LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:7 July 2013
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.
         S. M. Ravichandran, Ph.D.
         G. Baskaran, Ph.D.
         L. Ramamoorthy, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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M. S. Thirumalai
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Role of Rote Learning as an ESL Learning Strategy

D. Sankary, M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., P.G.D.T.E., Ph.D.

Abstract

Hundreds of thousands of graduates of both professional and non-professional courses are churned out every year by the universities and colleges in India. Unfortunately, a majority of them often find themselves in the status of perennial job-seekers running from one establishment to another. Ultimately, most of them reconcile themselves to the fate of being rejected by the job market as “unemployable”, in spite of their score cards bearing the stamp of a ‘first-class’ or ‘super-first class’. What causes this anomaly?

This article attempts to probe some of the reasons behind the malady, from the perspective of ESL (English as Second Language) proficiency. The investigation is done with the help of a random survey carried out among a group of ESL learners at the point of their entry into various undergraduate courses in South India. Nevertheless, the findings of this study would be representative of the status of the ESL proficiency of a vast majority of the Indian student community.

Background of the Study

A study carried out among 32,000 school children from 142 schools across five metropolitan cities in India, viz., Chennai, Bangalore, Mumbai, Kolkata and New Delhi jointly by Educational Initiatives (EI), a research organization and WIPRO, a leading Indian software company, has come out with some alarming findings. A few of them are:

a. Students fare well in rote questions, but trip up on those needing interpretation and analysis.
b. Language is being learnt less as something integral and useful, and more as a subject for a test.
c. Learning is rote-based and does not focus on real knowledge. (India Today, November 27, 2006).

Against the backdrop of this survey carried out among students from leading schools situated in the metropolitan cities in India, the present study tries to analyse how well and how far can these findings be relevant to students passing out from state funded schools who constitute the largest chunk of student population in India.

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

D. Sankary, M.A., M.Phil., B.Ed., P.G.D.T.E., Ph.D.
Assistant Professor of English
A.P.C. Mahalaxmi College for Women
Tuticorin 628 002
Tamilnadu
India

C/O. Baarath Consultancy
129, Main Road
Kovilpatti-628501
Tamilnadu, India
shankmathi@yahoo.com
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