Teachers ’ Perceptions Of The Levels Of Difficulty Qf Aspects Qf English Language For O-level Students In Zimbabwe And Their Perceptions Of The Use Of Literature In English In Teaching

This paper mainly describes and presents the results o f a survey carried out in 1990to record teachers’perceptions o f the most difficult aspects o f English for High School students in Zimbabwe. The 59 questionnaires teachers returned indicated that students.have difficulty with all aspects o f English langj.age.They have the greatest difficulty with composition and summary writing andboth written and spoken grammar. The responses also indicated that although reading comprehension is comparatively the least difficult for students, it is also quite a problem to the students. The study also sought, teachers ’ views on the use c f literature in teaching English. Although teachers, agreed that literature could be used in teaching most aspects o f English, they were uncertain about whether literature could be used in teaching sentence-level grammar. In light o f the above findings, this paper presents recommendations on teaching various aspects o f English and using literature to teach English language. Background Although English is not the native language of 90 % of Zimbabwe’s population, it is the language of most domains of national activity such as government, education, business, administration and the law courts. Thus, English is regarded as a second language in the national life of Zimbabwe