NELTA Bagmati Journal

Speaking in English Language Classroom: Teachers’ Strategies and Confronting Problems

Guru Prasad Poudel — 2022-12-31

Speaking components included in the English language curriculum or textbooks aim at developing communication abilities of the students. The effective practise of dealing with those components can enhance students’ efficiency in communication. However, the existing practise of teaching speaking in public schools of Nepal, especially located in rural and low-resourced areas does not seem supportive for developing students’ efficiency in communication abilities. In this connection, the present article aims to figure out the practise of teaching speaking in rural and low-resourced schools, use of the strategies in dealing with speaking components and the problems faced by the teachers. It has been developed out of the insights collected through case study research. The required information was accumulated through classroom observation. During the observation, it has been found that speaking component in the class was dealt with the practise of whole class discussion, pair work, group work, individual work, picture description, loud reading and repetition drills, telling stories, oral games, problem-solving, and sharing experiences. The teacher faced the problems of student-student chatting in their mother language while engaging in group discussion, low participation, hesitation and unwillingness to in taking part in the interaction, lack of enough and effective materials, difficulty to comprehend ideas expressed in English, and lack of the exposure in speaking in English. The findings make a call for innovative and technologically enhanced activities for the practise of speaking. The study concludes that participate reaction research is required for exploring the ways to address the problems in developing speaking efficiency.

Relevancy of Revised Bloom's Taxonomy in School-Level English Language Curriculum

Ashok Sapkota — 2022-12-31

The study is based on the analysis of curriculum objectives of Compulsory English textbooks for grades 6, 9 and 11 based on the educational taxonomy of Bloom and its relevance. It is based on the document analysis of all two-level curriculum analysis: basic and secondary level and the selection of the objectives in relation to the six levels of educational objectives and higher order thinking and lower order thinking skills. Based on the international and national review of secondary sources, the study focuses on the curriculum analysis of the Compulsory English curriculum. It was found that the curriculum objectives were more focused on reading and writing skills compared to listening and speaking skills. With regard to thinking skills, it was found that the majority of the curriculum objectives and its learning outcomes included lower order thinking skills (LOTS) more than higher order thinking skills (HOTS) in grades 6 and 9 more than of grade 11.

Teachers’ and Students’ Perception on Teaching and Learning Speaking Skills

Shree Krishna Kandel — 2022-12-31

This paper explored teachers’ and students’ perceptions on their teaching and learning English-speaking skills in a community school. It explored their perceptions based on in-depth interviews with six teachers and fifteen students from community schools in Nuwakot, Dhading, and Kathmandu districts. The discussion was limited to teaching techniques, methods, students’ participation, and teachers’ facilitation during teaching. The study made the findings that students are not provided with appropriate time and attention in teaching and learning speaking skills. Students preferred adequate time in daily teaching-learning for speaking skills, which was lacking in practise. Furthermore the student participants suggested to include sufficient speaking activities and exercises in the textbook. The study also found that weak students who showed comparatively less participation in speaking activities were to be encouraged for their proactive involvement in the learning process.

Exploring Causes Behind Ineffectiveness of In-service English Language Teacher Training in Nepal: A Causal Layered Analysis

Ramesh Prasad Ghimire — 2022-12-31

Teacher professional development has remained the focus of the government of Nepal since the late 1940s. Various initiatives have been taken by the government for the professional development of the teachers. However, the transfer rate of the training skills to the classroom is found to be very low. Despite the continuous involvement of the teachers in in-service training opportunities there is the dominance of teacher-centred activities in the classroom and learners’ language achievement has remained unsatisfactory. The aim of this study was to explore the causes behind the ineffectiveness of the in-service English language teacher training in Nepal. The main method used was the Causal Layered Analysis (CLA) (Inayatullah, 2004). Systematic analysis of the existing literature revealed that ineffectiveness of the training is caused by various factors which are operating at four different levels, viz. litany, systems, worldviews and myths and metaphors. However, the causes at system level are more serious and hence need early attention for reform initiatives in the future. At the system level there are teacher-related, training-related and school-related factors playing an unsupportive role for the effectiveness of the training. Based on these findings, some recommendations for future actions have also been made.

