English teaching strategies in secondary schools of Assam State, India: A status study

The English Language has become the lingua franca of the world. India being a multilingual country depends on English to communicate with different parts of the country as no two states speak the same language in the country. English has become the sole language that is spoken and understood in every part of India and has been accepted as an official language. All over the country, the English language occupies a significant place in any school curriculum and a learner study the English language for the longest time, more than 12 years in any school system. Perhaps no other subject, may it be Mathematics or other subjects is studied by a student so long time compulsorily in the school. Looking at the gravity of English Language, the Government of Assam has made English, a compulsory language to be learned from the Primary classes. But students, even after learning the language from class I to X and passing the first Board Examination cannot speak basic sentences and write a simple application in English. The present paper aims to study the English teaching strategies by the Secondary School Teachers in Assam, India. The researchers have adopted the Survey Research Design to investigate the strategies of teaching English by the teachers and found that the secondary school teachers in Assam teach the English language class through the mother tongue of the learners and give much more emphasis on writing skills than other linguistic skills. Teachers do not use the methodology recommended by the designers of the textbooks and sometimes they do not have knowledge of the pedagogy of second language teaching.