Why Students Hate English Class
These days students are starting to dread English class more and more. There are three different areas of study that students dislike. These include studying reading, writing, and literature. There are several reasons for this, such as the different things that interest us, the difficulty of putting ideas into writing, and the way literature has changed over the years. Not every student will care to read the same thing as another student would. There are different types of readers, and this can be embarrassing. Students do not like being picked out as different in a crowd.
The first area of English class that students dislike to study is reading. The most significant reason that students dislike to study reading is because everyone reads at a different pace. Sometimes students will get embarrassed because they can not read as fast as their peers, which can make a person self conscious and not want to read. Also, when a student is called on to read out loud, they may feel embarrassed because the entire class now knows at what level they are reading, and can pick out their flaws.
The next area of English that students dislike to study is writing. There are many reasons that this is true, but the most popular is the fact that there are so many rules to remember. There are different ways to spell each word, such as two, too, and to. With this said, this means there are three different definitions, which is only more to remember. From punctuation through verb congregation and even syllabication, there are just so many rules that must be learned. It's hard enough for a student to sit down and try to put their thoughts down on paper without have to remember hundreds of relentless rules.
Lastly, literature is an area of English class that students hate to deal with. The literature that students are reading today for their English classes were usually written several years ago, maybe even hundreds. The language has changed very much since the times that most of these were written. This can mean that besides having to follow all the rules that have been learned, the student also has to try and comprehend a language that was used a very long time ago. This can make the student confused and unsure about reading.
Literature—the dictionary defines it being the art of written works that is designed to entertain, educate and instruct; writers use literature in an attempt to transfer their ideas from paper to the reader; for some, this task means bringing their story to a different place and time that is entirely separate from what the reader could perceive as ordinary, on order to serve the writer’s intent. With this the impossible, becomes the probable, and the worst fear possibly imagined becomes the breathed reality; with no stated separation between the living, and the dying. The word literature in itself cannot be accurately defined, and by attempting to do so limits, the word is instantaneously limited in its usage and effect. Literature just is, just as much as it is not.
Each year as I grow old, I tend to discover and learn new things about myself as a person as well as a reader, writer and a student as a whole. My educational journey so far has been pretty interesting and full of surprises. Back in Bangladesh where I studied until high school, my interest for learning, reading or writing was so very different compared to how it has become over the years. I could relate those learning days to Richard Rodriquez’s essay “The lonely Good Company of Books”. In the essay the author says, “Friends? Reading was, at best, only a chore.”(Rodriguez, page 294). During those days I sure did feel like reading was a chore for me and how I was unable to focus and I could never understand what all those jumbled up words ever meant. It was quite a struggle for me in class when the teachers used to assign us reading homework. I felt like reading a book was more difficult or painful than trying to move a mountain. Just like how moving a mountain is impossible, trying to find an interest in reading was
Beginning in grade school students are taught a basic curriculum for English, some of the basics being: five sentences equaling a paragraph and five paragraphs equaling a essay. The beginning of the English learning stage is a time to get engaged in reading and writing. Honestly, most children when they are younger start loving to read and write but do they stay that way throughout middle school, high school, or even college? No, nine out of ten times kids who started out loving to read and write end up dreading it. But why? Every students has their own personal reason. Some may have never fully understood how to read or write and was to embarrassed to speak up others may have disorders such as dyslexia which makes reading and writing difficult. In my case I had a passion for reading and writing when I was younger. As I grew up I did not like the material that had to be read or the papers that was required to be written; but since I knew the work had to be done accurately in order for me to pass the class I learned to tolerate the subject.
Throughout this course, I have discovered that literature is more than just words being brought together by an author to form an emotionally charged story. Literature provides an engaging outlet into an imaginary realm to its audience. As the reader is captivated by the story, poem or play, a, emotional connection is established.
... student from comprehending a text. How can a student understand a given text if the student does not understand a big portion of words in the text? Students enter school with vocabularies whether big or small and teachers need to nourish and build them up and comprehend harder and more complex texts.
