Beyond survival English
English is the most widely used language in the world, yet only 15 percent of the world’s population speaks it. Actually, it’s not a question of how many people speak English, but what English is used for! International business, global enterprises, and many government and non-government organisations rely on English to communicate and English is the premier language of news and information. It is used for maritime communication and air traffic control. Popular western culture beamed across the world uses English. Lyrics of popular songs are written in English and last but not least, English is the main language of the internet. Many people and even some national leaders, resent this hegemony of English. Recently, a European leader walked out of a meeting of the European Union, because the chairman spoke in English! He refused to acknowledge that English is the international language of business. Let’s not make a mistake here; it isn’t the Queen’s English, but American English that dominates and is the global lingua, franca because the US with its culture and economic muscle dictates to the world. Against this backdrop, what can we do in India about improving our use and knowledge of English? How can we get beyond survival English?
In India many people use English together with their native languages — speaking in the vernacular with friends and family, but utilising English at work or when socialising with foreign friends and acquaintances. Having said this, it is a sad reality that when it comes to speaking and understanding good English, most Indians are not as proficient as they need to be, in order to compete in the emerging global marketplace.
There is an awakening, in some quarters, to the necessity for better methodology and the need to improve the standard of English teaching. However English language teaching is still taking time to develop in India. No formal training is given to teachers and the British Council introduced CELTA (Certificate in English Language Teaching to Adults), among other training courses only recently. Moreover these courses are expensive and teachers on low incomes are unable to afford the professional development required to teach good English.
India has the potential to become a world leader. It is the largest democracy and a rapidly growing influence in world commerce, but it needs a better grasp of English to realise its true potential. How, therefore can we improve the quality of English teaching in our schools?
For a start, we should reject the proposition that English should be taught from an early age. It would be far more beneficial for children in the early stages of their school life, to learn in their own language and become proficient in it before starting to learn English. English language would be a greater benefit if it were taught as a second language starting at class IV level rather than in class I or kindergarten.
Teaching English from class I in Kannada medium schools, is in my opinion a total waste of time. I perceive it as a hysterical move by the powers that be to appease the pro-English lobby. There are any number of people who want their own language as medium, whether it be Kannada or another, so we ought to think positively about the whole situation. Proficiency in the mother tongue is absolutely necessary before children start learning another language. If the directive goes through that children must be taught English from class I, it should only be in the form of conversational and basic English. No tests. No rote learning. No memorisation of the story of Peter Rabbit!
The blossoming of exclusive private schools on the outskirts of India’s cities, is a sign of the economic success of a rising middle class which aspires to better education for its children. These schools generally teach in the English medium. Teachers are of a higher calibre and they try to teach interactively. Yet there is room for improvement, as English is not taught as a second or foreign language and the content of lessons is stilted and textbook based. Finally we come to the plethora of exclusive private schools that seem to dominate our cities, usually with the tag of ‘international’ attached. They teach an international curriculum. Some go for the Cambridge board exams while others opt for Indian curriculums or a combination with the IB syllabus. In these schools, the high fees enable language departments to stock their shelves with the latest pedagogical material. English is well spoken, teachers are competent and generally ESL (English as a Second Language) teaching is adequate.
In times to come, methodologies will change. I believe the future of English language teaching lies very much with contemporary computer assisted teaching, which offers the best opportunities for learning good academic English. Meanwhile the fate of English medium schools at the lower end of the scale, hangs in the balance. Unless ESL is incorporated into teacher training and the calibre of teachers upgraded with better pay and incentives, rote learning and memorisation would be difficult to phase out.
(E. Felicity Gibson is principal of The Learning Curve International School, Mysore)