Topic 6

Challenges of teaching English English in secondary schools

Introduction
With the introduction of competence based curriculum , the teaching of English is prone to
many challenges. But still these problems have existed before then. We shall discuss these
challenges below.

At the end of this lesson, you should be able to:

i. Identify various challenges of teaching English in Secondary schools.
ii. Explain how these challenges can be overcome.
iii. Discuss the role of a classroom teacher amid these challenges.

Challenges of teaching English at secondary schools

The infrastructure is poor or there is lack of it. This involves small classrooms, lack of
language laboratories, lack of libraries or even lack of classrooms or generally the classrooms
are not well designed.

The instructional resources are scarce or few or even not available. With the influx of free
primary education and free secondary education, a large number of students could be sharing
an English textbook.

The teacher-student ratio is worrying. This means that trained teachers are not enough. This
makes it difficult to give attention to the whole class.

In some cases untrained teachers are assigned the responsibility of teaching English.
Unfortunately, they may not employ appropriate approaches to teach the language. This
compromises the quality of teaching. They lack the skills to do so.

The time allocated to teach English is not enough. English is a second language to the
majority of Kenyans. Thus it requires more time on the timetable. To complicate the problem
further, there is lack of practice among the learners.
There is negative attitude towards English among some learners. Some learners may regard
English as foreign, and some will view it as not useful to their career. Attitude could also be
based on culture. Some cultures may be resistant to learning another language.

Lack of motivation is also a challenge to teaching English. Both teachers and students might
be discouraged by lack of incentives and poor working conditions. In some cases there is lack
of support towards activities related to English by the school administration. In some cases
the instructors are poorly paid.

Activity 6.1
What is the role of motivation in the teaching of English?
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 Some of the challenges of teaching English include: poor infrastructure, lack of

enough staff, negative attitude, lack of motivation and lack of practice.

Now take a break and reflect on some of the issues we have discussed today. After your
break, answer the following questions:
 1. Discuss various challenges of teaching English at the secondary schools.

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2. Explain possible solutions to the above challenges.
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3. Using other references, make additional notes on other challenges of teaching English.
___________________________________________________________________________
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References

Siddiqui,M.H(2015)Models of Teaching.New Delhi:A P H Publishing Corporation.

Venkateswaran,S(1995)Principles of Teaching English. New Delhi:Vikas Publishing House.

Aggarwal,J.C(2001)Principles,Methods and Techniques of Teaching. New Delhi:Vikas

Publishing House.

Kochhar,S.K(1985)Methods and Techniques of Teaching. New Delhi:Sterling Publishers

Private Limited.