Teachers’ Challenges in Implementing the Highly Immersive Programme (HIP) in the Classrooms

Abstract

The Highly Immersive Programme (HIP) was introduced into the Malaysian education scenario with the aims of involving and immersing students in an English environment. Through HIP, it is hoped that students will have better opportunity and platform to use the language confidently, thus improving their English proficiency. HIP is aimed to foster positive behaviours towards the learning of English. Teachers play the main role in the planning, implementation and creating interests amongst the students. At the same time, teachers are also encouraged to develop tools and aids for the activities and organise school events in the English language. This study is conducted to find out the challenges that teachers face in creating a highly immersive English environment. A qualitative case study involving three teachers was conducted to obtain the data through in-depth interviews. The findings illustrated that teachers encounter several challenges in the implementation of HIP in the classrooms, including lack of parental involvements; teachers’ attitude and motivation; lack of adequate time; teachers’ self-confidence and self-efficacy; and lack of resources and cooperation. Therefore, in order for HIP to be fully successful, the challenges need to be addressed seriously through various solutions which can come from the school, parents and the community.