Students' Perception towards English as a Medium of Instruction

Abstract

he main objective of this paper was to gather insight into students’ perceptions towards language use during English instruction. What are students’ opinions about the benefit of their own and the teacher’s use of English in the classroom? When should the teacher and the students use the first language in the English classroom? When should teachers use L2 in the classroom? These are three of the main questions explored in this paper. A study was conducted upon grades 9 and 10 in the private school, Shiksha Sandesh English School. A total of 55 students participated in a questionnaire, in which they were asked about language use and their perception towards using the target language and their first language during English instruction. Questions seeking the effectiveness of language use in the L2 class were presented among the sample population. The findings suggest that English should be used as the predominant language of instruction and that students’ mother tongue also serves an important and facilitating role in the English classroom. This finding may impact the way second language instruction is carried out in the upper grades of compulsory schools in Nepal. L2 can be more effective in giving simple feedback, teaching grammar and vocabulary and dealing with abstract words of proposition. L1 as a medium of instruction is equally important. The finding adds that L1 is mostly used in dealing with complex issues, homework description, complex answer, and maintaining discipline at school. So, both L1 and L2 have crucial roles to learn L2