INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
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page 1117
THE IMPORTANCE OF LEARNING ENGLISH METHODS AND THE
DIFFICULTIES FACED IN LEARNING
Khudoyorova Gulasal Ilhomiddinovna
Samarkand State Institute of Foreign Languages,
Faculty of English Philology and Translation Studies
Philology and Language Teaching – English, 1st-year student, Group 24.03
ABSTRACT:
In today’s globalized world, English proficiency is a crucial skill, especially for
youth in developing countries like Uzbekistan. This article examines the current state of English
learning among Uzbek students, focusing on the challenges they face, particularly in remote
and underserved areas. Drawing from a three-month teaching internship and data collected
through surveys and interviews with students, teachers, and parents, the study reveals that
grammar difficulties, limited vocabulary, low motivation, outdated methods, and lack of
exposure to native English are major obstacles. Furthermore, economic hardships and
insufficient teacher training hinder progress. The article proposes realistic, experience-based
solutions to address these problems, including the implementation of interactive learning tools,
community-led education initiatives, and motivation-enhancing programs. It argues that with
targeted support and modern pedagogical approaches, even students from disadvantaged
backgrounds can achieve high levels of English proficiency, opening doors to academic and
global opportunities.
Keywords:
English education, Uzbekistan, rural students, learning barriers, language policy,
motivation, teaching innovation, modern strategies, tools, language skills, language certificates,
communication skills, vocabulary, intonation rhythm
INTRODUCTION:
In today's world, where progress is constantly being made, it is becoming
increasingly important for young people around the world to master a foreign language,
especially English. No matter where they go in the world, they are required to communicate in
English and have comprehensive knowledge. In the 21st century, anyone who wants to get a
good job and achieve a worthy place in life must be able to communicate freely in a foreign
language. In this regard, the President of the Republic of Uzbekistan Shavkat Miromonovich
Mirziyoyev emphasized that “having sufficient knowledge of foreign languages is not just
a need, but a national need in today's interconnected world.” After that, in order to create all the
conditions for young people to learn foreign languages, to further increase the interest of
adolescents in language learning, and to motivate them in some way, the “Language
Certificates” program was developed in 2022 by the decision of our head of state, and those
who have achieved levels such as “C1”, “C2” and higher, if they are English language
specialists, 50% of representatives of other fields will be awarded 100% by the government and
private sectors. At the same time, the state will fully cover the tuition fees for young people
who have achieved C1, 7+ results in the IELTS or CEFR exams, and at least B2 level Students
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 1118
who have passed the English language tests given by the State Testing Center are considered to
have achieved a 100% result. After all, our head of state is trying to increase the number of such
educated young people. Over the past 3 years, their number has increased by 50%. In 2019, our
country ranked 86th out of 88 countries in the EP (English Proficiency Index), but by 2024 it
rose to 98th out of 114 countries, and 1st in Central Asia.
Noam Chomsky, a scientist from the American MIT Institute, considered the father of
linguistics, stated that language is the only unusual human feature that allows a person to
communicate around the world, increase their ability to understand, communicate, and spread
their personal ideas. Of course, this idea is reasonable, because language can help us not only to
obtain secular knowledge, but also to obtain spiritual and intellectual nourishment. Because,
every language learner begins to be interested in the culture, spiritual aspects, and national
traditions of the country where this language is considered the homeland, the wealth of people,
and begins to study it. This, in turn, creates an understanding of each nation in a person,
expands the scope of thinking, and nations stand between the cultures of the world. It is in this
regard that the idea of the University of Chicago linguist Edward Sapir about
language, namely "language shapes a person's worldview and thoughts, is justified. In addition,
learning a language, especially when achieving the vocabulary required for free communication,
accelerates the activity of the human brain and improves memory. In this regard, scientists from
the University of Berlin conducted an experiment under the leadership of German psychologist
Thurmann Ebbing Haus and clearly witnessed this. By having excellent knowledge of English,
people's critical thinking, logical communication and problem-solving skills improve. English
music, literature and films broaden the cultural perspective. Learning English also has many
important aspects in education. Because knowing a foreign language gives students access to
new experiences and opportunities, as well as leads to success in many stages of their later lives.
That is, no matter what profession they choose, business, finance, medicine, teaching, there is
always a great demand for people who can communicate in English. This English language
maximizes the chances of young people getting decent jobs.
The importance of mastering the English language in academic achievements is also enormous.
The reason is that the literature necessary for scientific research during higher education is
available in English. Also, many websites on the Internet are created in English, the largest of
which is in any corner of the world, popular books and newspapers are created in English. Since
English is the world language and dominates in international relations, information on every
subject is collected in this language. The above data shows that it is necessary for the youth of
Uzbekistan to learn a foreign language perfectly not only for their personal development but
also for the development of the country. However, today, why language learners have difficulty
learning English, why they fail, is a problem that needs to be addressed and solved.
