Study on Lack of Interest in Learning English among High School Students

                   

Study  on Lack of Interest in Learning English among High School Students

Abstract

Learning a new language helps one to acquire a deeper understanding of a new culture and see things from a different perspective. As an international language the importance of English is increasing day by day. In the development of the educational system of a country the role of English cannot be ignored. When English is learned as a second language the learners face some difficulties. This creates a weariness of lack of interest in learning English. This project aims at finding out the level of lack of interest in learning English among the high school students and the major reasons behind this disinterest. From the study conducted among the high school students using a questionnaire as a tool, it is found that most of the students have average level of lack of interest in learning English and a few have high level of lack of interest. Most students chose the methods of teaching English in schools as the major reason for their lack of interest. Over expectation of the parents, fear of examinations and study overload are also some of the reason for this weariness towards English.

Objectives

The current study aims at finding out the causes and reason for lack of interest in learning English. The main objectives are as follows,

v   to identify the factors that hinders students’ interest towards learning English.

v   to understand the level of lack of interest in students

v   to compare the levels of lack of interest among the students

v   to find out remedies and suggestions to create interest in learning English

v   to get an awareness about lack of interest in learning English and its causes. 

Methodology

For the systematic study, a questionnaire is used as the tool. The tool is a five point rating scale. The questionnaire contains 15 questions- 5 positive and 10 negative. The students are given options- always, often, sometimes, partially and never- for each question. A scoring scheme is designed and marks were allotted for each response. The tool was mainly based on the 4 components- method of teaching, over expectation and pressure from parents, study overload and fear of examination. The maximum score of the student would be 75. Those scored below 15 is considered to have extremely high level of lack of interest in learning English. Those in the range 15-35 have high level of lack of interest, 36- 55 have average level of lack of interest and 56-75 have low level of lack of interest.

The score obtained by each student is tabulated and the percentage of students belonging to each category is analysed. The percentage of students belonging to all the 4 components is calculated.

Analysis and interpretation

 The study was done in 21 high school students belonging to different schools in Thodupuzha region. From the study it is found that no students scored below 15 and so there is no student with extremely high level; of lack of interest. 19.1% of students belong to the category of those with high level of lack of interest. 47.6% of students have average level, of lack of interest and 33.3% of students have low level of lack of interest.

Methods of teaching English in school is the most prominent reason for the lack of interest. This component causes high level of lack of interest in 23.8% of students. The same causes average level of lack of interest in 66.7% of students and low level of lack of intersect in 9.5% of students.

No student have said that they have high level of lack of interest due to the pressure of the parents. The same causes average level of lack of interest in 61.9% of students and low level of lack of interest in 38.1 % of students.

Study overload causes high level of lack of interest in 19.1% of students, average level of lack of interest in 52.4% of students and low level of lack of interest in 28.5% of students.

 Fear of examination causes high level of lack of interest in 9.5 % of students, average level of lack of interest in 52.4% of students and low level of lack of interest in 38.1% of students.

Findings

Based on the study the following findings are obtained:

v   Most of the students in the selected sample group have an average level of lack of interest in learning English.

v   A few students have very low level of lack of interest.

v   A moderate number of students sustains their interest in learning English.

v   No student has an extremely high level of lack of interest in learning English.

v   Interest in students in learning is most adversely affected by the methods of teaching English in schools.

v   Over expectation and pressure from parents, fear of examination and study overload also stand as hindrances in learning English.  

Suggestions

Based on the findings made some suggestions are also formulated to make learning of English more interesting

v   Understand the importance of English for a bright future and good career.

v   Make English part of your day to day life.

v   Adopt innovative ways of learning English.

v   Read everything you get in your hands.

v   Learn English not for passing examinations, but for your future.

v   Try to learn new vocabulary every day.

v   Try to take down lecture notes while in the class.

Conclusion

The study undertaken to understand the levels of and reasons behind the lack of interest towards learning English among high school students proved that most of the students have an average level of lack of interest towards English. It is highly felt that the teachers need to adopt innovative methods and techniques in teaching English that would ignite the interest of the learners. The level of comprehension, individual differences and the interest areas of each student must be considered while teaching English.

IMPORTANCE OF MASS MEDIA IN EDUCATION

IMPORTANCE OF MASS MEDIA IN  EDUCATION

Life is all about writing your own story

Moral Policing Growing as a Voyeuristic Culture

                       Moral Policing Growing as a Voyeuristic Culture

A society has its own beliefs, rules and practices. The way of thinking, behaving or working that exists in a particular society that defines the collective attitudes, ideologies and beliefs of that society can be referred to as the existing culture of that society. Sometimes the term culture defines the patterns life and the moral codes and values that should be followed by the people in order to be accepted as a fitting member of that society. Any deviation from this presupposed codes and values may be considered as something offensive or punishable, especially in the eyes of those who pose themselves as the guardians of the existing culture. At the same time this may cause trouble to those who try to embrace or adapt an alien culture that may be quite different from their native culture and may be considered as unacceptable by the so called “guardians” of the traditional culture.

