Cultutal Factors Affecting English Proficiency in Rurl Areas

effect on the learning of English. Twenty students from different ethnic backgrounds and English language proficiency in six rural schools in Terengganu, Malaysia were interviewed. In addition the teachers also from different rural schools and ethnic backgrounds responded to a questionnaire. The problems discussed by both the teacher and student respondents arose due to the rural cultural setting. The findings of this study show that 1) five major problem areas exist, namely peer pressure and motivation, attitudes towards English ,teaching methodology, school culture ,influence of Islamic teaching on the learning of English 2) the problems discussed by the teachers and students are similar and 3) most importantly all these identified problems are closely related to the rural setting. Therefore, one can conclude that rural cultural factors adversely affect English Proficiency of the rural students of this study. Background The fall in the standard of English in Malaysia is evidenced in all public examinations like UPSR (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah examination), PMR (Penilaiaan Menengah Rendah) and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia). Probably, a pass in English has never been made compulsory for SPM. Since 2000, a pass in Bahasa Melayu was sufficient to get the SPM certificate marred an otherwise marginally better performance in the 2000 Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination (The Star, 8.11.2000). Furthermore, the percentage of passes in English among rural students is only 49.6% compared to urban students (72.8%). The status and role of English With Bahasa Melayu as the medium of instruction since 1970, the status of English has , p.66) states the doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.3n.1p.1


Background
The fall in the standard of English in Malaysia is evidenced in all public examinations like UPSR (Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah examination), PMR (Penilaiaan Menengah Rendah) and SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia).Probably, a pass in English has never been made compulsory for SPM.Since 2000, a pass in Bahasa Melayu was sufficient to get the SPM certificate marred an otherwise marginally better performance in the 2000 Ujian Pencapaian Sekolah Rendah (UPSR) examination (The Star, 8.11.2000).Furthermore, the percentage of passes in English among rural students is only 49.6% compared to urban students (72.8%).

The status and role of English
With Bahasa Melayu as the medium of instruction since 1970, the status of English has , p.66) states the doi:10.7575/aiac.alls.v.3n.1p.1 for national unity and identity while the latter is for maintaining group cohesion and political ties among Malaysians.

Concern for the standard of English
It is clear then all Malaysians recognize the importance of English.New graduates face a serious problem in English (The Star 12.7.2000).A majority of Malaysians (90%) entering local universities have insufficient English proficient for study purposes, 44% classified as weak while 19% are very weak in the subject (The New Straits Times 12.9.2000).These graduates will have tougher time getting a job if they are not proficient in English and will job interviews (The Star 10.2. 2000).Several reasons explain this decline such as the switch from English to Malay as the medium of instruction in schools to limited exposure and use of English.This greatly affected the motivation to learn English especially in rural areas.
Besides, English has low status in public exams as it is not essential to pass English.In addition English is not offered at STPM level (Sijil Tinggi Pelajaran Malaysia) or preuniversity level.Thirdly the poor proficiency of teachers in English adds to the poor performance.Young English teachers are struggling with their own proficiency in English, and this is reiterated by many parents, who question the proficiency of young English teachers in schools (The Star, 22.12.2000).Fourthly, students lack self motivation and initiative to communicate in English as they resort to their respective native languages as means of effective communication.

Objectvies
The objectives of the study are 1) to obtain empirical data of the relationship between English s to improve the proficiency in English among rural students.

Language proficiency
It is the ability to speak, write and understand the target language.It is measured by the r Identification test.Then the proficiency level is defined using the scale of the Reading Test from the Ministry of Education.

Second Language (L2)
It refers to the language learned after the mother tongue is acquired e.g.English after Bahasa Melayu.

Rural schools
In Malaysia they are schools located in towns or districts having a population of less than 10,000 (Rosli & Malachi, 1990).

Attitude
It is a set of beliefs learners have towards the use and learning of the target language or towards the speakers of that language.

Motivation
According to Gardner (1985, p.10), it Exposure, language environment and use of language They refer to the sum total of contacts with the target language.Mackay (1965) classified language exposure into three namely; personal contact with members of family, non personal contact through media and non personal contacts through written forms.Language environment, according to Dulay, Marina, and Stephen (1982), encompasses everything the language learner hears and sees in the new language.

Peers
They are groups of individuals of the same age group of children or adolescents sharing same interests and able to communicate and interact freely in school.

Rural society
It refers to all members in a group staying together in a rural area whose patterns of behavior are learned and passed down to the future generation.

