CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES IN TEACHING

ENGLISH AS SECOND LANGUAGE TO THE UNDER-

GRADUATE ENGINEERING COLLEGE STUDENTS IN
MADURAI DISTRICT – AN ICT APPROACH

A Synopsis submitted to Madurai Kamaraj University

in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the award of the Degree of
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY IN ENGLISH

Submitted by
D. SENTHIL KUMAR
(Reg. No. P4346)

Under the Supervision of

Dr. V. KALAISELVAN, M.A., M.Phil., Ph.D.,
Professor and Head

DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE STUDIES

MADURAI KAMARAJ UNIVERSITY
(University with Potential for Excellence)
MADURAI – 625021
TAMIL NADU

JUNE 2019
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1 Introduction

Teaching of English as a Second \language (ESL) has come a long way even

though learning a second language or more than two have been in practice from the

beginning of human civilization. People travelling from one place to another on

various grounds including for transacting business, annexing the neighborhood lands,

cultural exchanges and the nomadic life style, had to learn the language of the land for

communication purpose. The ancient rulers, therefore, had interpreters in their

kingdom to conduct diplomatic talks, to do trade and commerce, to even conduct

marriage. However, the way the second language was taught and learnt has a changed

a lot. The need for learning a second or third language has come to stay if one wants

to do best in their professional career also. After the computers came to rule us and

the spawning of internet utilities, the people have to travel to lands far off with

different languages. As English is being used to do business and other important

activities especially after the Information Technology and Information Technology-

Enabled Services need more people to work in different places across the globe, the

need for English has become pivotal in the job market too. As people with English

language skill are being sought after, learning of English as a Second language has

assumed significance in almost all countries. In India, which was one of the former

colonies of the British, English was already present among educated people.

Therefore, Indian people have an edge over other people whose second language was

not English.

In India, particularly in Tamil Nadu, English is being given importance and

it is being taught as the Second language in schools, colleges and universities.

However, the standard of English language is not upto the expectation and the
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students who are taught English are poor in spoken and written skills. It is worse in

engineering colleges in India. In Tamil Nadu, the standard of English language among

engineering colleges is not unenviable. There are more than 500 engineering colleges

in Tamil Nadu, but it is, unfortunately, true that most of them are unemployable as

they are poor in communicative skills. A number of research studies have been carried

out on the teaching and learning of English as a Second \language in Tamil Nadu

engineering colleges. However, using ICT tools, only a negligible number of research

works have been done using ICT methods. In this dissertation work entitled, “

CHALLENGES AND STRATEGIES IN TEACHING ENGLISH AS SECOND

LANGUAGE TO THE UNDER-GRADUATE ENGINEERING COLLEGE

STUDENTS IN MADURAI DISTRICT – AN ICT APPROACH”, the scholar intents

to make use of ICT tools to experiment with the engineering college students in

Madurai District in select engineering colleges. This dissertation work would consist

of six chapters - the first chapter being devoted to give a brief sketch about various

components regarding the teaching and learning of English as Second Language, ESL

in India and particularly in Tamil Nadu, the standard of English language among

Tamil speaking Engineering college students in Madurai District. From the time

English as a Second Language (ESL) teaching and learning process started, there have

been a slew of approaches, methods, principles and tools etc., to make it easier to the

learners and alleviate the obstacles and bottlenecks and devise new strategies to

overcome the internal and external problems such as psychological, sociological,

physiological, geographical etc., Over riding all these traditional and modern

approaches, there is now an urgent need to utilize the opportunities spawned by the

burst of computer technology, internet, information technology (IT) and other allied

information technology based services (ITes).

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The integration of Information and Computer Technology has come to the

language learners as well as the teachers as a boon to facilitate and as a powerful

result –oriented teaching method. In spite of the fact that the terminology „computer

technology‟ has been used for a long time with the ubiquitous PPT (Power Point

Presentation), now the advent of other technological innovative gadgets and the

myriad ways of exploiting them for furthering the cause of education especially the

second language learning has expanded the scope far and wide which is highly

unprecedented. That the information being generated by computer technology and its

allied services is something to the second language teacher would be a dream- come-

