (2010). English forteaching for secondary school teachers.New York: Cambridge UniversityPress.

Norton, B. and Toohey, K. (Eds.). (2004).Critical pedagogies and languagelearning. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Osula, B and Ideboen, R. (2010). 10 winningstrategies for leaders in the classroom: a

transformational approach. New Delhi:SAGE.

Oxford, R.L. (1990). Language learningstrategies: What every teacher shouldknow. Boston:Heinle&HeinlePublishers.

Pritchard, A. (2014). Ways of learning:Learning theories and learning styles inthe classroom. (3rd Ed.). London & NewYork: Routledge.

Richards, J.C. and Rodegers, T.S. (2001).Approaches and methods in languageteaching (2nd Ed.). United Kingdom:Cambridge University Press.

Richards, J.C. and Schmidt, R. (2010).Longman dictionary of language teachingand applied linguistics (4th Ed.). GreatBritain: Pearson Education Limited.

Thomas, A.N. (1987). Classroom interaction.New York: Oxford University Press.

Van Lier, L. (1988). The classroom and thelanguage learner. London and NewYork: Longman.

Zeichner, K.M. and Liston, D.P. (2014).Reflective teaching: An introduction (2nd

Ed.). New York: Routledge.

Author’s bioArun Nepal, M.Ed. in English, is a Lecturerat Tribhuvan University. His researchinterests include ELT methodology,language learning strategies, and reflectivepractice. Currently he is a PhD scholarexploring learning strategies.


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Content and Language Integrated Learning forContent and Language Integrated Learning forContent and Language Integrated Learning forContent and Language Integrated Learning forContent and Language Integrated Learning forNepalese EFL classesNepalese EFL classesNepalese EFL classesNepalese EFL classesNepalese EFL classes

Tara Sapkota

Abstract

A common understanding of teaching English in Nepalese context implies teaching the prescribedtextbook lessons and learning means following the teachers’ instructions. The school on the one hand,grades the students’ achievement according to the score they have scored. The parents, on the other,evaluate their children’s learning according to how beautifully they have written on their notebooks andhow fluently they speak in English. This traditional practice of teaching and evaluating learners hasparalyzed our system of teaching and learning. Therefore, it is high time we shift our practices to amore productive approach to teaching. Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) meets thepresent needs. This paper deals with the ways CLIL is useful to the Nepalese context. In addition, it alsoputs light on the materials used in CLIL lessons, teacher’s and students’ roles and assessment inCLIL.

Key words: Content and language integrated learning, content subject, curricular content

Unconsciously… but CLIL

When I was in grade seven, one morning,the principal who also taught us Englishcame into our class as a substitute teacher.He wanted to continue with his lesson butwe disagreed. Instead, we requested him totake us to the library it was a best place tobe in whenever our teachers were absent.But rather than letting us go to the library,he led us upstairs, to an unoccupied room.Some of us went inside to arrange the tablesand chairs and others stood outside untileverything was fixed. They had joined thetables and chairs and formed six clusters.We stood in front of the class. He, then,divided our class into six groups accordingto our roll number. Before having startedthe day’s activity, he named the room‘Language Lab’ and told that we would begoing to the ‘Language Lab’ once a month.

We were given six different topics under‘Infrastructures of Development’. One ofwhich that our group worked with was‘Water’. There was a common frameworkfor all six groups. We were supposed tocarry out the project with common stepsthough our contents were different. All ofus discussed in our respective groups. Wecould go to the library to get additionalinformation or use internet if it wasavailable. We had to introduce the topic,present the situation in past and present,the benefits, the problems in its lack,preventive measures and conclusion. Afterwriting, each group had to make apresentation orally. Finally, it had to bepresented on the wall magazine in the bestpossible way. This experience of mine showshow a chapter from social studies (‘Water’was one of the chapters on ‘Infrastructures


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of Development’ in grade seven) isincorporated in English class through theuse of classroom dynamics. Thus, it makesthe basis for this paper.

What is Content and LanguageIntegrated Learning (CLIL)?

