Failure of Pakistani Students in English in Examinations

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the reasons behind the massive failure of students in English indifferent examinations. For this exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed as a tool to collect the data. Seventy three M. A. English students from three institutes of Lahore and forty three teachers from different institutes of Lahore were taken as a sample. The data was analyzed using SPSS program. The results showed that lack of vocabulary, incomprehension of tenses; non-seriousness of students and out dated teaching methodologies of teachers were responsible for this massive failure of students. It has been recommended that instead of cramming, emphasis should be given on teaching English though interesting activities. The more exposure to the target language is given, the more comprehension and learning to take place.

Headnote

Abstract

The present study aimed to investigate the reasons behind the massive failure of students in English indifferent examinations. For this exploratory study, a questionnaire was designed as a tool to collect the data. Seventy three M. A. English students from three institutes of Lahore and forty three teachers from different institutes of Lahore were taken as a sample. The data was analyzed using SPSS program. The results showed that lack of vocabulary, incomprehension of tenses; non-seriousness of students and out dated teaching methodologies of teachers were responsible for this massive failure of students. It has been recommended that instead of cramming, emphasis should be given on teaching English though interesting activities. The more exposure to the target language is given, the more comprehension and learning to take place.

Keywords: failure, incomprehension, exposure, cramming, out-dated methodologies

Introduction

Proficiency and good command in English is inevitable for progress in all fields of life. During previous years, the quality of instruction in English and results of the examinations in the subject of English have been at the lowest of all the other subjects(Shahzada, Ghazi, & Khan, 2012).Pick up the gazette of any SSC, intermediate or graduate examination; you will confront the letter "E" or "Eng" (failure in English) in the highest frequency. Despite our government's utmost efforts in promoting English at primary and elementary level, and spending millions of rupees every year, the results are disappointing. English has been made compulsory from class one. Before taking SSC examination, a student studies English, at least for ten years, and even then does not get through the examination. Though the required marks for success are mere thirty-three percent, and students are given sixty-six percent (previous it was hundred percent) choice yet they fail to clear. It means that if a paper contains five questions, the students are required to attempt three questions to get hundred percent marks. And ifa student succeeds in attempting only one question properly, he can get through the examination. This means that students fail to comprehend twenty percent of the subject needed for success. Even that is not done either due to the fault of our students, teachers, syllabus or other factors. This study aims to investigate the issues/factors involved in this alarming situation and come up with suggestions to help and facilitate the English teachers, curriculum designers and policy makers.

Literature Review

According to our Constitution of Pakistan, Section 251 part 1, Urdu is our national language. Its part 2 states that English will remain in official use until arrangements are made to replace it with Urdu. The third part is even more interesting, which suggests that Provincial Assemblies will legislate to promote local languages. What to speak of promoting local languages, no serious effort has been made to replace Urdu with English rather English has been promoted and patronized that it has become a symbol of success. In armed forces and civil bureaucracy, an English medium student, as he is more proficient in writing and speaking, is preferred. Even the English medium school of "A" category prefers only to English medium qualified teachers. Usually, the production of Urdu medium system has to work under their supervision. The teachers from this system are forced to join to the same cycle of Urdu medium schools. The researches show that English medium schools are better in output than Urdu medium schools. The level of instruction, teachers, facilities and approaches in English medium schools like Beacon house, LGS, American school provide better results as compare to Urdu medium schools. BahloTs (2011) study on the result of GCE O-level (General Certificate in English at Ordinary level) shows that the result of GCO Olevel is better than SSC (Secondary School Certificate) due to better management system, teachers' proper encouragement, direct teaching method, highly qualified and well paid faculty, creative activities and other curriculum and extra curriculum facilities. The study of Waheed (2005) reveals that O-Level programs develop writing skills whereas SSC system encourages cramming system. SSC level programs lack the courses that promote concept based studies. According to Umbreen (2008), preparation of lecture before class and encouragement of students questing in class and boasting up their confidence in O-Level makes them to produce a better result. She also claims that satisfaction of teachers with the facilities and limited number of students in a class is a key to better results.

