Vol. , No. 6, 2022, e-issn: 2 -6990 2022 hrmars 1956 Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at

 
Inadequate Facilities, Infrastructure and Teaching Materials
English Language education in rural settings is characterized as disadvantaged due to 
inadequate facilities and infrastructure to support teaching and learning of English Language 
(Milon, 2016; Halik & Nusrath, 2020). According to Martiana (2019), some rural schools are 
supplied with basic facilities and equipment but they could not be fully utilized given the 
challenges in accessing to electricity. Other than that, it is found that many facilities and 
equipment in rural schools are in poor condition or can no longer be used (Endriyati et al., 
2019). In addition to that, the lack of internet access has been one of the prominent issues 
faced by English Language teachers in English Language education which amounts to 
difficulties in getting access to various kinds of interesting teaching and learning materials 
(Martiana, 2019). The shortage of teaching aids and instructional materials has posed a great 
challenge to enhancing the process of English Language teaching and learning. For example, 
the shortage of English books and materials (Hossain, 2016; Martiana, 2019). Many English 
textbooks or printed books are the old editions which are not related to the current English 
curriculum (Febriana et al., 2018). The lack of supports from schools and administrators in 
providing necessary teaching resources has also significantly slacken English Language 
teachers’ motivation in teaching English and affected the efficiency and efficacy of English 
Language education in rural settings (Aziz et al., 2019). 
 
Students’ Limited Competence in English 
The issue of students’ limited competence in English is prevalent in rural areas which is 
inevitably related to minimal language exposure (Hossain, 2016) and this would lead to 
countless issues and challenges in teaching English among them. English Language is only used 
during English lessons, but not outside the classroom and thus, rural students rarely get the 
opportunities to practise the language in their daily life which results in low level of English 
proficiency among rural students (Masturi et al., 2022). Martiana (2019) has also found that 
students are poor in mastering the four English Language skills: listening, speaking, reading 
and writing. Besides that, students’ limited vocabulary mastery has rendered them to 
difficulties to understand English Language (Kuwat & Ghozali, 2018; Endriyati et al., 2019). 
Moreover, rural students are also found to have problems in pronouncing and memorizing 
English vocabularies (Martiana, 2019). Based on a study done by Aziz, Swanto & Azhar (2019), 
it is stated that the strong first language interference among rural students are liable for 
students’ appalling behaviour towards English Language which results in their lack of interest 
and motivation in learning English.