The Shift to English Medium Instruction: Investigating Teacher Challenges at Elementary School Level

The aim of the study was to investigate teachers' challenges at the elementary school level in District Sialkot after shifting to English medium instruction. This research study used a mixed-method design. The study population consisted of all the teachers teaching Social Studies (S.St.), Mathematics (Maths), and Science (Sc) to grades 7 and 8 in District Sialkot. A random stratified sampling technique was applied to select 1,500 elementary school teachers. The number of respondents was divided into two groups, males and females, comprising 722 males and 778 females, while 1,208 were from rural areas and 292 from urban areas. All the selected teachers taught (S.St), (Maths), and (Sc) in English in grades 7 and 8. The results were obtained by using a questionnaire designed on a five-point Likert scale with five closed-ended items related to perceptions about English as a medium of instruction and two open-ended items regarding possible remedies to the problems identified. Data sets were analyzed by frequency, percentage, and independent sample t-test. The findings of the research study showed irrespective of gender; educators found it hard to instruct (S.St), (Maths), and (Sc) after the change of medium of instruction from Urdu to English; instructor problems in rural areas were as prevalent and often more prevalent than those found in urban areas. The study concluded that the introduction of the medium of instruction (MI) of teaching from Urdu to English alone resulted in a deteriorating performance among teachers who were not involved in professional development before this change.