LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 12 : 10 October 2012
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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English for Employment: A Study of Employers’ Expectations

Ravindra B. Tasildar, M.A.

Abstract

The rise of English as the global language has led to a greater demand for English in the job market. The last few years have witnessed the opening up of thousands of lucrative job opportunities for the graduates proficient in English. Taking into account the requirement for skilled workforce, many educational institutions in the country have started courses that will, hopefully, improve the students’ communicative competence in English and make them employable. However, the syllabi revision for most of these courses in English is based on mere assumptions rather than actual English language needs of the employment sector.

The national committees, like Curriculum Development Committee in English (2001), have never asked employers about the English language skills they expect from Indian graduates. Even the syllabus compilers design the syllabi on the assumed future needs of the students. Though, the job opportunities for the graduates proficient in English are spread across such diverse areas as journalism and mass communication, management, tourism, law, entertainment industry, visual communication, library science, IT, shopping malls, advertising agencies, etc., the focus seems to be on providing workforce only to IT-enabled industries.

The Yashpal Committee Report (2009) states that the problems of the students graduating from Indian universities, like the lack of communicative and analytical abilities, can be addressed by developing curricula appropriate to the needs of the students and by improving the syllabi of the courses offered in the conventional degree programmes.

In the light of globally changing English language needs of the twenty-first century, this paper attempts to find out the English language skills expected to the employers from their prospective employees. The outcome of this study may help in updating syllabi of courses in English offered at the undergraduate (UG) level in Indian universities.

Key words: English language needs, communication skills, employers, syllabus revision, Indian universities

Introduction

The Report of The Committee to Advise on Renovation and Rejuvenation of Higher Education (2009), also known as the Yashpal Committee Report, sums up the undergraduate (UG) education in India very well. The Report is an earnest attempt to reflect on some of the relevant issues pertaining to higher education. The report observes that more Indian youths, who are first generation university goers, consider UG education as a stepping-stone for securing a job. However, the courses offered in the conventional degree programmes, where majority of the enrollment takes place, are not tuned to meet the job market demands. Higher Education in India at a Glance (2012) published by the University Grants Commission (UGC) shows provisional faculty-wise students enrolment in Higher Education in 2010-11. According to this UGC brochure, 36.39% students are enrolled in Arts faculty, 18.42% in science, 17.11% in commerce and management, 16.86% in engineering / technology, 1.93% in law and 3.85% in medicine. The courses in the faculty of Arts particularly focus on providing only humanistic education to the first generation university goers, whereas employment-oriented education is provided in professional degree programmes to the youths from elite and middle classes.

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

Ravindra B. Tasildar, M.A.
S.N. Arts, D.J.M. Commerce and B.N.S. Science College
Sangamner - 422 605
District: Ahmednagar
Maharashtra
India
ravishmi1@gmail.com
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