Digital Technology and Content Resources for the English Teacher: An Overview.

Dr. Ravikrishnan A K

Sel.Grade Lecturer

Sree Kerala Varma College, Thrissur

Content Authoring Technology enables teachers who are not computer programmers to create sophisticated E- Learning programs for use locally and on the Internet. In this scenario a direct relationship is established between the teacher and the technology and courses thus created can change and evolve while being used. This technology involves the use of Content Authoring software tools and supporting tools.

The paper is intended to be an overview of Content Authoring Technology from the perspective of the English language teacher and of Internet content resources available that can be made use of for English language teaching.

English in India

Dr. K. Balachandran

Prof. of English

Annamalai University

English is no more a foreign language to India and Indians. English started to leave its deep roots in the educational institutions in the 50s and 60s. In the 21^st century, English has grown like a banyan tree. Without English can Higher Education be complete and perfect? Proficiency in English alone will fetch good job opportunities, handsome salary, and foreign assignments. Can a strong or storeyed building be built sans strong foundation? English is the base whether one prefers professional course or other (Science and humanities) courses. But what is the reality in the educational institutions? Is undue importance given to main subjects, sidelining English and mother tongue? The result is like half-baked cakes sans proficiency in spoken English and written English by our students. What are the main reasons? There is neglect of textbooks and grammar. is there need for good and tolerable communicative skills among the students? Can they become efficient sans reading textbooks? Can they communicate sans learning grammar? Do we need salt in any dish? Do we need grammar either it is written or spoken English? Do language policies of government play major role in educational policies? Is there need for change in Higher Education?

It is answers to these questions that Dr. K. Balachandran will explore through his paper “English in India”

Convergence of Indianization of English and Multilingualism

Dr. J. Sundarsingh

Associate Professor of English

Karunya University, Coimbatore

In India there is always a conflict between Indianization of English and Westernization of English due to obvious reasons. The arrival of English in India is due to western invasion and its prolonged stay to the extent of claiming permanence is due to its ‘use’ in India. However India is known for cultural diversity as well as linguistic diversity which resulted in disintegrated national identity of English language.

The primary function of a language is to facilitate effective communication. In Indian diverse society, if a person is successful in expressing himself in a particular language, it is his language, no matter whether it is his first language or second language. Whether it is formal situation or informal situation, some of the learned people in India get inclined to English expressions more frequently. It is a familiar scene in TV shows, Interviews, Conferences, Official meetings and Classrooms. Shashi Deshpande, a famous Indian Writer in English, said that she found herself comfortable in using English language for all of her expressions. However she admits that as a writer, she faces a lot of ‘problems and paradoxes’ of the English language in India. It is interesting to note that she is still writing in English.

Language is a vehicle which carries the load of one’s ideas, emotion and interests and expresses in a way in which it is assimilated by the speaker. But in double-language or triple-language social system, it is difficult to ascertain which language carries more loads – either first or second or third.

In Indian context the first language plays a vital role in sharing one’s intimate emotions, whereas the second language helps him to acquire more knowledge as it is the language of higher learning. There is a growing realization in the present context that communications skills in English are the basis for success in any corporate assignment.

Thus in India, languages are selected for expressions according to situations as the land has the complicated regional languages. It may be either first language or second language or bilingual or third language. For example, the South Indian people of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Kerala are familiar with three languages, viz. their mother tongue, Hindi or the language of neighbouring state and English. In Tamil Nadu Hindi is still resisted and hence English and neighbouring language dominate more. Similar situation prevails in North India wherein either three-language system or two-language system is followed. Hence it may be suggested that one’s first language (L₁) is used for expressing one’s personal ideas, second language (L₂) for professional ideas and another language (L₃) to interact with the people of neighbouring/other states. The languages are primarily meant for communication and there is a possibility of using all of them in both formal and informal situations.

In such a situation there is always a conflict among these languages in achieving prominence in usage and public recognition. Time has come that the first language no longer interferes with English, but gives way for the dominance of second language. Thus there is a possibility of converging theses languages and better the English language in an Indian perspective and thereby establish Indianized English.

