LANGUAGE IN INDIA

A STUDY ON THE LEARNING PROCESS OF ENGLISH
BY HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS
WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DHARMAPURI DISTRICT IN TAMILNADU
K. Chidambaram, Ph.D.

Contents

ABBREVIATIONS

CONTENTS PAGE

DEDICATION

CONTENTS PAGE

CERTIFICATE

This is to certify that the thesis, entitled A STUDY ON THE LEARNING PROCESS OF ENGLISH BY HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DHARAMAPURI DISTRICT, submitted to the Bharathiar University, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics, is a record of original research work done by Mr. K. CHIDAMBARAM, during the period from November 2000 to October 2004 in the Department of Linguistics at Bharathiar University, under my supervision and guidance and that the thesis has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree/Diploma/ Associateship /Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate of any University.

V. Thayalan, Ph.D.
Suprviser, Guide and Chairman, Doctoral Committee

APPROVED BY
Dr. C. Shanmugom Pillai
Professor and Head of the Department of Linguistics
Bharathiar university
Coimbatore 641045, Tamilnadu
India

DECLARATION

I, K. CHIDAMBARAM, hereby declare that the thesis, entitled "A STUDY ON THE LEARNING PROCESS OF ENGLISH BY HIGHER SECONDARY STUDENTS WITH SPECIAL REFERENCE TO DHARAMAPURI DISTRICT", submitted to the Bharathiar University, in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Linguistics is a record of original and independent research work done by me during from November 2000 to October 2004 under the Supervision and guidance of Dr. V. THAYALAN Department of Linguistics, Bharathiar University, and it has not formed the basis for the award of any Degree/Diploma/ Associateship/Fellowship or other similar title to any candidate in any University.

K. Chidambaram
Signature of the Candidate

CONTENTS PAGE

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

I am deeply indebted to Dr. C Shunmugom, Professor and Head, Department of Linguistics and Dean, Faculty of Arts, for permitting me to carry out this study and for his insightful direction and parental affection shown to me for accomplishing the present task.

I express my immense gratitude to my Research Supervisor Dr. V. Thayalan, Reader, Department of Linguistics, for having opened me the door of opportunity to do research under his guidance. He is the torchbearer of the march of my research. He is, in my opinion, a guiding star in the wilderness.

I am also grateful to Dr. C. Sivashanmugam, Professor, Department of Linguistics, for his invaluable suggestions during the course of my study and for his timely help rendered to me whenever I approached him with a research problem. He lavishly spent his time to mould me and to better my academic activities.

I specially thank Dr. C. Sivakumar, Member of the Syndicate, Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics, Bharathiar University, for having spent his valuable time to academically and non academically chat with me.

I am extremely grateful to Dr. T. Muthukrishnan, Visiting Faculty (Telugu Chair), for his immense help and valuable suggestion from the beginning of my research work. The drafts were refined and enriched by his insights. I would gladly characterize him as a great scholar in the field of linguistics.

My heart-felt thanks are due to Dr. V. Jaya, Reader, Department of Tamil, Bharathiar University, for her motherly affection shown to me. That enabled me to feel at home even when I am away from my home.

My genuine thanks are expressed to Ms. Brunda Ravikumar, a fellow researcher who patiently went through the drafts of the study. The lucidity achieved in the thesis is largely attributed to her.

The fruitful discussions I had with Dr. K.Ramasamy and Dr. Sam Mohan Lal, Deputy Directors, CIIL, Mysore, and Dr. G. Subbiah, Professor, Department of Linguistics, Madurai Kamarajar University, have to be gratefully mentioned. They helped me in visualizing new perspectives in the area of language teaching. I take this opportunity to record my deep sense of gratitude to all of them.

It is my duty to thank the authorities of the Bharathiar University for awarding me the University Research Fellowship, which enabled me to carryout the research successfully.

