Teaching and Learning Compulsory English at the Bachelor's Level in Nepal: An Exploration of Teachers' and Students' Experiences

Abstract

The study explores teachers’ and students’ experiences of teaching and learning English along with the challenges they face and opportunities they envision. To explore participants’ subjective experiences, a phenomenological design was adopted using semi-structured interviews, focus group discussions, and classroom observation of 13 purposively selected participants, including three teachers and ten students from the Education and Management stream of Tribhuvan University. The collected data were translated and transcribed for thematic analysis, based on patterns and meanings in the data for descriptive analysis. The findings revealed theoretical and overloaded course content, foreign-context content, difficult vocabulary and exercises, lecture-based traditional instruction, lack of classroom interaction, noisy and overcrowded classrooms, lack of innovative technology and resources in teaching, low level of students’ English proficiency, gap between school and university courses, and students’ unwillingness to engage in classroom activities as challenges, despite opportunities, such as improving English language proficiency, further study, global communication, and professional skills enhancement. The study suggests renovating university compulsory English courses, pedagogy, support mechanisms, and teachers’ and students’ roles in teaching and learning. This study may provide insights to teachers, students, curriculum designers, policymakers, and further researchers to yield better output from their part to improve the course, the pedagogy, and learning practices.