English Language: History and Problems in India Today

Shaikh Naushad Umarsharif

Dept. of English

Poona College of Arts and Science, Pune

This paper aims at studying the historical background and the roots that brought English Language in India and the way it got strengthened. It also focuses on the pre-independent and post independent developments regarding the spread of English Language in India. The very British attempts to spread the language in India and its changing face today. It reviews English language as hegemonies to common man’s language in India. It also studies the status in business, schools and society and ways to improve it as the need of an hour.

Good Servant, Bad master: The role of Standard in ELT

Dr. Tim Marr

London Metropolitan University, U.K.

It is usually understood in a reasonably unproblematic way that the form of foreign language that is to be taught and learned is the ‘standard’ form. While the author has no intention of develop a critique of this notion here, he does wish to suggest  that the teaching  of standard English  should be accompanied by  sociolinguistic awareness– in order to accustom students  to the possibility – indeed  the inevitability of encountering  a wide diversity of  ‘Englishes’ . Standards are an abstraction and languages do not stands still in time and place. The effective international and intellectual communicator should indeed have firm grasp of the standard– but she or he must not allow adherence to a single variety to develop or take the place of genuinely constructive interaction in a range of native and non- native varieties.

An EST Curriculum – The Challenges Ahead

Mr. S. P. Sureshkumar and Ms. R. Kalpana

Senior Lecturers

Dept of English

PSG college of Technology

Coimbatore

One of the most widely felt concerns among the institutions imparting technical education is that of designing an ideal EST curriculum that would cater to the complete communicative requirements of a student. Effective implementation of an EST curriculum involves a number of challenges to be met and issues to be resolved. The foremost and fundamental question is that whether the limited focus of EST course materials and teaching tasks specifically related to science and technology can contribute to the overall development of language and communicative competence of an engineering graduate.

Though authentic texts (which are largely used by most EST course books) are advantageous in terms of the real world exposure they offer to the learners, they do have limitations in terms of limited variety in diction, syntax, and emphasis they offer.  Further, the lack of content knowledge on the part of the language teachers poses problems in handling these texts, as they experience difficulty in designing interactive and integrated teaching tasks which can motivate the learners and create a positive wash back effect. Simplified or adapted materials too have their own advantages and disadvantages. Interdisciplinary or team teaching is not always practically feasible in most of the institutions.

This paper would focus on analyzing the key issues related to using these materials in EST classrooms. It also suggests the importance of supplementing an EST curriculum with teaching inputs drawn from a general English curriculum. Such an attempt, in addition to providing opportunities learners to get exposed to the language of their field, would also impart training in professional and soft skills for the learners to   cope with the contemporary demands.

The Undergraduate General English Syllabus with Special Focus on Spirit of the Times: Aims and Achievements.

Dr. Vineetha Mareeta John

Lecturer

Aquinas College, Edakochi

The Ministry of Education as early as 1985 pointed out the need for shifting the focus of teaching English. Instead of the so far teacher–centered programmes and syllabus, it stipulated the need for switching over to a student-centered method of teaching. This shift of emphasis spells out a marked demand for “new syllabuses, new instructional materials and in-service teacher-training programmes” (Aslam 19). At present this emphasis has been widened to be not only learner oriented but also need conscious. The paper is a study of two chapters from the undergraduate prescribed prose text Spirit of the Times.

Integration of personality is one of the basic concerns of any curriculum-maker. The chapters taken from the prose text “The Intensive Care Unit” (hence forward The ICU) and “The Commencement Address” is apt springboards for the student generation. “The Intensive Care Unit” provides a slice of the typical technology-addicted generation that very often takes the service of the nursing staff and doctors in the hospital for granted. The pathetic dependence of the doctor on instruments in order to convince the relatives of the patients of their service are all sharp reminders to all who take pleasure in hunting for complaints against the hospital community. Will Durant’s “Commencement Address” is packed with practical knowledge which directly addresses the all-time current issues among students like junk food, sex, health etc The first volume of .Encyclopaedia of Curricular Development clearly states that while deciding about the selection organisation and administration of curricular materials and methods, it should always be done in terms of their “contributions to the integration of personality” (4). But personality sans social responsibility is still incomplete.

