University of Basra

College of Education in Qurna

Department of English

Survey Study of Methods of Teaching

English Language in North of Basra’s
Public and Private Schools
A Graduation Research Paper
Presented by
Shahad Hasan Batul

As Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements of the Degree

of
Bachelor of Education in English at the Department of English,
College of Education in Qurna, University of Basra

Supervised by
Assisst.Lect.Wissam .F. Al.Nussairi

Academic Year (2022-2023)

To my father and mother the apple of my eyes, to my late
teacher Muhammad, who was like a father to me, to myself
who withstood until the moment, to my close friends Zahra
and Zainab… to my dear students in the period of practical
application in order to provide a better educational future
for them and for all other students..
Content
Acknowledgment I
Abstract II
Aims of the study III
1 Chapter One: Introduction 1
1.1 Problem of the study 2
1.2 Research Question 3
Chapter Two: Theoretical Part 4
2 Approaches And Methods In Language Teaching 4
2.1 Approach, Method, And Technique 6
2.2 The Grammar-Translation Method 8
2.3 Communicative Language Teaching 10
2.4 The Natural Approach 12
2.5 Principled Eclecticism Method 13
Chapter Three: Practical Part 15
3 Findings 15

3.1 Teaching English language reading skills practices and

17
problems

3.2 Teaching English language writing skills practices and

21
problems
4 Chapter Four: Conclusions 24
Recommendations 26
References 27
Acknowledgment

First of all, I want to thank God who has enabled me to complete my

educational career up to this moment, and thank Him for the success and
wellness that He bestowed upon me, without which I would not have survived
until now..

My sincere thanks also go to my supervisor, Wissam, who supervised me

in this research, and who is credited with the success in presenting this research
paper with the least possible errors and defects.. I am very grateful for his
guidance, advice, and patience with me..

I am also grateful to the heads and teaching staff in my department (the

Department of English at Qurna College, University of Basra) for teaching me
over the past four years..

In addition to the teachers and students whose comments and opinions

helped me complete this research.. I am very grateful for their cooperation with
me..

Last but not least, I thank my father and mother who were the best support
and provided me with all the help I needed to complete the research smoothly
and without obstacles..

Finally, I give a big thank you to myself, who withstood until this moment
and did not give up, despite everything, to complete the research or even the
whole study..

I
Abstract
The English language is one of the basic subjects. Despite studying the
English language for about 12 years, the majority of students lack the required
knowledge of the English language skills to pursue their higher education and
professional careers with the required competence. Taking into account the
aforementioned, this research focused on Methods of Teaching in the target
language, which is the English language, its practices, and the problems that
may stand in the way of learning in secondary school in particular.
The study sample consisted of eleven teachers from six different schools,
three of which are public and three private, and more than 100 male and female
students (whose observations were summarized through oral questions), in
addition to thirteen student notebooks. The data collected was done through
open questionnaires, group interviews with students and teachers, and
individually with teachers, notebook analysis, the teacher’s style in the
classroom, and the teaching methods he follows. The data was examined and
documented using objective analysis without the use of a specialist only by
relying on the references mentioned at the end of this scientific research.
It has been concluded that teaching English includes the following
practices, which are at first, reading practices. The text is read by the teacher or
student in a clear and loud voice, after which the translation of what has been
read. Introduce the central idea or summary as well as the meanings of difficult
words to the students.
One of the main problems that teachers face in teaching reading skills is
the lack of concentration of students in the lesson and a clear decrease in their
reading comprehension skills, not to mention the lack of interest in reading.
Secondly, writing practices were represented in providing texts that may not be

II
in the educational curriculum, in addition to a list of important vocabulary
related to the given lesson.
The main problems while teaching writing skills are the students’ lack of
a scientific background in writing methods, or even the fact that they are not
good at writing mainly because there are no pre-writing activities, and the
difficulty of their learning and their control over the lessons because of their
difficulty as the educational level progresses.
The results also revealed a significant gap In what teachers claim to do in
the classroom and what they actually do. This showed me a clear lack of
competence of English language teachers in implementing the communicative
approach or other approaches and teaching methods. It has become increasingly
important to address these challenges.

