This document outlines 8 common reasons for poor performance in English language: 1) Negative notions that English is complicated and difficult which hinders effective learning. 2) Lack of relevance as the mother tongue dominates daily life. 3) Insufficient effort such as not practicing speaking, reading, or using English outside of class. 4) Low motivation to learn English long-term for exams or other goals. 5) Lack of confidence in speaking English due to embarrassment or shyness. 6) Inadequate or unqualified English teachers who are not language specialists. 7) Improper teaching methods focused on memorization rather than thinking. 8) Impacts of pronunciation and grammar differences

1. Top 8 Reasons for
Poor Performance in
English Language
By: MaybeWanji

2. #1 The Negative Notions
About English
Complicated
Confusing
Difficult
Unfamiliar

3.  When students develop a certain strong notion
towards a subject, it will be a real challenge to
change their perceptions.
Difficult but not impossible.
 Students are hindered to join an effective learning
process due to the fear or hatred projected by
themselves onto the said subject.
 Sometimes they do not like to change because that
would be admitting that their notions are not true.
 The best solution is to get down to the root of these
notions and fix it all the way up.

4. #2 The Relevancy of English
Language in Everyday-life
Jom gi
main
bola !
நான்
நீங்கள்
இழக்கTembirang ko!
做个朋友，
好吗？

5.  The dominance of mother tongue
 At home
 In the neighborhood
 When everyone around you are comfortable
speaking a language you are familiar with, then
 Why do you want to learn English?
 You can get along in your daily life without knowing
English so why is English important?
 Students are young and do not have long term
forecast. Teachers and parents should inform them
on the preparation for the necessary skills.
 The benefits of mastering the international language
should be explained to each and every student.

6. #3 Lack of Effort in
Learning English
Do you look up
English words
in dictionary?
Do you need
subtitles when
watching an
English film?
Do you do
any reading
in English?
How often do
you speak
English?

7.  Okay, students do want to learn English in order to pass
the examinations but are they putting in enough effort?
 English is not only about reading and writing but the
conversational parts are of extreme importance.
 You may be good with vocabularies and flawless with
spellings and grammars but can you make out the words
spoken by a native English speaker? Don’t be surprise
to find a person who scored A+ for English is unable to
hold a casual talk with an American.
 A lot of effort is needed to learn English.
 Practices in spelling, grammar and compositions
 Reading English materials
 Listening to English audiobooks, songs and pronunciation

8. #4 Lack of Motivation In
Learning English
Don’t want ,
malaslah !
I speak esok !
Let’s Speak
English !
Cut it off, We
know you’re the
teacher’s pet.

9.  Nowadays, students generally have short attention span
in everything they do including learning. Mostly, they are
only interested in activities which are stimulating and
comprising elements of instant gratification such as
video games and sites of social networking.
 With lack of English foundation background, there is very
little motivation for them to learn English.
 Even in school, poor focus and poor attention are given
to the subject. School mostly focus on Science and
Mathematics and often sidetrack English.
 Our Ministry of Education (MOE) had conducted a native
speaker program in which a native speaker is brought to
each school in order to teach the non-native speakers of
the school. Is that a good solution?

10. #5 Lack of Confidence in
Speaking English
Erghemm..
*Embarrassed*
Awkward…
*Shy*
Nervous

11.  Ali is a Form 5 students while Kei is a tourist.
Kei : Hi there, do you speak English?
Ali : Abit
Kei :Ok, My name is Kei. What’s yours?
Ali : Ali
Kei : Nice to meet you, Ali. Do you stay around here?
Ali :Yes
Kei :Good, can you direct me to the Tune’s Hotel?
Ali :.. Err.. Go straight,turn left, turn right, belakang warung
Kei : Luckily I’m from Indonesia, I understand you Ali.
Ali is 17 years old, he started learning English since pre-
school at around 5 years old. He has been learning English
for a minimum of 10 years, why is he still unable to speak
English fluently and confidently? Why?

12. #6 Inadequate Qualified
English Teachers
Bangsar Primary
desperately need an English
Teacher, try there!
Okay, Mr.
Principal.
I’m still jobless!
Oh, no, we’re short of
staff, Mimi can you
teach English as
well?

13.  Teachers who are not specialized in English are made to
teach English. Well, it happens to all the other subjects
as well and this has posted as an endemic issue in
schools across the country for some time.
 Everyone wants their children to learn good English from
dedicated/adoring/experienced/well-trained/smart
English teachers at school but so few individuals are
passionate about teaching English.
A pathetic case of demand more than supply.

14. #7 Improper
Teaching Methods
If you do it wrong,
I’ll knock your
head.
Just remember what I’d
said, don’t ask silly
questions.
Do it my
way!
Class,
memorize this!

15.  Schools are about competition, merits, and how to give the
correct answers but is that the right direction to head to?
 As teachers, we should support the "best thinking" of all
students, not just crediting them when they say exactly what
we want them to say. We even hint at that perfect response.
But are they really learning?
 Teachers should ask students to explain their thinking,
because there are different methods to solving problems.
Their explanations give crucial insight into how they process a
problem. This allows students to be responsible for their own
learning with a sense of accomplishment.
 It is about teaching students to think and not just regurgitate
information.
 Plus, English teachers used too much other languages while
teaching English. “Class, Faham?”

16. #8 Impacts of Mother Tongue
Bad
Pronunciation
Wrong
Intonation
Wrong
Sentence
Structures
Bad Grammar

17.  In the case of a Chinese student who spoke Cantonese,
the consonant /r/ might sound like a /l/ sound to them.
Thus, they often mispronounce words with /r/, resulting
in "correct" becoming "collect", "road" becoming "load",
"right" becoming "light" and so on.
 Among Indian students, they tend to mispronounce /p/ at
the beginning of words by voicing it as a /b/. Thus words
that have /p/ at the beginning such as "party", "park",
"pardon", "payment", and " past" are almost always
pronounced imprecisely with the thick sound of /b/.
 Pronunciation according to Malay language, eg:
“restaurant” as a 3syllable word sounding like
“res-to-rant” or “res-to-rent” instead of the correct
2syllable pronunciation in British English, “res-tront”.

18. #English
Help Me !
I hate English
It’s too difficult.
It’s confusing
me.
I give up