COMMON FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHING/LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

COMMON FACTORS AFFECTING TEACHING/LEARNING ENGLISH AS A SECOND LANGUAGE

There are so many factors that affect the teaching-learning process in India. The students in India can be categorized into two; the one is having the regional language as medium of study from the primary level and the other is having English as the medium of study. Hence, the problem of teaching English as a second language, to the Indian students starts from the pre-schooling. Further environment and family background play vital role in success of learning process.

 For example, countries like India, where majority of the people are farmers, have the poor background in education. Moreover, the income of majority of the families is not adequate. Hence, the parents are not interested in giving good education background to their children. In contrast, they are willing to engage the children in some jobs in order to earn money. This is the very basic reason and the affecting factor in teaching.

 Secondly, the infrastructure, viz. school buildings – class rooms, labs, etc. is not adequate as required. The first category of the students are almost compelled to attend their classes under the trees even after several five year plans.

Majority of the students are coming from village and also their parents are farmers and uneducated. If the nature fails, the survival of the farmers will be questionable. Hence, the students are mentally discouraged due to the family conditions. In the second category, the students are having enough background in basic education since their parents are educated and they do not depend on the nature much. Many of the students from second category are joining in English medium schools and hence, they do not find much difficulty in pursuing their higher education. Moreover majority of the families of second category are dwelling in towns and cities and hence, they have easy access of quality education. 

But, the first category of students are scoring good marks the examinations conducted. It proves that they are having good writing skill in English. The only thing is that they have to be given training in oral English communication also. Hence, a common programme for English Language Teaching must be framed in the pre-schooling itself.