Aims of the study

This research is about knowing the teaching methods used by teachers with the
collection of observations on how to apply the teaching methods in whether they
are right or wrong. This was done through a survey study and meticulous
collection of observations for the credibility of the results, and presenting
problems transparently in order to find solutions to them.

Keywords
GTM:- The Grammar translation method.
CLT:- Communicative language teaching.
TP:- Teacher participants.
SP:- Student participants.

III
 Chapter One
Introduction
Today, English is the most widely studied foreign language in the world,
and 500 years ago it was Latin because it was the dominant language of
education, commerce, religion, and government in the Western world
(Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.3). English is like the blood in the veins of nations
around the world (Ahmed & Rao, 2012). As a result, the demand for English
has increased to such an extent that citizens of modern societies require
sufficient proficiency to succeed in their academic and professional careers
(Muhammad, 2011). The emphasis is on listening, speaking, reading, and
writing, so education must be done properly in order to achieve the desired
success.
Some may ask, saying: What is the student’s need to listen or speaking?
All he has to know is reading and writing, there is no doubt about the
importance of writing as an essential skill in the process of learning the English
language because it provides a way to communicate the ideas and feelings of
the individual. In addition to the importance of writing skills in carrying out
writing tasks provided by teachers and conducting tests and final exams.
Moreover, effective reading skills are also required, in order for the students to
be able to answer the questions they have to be able to read them correctly as
well. They should also be familiar with sentence structures and vocabulary and
learn writing style from the texts they read. This shows us that both skills are
important and complementary to each other.
But in a country like Iraq, where the General Directorate of Curricula
adopted the communicative method in 1997, which was nominated by
researchers as the best method for teaching EFL Learners which was not

1
applied until 2003 as an experiment, to be circulated after that to all schools in
Iraq, which focuses on developing communicative competence.
Despite the focus on the English language, language learners still face
difficulties in almost every area, whether in reading, writing, listening,
speaking, vocabulary or grammar. One of the reasons behind this situation is
that teachers and students focus on completing the syllabus and preparing for
exams only instead of building skills and most importantly the method of
teaching used which I found it far from the recommended method which is
communicative which it explained in Richard’s book (2004).
The CLT approach has been praised worldwide for Its main focus on
improving the communicative competence of learners. CLT is considered as an
approach and not a method since it is compatible with many teaching methods.
There is no specific teaching methodology available for CLT. The availability
of a teaching methodology would be typical for a method (Richards & Rodgers
2007, p.172). On the other hand, the use of grammar translation method (GTA)
was considered good in giving appropriate knowledge of language to the
learners. But it has failed in the domain of practical use of language in real life
situation.

1.1.Problem of the study

The English language is one of the important subjects that the student
usually finds difficult in it. Facilitating the subject, simplifying it, and
delivering it to the student depends largely on the teacher, especially in the
early stages of education. Unfortunately, we do not find the required interest in
teaching it or in-depth in how to present it to the student. Therefore, in this
research, the most common methods, and not all of them, were addressed in

2
order to reach a scientific value from it. The opinions of teachers and students
were mentioned in a later part of the research, but they remain insufficient
because this research topic is very broad and requires a larger scientific project
to cover and discuss it in an integrated manner. It is frustrating that despite my
lengthy research, I did not find results similar to my research title, especially
for the city of Basra, so this was an incentive for the existence and completion
of such a study.

1.2.Research Question
This study endeavored to answer the following research question :
What are the methods used by teachers to teach English in the public and
private schools of North Basra?
It is important to note that it is a study that is concerned with non-elite
schools or schools for distinguished students, where a specific educational
curriculum will be discussed .

