Assoc. Prof. Dr. Padmini Mildred Thiyagarajah
School of Educational Studies
Universiti Sains Malaysia
The lack of success in learning English among pupils in rural schools has contributed much to the rural-urban divide in Malaysia. The need to solve our national problem of achieving desirable levels of English language proficiency among our rural students has prompted the study of fundamental issues concerning learners’ difficulties, learning styles and strategies and motivation. It is believed that the investigation of the relationship between the main constructs of learning difficulties, strategies and motivation will help curriculum developers, teacher educators and classroom teachers effect better approaches and strategies for the teaching and learning of English among rural students in our country.
The research approach employed in this study adheres to a descriptive, interpretative model which employs both quantitative and qualitative measures. Initial investigations which aim at establishing a profile of rural learners’ difficulties, motivation and use of learning styles and strategies involve quantification of responses from a wide sample of 600 students and 100 teachers. This is followed by a qualitative study which looks at learning from the point of view of the individual involving 24 cases of students and 9 cases of students.
