Communicative Competence of Secondary School Students of Bhutan

Abstract

This study on communicative competence of secondary school students of Bhutan was conducted with the lower, middle and higher secondary school students under four districts Chukha, Samtse, Paro and Thimphu. The study aimed to explore why communicative proficiency was generally perceived low as reported by LaPrarie (2014). Random sampling survey questionnaire was administered to 864 students and purposive sampling interviews conducted with 24 teacher and 2 curriculum developers from Royal Education Council. Other data collection methods included classroom lesson observation and documentary analysis. Simple descriptive analysis for quantitative data and thematic analysis for qualitative data analysis were employed. The study found that majority of the students had low proficiency level in both English and Dzongkha with a few who had higher level. The low communicative competence in both English and Dzongkha has been attributed to the negative influence of social media in which students showed more interested than engaging in academic reading and writing activities. However, the study found the schools organised relevant activities such as literary fest, debates, and speeches, speaking and writing activities to enhance the communication skills. The research recommends activities such as reviewing the curriculum standards, enhancing teachers' skills to focus on the communicative skills to improve students' proficiency in communication.

Enhancing the Reading for Pleasure Habit of the Students of Samtse College of Education

“…They are observed to be on social media during their leisure time rather than engaging in reading for pleasure. Most of the students lack good communication skills and Choeda et al (2020) found that poor reading habits are a barrier to good communication skills. These behaviors of students towards reading for pleasure and their poor communication skills are concern for the lecturers.…”

Creative drama English pronunciation program for Bhutanese primary learners

“…The words spoken are often unintelligible making it difficult for listeners to comprehend without any further explanation. Also, in an interview conducted by Choeda et al (2020) for English teachers on communicative proficiency of Bhutanese learners', it was revealed that Bhutanese learners have problems with variation of tone and sound monotonous which makes the discourse difficult to be understood. In the same interview, the struggle of learners in employing stress is recorded.…”

“…Additionally, Singay (2018) reveals that among four modes, Listening & Speaking appears to be deserted skills in the language where pronunciation instruction is embedded. Choeda et al (2020) reviewed that learners are not offered sufficient opportunities to practice authentic language, thus least developing pronunciation. In other words, the exposure and practice are minimal.…”

“…Reportedly, Bhutanese learners do not have acceptable level of English communication ability as the repercussion of poor pronunciation (Biddha & Thinley, 2010;Choeda et al, 2020;LaPrairie, 2014;Singay, 2018), despite the fact that Bhutan has adopted English as medium of instruction for past 60 years.…”

“…The needs analysis teacher interviewees revealed Bhutanese learners' struggle with consonant sounds such as /s/, /r/, /v/, and /z/ along with short and long vowels. The interview conducted by Choeda et al (2020) highlighted Bhutanese learners' problems with stress and variation of tone due to which the learners sounded monotonous which made the discourse difficult to be understood. Therefore, the pronunciation aspect of consonant, vowel, stress, and intonation were considered to be addressed in the study.…”