Status of English Teaching in India

chillibreeze writer — Shetu Aich

India with a population of around one billion people is often regarded as a model of harmonious linguistic co-existence within a single state. It has two official languages, Hindi &English, other than 18 major languages scheduled in the Indian constitution &418 ‘listed’ languages each spoken by 10,000 people or more. Today in the official domain there is a strict hierarchy of Indian languages and at the top are Hindi and English. English was used in India and elsewhere in the colonies as a tool of power to cultivate a group of people who identify with the cultural and other norms of the political elite. European values were considered inherently better whereas the indigenous culture was often considered barbaric. English was considered as 'a road to the light' , a tool of civilization. In India, English gradually acquired, socially and administratively, the most dominant roles. By the 1920s English had become the language of political discourse, intranational administration and law. Even after the colonial period ended English maintained its power over local languages. Ultimately the legal system, the national media and important professions were conducted in English.

English has been progressively gaining ground over the years. Regarded as a 'neutral' language for wider communication and the language of technology, modernity and development English is also a social status symbol. Parents see English medium schools as a way of pushing their children up the social scale. It is however ironical that even though English enjoys a high status in the wake of globalization, its teaching and learning in the educational institutes is rather inadequate and unproductive. Current methods of treating the learning of English in the classroom however ‘communicatively’ they may be oriented are no longer sustainable. Children need to be given the opportunity to acquire English through play activities at kindergarten age.

Only in this way will they develop the kind of native speaker competence that they are going to need in the modern world to deal with the extensive range of varieties and styles of spoken and written English that they will be called upon to handle.

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—About our writer: Shetu Aich says, "I live with my parents in a small city of West Bengal. I am absolutely crazy about dogs and books and Erich Sehgal is my favorite author , his 'Man, Woman & Child' being my favorite book."

 

 

 

 

 

 

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