I often meet
people who tell me that although they understand English and can read it, they
are unable to speak the language fluently or at least clearly and
comprehensively, because they consider conversing in English as a problem. With
the repetition of such situations, I felt I had to write about the subject.

First of all, I
believe English is a universal language, along with many other languages. Many
children can nowadays read and speak Asian languages such as Japanese and Korean,
thanks to television series that they follow heavily on the Internet. Children
are becoming multilingual since an early age because they can speak English, in
addition to their mother tongue - whether Arabic or others - and are ready to
learn new languages. English is not a problem for many youth, but those over 50
face a problem.

The question is
why they are unable to speak English fluently. The answer for me is education.
The educational process is a troika between the teacher, the student and the
curriculum. If the teacher was weak in conversation and was able to climb the
ladder of education because exams depend primarily on structural answers and
not on conversation, their students will be weak in conversation as well. The
teacher is the main pillar in the educational process. The teacher will either
have a positive or negative role on the learning process.

Some teachers
make success in tests the goal for students, regardless of the skills they
acquire or how much they benefit from the language as an instrument they need
in their lives forever. I believe that teaching aids such as language labs have
a role in enhancing and upgrading the level of conversation among students, and
if we don't utilize this important tool, then we are missing out on a great
opportunity.

I think weakness
in English conversation is cumulative, where the student moves from one class
to another and suffers from weakness, which is difficult to deal with in the
advanced stages by conventional methods. Thus the student moves to the
secondary and university levels with a big shift in quantity and quality of
textbooks and materials.

Another issue
here is spelling, which can be a serious problem for many students. This is the
inability of the student to read the words properly and to learn the correct
pronunciation of many words, because there is a close correlation between
spelling and good pronunciation and the ability to speak fluent English. But
language ends with the end of the lesson without a desire or goal by the students
to use the language outside the classroom.

Also, many
students consider English like other subjects and tend to forget what they
studied in the previous year. Any language requires continuous and daily
practice. I believe parents and family are important elements that contribute
effectively to the educational process. This weakness may be the result of the
ignorance of the parents and their weakness too.

Sadly, the form
of tests has become familiar to students, and they are fully aware of the
material that the test can cover and the distribution of questions and grades,
which leads them to make no effort to memorize and review. I think there are
psychological factors too that add some pressure - believing that English is a
language that is difficult to understand. Here comes the role of the teacher to
correct this misconception and help the students break the barrier of
difficulty by facilitating the material through available educational methods.

I remember during
my high school years that many teachers used to speak Arabic frequently in the
classroom during English class. I believe this is wrong, because it contributed
greatly to lowering the standard of students. I hope that the ministry of
education will conduct training courses for students on conversation and I know
that it is now forbidden for the teacher to speak Arabic in English class. But
weaknesses indicate that there is a problem that was and still exists. English
is the top language in the world. Maybe in the coming years, it will be
replaced by new foreign languages, but this current weakness cannot be
permitted.

By Muna Al-Fuzai

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