Challenges Faced In The Teaching Of English As A Second Language In Laos Secondary Schools

This study was an investigation of the challenges that are encountered in the teaching of English as a second language in secondary schools in Laos.The study was carried out with the understanding of the language's ever-increasing presence in both the education and business domains in Laos despite its being a foreign language.Consequently,the study set to particularly examine the challenges encountered in the teaching of English as a Second Language,how the challenges impact ESL teaching in Lao secondary schools and what the possible solutions to the challenges would beThis was a qualitative study with data generated from interviews and published material available in the public domain.The interviews involved 21 teachers from selected public secondary schools in Vientiane Capital.In addition to that,the study also involved classroom observations in which the research observed three lessons.This was to ascertain the exact teaching methodologies that the teachers use in the classroom.This was informed by the researcher's prior knowledge of what would entail some of the challenges,himself having gone through the same education systemThe study' s framework was guided by a language learning theory called Principled Eclecticism This theory was chosen because it propagates for the use of various teaching styles to suit the needs of a variety of learners.Understanding the study's findings from the perspective of this theory allows the researcher to pay attention to how impactful the challenges are to pedagogy in as far as the teaching of English as a second language in Lao secondary schools is concerned The theory however suffered isolation as it was observed that the trending teaching methodologies in the country run counter to the theory's basic principles.This theoretical framework was partially used to understand some of the challenges that were generated in the studyThe study found a number of challenges as being encountered in the teaching of English as a foreign/second language.Some of the challenges related to a curriculum and resulting textbooks that are not properly designed for the teaching of English to the non-native learners in the country.The study also found a number of challenges in relation to pedagogy where teachers were found to be often forced to use the lecture method as the only relevant teaching method in the context of lack of teaching resources and other problems.Further,the study found that the use of Lao language even in English lessons was also a challenge as it minimized the time that students would otherwise spend practicing English.This however had the backing of the teachers who saw it as a doorway to learners'ability to follow the lesson throughout as previously it had proved difficult to use English throughout while maintaining the attention of the students Further,the study found lack of resources to be an overarching challenge.This was overarching because it was even partially contributing to the other challenges such as pedagogical problems and motivation amongst learners.The last challenge as found by the study pertained to students'attitude towards learning English.This was attributed to an important element of motivation.The study found that most students have low motivation for learning English because the subject is not considered keyThe study then linked all these challenges to their negative impacts on the teaching of English as a second language in Lao secondary schools.The study found the challenges as contributing to the failures of the teaching of English in the secondary schools.The research found that teachers often suffer as they encounter teaching difficulties in situations where there is little help from relevant stakeholders such as the Ministry of EducationThe findings of this study led to the impression of the need for interventionist approaches by various stakeholders in order to make sure that the teaching of English in Lao secondary schools became successful.In line with the theory of Principled Eclecticism which informed this research,the study found that most of the problems' hindrances through pedagogy are detrimental to general improvements in the teaching of English as a foreign language in line with the theoryFrom the findings of the study,a number of recommendations were made for education administrators and policymakers,teachers and researchers.First,the study recommended that the Lao government should consider increasing its funding to schools and that school administrations should increase budgetary allocations to the purchasing of teaching and learning resources for English.Second,the study suggested a review of the English curriculum and textbooks to rectify content and other elements that were observed as negatively challenging the teaching of English in the schools.Third,the study recommended the need for teachers of English as a second language to incentive their students so that they find English stimulating and should therefore be highly motivated to learn.The last recommendation that came out of the study was the need for future researchers to consider expanding the population sample to include students as well as other stakeholders,not just teachers.The study found this necessary because the present study only focused on teachers' perceptions and the available literature as well as theories in the teaching of English as a second/foreign language...