The English language
teachings in India has undergone significant changes during the last few decades.
It is difficult to trace accurately the different phases of change in this
short article.
These changes form an
interesting study not only for scholars but also for teachers and language
experts. These changes are not only linguistic in nature but also relates to
the socio-economic developments that have been taking place owing to
technological and socio-economic developments. It is worth mentioning that
during the post - independence days the thrust of English language teaching was
mainly on the study of literature and grammar. The teaching of grammar formed
an important aspect of teaching grammar was taught mostly on the basis of
definition. The definition oriented declining was rigorous and thorough.
Lot of effort and time was put on the teaching of grammar. As a result,
the students were found to be guide conversant with the rules and definition of
grammar. The method adopted was translation method in other words this can be
termed as traditional method.
Study of literature was also an
important aspect of English language teaching poems from Keats, shells’.
Wordsworth and even Indian writers were included in the curriculum. The
teaching learning process was more pedantic than practical. During the late
70’s and beginning of 80’s it was felt that the traditional method though helped
the students to be proficient in grammar and a bit of literature right from the
beginning of the schooling stage have served very little purpose in the
practical field. Though the students were found to have required writing skill
they lacked the necessary skill to use the language print fully in their day to
day to day life. They were found to be deficient in using the language for any
practical purpose. The exposure to the use of the language in the practical
field was minimum. This proved to be a hindrance to their further career
development. However, the situation varied from state to state.
In the west Bengal the students were
influenced much by the mother tongue pull though they were quite u to the mark theoretically
and in academic field but lacked very much in speaking skill. The situation was
a little better in southern states because of their exposure to the English
language in & outside world. The situation was far from satisfactory in the
eastern states.
The aim of language
teaching is to help the students to acquire four skills speaking, writing,
listening and understanding. The traditional method did not help the students
to acquire the speaking skill. They were not able to use the language properly
for their practical purposes owing to the fact that the traditional method was
more academic and continued to the knowledge of rules, definitions and
literature.
The purpose of any language teaching is to
help the students to acquire both the academic and excellence in the use of the
language in the practical world. The traditional method taught the students
idioms, phrases, precis writing, substance writing etc., The use of idioms,
phrases and proverbs became whole in the course of time and translation method
was considered to be faculty as it did not provide proper exposure to the
proper exposure to the essence of language and the students were much obsessed
by the mother tongue pull giving rise to delayed learning process and faculty
use of the language. Thus, in course of time translation method was discarded
giving rise to situational method which means direct approach to the language
in actual use grammar is taught with examples in a sequential order rather than
definition. Definition is given after a thorough practice with examples only.
It means examples first definition last.
Further
developments in linguistic science replaced the situational approach with
structural approach. It was thought that language is a combination of many
components, once a learner is acquainted with the structure of a language he
will be able to build infinite number of sentences on his own. It is important
to teach the students the mechanism of a language how it operates.
Thus, the different levels of the language e.g.; synthetic, semantic and
phonetic levels were analysed and on the basis of this analysis a different
approach was adopted known as linguistic approach the further development of
which is communicative approach.
The latest approach is
communicative approach. All these changes have been possible because of the
developments and research oriented studies in linguistics in Europe and
America. In this connection, it is worth mentioning that through the nineteenth
century the study of language was known as philology and was mainly comparative
in nature which it deals mainly with the historical development of a language
known as diachronic study the important developments in the 20th
century linguistics came with the shift to the synchronic study of the language
which deals with the systematic inter relations of the components of single
language and a particular time. The major contribution to the synchronic study
was made by Ferdinand de Saussure a French speaking Swiss. Further contribution
was made by Edward Sapir and Leonard bloom field who set out to devise a
linguistic theory in the structural or descriptive field.
All
these developments point to the use of the language as an effective tool for
better and appropriate communication rather than literary excellence. Though
the linguistic approach was not popular during the sixties and seventies
because of an age old believe that language learning is more a matter of
literary appreciation and display in pedantry rather than gross practice
necessity.
Things started to change
rapidly during late seventies and gained momentum during mid-eighties with the
dawn of the era of globalisation the world became closer to each other and the
need for speedy and easy communication as medium was felt more than any time.
In this regard, the
latest method of learning the language became popular and adopted across the
country.
Written By,
Sri. A. k. Chatterjee.
Ex. Sr. Manager Education buckaroo steel
plant. SAIL.
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