3
Chapter Two -Theoretical Part:-
Approaches And Methods In Language Teaching
In this chapter, the approaches and methods of teaching English will be
discussed. This topic has been referred to previously in many publications of
various authors and writers specialized in various fields of the English
language. Each author dealt with it in a different way, but I will mention some
of them that I found appropriate for research:
Richards and Rodgers – Book Approaches and Methods in Language
Teaching (2007). They divide their book into three main parts: major trends in
language teaching in the twentieth century, alternative approaches and
methods, and current approaches to communication. In the first part of their
book, Richards and Rodgers provide a brief report on the beginnings of
language teaching and on the first curricula and methods of language teaching.
Moreover, they distinguish between the concepts of approach and method and
explain how these two concepts relate. They then discussed the grammatical
translation method, the oral and circumstantial curriculum for language
teaching as well as the hearing method. In Part II, curricula and alternative
methods of language teaching are examined. However, as the authors pointed
out, the vast majority of them did not affect mainstream language education
(Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.72). In part III, current communication curricula
for language teaching, namely communication language teaching, natural
approach and collaborative language learning, are described. Content-based
learning and task based language learning. Richards and Rodgers make the
chronology of the development of methods and methods very clear, and
therefore their method of chronology of methods and methods is adopted in this
chapter of the research.

4
 Richard and Rodgers build each method or approach essentially in the
same way: after a general introduction to the method or approach they divide
into three main parts, namely, approach, design and procedure. In the approach
part, the theories of language and learning underpin the approach or method are
described. In the second part, the design and objectives of the approach or
method are described in addition to the normative approach. Furthermore, the
types of learning and teaching activities, the roles of the learner and teacher,
and the role of educational materials were discussed. In the procedure, Richard
and Rodgers describe typical classroom procedures for the approach or method
described. Richards and Rogers’ arrangement of curricula and methods makes
perfect sense and makes it easier for the reader to pursue key arguments and
understand that curricula and methods consist of theories of language and
learning that form the basis of theory, teaching materials and appropriate
procedures. So, in this paper, the Richards and Rogers method was adopted to
arrange curricula and methods, Although a number of other books and articles
have also been considered in this research. Diane Larsen Freeman in her book
Techniques and Principles of Language Teaching (2000) adopts a very similar
approach as Richards and Rogers. Insights from her book are also included in
this chapter as well as insights from The Book of Elizabeth (2010) and other
authors.
Finally, it must be said that not all current approaches and methods of
language teaching are described in this paper, only those that I saw in the
schools I visited, were discussed in detail based on the book by Richards and
Rodgers, which are arranged as follows:
• The grammar-translation method
• Communicative language teaching

5
 • The natural approach
• Principled Eclecticism Method
According to Taylor (2019), there has been a period of time for each method to
appear, as shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1. (Cited from Taylor, T.J. 2012, “Language Teaching Methods: An

Overview” [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blog.teaching-methods)

2.1-Approach, Method, And Technique:

Before delving into the details of the topic, it is necessary to know how
to differentiate between the above terms. American applied linguist Edward
Anthony adopted the idea of a schedule in 1963, he identified three levels of
visualization and organization, which he called; Approach, method and
technique:
Hierarchical arrangement, the organizational key is that the techniques
implement a method consistent with the approach. The approach is a set of
interconnected assumptions that deal with the nature and inclination of

6
language teaching. The approach is self evident. The nature of the subject to be
taught describes an approach.
The method is a comprehensive plan for the structured presentation of
language materials, and no part of it is inconsistent, all based on the chosen
approach. The approach is obvious, the method is procedural. Within one
approach, there can be many ways.
A technique is implementation – that which actually takes place in a
classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem, or contrivance used to accomplish
an immediate objective. Techniques must be consistent with a method, and
therefore in harmony with an approach as well (Anthony 1963, p.63-67).
According to Anthony’s model, the approach is the level at which
assumptions and beliefs about language and language learning are determined;
The method is the level at which the theory is put into practice and where
choices are made about the specific skill to be taught, the content to be taught
and the order in which the content will be presented; Techniques are the level
at which classroom procedures are described.
Anthony’s model serves as a useful way to distinguish between different
degrees of abstraction and privacy found in different language teaching
proposals. We can thus see that the reform movement’s proposals were at the
level of the approach and that the direct method is one of the ways derived from
that approach. The so-called reading method, which arose as a result of the
Coleman Agreement, should be described in the collection reading methods –
a number of different ways of implementing the reading approach have been
developed.

