ELT 1. The Role of English in India

 Welcome Readers,

                    Today, the digital world has enabled us to learn anything in this world with excellency. Be it a professional marketing course or critical thinking and creativity boosting web programme, learners will always find themselves well-equipped with all these tools which help them to learn in a more convenient way. Additionally, these tools also help learners to learn at their own space and at their speed. Some may come with better results and improvements while others may struggle to perceive the content properly. 

                    The problem can be identified as well as can be solved, but many a time it may happen that the content is designed in a language which is not the native tongue of the learners and so they begin to struggle to understand and comprehend. Additionally, it becomes evident for the learners to learn the language first and then shall try to enrol for the content. Learning a language is not a difficult process as such, but with proper language studying material and tools, one can learn the target language - English Langauge with ease. 

                    After studying five essays about English Language Teaching in the first unit of ELT Course, here is my response to the task assigned by my lecturer Ms Vaidehi Hariyani ma'am to answer some questions in form of a reflective blog. Here is the list of all five essays which I have studied-

 

Sr. No.	Essays
1	"Teaching English as 'Second Language' in India" by Kapil Kapoor
2	"Teaching of EST in Indian Conditions" by R S Sharma
3	"Teaching English as a Second Language in India: Focus on objectives" by Shivendra K.Verma
4	"Socio-cultural Dimensions English as a Second Language" by Rekha Aslam
5	"Teaching of English: A Plea for Practical Attitude" by R K Singh

 

Here are the questions which I have tried to answer. 

1.)What is the role of the English Language in India according to you with reference to any one essay discussed in the class?

Role of English Language in India-

                English as a language, I believe, has its own importance and reference and this language vary with the context. The students who are studying English literature may have different theoretical knowledge of the word 'Dislocation' than the students of commerce and management, additionally, the students of biology or orthopaedic studies will have a totally different approach to the word. Hence, the words in the same language may have different meanings depending upon their context which is why it's role as a language function in and within the given context. 

The Teaching of English-

                  The teaching of EST in India suffers from certain drawbacks- one of the major hitches, according to R S Sharma as referred in his essay titled 'Teaching of EST in Indian Conditions', which blocks the needs of the students is that the teaching materials fails to be based on the analysis of scientific sub-register. 

            A formality of language is what the students of the general branch shall try to learn. In a classroom, the most common aspect to be focused on language learning is the degree of formality (the functional language). English should cater to the professional needs of the students.

Technical English for (B.Sc. and B. Tech.) is characterised by - 

                            The outline of materials to be provided and the methods can be outlined by taking into consideration the learner's profile and the features of Technical English. 

                        R S Sharma says that in 1997, it was realized that the problems of English for special purposes were largely unrecognized in this country. The suggestions were made by taking into consideration the needs. He moreover focuses that the student who has been admitted to the first year of B.Sc. and B. Tech. course requires remedial work and improvements. And mostly, it is observed that the first-year courses consisted of applied sciences- physics, chemistry and mathematics. The student is already acquainted with these subjects but the English as a functional language and it's grammar structures are often forgotten. 

Now looking at this analysis, the learner’s need two abilities-

 1.) Reading and comprehension of technical texts written in English.

 2.) Writing of technical English.

                So, the materials which need to be designed should be in a manner where the focus is given to the technical writing. Practise and exercise as well as comprehension helps a lot. A student must be observed by the teacher in order to make an improvement. The teachers teaching English to these students shall have a good command over the target language as well as should be familiar with scientific and technological fields. 

                    Here, the role of register and subregister plays a vital role. A register is a concept of language variation for a particular field and the sub-register is the sub-discipline. 

Hence, R S Sharma ends his essay by saying,

"The teacher of EST who can plan his work properly and shrewdly, make the right kind of remarks and ask the right kind of questions – never attempting to deliver a “lecture” will pick up a good deal of science in the course of teaching."

2.) What are the challenges you faced while learning the English Language as?

                    Acquiring a new language can be a difficult process, but when one grows in an environment where the target language is spoken well and the surroundings encourage the learner in improving the LSRW skills, then the acquisition can be a bit easier. 

                        I feel privileged to study in this kind of environment in my school where language learning was an unconscious process and it didn't require much effort in understanding as well as comprehending the target language. In my school, I had studied English as a first language. But at the same time, I feel very much unfortunate to get enrollment in the college for my graduation where I had almost studied English Literature in Gujarati Langauge. I had a very bad experience of listening to the English of my teacher with horrible grammar and terrible sentence structures. No doubt some senior faculties who were doctorate were very much supportive to the students who were willing and curious to learn English literature in English Langauge. 

                            In my college days, I begin to lose my grip in English and had to face many challenges in building the mental ability to establish the fluency which is still the challenging task. One may not learn to speak English fluently or regain the lost fluently overnight. So it is first necessary to build up the self- confidence which helps in boosting the language skills. The next big issue I faced is that whenever I try to focus on the very process of thought, I begin to lose my fluency while speaking in the struggle to organize ideas mentally. 

                            It is a well-quoted and well-practised statement that we learn from our mistakes and this way the spirit should be evergreen in learning from our experience. 

3.)Write your reflection regarding classroom activities. What challenges you faced in doing the activities as teachers.

Click here to read about these classroom activities and my experience in detail.

4.)How do you see your future with the English Language?

                              English today is beginning to grow as the world's second language. It is the language which has the power to change the course of the future, it is the language of comfort yet of revolt. It has the power of reaching. Majority of the world's population speaks and understands English so it becomes easy to reach them through the medium of English. The most important thing at this time is the ability to communicate smoothly and effectively in English so as to make other people more comfortable in understanding my addressing.         

                    English is a global language, it is a link language where people share ideas globally and I wish to be a part of this global summit where I can nurture young minds with progressive thoughts and forward-thinking. I get very much disturbed when I witness some really terrible backwards-looking situations like how people accuse some really thoughtful advertisements, bans some artistic works. 

                    English, I believe gives an exposure to the world - how on the other side of the world a situation is perceived and how in our location it is perceived. So by the medium of language, our perspectives widen and the language becomes a gateway to enter the new world. 

          

Thank you.