LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 18:2 February 2018
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
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         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
         Renuga Devi, Ph.D.
         Soibam Rebika Devi, M.Sc., Ph.D.
         Dr. S. Chelliah, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Critical Pedagogy Adopted by High School English Teachers with
Reference to Productive Skills of Students in Manipur

Dr. M. Gunamani Singh, Ph.D., M.A., B.Ed., M.Ed.

Abstract

This paper explores the experience of high school teachers in the field of pedagogy. The study considers teachers who may not have explicitly learned about or applied innovative practice in teaching English. It investigates how feasible and desirable they find the techniques and pedagogical approaches to be based on their teaching experience in school with largely upper-middle class students, so the issue of applying pedagogical approaches with affluent students adds a dimension of interest to this study. It was generally expected that school teachers would be implementing several teaching approaches prescribed in NCF-2005 but these pedagogies were found only partially implemented by them at Elementary stage in Manipur. Probably this could be one of the main reasons why the students are not excellent in communicative skills. Communicative skill in English are now required in all fields. Therefore, there is a need to address this issue because it may not help future careers of the children in this global market of English.

After the identification of this problem, ten schools (5 Private English medium schools and 5 Government schools) were selected for our study. Among these 5 Private schools, 2 of them were convent schools. Of the 5 Government schools, one is a model school where relatively more facility has been created by the Government. In order to carry out the investigation, questionnaires were administered to the teachers of English, who are working in these ten schools; and their responses were analyzed. In addition, the Heads/Principals were also consulted by the investigator in relation to teaching/learning process, evaluation systems and their administration. We found some discrepancies in methods, approaches and techniques adopted by teachers due to which low achievement in English occurs. We assess speaking skill and writing skill of the students with some of techniques which could be used as innovative practice in the classroom transaction for developing life skills.

Keywords: : Manipur, School Education, Pedagogical pedagogy, Elementary stage (Primary +Upper Primary), NCF-2005, speaking skill and writing skill, Teaching Methodology, Teaching English.

Introduction

The term Critical Pedagogy was attached to the work of Brazilian Literacy educator and curriculum specialist Paulo Freire. Pedagogical Approaches or Critical Pedagogy bring a new socio-political view of linguistics and language teaching that is beginning to influence the teaching of English to speakers of other languages field. In short, critical pedagogy was started out of the need of reforming education in a way that it would acknowledge the influence of the social and political elements existent in every educational context. Teacher and student engagement is critical in the classroom because it has the power to define whose knowledge will become a part of school-related knowledge and whose voices will shape it. Students are not just young people for whom adults should devise solutions. They are critical observers of their own conditions and needs, and they should be participants in discussions and problem solving related to their education future opportunities. Hence children need to be aware that their experiences and perceptions are important, and they should be encouraged to develop the mental skills needed to think and reason independently and have the courage to dissent. Participatory learning and teaching emotion and experience need to have a definite and valued place in the classroom. While classroom participation is a powerful strategy it becomes an instrument to enable teachers to meet their own ends. True participation starts from the experiences of both students and teachers.

Angelil Carter (1997) states that “research in SLA has been dominated by questions regarding the psychological process of language learning with less concern for the wider social context, the power relations within the context, and their effect on psychological variables (p. 263). Therefore, critical pedagogy followers advocate that the field of TESOL should not focus on Linguistics, but also should look at the field of education for inspiration and change.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Dr. M. Gunamani Singh
OSD, SCERT, Government of Manipur
Lamphelpat
Manipur
India
mutumgunamani1@gmail.com

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