I deem it as a pleasure to thank my fellow researchers, Mr. R. M. Bharanitharan, Mr. M. R. Mani, Ms. Rathna Devi, Ms. Kamala Suganya Kumari, Ms. P. Mangayarkarasi, Ms. S. Santhi, Ms. K. Sathiyapriya, Ms. R. Ramya and Mr. A. Chandra Bose who have been rushing to help me always in all ways.

I specially thank Mr. C. Anbalagan, and Mr. K. Sivaprakasam, Research scholars, of the Departments of Zoology and Tamil respectively, for their perennial source of encouragement and constant help.

My thanks are also due to Mr. N. Nanjappan, President, Tamil Nadu Tribal People's Association and N. Mohankumar, Secretary, People's Union for Human Rights Coimbatore, for their moral support and motivation.

I thank all of my friends who extended their helping hands to me directly or indirectly in ameliorating the quality of the present work.

I, with all sincerity, record my sense of gratefulness to my mother Ms. Muniammal, my father Mr. Kuppusamy, my loving sister Ms. Manjula and my lovely brother-in-law Mr. Kuppan. Their blessing, invocation, love, affection and dreams placed me in the high seats of learning to broaden my mental horizon and to acquire academic acumen to accomplish the present task. The present work is, thus, dedicated to them with affection and admiration.

I thank M/s Sree Kumaran Computers for neat execution of typing work and M/s Vasanthi Printers for beautiful binding works.

K. Chidambaram

CONTENTS PAGE

CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION

1.1. Language

Language enables people to express their feelings, ideas, wishes and so on. It is a tool of knowledge through which the worldly knowledge is acquired and preserved, and language is one of the indicators of cultural identity of a linguistic community as well as individual personality. Each language contains its own people's culture and customs. The degree of cultural similarities varies from language to language. Thus, the cultural gap may not be much wider between the languages of a family, but may be much wider between the languages of different families. There exists not only the cultural gap but also variation of linguistic system. Therefore, the process of acquiring / learning a language belonging to another linguistic family includes internalization of culture in addition to the linguistic features of that language.

'Language is the medium through which the child acquires the cultural, moral, religious and other values of society' (Klein, 1986:6).

Further, every language plays a crucial role in maintaining social relationship between and among the people of the same linguistic community and of the various cultures, customs and beliefs.

1.2. First Language and Second Language

A language is 'first'-and so is its acquisition-if no other language was acquired before; otherwise it is second (Klein, 1986:3). Thus, the mother tongue which is acquired primarily by a child when his language cells are empty is first language (L1), and the language which is acquired / learnt in addition to the L1 is second language (L2). In this context, the term 'second' can refer to any language that is learnt subsequent to the mother tongue. Thus, it can even refer to the learning of third (L3) or fourth Language (L4).

Further, pedagogically or from the point of view of language policy of India, the terms 'first language' and 'second language' are defined (Chaturvedi and Mohale, 1976:21) as: The first language, broadly is the language introduced in the school as a subject from grade I to X, and it is commonly used as a medium of instruction at the school level and as a medium of expression by learner in his social communication. It is usually the mother tongue or regional language of the child. The second language is the language which is introduced compulsorily either at the end of primary stage or in the beginning of the lower secondary stage after the attainment of sufficient proficiency in the first language by the learner.

The main objective of the second language is to enable the speaker for wider participation in society and the nation leading to secondary socialization. Hence, the second language is usually the official language of a state or national language.

1.3. Foreign Vs Second Language

The phrase 'foreign language' is used to denote a language that is learnt through instruction where it is not used. 'second language', on the other hand, is one that becomes another tool of communication along with the first language. It is typically acquired / learnt in a social environment in which it is actually spoken or in tutored settings. Thus, English has been taught as a second language in most of the countries, i.e. India, Nigeria, etc., where English has an internal function in all the domains, and in the countries like China, Japan, etc. English is taught as foreign language where English has no internal function, but it is learnt there for employment opportunities and to be adapted themselves with the computerized world.

1.4. Process and Learner Process

The term 'process' which is common in acquisition / learning studies is used in two related meanings. It refers both to the sequence of development (i.e., to the incremental nature of acquisition / learning) and to the factors that determine how acquisition / learning takes place.

