Table de matières
This chapter summarizes the work, draws the conclusion and formulates some recommendations based on the finding of the study. It also consists in confirming or rejecting the hypotheses. Given that some English language factors can affect ESL/EFL learners, language stake holders may try to find the ways to solve some of the problems based on the findings.
This study was an investigation into causes behind Southern Kivu schooled girls’ lack of motivation and interest in learning the English language: the case of Fizi territory.
Hence, it aimed at knowing why Southern Kivu school girls lack motivation and interest in learning the English language and knowing what should be done to stimulate and sustain these girls’ motivation and increase their interest in learning the English language.
The work was made up of six chapters. The first chapter dealt with a general introduction in which a view on background to the study was given. The problem was stated the choice and interest of the topic was explained, objectives of the study were provided and the research questions were formulated. In addition, assumptions were made, the scope and limitation of the topic were set up and some information on Fizi territory was given. As for the background to the study, the international status of English and its benefits have been fully developed. The core of the problem was found out that in the particular case of the DRC, English is crucial for development, for the economy and international relations.
However, the use of the English language has unfortunately remained very limited in DRC, though it is surrounded by five English speaking neighbors on its Eastern border and in South Kivu province especially in Fizi territory which is isolated from the rest of the world because they do not speak English while they should and as a result they lose all the opportunities that English would open for them.
Regarding the choice and interest of the topic, it has been noticed that, infect, all the records indicated that none of the girls from Fizi territory has been a candidate in the department of letters and English civilization at UOB or at TTC/Bukavu. Hence, an assumption was made that Southern Kivu girls are not quite motivated and interested in pursuing studies by majoring in English. This is especially assumed for those from Fizi territory. Besides, local library research has indicated that only one study has been conducted on this topic but the study focused on Bukavu secondary school 6th form pupils. This implies that very few people have written about this issue. Although the previous research was helpful, its limitations for us lie in the fact that it dealt with pedagogical strategies only. It is also limited in the sense that it is about attitude, interest and motivation in a classroom environment.
Therefore, the present work contributes to further research by helping not only understand the causes behind southern Kivu ladies’ lack of motivation and interest un learning the English language, more specifically those from Fizi territory but also help English practitioners improve strategies to stimulate girls to learn English and design curriculum and instruction that emphasize their understanding of its importance in the present-day world.
In addition, the usefulness of the present work will also be observed in the teaching framework because it will help teachers understand the main causes of their students’ lack of motivation and interest in learning the English language as it is noticed about female students from Fizi territory.
However, this work will help one know the importance of the English language and the opportunities that can be provided by knowing it. In terms of objectives, the study attempted to find out information on.
-The causes behind Fizi territory girls’ lack of motivation and interest in learning the English language
-The ways and/or strategies that could be set up to stimulate, sustain their motivation and increase their interest in learning the English language. To achieve the above mentioned objectives the present work had the following research questions.
The main assumptions (hypotheses) in this study were that?
The second chapter was devoted to the review of the literature. It defined and studied some key concepts such as motivation and interest with the main focus on language learning context. The third section dealt with the research methodology. In other words, how the data were collected was the main concern of the chapter. It therefore provided the introduction, the research methodology itself, the research population and sample and the research design. Research and survey instruments, construction of the instrument (questionnaire) and the ethical considerations were developed.
The fourth chapter dealt with data results: presentation and analysis. The data were presented in tables and then an analytical comment was provided below each table.
The fifth chapter and most important section of the present work was devoted to discussion and interpretation of the data in order to have answer to the research questions and confirm or reject the research assumptions. The outcome of the investigation revealed mainly that Fizi territory girls do not know the importance of English in the present-day world. That assumption was confirmed by 50% of the participants. It has also been found out that 57.6% of the participants argued that English was made difficult by being taught by unqualified teachers. The fact that the majority (64.4%) considered it a difficult language to learn, many learners lose their interest.
Furthermore, the research has shown that English is not in use in all the opportunities. For example, about the English language use with people, it has been proved that the majority of the participants in all cases about the current English language use with people use heritage languages to communicate. No English is involved.
