Improving the speaking ability in English: The students’ perspective

AbstractThe main focus of the study was to know English as a subject and as a language, the quality of the textbooks, opportunities of listening to good English with proper/correct pronunciation and to high light that various exercises/activities, i.e. seminars, group discussions and debates competitions, etc. were regularly being arranged or not. The study was descriptive in nature. The researchers selected 20 male students and 20 female students from 4 Govt. colleges in district Charsadda (N.W.F.P, Pakistan) studying at the first year and second year level through stratified random sampling procedure. The data was collected through a questionnaire having alternate items. The questionnaire was designed by consulting experts in the concerned field. It was tabulated in the form of counting frequencies and then analyzed through percentages. The main findings of the study were: by teaching English as a subject to the students and not as a language give vent to rote memory only to pass the examination out of burden. Enough time is not given to various exercises and opportunities for the improvement of speaking ability. Students also complained of scolding, and discouraging by their teachers for not speaking correctly. Although the teachers and students are equally responsible for the poor speaking ability, yet the teachers are more responsible by having the professional knowledge and skills. To improve the speaking ability, more stress on the quality of books at the basic level, enough time given to speaking and phonetic drills of students, no scolding but provision of friendly environment, making practical and applicable strategies by teachers for students while speaking most of the time in English, develop boldness and confidence in students for asking questions from their teachers, no overcrowded classes, awards and motivation for students, the role of media such as listening to CNN and BBC, inclusion of viva-voce in the examination system at various levels for checking the competence of the candidates, up to-date and constant training of teachers, arranging various activities and balance in the courses with respect to literature and language should be there to provide opportunities to improve the language competency of students