A very simple answer to the big questionabove, literally, would be, one of the waysof teaching language that is based uponsome content. Introducing CLIL, Dalton-Puffer (2011) “CLIL is an educationalapproach in which curricular content istaught through the medium of a foreignlanguage” (p. 183). My understandingabout CLIL and one of its bases that it workson is written by Richards and Rodgers(2001), “language skills should be taught inthe content subjects and not left exclusivelyfor the English teacher to deal with” (p.205). Larsen- Freeman (2000) has a similaridea that content based instruction isintegrating learning of language withlearning of some other content, oftenacademics. According to her, suchacademics provide the language learnerswith natural content for languageinstruction. Perhaps, it was one of thereasons behind my low score in IELTS examwhere I was told to speak on music for aminute. Afterwards, I was told to tellsomething on an advertisement that Ifound interesting. I thought it went well asI was familiar among my peers and teachersfor the English I had to communicate withthem. Surprisingly, I got least score in thespeaking test whereas other skills were donewell. I did not believe I had the score I had,but later I realized that it was notcommunication aspect of English(language) that I met the standard set butthe understanding of the content I wasgiven to. One of the reasons might be I hadvery little content to convey or I might nothave conveyed anything.

When I was teaching in a private primaryschool, I used to hear similar complaintsfrom parents that their child does notspeak/ communicate in English fluently,hence her learning is dissatisfactory. Theytold their child was good at other subjects(taught in English) but English merely wasbelow their expectation. I regret not havingtold that being able to speak fluently is notonly the sign of their child’s languagedevelopment; their child learns languagelearning the other subjects, therefore, beinggood at social studies, geography orenvironmental science was also learningEnglish subtly. It is because according toNuffield (2000) CLIL programs raise thecompetence of the pupil in foreign languageand also affect attitude to content learningand language learning (as cited inWisesmes, 2009). Similarly, in one of thestudies Burger and Chretein (2001) foundthat the students in L2 English contentbased course gained significant overallcompetence and syntax that those studentswho attended three-hours English lecture(as cited in Gallardo Del Puerto, Lacabex,Lecumberri, 2009, p. 63). Had I met thesescholars’ ideas, perhaps, I would havescored better in IELTS speaking test too.

What materials for CLILclassroom?

I personally claim that English language asthe medium of instructions in our schools,both public and private, has made use ofCLIL more contextual in our context. Inaddition, the textbook we use in our schoolsare printed in English. CLIL is not exclusiveto promotion of English as world languagebut embedded in the socio-economic,political and cultural traditions of differentnations (Coyle, Hood, & Marsh, 2010).Therefore, English would not have been anobligation for us if we were not teachingEnglish as a second language in our schools.


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The benefit is, we can also use the authenticresources (from diverse culture, tradition,languages, geography and so on)translating them into English wherevernecessary. The festival celebrated the otherday (national, religious, local and so forth),an interesting or a relevant news articlepublished on the newspaper, a visit to acultural site, the international dayscelebrated worldwide (i.e. Environmentday, Water day, AIDS day, InternationalLabour day, Education day etc), currentissues (for instance, earthquake, epidemics,flood and landslide etc), personal hygiene,maps (local, regional or world map),germinating seeds by the students, parts ofa plant and so on could be the materialsfor CLIL classes; because, according to(Naves and Munoz, 1999) there are notenough materials available to teachers tomeet ( as cited in Naves, 2009). The teachersneed to embed them to their schoolcurriculum themselves. They not only servethe immediate need of the materials but alsobreak the monotony of the regular textbookexercises and link “save time and give statusto the foreign language” (Krisch, 2008, p.97). Moreover, they provide the studentswith the content that they are already usedto with; hence, they can use those materialsin any way (for reading, writing orspeaking exercises), that “enhancechildren’s learning” (Proctor, Entwistle,Judge & McKenzie- Murdoch, 1995, p. 58).The tasks, thus designed, meet the contentsubject concepts (input) and the processthat explicitly shows how understanding isexpressed (output) (Coyle, Hood & Marsh,2010, p. 87) of the students. The inclusionof such local materials into the classesmakes the classes easy to run as thestudents understand them more than thosethat are brought from some other contexts.

Student and teacher role in CLIL

The teacher I refered elsewhere used tomake us sit in groups. Every month the

teacher used to assign us a short projectthat had to be presented in group as an issuein the of wall magazine. The title of theproject used to be related to differentsubjects, not merely from the English, butalso from social studies, environmentscience, moral values etc. He used toinstruct us and we used to do the tasks. Atthe end of the month we used to be readywith a colourful wall magazine pasted ourclassroom wall.