7
2.2. The Grammar-Translation Method

Figure 2 (Adapted from Taylor, T.J. (2015). The Grammar-Translation

Method: Advantages and Disadvantages. [Blog post]. Retrieved May 1, 2023
from https://blog.tjtaylor.net/method-direct-grammar/ )

It is not a new method at all and it has different names. It has been used
by language teachers for many years and is still used today. Previously it was
called the classical method as it was used for the first time in teaching the
classical languages Latin and Greek.

In the Grammar-Translation approach grammar was taught deductively,

Grammar was also taught in a systematic and organized way, which was
reflected in the syllabus where grammar items were sequenced from easy to
more complex (Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.6). The language used in class was
the native language for the explanation of grammar rules and for instructions.
In a typical lesson the grammar rule was at first explicitly stated and followed
by translation exercises (Thornbury 2000, p.21). In grammar exercises pupils
had to apply the learned rule by completing already constructed sentences and
then by formulating new ones, showing that they had understood how the rule
had to be used (Dendrinos 1992, p.107).

It Is noteworthy that there is no linguistic theory on which the method is

based. This is due to the fact that the method was adopted from the time when

8
Latin was the most important language, which is the main language spoken by
the majority of the population at the time in Europe and other countries, 500
years ago and until this time there seems to be no linguistic teaching theory.
This led to the questioning of grammatical translation approaches in the midto-
late nineteenth century and a reform movement in Europe laid the foundation
for other new ways to language teaching at that time (Richards & Rodgers
2007, p.6-7).
Now that we have clarified the above, we are able to derive an analysis
of the grammar exercises based on the above and Roger's book.

The relevant criteria of the Grammar-Translation Approach in respect to

analyzing grammar exercises are:

• translation exercises

• deductive grammar teaching

• L1 is used for explaining grammar rules

• focus on writing and reading skills

• typical grammar exercises: completing already constructed sentences, then

formulating new ones, filling-in exercises, matching exercises,
etc.(Kamhuber, 2010. p,11-12)

9
2.3. Communicative Language Teaching

Figure 3 (Adapted from Taylor, T.J. (2015). Teaching Methods:

Communicative Language Teaching. Retrieved from
https://blog.tjtaylor.net/method-communicative/ )

According to Richards & Rodgers (2007, p.155), today European and

American language teaching experts view CLT as an approach, and not a
method which has communicative competence as its goal of language teaching
and which seeks to include all of the four language skills into communicative
exercises.2
The great coverage of the Communicative Approach and the great range
of teaching and learning procedures and exercises compatible with it, however,
make it hard to compare CLT to other approaches and methods: for some CLT
simply means the teaching of grammar and functions, for others it means using
classroom procedures such as pair or group work, in which a problem has to be
solved or an information-gap between the two parties has to be mastered
(Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.155).

Some scholars, such as Thornbury or Howatt distinguish between a

"weak" or "shallow-end" version of CLT and a "strong' or "deep-end' version
of CLT (Howatt 1984, p.279; Thornbury 2000, p.22). In weak or shallow-end
CLT, which is according to the authors today's standard, grammar is still the
main aspect of the syllabus, although it is often "dressed up in functional labels:

10
asking the way, talking about yourself, making future plans etc." (Thornbury
2000, p.22). In the strong version, which Thornbury (2000, p.22) referred to as
deep-end CLT, explicit grammar instruction is rejected and instead a syllabus
of tasks is proposed.

2.3.1.Approach

There are rules and regularities governing the relationship between the
linguistic form of a message and other constituent parts of the speech event.
Hymes points out that "there are rules of use without which the rules of
grammar would be useless (Hymes 1971, p.278).The aim clearly is to develop
learners' communicative competence (Dendrinos 1992, p.118). Thornbuy
states that:
Communicative competence involves knowing how to use the grammar
and vocabulary of the language to achieve communicative goals, and knowing
how to do this in a socially appropriate way (Thornbury 2000, p.18).
In contrast to the various works that have been written on the theory of
language very little has been written on the theory of learning in CLT (Richards
& Rodgers 2007: 161). However, some CLT practices can be defined as
theories of learning: according to Richards and Rodgers (2007, p. 161), these
are the communication principle (exercises that emphasize real communication
promote learning), the task principle (exercises in which language is used for
carrying out meaningful tasks encourage learning) and the meaningfulness
principle (meaningful language supports the learning process).
Learners' needs are defined in terms of four language skills of reading,
listening, writing and speaking, and each skill is approached from a
communicative perspective (Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.163).

