Factors Affecting Spoken Competency in English of Rural and Urban Students in Bhutanese Middle Secondary Schools

The study aimed to examine the factors affecting the spoken competency of rural and urban students in Bhutanese Middle Secondary schools. The study employed a convergent mixed method design with the data collection tools of classroom observations, student survey questionnaires, and semi-structured interviews with teachers and students. Five English teachers (3 Males, 2 Females) and 243 students (114 Males, 129 Females) from both rural and urban areas participated in the study. The quantitative data were analyzed using descriptive (mean and standard deviation) analysis by means of a statistical package for social science (SPSS) and the qualitative data were analyzed thematically. The results indicated that the spoken competency of rural and urban students is affected by factors both inside and outside of the school. Language teachers, other subject teachers, non-teaching staff such as librarians, peer influence, teaching strategy, and student attitude are the factors. Furthermore, findings showed that there is no English-speaking environment and no strict policies in both rural and urban schools. If there are strict rules and policies with proper follow-up; there will be an improvement in English-spoken competency. The mean difference from quantitative findings displayed that rural students are not encouraged to speak English as much as urban students. The findings also confirm that both rural and urban students do not have adequate opportunities to speak English. Therefore, the findings recommend that despite the difference in family background, parents, as well as teachers, could motivate the students to speak English even outside the school. The finding also recommends that the school could develop substantial policies such as guidelines or language policies at school that will genuinely help students to develop their spoken competency. Moreover, the respective school teacherscreate a conducive environment so as to expose the students to the target language as the teacher is exemplary to create an English-speaking environment.