India is a country with a unique and different culture which is prevalent in the country since ages. The Indian culture is often labeled as the amalgamation of several cultures that span across the nation. But in every society there will be people who likes to think differently and who desires to live according to the way of the world. For the past few decades India witnessed an infiltration of the trends and cultures from other countries into the supposedly pure Indian culture. People have termed them Western trends and cultures as most of them have their root in the Western countries. While many of the people, especially the daring youngsters accepted this innovation, those people who support the traditional Indian culture and customs saw it as the adulteration of the pure Indian culture. These people started protesting against these trends and cultures and against those who follow them. They believe that they are obliged to protect the Indian culture from being adulterated by the infiltration of the Western traits.  They presuppose certain moral codes and they want others to follow those codes at any cost. These people who pose themselves as the protectors of the traditional culture and oppose the Western culture are called moral police and what they do in order to make sure that the moral codes that they believe is followed by others is called moral policing.

According to these people the Western culture is spoiling our culture and spoiling the youth population of our country .They think that in India, which has its own culture, there is no place for this alien trends and every one live according to the conventional trends. Any deviation from the traditional norms is considered punishable. If there is no provision in the Indian law to punish them, it become their responsibility to do that. They particularly target the youth, who are thought to be more prone to follow the western traits like, public acts of love or wearing western dress etc.  

Moral policing has pros and cones. But the way in which those who consider themselves as  moral police act, especially in the Indian context, makes the case complicated and give moral policing a black shade. Moral policing is positive if they are trying to avoid any acts of public nuisances, but now a days this is not the case. Moral polices usually try to make sure that a set of values are being adopted and followed by everybody in their control region. There are two types of moral policing: 1) truly believing that your morals are correct and they are the only way for the better future of your control region. With this as basis you want to ensure that everyone else agrees with it and adopts it. 2) Using morals just as means to gather mass and acquire control. It doesn't really matter whether you truly believe in it. You just need to create an illusion that you are guardian of the aforesaid values. The case become more complicated when one adopts the second strategy. In that case, moral policing becomes more of a “show off”.   

Many weird cases of moral policing has shocked the sensibility of the Indian society. The moral police mainly target the inter-caste/religion love affairs or love affairs in general.  They oppose all types of male-female relationships. They do not accept man and woman walking together in public spaces, travel together in a car, sit in a room or eat together in a restaurant. It is evident from the attitude and the acts of the moral police that the increased case of moral policing in the Indian society is due to cultural degeneration and sexual starvation.

In two separate incidents of moral policing in North Kerala’s Kozhikode district, four persons, including a mother and her son, have been manhandled by different gangs. Early on Monday, a mother and her son were attacked by a six-member gang as they were returning by bike from a temple in Kozhikode city after attending Shivaratri celebrations. On their way to home, the two stopped for food at a wayside eatery. When they resumed the journey the gang followed them in three bikes. The assailants waylaid them at a deserted spot and caught hold on the mother’s hand. They also showered abuse on the mother and slapped the son. One of them took away the ignition key of the bike.

In another incident at Parakkadavu in Kozhikode rural district, a college student was brutally attacked by a gang when he gave lift to a girl in his class. The boy gave lift to his classmate who had come to attend a marriage at his village on Sunday afternoon. Police said after the boy dropped the girl at a bus stop at Parakkadavu, a gang cornered the youth. They took him away to an uninhabited area for questioning. Later, he was assaulted and kept in custody for a while. The youth and the girl managed to escape only after police reached the spot.

The incident of a youth being stripped and brutally assaulted in full public view by suspected right-wing activists in Mangalore once again brought the subject of moral policing to the fore. The Muslim youth was reportedly beaten up for being in the company of a Hindu girl in the communally sensitive area of Mangalore.

In April this year, a youth in Kerala’s Thrissur district was beaten to death by a mob after being found in the house of a woman. Initial police probe indicated that the incident was the outcome of moral policing. Even though the young man was rushed to the hospital, he died on the way.

 Three people were arrested by the police in Maharashtra’s Latur district after they allegedly robbed and brutally assaulted a young couple. The gang thrashed the couple and even filmed the act.