Culture
It is the totality of socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, institutions and traits considered as the expression of a particular community.

Review of the related literature
Language learning involves a complex interplay of personal and social variables such as motivation and attitude toward learning English, limited exposure to the target language and peer influence.(See Figures 1 & 2) Gardner and Lambert (1959) show how success in language learning is related to attitudinal variables like attitudes towards the language learned and towards the speakers of that language and culture.Spolsky (1969) also studies the relationship between proficiency of second language and attitude of the students towards the language learnt of 315 foreign students from different backgrounds studying in America and discover a relationship between the attitudes of the students towards English and their grades.
However local studies by Jayatilaka (1982) studies 132 second year students in Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) finds a negative attitude held by some of the students towards the learning of English does not adversely affect successful second language learning.Similarly Chandrasegaran (1979) studies the upper Secondary Malay medium students show low correlation between proficiency and attitude towards English Learning.
Motivation can also be considered a good predictor of success in second language learning.Gardner& Lambert (1979) equated integrative motivation as necessary for the mastery of language proficien formers or Grade students taken from 7 schools in Fiji shows a significant correlation between the intensity of motivation and proficiency level.Students with greater motivational intensity perform better compared to students with low intensity.Other factors include exposure to target language, SES (Socio economic status), parental attitude, peer influence role of teachers and shyness factor.

Methodology
Semi structured interviews (using open ended questions) with twenty students as well as ten teachers from six rural schools in Terengganu are carried out

Research design
In this research, the English language proficiency is the first variable and measured by PMR results and a proficiency test (adapted by the researcher) and the other variables include rural attitudes towards English, peer pressure motivation, rural school culture, teaching methodology and the effect of religion called rural cultural factors as the second variable.

Research tool
Semi structured interviews sessions were carried out for the students while the teachers were given a questionnaire.The interview sessions were carried out in an informal manner sitting under a tree in a school compound over four weekends to create a non threatening atmosphere.Each student met the researcher for an hour.
Cloze tests, a global text of English proficiency (Darnell 1968, Oller1872, Spolsky 1968, Stubbs and Tucker 1974cited in Foto 1991) and Error identification questions were used to measure the proficiency of the 20 student respondents.(Appendix C) The teachers favored the use of the questionnaire as they preferred to write down their opinion.Their response used by Patton, 1996).

Methods of data analysis
The method of data analysis used for this study comprises of the following steps: i) Analysis of data from student respondents (Interview) ii) Analysis of data from the teacher respondents (Questionnaire) iii) Making a connection between the rural cultural variables The proficiency test of the student respondents shows seven students obtained 10-20 marks,3 students obtained 21-30,two student respondents scored marks ranging from 31-40,another two obtained marks from 41-50, two scored 51-60 while three students scored marks from 61-70 and finally one student obtained 71-80 marks.Since the view of the teachers and students are fairly similarly, the identified responses with regards to problems in learning English in the rural setting will be analyzed together.This section will consist of 1) the analysis of the views and suggestions of the student and teacher respondents and 2) compares the views expressed to the features of rural settings

Analysis o
All the twenty students (100%) agreed that English is important as a world language, for further education, to pass exam for professional courses, get scholarship for travelling purposes and English.70%,feel that English is needed greatly in universities as reference books are in English, 65% as world language, 40% for professional courses, 20% to obtain scholarships,10% mention English for travelling purposes,10% to seek jobs and 5 % relates the importance of English with exams.(Table2) All the 10 teacher respondents agree that English is important and cannot be underestimated.80% of the teacher respondents feel English is greatly needed in universities especially as most of the reference books are in English.8 teachers state that English is also a language of international communciation.20%associate it with international traveling, 10% relates the importance of English with examinations while 10% for the acquisition of knowledge.Therefore, it is clear that all teachers reiterated the importance of English.

