Study On The Challenges Encountered In English Curriculum Implementation For Primary Schools In Laos

The challenges that English teaching encounters in Laos are enormous.It is common knowledge that most English teachers in both primary schools in the country attained their teacher education inside Laos,thereby limiting their exposure to the use of English as language in daily activities and in the classroom situation.This takes scholars to the need of a curriculum that takes into consideration all the necessary issues in the teaching of English as a foreign language.Thus,the present study investigated challenges that are encountered in the implementation of the English curriculum for primary school in Laos.The study attained this main purpose through examining content of the current English curriculum for primary schools in Laos;investigating challenges faced in implementation of the English curriculum for primary school in Laos;and exploring solutions to the challenges in implementation of the English curriculum for primary school.The study was informed from the viewpoint of the Rand change Agent Theory of curriculum implementation as proposed which postulates the need for existence of three stages of implementation for any curriculum: initiation,implementation,and incorporation.This research placed the study within the theory because it brings to attention important aspects about teachers such as abilities,in-service training,expertise and teachers as change agents,all of which the researcher finds to be critical in implementation of the primary school English curriculum in Lao PDR on which this study was based.This study was a qualitative descriptive research.The researcher opted for the qualitative descriptive research design which successfully guided the study through the levels of observation,analysis and description of the collected data.The study relied on both primary and secondary data.The primary data was collected through interviews with teachers and pupils from 10 selected public primary schools in Vientiane.There was a total of 12 teachers who throughout the study were labelled T1 through to T12 and a total of 10 pupils who carried the labels P1 to P10.In addition,the researcher also observed 10 lessons(one at each of the selected schools for the study).The study found a number of challenges in the implementation of the curriculum.The first of such challenges was the lack of teacher involvement in curriculum design and development.The study found that although teachers play a central role in executing a curriculum in the classroom situation,their involvement in the designing and development of the curriculum was relegated to mere consultation of very few teachers.As such,the teachers are always not in line with what the curriculum demands of them.Secondly,the study found that a lack of teaching and learning resources was also a major challenge.It found that that most of the English teachers in the country’s primary schools bemoaned the unavailability of resources for both teaching and learning,with the schools facing acute shortage of both print teaching materials and ICT instruments.Thirdly,the study also found insufficient time allocation to English lessons as another serious challenge to implementation of the curriculum.The fourth main challenge in implementation of the curriculum was found to be the failure by teachers to diversify their teaching methods in the EFL classroom.This was despite the curriculum’s intention of illustration-based learning.The fifth and last challenge was the lack of well-qualified teachers.This was as a result of insufficient training at the college levels and the lack of continued professional development.The study also found possible solutions to most of the challenges – suggestions that came from the teachers themselves and as supported by the available literature.The most obvious of the suggested solutions,which was repeatedly alluded to by most of the teachers,was the need for allocation of sufficient teaching resources.The other suggested solution was the need for more engagement of teachers in the development of the curriculum.Further,the respondents also suggested the need for continuous professional development was also cited as a possible solution to the challenges encountered in the implementation of the English curriculum.The last suggested solution was the need to increase the instruction time allocated to the teaching of English.From the findings and the suggested solutions,the study drew a number of implications.Firstly,findings of the study suggest the need radical changes in the process of curriculum design and development.It is important for the relevant authorities in development of the curriculum to consider devising new strategies where teachers play a significant role in the same way that they are at the centre stage of the teaching process.The study reveals how willing the teachers are to go to make sure that they turn around the situation with regards the implementation,with some even involving self-reflection thoughts in which they pointed to the need for further in-service training to make them more skilled in delivering the lessons.The study thus implies that implementation of the English curriculum in the country remains wanting.However,the situation is not unmanageable as the study found that there were a number of propositions by the teachers for the amelioration of the situation.This means transforming the implementation into a successful endeavor does not require out-of-the-ordinary solutions as the participants in the study pointed out the need for the same with much ease.It is therefore right to argue that these facts strongly suggest the need to revisit the curriculum while engaging teachers extensively.Doing so would also entail slight changes in the textbooks with the indispensable contents being taught clearly,so that students can do cumulative learning.In addition,this would require straightforward instruction and explanation of important words,grammar items and sentence structures.Lastly,the study recommends the need for further studies by interested researchers to find out if there may be other reasons that contribute to the gap between the intended curriculum and what emerges out of the practical aspects in the curriculum.In so doing,such studies would be complementary to the findings of the present study.