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What are the difficulties faced by students learning English as a second language

English as a subject in the school curriculum is given great prominence by the authorities. Its study is compulsory for everyone.

Naturally, there are many good teachers of this subject in schools. But it is rather sad to note that there is something wrong with the teaching of English in Indian schools. Prof. V.K Gokak says, “The study of English in our schools is in a chaotic state today. Pupils are taught English for about six periods a week for six years. But it has been estimated that they hardly know 1500 words by the time they join a university. This means that they have hardly been able to learn English words at the rate of one word per period. They do not know how to use the commonest structures of English.

Will it be right to say that there is something wrong with the teaching of English? No. The reason is that there is also something ‘wrong with the learning of English in Indian schools. In this context, Michael West said “A language is not a subject which can be taught; it is a subject which must be learnt.” We should make efforts to check the defects. In the words of Harold Palmer, “What has been badly assimilated must be eliminated consciously.”

If we mirror the whole situation we are rather astonished to see the sorry state of affairs. Everybody these days is after the examinations. A student does not bother about knowledge or learning of the language.

He makes all efforts to get the diploma or degree, no matter what way he can get it. For that, he follows shortcuts to knowledge. He does not want to learn rather he wants prizes, money, status etc. On the other hand, the teacher is after enabling the students to pass the examination. He is always careful that his pass percentage may not go down. Thus there is no real teaching by the teachers or learning by the students in the schools.

The standards of English are fast deteriorating: What makes us feel like that? If we compare the graduate of today with the graduate of a few years back, we notice a marked difference. That graduate was much better. Shall we say that there is something wrong with learning of English? The fact is that the standards are rather disappearing. The conditions under which English is being taught in the schools are far from satisfactory.

The following points highlight the facts:

Lack of clear-cut objectives: The teacher does not know or bother to clarify the aims and objectives of teaching English. Pupils learn it just to pass the examination. The real purpose and aims of teaching English are missing. The teacher, parents and students are ignorant about these. The teaching of English remains purposeless; clear-cut objectives are not pre-determined. Hence pupils do not understand, speak, read or write correct English. Teachers do not know their goals.

Lack of Qualified Teachers: There are very few qualified English teachers. They have no command over the language. Many teachers in schools who are teaching English neither know enough English nor are familiar with the latest and far reaching developments in English. As such they lack the techniques of teaching foreign language. Their knowledge of English is inadequate and their pronunciation is faulty. Regional speech habits influence English pronunciation. There should be short term courses in Phonetics and methods of teaching. Robert Lado says, “The language teacher must-be educated, at least to the level of his peers. He must have a general preparation of a teacher. He must know the target language well enough to be imitated by his students.” Wilkins is right when he observes, “It should be unrealistic to expect a teacher to get objectives which he himself is not capable of reaching. A teacher who himself has difficulty in speaking the language he teaches is not going to succeed in giving his pupils a command of spoken English.”
Over Crowded Classes: Over crowding of classes is a common problem of our schools. Individual attention is not possible. Language learning requires individual drill work and correction which is possible in small classes. Therefore, English class should’ have a room of its own where the pupils can move about, form themselves in triangles, circles and lines etc. and speak to each other. This is but a dream in our schools, where classrooms are over-crowded or even do not exist. For teaching a second language a class of about forty or more students becomes unwieldy and no individual attention can be paid.
Defective Methods of Teaching: F.G. French permits the use of the mother-tongue for explaining the meaning of words, provided we get back into English as quickly as possible. But in our schools, this method is never followed. The method commonly followed in our schools is the grammar translation method which is very faulty. Oral work is not done and is ignored. The students do not get any opportunity to hear or speak the language. Compositions are dictated by the teacher or written on the Black-board, the text-book is translated and the entire emphasis is on passing that examination through cramming. Examination is the beginning and the end. The wholesale and indiscriminate use of mother tongue is damaging in the learning of English. Judicious use of the mother-tongue, however, can be done to help the students to understand the content matter. The new approaches structural and situational-are not popular with our teachers. Till now grammar and composition has occupied an important place in the school curriculum. But the teachers do not know the real principles of language teaching. Teachers waste their time by teaching grammar. Undue emphasis on grammar does not develop the four basic skills of the language learning. So such type of teaching should be abolished and the teacher must try, to enable the child to speak, read and write English perfectly.

