LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:6 June 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.

HOME PAGE

Click Here for Back Issues of Language in India - From 2001

BOOKS FOR YOU TO READ AND DOWNLOAD FREE!

REFERENCE MATERIAL

BACK ISSUES

  • E-mail your articles and book-length reports in Microsoft Word to languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.

  • PLEASE READ THE GUIDELINES GIVEN IN HOME PAGE IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE LIST OF CONTENTS.

  • Your articles and book-length reports should be written following the APA, MLA, LSA, or IJDL Stylesheet.

  • The Editorial Board has the right to accept, reject, or suggest modifications to the articles submitted for publication, and to make suitable stylistic adjustments. High quality, academic integrity, ethics and morals are expected from the authors and discussants.

Copyright © 2012
M. S. Thirumalai
Custom Search

Nursery Rhymes as an Effective Instructional Material for Young Language Learners

Shwetha. R. M.A., M.Phil. Candidate

Definition of Nursery Rhymes

There is a certain age at which a child looks at you in all earnestness and delivers a long, pleased speech with all the true inflections of spoken English, but with not one recognizable syllable. There is no way you can tell the child that if language had been a melody, he had mastered it and done well, but that since it was in fact a sense, he had botched it utterly. (Dillard, 1988, 106)

The gentle tune of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star brings back nostalgic feelings even for adults. Nursery Rhymes are often defined as “A short, rhymed poem or tale for children”, and are considered as traditional songs for young children in Britain and many other English speaking countries. Though the tradition of nursery rhymes as a primary source for teaching English language to children began as early as in the seventeenth century, its influence upon English language teaching remains pivotal.

Teaching Methods and Nursery Rhymes

Throughout the twentieth century, History of English language teaching saw the rise and fall of a variety of language teaching methods. Changes in approach and methods of teaching English have been an outcome of a transition of ideas as to the kind of proficiency the learners need. Hence, the reformers in the 20th century differentiated between the methods of teaching language based on the objectives of language teaching, theory of language, theory of language learning, syllabus, Role of teachers, learner roles and the role of instructional material. Any method used in a language teaching class must also ensure proper selection of instructional material, to help the young learner achieve the kind of proficiency aimed at.

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

Shwetha R., M.A., M.Phil. Research Scholar
Department of English
Ethiraj College for Women
Chennai 600008
Tamilnadu
India
Shwetha15490@gmail.com
Custom Search
  • Click Here to Go to Creative Writing Section

  • Send your articles
    as an attachment
    to your e-mail to
    languageinindiaUSA@gmail.com.
  • Please ensure that your name, academic degrees, institutional affiliation and institutional address, and your e-mail address are all given in the first page of your article. Also include a declaration that your article or work submitted for publication in LANGUAGE IN INDIA is an original work by you and that you have duly acknowledged the work or works of others you used in writing your articles, etc. Remember that by maintaining academic integrity we not only do the right thing but also help the growth, development and recognition of Indian/South Asian scholarship.