The study of Safura (2006) shows that the students of O-Level and A-Level show better results because they are satisfied with facilities and activities available to them. The analytical, conceptual and understanding based examination system also helps them in their good result. She has also found that fair evaluation of teachers and awards, incentives and encouragement certificates help in having good results. Shirani's (1995) study reveals that direct teaching methods, limited number of students and authentic teaching material are effective methods for a good result. In SSC level programs, peer work, newspapers, magazines, etc., cannot be used due to over crowed classes and over concentration on a large number of syllabus books. Shirani (1995) study also suggests to avoiding code switching while teaching English. According to Mansoor (1993), students studying English for many years as compulsory subject lack fluency in English and difficulty in its use. He also found inefficient teaching material, outdated courses and untrained teachers a hindrance in developing productive skills in students and the students have to rely on cramming to get through the exams.

There are a lot of factors involved in the poor results. Sometimes, a teacher's over interruption and insistence on correct writing or pronunciation makes a student reluctant (Camine, 2010)to express confidently. There is also disagreement between the researchers at the level of the instmction ratio of English and at the way of instmction whether it should be monolingual (in the target language only) or a bilingual (mixture of target language with mother language). The medium of instmction has been a controversial topic since long. The Urdu medium instmctions result a student influent in speaking and writing English correctly (Rehman, 2013). Aside with the medium of instruction, there are many other issues relating to teaching English as second language and the poor performance of students in examinations. Sufyan (2012) has mentioned as many as seven problems of teaching English as second language in third world countries. There is lack of disciplines in institutions. Students keep on wandering in the campuses and do not pay proper attention to their studies. The lack of proper testing is also one of the major problems in teaching English. The lack of appropriate teaching method is also responsible for poor results. The faulty methods of teaching fail to enable the students to write correct English even in twenty years. Institutions, especially, the private ones keep on having intake during the session which affects the sequence of classes and hence poor result. The lack of professionalism is another reason behind poor result. In poor countries, teaching English is considered an easy way of income. Nonprofessional teachers join this profession as a part time business and the result is failure.

There are different opinions of different analysts and scholars about the failure of students in comprehending English completely. In spite of a lot of emphasis on English by the government of Pakistan and spending a handsome amount on the propagation of English the results are disappointing. English has been made compulsory from the class one and it enjoys the same status till graduation. The students, after spending fourteen to sixteen years on learning English fail to produce a reasonable paragraph on any given topic. Usually, as we have seen above, Urdu medium of education, teaching methodologies and other teaching facilities have been proved to be the responsible for a poor result in English.

There is an assumption that many students have to say good bye to their studies as they cannot pass English. But at the same time if we study the gazettes of different examinations minutely, we will come to know that there are many students, production of the same system and environment, achieving high results in English. Many students from the same system have proved their worth in almost all fields of life and secured high positions in civil bureaucracy, armed forced, etc. If the medium of instruction and other said things are responsible for a bad result, then why are these exceptions? It means that there are some other things that need to be paid heed. The current study aims to find the other reasons behind this failure.

Research Methodology

The design of the study was basically quantitative and confirmatory in nature, which tried to find the answers of the questions. Questionnaire (see appendix B) was used as a tool for data collection. Survey method was used to know the factors involved in the alarming failure of our students in the examinations of English. The target population was the students of M. A. English and teachers of English from Lahore. For this purpose, seventy three students from three institutes from Lahore: Govt. Islamia College Civil lines (GICCL), National University of Modem Language (NUML) and Lahore Garrison University Lahore (LGU) were taken as a sample. The rationale behind this selection was that there are girls studying in M. A. English at LGU, boys at GICCL and both at NUML. LGU is a private university; GICCL is a government college whereas NUML is an autonomous government university conducting M. A. English classes. GICCL has students from different communities; NUML has students, mostly from middle class and LGU has students from middle and upper class, including students from English medium schools. So in these institutes, we can find students from all social strata; from the families of poor to elite; labourers to officers; and mral to urban. Forty three teachers from different back grounds were randomly selected from different institutes from school to university level from Lahore. The English students were selected for their exposure to English. The students from other departments were purposefully ignored fearing that they might have a bias against English. Teachers from different institutes were selected so that the result may be generalized. The questionnaire containing eleven statements was got fdled either personally or through friends. The result was analyzed through SPSS.