Ellis (1985:17) implies that the learner process may be cognitive or linguistic. Cognitive learner processes can be divided into three categories. Learning strategies are used to internalize new L2 knowledge; production strategies are the means by which the learner utilizes his / her existing L2 knowledge, and communication strategies are employed when there is a hiatus caused by the need to communicate a message for which the learner lacks L2 resources. These strategies are general in nature and mediate between the linguistic input and the language that learner produces. Linguistic process involves an universal principle of grammar with which the learner is innately endowed. They provide learner with a starting point. The task is then to scan the input to discover which rules of target language are universal and which are language specific.

1.5. Acquisition Vs Learning

There are different opinions about the acquisition of language and learning of language. Krashen's (1981) opinion is one among them. He distinguishes between 'acquisition' and 'learning'. The former refers to the subconscious process of picking up a language through exposure and the latter refers to the conscious process of studying it. According to this view, if a language is internalized subconsciously through exposure in a natural environment the process becomes acquisition. In contrast, if a language is internalized consciously through instruction in class room settings the process becomes learning. When a language is internalized subconsciously by a learner, he may not have grammatical competence but he may have communicative competence in a particular context, and when a language is internalized consciously by him, he may have grammatical competence, but need not have communicative competence.

1.6. First Language Acquisition Process

There are two different approaches about the acquisition process of language. Linguists like Chomsky and his followers, assume that language is innate, and children acquire only the corpus of the language from the environment and not the structure. Psychologists assume that language is learnt like other behaviors. Further, they claim that both the corpus and structure of language are acquired from environment. However, both the approaches accept the importance of the environment for acquiring a language.

First language acquisition occurs when the learner-usually a child-has been without a language so far and now acquires one (Klein, 1986:4). Hence, the acquiring process of language takes place, subconsciously in a social environment, in several stages. The studies (Dromi, 1979; Ingram, 1989; Redford, 1990) reveal the stages of acquiring first language. Those stages are prelinguistic stage, single word stage, early multiword stage, later multiword stage. In the later multiword stage, children produce unlimited number of sentences using their linguistic competence.

1.7. Second Language Acquisition Vs Second Language Learning Process

'Second language acquisition' (SLA) is used in the applied linguistic studies to refer to the internalization process of an L2 through exposure in a social environment where the real communication takes place; where the learner focuses on only meaning not the structure of L2. For example, a prototypical case is that of an Indian tribal man who settles in New York city not knowing even a single word of the local language and who manages to acquire through his sporadic and systematic social interaction with the broader society. Whereas, the 'second language learning' is used to refer to conscious study of an L2; the focus of learning is both on structure and pragmatics of the L2.

Further, Ellis (1986:6) says that second language acquisition is the subconscious or conscious process by which a language, other then the mother tongue, is learnt in a natural or a tutored setting. It covers the development of phonology, lexis, grammar and pragmatic knowledge.

1.8. Spontaneous Learning Vs Guided Learning

Klein (1986:16-20) has distinguished the internalization of L2 as spontaneous learning and guided learning. The term 'spontaneous learning' is used to denote the intake of second language in everyday communication in a natural fashion, free from systematic guidance. And 'guided learning' is used to refer to the systematic and intentional intake of L2 through regular language instruction in the schools.

Further, Ellis (1994:12) has distinguished the process of internalizing L2 as 'naturalistic' and instructed. The former refers to the internalization of L2 through communication, which is naturally occurring in social situation. Later refers to intake of L2 through study with the help of 'guidance' from reference book or classroom.

Hawkins (2001:18) differentiates the process of L2 intaking on the basis of the sample of second language data presented to the learner or the input, and the way that L2 learners respond to that input as 'classroom learning' and 'naturalistic learning'. Further, he argues that the input environment may be different, but classroom learning is not itself a homogeneous one. Some classrooms may be very formal, in the sense that emphasis is placed on the conscious learning of grammatical properties of the L2 via instruction, with reinforcing drills, exercise, translations and so on. Others may be communicative, where emphasis is placed on using the L2 naturally to communicate speaker's intentions, rather than on considering the properties of the language itself. Classroom input to second language learners can be quite different from naturalistic input available and also vary from one classroom to another.

