Students’ attitude towards the teaching and learning of oral English a case study of senior high schools in Koforidua

Abstract

Speaking English has become very important in Ghana especially because of its international and worldwide integration with time. Teaching English pronunciation is difficult for several reasons. These include the fact that teachers are left without clear cut guidelines, and face contradictory pronunciation instruction practices. Due to these issues, instruction in pronunciation has become less important and teachers are not very happy to teach pronunciation in their classrooms. This thesis examined the attitudes of students towards the teaching and learning of Oral English in Senior High Schools in Koforidua using Spolsky‟s model of second language teaching and learning as the framework underpinning it. Adopting a convergent mixed method design, data were collected by means of questionnaire and interview from 700 randomly and 35 purposively sampled students and teachers and analysed descriptively and thematically. The analysis revealed that teachers were not comfortable with the teaching and learning of Oral English since aspect teaching was not encouraged, with logistics and other teaching learning materials unavailable for the teaching and learning of the aspect. It was shown that both students and teachers have a negative attitude towards Oral English teaching and learning. Based on these results, it is concluded that teachers should seek to raise learners‟ knowledge of different techniques in teaching Oral English and help them to develop their trust, rather than clinging to their negative attitude towards the aspect.