11
2.3.2.Design
According to Richards & Rodgers the Threshold Level should "specify
what was needed in order to be able to achieve a reasonable degree of
communicative proficiency in a foreign language, including the language items
needed" (Richards & Rodgers 2007, p.163). However, this type of syllabus was
also criticized. For example, Widdowson (1980) expressed the opinion that the
Functional-Notional Approach does not deal with language in context but only
with concepts and functions in idealized isolation. He states that notional
syllabuses "are notional rather than structural isolations, but they are isolates
all the same (Widdowson 1980, p.248). The objectives of CLT, as represented
in the curriculum, incorporate aspects of communicative competence in
accordance with learners' proficiency level and their communicative needs.
According to Breen and Candlin the CLT learner is a "negotiator –
between the self, the learning process, and the object of learning" (Breen &
Candlin 1980, p.110). Further, within the group the learner is joint negotiator,
as for example in classroom procedures and group work (Breen & Candlin
1980, p.110).
2.4. The Natural Approach

Figure 4 (Adapted from Taylor, T.J. (2015). Teaching Methods:

Communicative Language Teaching. Retrieved from
https://blog.tjtaylor.net/method-communicative/)

12
 The Natural Approach was developed by Tracy Terrell, a Spanish
teacher in California and by the well-known applied linguist Steven Krashen
(Richards & Rodgers 2007, p. 178). Main principles of the approach were that
language was used in communicative situations without any help of the mother
tongue and grammar teaching was rejected. Although quite similar at first
glance, the Natural Approach has to be distinguished from the Direct Method
(Richards & Rodgers 2007, p. 178). What they have in common is that both try
to replicate the conditions of first language acquisition (Thornbury 2000, p. 21).

2.5. Principled Eclecticism Method

Figure 5 (Adapted from Taylor, T.J. 2012, “Language Teaching Methods: An

Overview” [Blog post]. Retrieved from https://blog.tjtaylor.net/teaching-
methods/ )
Using an eclectic approach to teaching English at the tertiary level in
China was first described by Luo, He & Yang (2001). They do not define the
eclectic method as a single concrete method, but rather as a combined method
of listening. May include speaking, reading, writing and classroom practice.
They argued that the currently preferred teaching methods were the integration
of grammatical translation, structural methods, and CLT, and advised teachers

13
to use all other methods while avoiding their shortcomings. I’m here. They
propose that there are five characteristics of successful eclectic teaching.

1) Determine the purpose of each method.

2) Be flexible in the selection and application of individual methods.
3) Make each method effective.
4) Check the validity of each method.
5) Maintaining continuity throughout the educational process, which
he divides into three stages.
a) Elementary Level Teacher Center:
b) Learner-centric in practice.
c) Learner-centered during production.

These opinions are based on personal experience, but usually reflect

teachers’ current thinking and confusion about English teaching theory and
practice.

14
Chapter Three: Practical Part
Findings

These findings were reached through the information collected through

field and survey observations, in addition to the questionnaire that I submitted
to a group of schools with the cooperation of their teachers and students, in
addition to the observations that I collected through my study of students’
notebooks. It has been divided into two headings:-
1/ Teaching English language reading skills practices and problems.

2/ Teaching English language writing skills practices and problems.

