introduction
Education is a comprehensive term. Its meaning is as wide as life. It is difficult to describe the sequence of life in a few words, in the same way it is also difficult to give a single meaning to the term education. In true sense, education of man does not begin at school; it begins at the womb of the mother. It ends not when one graduates from the University, but continues up to the end of one’s life. Therefore, education is a lifelong process. It has passed through many ages and stages in the process of evolution and at every stage it has had different meanings according to the, the then existing social conditions. The concept of education is an ever ending process changing times will always demand a revision of the prevailing educational ideals and practices.
The development of any society or the nation mainly depends upon its educational system. In India before and after Independence many argued in favor of Mother-tongue as medium of instruction at all levels of acquisition. In the context of Liberalization, globalization and knowledge expansion English has become a necessicity in the day to day life. In view of this the government of Andhra Pradesh decided to introduce English as a medium of instruction even in the state run government schools from upper primary level onwards.
need and significance of the study:
The importance of the medium of instruction in the process of education has been high-lighted by the education commission (1964-66) “The medium selected should enable the students to acquire knowledge which facilitates to express them with clarity and to think with precision and vigor”.
Before Independence in India there are two streams of education: One is vernacular system and the other one is the British or the colonial system of Education. Even before and after Independence a section of Indian intellectuals opposed English as a medium of Instruction and many comities and commissions made several recommendations in favor of mother tongue as a medium of instruction. Now-a-days English as a language is playing a vital role in all sectors. Therefore, the demand for English medium schools is ever increasing in the community and among the parents.
On realizing the importance of English as medium of instruction most of the parents whether they are educated or uneducated, rich or poor are showing interest in sending their children to English medium schools. Unfortunately this facility is available only in the private schools where the fee structure is very high. In such a situation the poor and lower middle class families may not be in a position to send their wards to English medium schools.
By noticing the need and importance of English as a medium of instruction, the government of Andhra Pradesh has decided that English should be introduced as medium of instruction in some selected government schools from 6th class onwards under SUCCESS schools scheme. The government states that the move was aimed at enhancing the standards in school education strengthen the capabilities of children in English and prepare them for national and global competitions. The officials of the Education Department Govt. of AP State that the move is to ensure the students coming from rural areas studying in government schools to be on par with their counter parts studying in private English medium schools.
Changes in the educational policies are planned and implemented by the government, where as their success much depends upon the ‘teachers’. The Success of English as a medium of instruction in government schools is in the hands of the teachers. At this point it is imperative to know the attitudes of the teachers working in government success schools towards English as medium of Instruction, and hence the present investigation aims at to study the “Attitude of Success School Teachers towards the Introduction of English as Medium of Instruction from Class-VI Onwards”.
Objectives of the Study
- To study the attitude of success school teachers towards the introduction of English as medium of instruction.
- To find out the attitude of secondary school Teachers towards introducing English as medium of instruction from 6th class with respect to their Gender, Educational Qualifications, Teaching Experience, and the Subject that they teach.
Assumptions
Attitude of Secondary school teachers towards introduction of English as medium of instruction from 6th class may vary with reference to their demographic and educational background.
Hypothesis
There is no significant difference in the attitude of secondary school teachers towards the introduction of English as medium of Instruction with respect to their Gender, Educational Qualifications, Teaching Experience and the subject that they teach.
Methodology
To study and describe the present problem i.e. “Attitude of secondary school teachers towards introducing of English as medium of instruction from class VI in government schools” of Kappa Manual in Chattier district, Andhra Pradesh the investigator adopted Normative Survey method.
Tool
In the present study for the purpose of collecting the pertinent data the investigators developed 5-point attitude scale consisting of 30 statements related to the topic “English as the medium of instruction”. All the statements are simple and related to the problem on hand.
establishing the validity & reliability of the tool
Validity
In the present schedule a systematic effort was made by the investigators to collect relevant data in order to achieve the objectives of the study. While preparing the tool the investigator consulted the experts in the field of education, there was much consensus among the experts regarding the selection of items. Most of them were accepted and a few items were modified according to their suggestions. Hence it was assumed that the administered tool has content and constructs validity.
