Scholarly Research Journal for Humanity Science & English Language, Online ISSN 2348-3083, SJ IMPACT FACTOR 2017: 5.068, www.srjis.com PEER REVIEWED JOURNAL, AUG-SEPT 2018, VOL- 6/29
ATTITUDE OF THE SECONDARY SCHOOL TEACHERS TOWARDS TEACHING IN ENGLISH MEDIUM IN GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS P. Naresh Kumar1 & G. Padma Tulasi2, Ph. D. 1
Research Scholar, Krishna University, Machilipatnam, Krishna District, Andhra Pradesh.
2
Research Guide, Principal, Montessori Mahila College of Education, Vijayawada.
The Indian education system, like the Indian bureaucratic system, is Victorian and still in the 19th century. Our schools are still designed to produce clerks for an empire that does not exist anymore.
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Sugata Mitra
Abstract Today a growing number of higher courses are taught through English and recently English medium education in the Government Schools of Andhra Pradesh has flourished because of the global standards aimed at by educational institutions in the state. Most of the teachers are frustrated about this. The state of affairs in Government-run schools is causing confusion to everyone. With the new decision by Government, many teachers are worried about the introduction of English as medium of instruction. The State Government has not taken appropriate measures to familiarize the teaching staff. This paper discusses the Secondary school teachers’ attitude towards the use of English as the medium of instruction in government secondary schools in Andhra Pradesh. Key terms: Attitude of the Teachers, English Medium of instruction, and Academic Achievement of the Students
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1.
INTRODUCTION The main aim of education is to develop harmonious personality of the learner.
Education should make pupils fit to live with. In all modern human societies the young were prepared for their future roles through educational process. The formal schools the agency, which performs the formalized activity. Schools are always transitional institutions. They prepare pupils for the next stage of education or for occupation or for family life and so on. "Language is intimately tied to man's feeling and activity. It is bound up with nationality, religion and the feelings of self. It is used for work, worship and play by everyone, he be beggar or banker, savage or civilised". (Lado 1986 : 11) Languages are important in the life of any nation. The members of a social group need language to communicate with each other and for all social purposes, for public administration, for commerce and industry, for Copyright Š 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies
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education and so on. Ours is a country with Multilingual, Multicultural, and pluralistic milieu. An individual can function best through the language which he acquires natively, i.e., the mother tongue. The social aspirations can best be fulfilled when they are allowed to function through the mother tongue. Therefore it is natural to think of mother tongue for the purpose of education. But the necessity to have a common language for interaction has lead to the learning of English. Though a foreign language, English occupies a unique position in Indian educational system. Even after independence, it continues to be a major language having a prestigious position in our society. This chapter attempts to focus attention on the role of English language and the changing needs of English Language Teaching and Learning in India. 2. Importance of English in our Life The study of English in this age of globalization is essential for all. It holds an important place in our life. From the pragmatic point of view, it should receive a great boost. English serves as a window to the world. The legacy of English language has left an indelible imprint on the Indian psyche. Hence, we cannot deal with English just as a foreign language. The entire spectrum of education and philosophy, science and technology has been benefited through the introduction of English language. In a multilingual state of ours, English may wonderfully serve as an effective auxiliary language. The bizarre controversy over the study of English is still on but the move to teach the language right from the primary standard is gaining ground among all. 10. OBJECTIVES OF TEACHING ENGLISH IN INDIA Any language teaching situation should contain three important considerations. 1. Objectives of teaching the subject. 2. Appropriate methods and materials to achieve these objectives. 3. Periodic testing to ascertain whether these objectives have actually been achieved. One of the serious shortcomings of the ELT situation in India is the lack of definite statement of objectives of teaching English. "But the real problem and difficulty lies in the fact that from syllabuses and examinations it is usually impossible to discover what the objectives of teaching English are. Copyright Š 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies
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Wilga Rivers lists six classes of objectives which have dominated the teaching of a foreign language at different times. These are : 1. To develop the student's intellectual powers through foreign language study. 2. To increase the student's personal culture through the study of the great literature and philosophy to which it is the key. 3. To increase the student's understanding as to how language functions and to bring him through the study of a foreign language, to greater awareness of the functioning of his own language. 4. To teach the student to read the foreign language with comprehension so that he may keep abreast of modern writing, research and information. 5. To bring the student to a greater understanding of people across national barriers, by giving him sympathetic insight into the ways of life and ways of thinking of the people who speak the language he is learning. 6. To provide tho student with the skills which will enable him to communicate orally and to some degree in writing with the speakers of another language and with people of other nationalities who have also learned this language. Keeping in view some of the reasons for the current position of English as the world's most important language, it is necessary to consider how this need is acknowledged as an educational reality. Andhra Pradesh government’s bold step in making English medium compulsory heralds change India’s education policy discriminates against children from poor families. Government schools serving them are badly run and the medium of instruction is usually the regional language even when parents desire a transition to English. But change could be on the anvil. In Andhra Pradesh the government began the process of moving teachers and students from Telugu to English medium. Separately, a committee of bureaucrats recommended that there should be at least one English medium school in all blocks and science ought to be promoted. These developments are welcome. METHOD The investigator adopted survey method to study the teacher’s attitude towards teaching programme for this study a sample of 100 school teachers from Govt schools which are situated in Prakasam district in Andhra Pradesh were selected by the investigator using simple random sampling technique. Copyright © 2017, Scholarly Research Journal for Interdisciplinary Studies
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HYPOTHESES: 1 There is no significant difference in the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on Gender. Table 1: Mean, SD and t-value of the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on Gender. Variable Attitude
Gender Male (N = 50) Mean 51.8
T - Value
S.D 14.89
Female (N = 50) Mean 51.62
( df = 100 )
S.D 15.58
0.10**
**Not Significant at 0.05 level
From the above table, it is observed that the male teachers have got slightly higher mean score (51.8) than their counterparts (51.62) but they do not differ significantly on their attitudes. Hence the Hypothesis - 1 is accepted. HYPOTHESES: 2 There is no significant difference in the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their age. Table 2: Mean, SD and t-value of the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their age. Variable Attitude
Teachers Age Below 30 years (N = 14 ) Mean S.D 52.65 15.00
T – Value Above 30 years (N = 86 ) Mean S.D 40.92 13.70
( df = 100 )
3.70*
*Significant at 0.05 level
From the above table, it is noted that the below 30 years age group teachers have got higher mean score (52.65) than the below 30 years age group teachers (40.92). It is also observed that there is a significance difference on the attitudes of the teachers with respect to their age. Hence the Hypothesis - 2 is rejected. HYPOTHESES: 3 There is no significant difference in the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their Educational Qualifications.
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Table 3: Mean, SD and t-value of the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their Educational Qualifications. Variable
Attitude
Teachers Educational Qualifications Below Above Post Graduation level Graduation level (N = 48 ) (N = 52) Mean S.D Mean S.D 48.50 13.98 58.96 15.46
( df = 100 )
T – Value Post 5.79*
*Significant at 0.05
level From the above table, it is noted that the above Post Graduate level group teachers have got higher mean score (58.96) than the below Post Graduate level group teachers (48.50) on their attitudes. The mean difference of these two groups indicates the significant difference on the attitudes. Hence the Hypothesis - 3 is rejected. HYPOTHESES: 4 There is no significant difference in the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their teaching experience. Table 4: Mean, SD and t-value of the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their teaching experience. Variable Attitude
( df = 100 )
Teachers Teaching Experience Less than 5 years Above 5 years (N = 12 ) (N = 88) Mean S.D Mean S.D 50.46 14.25 52.95 16.07
T – Value 1.42**
**Not Significant at 0.05 level
From the above table, it is observed that the teachers having above 5 years teaching experience got higher mean score (52.95) than the teachers having below 5 years teaching experience (50.46). In spite of the difference in mean values, these two groups do not differ significantly on their attitude. Hence the Hypothesis - 4 is accepted.
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Figure – 1
11. CONCLUSION It is found that there is no significant difference in teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on Gender. Below 30 years age group teachers have got higher mean score than the below 30 years age group teachers. Educational qualifications of the teachers play vital role for teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium. Thereby it is inferred that there is a significant difference in the teacher’s attitude towards teaching in English medium based on their Educational qualifications. But Teaching experience has no influence in teacher attitude towards teaching in English medium. Attitudes can be favorable or unfavorable. The results from this study have shown that the Teachers have both favorable and unfavorable attitudes towards English-medium instruction; however in sum they were slightly more unfavorable than favorable. The study revealed that most of the teachers working in Andhra Pradesh Government schools feel comfort to teach better in telugu rather than English. If they will be facilitated by proper training and provided more instructional and infrastructural facilities they are ready to fulfill the aim of the State Government. 12.
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