-Before talking about the practices and problems of reading and

writing skills, it is important to talk about the correct application of the
appropriate teaching method in the classroom:-
English teachers face many challenges in applying the method of
teaching that they find appropriate or that is recommended, which is the
communicative method. It is a method introduced into the curricula of English
language books to improve the level of learners. However, this method was not
well received by the teachers themselves, and the reason is that they have
become accustomed to the traditional method.
One of the biggest gaps that faced the success of the communicative
method is the teachers’ use of the grammatical translation method with the
adoption of textbooks based on communicative.
During the interview with the teachers, they claimed to use the
communicative method, but after attending more than one lecture they
delivered, it became clear to me the complete opposite. Since their method was
far from the communicative method, they tried to justify their contradiction in
the method of teaching to the fact that the lesson requires that.

15
 “We make the student understand the material in a way that helps
him to answer the exam correctly.”
This was a common justification by teachers, both public and private
schools, and there were other excuses such as lack of experience or the material
environment, the lack of appropriate means, and the crowded study room with
many students, in addition to the lack of educational curricula in public schools
sufficient for all students.
While only two teachers among the participants had a different opinion,
as their words were as follows:
“I do not rely on a specific method, even if the curriculum requires me
to use the communicative method. There are exercises that require the use of
other methods, and I use the appropriate ones to clarify the exercise for the
student.”
“As for me, I try as much as possible to adopt a Principled Eclecticism
Method in the way I teach my students”

Table (1) Percentages Of Teaching Methods Followed By Teachers

Methods of Teaching User count Percentage

Communicative Language Teaching 3 27.27%
The Grammar-Translation Method 5 45.45%
The Natural Approach 1 9.09%
Principled Eclecticism Method 2 18.18%
Total 11

16
3.1.Teaching English language reading skills practices and problems

Through the collected observations, it was concluded that teachers

depend mainly on textbooks to learn reading skills. Some teachers explained
that they also used the Internet, in addition to extracurricular activities, to
strengthen the basics of correct reading among students.
Included below are some of the teachers statements that were previously
collected within the notes:-
“We would like to see our students read non-curriculum books, and we
encourage this, such as novels, stories, and even magazines and newspapers.”
Moreover, other teachers added that they were explaining the central idea
of the text before asking the students to read it to make it easier for them. The
teacher participants shared the following response:
“After I explain the lesson to them briefly first, I ask them next to read the
lesson, and then I ask them questions regarding the important information in the
given lesson.”
Reading skills were not focused on reading the English text only, but also
translating it, and this was done as an individual, pairs, or even groups
cooperating with each other.
“An adequate and general translation of the lesson is provided to ensure
that the lesson is understood by all students.”
While other teachers said they were more focused on correct
pronunciation rather than understanding the text while reading it.
One of the participating teachers confirmed, saying:

17
 “All I care about is that they can read, regardless of their lack of
understanding of some vocabulary or even their encountering unfamiliar
words.”
While another said:-

“while they were reading, I made notes to them how to pronounce some
words and their meaning, stressing the part of the silent letters, as it is a
problem that many students face at different levels.”

- One of the questions I asked was as follows:-

-What are the strategies you follow to teach your students to pronounce
and understand difficult vocabulary that even we as teachers face difficulties
in pronounce it sometimes?!

They mentioned that they wrote the words on the board indicating their
meaning and use, in addition to making them pronounce them more than once
so that their mistakes would be reduced.
However, some teachers had other strategies. One of them said:-

“I make them know the meaning of a particular word that is difficult for
them through the general meaning of the text or contextual references”
It is a rather good way to infer the meaning, but in my opinion, it is not
always correct, as not all students are good at deducing the correct meaning or
even close to it, and sometimes until we see them stray far from the meaning
of the original word.
Regarding findings from students, After analyzing the data I collected
from them by asking them some questions, it became clear to me that the
teachers were reading the text themselves without giving an opportunity to the

18
students, or leaving all the effort on the student without caring about correcting
the mistakes they had.

“I was suffering from frustration because I was not able to participate

and read, and when I complained, the teacher said that there was not enough
time, so he only read the lesson.”

One of the participating students added:

“I knew the correct way to pronounce words through the Internet, as the
teacher did not bother to correct my mistakes, and sometimes he even
mispronounced and taught us wrongly.”

While other students had another opinion resulting from different academic
conditions.

“The teacher was apologizing for not giving everyone the opportunity,
but he will try his best to provide an opportunity for all students, and he will
make sure that we master reading in the correct way, even if this takes time .”