The Siva Sena workers chasing away the young couples in marine drive at Kochi, was a great news in the Indian media. Lathi-wielding Sena workers reportedly threatened and shooed away the girls and boys who were sitting at marine drive. Even the couples were asked to leave the place immediately or face consequences. Local police men turned mute spectator as about 20 Sena workers attacked youngsters on the pretext of women safety during a protest march at Kochi. Later a campaign called “Kiss of Love “was organize by the members of a Facebook group along with other social activist against the moral policing incident held in marine drive. The agitation began with a street play against the self-proclaimed moral cops which was followed by the ‘kissing protest’.

The moral police do not only focus on love relations but they also shows contempt against the dressing and hair styles and appearances. There are case when women have been victims of moral policing because of their dress code. There are many moral policing groups against the western dress code of girls. They think that girls should wear only Indian dresses. According to them, wearing jeans, skirts, tunics, and frocks would attract men and they believe that if a man misbehaves with a woman the soul reason for this is the woman herself and her dressing pattern. The moral police believes that their involvement will serve for the betterment of the society.

It is very evident that it is clear case of denial of the individual freedom and rights when the moral police interfere in personal matters like dressing and hair style. A Bengaluru resident went on a Facebook rant recently after she witnessed a case of moral-policing at a movie theatre. The Facebook user posted a video of a man being "harassed" at a mall in Bengaluru for wearing a T-shirt that had some "indecent words" printed on it. The T-shirt design read, 'Stop Jerking Start F*cking'.The post says that the man was asked to exit the theater premises, buy a new T-Shirt, change and then enter the theatre. The objection was not raised by a police officer or a law-maker, but another common mall-goer who had taken a great deal of offense with this "indecent" shirt. According to a TNM report, this self-attested moralist ordered the T-shirt-wearer to "wear something else and come”. When the "indecent" shirt-wearing man didn't do his bidding, the angry moralist summoned police to access the serious, offensive T-shirt situation. The police officer then came to the conclusion that the angry moralist was right; a shirt with the words "jerk" and "f*ck" has no place in a public place.

There are other case when the cops themselves take the role of moral police. Recently a 19-year-old dalit boy committed suicide allegedly after police torture and harassment. Vinayakan, who was taken into custody from Pavaratty in Thrissur, Kerala, was compelled to go for a haircut as the police was unhappy with his hairstyle. He hanged himself possibly due to custodial torture by cops who picked him up on suspicion for being a member of a gang involved in chain-snatching incidents. What made him a suspect in the first place was reportedly his unconventional looks - his striking hairdo and ear studs.It is very evident that all these are clear cases of denial of individual freedom.

Indian culture is to be preserved. But the so called moral police should accept the fact that Indian culture is not against love or any other kinds of man- woman relationships. It is ironic that such moral restrictions are happening in a culture which produced Khajurao and the Sun temple of Puri and the Ajanta and Ellora caves which have a number of statues explicitly explaining and showing in detail what the moral police call immorality these days. In many case moral policing has become a kind of voyeurism, the act of gaining a kind of sexual pleasure by indulging in the personal matters of others. This makes it clear that  many case of moral policing is due to a kind of sexual starvation felt by the Indians.

It is very evident that India has a culture which is very unique and different from other culture. Since the olden times, Indians showed a tendency to preserve their culture and tried to make sure that it is not adulterated by the infiltration of other cultures. Before the prevailing trend of nuclear families, people in India used to live in groups and they used to monitor the morality of their co-m beings and made sure that all are following the existing values. Such practices are played an important role in forming the culture and values of India. The present generation of India has followed this tradition. But today the case has become extreme. The advocates of morality have taken up the role of cops and today moral policing has become a mere show or display of mob strength or in a way it has become a way to mock or humiliate a vulnerable person or a group. Sometimes moral policing turns to be an instance of religious, racial or gender exploitation. Moral policing is good if its intention is to make sure that nothing immoral is happening in the society. But the problem is, who defines the morality. When morality becomes a case of personal or group interest, moral policing become the denial of personal freedom and right.

References

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral_police

http://www.fuccha.in/moral-policing

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-definition-of-moral-policing

https://www.ndtv.com/cities/to-protest-moral-policing-kisses-and-hugs-at-kochis-marine-drive-1668100

https://www.thehindu.com/news/national/kerala/moral-policing-rears-itsugly-head-in-kochi-again/article17428969.ece/amp/

https://targetstudy.com/articles/moral-policing-pros-and-cons.html

https://www.google.co.in/amp/indianexpress.com/article/india/kerala-man-victim-of-moral-policing-ends-his-life-4540962/lite/

http://english.manoramaonline.com/news/kerala/2017/07/29/loknath-behera-criticise-kerala-police-for-vinayakan-suicide-moral-policing.html