Lack of Audio-Visual Aids: Audio-Visual aids are useful in the teaching learning process. But there is complete dearth of even the simple visual aids like flash cards, pictures in our schools, leave alone tape-recorder, lingua phone and film-strips etc. which are the bare-minimum required to learn English. If possible, tape recorder and lingua phone should be used to improve pronunciation and spoken English. But teachers hardly take pains to make their teaching interesting by using different kinds of aids.
Defective Examination System: The examination in English is defective. It puts a lot of emphasis on rote learning rather than mastery of the language. There is no examination of oral or spoken English and vocabulary. The students devote more time to memorising words, idioms, phrases, sentences, composition and letters to pass their examination. Their standard of achievement in English remains considerably low. The skills of listening, speaking and reading are not tested at all and hence these are ignored in teaching also.
Lack of Supplementary and Work-books: Supplementary readers are not used. The text-books are accompanied by student’s work-book, teacher’s hand-book, supplementary readers and the necessary audio-visual materials like charts, records and tapes etc. These are helpful in creating interest.

Lack of proper supervision: Proper supervision and guidance are necessary to improve teaching. But the inspection and supervisory staff of the education departments are far from qualified to improve teaching standards in English. Most of them are unaware of the new structural approach in English. Many of them were trained through translation cum grammar method. As such they are unable to provide the right guidance to teachers and rather resist the introduction of the right techniques for learning English in schools.
Neglect of Correction Work: The exercise books of students lack suggestive correction. All the exercises students should be corrected carefully and thoroughly. The correct forms for the mistakes must be pointed out to the students. For example, the pupil has written ‘sitting’ It is not sufficient just to cross the word in red ink. The teacher must write ‘sitting’ on the exercise book so that the students can appreciate their mistakes and know the correct spellings of the concerned word.
Parents Interference: If a teacher trained in the new methods of teaching tries to teach English through the modern and latest approach, the parents interfere with him. The parents, who have been taught by the old methods, want to get their children educated on the same pattern. They measure the progress of their children through translation exercises and grammar lessons done by them. When they are not satisfied with this work, they criticise the teacher’s work.

Variation in English Syllabus: In India there is no single syllabus for the whole country, because our educational system is not nationalised.
Unsuitable Text-books: The textbooks which are prescribed for our students are not suitable and attractive. Students read it only to pass. the examination. The topics which are in the syllabus do not give any practical knowledge to the students. Whatever the students learn from their textbooks, they do not use it in their day-to-day affairs. Again oral work is very much neglected. The textbooks of English are needed to be of a very high standard. Pointing to this problem Prof. V.K. Gokak said, “Either because of the distribution of patronage or because of fear of charges of favouritism, a reader which is an organic part of one series is prescribed for a certain standard or it is followed by a reader from another series. Books are prescribed that bear no relevance to the needs of pupils at that stage. Moreover, the English text-books need improvement in the following spheres:
Section and gradation of vocabulary

Good printing
Genuine illustrations
Suitable subject-matter

Language and glossary
Relevance and
Abridgement of English stories to suit Indian conditions.

The standard of text-books can be improved if they are written by teachers teaching English in schools. In the words of Gay Boss, “The only person equipped to choose these textbooks are school teachers who know the fodder, suited to their flock.” To sum up, we can agree with Ronald Mackin, that the old fashioned type of benches and. desks which restrict movement; the bad light; the noise from neighbouring classes which may be separated from them by nothing more than a bamboo screen, insufficient provision for their subject in the time table, lack of aids of all kinds, interference from parents or a dominating conservative headmaster, and finally the requirements of an examination system which places a premium on the written language and consequently seems to favour the grammar-grinder of the old schools, are some of the major ills from which the English teaching in India suffers.” So there is much to be done to improve and raise the standard of teaching English in India.