Learning English Language in Nepal in the Narrative of Kewat Learners

Hiralal Kappar — 2022-12-31

Learning a second language seems problematic especially for those who have to learn one additional language except their mother tongue as a bridge in order to reach over the target one. With this mindset, this paper was written with the purpose of exploring the problems of learning English language along the Kewat learners of English in general and their accent problems in particular. For this, the notion of narrative approach was employed for collecting the stories of four Kewat learners of English language from the Mahottari district as data. From the stories, three major themes viz Learning Experience of Kewat and Accent Problem in Learning English were generated under the lens of cognitive theory of language learning where Narrative Inquiry is taken as a methodological standpoint. Finally, the conclusion indicated that the learners of Kewat community have many difficulties in learning the English language especially the accent related difficulties in which they have been facing the problem of uttering the English sounds like: /l/, /r/, /t∫/, and /∫/ because of their mother tongue interference based on Krashen theory of learning second language (1982).

Role of ICT Tools in Learning Behaviour of EFL Students

Sujana Lamichhane — 2022-12-31

This article explores the various Information and Communication Technology (ICT) tools employed by public schools. The study aims at identifying the ways of using ICT tools and platforms and their role in learning behaviour of secondary level EFL students. ICT, though beneficial for most of the cases, may cause serious problems to the learners if improperly adopted. The study is based on qualitative research design and includes the focus group discussion and classroom observation. The data obtained were transcribed and analysed based on the participant’s perception, experience and classroom observation. Findings indicate both positive and negative aspects of technology induced behavioural changes in the learners. The study suggests that continuous monitoring by school management and parents, regulatory intervention on the irrelevant Internet contents and awareness programmes to the students need to be immediately and effectively administered to stop the learner’s behaviour being negatively affected by ICT.

Lesson Planning for Language Teaching

Bam Dev Sharma — 2022-12-31

It is universally accepted that effective teaching is the outcome of an effective lesson plan. It is the signpost of teaching learning activities. Lesson plan becomes a blueprint as it consists of content, methodology, objectives, and process through which measurable and achievable objectives can be obtained. Lesson plan, as a means of technique of teaching, cannot only support teachers; it also provides good feedback and systematic growth in the process of teaching and learning. This article highlights a lesson plan as an instrumental objective of teaching; both innovative and worthwhile for teachers, especially in the field of language teaching. Besides the accompanied sample of lesson plan, can give an outline of how a teacher can make lesson plans interactive to engage students in purposeful teaching learning tasks.

A Review on Language, Power and Agency

Binod Neupane — 2022-12-31

Language, power and agency are associated terminologies in the sense that power of language can influence others and construct reality. Similarly, agency uses the power of language to control and govern others by imposing ideology and knowledge. This paper aims to review how power and agency are associated with language and control others through language. Likewise, this paper critically analyses is how the power of language is responsible for social inequality. Since the nature of this paper is document analysis, I have reviewed available literature in various contexts including the concept of Foucault, Gramsci, Nietzsche, Derrida, Austin and Althusser; and show the relationship between language and power and the way how agency exercises power and reproduce inequality in society. The analysis of various studies reveals that language has the power to govern truth because the truth is the product of language games. Similarly, it shows that agency uses the power of language to dominate others such as male agency to dominate females, doctors and priest’s agency to control others through language. This paper is important to develop an analytical framework to illustrate the role of agency to impose the power of language to control various social activities.

Lowering/Eliminating Learning Barriers in EFL Classrooms

Mallika Joshi Shrestha — 2022-12-31

Language input does not get access to learners until and unless barriers are addressed beforehand, and effective delivery of input is the plan of any educational institution. This paper highlights five different learning barriers that students face at school and some practical ways to lower them. The article is based on the views collected through an interactive tool called Padlet and Google forms given to students and ‘focused group interactions’ with colleagues. It is based on my experiences in the field of teaching. It also includes some views on the causes of the barriers from related literature reviews. Barriers like boredom and anxiety could appear in all three stages of teaching. Some activities could be used to address more than one barrier.

Book Review of 'The Handbook to Literary Research'

Surendra Prasad Ghimire — 2022-12-31

No Abstract available.