1.9. Language Acquisition Device

Chomsky's (1959, 1965, 1975) proposition is that the acquisition of the structure of language depends upon an innate recognition device. He calls it as language acquisition device (LAD). That is, in effect programmed to accept its surface structure of any natural language as input and to recognize its deep structures by virtue of the kinship of all natural language to an universal deep structure that human beings know innately.

Hence, Chomsky argues that any normal child comes to know the grammar of the native language within an amazingly short time span. This cannot be accounted for in the framework of behavioristic learning theories of the kind postulated by Skinner (1957) for verbal behavior. So, one has to assume that human beings are endowed with a language acquisition device which:

1. is species-specific, i.e. distinguishes man from other species,
2. is specific for language learning as opposed to the acquisition of other forms of behavior or knowledge,
3. prestructures the properties of grammar to an extent (consequently many structural properties of grammar are innate and need not be learnt.

The most important one in this context is item 'c' which claims that certain structural properties of grammar are innate. The language data available to the child serves to activate the latent components of grammar.

The general form of a system of knowledge is fixed in advance as a disposition of the mind and the function of experience is to cause this general schematic structure to be realized and more fully differentiated (Chomsky, 1965:51-52).

The obvious conclusion is that each new born baby is capable of acquiring any human language, and the innate structures of language must be common to all languages, and these constitute what Chomsky calls universal grammar. However, the specific features of each language, as for instance those that distinguish Tamil from English, must be differed from the data made available to a child in the course of first language acquisition.

1.10. Competence and Performance

Linguistic creativity is the ability of a native speaker to produce and comprehend sentences of the language which he has never heard before, and he can produce unlimited novel sentences which are grammatical, and he is assumed to be able to distinguish from ungrammatical ones. This reveals that he has inherited knowledge more than an accumulation of previously heard utterances. Chomsky (1965) argues that a native speaker has innate knowledge about the structure of his language which operates him in his language use. He calls this knowledge as linguistic competence. He distinguishes this from language performance; the use of his language by a native speaker in a particular social context.

The way in which Chomsky visualizes linguistic competence and language performance can be represented schematically as:

LC-Linguistic competence, LAD-Language Acquisition Device, SC-Social context, LP-Language performance.

The diagram shows that the linguistic competence is embedded in LAD. The LAD receives input, the language data, from the society, and using this input the linguistic competence which is in the LAD generates the grammar of the language (performance) in social context.

1.11. Second Language Acquisition/Learning Theories

Theories of SLA talk about the acquisition/learning process of L2 in different ways. Some of the important theories are short listed as follows.

1.11.1. Contrastive Theory

The contrastive theory claims that the acquisition of a Second language is largely determined by the structure of an earlier acquired language. Those structures, of the Second language that coincide with corresponding structure of the first language are assimilated with great ease as a result of 'positive transfer'. Contrasting structures on the other hand, present considerable difficulty and give rise to errors as a result of 'negative transfer' or 'interference'.

Identity theory is contrasted with the contrastive theory which asserts that the acquisition or availability of language has little or no influence on the acquisition of another language. Thus, in other words, first and second language learning are basically one and the same process governed by the same law.

1.11.3. Acculturation Theory

According to the acculturation theory, SLA is determined by the degree of social and psychological distance between the learner and the target language culture. That is, the social factors like situation, social relationship with the target language group. Psychological factors like language shock, (the learner experiences, doubt and possible confusion when using the L2) cultural shock, (the learner experiences, disorientation, stress fear, etc. as a result of differences between his own culture and that of the target language community) motivation, and ego boundaries play major role in the process of acquiring/learning of L2.