true. The High-End Computers, the Smart, Interactive Televisions, the Mobile

Phones/Smartphones, Phap (Phone+ Tab), the E-readers, Ipads/Ipods, Internet

based Radio Stations, Social Media applications such as Whatsapp, Twitter,

Facebook, Weblogs, Wordpress, Email, Skype, Google Duo, Amazon Echo Show,

unlimited free e-books and information, Audio book E-readers, Smart- Class rooms

fitted with LCD, Laptops, Portable Wi-Fi Devices, thousands of free websites to

teach languages, live-streaming videos, You tube and such other Software

Platforms, and Electronic Devices such as DVD players, Desktop Computers,

State -of -the Art - High End Digital Cameras, a plethora of Language Game

Consoles and Platforms and Applications - all these ICT tools are up for grab to

make use of them to enhance the teaching and learning process of Second Language

Acquisition unlike the earlier years as these ICT tools came into existence just after

the Era of Internet. The last twenty years have seen more of these developments and

as recently as 5 years ago, these were not unthinkable. Some of the English language

platforms as well as Multi-language platforms which work in Android-based, iOS-

based, and Windows –based applications are:

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1. Duolingo - Learn Languages for Free. (Android - Free, iPad - Free)

2. Learn Languages Busuu. (Android - Free, iPad - Free)

3. Improve English (to improve English through Word Games)

4. Memrise (to learn languages free)

5. Learn English with Babbel

6. Sentence Master Pro

7. Learn Languages: Rosetta Stone

8. LearnEnglish Grammar

9. Grammarly (to improve Writing and Make Fewer Mistakes)

2 Functions of Language

There are various functions which determine the aims of learning a language

as First language or Second Language. The functions of language directly relates to

the purpose of learning a second language. What are the reasons which demand a

student learn a language? How the functions of a language directly relate to the

learning and teaching of a second language? Why are the functions important for a

learner and a teacher ? these are some of the questions which confront a learner and

teacher while the acquisition of a second language involves.

3 ELT in India

The present state of ELT in India is quite disturbing as the objectives in

teaching Standard English devoid of MTI is highly below the norms. There are a

number stumbling blocs in acquiring appreciable proficiency and excellent command

over English language. The main draw backs are shortage of well-trained English

language teachers, substandard teaching material, decades-old language test systems,

outdated teaching methodologies, examination-oriented approaches, crowded

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classrooms, mingling of various classes for language study, and unavailability of e-

contents for ELT. But there are a number of public schools and a few state-run

renowned institutions which are serious about ELT. The Government of India has

initiated a few programmes to improve the standard of ELT through various bodies

including National Council for Education and Research and Technology (NCERT)

and National Council for Teaching English (NCTE) across the country. The Tamil

Nadu government has been making efforts to improve the standard of English

Language Teaching (ELT) by conducting exclusive training programmes for both

school and college teachers of English Language (EL) but the efforts are piecemeal

and not sustained. The commitment on the part of the various stakeholders of ELT is

not appreciable and a vacuum has been created in the arena of teaching and learning

Standard English at the state and national level.

4 ELT in Tamil Nadu

English language teaching and learning had started in Tamil Nadu even

before the 19th century. The day the British East India Company arrived in Chennai

the English language began to be used. After the company was taken over the British

authorites, Lord Macaulay advocated for implementation of education through

English language. Even though it was for the purpose of administration, it became a

blessing in disguise. Freedom fighters in India had no common language to have a co-

ordinated effort. However, English language united them all across the country which

has hundreds of vernacular languages.

To further the cause of ELT, the government of Tamil Nadu has been

making efforts to provide quality English language skills. The Presidency College,

Chennai was one of the oldest colleges established by the British to educate both the
 6

British and the natives in English language. The Department of School Education and

Department for Higher Education (DHE) have been taking a number of steps to

provide, improve and enhance the quality of English language both in schools and

colleges. The school education department conducts in-service training for English

language teachers by specialised English language experts. Sarva Siksha Abiyan

(SSA), a central government scheme, has been implemented by the government of

Tamil Nadu. “Hello English”, which is a programme for primary and high school

students, is used to teach english through multimedia. Audio and video clips are

shown and the school students are trained the correct pronunciation

5 Problems of Teaching and Learning English in Engineering

College Students

However a high percentage of college-leavers leave the precincts of the

college as ignorant of English usage as they were when they entered the college first.

Two years of learning part – II English doesn‟t provide enough exposure to the

learners to communicate in English fluently. Pupils are taught English for about six

periods per week for two years. But it has been estimated that the students have less

competence over the usage of English when leave the college. They do not know how

to use the commonest structures of English. A teacher‟s target is to “prepare” his

students for the examination and not to make his pupils competent in the use of the

language they are learning (Bala Subramanian, 56). So the student is nervous only

about his success in the examination and the teacher‟s sole problem is to see that the

pass percentage does not go down. They hunt for shadows rather than substance. They

care more for diplomas than for knowledge. It is not knowledge that they ask for but

short-cuts to knowledge, so that they can outwit the examiner (Mehta, 18).
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According to Noam Chomsky, language is human essence. He says: when

we study human language, we are approaching what some might call human essence,

the distinctive qualities of mind that are, so far as we know unique to man. Aristotle

says: language is the speech … the representation of the experience of mind.

