LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 13:9 September 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.
         C. Subburaman, Ph.D. (Economics)
Assistant Managing Editor: Swarna Thirumalai, M.A.

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Of Speaking, Writing, and Developing Writing Skills in English

Anindya Syam Choudhury, Ph.D., PGCTE, PGDTE,
CertTESOL (Trinity, London)

Abstract

Of the four core language skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing, writing is obviously the most difficult skill for second and foreign language learners to master. The main reason for this difficulty is the fact that writing is a very complex process which involves both creating and organizing ideas and translating them into cohesive texts which are readable. However, in the English classrooms in India, this skill is generally taken for granted with little or no focus on the complex process of writing.

This article takes up this issue, beginning with a few introductory remarks on the teaching of English language skills in the Indian context, and then moving on to a discussion about the differences between speech and writing before proposing a five-step procedure for the development of writing skills in English.

Keywords:Language skills, speaking, writing, cohesive texts, second language learners

Skills Tapestry

When we consider second or foreign language pedagogy today, we tend to focus our attention on the development of the four macro-skills – listening, speaking, reading and writing – on the acquisition of which hinges the ability of the language user to use the language with proficiency in a variety of contexts. Of course, there is a school of thought which believes that in the tapestry of a language, the linguistic elements and skills are woven so intricately together that they can’t be separated without destroying the fabric of that language. While there’s no gainsaying that such a view has weight and we, therefore, advocate the teaching of language skills in an integrated way, it is also essential sometimes, especially in an acquisition poor environment, to isolate a specific skill and its sub-skills for focused attention. In this way, language teachers can help second or foreign language learners in honing specific language skills to perfection.

Traditional Neglect of Language Skills in India

In the Indian context, all the four language skills have been traditionally neglected with teachers generally doling out lessons on formal grammar, focusing on the development of meta-lingual knowledge, thinking that this would in turn develop the ability of the learners to use the language well. Unfortunately, however, this focus on meta-lingual knowledge, which over-emphasizes formal analysis and entails the use of a lot of grammar terminology, has not been able to deliver the hoped-for result, which is, as Rivers (1983: 33) very aptly points out, “to produce students who can communicate about anything and everything in the second language, comprehending and creating at will novel utterances that conform to the grammatical system of the language (whether in speech or writing).” As a consequence, we generally have English language users with poor skills, unable to use the language for communication, be it in the spoken form or in the written form. Historically, linguists and educational researchers have held contradictory positions vis-à-vis the relationship between speaking and writing.

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

Anindya Syam Choudhury, M.A. (Pune), Ph.D. (MJPRU), PGCTE, PGDTE (EFLU), CertTESOL (Trinity College London)
Assistant Professor
Department of English
Assam University
Silchar – 788011
Assam
India
anindyasyam@yahoo.com
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