1.11.4. Monitor Theory

According to the monitor theory, the learner gains proficiency in a Second language in two ways: 'subconscious acquisition' and 'conscious learning'. The former focuses on only meaning not the form whereas the later refers to the internalization of explicit rules under conscious control. The crucial point of the theory is that 'learning' in this sense is always effected through a 'monitor', or an effort on the part of the learner to control his language output and to self-correct it whenever necessary. We can enumerate three conditions that decide the effective use of monitor:

1. Time. There must be enough time to operate learned rule.
2. Focus on form. The speaker must be concerned with correctness or with the form of the output.
3. Knowledge of rules. The speaker must know the rules. The monitor does its best with rules that are simple in two ways. They must be simple to describe and they must not require complex movement and rearrangements.

1.12. Teaching English as a Second Language

Realizing the importance of English, it has been taught in the schools and the colleges as second language or third language compulsorily in India in general and in Tamil Nadu in particular English has been included as one of the subjects in school and college curriculum and also occupies as a medium of instruction in certain schools, Hence, it is the predominant tool of instruction in higher studies.

In the state board schools, English has been introduced as one of the language subjects from the third standard along with other subjects, and it is the medium of instruction in certain schools of the state board after primary education. In the matriculation schools, English is the medium of instruction in addition to the English language subject where all the subjects i.e. science, social sciences, commerce, etc. are taught through English starting from the primary education.

Further, the higher secondary English syllabus includes the prose, poetry, grammar exercises, listening and reading comprehensions, speech practice and communication and other tasks. The teaching of English as a second language at higher secondary level aims (as the preface of the higher secondary text reveals):

• to develop abilities of young learner in terms of right expression and apt communication in English,
• to develop appropriateness and fluency in both oral and written expressions,
• to enhance reading and listening comprehension ability, and
• to inculcate in the learners mind, the sense of aesthetics, appreciation, human values and administration things, beautiful and joys.

1.13. Language Skills

Learning a language comprises of four skills. They are listening, speaking, reading and writing (LSRW). The former two skills are known as oracy and the later two are known as literacy; both oracy and literary form linguacy.

Among these four skills, listening and reading are used as the channels of receiving Information. Thus, these two skills are called as receptive skills.

The remaining two skills, speaking and writing, are used as channels of sending information. Thus, these two skills are labeled as productive skills.

1.13.1. Listening Skill

Listening is a prerequisite to other skills of language. The activity of listening is not an act of just recording the speaker's utterances and repeating them as a tap recorder as they are. It is a process of making meaning out of spoken language. Listening involves:

• receiving the systematic sounds of the language,
• processing and constructing sounds into words,
• giving meaning to the words and getting meaning from the words received,
• ability to interpret and comprehend the speaker's utterances, etc.

1.13.2. Speaking Skill

Speaking is a more complex skill than listening. It is an act of creativity.

In addition to knowing the language, the speaker must think of an idea he wishes to express, either initiating the monologue, or conversation or responding to previous speaker. The activity of speaking involves:

• the consciousness of the grammatical, lexical and cultural features of the language,
• ability to speak without grammatical errors,
• where, when, why, how, what to speak awareness,
• correct pronunciation and ability to present in understandable way, etc.

1.13.3. Reading Skill

Reading is nothing but an understanding of written symbols which consist of recognition and comprehension skills. To perform the reading activity one should have:

• the knowledge of the language,
• the knowledge of the writing system,
• ability to recognize the phonemes,
• the ability to interpret and comprehended the texts, etc.

While reading, a reader interacts with a text, decodes it, and constructs meaning in the process. The reading activity updates one's knowledge and it is an important tool for academic success.

1.13.4. Writing Skill

Writing is the process of conveying one's thought through written symbols. It is a difficult process. The writing skill includes:

• ability to shape the letters,
• ability to convert the ideas using the written symbols,
• ability to write without grammatical errors,
• ability to present and organize in a readable fashion, etc.

All these four skills of language are the bases for communication. Hence, they form the base for the language proficiency-the ability to use the knowledge in different tasks.

