INTRODUCTION
Education is the process of facilitating
learning or the acquisition of knowledge skills values morals beliefs and
habits. Education shows us the importance of hard work and at the same time
helps us grow and develop. Learning languages through the educational process
helps interact with different people in order to exchange ideas, knowledge good
practices. It teaches us to live in harmony. English is the language of our
international communication in all areas such as politics, science, media, or
art and it is often the language of entertainment and socializing. Having a
good command of English helps us to have more opportunities in life, first of
all, our career. The ability to express fluently in both written as well as
oral forms of language is very much essential for career growth.
English Language Teaching (ELT), refers to
the activity and industry of teaching English to nonnative speakers. The main
aim of teaching English is to help children to acquire practical command of
English. It means Indian children should be able to read, write,
speak, and simple idiomatic English. An English teacher is responsible for
ensuring that students learn proper grammar, writing, and reading
comprehension. They are responsible for creating lesson plans that will teach
students the skills they need. At a basic level, a teacher of English should
develop students' oral and written communication skills, including critical
thinking and problem-solving skills. A good teacher gives their students
constructive feedback and helps them to learn from it. There are various
reasons behind the difficultly of the English language among students. Some of
them are, the disturbed environment of the class, limited teaching resources,
limited time for lecturing, using of other languages in the class. The grammar
of the English language is tricky and intricate.
Psychological problems also involve not only
students but also teachers. Less confidence, speech anxiety, and low
self-esteem are almost common classroom problems. Breathe, slow down, smile,
practice, visualize, success, congratulate ourselves, are some common ways to
build confidence in the learning of the English language. So this study is
based on the psychological problems of learners of English includes language
fear and lack of confidence.
NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF STUDY
Most
theories and practices have proved that psychological suggestion teaching is a
kind of relaxed, pleasure-giving, and pleasant English learning full of fun and
it can make English language learning, a kind of enjoyment. As we all know,
from a very younger age students feel a kind of dislike and fear towards the
English language along with lack of confidence. It is mainly due to a
prejudiced mind that considered English as something different and difficult to
learn. As English is a foreign language and not our mother tongue students may
feel uncomfortable and have difficulty in dealing with it Fear towards the
grammatical concepts, words, and phrases and expressions, and idioms.
Investigator studies this problem because in India every secondary school
student is facing psychological problems regarding English language learning.
STATEMENT OF THE STUDY
This study has been entitled “A study on
the fear and lack of confidence in the English Language among Secondary school
students”
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY
To find out the psychological problems of
language learning
·
To analyze the fear and lack of
confidence among secondary school students.
·
To interpret the problems and
find out favorable solutions
HYPOTHESIS
There may be fear and lack of confidence in the English language among secondary school students
DEFINITION OF KEYWORDS
Language: The
principle method of human communication, consisting of words used in a
structured and conventional way and conveyed by speech written, or gesture
Fear: An
unpleasant emotion caused by the threat of danger, pain, or harm.
Lack: The
state of being without or not having enough of something
Confidence:
The feeling or belief that one can have faith in or rely on someone /something.
Secondary school: a school for pupils between the ages of 11/12 and 17/18.
METHODOLOGY
For the
present study, the investigation has used the interview method and also read
many books, and searched many sites to get the information. A questionnaire was
prepared and passed it over to 20 students and using the survey method analyzed
and interpret those questions in order to solve the problems.
TOOLS USED FOR THE STUDY
For this study, the investigator used a questionnaire
as the tool and collected data from secondary school students.
ANALYSIS
AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
This study is primarily
focused on the psychological problem of language learning. During the
online classes, students may feel a kind of fear and lack of confidence due to
the technological invasion. The investigator made the study on 20 secondary
school students and inquired about their problems while they are attending
classes online. In the investigation, the investigator analyzed and
interpreted the collected data and came out with the findings that, over
84% of the students agree with the statement that they like English subjects
remaining 16% of students do not. The next statement was regarding their fear
of the English language. For that 40% of students agree that they feel a
kind of fear towards English. The remaining 60% of students disagree with that
statement. The next statement was regarding the confidence of students
while speaking English. Only 45% of students agree with that statement.
