Investigating the Challenges of Utilizing English as a Medium of Instruction in Teaching English as a Second Language Classroom

The research investigates by providing an overview of the concept of Language Policy and Planning (Status and Acquisition planning) in related to using English as a Medium of Instruction (EMOI) in English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching context. The main aim of the research is to identify the challenges faced by ESL teachers in using EMOI and identifying strategies to minimize the challenges. The research question focuses on what are the Challenges faced by ESL teachers in using EMOI within the classroom and what are the strategies to minimize the challenges. The research adopted a quantitative research design. In accumulating data, a questionnaire was conducted and distributed to randomly select 29 ESL teachers in the Kurunegala Educational Zone. The core of the study reveals that the foremost challenges that English medium teachers encountered were the challenges in formulating and organizing effective classrooms and explaining lesson contents and subject matters, due to no demonstration or modeling of the instructions and further it is investigated that the challenges have a direct impact on the students’ performance too. It is manifested that using EMOI has been a great challenge for teachers in the academic performance of students as well. The inability to have a face-to-face discussion due to limited time frame can be pinpointed as a major limitation in the research study. The study recommended that the government be responsible for setting and monitoring the implementation of education reforms in schools with the help of implementers, particularly teachers.