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perceptions towards learning English and have a good communication with them to slowly 
change their perceptions towards learning English (Zulkefly & Razali, 2019).
Apart from the above-mentioned issues, Aziz, Swanto & Azhar (2019) stated that students’ 
family background, socioeconomic status and also the status of English Language in their area 
lead to the result of poor English among rural students. Parents should have played a 
significant role in their children’s education. Nonetheless, most of the parents in rural areas 
are ignorant towards English Language learning as majority of them are not highly educated 
and they do not see the importance of learning the language (Shahnaz & Ghandana, 2021). 
Hossain (2016) further elaborated that many students who live in poverty are found to 
perform badly in English because their parents are financially burdened to provide their 
children with suitable educational resources or send them to private tuitions. This has caused 
students to rely very much on their school English Language teachers which leads to stress 
among the teachers. Based on the study carried out by Han & Mahzoun (2021), it is found that 
parents’ negative attitudes towards the teachers can build dissatisfaction and demotivation 
among the teachers. Thus, promoting effective communication between parents, teachers 
and students is important to develop understanding and trust among each other, build 
positive learning atmosphere and improve students’ academic performance (Cheng eta l., 
2016).
Overall, the aforementioned issues and hurdles have imposed difficulties in teaching English 
in rural settings which significantly impact the quality of English Language education in rural 
schools. Therefore, measures and solutions should be implemented by taking the constraints 
into consideration with the objectives to revitalize rural schools and improve the quality of 
English teaching and learning in rural settings.
Methodology 
In conducting this systematic literature review, the databases used were ERIC and Google 
Scholar. 15 papers related to challenges encountered by English Language teachers in teaching 
English in rural settings and the solutions to overcome the challenges encountered, ranging 
from year 2012 to 2022, were collected from the databases, ERIC and Google Scholar and then 
analysed. The five phases proposed by Khan et al (2003) were used to conduct the systematic 
literature review, as illustrated in Figure 1.