Reliability
In the present study the investigators adopted Split Half Method for establishing reliability. 20 teachers were randomly selected as sample from the total population of the study by following formula and procedure accordingly the reliability of the tool was established.
The correlation of co-efficient between the two sets of scores is (0.715) which is significant at (0.05) level. Hence the schedule may be considered as having high degree of reliability.
Locale and Sample of the Study
The Investigators have selected Kappa Manual of Chattier district of Andhra Pradesh as the geographical area of the study. There are 24 High Schools in Kuppam Mandal. The SUCCESS Program was introduced in 15 Schools. The teachers working in all 15 success schools were selected by using purposive sampling technique. Thus, the total sample consists of 80 teachers who are teaching in English as a medium in success schools
Scoring
The schedule prepared by the investigators is closed ended one with five point scale reading from Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Undecided (UD), Disagree (DA) and Strongly Disagree (SD). Each statement is given scores as 1,2,3,4 and 5 for negative statements and 5,4,3,2 and 1 for positive statements
Data Collection
Investigators personally visited each School selected for the sample and obtained permission from the respective head of the institution. The subjects were identified for the sample and the relevant data was collected from the sample using the developed schedule. The subjects identified for the study were oriented about the purpose of the study and explained the importance of their active involvement for the conduct of this study on scientific lines.
The investigators specially emphasized that the responses given by them would be kept strictly confidential. Doubts were clarified and they were asked to mark their Reponses by placing tick (√) mark. Further the respondents were requested not to leave any item in the schedule unanswered. The investigators as per the given time met the teachers personally and collected back the filled-in schedules.
Statistical techniques used
The data collected was analyzed by using appropriate statistical techniques such as Mean ± 1 SD Standard Deviation. The ‘t’ test was also used in this study.
The obtained Mean scores are grouped under three categories namely, Low, Moderate and High to indicate the level of attitude of secondary school teachers working in SUCCESS schools towards the introduction of English as medium of instruction. The results are presented in the following tables.
Table-1: Level of Attitude of Secondary School teachers towards introduction of English as a medium of instruction.
| S.No. | Level | Attitude Score |
| 1. | Low | Below 91.88 |
| 2. | Moderate | Between 91.89 & 113.49 |
| 3. | High | Above 113.50 |
Results and Discussion
Hypothesis: There is no significant difference in the attitude of secondary school teachers towards introduction of English as Medium of Instruction with respect to their Gender, Qualifications, Teaching Experience and the Subject that they are handling.
Table-2: Mean, S.D and ‘t’ vale of the responses
| S.No. | Variable | Categories | N | Mean | SD | t-value |
| 1 | Gender | Male | 40 | 102.1 | 10.8 | 0.573 @ |
| Female | 40 | 103.5 | 1075 | |||
| 2 | Educational
Qualification |
UG | 36 | 102.08 | 9.9 | 0.35 @ |
| PG | 44 | 102.91 | 11.8 | |||
| 3 | Teaching
Experience |
0-10 years | 60 | 101.92 | 10.9 | 0.547 @ |
| 10 years above | 40 | 103.5 | 10.75 | |||
| 4 | Subject
Handling |
Language | 27 | 104.22 | 9.65 | 1.00 @ |
| Non-language
(Subjects) |
53 | 101.79 | 11.45 |
@ not significant at 0.05 level
From the above table-2, it is observed that the calculated ‘t’ value with regard to teachers attitude towards introduction of English as medium of instruction due to variation in their gender (0.57), Academic Qualifications (0.36), Teaching experience (0.54), and Subject Handling (1.00) are not significant at 0.05 level. Therefore, it can be said that the formulated hypothesis “There is no significant difference in the attitude of teachers towards introduction of English as medium of introduction with respect to their gender, academic qualifications, teaching experience and subject handling” are not significant. Hence, it can be stated that the formulated Hypothesis is accepted.
