English for All?

English Language Teaching (ELT) is a flourishing business in todays world as craze for picking up the language particularly for job prospects is on the up worldwide. Ironically in this respect, countries like China are overtaking India, a British colony for 200 years! Not at all surprising as the language has been the preserve of the elite of the sub continent for years: the sahibs parting gift for the babus to rule and dominate. The picture, as one perceives, has rapidly changed over the past few years though. The demand for English even by the Dalit movements points to this as David Graddol observes in his survey on the status of English in contemporary India titled English Next India published by the British Council in 2010.

Probably it is this demand from the grassroots that had prompted the National Knowledge Commission 2009 to observe that the time has come for us to teach our people, ordinary people, English as a language in schools. The 11th Five Year Plan also aspired to universalise English from class 3 onwards. The message is clear. English is now seen as a basic skill that people believe can ensure power, prestige and social mobility. However, lofty educational aspirations of the Government often fail to materialise as nationwide policies are formulated without considering the ground realities. Formulating English language policies in a multilingual and socio-culturally diversified country like ours is a matter of serious methodological and contextual considerations. As modern pedagogy claims, all methodologies are ultimately context-dependent. The question is, in what way will English learning by the ordinary be actually brought about? How will English be universalised in a country where the dream of universal elementary education still remains unfulfilled even after more than 60 years of Independence? What will be the methodology of teaching in a country in which contextual diversity is enormous? What will be the quality of the English that the government will provide in the state run primary and upper primary schools? Isnt that linked to overall developmental issues? Definitely the Chinese experience has been an eye-opener in this regard). What will be the status of that sarkari English in todays ruthlessly competitive educational scenario? This writer who teaches English in a Government -aided Higher Secondary School in a remote village in West Bengal knows from his personal experience that the majority of the general populace no longer believe that effective English language learning is at all possible in the govt.-run institutions. Even the lowermiddle class guardians craze for private institutions in the state shows how privatisation of Indian Education has made a deep social impact. Experiences in West Bengal may not be alien in other states of India although contexts will definitely vary. It is here where a systematic analysis of the diverse Indian contexts becomes imperative. Otherwise the idea of universalising the language will ever remain elusive. The Context Approach to language teaching a newly emerging area of study becomes relevant in this regard. This relatively new approach to language teaching asserts that a paradigm shift in English language teaching is urgent: from method to context. Throughout India either the communicative method or the traditional grammar translation method operates in the primary and upper primary schools. The so called modern Communicative Method or for that matter the traditional Grammar

Translation method, however, cannot be universally applicable. A method may be very effective in West Bengal but fail in Maharastra. This is the theoretical premise of the Context Approach that emerged as a reaction to the dominance of the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) in the last few decades. Context Approach to EnglishLanguageTeaching argues that methodology is just one factor in the process of language learning. Stephen Bax, UK based scholar , ELT expert and a pioneer of the Context Approach argues in his essay The End of CLT: A Context Approach to language Teaching that a systematic awareness of the learning environment, a complex whole of such factors as individual variation ,expectations of the students and their guardians , classroom composition, local culture, national culture and so on , is more important than adherence to a particular method. The inclusive nature of this new approach does not reject CLT as obsolete. It proposes to use methods of CLT whenever necessary. Answering to a few queries regarding English teaching in a government- aided school in a backward district in West Bengal, Prof. Bax had advised this writer to try to understand and feel the complex contextual milieu of the particular school and then attempt finding solutions to the problems of teaching in a local and personal way. This leads us to a crucial factor in 2nd language teaching programmes that probably crosses contextual variations: the role of the teacher. As Graddol has pointed out India lacks efficient English teachers at the primary and the secondary level who can effectively implement language programmes in schools. This problem can be addressed in two ways- firstly by introducing in-service short-term teacher training programmes and secondly by broader central decision making by authorities controlling university education in the country. The English Departments of Indian universities have a role to play here. Hundreds of students complete English Honours and MA courses every year. Many of them take up English teaching at the school level as their profession later. It seems that most universities are not aware of this ground reality till date. How can you otherwise explain the minimal thrust given to ELT materials in the undergraduate and post graduate courses in most Indian Universities? This is how Professor Tanmay Ghosh, an ELT expert who teaches at the University of Calcutta reacted while talking about the importance of ELT programmes in contemporary India which aspires to universalise English (11th five year plan). Most English Honours and MA degree holders leave universities without ever being formally trained in the basics of language teaching. A small section of them might have good English language skills (though not necessarily ELT skills). And the quality of English of a sizable portion of these degree holders remains questionable. There is no dearth of quality teacher-training institutes in India but it is doubtful how seriously students engage themselves in the formal teacher training B.Ed course or how context related the course itself is. If the government wants to universalise English, it has to maintain the supply line of quality teachers who are aware of the function they are expected to perform in a particular classroom. Private players pocket huge profits in the name of imparting English proficiency skills in this era of rapid privatisation of education. Professor Ghosh strongly supported this writers view that a well planned English curriculum at the university level, keeping the picture of school education in mind, is necessary, if English language policies are to be properly implemented. A practical solution to the problem might be the introduction of an optional module on ELT in the standard English M.A. courses, students opting for which may have a preferential advantage when applying for teaching jobs in schools. The same ELT course that encourages private profit may well be used to universalise the language and thereby empower the majority of Indians who do not possess this resource and are victims of a

new social divide in an already divided Indian society: between those who speak English and those who do not.