Factors Affecting Oral Proficiency of Madhesi Students in EFL Learning

Abstract

This is a study on Factors Affecting Oral Proficiency of Madhesi Students in EFL Learning. It aimed to identify the factors affecting oral proficiency of grade 10 Madhesi students and to take account of speaking activities used by teachers to engage students in speaking practices. The study was conducted in Kotahimai Rural Municipality, Rupandehi. The sample size of the study comprised fifty students who were selected using simple random sampling procedure. It followed survey research design and mixed method methodology for the analysis and interpretation of the data. The data was collected through survey questionnaire and interview. The findings of the study showed that Madhesi students have been facing significant challenges in learning English because of phonemic, morphological, syntactic and pragmatic differences between students’ mother language and English. A major sociolinguistic barrier was the language gap between students and their mostly non-Madhesi teachers, which made students hesitant to ask questions in their native language. These linguistic difficulties were compounded by classroom anxiety and a lack of self-confidence, creating interconnected obstacles that severely hindered the development of spoken English. The findings indicate the necessity for a holistic approach that could address both the linguistic and psychological aspects of learning English to improve oral proficiency among Madhesi students. This study has been subsumed in five chapters. The first chapter consists of background of the study, statement of the problem, objectives of the study, research questions, significance of the study, delimitations of the study and operational definitions of key terms. The second chapter deals with the review of related theoretical literature, review of empirical literature, implications of the study and conceptual framework. The third chapter deals with design of the study, population, sample and sampling strategy, research tools, sources of data, data collection procedures, data analysis procedures and ethical considerations. The fourth chapter consists of analysis of data and interpretation of results and the summary of findings. The fifth chapter consists of conclusion and recommendations. Recommendations have been presented in policy related, practice related and further research related. The final part of the study consists of references and appendices.