INVESTIGATING FACTORS HINDERING ENGLISH LANGUAGE PROFICIENCY AMONG GRADES 1–10 STUDENTS DESPITE ENGLISH AS A COMPULSORY SUBJECT IN PAKISTAN

Abstract

English has been taught as compulsory subject in the country, the study investigated the factors hindering English language proficiency among Grade 1 to 10 students in district Islamabad, Pakistan. Adopting a qualitative research design, data were gathered from ten schools of the city (five public and five private) through semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and analysis of students’ creative piece of writing samples. The study grounded on Gass and Selinker’s Error Analysis Model and Vygotsky’s Sociocultural Theory to identify instructional, contextual, and socio-economic barriers to English language acquisition. The study findings reveal that both public and private school students exhibit below average proficiency, with public school students mainly struggling with foundational literary skills whereas private schools showing over-reliance on the rote-memorization. Key challenges of the study include teacher-centered pedagogy, limited formative feedbacks from teacher and caregivers, excessive reliance on L1 such Urdu, Pothwari, and Pushto, insufficient remedial instruction, lack of exposure to authentic English language, socio-economic and motivational constraints, and finally rigid examination systems prioritizing grammar over communicative competence. The research also underscores the need for curriculum reform, increased the instructor training, diagnostic assessments, and student-centered instructional practices. The local findings within the global English language teaching challenges, the study provides practical recommendations for policymaker, curriculum developers and educators aiming to fill the gap between compulsory English subject instruction and functional language speaking and writing proficiency.