Faculty of Education

Allama Iqbal Open University, Islamabad

APPROVAL FORM

The research project attached hereto titled Communication Problems in English

Language at Secondary Level Proposed and submitted by Sadaf Ajmal Roll No.

BK639012 in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of B.Ed. (1.5 Years),

Teacher Education is hereby accepted.

Supervisor: .
(NAWAZISH MEHBOOB)

Evaluator: .

Dated: June 30, 2018

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 DECLARATION

I Sadaf Ajmal Daughter of Ajmal Khan Roll No. BK639012 Registration #:

16NHP01744, A student of B.Ed. (1.5 Years) programme Teacher Education at Allama

Iqbal Open University do hereby solemnly declare that the research project entitled

Communication Problems in English Language at Secondary Level submitted by me

in partial fulfillment of B.Ed. (1.5 Years) Programme, is my original work, and has not

been submitted or published earlier. I also solemnly declare that it shall not, in future, be

submitted by me for obtaining any other degree from this or any other university of

institution.

I also understand that if evidence of plagiarism is found in my thesis/dissertation at any

stage, even after the award of degree, the work may be cancelled and the degree revoked.

Date: . _______________________
Signature of Candidate

Sadaf Ajmal

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 Research Project Submission Approval Form

(Supervisor)

Research project entitled Communication Problems in English Language at

Secondary Level Submitted By: Sadaf Ajmal Roll Number: BK639012 Registration #:

16SKI01087, B.Ed. (1.5 Years) programme Teacher Education has been read by me

and has been found to be satisfactory regarding its quality, content, language, format,

citation, bibliographic style and consistency, and thus fulfill the qualitative requirement

of this study. It is ready for submission to Allama Iqbal Open University for evaluation.

NAWAZISH MEHBOOB

_________________ _______
Signature of Supervisor
Date: ___________________

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 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

All praise is to the omnipotent and magnanimous Almighty Allah, Who guides us

from darkness to the light and helps us in difficulties; Allah enabled me to complete this

tough work and bestowed the wisdom and strength to make material contribution to an

already existing ocean of knowledge. I offer my humble thanks to Holy Prophet

Muhammad (peace be upon him), who is eternal a source of knowledge and guidance for

humanity.

It is not a mere formality when I express my full gratitude, high esteem and

admiration for my most worthy supervisor Mr. Nawazish Mehboob. Apart from his

skilled supervision and invaluable help in the project work, I shall always be indebted to

him for extending all possible help and supervision as and when I was in dire need. At the

same time, I equally express my respect and regards to all the committee members for

their time and diligence, with whom I had quite a few good discussions. Their profound

inquisitiveness sharpened my concepts and research.

Finally, I want to thank my family for their consistent moral support and

encouragement. Their urge and motivation is commendable.

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 ABSTRACT

The overall aim of this research was to examine the thoughts that English teachers

and students at secondary level in KTS Haripur have towards communication in English

language. The researcher wanted to find out why they believe that oral communication is

a central part to learn English, what factors they believe contribute to verbally active

students in the English distant language class and what English teachers think of the

evaluation of students’ ability to express themselves verbally in English. The researcher

have interviewed three English teachers with the help of open ended questionnaire and 90

students from government higher secondary schools, KTS Haripur have answered the

questionnaire. The results show that the teachers and a many of the students think that

verbal communication is a vital part of the teaching of English, mainly because of the fact

that being able to express yourself verbally in English today is of great importance and

because through this the students get to use the English language a lot themselves. The

students believe that students’ self-confidence, a safe and sound classroom environment,

small size of class, members of group, interesting topics, fun assignments and passionate

and cheering teachers are imperative factors which contribute to verbally active students

in the English language class. The results also show that the teachers believe that the

assessment of students’ verbal ability is hard because it is not as concrete as other skills

that they assess in the English language class. Other reasons why the assessment is hard

are the problem of getting shy or uninterested students to contribute verbally and lack of

time.

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 TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter Page

1. INTRODUCTION 01

1.1 Background of the Study 01

1.2 Statement of the Problem 02

1.3 Research Objectives 02

1.4 Research Questions 03

1.5 Significance of the Study 03

1.6 Scope and Limitations of the Study 04

1.7 Delimitation of the Study 05

1.8 Research Methodology 05

1.8.1 Population 05

1.8.2 Sampling Technique 05

1.8.3 Sample 05

1.8.4 Research Instrument 05

1.8.5 Data Collection 05

1.8.6 Data Analysis 05

1.9 Operational Definition(s) 06

2. REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE 07

2.1 Communicative skill 07

2.1.1 Definition of the concept 07

2.2 Communication in distant language teaching – a survey 07

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 2.2.1 Structuralism and behaviorism 07

2.2.2 Rationalism and cognitive 08

2.2.3 Constructivism and social constructivism 09

2.3 Factors relevant to oral communication in classroom 10

2.3.1 The teaching situation 10

2.3.2 Motivation 11

2.3.3 Self-confidence 13

3. RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 15

3.1 Introduction 15

3.2 Research Design 15

3.3 Population 15

3.4 Sample & Sampling Technique 15

3.5 Instrumentation 15

3.6 Validity and Reliability of Instrument 16

3.7 Data Collection 16

3.8 Data Analysis 16

4. DATA ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION 17

4.1 Introduction 17

4.2 Analysis of Teachers’ Responses 17

4.2.1 Why is verbal communication is a central part of the

Teaching of English as a distant language? 17

4.2.2 Factors contribute to verbally active students in the English

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 Language class 18

4.2.3 Evaluation of students’ ability to express themselves verbally

in English 20

4.3 Analysis of students’ Responses 21

5. SUMMARY, FINDINGS, DISCUSSION, CONCLUSION AND

RECOMMENDATIONS 32

5.1 Summary 32

5.2 Findings and Discussion 33

5.2.1 Findings from teacher’s questionnaire 33

5.2.2 Findings from student’s questionnaire 34

5.3 Conclusion 36

5.4 Recommendations 37

6. BIBLIOGRAPHY 39

7. Appendix A 41

8. Appendix B 45

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