While selecting teaching material the curriculum maker should be conscious of instilling principles of social responsibility. “Commencement Address” successfully couples the twin purposes. Even as Durant reminds the student that “you are what you eat” he does not fail to highlight the fact that a healthy mind requires a healthy body.

The paper further goes into the market based demand of English which is often ignored by the teaching community due to reasons beyond their control. More than that, the text books prescribed by the University for the purpose of providing practice in communicative skills, often fail to focus on spoken aspect of the language. .The development of curriculum should be in accordance with the consolidated conclusions of seminars and workshops. Even more important is the need to hand over the conclusions of the seminars to the Board of Studies of the universities.

Learn to Experience, Experience to Learn: A comparative study of select modern Experiential Learning theories with the Vedic System of education

Sumathi Shivakumar

Sr. Sub Editor cum Language Editor,

ICFAI Research Centre, Chennai

Teaching, Learning and Education, are expressions inextricably inter- related. But the mangled network causes innumerable problems as the result (education) does not match the performance (teaching) or the potential (learning).  Somewhere something has gone awry. There have been innumerable occasions where people, the world over, have continued to admire India for its contribution to the evolution of thought and thereby the growth of civilization. Experiential learning has been one of the untold methods of learning followed during the Vedic Times. This is an approach to learning that pays attention to the process of learning supplemented by the transactive process between the facilitator and the learner. One of the salient features of this process is the possibility of making experiments and discoveries utilizing knowledge earned first hand rather than somebody else’s experiences. David Kolb’s model of Experiential Learning is one of the many modern versions of the Vedic system of Sravanam, Mananam and Nidhidhyasanam. Examples of this methodology occur in treatises like the Upanishads, the  Mahabharata and so on This paper brings to light a few modern theories of experiential learning along with a critical comparison of similar but more profound precepts in the Vedic system.

“Methods and Materials: The Importance of ‘difference’ in English Language Teaching”

Dr. Fiona English

London Metropolitan University, U.K.

Over the last forty years or so the English language has become a highly marketable commodity, promoted by governments, publishers and mass culture exported through popular media.  Whether by design or accident, it is now clear that ‘knowing’ English is perceived worldwide to bring personal benefits almost regardless of whether that knowledge is put to direct use.  English has also come to be connected with notions of ‘development’, ‘modernisation’ and ‘internationalism’.  In this context it is sometimes argued that English plays a convenience role in serving as a ‘lingua franca’ for the world; that it provides a neutral, culture-free means of communication. However, Dr. Fiona would suggest that, to the contrary, language not only carries culture, it constructs it, defines it and expresses it through its modes, genres, discourse structures and environments.

The paper titled “Methods and Materials: The Importance of ‘difference’ in English Language Teaching” will consider the relationship between language, culture and context with specific reference to education.  The author draws upon her experiences working with international students in UK higher education institutions, who themselves have crossed the boundary between educational and linguistic cultures and who have had to recognise that ‘knowing’ the language is only part of the story.  The paper will explore issues surrounding the methodologies that go hand in hand with English language teaching and the cultural assumptions that lie beneath them. It will also discuss how immersion in new ways of learning impact on how we value our own learning cultures and in this context will explore how a critical approach to language and language teaching can help teachers to develop practices which are relevant to learners’ own contexts and agendas and which also encourage a recognition and understanding of the importance of difference.

Think-Tank

• Why do the signs that say”Slow Children” have a picture of a running child?

• Why the time of day with the lowest traffic is called ‘Rush hour’?

• If you shouldn’t drink and drive, why do bar’s have parking lots?

• Why is it that night falls but day breaks?

• You know how most packages say “Open here.” What is the protocol if the packages say’s “Open somewhere else” ?

• If a book about failures doesn’t sell, is it a success?

Article by: Rini Ephrem, St.Teresa’s College