While getting on with this paper now, afteryears, I feel I experienced CLIL a long ago.The role of the teacher and students in CLILis also clear. A CLIL module may includes“group work, short presentation of thegroup-work results, longer student’spresentation, observation of small scalescience experiments and whole classdiscussion” (Dalton-Puffer, 2009, p. 202).The students produce the required productwith clear instructions of their teacher.Similarly, the selection and gradation of thematerials to be used in the class is also onthe teacher’s part. According to myexperience, the teacher and students needto negotiate from very beginning of CLILlessons until they end. When the teacherand students negotiate the completeprocess of the lesson they are working withteaching learning becomes successful. Thenegotiation includes both teacher’s andstudents’ role during the lesson. Similarly,it also clarifies the content the studentsfocus on, the process in which the studentswork, form of the output and evaluationcriteria. The clearer roles lead to betterperformance of integrated skills.

Assessment in CLILAssessment in CLILAssessment in CLILAssessment in CLILAssessment in CLIL

In grade seven classes the teacher used toaward the best performing groups with‘merit cards’. He used to visit every groupwhen we were discussing and making notesand provide with the necessary feedbacks.


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Similarly, he used to grade both oral andwritten presentations. The group scoringthe highest deserved ‘merit cards’ that werelike the prizes we used to get in otherterminal tests.

After learning activities are implementedin classroom, we need to make assessmentof the learners in order to find their level oflearning. Tests of a kind or others arenecessary in order to provide theinformation of the achievement of groupsof learners without which rationaleducational decisions are difficult to bemade (Hughes, 1989). Regardingassessment, Coyle, Hood and Marsh (2010)opine that “no matter what is taught andhow it is taught, the mode of assessmentdetermines the learner’s perception of theirteacher’s intention and also shapesperformance data” (p. 112). Therefore, it isnecessary to assess the learners which notonly help the learners but also the teachersthemselves in finding out how well theymake their teaching comprehensible.

In CLIL, assessment might be an issuebecause it includes both content andlanguage. The prioritized content elementis taken as the dominant element andlanguage is intended to be learned securelyalongside the content’s concept and skills.Assessment could be collaborative, peers orself. We have purposed to use CLIL as anapproach to be used upon EFL students;therefore, the teachers need to be clear bothwhy they are assessing language as opposedto content and how they wish to do it(Coyle, Hood & Marsh, 2010).

Why CLIL in Nepalese EFLclassrooms?

I begin with the usefulness of CLIL withreference to the change that has recentlytaken place in Nepalese public schools. Thepublic schools have greatly been attracted

towards English medium culture. Despiteproblems, as shared in the training sessionsI visited, they are trying to make it a success.At this changed context, CLIL will functionas one of the best approaches. There arethree major challenges; first, the system’sobligation that different subjects have to betaught in the frame of given syllabus,second, the difficulties in making thelearners used to with English languagewhich they are not competent at, in fact,they need a very serious instruction, andthird, these two challenges have to be facedby the teachers who, in themselves, are notcompetent in English. However, we,English language teachers need not gethopeless because we have such challenges,CLIL would help us to a great deal, if usedappropriately because according torecommendation of British governmentcommission in the mid 1970s as Richardsand Rodgers (2001) write that there needsfocus on reading and writing in all subjectareas in the curriculum, not merely in thesubject called language arts” (p. 205). Whenlanguage comes in integration with othersubjects regularly, it will help both teacherand students to manipulate the languagebetter.

The students in private schools may greatlybe benefitted by this approach since theyare used to using English and “CLILpromotes ability to communicate in theways that traditional teaching does not”(Dalton-Puffer, 2009, p. 197). It may be usedwidely in all subjects where the studentsneed to communicate in English as that hadbeen done in Singaporean Primary PilotProject in the 1970s where classroom textshad integrated science, math and languagestudy (Richard & Rodgers, 2001, p. 206)because CLIL is to integrate that has beencompartmentalized (Soetaert & Bonamie,(n.d.).