The remaining 55% disagree with it. Over 90% of the students agree to the
next statement that they want to prepare themselves for a speech in English
class. Only 9% disagree with it and they can present a speech without any
previous preparation. From this study, the investigator found out that 99% of
students disagree with the statement that they don't feel comfortable around
native speakers of English. Only 1 student agree with the
above statement. During a class, a teacher uses so many words and
phrases. Over 80% of the students agree with the statement that they understand
every words and phrase that the teacher conveys. 70% of the students are worried
about making mistakes in English class and 30 percentage are not. All the 20
students agree to the next statement that they start to panic during an
unexpected speech in language class. During the class tests, 76% of the
students feel the tension and 24% of the students do not. 75% of the students
agree with the next statement that they compare themselves with other students’
performance in language class. Among the 20 students, 55% agree that they have
enough vocabulary. 65% of the students agree to the next statement that they
feel relaxed during their English class and the rest were not. For the next
statement, 45% of the students agree that they know how to read a passage with
proper stress, rhythm, and intonation, and 55 % of the students
disagree. Only 40 % of the students favor the next statement that they are
confident with their handwriting and 60% of them are not. 25 % of the students
agree to the next statement that they are able to write proper spelling of a
word while hearing it for the first time. 75% disagree with it. The next
statement is an important one because this study mainly focuses on online
classes. 25 percentage of the students favor the statement that they feel
comfortable with online classes, but 75% of the students favor offline classes
instead of online classes; 70 % of the students agree with the statement that
they complete all the class works and 30 % of them do not. 65% agree with the
last statement that they feel anxious even if they are well prepared for
English class and 35% of them are more confident. So, the whole study
reveals that students feel fear or comfortlessness during their language
classes which make badly affects their language learning.
SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS OF STUDY
This study is focused on secondary school students, so that its cost is
very wide because every student has a certain fear in their mind regarding
second language learning. In India, students feel a kind of retreat from
English language and this study is a shot attempt that focused on the language
fear and lack of confidence among secondary school students. There are so
many limitations with the study; some of them are,
·
Lack of previous studies and experiences
·
present study is limited because of limited time
FINDINGS OF THE STUDY
Ø Over 80% of the secondary school students feel a kind of retreat from
English language
Ø 25% of the students feel confident in their skills in language
learning
Ø 99% of the students have to prepare themselves for an unexpected
speech in language class
CONCLUSION
The investigator
concludes that every student that is taken for the study faces certain
psychological problems regarding English language learning. The main
focus of the study is to find out the language fear and lack of confidence that
comes under psychological problems of language learning. As the
technology continues its advancement students feel a certain kind of retreat
from the English language due to their fear, comfortlessness, lack of
attention, dislike towards the language, etc. This is a huge problem for our
development because these students are future citizens. So, everyone should
consider this as a problem that wants to be solved immediately.
REFERENCES
Viswanath, Harsha, and Sajitha B. English Language Teaching Approaches
and Skills. 2013.
“Dictionary by Merriam-Webster: America's
Most-Trusted Online Dictionary.” Merriam-Webster, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/.
Haidara, Youssouf.
“Psychological Factor Affecting English Speaking Performance for the English
Learners in Indonesia.” Universal Journal of Educational Research, vol.
4, no. 7, 2016, pp. 1501–1505., https://doi.org/10.13189/ujer.2016.040701.
APPENDIX
1.
Do you like English?
Yes No
2.
Do you ever feel any fear
towards the English Language?
Yes No
3.
Do feel confident while
speaking English?
Yes
No
4.
Do you want to prepare yourself for
a speech in English class?
Yes No
5.
Do feel comfortable around native
speakers in English?
6.
Do you understand every words
and phrase that your teacher conveys?
Yes No
7.
Are you worried about making
mistakes in English class?
Yes No
8.
Do start to panic during an unexpected
speech in English class?
Yes No
9.
Did you feel any tension during
class tests?
Yes No
10. Do you compare yourselves with other students’ performance during
English class?
Yes No
11. Are you relaxed during language class?
Yes No
12. Do you have enough vocabulary?
Yes No
13. Do you like your English teacher?
Yes No
14. Do you know how to write a passage with proper stress, rhythm, and
intonation?
Yes No
15. Are you confident in your handwriting?
Yes No
16. Do you able to write the proper spelling of a word while having it for
the first time?
Yes No
17. Are you good at four language skills in English?
Yes No
18. Do you complete your classwork and homework on time?
Yes No
19. Are you comfortable while using technology in language class?
Yes No
20. Even if you are well prepared for your English class, do you feel
anxious about it?
Yes No
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