With regard to the article "Why isn't English taught properly in our schools?" (Apr. 13), I have taught English in a Saudi school and the biggest obstacle was the negative attitude that the students, teachers and even principals have toward English as well as toward the native speakers who teach it. English is of little or no importance to them. Mohamed Ismail, Online response II. Saudi society is strictly a monolingual speech community. Even at university level, every single form or document is in Arabic. Even the heads of institutions do not know how to speak English! Thus the students just hate the English language considering it the biggest obstacle in the way of getting a degree. English is taken as a subject that just needs to be passed in order to move on to the next level of studies rather than as a means of communication. Ayesha, Online response III. I happen to be a native English speaker who was born and raised in Washington, DC. I am currently an instructor at KKU in Abha. Many of my current and previous students are used to being "passed" through primary and secondary school because their English teachers were expatriates and feared failing Saudi nationals. Now, at the university level, I am faced with students who can't even read. However, I have a schedule to keep, and frankly there is not enough time to correct institutional mistakes and still prepare for exams. Abu Yusuf, Online response IV. I am a native speaker. I teach at a Saudi university and the biggest issue I find is the negative attitude the students have towards being in class. They want the degree, but 99 percent of the female students do not want to do the work. It also does not help that the students receive money for studying because that does not foster a sense of learning. Schools and universities are social time for students. We are the role models for students. You can't instill good learning skills if teachers are not interested. Sandy, Online response V. Most of the schools in the Kingdom have problems due to the employment of teachers who have fake certificates. Some of these teachers claim to have Masters, M.Phil and Ph.D degrees. This has led to the loss of credibility and the lowering of education standards in private and government schools, colleges and universities in the Kingdom. There is a need for tough laws requiring the registration of teaching qualifications and their verification from the Saudi Education Council as is done with engineering qualifications by the Saudi Engineering Council. Bashir Ahmad, Online response