Bloomfield has a different definition for language. He says that the totality of

utterances that can be made in a speech community is the language of the speech

community. Definitions of language differ in words but the attributes and traits are the

same. E.Sapir defined language as … a purely human and non-instinctive method of

communication ideas, emotions and desires by means of a system of voluntarily

produced symbols. Apart from the uniqueness of the language, one must not forget

the fact that it is arbitrary in many ways. But it helps us to think coherently and

logically. It impacts on human beings in many ways by influencing our relationship

and helping to transmit a vast amount of knowledge. Language is used to express

one‟s feelings and emotions without which one can not sustain for long time.

Language is the engine which takes human beings in the river of lifeline. Languages

have no either superior or inferior qualities per se. every language is unique in its own

way with different sound patterns and grammatical structures. Hence what is exactly a

language? What are the important attributes of it? Linguists give various definition

based on its usages. The primary function of a language is that it is used as a means of

communication and self-expression – the former for one- to-one and the latter for one-

to oneself. Language is basically arbitrary, conventional and non-instinctive. It is also

systematic and vocal. It is a kind of social behaviour. The characteristics of a

language are not exclusive to one language. All languages are open-ended, modifiable

and extendable. In the next level, the a scientific and systematic study of language is

applied linguistics. This term was used by Mackey(1966). A general definition of

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applied linguistics explain that it is about language teaching, testing and evaluation. It

also includes preparation of material for teaching, lexicography, translation and sign

language. Artificial language is also dealt in applied linguistics. Computational

linguistics, language education, socio-linguistics, psycho-linguistics, neuro-

linguistics, speech pathology come under the study of applied linguistics.

6 Major L2 Learning Theories

1. The Interlanguage theory

2. The Monitor theory

a. The acquisition-learning hypothesis

b. The monitor hypothesis

c. The natural order hypothesis

d. The input hypothesis

e. The affective filter hypothesis

The Creative construction model

a. Affective filter

b. Cognitive organizer

c. Linguistic monitor

The major language learning theories are behaviourist, mentalist,

developmental interactionist. Behaviourist theory was expounded by Skinner (1957).

This theory focused on the role of verbal and non-verbal environments. Habit

formation and predictability in learning behaviour are underlined here. First children

imitate the language environment. Chomsky opposed this Stimulus –Respons (S-R)

theory. Apart from the S-R, the innate ability of the individual learner comes to the

forefront in language learning situations. Language Acquisition Device (LAD) was

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devised by Chomsky. It helps children to make hypothesis about the structure of

language both generally and particularly. Till the learner attains adult-like proficiency,

change happens in the language learning situations. Cognitive aspect plays a vital role

in the LAD. Both the behaviourist theory by Skinner and others and the mentalist

theory propounded by Chomsky have positive and negative results on the learners.

Research has spawned new SLA theories in the classroom situations in

various forms including deductive and inductive approaches. Among the SLA

theorists, Stephen Krashen‟s model has become influential for its in-depth and

innovative approach. Krashen formulated his model in the late 1970s and called it

„The Monitor Model”. Krashen‟s theory facilitated the SL acquisition in a major

way. The scenario of SLA has transformed to a great extent after Stephen Krashen

outlined reasons for the lacuna while SLA process takes place and the ways and

means to overcome those linguistic bottlenecks. The famous five central hypotheses

propounded by Stephen Krashen in the Monitor Model are:

a. The Acquisition versus Learning Hypothesis

b. The Monitor Hypothesis.

c. The Natural Order Hypothesis

d. The Input Hypothesis

e. The Affective Filter Hypothesis

7 Language Transfer

Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982) suggest that there are two possible ways of

describing the term „interference‟. One is from a psychological perspective, which

suggests that there is influence from old habits when new ones are being learned. The

second is from a sociolinguistic perspective which describes the language interactions

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which occur when two language communities are in contact. Three such examples

are:

a. Borrowing,

b. Code-switching

c. Fossilisation.

d. Error Analysis

The study of Error analysis started during the 1960s while errors committed

by the SLLs were considered to the evidence of SLL‟s strategy as they try to build

competence in the TL. Errors committed by the SLLs should not be viewed seriously

as something serious but as normal and inevitable features for achieving competencies

in TL (Strevens, 1969). Second language learners commit errors but evolve a

language system. The SLLs test their knowledge of the language against the data they

encounter. The errors committed by the SLLs are not random but it has its own

system. If there is a pattern in the commission of errors, it is evidence and sign of

achievement on the part the learner in the target language. Also the mistakes and

errors made by the learners become an important source of information about the

nature of linguistic knowledge. Corder(1973) says that by describing and classifying

the learners‟ errors in linguistic terms, one can build up a picture of the features of the

language which are causing learning problems to the SLLs. According to various

linguistic studies, a great change took place during the 1960s. The stress was on the

actual errors i.e., „the product‟ and then the stress was shifted to the process.