John Holts paper ' 'How teachers make students hate reading" outlines key causes of why students come to hate reading and writing. In his paper he outlines problems arising from reading assignments that are too hard for the student with questions designed to bring out points that should have been learned with spelling tests that are of little to no interest to the student. He talks about mandatory reading that is one-dimensional and overdone without ever letting the students have an opportunity to say what they really thought about the book. With the fear of humiliation students are made to read aloud and when mistakes are made they are instantly known to every one in the room. This continues to the point where the safest thing to do is to
The idea of literature being an important aspect of life has always been greatly prevalent in my upbringing. This notion that I supported was spurred on at the cause of my obstinate parents insisting upon my reading of two books a week to benefit my vocabulary and to develop the articulate thought process of a skilled reader. As a young child, my biggest influences were my parents’ passionate and persuasive ideas regarding the correlation between
In preparation for the Advanced Placement Literature and Composition exam, high school students must read many kinds of literature during the year-long course to familiarize themselves with different time periods, movements, philosophies, and genres. Advanced Placement students must learn to think critically, and be ready to find, analyze, and express literary connections through written analysis. The biggest challenge of teaching and learning Advanced Placement English is the difficulty covering the entire scope of literature in two semesters. Twentieth century literature often gets neglected. The pace of the curriculum can also limit the creativity of lesson planning and evaluation. Many teachers rely heavily on lecture, discussion, and a traditional analysis paper.
People often forget the importance of literature. They forget the good it can do for a depressed, lonely teenager. They forget not everybody knows how we came about this land, and what we had to do to keep it. Important excerpts such as the Bible or history books would not be known about if they were never written down or learned. Literature matters more than anybody realizes. Literature should be important because it is the mold of the world. Literary works keep people protected, mindful, and has many rewards.
I have never liked writing; I always thought it was a waste of time. It was a great therapy but I never found academic writing to be useful just tedious. Only ever writing when I had too made it harder for my writing skills to grow or improve in any way. I have not taken an English class since the 10th grade, even then I never gave it much effort, just doing what I had to so I could pass the class. Then I jump in to College English 1010, I feel like I do well in all other subjects but this one. English is my worst nightmare.
Literature is a key component when speaking of literacy. Teachers need to provide students with endless amounts of practice experiences in reading to build their fluency rate. This should be done with different genres of texts and different levels. Reading a wide variety of literature help children develop rich vocabularies.
Writing is an important part of everyone’s life, whether we use it in school, in the workplace, as a hobby or in personal communication. It is important to have this skill because it helps us as writers to express feelings and thoughts to other people in a reasonably permanent form. Formal writing forms like essays, research papers, and articles stimulates critically thinking. This helps the writer to learn how to interpret the world around him/her in a meaningful way. In college, professors motivate students to write in a formal, coherent manner, without losing their own voice in the process. Improving your writing skills is important, in every English class that’s the main teaching point; to help students improve their writing skills. Throughout my college experience I have acknowledge that
In the article entitled “How to Teach Grammar, Analytical Thinking, and Writing”, Lynn Sams (2003) voiced and suggested methods on how grammar and writing should be taught in the classroom. This article was published in the English Journal by the National Council of Teachers of English. Sams based her research on her 16 years of experience as a high school teacher and the instructional approaches she used with her sixth, seventh, eighth and ninth grade classes. Sams refers to grammar as “the relationship between structure and meaning” (57). The information in this article demonstrates processes of analyzing the structure of sentences and suggests students cannot completely understand writing without first understanding the basic concepts of grammar.
A large part of an English teacher’s job deals with helping students find their own voices amidst the many teachings of their parents and peers. A student’s voice can be their values, their interests, and their perspectives of the world in which they live. Their voice can be their critical questioning of the many situations they face, whether in a text, the school cafeteria, or a park after school. It is the job of an English teacher to aid in finding this voice through their writing. It is by putting words and thoughts down on paper that a student can sometimes feel comfortable enough to take risks and find their true voices. Although traditional grammar instruction has long been thought to improve this skill, this is no longer the case. Instead, by providing a classroom environment in which students are immersed in classic literature from many genres including poetry, short stories, and novels, students will learn how to harness grammar for their own purposes of finding their voice in their writing.
The study of Literature can enrich our lives in all kinds of ways. This study is a part of our cultural heritage. Literature is a very effective way of understanding a culture of a particular time, of a particular class and of a social group.