English
60% feel it should be made compulsory.15%describe that science is more important.10%feel that it is difficult to learn writing and vocabulary as they lack the necessary study skills to excel in the acquisition of English.10%mentioned the problem of boring lessons.Table 3 shows 100 % agree that there is a need to study English.One teacher respondent mentions it is an asset.Other terms used by teacher respondents concerning the need to learn

How student respondents studied English
Table 4 shows all the twenty students learn English in a classroom setting.They have to depend on their English teachers to provide intensive drills; class projects and English activities.20%read on their own to improve their English and learn new things about language.10%attend tuition classes.Other ways are self study, vocabulary exercises, speaking with friends and listening to radio programs.Problems in learning English according to student respondents When asked about problems in learning English, the student respondents tend to blame the non supportive school culture towards the learning of English.According to them, there is no support from the authorities followed by 80% of the students who feel that the negative attitude of the students is another reason.75%mention lack of an English speaking environment as another factor.Others include boring teaching methods (30%) and English unimportant compared to Science and Mathematics (20%).It is clear that a non supportive culture, lack of English speaking environment and a negative attitude to English are the major problems associated with the learning of English.(Table 5)

Problems in learning and teaching of English as perceived by the teachers
Table 6 show the negative attitude of the students, lack of an English speaking environment, boring teaching methods as well as non-supportive school culture are the main problems perceived by the teachers.Like many student respondents, teachers also feel that a need to vary teaching methods and techniques.It is clear that if innovative methods are used, there is a fear of negative reaction from rural students for example drama.The rural people and eastern values.Moreover the teaching methods employed like language drills, grammar quizzes in classes are examination based.One teacher expressed that examination approach technique than games and fun filled activities.Both the teachers and students therefore agreed that there is a need to introduce a variety of more creative activities in classes like movies, less examination oriented exercises so as to arouse the interest of the students.(Table 7) When asked further on the problems of teaching of English in the rural areas, two teachers stress that it is difficult, challenging, time consuming to teach English in rural setting.80% feels that the stumbling block towards the learning is the attitude of their peers (See Table 8).The students are shy for fear of making grammatical mistakes and therefore unwilling to speak.Teasing among peers is rampant and to avoid embarrassment (malu or segan); their response is to be silent as well as face saving to avoid conflicts as well as maintain personal integrity.They are often teased when attempting to speak English hence prefer to code-switch (mixing two languages when speaking or mixing English with their mother tongue) for the sake of solidarity to avoid conflict and maintain social harmony.In rural setting too, negative beliefs passed down from their grandparents regarding the colonial culture do to some extent influence their attitude in wanting to learn English.Table 9 shows all students agreed on the need for exposure to the English language regardless of whether in written or oral form e.g.English books and movies.English movies have unhealthy Malay subtitles.The student respondents feel other ways of exposures like cyber cafes and program student exchange are lacking.Another finding is the lack of infrastructure and facilities in the rural areas.5 out of 20 students (Table 10) talk about the location from Kuala Lumpur which may cause problems.Besides, it means higher prices of books and teaching aids.English movies are rarely screened as there is no theatre.Besides they are associated with violence and fights and are considered aggressive anti rural, anti religion and anti Islamic. 10 65% of the student respondents feel that the school authorities, the students, teachers as well as the rural society should be blamed for poor proficiency in English among rural students (Table 11).The school authorities must set good examples to speak English and create a more suitable school culture to motivate language learning.The principal, teachers and non academic staff are unable to speak English hence find it difficult to encourage students.Table 4.12, shows all student and teacher respondents agree that the rural cultural setting is a problem.95% of the students agree that the school culture in the rural area discourages the learning of English.20%feel that the teachers have a role to stress the importance and propagate the use of English .The teachers blame the school authorities for not only encouraging the setting up of an English speaking environment but also cause the failure in the planning of effective English programs.

Other variables that result in problems in learning English
The widespread use of Bahasa Melayu is one reason expressed by both the student and teacher respondent for the poor proficiency of English among rural students (Table 13).Half the teachers feel there is a conflicting role in the part played by Malay as the first language and English as the second language or even third language.The ease in the use of the first language discourages the use of English which is rarely used.Another view expressed by the teacher respondents is the present political situation where the government has to gain support by retaining the use of Bahasa Melayu.10%lack study skills in learning English .4students feel it is hard to learn English compared to Science and Mathematics.
From the above analysis one can notice that all the identified problems given by all respondents are somehow closely related to the rural scenario.It is the rural setting, traits practices and culture that give rise to the problems, causing the low proficiency of English.
To conclude one can say that the rural cultural setting does affect the proficiency level of English among the students in rural schools.

Recommendations to resolve the identified problems
One can discuss the recommendations for the problems found in this study.1) The negative attitude towards the learning of English of the rural students 2) Peer pressure and lack of motivation 3) Teaching methodology 4) The lack of an English speaking environment and limited exposure and 5) A non supportive school culture.