Methods
In this study, the importance of learning English and In order to identify the main
difficulties that students face in this process, quantitative and qualitative research methods were
used. The study was conducted among students from grades 5 to 11 studying at school No. 69
in Khatirchi district of Navoi region.
A two-stage method was used within the framework of the study: questionnaire and interview.
The questionnaire studied the benefits of learning English, motivation for it, students' attitude to
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 1119
the learning environment and existing methodological approaches. The questions covered the
following areas:
1. Personal interest and level of motivation in learning English;
2. Main problems encountered in the lesson process (grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary,
teaching methods);
3. Availability of sufficient resources and aids for students.
Also, an open interview was conducted with randomly selected students from each class
(interview) were conducted. During the interview, students had the opportunity to describe their
personal thoughts, difficulties and needs in detail. The collected data was processed based on
descriptive analysis, and the results were expressed in percentages. The interviews were
summarized through content analysis
Results:
The research used questionnaire and interview methods and the following results were
obtained:
SURVEY results:
The research was conducted among students from grades 5 to 11 studying at
school No. 69 in Khatirchi district of Navoi region. The questionnaire questions were about the
important aspects of learning English for young people, the opportunities it creates, and most
importantly, the main problems they face during their studies, because the main purpose of the
questionnaire is to find solutions to such problems.
The results of the questionnaire showed that 70% of students have difficulty learning English
grammar with correct pronunciation standards. Because each word has its own norms and rules
for pronunciation. There are 20 different pronunciations of vowels, and 40 different ones for
consonants. In addition, the grammar differs significantly from the Uzbek language. For
example, if we take tenses, there are 3 past, present, future tenses in Uzbek, while there are 16
tenses in English. Each tense has 4 more simple continuous, perfect, perfect continuous, and if
these are active, there are also 16 passive tenses.
80% of the participants noted that it is difficult for them to remember academic words, phrases,
and idioms, topic-related words, words related to a certain field, and words that are used only in
this field. In English, it is certainly very difficult to learn more than 100 meanings of 1 word
and their synonyms. For example, the verb "run" in English has more than 145 meanings.
Because depending on the field in which it is used, it has different meanings and synonyms. For
example, the synonyms for running in action are sprint jog dash gallop, in operation function
work manage execute, in flow stream pour drip leak, in financial terms manage control oversee.
The remaining 40% of the students said that the more the national language differs from
English, the more difficult it is to learn it. Since the Uzbek language does not belong to the
Indo-European language family according to the vocabulary grammar pronunciation culture, we
do not encounter similar words and relationships during the study of English. For this reason, it
is difficult.
We also received these generalizations from them at the end of the questionnaire: Spelling in
English is very confusing. Because there are letters that have the same pronunciation. For
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 1120
example, a e , g j, I y, pronouncing these letters correctly is confusing. One vowel can be
pronounced differently or different vowels can be pronounced the same: bit bite beat bot book
boat bought. English has a very rich vocabulary. The 1989 Oxford English Dictionary included
250,000 words.
Interview results:
In order to supplement the results of the questionnaire, interviews were
conducted with 5 participants from the 8th grade of this school. During the interview, they
expressed their opinions on why they are learning English, their goals, the icons and importance
of the language for them, and the most important problems that need to be solved.
The first and biggest obstacle is socio-economic barriers. That is, the high cost of language
learning and limited materials for many students, especially children in rural areas, create this
difficulty.
Standardized attention. The biggest problem in language learning today is that students are only
trying to do certain tests, IELTS TOEFL. This leads to the development of broader language
skills, knowledge of the English language necessary for real-world communication
The shortcomings of school education, especially in rural schools, inadequate teaching methods
and outdated forms of education, limited knowledge of teachers are cited as the reasons for this.
In fact, this process has improved significantly over the past 3 years. The reason is that the
necessary measures have been taken based on the decisions of our leader on the restrictions on
the right to teach personnel without language certificates and the provision of modern
technologies in educational institutions in remote areas.
Today, children see English not just as a subject, but as a door to the future, a key to dreams
and opportunities. By learning this language, they strive to be able to communicate with the
world on an equal footing, to have a dream profession, to study abroad and to demonstrate their
talents.
The following dreams inspire young people to learn English:
"I will study abroad in the future!"
Among students in grades 5-11, many children dream of studying at foreign universities,
winning scholarships and studying at the most prestigious universities in the world. They see
English as the path to international education.
"I want to talk to the world!"
Modern children want to connect with the world, make friends from other nations, understand
foreign films, books and content without translation. They perceive English as a means of
freedom and global communication.
"I will make my family proud!"
Many children, especially those from remote areas, dream of learning English to make their
parents proud and save them from difficulties. Language is their first step towards bringing a
decent life to their family.
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ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
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page 1121
"I will help others with my knowledge in the future."