Of course, comprehensibility of the Englishlanguage used while instructing the


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students may be an issue when English ismade the language of delivery of thecontents other than English. Harmer (2001)writes the best activity might be a waste oftime if students fail to understand whatteacher meant, the instructions need to bekept simple and logical” ( p. 4). The simplethe instructions are the betterunderstanding in the learners that leads thelearners towards producing the output.Naves (2009) cites Naves (2002) “On-handtasks, experiential learning tasks, problemsolving tasks and so on” (p. 34) andactivities that match with the objective ofthe lesson direct the class towardsachievement. CLIL may be waste of timeand resources if the teachers fail to build astrong link between their plans.

Tucker (1999) says that many childrenthroughout the world are educated insecond or foreign language for at least partof their formal education than exclusivelyin their mother tongue (as cited in Naves,2009, p. 22). Nepal is one of those countrieswhere despite many mother tongues,English is used as the medium ofinstruction. Though public schools had beenusing Nepali as the language of instructionin the past, they are shifting towardsEnglish. The private schools are alreadyinside English language system. Suchschools follow strict English languageculture depending upon the availability ofthe manpower. The language of higheducation is English since a long timethough the students have no choiceregarding the language they want to use.Therefore, we need to find out a way whichhelps to overcome, if not possible, minimizeour language problems. Coyle, Hood andMarsh (2010) propose; CLIL plays a role inproviding pragmatic response towardsovercoming linguistic shortcomings, and inpromoting equal access to education for allschool- aged students including those withadditional support needs” (p. 7).

The teachers, while teaching the subjectsother than English, integrate their subjectand language plans together in such a waythat both of the objectives are addressed,hence, language competence develops inthem gradually.

Conclusion

CLIL is relatively a new approach inNeplaese context where we have beenpracticing communicative languageteaching (CLT) since a long time. However,CLIL could be the sought approach thataddresses our requirements; all rounddevelopment of language skills. CLILprovides authentic materials and setting forlanguage learning. A conscious teacher,through a consciously planned lesson isable to develop all skills and aspects oflanguage along with the content to aconsiderable degree. To make CLIL asuccess, the joint effort of educationalauthorities, parents and teachers at both thedistrict and school level are activelyinvolved in planning the policy toimplement (Naves & Munoz, 1999, as citedin Naves 2009, p. 31) however, there mustbe urgent and significant change forteacher education to be fit for the purpose.

References

Coyle, D, Hood, P., & Marsh, D. (2010). CLIL:Content and language integratedlearning. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Dalton-Puffer, C. (2009). Communicativecompetence and the CLIL lesson. In Y.Ruiz de Zarabe, & R. Maria JemenezCatalan, Content integrated languagelearning: Evidence from research inEurope. Toronto: Multilingual Matters.


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Dalton- Puffer, C. (2011). Content andlanguage integrated languagelearning: From practice to principle.Annual Review of Applied Linguistics,31, 182- 204.

Gallardo Del Puerto, F., Lacabex, E. G. &Lecumberri, M. L. G. (2009). Testingthe effectiveness of content integratedlanguage learning in foreign languagecontexts: The assessment of Englishpronunciation. In Y. Ruiz de Zarabe,& R. Maria Jemenez Catalan, Contentintegrated language learning: Evidencefrom research in Europe. Toronto:Multilingual Matters.

Harmer, J. (2001). How to teach English: Anintroduction to the practice of Englishlanguage teaching. England: Longman.

Hughes, A. (1989). Testing for languageteachers. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Krisch, C. (2008). Teaching foreign languagesin the primary school. London:Continuum.

Larsen- Frreman, D. (2000). Techniques andprinciples in language teaching (2nd Ed.).New Delhi: Oxford University Press.

Naves, T. (2009). Effective content andlanguage integrated language learning(CLIL) programmes. . In Y. Ruiz deZarabe, & R. Maria Jemenez Catalan,Content integrated language learning:Evidence from research in Europe.Toronto: Multilingual Matters.

Proctor, A., Entwistle, M., Judge, B. &McKenzie- Murdoch, S. (1995).Learning to teach in the primaryclassroom. New York: Routledge.

Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (1986).Approaches and methods in languageteaching (2nd Ed.). Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.

Soetaert, R. &Bonamie, B. (n.d). New rulesfor the language and content game: FromCBLT/CALL to CLIL/TILL.

