English language

MANY students at primary and secondary schools at provincial sites lack mastery of English language due to a lot of contributing factors.
In Papua New Guinea, English is learnt as a foreign language. It is the main language for instruction in business, politics, commerce and education.
To many students, English is a secondary language after their own vernacular and Tok Pisin as a lingua franca in the country.
As long as English is learnt in schools as a foreign language, students will continue to find it challenging in mastering it.
But if English is taught well in the early stages of students’ educational lives such as in elementary and primary level, they can master it well.
When elementary system was introduced in 90’s by the Education Department, local vernacular was used as a language of instruction at that level.
And lingua franca, a commonly spoken language in a community was instructed to be used in lower primary; grades three, four and five classes.
English was taught in upper primary classes starting at grade six although lingua franca or vernacular were allowed to explain difficult contexts.
Teaching in vernacular at elementary, lingua franca at lower primary, and teaching English at grade six were disputed by many parents and stakeholders.
They argued that these language instructions were contributing to the drop in English competences and general education of their children.
In 2015, the education department instructed the re-introduction of English only policy in schools in the national education system.
Today, English is used as the main medium of instructions in our schools starting from elementary up to secondary sector.
While I appreciate the efforts of our teachers in teaching English, I would like to highlight some factors causing low English proficiencies among students.
Firstly, teachers’ incompetence.
Many teachers particularly at elementary and primary schools lack English proficiency.
The trainings conducted at teachers’ colleges for primary and elementary teachers do not adequately equip them with the requisite skills to teach English.
Teachers, particularly those that have joined the teaching force in recent years cannot formulate both spoken and written English well.
This could mean that they may have not mastered English in their primary, secondary and tertiary education pathways.
Secondly, lack of English materials.
Many schools do not have English materials such as text books, dictionaries and reading books for students.
Most primary and secondary schools do not have classroom or school libraries to enhance students’ English practices.
Thirdly, lack of effective teaching strategies.
Teachers do not apply new and innovative teaching strategies in teaching English.
The traditional monotonous approaches they use become less motivating for students.
As such students’ interest in learning English decline.
Fourthly, uneconomic home environments.
In many homes, students are not supported of their attempts to learn English.
Many homes do not have reading books.
Parents do not realise the significance of books, hence they do not purchase them for their children.
Nonetheless, where there are availability of books at home, students are able to read them thus increasing their English proficiencies.
Finally, lack of interest by students.
Many students are just not interested in learning foreign language which is difficult to learn.
They think that they are comfortable with the vernacular language and that it is pointless learning English.
With teachers’ competencies, adequate learning materials, new teaching strategies and high interest in learning, students can master English well.

Steven Koya
Koalilombo village
Kagua, Southern Highlands