LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 15:10 October 2015
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.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
         N. Nadaraja Pillai, Ph.D.
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Exploring Higher Secondary Students’ Perceptions for the
Implementation of Task-Based Language Teaching in
the English Classroom in Assam

Anindya Syam Choudhury,
Ph.D., PGDTE (EFL University, Hyderabad), CertTESOL (Trinity, London)
&
Anupam Dutta, M.A. (Pune)

Abstract

There is no gainsaying that the traditional methodologies used for the teaching of English in India in general and Assam in particular are basically teacher-centred ones, which fail to enable learners to become communicatively competent. This situation obviously calls for an overhauling of the English language pedagogy in India, with a view to adopting a methodology which is learner-centred and has been found to be effective in enabling the learners in developing communicative competence. In this context, the authors of this article carried out a research to find out the feasibility or otherwise of implementing task-based language teaching methodology, a contemporary offshoot of the much-hallowed learner-centred communicative language teaching, in the English language classroom at the higher secondary in Assam. This article reports the findings with regard to the perceptions of higher secondary students regarding the appropriateness of task-based language teaching in the context mentioned above.

Keywords: Task-based language teaching, teacher-centred, learner-centred, communicative competence, communicative language teaching

Introduction

As in the rest of India, English is today generally viewed as the language of opportunity and upward mobility in Assam as well. Assam shares all or many of the English Language Teaching (ELT) practices followed elsewhere in India at all levels of education. The current paradigm of teaching-learning of the English language in Assam is largely based on the Grammar-Translation Method. This method views language as a structured system of grammatical patterns with an aim to develop in students the ability for producing correct sentences (Nunan, 1988). Whereas there has been a surge of research and development in ELT across the world in the areas of language acquisition and teaching methodology, ELT in Assam could not benefit from these developments, and the obsolete Grammar-Translation Method is still in vogue. There is a requirement, emerging as a consequence of the international and the national role of English and the developments in ELT methodology, to make ELT more relevant and meaningful for the students by taking into account their needs. The educational institutions where ELT forms an important part of the curriculum need to explore the possibility of adopting an effective ELT approach responsive to the language learning needs of their students.

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

Anindya Syam Choudhury, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Assam University
Silchar 788011
Assam
India
anindyasyam@yahoo.com

Anupam Dutta, M.A.
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Barbhag College
Nalbari 781351
Assam
India
danupam1974@gmail.com

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