Result & Discussion

The result of the questionnaire, consisted of eleven statements and filled by the 116 participants, was analyzed at two levels; overall response from the participants and students-teachers comparison.

Majority of the students leave studies because they find English difficult.

Table 1 shows that more than 27% participants agreed and 40% agreed with the statement that English was one of the causes which force the students to quit their studies. The 26% participants thought otherwise. Overall 67% participants believed that majority among the students left their studies because of English.

When the same statement was analyzed on the profession basis, the students were more supportive to the statement than the teachers.

Table 3 reveals that over 75% students thought that English forced the students to quit their studies whereas this ratio among teachers, though supportive, was lesser than the students. However, 35% teachers did not hold the opinion that English was responsible for leaving the studies.

Students are themselves responsible for their failure: either they do not pay proper attention in classes or do not learn their lessons at home.

When it was tried to know how much students, themselves were responsible for their failure, almost 34% participants agreed with above statement, and 42% strongly agreed. Overall 76% participants blamed the students for neglecting their classes or studies (see table 2a). The 4% and 14% participants disagreed and strongly disagreed respectively with the statement.

Table 2b depicts that the ratio of 38% and 40% students agreed and strongly disagreed respectively that students were responsible for their failure. However, 26% and 46% teachers had been found agree or strongly agree respectively. Interestingly 82% students held themselves responsible for their failure, which was higher than the teachers which is 77%.

Teachers are responsible for their failure (their method of teaching is unsuitable or lack proper techniques)

The result of table 3a shows that cumulatively 67% participants thought that the teachers were responsible for the failure of students. However, a handsome ratio of participants disagreed with the notion.

According to Table 3b, as for as the teaching methodology or lack of proper techniques and other material is concern, interestingly teachers were more supportive than the students. 72% teachers (agree and strongly agree) considered that teachers were responsible for their failure whereas this ratio among teachers was 74%. This means that almost teachers and students equally agreed that teaching methodology and lack of other latest techniques caused the failure of the students.

Students fail in English because of course, i.e., course has not been designed properly or it does not meet the requirements.

The above mentioned studies (in literature review) show that outdated course is responsible for the failure of the students, but the result of table 4a negates that course is one of the major factors as it receives the support of the slightly over than 50% participants. The ratio of participants who agreed that course was responsible for the failure of students was 35% where as 29% participant thought otherwise. The ratio of participants who agreed and disagreed strongly was 15:16, which was almost equal. Collectively, 51% participants favoured the above given statement which negates the construct that outdated course is one of the major causes behind the failure of students.

The statement claiming that course is responsible for the students' failure failed to receive a strong response both from the students and teachers. According to table 4b, 16% students agreed and 29% strongly agreed that course was responsible for the failure of the students. However, 14% teachers strongly agreed and 46% agreed with the statement.

Because of negative transfer i.e., Urdu has different sentence structure (SOV) than English (SVO)

English and Urdu have opposite sentence structure, and this opposite structure sometimes causes hindrances in acquiring the second language (Contrastive Analysis Hypothesis). But the result from the data shows that this is not the strong issue that causes the failure of the students. Table 5a reveals that 20 % participants strongly agreed, and 38% agreed that the different sentence structures of Urdu and English causes failure of the students. However, 23% participants considered otherwise.

Table 5b shows that teachers were not inclined towards this thought but students found the order of syntax causing hindrance in learning English and hence the failure. The 22% students strongly agreed that LI Urdu speakers found English difficult because of different sentence structures whereas 16% teachers agreed to this statement. The ratio among students who agreed to this statement was 41% whereas this ratio among teachers was 33%. Overall 63% students supported the statement while 49% teachers supported it.

They study English for short time and use other language/s most of the time so do not get proper time to learn it.

Lack of exposure to the target language is another factor which causes failure of the students. This factor was strongly agreed by almost 38% and agreed by 40% participants. Table 6a depicts that 78% participants supported the statement. Only 14% participants disagreed or strongly disagreed with the idea that more exposure to the target language was required to learn it properly.

Table 6b indicates that students strongly supported the role of exposure in learning English. Though the teachers' response about it was almost 80% in this favour yet it was a little lesser than the students. The ratio of students who agreed or strongly agreed was 86%.

They lack the vocabulary so cannot write properly.

