Common Goals, Uncommon Settings: The Impact of Physical Environment on Teaching and Learning English for Communication

Abstract

The purpose of this survey study was to investigate the impact of physical and academic environment on the attitude of students towards learning English for communication and the attitude of teachers to applying communicative approach in teaching English at Bachelor’s level. The sample population consisted on 720 first and second grade non-English major students and 12 teachers from one Pakistani university and two of its affiliated colleges. For the data collection, attitude scale was used for students, classes were observed in the three institutions and teachers were interviewed. The data reveals that there is found a significant difference in the attitude of students towards learning English for communication and teachers’ attitude to applying communicative approach in different environments. The students who study in the main campus of the university demonstrated better attitude towards learning English for communication than the college students. Teaching strategies applied by the university teachers were found closer to the tenets of communicative approach as compared to that of college teachers.

Key words: Physical environment, attitude, learning, teaching, communication.