Teachers of English and Literature in secondary schools have an onerous task. I know this because before I became a peripatetic speaker, I spent a short stint teaching this important subject. Why are top grades quite elusive in English? I attribute it to dearth of interest, poor reading culture, dead language policy, mediocre teaching methods and toying with English.
Dearth of interest
Scarcity of interest springs from a defeatist attitude, lassitude and cheerful pessimism. In my opinion, attitude is equal to mindset plus beliefs. Zig Ziglar observed, “It is our attitude, not aptitude that determines our altitude.” Cheerful pessimism and lack of intense interest makes students fail to evince excellence in English. Scant interest denies them the opportunity to attain marvellous mastery. Then, lack of eloquence lowers their level of self-esteem, confidence and communication skills. They fail to walk heads held high. Ideally, we should help students to express love for language: to make them learn it daily, thereby attaining proficiency and profundity. Likewise, great interest will make them navigate through problematic areas with ease. Piquing their interest in aspects such as poetry will simplify and demystify it.
Poor reading culture
The English syllabus in secondary school explores four major skills: Listening, reading, speaking and writing. The first two skills — listening and reading — are input skills, while speaking and writing are output skills. On this, I am cock-sure, reading and writing are close cognates. Reading is breathing in, while writing is breathing out. Meaning, students who yearn to learn and pass English must be ravenous readers. Reading voraciously hones the three strands of thinking: Critical thinking, creative thinking and problem solving. Reading improves imagination. This is necessary because Albert Einstein observed, “Knowledge will take us from point A to B, but imagination will take us everywhere.” Reading builds vocabulary and enriches word banks. It adds glamour to grammar.
Somewhat, students who read mend mistakes related to subject-verb agreement, sentence-structure, tenses, direct-translation, et cetera. Therefore, when we want Form Four candidates to score the highly-coveted A’s in KCSE, we should ask ourselves: Did we strive to hone reading skills in them? Did they savour the class readers in lower forms to increase their creativity and ingenuity in writing? Did they read set books to help them tackle extracts and responsive essays? Did they read passages in their approved core-course books to help them handle comprehension passages and cloze tests?
Dead language policy
Somehow, great schools abut on firm foundations of culture and tradition. Then, great schools have heroic teaching, testing, evaluation and monitoring systems. Moreover, great schools have practical programmes that eventually entice peak performance. Then, policies make several schools access success. Language policy looks simple, but it contributes to academic performance of students. Why? Because English is a language of instruction in most subjects except Kiswahili and foreign languages. Therefore, we should urge students to listen to and learn good stuff. In turn, they obtain new vocabulary, wise words, pithy phrases and strong statements. Then, they blend theory with praxis: speak and write. You now have a clear and clever clue on why sheng slang affects mastery of English.
Mediocre teaching methods
In serious search for quality grades in English, we should re-examine our teaching approaches. Just to be blunt about it: Some schools register poor performance in English because they adhere to teaching methodologies that are out of date. Yet, it is utterly wrong to trace new towns using old maps. Albert Einstein warned, “Our problems cannot be solved by the same level of thinking that created them.” Teachers of English should be conscious of climes and times. This is what will make them focus on emerging trends and interact with new sources of knowledge. Consequently, it is what will compel them to attend academic seminars: to compare best practices. Somewhat, doom and gloom will loom large when a teacher decides to teach in isolation. In turn, woe will betide schools with such type of teachers.
Moreover, there are schools that are keen on what happens in the candidate class. But pay scant attention to lower forms. Teachers with wide ken of knowledge and rich experiences, focus on upper forms. As they relegate and delegate lower forms to teachers who are newbies in the profession. I am not proposing that preceptors on teaching practice, internship or entrants in the service should not teach. With the acute-teacher shortage, they have to teach. Again, if we block them from teaching, where will they gather experience and expertise? Heads of Department should organize the department: taking note of every aspect — teaching and testing. English is a skill-based subject. Therefore, if we fail to hone some skills such as reading and writing in lower forms, it will be very difficult to achieve them in the upper forms.
Four types of teachers by William Arthur Ward come to mind: A mediocre teacher tells, a good teacher explains, a superior teacher demonstrates, a great teacher inspires. A mediocre teacher of English just tells learners things. S/he fails to demonstrate practical aspects of language such as proficiency in reading, writing, speaking and promotion of performing arts. Mediocre means average. The great teacher is able to fan fire and desire in learners.
Toying with English
Some students are getting dismal grades in English because they are toying with it. They fail to study it sedulously. They think it is easy when, in actual sense, no subject is easy or difficult: It depends on the effort put.
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