Some children intend to become teachers or translators through the English they are learning,
helping children in their neighborhood or village. They are learning the language as a matter of
faith and duty.
Discussion:
Based on the above-mentioned effective methods, the targeted results and
effectiveness were achieved during our internship program organized with students from grades
5 to 11 of school 69 in a remote area to further improve their English language skills. First of all,
in order to increase the interest of the school students in English, they were called to the room
and explained through interactive videos of different countries that they also have this
opportunity, only they need to learn a foreign language, and their enthusiasm for learning
increased even more. Especially after seeing the tall buildings in New York, the bridge in
England, and the Eiffel Tower in France, 85% of them began to participate in the lessons
organized. Initially, they were given general information on basic grammatical rules (to be to
have there is are have got tenses) and how to build sentences (Subject + verb + objects) and the
most basic words were taught from books. In order to further develop their enthusiasm for
learning, each student was also connected with their parents. They were explained the
importance of language and told that they should only care about and invest in their children's
education to create opportunities for them, and this will definitely pay off. Parents also
supported our ideas. Then, in order to develop communication skills, the students were given
the task of creating scenarios on various topics for each lesson according to their personal
wishes and performing their scenes in English, and the students were divided into 5 groups. The
results of this practice were very impressive. At the next stage, to develop the students' listening
and comprehension skills, listening spelling rules were taught and conversations were held with
native English speakers. The cooperation of teachers in applications such as Duolingo and
Speakpall was used, and movie clubs were organized. At the last stage, they were given the task
of preparing a 5-minute speech on a specific topic. This consistency gave a very big result. This
3-month internship created a platform for many students in rural areas to become interested in
English and develop their communication skills. Most importantly, we covered children from
all different families by reducing the prices of the courses. My mentor, Isroilov Sherali
Farhodovich, an English teacher at school 69, helped me a lot in conducting this internship.
CONCLUSION:
Learning English perfectly may seem difficult at first, especially for learners
in environments with limited access to resources or exposure. However, it is not impossible.
Like any skill, mastering a language requires consistent effort, resilience, and, most importantly,
belief in one’s own potential. The fruits of hard work are always sweet, and those who show
patience, perseverance, and determination can surely reach their desired level of fluency. One
of the most important principles in language learning is to make the process enjoyable rather
than stressful. Stress not only discourages students but also hinders memory and retention.
Therefore, from the very beginning, learners should approach English as an exciting journey
rather than a difficult task. Using fun and engaging methods helps maintain interest and
motivation. For instance, watching videos, films, and cartoons in English with subtitles can
naturally develop listening comprehension and vocabulary. Similarly, listening to English
audiobooks and songs can improve pronunciation, rhythm, and intonation in an effortless way.
Communicating with native or fluent English speakers is one of the most effective ways to
overcome pronunciation challenges and develop confidence. In today’s digital age, applications
INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE
ISSN: 2692-5206, Impact Factor: 12,23
American Academic publishers, volume 05, issue 06,2025
Journal:
https://www.academicpublishers.org/journals/index.php/ijai
page 1122
such as Speak Pal, OnTalk, and Italki provide valuable platforms for live interaction. These
platforms not only connect learners with global peers and mentors but also simulate real-life
conversations, which greatly improve spontaneous speaking ability. For grammar and
vocabulary development, learners are encouraged to use interactive learning apps such as
Duolingo, Quizlet, or Memorise. These applications offer daily tasks that are fun, engaging, and
scientifically designed to enhance long-term retention. Importantly, these tools allow learners to
progress at their own pace, track their achievements, and stay motivated. Applying English to
real-life scenarios is another powerful strategy. For example, try ordering food, booking tickets,
or engaging in basic conversations in English when possible. Practicing in context not only
reinforces grammar and vocabulary but also helps learners think in English rather than
translating from their native language. Moreover, learners should not be discouraged by
grammatical errors. Mistakes are a natural and necessary part of the learning process. In fact,
the more you speak despite making errors, the more comfortable and fluent you become.
Eventually, with enough exposure and repetition, your grammar and pronunciation will self-
correct. A powerful technique called shadowing—listening to native speakers and repeating
their words in real-time—can significantly improve your intonation, speech rhythm, and
confidence. This mimicking strategy is used by many successful language learners and is
especially helpful for auditory learners. Setting realistic daily or weekly goals is another key to
success. These goals could include learning 10 new words per day, watching a short TED talk,
practicing a conversation, or writing a short paragraph. Consistency, even in small steps, yields
major results over time. In conclusion, learning English is a journey that demands effort but
promises great rewards. Whether your aim is to study abroad, build a career, or connect with
the world, proficiency in English opens doors to countless opportunities. By combining smart
strategies, positive habits, and modern technology, every learner—regardless of background—
can achieve fluency. The key is to stay consistent, stay curious, and never stop believing in your
ability to succeed.
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