1.14. Statement of the Problem

It is indeed bitter to notice that even though various serious efforts have been taken by the educationalists for improving the state of affairs of English language teaching for the past few decades in India in general, in Tamil Nadu in particular, a sorry state of affairs is still found to exist in the achievements of English linguistic behaviour among the students of all levels. So, it is really imperative to unearth real reasons behind the poor achievements of the students in English. Before that, it is also important to identify the level of achievement by the students in all skills of the English language and the problems, they encounter in the process of learning English.

1.15. Review of the Literature

There are many works wriiten on this line. Some of the important works are reviewed here.

Kothainayaki (1994) has observed the classroom interaction in second language teaching among students and teachers in VI, VII and VIII standards. She has observed, in her study, some of the pattern of teacher - students and student - student interaction both in side of the classroom and out side of the classroom. Further, she has investigated the errors in the use of articles, prepositions, particles, etc.. Hence, she recommends that grammar teaching should have been started right from the first standard and enforcing the lot of grammatical drills will enhance the students interpersonal communicative competence.

Karthiyayani (1995) has studied the reading comprehension of the students studying at the higher secondary level. She has found, that the reading performance of the students in English (L2) is better when the answers are explicitly stated in the passage, and the students found difficulty if the answers scattered in the passage. Further, she has observed that the parental economical position and the students previous academic record play a crucial role in the performance of the students, but the gender and location play a less roll in the performance of the reading comprehension of the students.

Nisha (1995) has investigated the areas of hindrance in acquiring communicative competence and the areas of incompatibility between the language syllabus, language teaching and linguistic performance of the first year degree students in English who had Tamil as medium of Instruction. She has identified some of the communication strategies followed by the learners when they had encountered problem in the process of communication. Further, her study reveals that the socio - economic factors play less role and parental education, situational and psychological factors play a crucial role in the advancement of the communicative competence of the learners.

Baskaran (1996), in his study, has investigated the orthographical errors in second language committed by the under graduate students. He has identified the errors due to addition, omission, substitution and inversion of the spelling. Further, the orthographical errors due to L1 influence also have been specified in the study. Hence, he recommended that the spelling drill with special emphasis on confusing words and practice of dictionary-using will lessen the orthographic errors in writing of the students.

Ravi (1998) has explored the motivational problems in teaching - learning English as a second language at the high school level with particular reference to the 6th, 7th, 8th standards. This study revealed that the motivational problems are relatively less in the higher classes than that of the lower classes. Further, he has also identified that the quantum of vocabulary used in the text books also determines the quantum of motivation achieved.

Rangasamy (1998) has evaluated the techniques of teaching English, text materials used for the higher secondary students and their performance in speaking and writing. He has identified, in his study, the phonological, grammatical and discourse based errors. Based on his finding, he has suggested that the examination should test the mastery of the students over the four skills of language including spelling test, word building, grammar, phonology, reading and writing comprehension. Further he recommended that the text should contain more lessons written by Indian writers and the poems should be minimized in the text.

Chandran (1999) has investigated the communicative ability in speaking English of the higher secondary first year students. He has identified, in his study, the phonological, lexical and grammatical errors, and also he has proved that the communicative ability of speaking of the students with English as their medium of instruction is better than that of the students of Tamil medium. Further, he recommended that the syllabus designers and material producers may give top most priority for the communicative activities in the syllabus so that the learners would develop the acquired knowledge.

Jayanthi (2002) has observed the classroom interaction of the graduate students. This study revealed that the factors like smartness of the students, shyness, evaluative, capacity, commitment, psychological conditions, observation of world knowledge, time factor, interactional awareness, interaction with text, etc., play some role over the effective and efficient interaction of the students. Further, she has said shyness of the students' psychological conditions of the students especially past failures, etc. lead to the avoidance of the interactive performance and other above said factors enhance the interaction of the students in English literature Teaching classes.

