Action Research on Reducing the use of Nepali in English Classroom

 Name: Nand Lal Rana

Topic: Reducing the use of Nepali In English Classroom

Class: 1

Level: Secondary Level English Teache

School: Vijayashaini Secondary School, Navadurga-5, Dadeldhura

Topic of the action research: Reducing the use of Nepali in English classroom

Statement of the Problem: English is now the most widely used language all round the world. It is one of the richest languages since it has its wide coverage, rich vocabulary, written literature and high population of its user. So, teaching English takes place all over the world. It is one of the major languages studied as a compulsory and as an optional in school and universities of Nepal. Basically, most of the government schools of Nepal teach through Nepali medium. It is because English is second or third language for the teachers and the students. Students are normally exposed English only during English class. Moreover, most of the English teachers are teaching English through Nepali. So, students are deprived of getting adequate exposure of English language. As a result, unwillingness to use English is increasing among students.

In the context of Nepal, reluctance to speak English is a problem commonly found in English language classroom because they have already acquired one or two languages and there is lack of English-speaking environment.    Mostly, in Government-aided schools or Nepali medium schools of Nepal, it is often felt that teachers and students overuse their mother tongue, in this case most probably the Nepali in English as foreign language classroom. This, in result, minimizes the students’ exposure to English. So, students cannot develop good competency of using language. Instead, they always feel easy to use Nepali in the classroom and teachers also feel it easy to teach English through Nepali medium.

Many teachers think that it is necessary to use Nepali in the English classroom to explain difficult concepts or ideas to practice the use of some phrases and expressions to present complex grammar points.  Students also use Nepali if they cannot express their problems in English. However, it is also thought that moderate and judicious use of mother tongue aids the teaching and learning of target language. Some studies have shown that learners' weaknesses and their poor background are responsible factors for using mother tongue in the English class. So, the English teacher should play very effective role to make students able to use basically English language in English classroom.

Mother tongue can also be used to provide a quick and accurate translation of an English word that might take several minutes for the teacher to explain. Sometimes using only English in English class may lead to some problems because there would be no guarantee that learners understand the instructions and explanations correctly and clearly. So, I think it is better to encourage learners to use English in English classroom rather than discouraging them for using Nepali

The issue of mother tongue use in English class was neglected and ignored in the past because it was readily accepted in second language context. The pros and cons did not seem to have been analyzed. But for last three decades there has been growing interest in studying the consequences of mother tongue use in English classroom. Several studies have been carried on the issue of mother tongue use. It is not still clear that whether mother tongue should be used or not. To what extent should we use mother tongue is also very important. If teachers and students use entirely Nepali in English class, students could not develop good communication skills.  So, we should encourage our students to use English in the class. In most of the schools of Nepal, students use Nepali to ask questions. to discuss with friends, to answer to the questions, to discuss with friends, to answer to the questions, to give response in different matter to the teacher in English classroom. So, this effort has been done as an action research to reduce the use of Nepali in English classroom

 Objectives of the study

The main objectives of this study were: 

a) to reduce the over-use of Nepali language in English classroom. 

b)  to find out the solutions problem 'Nepali use in classroom'

c) to develop willingness among students to use English in class. 

d) to increase pass percentage of students

Effects of the proble

Many students hesitate to speak in English due to pronunciation difficulties, fear of criticism or losing face in the classroom or being laughed at by other students. In Nepalese context students make frequent use of Nepali in large classes. Teachers also find it easy to teach English through Nepali medium. They think that they can make students understand easily through Nepali. Because of lack of exposure, students are not confident enough to use English and they are reluctant to speak English. So, students cannot express their views, ideas, or thought through English. If English teacher asks question to them, they try to reply through Nepali. They say that they study English just only to pass examination. They find easy and comfort in using Nepali because they are using Nepali in society which had already been acquired by them. But they study English only during 45 minutes of class of school. Moreover, they are not using only English in English period. So, even after learning English as a compulsory subject for many years, they are still not able to express their thoughts and ideas through English. They clearly show unwillingness to speak English and they feel fear to use it. They cannot deal with successfully the free writing composition of English

