Exploring hindering and facilitating factors affecting spoken English fluency of grade-9 students in a private school in Hunza
Date of Award
11-2022
Document Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Master of Education (M. Ed.)
First Supervisor/Advisor
Mirat al Fatima Ahsan
Department
Institute for Educational Development, Karachi
Abstract
Speaking is one of the most important skills to be developed and enhanced as means of effective communication (Leong, & Ahmadi, 2017). Since English is commonly used around the world (Jenkins, 2006), is currently the global and international language (Crystal, 2018) there is an urgent need for learners from non-native contexts and developing context such as Pakistan toto acquire communication skills in it order to succeed in diverse fields. English is spoken as a second language in Pakistan and is recognized as an official language (Bhatti, et.al. 2020). English plays a critical part in the development of Pakistan, as it does in other emerging nations, according to the country's present educational strategy. Fluency in English is important because the ability to communicate fluently can assist the speaker in producing continuous communication without creating comprehension challenges for the listener and in effectively maintaining that communication outflow (Namaziandost, et.al. 2020).
In Pakistan, the focus in schools is on writing skills as students are promoted in next grades based on the written examinations (Bean & Melzer, 2021: Dad, 2017). Therefore, the teachers, students and all other stakeholders give importance to writing skills as writing helps them to pass the exams and get good jobs. According to research, institutions that have exams administered by outside organizations and whose success and reputation are based on the outcomes of such exams frequently support exam-oriented pedagogies which assess only the writing skills of the students (Kirkpatrick & Zang, 2011; Kwok, 2004).
Accordingly, a study was carried out in a private school of Hunza, GB. The study: “hindering and facilitating factors spoken fluency development in a private school” was an exploratory case study and sought to gather descriptive data on hindering and facilitating factors of spoken fluency development in English. Data was gathered by using three tools: Non-participatory observation English language teaching classroom; a semi-structured interview with an English language teacher and an FGD with six participants of grade 9.
The current study's findings indicate that barriers to spoken fluency development in the concerned context include: Linguistic Awareness (pronunciation, vocabulary, and grammatical knowledge), a lack of exposure to English/target language, a lack of student interest and motivation in 'practicing' in target language, and teaching Methodology. In keeping with this, the findings also show that use of the target language/exposure to target language, practice opportunities/strategies, and use of dictionary for vocabulary enhancement are facilitating factors in the development of spoken English language fluency. The study’s finding also revealed some solutions for reducing the hindrances in fluency development as suggested by the participants. Study recommendations include also the need for school administrations to create and strictly implement an English use policy so that everyone uses English and students have the necessary exposure and opportunity for practice in the target language in and out of the classroom. Other recommendations identify what foci and strategies can be incorporated by teachers within their teaching to boost student engagement with and in English and thus develop their spoken fluency in English. Recommendations also provide teachers with directions about what strategies to use to develop learners’ overall speaking abilities, that is both fluency as well as accuracy.
Recommended Citation
Jehan. F.(2022).Exploring hindering and facilitating factors affecting spoken English fluency of grade-9 students in a private school in Hunza [M. Ed. Dissertation]. Aga Khan University.