Teaching English as a Second Language in India Focus on Objectives by Shivendra K. Verma (Central University of Foreign Languages Hydrabad)

Teaching English as a Second Language in India: Focus on Objectives by Shivendra K. Verma

Central Institute of Foreign Languages Hydrabad

M.A. English Sem.3ELT Unit 1: The role of English in India

Department of English,Maharaja Krishnakumarsinhji Bhavnagar University

• Focus on objectives of language teaching• Functionally-determined sub-categorization of

languages– First Language (L1)– Second Language (L2)– Foreign Language– Classical Language

Objectives of Language Teaching

• Helping learners to learn language/languages to perform variety of functions– Sociable use of language for phatic

communication– Network communicative uses: cognition, catharsis,

and self-expression

Two fundamental functions

– Helping learners how to ask questions, the most important intellectual ability man has yet developed

– Helping learners to use language effectively in different social networks

Languages in a multilingual setting from a system-network

• Function-determined value contrastive language in this network has a function-determined values of the other languages

• The notion of “link language” or “lingua franca”– Encourages wider mobility, national integration, and

a sense of tolerance– Effective bilingualism, trilingualism or multilingualism

enriching the linguistic repertoire (range) of an individual

Teaching, a non unidirectional process

• Teaching – a bidirectional process / a two way process

• Teaching – an interactional process• Learners are not passive recipients of socially

accepted language patterns. They play an active role in this teaching-learning process

• Learners actively strain, filter, and recognize what they’re exposed to.

• The learners are meaning makers.

Learners’ language-learning mechanism

• The mechanism gets activated when exposed to that language

• Create an atmosphere where learning can take place

• Learners learn the language they hear around them

• Exposure to rich variety of linguistic material is as important in L1 acquisition as in L2 acquisition

The Paradigm Shift

• From memorizing grammatical rules to helping them interact with people using different registers of language in a variety of situations helps learners to understand linguistic and sociolinguistic rules so learners learn “what to say when and how”

• Helps the learners to organize words in sentences and texts effectively keeping in view ‘the topic of discourse’

• “the addresser-addressee relationship”• Socio-cultural setting• Learning language – not just a process to

produce sentences and utterances which are grammatical and acceptable; they must also be appropriate

Each of four major skills

• LSRW skills help learners to play their communicative roles effectively

• Helps in selecting language/languages/registers/style according to their roles

• “Every social person is a bundle of personae, a bundle of parts, each part having its lines. If you do not know your lines, your are no use in the play (First 1957:184)

“The objective of teaching a language… is to enable the learner to believe in such a way that he can participate to some degree and for certain purposes as a member of a degree and for certain purposes as a member of a community other than his own. The degree to which any particular learner may wish to participate will vary. He may seek only to read technical literature, or the may wish to preach the gospel in a foreign country. These varying degrees of participation require different levels of skill in language performance.” (Pit Corder 1973:27)

• A teacher full of life and vigor, resourcefulness and innovative power, love and understanding, can turn a dull class into a lively two-way interactional game. A well qualified, energetic and inventive teacher can be a living model, and act as the best audio-visual aid.

Functionally determined subcategories

• First Language (L1) : used for performing all essential, personal functions – interpersonal functions.

• “In order to live, the young human has to be progressively incorporated into social organization, and the main condition of that incorporation is sharing the local magic – that is, the language “ (Firth 1957:185)

• L1 is an indespensable instrument of national culture. It is the primary means for the transmission of culture from one generation to another.

• “Learning through mother tongue is the most potent and comprehensive medium for the expression of the student’s entire personality.” (Government of India 1956)

• Education commission in 1902 recommended mother tongue as the proper medium of instruction for all classes up to the higher secondary level

• Second language (L2) may be used as an auxiliary or associate language, as a slot-filler, performing those functions which are not normally performed by L1.

• English as a second language functions primarily as an interstate or international link language. Some of them also use it as in international language of knowledge, trade and industry.

Foreign Language

• Used by select group of learners in a very restricted set of situations.

• The main objective to learn a foreign language is to have direct access to the speakers of these languages and their cultures.

• It enables the learners to participate in a foreign language like Russian is used in India for absorbing the cultural patterns

Classical Language

• A classical language like Sanskrit provides access to ancient culture, learning and philosophy of life and is assumed to contribute to the intellectual enrichment of its learners. Its real value cannot be measured in terms of what it helps you do in everyday life but in terms of refining enriching the modern languages and offering “insights” into a variety of linguistic problems.

Objectives of Teaching English as a second language in India

• Needs for English to be in a multilingual setting, at both national and individual levels

• What are the roles of Languages at different levels?

• English – our “window on the world” at national level

• Language of science and technology, trade and commerce, political science, economics and international relations, and industrial development

• English-based Indian bilinguals constitute the third largest pool of trained and technical manpower in the world.

• English as an associate official language favored by all-India institutions, the legal and banking systems, trade and commerce and defense

• English – medium of instruction in several faculties at the college level – greater proficiency

• The “library language”• English at individual levels – the language of

upward social mobility – individual seeking socio economic mobility – language of opportunity

Primary aim of Teaching English as a Second Language

• The ability to read easily with understanding• The readiness to proceed to more advanced

reading stage – reading and comprehension• The ability to understand a talk in English on a

subject of general experience and interest, clearly spoken and restricted in vocabulary and sentence structure to the range of the syllabus

The aims continue..

• The ability to write comprehensibly in English, and without gross errors, on a familiar topic – range of vocabulary – sentence structures

• The ability to carry on comprehensibly a conversation in English on a topic based on experience and command postulated by the syllabus

The level of active command

• The level of active command to be aimed should be adequate

• Groups and group patterns – English functions as “service-language” – promotes intellectual and cultural awareness of the contemporary world we live in – provides “information content” – necessary for modernization of our country

• To achieve these objectives – introduce a change in our syllabus, methodology of language teaching, materials, training programmes, attitudes to learners and their language, and the system of evaluation

• Infrastructural changes – atmosphere, functions, facilities, roles and responsibilities, proper climate and facilities to allow individuals to realize to encourage them to use these capabilities for enrichment and for personal lives for social welfare