8 Classification of Errors

According to Dulay, Burt and Krashen (1982), people cannot learn a

language without first systematically committing errors. Mother Tongue (MT)

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interferes and influences SL learners greatly. The SL experts underline that like the

L1 learners‟ errors, most of the errors L2 learners make indicate they are gradually

building an L2 rule system. Errors can be classified based on the areas of language as

follows:

a. Lexical errors or morphological errors- they occur in the area of

vocabulary.

b. Phonological errors – they occur in pronunciation, accent and modulation.

c. Syntactical errors - they occur in the structure of sentences.

d. Imperative errors – they occur because of the misunderstanding of

learner‟s intention of meaning.

e. Pragmatic errors – they occur because of wrong communicative effects

when the learner practises what he has learnt in SL.

9 Mother Tongue Influence (MTI) on Second Language

Acquisition (SLA)

Mother Impact Influence is inherent while English as Second Language or

any other language for various factors. As for Tamil speaking learners are concerned,

the target language is English. As their L1 or native tongue Tamil (a Dravidian

language) has more dissimilarities than similarities L2 English language (a West

Germanic language) in many of the language components including pronunciation,

grammar, structure, phonology, morphology, semantics and syntax, the learners find it

astounding in spite of a close familiarization with the language from their school

level. Before we venture into the nitty gritty of the Mother Tongue Influence, let‟s

have a look at the essentials of Second Language Acquisition which is closed

associated with Second Language Learning (SLL).

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According to Dr. Emma Alicia Garza, Second Language Acquisition (SLA)

process entails various parameters and components. In this process of second

language learning, language plays an institutional and social role in the community. It

functions as a recognized means of communication among members who speak some

other language as their native tongue. Secondly, in foreign language learning,

language plays no major role in the community and is primarily learned in the

classroom. Finally, according to her incisive research, the distinction between second

and foreign language learning is what is learned and how it is learned.

In SLA, the vital inhibiting factor is the influence of one‟s Mother Tongue.

Its influence could not be wished away. Of course, this could be avoided through

strenuous and conscious efforts, one could try to avoid it provided the second

language learner immerses himself in the target language and has the opportunity in

using the target language constantly. The children who were born to English speaking

parents and are brought up in the environment in which English is the only

communication language or spoken medium, could speak English with excellent

proficiency and fluency. Learning a language depends on many factors including

sociological, psychological and physiological. Absence of even one factor could

impede the learning process of SLA. That‟s why it is easier in the case of upper

middle and middle class families in urban India, learning of ESL as the family and

social environment become a big booster to enhance the language skills. In the

cosmopolitan and metropolitan cities, the children normally converse in English

language only while their mother tongue may be different – in this case mostly Hindi.
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10 Chesterfield & Chesterfield (1985)

A pioneer in Second Language Acquisition and the Natural Order of

Strategies of Second Language Development, Chesterfield & Chesterfield (1985)

postulated a natural order of strategies in the development of a second language. Dr.

Emma Alicia Garza listed out the exhaustive strategies expounded them as :

a. Repetition - imitating a word or structure

b. Memorization - recalling songs, rhymes or sequences by rote

c. Formulaic expressions - words or phrases that function as units i.e. greetings

d. Verbal attention getters - language that initiates interaction

e. Answering in unison - responding with others

f. Talking to self - engaging in internal monologue

g. Elaboration - information beyond what is necessary

h. Anticipatory answers - completing another‟s phrase or statement

i. Monitoring - self-correcting errors

j. Appeal for assistance - asking someone for help

k. Request for clarification - asking the speaker to explain or repeat

l. Role-playing - interacting with another by taking on roles

11 The Role of Grammar in Krashen's View

Krashen, on the role of grammar, observed that „ the study of the structure of

the language can have general educational advantages and values that high schools

and colleges may want to include in their language programs. It should be clear,

however, that examining irregularity, formulating rules and teaching complex facts

about the target language is not language teaching, but rather is "language

appreciation" or linguistics‟. Furthermore, he added that „the only instance in which

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the teaching of grammar can result in language acquisition (and proficiency) is when

the students are interested in the subject and the target language is used as a medium

of instruction.

