English as a Medium of Instruction in Public Schools: Practices and Perceptions of Teachers and Students

Abstract

The present study entitled English as a Medium of Instruction in Public Schools: Practices and Perceptions of Teachers and Students is an effort to analyze the perceptions of teachers and students regarding the use of English as a Medium Instruction (EMI) and to explore the classroom practices of using English as a medium of instruction at basic level and secondary level in public schools of Sindhupalchok district. Purposive sampling procedure was used as sampling procedure in which ten students and thirty basic level and secondary level teachers of public schools, teaching content subjects except English and Nepali were selected as respondents of the study.A questionnaire containing open-ended and close-ended, eight classroom observations and two focus group discussions (FGDs) were used as the tools to collect data. The data was analyzed and interpreted descriptively and statistically. The study reveals that most of the teachers and students are positive toward the implementation of EMI in public school as well as it shows that English and Nepali are used as the medium of instruction rather than monolingual English language at basic level and secondary level classrooms. In the study, most of the participants said that English is necessary because of great demand of parents and students in public schools. It is found that there is the gap between policy and practice of EMI in the classrooms because there is the name EMI in classroom teaching but teachers and students are compelled to use bilingual approach (Nepali and English). It is recommended that teachers are required to get training, English speaking zones should be created and more exposure should be provided for the effective implementation of EMI. This study contains five chapters. The first chapter deals with background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, delimitation of the study and operational definitions of key terms. The second chapter comprises review of the related theoretical and empirical studies, implications of the studies and conceptual framework. Likewise, third chapter consists of design and method of the study, population, sample and sampling strategies, , source of data, data collection tools and techniques, data collection procedure, data analysis procedures and ethical consideration. The fourth chapter includes analysis of data and interpretation of results where data have been analyzed in terms of perceptions of teachers and students towards implementation of EMI and practices of EMI at basic and secondary level. Similarly, the fifth chapter incorporates findings, conclusions and recommendations based on analysis and interpretation of the data. The references and appendices have been included in the last part of the thesis.