In English classroom students don't want to participate actively in discussion. They don't have interest towards English teaching. If they have time, they use Nepali language with their friends and teacher. They request their teacher to use Nepali while explaining passage. They don't like to pay attention to the teacher if he is using English. They don't show any interest in reading English book. These are the main effects of use of Nepali in English class

Causes of the Problem

In the context of Nepal, students make frequent use of Nepali in large English language class. Basically, most of the government schools of Nepal teach through Nepali medium; it is because English is second or third language for the teachers and students. There is no such a speaking society in Nepal. They get chance of listening and speaking English only during English classes if only the teacher uses it. Moreover, because of untrained teachers, large class size, pre-designed learning materials, it is difficult to develop good communication skill in English. We teachers cannot give individual attention to the students in large classes and not every student gets sufficient opportunities to use English in such classes. When I teach them in English medium and they understand what I said but they find it difficult to speak English in the classroom discussion with their friends and teacher. And they use Nepali with English teacher. If I tell them to use English, they said that they could not

Main Cause

So far as I have experienced the major cause of the problem mentioned above is that most of the students from basic level of government school of Nepal are taught through Nepali medium. Teachers are also making excessive use of Nepali language in English classroom. Teachers are not engaging their students sufficiently in target language practice are another reason of frequent use of Nepali. Teacher gives more focus to the brilliant students in the classroom. As a result, weak students do not get enough opportunities for oral practices. The teachers of basic level are making excessive use of Nepali in English class and students are not getting a lot of exposure of English. Because of lack of exposure students cannot understand through English medium in secondary level. Students cannot express even simple thing in English and they cannot develop good communication skill. Students' productive sills of language remain always weak. Therefore, the teacher should play greater role to minimize the use of mother tongue and enhance target language use. 

Period of the Study

The period of implementing the study began on 11th Magh 2077 and lasted for one month 

Collecting and Analyzing Data

 I employed several tools and processes to gather information for the study. Tools and processes like questionnaire, interview, observation, reading and speaking tests, and role play activities were used.  I randomly chose ten students and their guardians to collect required information for the study. I asked the students why they were using Nepali in English classroom. I collected their answers. Then I met their parents to get information about students. I told them to make students read the English text every day. Then the collected information from the students and their parents were analyzed and entered into the following steps of action research

8.1 Planning

The main problem of my class was that the students were using Nepali language as a medium of their communication with teacher and their classmate.  They were too reluctant to speak even during English classroom. It was not possible to bring complete prohibition of the use of Nepali language in Nepali medium government school of Nepal. However, I wanted to reduce the excessive use of Nepali in English classroom and I wanted to change Nepali speaking environment into English speaking. So, in this stage strategic plans were made to introduce different ways to solve the problems and to carry out better process of learning spoken English. l made my students use of necessary classroom language functions such as greeting, introducing, requesting, attracting attention, apologizing, expressing likes and dislikes. I kept speaking English most of the time which would give the students practice in listening and responding to spoken English as well as it helped them to pick up words and expressions beyond the language of the textbook. I made plan to use shorter and simpler expressions which could make them understand and imitate easily rather than longer and complex ones. In order to make students use mainly English in English class the following useful techniques were planned to employ

I planned to use the following range of techniques to encourage reluctant students to speak English in English class

Allow students to collaboratively handle the task: It is better to organize   the class into pair and group work to   encourage them to speak English

Reduce the level of task difficulty: In order to reduce the unwillingness to speak English, I planned to reduce the difficulty level of learning matter and make it clear and easy to the students. They were encouraged to speak simpler and shorter sentences

Promote positive attitudes among students: Students who hold positive attitudes towards language learning are less likely to suffer from language learning anxiety and more likely to participate actively in learning tasks. I made plan to promote positive attitude among students towards English language learning

Boost students’ self-confidence: This can be done by creating various opportunities for classroom success in using spoken English. Easy tasks with clear and simple expressions are used in the first place

