A PROBE INTO TEACHERS’ AND STUDENTS’ CHALLENGES IN TEACHING AND LEARNING ENGLISH LANGUAGE IN SELECTED PAKISTANI SPECIAL SCHOOLS: TEACHERS' PERCEPTION

Abstract

Education in general and education for special children is the most critical yet neglected sector in developing countries such as Pakistan. This study delves into the challenges teachers face while teaching English as a second language (L2) to Students with Special Needs (SWSN) and the problems students might encounter while learning L2 in inclusive classrooms. For this quantitative study, a comprehensive questionnaire has been developed at Google Forms to gather data from the special schools of Khanewal, Multan, and Bahawalpur. Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) has been employed to analyze the responses to the questionnaire. The study’s participants are the teachers of SWSN selected through purposive sampling. The findings of the study reveal that 71.4% of teachers oppose the assertion that one single, traditional methodology of second (English) language teaching caters to the unique needs of SWSN, 71.5% supported the statement that technology-integrated methodology for different special students might address their individual needs. Furthermore, 28.6% of teachers express their concerns about the school curriculum which hinders students' ability to learn the English language. Through interpretation of findings, the study brings up issues such as the establishment of separate classrooms for SWSN, updating of curriculum and teachers' training for successful English communication and proficiency in technology-integrated methods, into the limelight and calls for urgent and significant improvement in the special education sector.