In SLA process, interlanguage fossilization is recognized as an important

stage by many linguists. SL learners develop a linguistic system that is self-contained,

independant and different from both the learner‟s First Language (L1) and Target

Language (TL) (Nemser,1971). Selinker (1972) identified this system which is

‘approximate’ if not equal to the second language proficiency. This approximate

system was named as interlanguage by Selinker(1972). Nemser(1971) himself called

it „approximative system’ and Corder(1971) called this system as „ idiosyncratic

dialects’ or „transitional dialects.’

This transitional and changing grammatical system, called „interlanguage‟,

as constructed by the second language learners in the process of acquiring proficiency

in target language, approximates the grammatical system of the mother tongue. These

linguists suggest that in the process of L2 acquisition, interlanguage morphs into an

ever-closer approximation of the target language and ideally should advance gradually

until the system becomes equivalent or nearly equivalent to the target language.

12 Pronunciation in English

Pronunciation refers to the way a word or a language is spoken, or the

manner in which someone utters a word. If one is said to have "correct

pronunciation", then it refers to both within a particular dialect. A word can be spoken

in different ways by various individuals or groups, depending on many factors, such

as: the area in which they grew up, the area in which they now live, if they have a
 15

speech or voice disorder, their ethnic group, their social class, or their education.

Syllables are counted as units of sound (phones) that they use in their language. The

branch of linguistics which studies these units of sound is phonetics. Phones which

play the same role are grouped together into classes called phonemes; the study of

these is phonemics or phonematics or phonology.

13 International Phonetic Alphabet (IPA) and Second Language

Acquisition (SLA)

Second language acquisition or second language learning is the process by

which people learn a second language. Second language acquisition (often capitalized

as Second Language Acquisition or abbreviated to SLA) is also the name of the

scientific discipline devoted to studying that process. Second language refers to any

language learned in addition to a person‟s first language; although the concept is

named second language acquisition, it can also incorporate the learning of third,

fourth or subsequent languages. Second language acquisition refers to what learners

do; it does not refer to practices in language teaching.

14 Interlanguage

Originally attempts to describe learner language were based on comparing

different languages and on analyzing learners‟ errors. However, these approaches

weren‟t able to predict all the errors that learners made when in the process of

learning a second language. For example, Serbo-Croat speakers learning English may

say “What does Pat doing now?”, although this is not a valid sentence in either

language. To explain these kind of systematic errors, the idea of the interlanguage was

developed. An interlanguage is an emerging language system in the mind of a second

language learner. A learner‟s interlanguage is not a deficient version of the language

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being learned filled with random errors, nor is it a language purely based on errors

introduced from the learner‟s first language. Rather, it is a language in its own right,

with its own systematic rules.It is possible to view most aspects of language from an

interlanguage perspective, including grammar, phonology, lexicon, and pragmatics.

There are three different processes that influence the creation of interlanguages:

15 Influence of Mother Tongue on SLA

Linguists have long studied the relationship between second language

acquisition and mother tongue. The focus of the studies and research is to discover the

influence of the mother tongue on the process of second language acquisition and the

role of the mother tongue in second language learning. The latest comparative studies

in this area have demonstrated that the learning of a second language has a positive

result on the use of the mother tongue. According to one study, it was found that level

of understanding of the mother tongue of multilingual persons is better than that of

monolingual people. In addition, the proficiency in the mother tongue is demonstrated

in a different manner if you are acquiring the second language in a natural

environment or learning a foreign language in a classroom setting.

16 Data Interpretation And Analysis

This chapter discusses the outcome of the learning output of the Tamil

speaking Under-Graduate Engineering college students s from various colleges in

Madurai District. The research scholar has taken up to analyze the classification of

errors and the impact of Mother tongue influence Second language learners of the

target group of students. As discussed in chapters Three and Four about the various

approaches, principles and theories regarding teaching of English as Second

Language and the characteristics involved in English Language Acquisition. Hailing

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from different backgrounds, the results of the research has encouraging results while

the learners were exposed to ICT model. The integration of The Information and

Communication Technology have yielded encouraging results when used as tool to

teach English as Second Language.