Change students' negative beliefs and attitudes towards mistakes:  In the initial practices of learning language, some simple mistakes should be tolerated. I made plan to encourage students to speak English without worrying too much about mistakes. I also made plan to assure the students the value of language use even if it is not fluent and accurate

Build a supportive learning environment: Once the students feel a sense of support from their teacher and peers, it is likely that they will be more willing to speak in the target language. So I made plan to the use the following techniques to create a supportive atmosphere for the students

Encourage peer support in the classroom

Tolerate moderate and judicious use of Nepali language

Introduce opportunities for students to speak English outside the class and encourage them to use English with their neighboring friends

Encourage them to solve their own problem

Give students more time to do tasks and bring the task within students' experience: I made plan to give   students long preparation time for oral tasks.  Key oral skills and strategies should be pre-taught in preparing students for communicative   tasks

Then, I made plan to conduct the following activities of language functions to reduce the use of Nepali and to increase the use of English

Asking for permission, giving, and withholding permission

Reporting statements and questions

Engaging them in role play, speech presentation and debate competition programs

Encouraging students to use English to their friends and English teacher

Involving students in discussion of every exercise through pair work and group work

Using drill techniques for grammar practices

Describing the place and person

Describing pictures, scenes, tables, menus, recipe etc

Exposing listening texts and videos to the students and engaging them in different activities based on them

Composing dialogues on given situations

Acting

After making above strategic plans and designing activities to implement, I entered the classroom with lesson plan and appropriate teaching materials. I implemented abovementioned activities one by one in about three weeks. I encouraged them to use only English in the classroom I told them to use simple and short expressions. Brilliant students are asked to help the poor students. I told them to use English even outside the class in their leisure time. 

Observation

Initially, they were very shy and reluctant to use English. They even said that they could not speak English; and they added that they did not like to speak English because they were afraid of being laughed at by other students if they made mistakes or hesitated to express anything. But after regular inspirations and encouragements to use English, they tried their best to use it. If they could not, they made gesture with few words to express what they warned to say

Gradually they did better and more successful attempts in using only English in the classroom even though some few short and incomplete expressions and grammatical incorrectness were seen in their speech. They only tried to use English in classroom discussion. 

Reflection

From the observation, it has been found out that if students are properly encouraged to speak English in grade 10, they could use simple and short expression of English in classroom discussion.  After making the use of English language necessary to the students and giving them ample opportunities for its use with long preparation time, we can make our students use only English in the classroom. However, sometimes we must tolerate the use of English even if it is not fluent and grammatically correct and moderate and judicious use of Nepali should also be tolerated

If we use learner-centered techniques such as role play, dramatization, elicitation, discussion, group work, pair work and involving them in conversation of artificial situation, students could use proper and accurate expressions successfully. So, the teacher must inspire the students to use English in their speech more freely

Conclusion

Nepali serves as a lingua franca among different multilingual speakers of Nepal So many students share Nepali language inside the classroom though they are from diverse linguistic background. Moreover, in the   context   of   Nepal   especially government-funded Nepali medium school maximum use of Nepali can be observed. Students with low language proficiency at those schools feel more need of Nepali than the students from private English medium schools. However, the pros and cons regarding the use of mother tongue. It depends on when and what amount of first language was used in the second language class.  Nevertheless, many studies support the limited and occasional use of first language. But no studies recommend the excessive use of mother tongue as it hinders the exposure in target language. So we must use English and encourage students to use English

This action research gave emphasis on the problem of the students who are reluctant to speak English and who use Nepali in the English class. This research aimed to reduce the use of Nepali and increase the use of English in English class because even the students of grade 10 were making the excessive use of Nepali in English class as a chief means of communication. In order to solve the problem various techniques were implemented

Due to shyness and having fear of making mistakes, students don't show willingness to speak English. But through regular encouragement, providing a lot of opportunities for listening and speaking activities, engaging meaning    oral practices in English, using shorter and simpler expressions, short chatting in English with students, training students on necessary classroom functions and applying student-centered techniques of teaching certainly enhance target language use.