It can be concluded that the female teachers exhibited better attitude (M-103.5) than the male teachers (102.1), Teachers with Post-graduate qualification and under-graduate qualification (102.08) revealed the same level of attitude. Teachers with above 10 years of teaching experience (103.5) are having better attitude than the teachers with below 10 years of teaching experience (101.92). Therefore, it can be concluded that the longer is the duration of experience better will be their attitude. When compared to teacher’s teaching language subjects with non-language subject teachers, the language teaching teachers’ express (104.22) better attitude than the non-language teachers (101.79).
Findings of the Study
- Irrespective of their gender both male and female teachers exhibited moderate level of attitude in introducing English as medium of instruction from Class VI onwards.
- Irrespective of their academic qualification, both under graduate and Post-graduate and above qualified teachers (Mean: 102.08 & 102.91) showed moderate level of attitude in introducing of English as medium of instruction in government schools.
- Teachers with more number of years of teaching experience showed better attitude than the teachers with less number of years of teaching experience towards English as medium instruction from Class VI onwards.
- The teachers teaching language subjects (Mean: 104.22) revealed better attitude than the teachers teaching non-language subjects (Mean: 101.79) towards English as medium of instruction.
Implications of the Study
- The study revealed that majority of the teachers working in SUCCESS schools demonstrated moderate level of attitude in all aspects of introducing English as a medium of instruction. It gives a wide scope for organizing orientation / training programmes for attitude building towards introducing English as a medium of instruction.
- In the context of globalization the need of the hour is to make the students to learn the international language / link language i.e., English which helps the future citizens. Therefore, the teachers should be geared up with adequate knowledge and skills required to develop the communication skills.
- Every teacher irrespective of their teacher training qualification (B.Ed./M.Ed./) must be given intensive orientation to develop required skills to teach in English.
- To develop positive attitude in introducing English as medium of instruction at primary level, awareness programmes are to be conducted not only for teachers but also to the parents and students.
Conclusion
The present study is confined to know the attitude of secondary school teachers towards introduction of English as the medium of instruction and to find out whether, there is any significant difference with respect to gender, age, general qualifications, training qualifications, teaching experience, subject handling
From the obtained results it is found that the teachers working in secondary schools exhibited positive attitude towards the introduction of English as medium of instruction with respect to their gender, academic qualifications, training qualifications, teaching experience and subject handling. The results revealed that English is perceived as a useful language mostly because of job opportunities and for acquiring scientific knowledge.
Therefore, it is construed that the policy of the state government to introduce English as a medium of instruction in the government schools, is considered by the teaching community as a progressive step in preparing the children coming from marginalized communities to face the challenges of the future. To make the programme success, the government should continue with the same spirit and provide all the required inputs which include creating better infrastructural facilities, developing language lab and orienting teachers extensively in using the English as a medium of instruction in the schools.
References
Aggarwal. J.C(2000), “Landmarks in the History of Modern Indian Education”, Delhi: Vikas Publishing House Pvt. Ltd.
Edward. A.L(1969), “Techniques of Attitude Scale Construction”, Bombay: Vikils, Fetter and Simpsons.
Freeman F.S(1962), “Theory and Practice of Psychological Testing” New Delhi: Oxford and IBH Publishing Company.
Garg. B.R(2004), Educational Documents in Free India, Ambalacantt: The Associated Publishers.
G.O. Ms.No. 76 Government of Andhra Pradesh Dated: 10-06-2008.
Intakhab. A. Khan (2001), “Education in Modern Indian Context”, New Delhi: Arise publishers and Distributors.
Naik. J.P (1982), “The Education Commission and After”, Bombay: Allied Publishers Pvt. Ltd.
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[1] Asst. Professor, Dept of Education & HRD, Dravidian University, Kuppam.
[2] Research Scholar, Dept of Education & HRD, Dravidian University, Kuppam.
