An Investigation of the Reasons Behind the Weaknesses in English Among Public Secondary School Leavers

Abstract

Although the school English Textbooks are based on Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) and Yemeni students study English for six years in the public schools, the language competency of most secondary school leavers is considerably low. They cannot communicate with others even by using simple sentences, orally or in writing. Such weaknesses are obviously noticed when such students sit for the entrance exams as prerequisite for English studies, engineering and medicine. These weaknesses can be due to many reasons. This paper attempts to explore the reasons which may cause such poor outcomes. Twenty three (23) female English teachers and forty seven (47) female school students participated in this study by writing the reasons which, according to them, affect learning and acquiring English negatively. An open-ended questionnaire was used. Both teachers and students listed about 59 reasons. Teaching English by non-specialist teachers was considered by teachers and students the first reason, followed by the absence of family and societal encouragement, lack of instructional aids and materials, students not caring about English and concentrating during the class, and their negative attitudes towards English which stems from western colonization of the Arab World.