The lack of vocabulary invoked the highest support from the participants i.e. more than 91% of the participants considered that lack of vocabulary was responsible for the failure of the students. The 45.7% participants agreed and the same ratio strongly agreed to the statement. Table 7a indicates that only 4% participants thought that vocabulary had no role in the failure of the students.

The lack of vocabulary is one of the issues which got the highest favour from both the teachers and students. According to table 7b, the 44% students considered that lack of vocabulary was the greatest hindrance in the failure of students in English where as 49% teachers thought it an important factor too. Cumulatively, more than 90% of teachers and students supported this statement.

They are unable to learn tenses, hence cannot express their view.

Table 8a depicts that another important factor which causes the students failure in English is incomprehension of tenses. More than 35% participants strongly agreed and nearly 45% agreed that incomprehension of tenses lets them fail in the examination. Only 16% participants either disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.

Table 8b also shows that students and teachers separately thought this factor one of the important issues causing hindrances in the success of our students. Almost 77% students agreed or strongly agreed to the statement whereas 86% teachers agreed or strongly agreed. This shows that teachers clearly thought that learning of tenses was indispensable to the success in examinations. Only 3% teachers considered it otherwise. They cannot write as they are unable to speak (if they are able to speak English, it will be easy for them to write)

This statement was included in the questionnaire to know what the teachers and the students thought about a general construct that inability of speaking English was also one of the great factors which cause their failure. The 73% participants agreed or strongly agreed to the statement if students could not speak English, they would not be able to write properly (see table 9a), however, 24% participants thought otherwise. Table 9b shows that 75% students and 70% teachers agreed or strongly agreed to the statement that speaking about the target language was essential to pass through the examination whereas 15% students and 9% teachers disagreed or strongly disagreed with it.

Students fail to learn English because they are afraid of it (feel fear)

To know if the students are afraid of English, as is generally perceived, this statement was included in the questionnaire. Table 10a depicts that majority of the participants favoured this notion that fear of English let the students down resulting into their failure. Almost 71% participants agreed or strongly agreed whereas 23% participants disagreed or strongly disagreed with the statement.

Table 10b shows that the teachers and students found this thing equally important. This statement got 70% favour from students and 72% from the teachers. Only 7% teachers and 16% students thought it otherwise. Students fail to learn English because they do not like it (as it is not their own language or)

Sometimes there is a socio-cultural issue in learning second or foreign language. Generally, the people avoid to learning the language which they find against or threat to their culture. In the current study, this notion did not get support that there was such a kind of issue with English. Table 11a shows that 46% participants agreed or strongly agreed to the statement whereas 44% participants disagreed or strongly disagreed. The mixed response indicates that there is no ethnic issue involved in learning English.

Table lib depicts that, among students, this statement got 49% favour whereas 42% teachers favoured it. The disagreement percentage of students and teachers was 41% and 49% respectively, which shows that the response of students and teachers was opposite to each other.

Conclusion

The results from the study overall support the hypotheses/ statements but lack of vocabulary and incomprehension of tenses have been taken as the factors most responsible for the failure of the students. The results also show that students themselves are also responsible for their failure as they neglect their responsibility as students. The teachers also lack proper methodology, approaches and other updated material. The inability of the students of speaking English also causes hindrances in their success. The students are also afraid of English and get it over their nerves, which does not let them concentrate on their studies properly. The change of word order in the syntax of both the languages, outdated course have effect on their failure but these are not as effective as others. So there need more exercises on the increase of vocabulary. It may be done by encouraging the students to participate in activities of speaking English. The peer and group discussion may prove fruitful in this connection. The students need to make realized about their responsibilities, and some kind of interesting and interactive activities should be used to draw the attention of the students. The teachers should not only be dynamics but should update them with the latest teaching techniques and approaches.

Recommendations

* There need more exercises on vocabulary building. It may be done by encouraging the students to participate in activities of speaking English.

* The peer and group discussion may prove fruitful in this connection.

* The students need to make realized about their responsibilities and some kind of interesting and interactive activities should be used to draw the attention of the students.

* The teachers should not only be dynamics but should update them with the latest teaching techniques and approaches. Instead of emphasizing on cramming, language through activities should be taught and creativity and criticality should be promoted.

References

References

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