17 Areas of the Errors Identified in Tamil Speaking L2 learners

This researcher has concentrated on identifying the errors of Tamil speaking

L2 learners who studied English as a Second Language. The informants are the

Under-Graduate Engineering colleges in Madurai District. The main areas of errors

focussed on in this dissertation work are :

a. Phonology

b. Phonetics

c. Morphology

d. Syntax

e. Semantics

18 Pronunciation Skill

In the next test, it was planned to integrate the ICT tools so that internet, wi-

fi facility, You Tube applications, information, could be used to teach vocabulary,

sentence structure/ tenses, writing skill and comprehension exercise. The English

language lab was used to conduct this test-2. To integrate information with the

computer technology, the youtube channel was chosen and the informants were asked

to name 10 most searched items / words in the internet. MTI on Supera-segmental

Features. According to Encyclopaedia Britannica, the definition for Suprasegmental

is that a speech feature such as stress, tone, or word juncture that accompanies or is

added over consonants and vowels; these features are not limited to single sounds but
 18

often extend over syllables, words, or phrases. In Spanish the stress accent is often

used to distinguish between otherwise identical words: término means

“term,” termíno means “I terminate,” and terminó means “he terminated.” In

Mandarin Chinese, tone is a distinctive suprasegmental: shih pronounced on a high,

level note means “to lose”; on a slight rising note means “ten”; on a falling note

means “city, market”; and on a falling–rising note means “history.” English “beer

dripped” and “beard ripped” are distinguished by word juncture. The above examples

demonstrate functional suprasegmentals. Nonfunctional suprasegmentals that do not

change the meaning of words or phrases also exist; stress in French is an example.

Suprasegmentals are so called in contrast to consonants and vowels, which are treated

as serially ordered segments of the spoken utterance. In general, the lack of

application of features of supersegmental is one of the foremost reasons for the errors

committed by the Second Language Learners (SLL). One of the nuances of the

English is the superasegmentel features which determine the style of the language

including the prosody. The stress, the intonation, and tone.

19 Errors in Stress and Intonation

It can be observed that in English language teaching in India – particularly in

Tamil Nadu- „supera-segmental‟ are not given much importance. In fact, the teachers

of English language whose mother tongue is not English, are given specialized

training in the nuances of English language during In-service training conducted by

language experts. The British Council and the Language department of United States

of America in Indian embassy and Consulates conduct a number of teacher-focused

training courses supported by the Central and State Governments. But the supera-

segmental elements such as stress, accent and intonation and pause remain clueless to
 19

a number of teachers and SL learners. In Madurai district, the informants who were

chosen for this dissertation study from the Arts and Science colleges expose a

complete lack of knowledge in these areas. The Tamil speaking informants are not

familiar with such components as stress and intonation, for their mother tongue,

Tamil, which is said to be more than 3000 years old, has no such system built into it.

The students are exposed to questioning intonation but stress is such an alien concept

to them that they find it very difficult to imitate in their performance in English

language. The phoneme of vowels and consonants are called primary phonemes or

segmental:

e.g., Ramesh will cycle to the hotel tonight

a. ‘Ramesh will cycle to the hotel tonight

b. Ramesh „will cycle to the hotel tonight

c. Ramesh will „cycle to the hotel tonight

d. Ramesh will cycle „to the hotel tonight

e. Ramesh will cycle to „the hotel tonight

f. Ramesh will cycle to the hotel‟ tonight

20 Spelling Errors in Present Tense

The scholar would like an sample discussion of the data analysis done in

Chapter Five. Tenses in English create a few problems to the learners of English as a

Second Language. There are 3 basic tense forms such as Present Tense, Past Tense

and Future Tense. These three tenses manifest another 9 tenses apart form conditional

tenses. There are no compartmentalized rules for changing verbs in any tense

including Present Tense. It creates a few problems to the learners. In order to measure

their skill in the singular/Plural numbers in the Present tense, the following test was
 20

conducted with five words ending with various sounds. The results are given in the

table with the spelling errors.

Test – Add „s, „es‟, „ies‟ in the following verbs

a. do - does

b. see - sees

c. match - matches

d. study - studies

e. talk - talks

The following table reveals the results of the spelling errors committed by

the participants. The 500 informants selected from five engineering colleges were

administered the test. In. Applying the rule of adding –s to in 3rd person singular, the

participants spelt without following other spelling rules such as changing –y to -ies

and adding –es to words ending in ‘ch’ sound. The irrationality of the spelling rules

have confused the second language participants to a great extent. And the result is the

spelling errors in the words ending in –y and –ch, -o. The following table shows the

spelling errors committed by the Tamil speaking second language learners while

changing verbs into 3rd person singular adding -s, -es, -ies.
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Table 1: Results for Spelling Errors in Singular / Plural numbers in

