LANGUAGE IN INDIA

A STUDY OF THE SKILLS OF READING COMPREHENSION IN ENGLISH
DEVELOPED BY STUDENTS OF STANDARD IX
IN THE SCHOOLS IN TUTICORIN DISTRICT, TAMILNADU
A. Joycilin Shermila, Ph.D.

ENGLISH IN THE WORLD CONTEXT

English is said to be the world’s most important language having communicative and educative values. 6It is the mother tongue of more than 320 million people and another 200 million use it as their second language (Baruah, 1991, P. 4). English language is used all over the world not out of any imposition but because of the realisation that it has certain advantages. A very important reason for regarding English as a world language is that the world’s knowledge is enshrined in English.

Moreover English is a progressive language. It has its past, present and future. It is a dynamic language that nearly half of the world speaks and understands it. It is a flexible language because its history is a chronicle of the tremendous changes in culture and language. English is a complete language because it has evolved out of a social background and expresses cultural experience. Over and above English is universally renowned for its power of expression and its rich literature.

PRESENT STATUS OF ENGLISH IN INDIA

There are arguments for and against the teaching of English in India. Our present problem may be summed up as follows: having got rid of the English of whom we had little use, we have not been equally successful in driving out their language, because as things stand, we can neither really live with it nor, indeed do without it. National self-respect demands that we dethrone it from its eminent place in our country but its extraordinary utility has made it so indispensable to us, that we are prevented from banishing it (Sharma, 1993, P. 2).

One can feel the same trend in the report of the Kothari Commission which states that English is quite essential to keep pace with advances in science and technology. The former Chairman of the UGC, Dr. Satish Chandra, after careful study of the problems facing the constitutional provisions relating to official language, recommended that a certain standard was required of officers entering the higher services, in English. Regional languages are used more in the field of administration in various states but this does not help these languages to attain the status of English in the academic field. All men both high and low regard English as a means of getting academic advancement and social elevation. To maintain or to promote social status and family prestige, parents are crazy to admit their wards in English medium schools.

Not withstanding the pronouncement of politicians that no more English medium school will be permitted, the demand continues unabated. Higher fees are no deterrent; parents are willing to make enormous sacrifices to ensure upward mobility for their children. Success in the job market or even marriage market has come to be equated with fluency in English (Prabhala, The Hindu, 1994).

PROBLEMS OF TEACHING ENGLISH

However a high percentage of school - leavers leave the precincts of the school as ignorant of English usage as they were when they entered the school first. Many years of learning English leads most of our school goers nowhere. Teaching of English in our schools is in a chaotic state today. Pupils are taught English for about six periods per week for six years. But it has been estimated that they hardly know few words by the time they join a University. This means that they have hardly been able to learn English words at the rate of one word per period. They do not know how to use the commonest structures of English.

The mistake is in our Educational system itself.

A teacher’s target is to “prepare” his students for the examination and not to make his pupils competent in the use of the language they are learning (Bala Subramanian, 1985, P. 56). In reality neither the student nor the teacher is anxious to learn or to teach English. So the student is nervous only about his success in the examination and the teacher’s sole problem is to see that the pass percentage does not go down. 10We hunt for shadows rather than substance. We care more for diplomas than for knowledge. It is not learning that we want, but the prize that learning brings - wealth, prestige, status, and so on. It is not knowledge that we ask for but short - cuts to knowledge, so that we can outwit the examiner (Mehta, 1981, P.18).

Pupils are assessed in all the states in India by means of a single examination conducted towards the end of the year. In this system pupils usually work hard for a few days just before the examination and get through the examination. But, such last minute preparation does not help in the case of language. 11Language needs constant practice over an extended period and this can be ensured only if examinations are held at frequent intervals. The present system of relying solely on an all - important annual examination therefore does not serve the purpose (Baruah, 1991, P. 14). Moreover the question papers are set in such a way where all the questions can be answered with the help of bazaar cribs. For such an examination, students require no thinking, no originality, no imagination and no skill, though the vital aspect of language learning is integrated skill.

Hence an average teacher tends to teach nothing more than what the examiner is likely to require.

STANDARD OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

Factors of a heterogeneous nature varying from place to place and situation to situation do exist and create difficulties. Unmanageable numbers, poor classroom conditions, poor motivation, lack of support from home and society, pressures of unwieldy syllabus in other subjects, too many languages to be studied at the same time, unhealthy attitudes of the authorities in many cases - all these are factors that often interfere with the teaching of English (Mohammed, The Hindu, 1995).

Because of these factors the standard of English Language Teaching is said to be going down day by day. Besides, there are certain teacher oriented factors that cause havoc to English Language Teaching. 13The teachers teaching English to secondary students are not so competent in teaching the language. Oral competence of teachers teaching English is very poor; reading competence is found to be poor and writing competence seems to be some what poor (Franklin, 1997, P. 246).

Teachers are not clear about the aim of teaching English. They divide the timetable into reading, writing, composition, translation and grammar and are satisfied so long as the students are kept busy and they don’t get any trouble from the higher authorities. It drives home the fact that in general, students are not found to be competent in English because of lack of skill-oriented teaching. Even after studying the language for nine years they are not able to speak or write on their own. Therefore an empirical study of the language skills developed in students is found to be essential.

This Ph.D. dissertation deals with the study of the skills of reading comprehension in English developed by students of standard IX in the schools in Tuticorin district, one of the southern most districts of Tamilnadu, India. The dissertation consists of 7 chapters with references and appendices.

1. CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION
2. CHAPTER 2 CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK
3. CHAPTER 3 REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
4. CHAPTER 4 TOOL CONSTRUCTION
5. CHAPTER 5 RESEARCH DESIGN AND PROCEDURE
6. CHAPTER 6 ANALYSIS OF DATA
7. CHAPTER 7 MAJOR FINDINGS, DISCUSSION, RECOMMENDATIONS AND SUGGESTIONS
8. REFERENCES AND APPENDICES

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ENTIRE DISSERTATION IN A PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

A. Joycilin Shermila

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A Review of CARIBBEAN INDIAN FOLKTALES - A Fascinating Collection, Transliteration and Translation by Kumar Mahabir | A Review of KEY WORDS OF A KINSHIP - An Interesting Exploration of Historical Relationship Between the English and the Tamils by R. M. Paulraj | Englishes in India | A Study of the Skills of Reading Comprehension in English Developed by Students of Standard IX in the Schools in Tuticorin District, Tamilnadu | POWER 7 - POWER TO ACT CIVILIZED | Globalization, English and Language Ecology | Computational Analysis of Sanskrit Language | Applications of Artificial Intelligence & Mnemonics in Learning Foreign Vocabulary | Practicing Literary Translation - A Symposium by Mail - Round Seven | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

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A. Joycilin Shermila, Ph.D.
Annammal College of Education for Women
Tuticorin, Tamilnadu
India
shermila@sancharnet.in


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