Another participate student said:-

“The teacher used to give us a summary of the lesson and that help us to
understood what the lesson talking about. This helped us to read the text, so
that during the reading he corrected the wrong pronunciation for me and
emphasized the pronunciation of the word more than once until I mastered it.
He used to do the same thing with the whole class, as we often repeat some
words together out loud more than once until we pronounce it well and
correctly.”
“I was afraid when I encountered difficult words and kept silent so as
not to embarrass myself when I read it wrongly, but the teacher encouraged

19
me to try and then put the word in many contextual examples in order to make
me understand the term more.”
-And now I will mention some of the problems mentioned by teachers:-

“Students lose their focus a lot while reading the text and sometimes
show a lack of interest, so I have a problem getting their attention.”
Another teacher participate said:-

“Sometimes I have to give examples outside the text to motivate them

and attract their attention. During the reading, I include various paragraphs
that include their participation and expressing their opinion, so that the class
becomes more interactive.”

The language barrier was the main reason for students’ distraction and
lack of attention, as they do not understand most of what the teacher says if it
is in English. In addition, they cannot read properly in general.
“My students often ask me to speak the mother tongue and stop talking
in the target language because they do not understand.”
The teachers explained that the biggest problem they face is
pronunciation and students’ understanding of what they read, and the teachers
unanimously affirmed that this is a great challenge, and this was not only the
teachers’ opinion, but even the students’.
Adding one of the participating teachers:-

“I am still trying hard to use many teaching methods that may make it
easier for me to communicate with the student in English more easily and
without fear and hesitation on his part, and despite the difficulty of making
noticeable progress quickly in that, but I must not despair in the end because it
is a foreign language for him.”

20
3.2.Teaching English language writing skills practices and problems

After collecting sufficient observations, I concluded that most of the

writing problems are spelling errors. Some students, especially in the first
grades, still do not master the letters correctly, and this was shocking to me.
Said one of the teachers:-

“The reason is due to the period of e-learning, as it has now made us

suffer a lot with students, as very few of them were fluent in the alphabet and
could distinguish between them.”

The teachers said that they took time to test the students on the letters
and then started giving them vocabulary to memorize:-

“I used to choose the important vocabulary in the lesson and ask them
to memorize it in order to test them on it the next day.”
Despite this, the students also faced difficulty in memorizing and
remembering them, so the teachers resorted to mental maps, one of them said:-
“It helped me a lot and also helped them to improve their writing.”

Other teachers indicated that they used the reading lesson to memorize
the words orally and then in writing with the meaning and use these vocabulary
also in extra-curricular activities. The TP 3 said:-
“This motivated them to remember and memorize it. They like to write it
on stickers away from their textbooks and notebooks.”
According to the students:-

“the teacher used to ask us to write the answers to the questions he asked,
which were mostly related to passages from the textbook, in addition to the
meanings of words, sentence structures, formal and informal writing styles,

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question methods, how to ask, and how to arrange sentences with correct
punctuation marks.”
While examining the students’ notebooks, I found some pieces about
titles from the textbook, but the information is from outside it. It turned out to
me that the teacher used the Internet to present it to the students and explain it
to them. He welcomed the idea of students participating in bringing articles
from the Internet as well and participating in them. However, the students did
have little interaction with that. TP 4 explained:
“When I asked my students to write about a topic, I found them lost and
not knowing how to start writing.”
Moreover, some teachers said that maybe the reason is due to their lack
of vocabulary. They also pointed out that the students used wrong tenses while
writing, even the punctuation marks were wrong, down to the wrong
prepositions and capital letters during the writing process.
TP 1 explained:

“It takes me time to understand what they are writing and to connect the
sentences. They speak in more than one tense and use prepositions that are
not in the right places, and this makes the speech incoherent and somewhat
vague.”
Participant Teacher 6 confirmed this saying:-

“they start the sentence in the present tense and then suddenly I find a
verb in the past tense not to mention the wrong pronouns.”
Teachers and students unanimously indicated that the time was not
enough to cover all the material and focus on writing or other skills.
“It takes more time.”