Present Tense

Sr. Highest/
Words Errors in number Errors in %
No. Lowest

a. do 104 20.8

b. See 188 37.6

c. match 111 22.2

d. Study 198 39.6

e. talk 97 19.4

As in the test -9, the word study ending with –y have been spelt wrongly by

majority of the informants while the verb „see‟ has been spelt incorrectly by only 14.8

% of the informants. The following graph shows the results for other words visually :

Results for Spelling Errors in Singular / Plural numbers in Present Tense

The above chart shows that the verb „talk‟ is the word which spelt

incorrectly by 97 informants among 500 subjects while the most wrongly spelt word

was „ study‟. while the verb match is spelt incorrectly by 111 informants with 22.2 %.
 22

The other two words „see‟ and „do‟ were spelt incorrectly by 188 and 104 informants

respectively. The numbers are in 37.6 % and 20.8 % respectively. The spelling rule

that words ending with –o take –es with some exceptions, is not recalled by the

informants. The verb match with /tsh/ sound also takes –es, is not spelt correctly. One

of the important features of English grammar is the noun to noun agreement in

singular and plural. All languages certainly have various forms for singular and plural.

As pointed earlier, in Tamil language, making plural is very simple grammar activity.

There are a few rules in Tamil grammar in spelling rules while changing form

singular to plural.

21 Transfer of Knowledge in SLA

Rodd Ellis, in his acclaimed and well-researched work on SLA, says that L1

refers to the influence that the learner ‟s L1 exerts over the acquisition of an L2 (SLA,

OUP, pp.51). there are a number of aspects regarding transfer of meaning from L1 to

L2. There are positive and negative transfer in the L2. Moreover there are other

aspects which the second language learners should take note of to avoid certain things

in SLA such as overuse and avoidance. Adding a new meaning for the existing word

by virtue of its similarity or association with old meaning. The words „glass‟ and

„pen‟ are two examples in this transfer type. Glass was referred to a „tumbler made of

glass‟ while pen was referred to quill or feather in those time. Now pen is any writing

instruments made of any material - glass, plastic, etc.,

In Chapter Five, the research scholar took up the data analysis and

interpretation of the performance of the informants of Tamil speaking Under-

Graduate Engineering colleges in Madurai District. In the opening paragraphs, the

Areas of the Errors Identified in Tamil Speaking L2 learners was taken up for
 23

discussion while the Errors in Phonology was analyzed in detail. The performance

was mixed and their performance would discussed in the Findings section. Next, the

Identification of Errors on based on Linguistics was investigated as well as the Pure

vowels and diphthongs. The informants‟ Errors in Sounds and Pronunciation Skill and

also Sentence Pattern and ICT were taken up in detail and their performance with

exact errors were explained comprehensively. The informants‟ performance in the

tasks on Homophones and ICT, MTI on Supera-segmental Features, Errors in Stress

and and Intonation have been ample and adequate discussion. In addition to these

components of English grammar and paralinguistic features, the role of stress in Noun

and Verb, Spelling Errors, Spelling Errors in Present Tense, Errors in the use of

articles and Semantics in SLA were treated well and the errors committed by the

Tamil speaking learners of English as second language were discussed in detail.

Finally, the Transfer of knowledge in SLA and Translation Task were administered

and their response was analyzed comprehensively. Further discussion on their

performance would be taken up in the next chapter to arrive at conclusion.

22 Findings and Observations

In Chapter- VI, the research scholar sums up the findings and observations

of the data analysis and interpretation of the doctoral dissertation regarding the

challenges and obstacles faced by the Tamil Speaking Under-Graduate Engineering

College Students at Madurai District. The significant findings, which have emerged in

the course of the investigation conducted by the researcher, are given below :

a. The competency and performance of the Engineering college students in

Second Language Acquisition was encouraging as the methodology chosen

to apply in the learning process was innovative and inspiring. The method
 24

chosen was ICT tools in which the information available in the public

domain including the internet, newspapers, television and radio news,

magazines and other resources, was integrated with the computer

technology. The competency based achievement of students is just good and

appreciable and the ability to use spoken and written English is not excellent

but shows improvement among the informants.

b. There is a significant difference found among the three groups of students

hailing from rural, semi-urban and urban areas with regard to their

competency based achievement. Among the three groups, the achievement

of rural students was the least and that of urban students was the highest.

c. There exists a significant difference between the students who studied in

government and private schools with regard to their competency based

achievement.

d. It is found that the performance of the informants is significantly dependent

on the type of school in which they studied.