In cultural activities, the use of English was involved to every low extent. All other variables such as the participants’ future uses of languages to continue study in after secondary school, languages preferred to be used at one’s working environment (place), preferred place to be lived in 10 years, the self-evaluation on French use, English use, and mother tongue use proved again that English is not in use and the mastery of languages by these girls is not perfect or proficient.
Besides, the participants demonstrated a negative attitude towards English, but they had a positive attitude towards mother tongue. Hence the confirmation of our assumption that Fizi territory girls lack exposure to the English language.
A bout multilingualism in general, the attitude sounded positive in the sense that all the participants completely agreed with the multilingual cases presented in the study.
As for the English learning experience, all the participants (100) argued that their teachers were incompetent. But, as for the place where English was learnt, many of the participants, (89.7%) argued that they learnt much of the English they know at secondary school. The feeling about one’s English learning experience was that the great majority (84.9%) did not want to learn it. The cause of such a feeling was that the importance of the English language was not known. It is to be noticed that the assumption arguing that Fizi territory girls do not know the importance of the English language was also confirmed to 50.6%. many (82.3%) of the participants indicated that they were not interested in learning English as far as the first feeling in the classroom was concerned. The appreciation of English in relation to other languages has shown that English is regarded as a difficult language by the majority (64.4%) of the respondents and what makes it difficult has been mostly the fact of its being taught by unqualified teachers.
The data set on English teacher’s qualification shows clearly that there is neither undergraduate nor graduate English teacher in Fizi territory. The assumption that there are not many qualified English teachers in Fizi territory was backed up again to 100%. Since there are no qualified English teachers, no stimulating opportunities to learn an English neither in the school nor outside it. Since there are no adequate teaching materials, naturally there cannot be any language-rich learning environment. The assumption was therefore confirmed to 100%.
The sixth chapter dealt with the summary conclusion and recommendations (suggestions). It aimed at encapsulating, appreciating the study and last formulating some recommendations (suggestions). To whom it may concern.
The main purpose of this study was to determine the factors that affect on female students’ English learning as a second language or a foreign language. According to the question, the causes of limitation in the English language learning and teaching have been due to:
-Shortage of text books
-Unqualified English teachers
-Unstandardized curriculum
-The poor socioeconomic background
-English is regarded as a difficult subject to learn
-Learners’ learning depends on the English teachers authorities
- There is lack of support to use English in the home environment and the community
-Learners have insufficient or lacking of exposure to the language as there is a limited opportunity to use English outside the classrooms
-Students have a limitation of vocabulary as well as English reading materials are not always available.
-The fact that the learning of the English language is hampered because the teaching is done in a language in which neither the teacher nor the learner has an appropriate level of mastery.
-Learners have an unwillingness and lack of motivation to learn English as they do not see the immediate need to learn and or use the language.
-Lack of motivation for learning or the negative attitude towards the target language
-Learners’ laziness, lack of efficiency of the school, and insufficient of parents’ promotion.
Nevertheless, English like many other languages, requires open and regular practice and discussions, but a lot of African cultures and customs always do not encourage such behavior. Few women in traditional Africa could speak or hold open discussions with men. Thus, despite modernism, a lot of girls are still characterized by tradition which is a hindrance to linguistic performance to some extent. The traditional African cultures these girls grow in hinder their ideal English practice.
There were three major limitations of the study. First, the study would easily be misunderstood and misinterpreted as attempting to undermine the usage of the heritage/local languages even as counteracting against the promotion of the previously marginalized spoken minority languages. However, an attempt was made to explain the aim of the study clearly before any interview was conducted or any questionnaire forms were administered. Fortunately, most people that were involved in one way or the other understood the reality of the importance of ESL/EFL.
The second limitation was insecurity. Due to bad security situation in the remote outskirts of Baraka centre, all the areas covered by the research were not reached. Consequently, the study was limited in the centre and neighboring villages. However, to overcome this limitation, all attempts were made to cover a reasonable section of the population, sample representation that could ensure credible results of the study.
The third limitation was the language barrier. All the people (schooled Fizi territory girls) who were interviewed were not capable of responding to the questions in English. They alternatively preferred the English questionnaires to be translated into French a language that they master better. In case the information given was not self-explanatory, they were allowed to express themselves in another language that they master more than French (Kiswahili or Ebembe). However, this limitation was overcome by translating the responses given in a local language into English.