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 One of the common problems that I noticed especially in private schools
is that the teacher provides students with ready-made notebooks so that the
student does not have to write something by himself and develops his writing
skills through practice.
The above remarks were similar between the public and private schools
that I visited, so they were mentioned together without addressing whether the
professor or participating student is from a private or public school.

Table (2) Percentages Of The Students Data

No The activity User count Percentage

1 Participation in class 65 72.2%
2 Ask questions 40 44.4%
3 Able to read 30 33.3%
4 Able to write 7 7.77%
5 Spelling errors 82 91.1%
6 The need for translation 80 88.8%
7 Understand the words of the teacher in 5 5.55%
the target language
8 Weakness in the basics of reading and 85 94.4%
writing
Total 90

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Conclusion
This research conducted survey study of Methods of teaching English
language in North of Basra’s public and private schools. The results of this
study include some traditional practices for teaching English language skills,
despite the ministry’s change in the teaching method that should be followed
such as reading aloud and correcting pronunciation in reading and translating
the text. The results showed that reading practices are mostly limited to
textbooks, and teachers rarely use other sources from the Internet to practice
reading. Even writing skills practices were not devoid of common traditional
practices such as excessive reliance on limited topics and memorizing articles
or specific vocabulary in them, and mental maps were rarely used.
This study also covered the problems that the teacher may face while
teaching English language skills in reading, which is the lack of focus, low level
of understanding and students’ lack of interest in the lesson.
As for the problems of teaching writing skills, the teacher faced a
difficulty in enabling the students to start the writing activity, them lack of
vocabulary, the traditional method of memorizing vocabulary, spelling errors,
grammar, and capital letters errors in writing.
The language barrier was a major cause of distraction and inattention as
students did not understand much of what was being explained in English. Also,
they don’t know how to read normally.
And as for what I reached with the findings of the students, it became
clear to me that there are many problems by the teachers, such as their mistake
in pronunciation and not giving the lesson its due, as it does not allow most
students the opportunity to participate in the lesson or even class activities, and
that students do not find the support required by their teacher.

24
 It was also found that the majority of students rely on the Internet to
understand a particular subject because they did not find sufficient clarification
of the material from their teacher, while others were the complete opposite, as
their students expressed their happiness with the teacher’s method used in
clarifying the material and that they had the opportunity to participate in
activities and ask questions during the lesson and obtain clarifications enough.
And it was also noticed that most of the students’ notebooks contained
questions related to the text and notes in addition to exercises related to the
given topic, which are related to the text being read.

Notes were also collected on reading comprehension, where the teachers

focused on copying the answers from the text book, focusing on the punctuation
marks in the students’ answers, spelling errors, and writing in lowercase and
uppercase letters, while others had a different opinion, as they focused on errors
related to comprehension and the length and shortness of the answer

As for the biggest problem for which this research was based, it is the
method used in teaching. The results showed disappointment due to the great
failure of teachers to use the appropriate method, not to mention the lack of
knowledge of many teachers about the nature of the methods and how to apply
them correctly and the biggest victim remains the student who is required to
achieve success and progress without paying attention to the basics of his
education.

The English language goes beyond being a school curriculum to being

the language of the world, which we have become using a lot, and this requires
that we develop the skills of our students to keep pace with cultural and
scientific progress.

25
 Recommendations

Some of the solutions that can be followed are providing education

courses for teachers of teaching methods and applying them practically during
university studies, and not relying on them only as a theoretical subject, from
which the student does not benefit from anything other than stuffing impractical
information that can be forgotten or even if he tries to apply it, he will not
succeed and he will need constant guidance and follow-up to avoid mistakes.

In the end, education is a great responsibility that we, as teachers, must

bear and give it its right through hard work and perseverance in providing
benefit to our students, and that our main concern is not only for them to pass
the exam without having any scientific knowledge of the material they studied
and how to benefit from it on the ground, i.e. practically.

These results are based on data collected in six public and private schools
only and therefore the generalizability of the results is limited. This means that
more research can be done in this field with larger sample sizes.

26
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