Grammatical Competence and Oral Fluency Level of Class Ten Students in the Kathmandu Valley

Abstract

Grammatical competence is an important constituent of total communicative competence in any language. Grammatical competence paired with fluency are considered to be good indicators of communicative competence. Obviously, it takes a long time to acquire communicative proficiency. In this regard, thirteen years is a pretty long period to learn any language, and to achieve communicative competence in that language. Objectives: The main objective is to critically assess the grammatical competence and oral fluency level of class ten students of the Kathmandu valley after studying English for ten to thirteen years. Method: A descriptive-cum-exploratory qualitative research design was adopted to assess the proficiency level of the students. Class Observation of teachers, and Oral Performance tests of class ten students were used as the tools of evaluations. Purposive sampling was used for the selection of thirty schools in three districts of the Kathmandu Valley whereas random sampling was used to select the respondent students of mixed ability for the oral performance test. The test items for the oral test were based on fixed criteria: different elements of grammatical competence. Interviews, Class Observations and Oral Test answers were tape-recorded for detailed study and analysis. Result: The over-all result of the oral performance test shows that the learning outcome, in general, is rather frustrating. Let alone government schools where most of the students belong to lower-class unprivileged families, even in private schools, or rather in so called A grade private schools, the condition of the English proficiency from the viewpoint of grammatical competence is rather frustrating. Except one school out of 30 schools none could secure 40% mean. Conclusion: The current English teaching practices in most schools need to be improved for better learning outcome and better communicative proficiency. Beside, communication-oriented grammar books and the main-skills books which are compatible with communicative approach should be introduced. Hands-on Teacher straining programmes should be organized by schools with a view to updating and boosting the English teachers' linguistic knowledge and ELT skills.