Subramanian (2002) has evaluated the linguistic skills of the graduate students in English. He has evaluated all the four linguistic skills, listening, speaking, reading and writing. However, he has dealt within detail only the writing skill of the graduate students. He has identified, in his study the phonological, grammatical and orthographical errors in productive skills and in the comprehension skills he has identified the recalling ability of words and sentences. Moreover, he recommended that the group discussion, language games should be encouraged in the class hours and introducing the audiovisual instrument for language teaching would be good and wise at collegiate level.

Sobana (2003) has explored the communicative competence in written English among secondary students. She has evaluated the competence based achievement of the students on the basis of the marks obtained by them to the given tests items like identification of sounds and letters, identification of word meanings, application of word meaning in sentences, letter writing and composition. Further, the study revealed that the instruction and parental economical and educational background have a direct impact on the competence based achievement and ability to use written English.

All the above mentioned works have not studied the learning process of English adopted by the higher secondary students. Thus, the present study is made on this subject.

1.16. Aim and Scope of the Present Study

The present study thus tries to identify the performance and areas of problems in the process of learning of four linguistic skills of English language by the higher secondary students studying in the schools of Dharmapuri District and to suggest certain remedial measures to overcome the problems or hindrance encountered by them.

1.17. Objectives of the Study

1. To identify the communication strategies adopted by the L2 learners whenever they find linguistic gap, and while they encounter the problems during the process of learning the oral communication.
2. To identify the inter and intra lingual communication strategies adopted by the students while making oral communication and to evaluate their speaking skill.
3. To identify the problems encountered by the students in the process of learning the writing skill.
4. To identify the L1 interference on L2 writings of the students.
5. To evaluate the reading ability of the students.
6. To identify the students' understanding capacity of the vocabulary and discourse in the process of reading comprehension.
7. To evaluate the listening ability of the students.
8. To identify the students' recognizing ability of sounds, vocabulary, grammar, number and information in the process of listening comprehension.
9. And to suggest remedial measures to improve all the four skills of English.

1.18. Hypotheses Tested

The following null hypotheses have been drawn keeping in view with the data collected.

1. The medium of instruction has direct impact on the achievement of second language skills.
2. None of the variables (sex, region, parental education and income) plays any role in the development of second language skills.
3. If a student is better in listening, he will be better in speaking only, and if a student is better in reading, he will be better in writing only.

In order to validate the hypotheses 1 and 2 the variables medium of instruction, sex, region, parental education and income were identified and for the hypothesis 3, the mean scores of the students performance in each skill is considered.

1.19. Coverage of the Present Study

The present work tries to study language skills of the students who are studying in higher secondary classes of various schools of Dharmapuri District of Tamil Nadu, India. Both the matriculation and state board schools have been covered for the present study. Certain important social variables have also been considered for the present study. Reason for the selection of this district is that it is a socially, economically, and educationally backward one.

1.20. Limitation of the Study

As said earlier, the present study covers only the students studying in the Dharmapuri District. Effort has not been taken to evaluate the text book, the teaching methods, teacher, etc. Only the students performance in the English language, communication strategies adopted and problems encountered by the learners have alone been taken into consideration, and the remedial measures for all the problems identified have been suggested centering and focusing the students.

1.21. Social Relevance of the Study

• Since the present study concentrates on all the four skills of the English language, it will present a total picture about the English language of the higher secondary students.
• As it also talks about the process of English learning by the higher secondary students it will find reasons for some of the learning problems of English. Based on the findings of the present study, certain apt remedial measures can be advocated.
• In the Indian educational span of the students, the stage of the higher secondary class plays a crucial role which determines the students further and future education. This terminal course should provide the students a strong foundation for their English language development. Therefore, English has to be properly developed for strengthening it. The present study therefore gains a social vitality and validity as it provides enough insights about the English learning of the higher secondary students.

1.22. Selection of the Sample for the Study

For the present study, 300 students (both XI and XII taken as a unit) have been selected from five matric and five government higher secondary schools located in different areas of Dharmapuri District. Considering the variables of the present study, 30 students from each school have been selected at random.

1.23. Variables of the Study

For the present study, sex, region, economical position of the parents, parental education and medium of instruction have been taken as variables.

The variables are further divided as in the table.