Based on the results of this study, the following recommendations can be made and addressed to stake holders, teachers, parents and NGOs in order to improve and facilitate and improve the learning of English in Fizi territory.
To the DRC Ministry of primary, secondary and professional education (the government).
-To promote the importance of the English language by revisiting the constitution and regard English as another official language (government encouragement)
-To deploy English teachers in Fizi territory by enacting a law that will compel those graduating in English teacher’s training colleges to go and teach in rural areas for a given time
- To inspect the English language teachers’ qualification everywhere in Fizi territory.
-Make English be taught/ at all education levels, i.e. from nursery school to university
- English is taught/learnt as a language rather than a subject/discipline.
- The curriculum designers should think about learners’ needs in language learning when they plan to design curriculum.
To the teachers,
It has been found out that in order to make the language learning process a more motivating experience instructors need to put a great deal of thought into developing programs which maintain student interest and have obtainable short term goals. Students like to know their teacher beyond the role of ‘teacher’. When the researcher thinks back on some of his favorite instructors, teachers and professors, the ones that come to mind are those who shared little aspects of their lives with their students. Teachers should bring anecdotes into their lessons, or share what their language learning experience was like. Students will be able to connect with their experiences, more than they expect, and this will ultimately help them engage in the lesson. In one word, teachers should be personable. Teacher should ensure that students (learners) are in the right level since lack of focus and motivation can often times be a result of students being placed in a level that is not right for them. If they are placed in a level that is too low, they will zip through their work and then be bored out of their minds by their information being taught. If they are placed in a level that is too high, they will wonder how to learn English as they lack foundations they need.
- The use of an interesting text can also help to increase the motivation level of students in the classroom. These are texts which contain topics which can create a great deal of classroom interaction and help to motivate students to develop their language skills.
- Language immersion projects such as language camps and visits
- a specific day or week or month or time and space devoted to the use of the language such as an English zone, spelling bee competition, story-telling corner, read to –one corner, essay and drama competitions, poetry reading, at the general assembly, etc.
- Network of people who could provide the constant input of the language such as pen pals (use of the interest), teacher’s mentors, conversation partners, etc.
However, many language teachers agree that immersion is an excellent way to learn a language. Immersion programs in the country where the language is spoken are especially valuable as students must use the language outside of class as well as in it. In addition, students will learn more about the culture in which the language is spoken , which will give them context for their vocabulary. Some students benefit from taking a brief intensive in their native country before travelling to an immersion program or language school in a foreign country.
As stated earlier, one of the primary reasons why learners lack interest in language learning is that the topics being taught are not relevant. The teacher should therefore take the time to find out what their students (learners) hobbies and interest are and try incorporating those into their lessons. One idea is to handout a survey at the beginning of the semester. Have students fill out a form that asks what they would like to learn in the course, what topics they would like to be covered and what their pass-times are of course, as a teacher you will still need to cover certain parts of the curriculum, but you can make these more relevant by incorporating the information students shared with you in their surveys. Students should be motivated to acquire a confidence whenever they make mistakes and errors in language classrooms. Students should be encouraged to practice the English language with native speakers in both inside and outside classrooms.
Parents should try to encourage their children to actively get involved in learning the English language at home and schools.
Above all, learners should:
-Be enthusiastic and accurate guesser
-Have a strong drive to communicate
-Be uninhibited and ready to make mistakes
-Take improvement for all practice opportunities
-Monitor their own speech and that of others
-Pay attention to meaning
-Apply self-teaching, using books, tapes and guidance materials readily available through bookstores and the interest.
-Watch TV and movies in a foreign language with subtitles in their own native language
-Listen to radio
-Read newspaper
-Use internet
To NGOs in Fizi territory:
-Help schools create learning centres for schools to enable girls to have opportunities to learn as much English as possible.
-To sensitize girls on the importance of English in the present-day world both south Kivu and Fizi territory being in it.
The study achieved its objectives in finding the causes (factors) detailed, analyzed and interpreted above, which might be of great value in improving the learning of English by Southern Kivu schooled girls, more specifically those from Fizi territory. A systematic implementation of some recommendations made above might aid in addressing or eradicating the negative factors that bring about the problem of negative attitudes and lack of motivation towards the learning of English which exist among the girls of Fizi territory.
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