English Language Teaching Problems in the Nomadic Society in Iran

Abstract

Education occupies the center stage in human life. Therefore, the importance of education has been adequately documented in the literature. In spite of the important role played by nomadic society in Iran, this society seems to be a neglected part of this Islamic country. When it comes to teaching English the problem becomes severe. Therefore, this study was carried out to highlight the burning issues ahead of English language teaching in the nomadic society in Iran. In order to go to the roots of problems in teaching and learning English in nomadic schools, researchers interviewed some English teachers and stakeholders in the nomadic educational center in Lorestan. Moreover, to find the possible differences between nomadic and non-nomadic students in terms of learning English as a foreign language, a total number of 75 nomadic students and 80 non-nomadic students participated in this study. Independent sample t-test was used to find the differences between the mean scores of two groups of students. The results of the study showed that the main obstacles in the way of English language learning in nomads are: formal school, Curriculum, student related problems, teachers-related problems, learning facilities and technological equipment, under norm problem and multimethod-multilevel classes.