Wiesemes, R. (2009). Developing theories ofpractices in CLIL: CLIL as a post-method pedagogies’. In Y. Ruiz deZarabe, & R. Maria Jemenez Catalan,Content integrated language learning:Evidence from research in Europe.Toronto: Multilingual Matters.

Author’s bioTara Sapkota is an M. Ed in ELT and anM.Phil. scholar at Kathmandu University.She has published articles and presentedpapers in ELT. She has been teachingEnglish for last seven years and morerecently training teachers. Her professionalinterests include action research,homegrown materials and teacher learning.


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An activity for a CLIL Lesson for Grade 8

Festivals

AimsContent: Festivals (‘MagheSakranti Celebrated across the Country’)

LanguageVocabulary: FestivalGrammar: Passive Voice (Simple Present and Simple Past)Skills: Reading (reading comprehension)

PreparationPrepare two sets of worksheets for students.

Procedure· Provide each student with a copy of the passage ‘Maghe Sakranti Celebrated

across the Country’· Tell the students to read the passage. Tell them to underline the words if they

are difficult for them.· Ask a student of the class to read the text aloud for the class.· Discuss the meanings of difficult words with the students if there are any.· Provides the students ‘Worksheet 1’. Tell the students to write the answers in

one sentence.· Write the answers to the question on the board so that everyone can check.

Underline the passive verb phrases. Tell the students to underline the verbphrases accordingly.

· Discuss Passive Voice (Simple Present and Simple Past) with the students.· Provide the students ‘Worksheet 2’. Tell them to write ten sentences on ‘Dasain’

or ‘Tihar’.· Ask any three students to read their sentences aloud for the class.· Provide feedback on their tasks.

Variation

The teachers may ask more than one student to read the passage allowed.

The teachers may ask the students write answers on their exercises books if thearrangement of the worksheets is difficult.


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Magne Sakranti Celebrated across Country

Post Report

Kathmandu, Jan 15

Maghe Sakranti was observed across the country on Friday with much fun-fare.The festival celebrated on the first day of Nepali month Magh marks the end ofwinter when friends and families feast on ghee, chaku, yam, sel roti, sweet potato,sesame ladoos among other, delicacies.

“Maghe Sakranti marks the beginning of spring season. It is the time to celebrategood health,” said renowned culturalistSatya Mohan Joshi.

On this day, devotees throng the rivers close to their homes and take holy dip,also known as MakarSnan. Doing so, it is believed, frees one from various diseasesand brings positivity and purity.

Maghe Sakranti is similar to solstice festivals in other religious traditions. MagheSakranti is also known as MakarSakranti, because it is believed that the sun entersthe astrological sign of Makar from Dhanu on this day.

The Tharu community celebrated Maghe Sankranti as Magi festival, their newyear. The Tharus, who traditionally worked as bounded laborers, used to observeMaghi as the day when the indenture with their employers was renewed.

After the bonded labour system was outlawed, the Tharu community startedobserving the festivals as the day of their emancipation.

The Tharu people in Kathmandu organized a fair in Tundikhel to celebrate Maghi.They showcased their cultural dances like Maghauta, Jhumara, Lathi, Hurdangwaand Mahutiya.

The Newar community in Kathmandu valley call Maghe Sakranti “Ghyo-ChakuSanun”, the day celebrated by eating ghee and chaku. On this day, marrieddaughters are invited at their parental homes to celebrate the festival together.


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WORKSHEET 1

Write answers to these sentences in one sentence.

1. When was Maghe Sankranti observed?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

2. What was eaten in Maghe Sakranti?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

3. What is believed to happen if people take holy dip?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

4. Why is Maghe Sakranti known as Makar Sakranti?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

5. What is Maghe Sakranti celebrated as by Tharu Community?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

6. Traditionally, why was Maghe Sakranti celebrated by Tharu Community?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

7. What was organized in Kathmandu by Tharu Community to celebrate Maghi?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

8. What was showcased in Tundikhel by Tharu people in Kathmandu?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

9. Who are invited at parental home to celebrate the festival?

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Journal/NELTA...Prithvi N. Shrestha Vaishna Narayan Harunur Khan Hima Rawal Prem Phyak Bal Krishna...

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