The role of the students
Students need to change their negative attitude towards the learning of English to a positive one.Rural students consider the use of English as unpatriotic.This misconception must be corrected.More activities can be used to encourage them to speak English e.g.
announcements in school be in English, English logbooks, Vocabulary Contest, Spelling bee, English mail, English sketch and educational trips.Students should take the initiative to lead and not wait for English teachers to suggest ideas.The school authorities can guide them and help change their negative attitude.Streaming the students into equal linguistic abilities can help students to learn better as shyness factor (Zimbardo, 1977) is prevalent among rural students.

The role of teachers
The teachers are the best personnel to counsel and help students e.g. in class, these students lack study skills hence teachers must make sure their explanations are clearer.Besides, the teachers must be proficient in all the four skills.Unfortunately there are insufficient English teachers in rural schools hence it is common to find non English majors i.e. conversion teachers from other subjects to teach English.Language learning is not merely the accumulation of knowledge but the building up of linguistic skills hence it is better to teach the correct grammatical skills than to let the students relearn and reconstruct the errors learnt from non-TESL t (The Sunday Star, 28.1.2000).

The role of the parents
Like the teachers, parents can help motivate and create a need to use English for example, short English conversations.They must get rid of the belief of negative colonial rule, an exclusively rural cultural trait and set good example to speak English.

The peer pressure and lack of motivation
The rural students are also influenced by the narrow-mindedness and shyness mentality of their peers, typical of limited exposure.According to Musgrave (1972) and Murdock (1965) peers are capable of influencing each other.English teachers can implement punishments and feature) among the peers, hence monitoring the reactions of students when their peers speak English.

Teaching methodology
The teacher respondents found difficulty in using the innovative teaching methods while the student respondents felt strongly that their poor proficiency results from the boring techniques used.According to Gill (The Star 10.11 2000), uninspiring and conventional styles of te proactive learning environment.New teaching approaches can incorporate the use of computers, educational visits, dramas, movies & games can be exploited.For rural students, silence is one of their major cultural traits (Bahiyah, 1992) either to show politeness or for group solidarity and it can be overcome by asking them to speak more.Zimbardo (1977) asserted that shyness is negative in language learning and in rural schools this is true.

Lack of facilities
This study points out lack of physical and educational facilities due to the distance away from English speaking towns is another problem.New innovations take time to be transferred.The educational authorities should be aware of the need for a pool of proficient English teachers.
Entry requirement to English training course must be raised as we cannot have English 12.9.2000)will produce mediocre students.As for the vernacular schools, students have to master three languages at the same time is after Malay, English and their mother tongue of Tamil or Mandarin.There is bound to be a lot of interference, not only for the first but second language e.g. in Tamil students get confused word order and the characters in Mandarin are divergent to English.The educational authorities should therefore provide specialized training for these English Teachers.

Role of Malay and English as the second or third language
The low proficiency of English can be improved if we change English into the medium of instruction.Of course, such a drastic move would be politically unacceptable.Perhaps we can use 2 languages, Bahasa Melayu an official language and English as the informal official language as two acceptable mediums of instruction in Malaysia.The issue of English as the second language or in practice a third or fourth language for non Malay students needs to be clarified too.The English divide between the urban and rural students is really wide and getter wider by the year ( Gaudart cited in The Star 3.1.2001).The government after proclaiming Bahasa Melayu the official language made English the second language but the latter becomes the third or fourth and even a foreign one to students of different ethnic backgrounds.Hence if this distinction is made less confusion arises especially in the rural context.If it cannot function as the second language effectively, perhaps it can be made into an effective foreign language like Arabic which has been successful as many Malay students can speak and use it.This may help to improve the proficiency level of English especially in rural areas.

Implication
The result for this study calls for a better understanding of the reasons why rural students cannot excel in their performance in English examinations.The Ministry of Education must plan the special training of English teachers to teach in rural schools as the learning situation is different from urban areas.
coming from different socioeconomic backgrounds studying in six rural schools are randomly selected as subjects.They are interviewed for an hour as they take English for the public exam.(Appendix A) As for the teacher respondents, ten teachers of different academic qualifications and years of teaching experience are also randomly chosen.They were asked to respond to the given questionnaire.(Appendix B)

Table 1 : Proficiency grade of student respondents (based on Reading Program Scale)
When using the class Reading Program scale, Table1shows 12 students fall in the Grade C category, 4 in Grade B while another 4 in Grade A. In other words, 60% of the student respondents are not very proficient, 20% are in the middle proficiency level and another 20% can be considered proficient as they obtained Grade A in the test.As for their PMR results, only 3 students scored A, 6 obtained B while 11 got Grade C.