e. There is a significant difference noticed among the three groups of students

residing in rural, semi-urban and urban areas with regard to English

language usage inventory. The urban students were better than the other

groups of students in their ability to use written and spoken English.

f. It is found that the students' ability to acquire skills in English as a Second

Language in spoken and written English is significantly dependent on the

type of schools they studies.

g. The performance of the informants in the Engineering colleges depend on

the physical facilities available in the college such as Samrt class room,

English Language Lab, Wi-Fi internet facility etc., The performance of

 25

students in spoken and written English in colleges with adequate facilities is

high when compared to those students studying in colleges with poor

infrastructural facilities.

h. There exists a significant association between the strength of the college and

the performance of the students in written English. The strength of the

college gives an idea about the teacher-pupil ratio. If the teacher-pupil ratio

is l: 30 then the teacher will be able to cater to the needs of the students and

improve the performance of the students in written English.

i. There is a significant association between the procedures of evaluation

adopted in the college and performance of students in spoken and written

English. The performance of students is better in the high group of colleges

where the evaluation procedures are done in time as it motivated the students

for further progress.

j. There exists a significant association between the library facilities in the

college and the performance of the students in English. The performance of

the students in English is more in colleges where there are adequate library

facilities available to the students. Adequate library facilities develop good

reading habits among the students and thereby influence the performance of

the students in spoken and written English.

k. There is a significant association between the co-curricular activities

conducted in the college and the performance of students in written English.

In colleges where ample numbers of co-curricular activities are conducted

the students exchanged their ideas freely and are better in their

communicative skills.

l. There is a close association between the social status of the family and the
 26

performance of the students in English Language. The higher the status of

the family to which the students belong, the higher is the performance of the

students in written English.

m. There is a significant association between the educational level of parents

and the performance of students in written English. It is quite natural that the

educational level of parents' influences the performance of the students in

written English as they are in a position to offer guidance to their children.

Higher the educational qualifications of the parents, higher is the

performance of the students in written English.

n. There exists a significant association between the occupational level of

parents and the performance of students in English as a Second language.

The higher level of occupation of the parents creates a positive attitude

towards education and conducive atmosphere at home, which influences the

performance of the students in written English.

o. There is a significant association between the income of the family and the

performance of students in spoken and written English. Generally high-

income group of families possess more academic bent of thinking and hence

provide more facilities to their children for learning to take place at home,

which influences the performance of the students in English.

p. There is a significant association between the size of the family and the

performance of students in English. Larger the size of the family, greater is

the interaction and communication among them.

q. The students exposed to communicative approach through ICT model

performed well in their competency based achievement test and were better

in the use of both spoken and written English.

 27

r. The students taught through communicative approach through ICT Toos by

integrating modern gadgets including Smartphones with social media

applications exhibited significant improvement, in their spelling in written

English.The ICT model helped to increase a significant improvement in

spelling and homophones, which is an important aspect in spoken and

writing English.

s. There is a remarkable improvement in the usage of articles and prepositions

of place and time in the degree level students who are taught through

communicative approach choosing ICT Tools. The informants showed much

interest while the Smart board was used.

t. The students who are taught through ICT model improved their art of

translation,

u. The students who are taught through ICT MODEL improved their phonetic

transcription skill. They were able to listen to audio and video clippings and

they showed enormous improvement

v. The students who are taught through ICT MODEL improved their

performance in the singular and plural numbers in the in Present Tense

verbs.

w. The students who are taught through ICT MODEL improved their

performance in using stress to differentiate the meaning in Noun and Verb.

x. The students who are taught through ICT MODEL improved their

performance in using Pure vowels and diphthongs. They were able to

differentiate between vowels and diphthongs.

y. The students who are taught through ICT MODEL improved their

performance in using Sentence Pattern and ICT and Homophones and ICT.
 28

And the Engineering college students could differentiate between two words

with the same pronunciation.

23 Inferences

From the above findings the following inferences have been drawn out in the

present study.

m. The locality/place (rural, semi-urban, and urban) has a significant bearing on

the students' competency based achievement and ability to use written

English as the urban students is more exposed towards English language.

2. There is no gender difference among the students with regard to their

competency based achievement and the ability to use spoken and written

English. There are still a few informants who confessed that they are

inhibited in using spoken English in front of other students.

3. There is a close positive association between the physical facilities in the

college, teacher-pupil ratio, procedures of evaluation adopted in the college,

library facilities in the college and performance of students in written

English.

4. There is a close positive association between the social status of the family,

educational level of parents, occupation of the parents, income of the family

and the students' performance in spoken English.

5. The strategy developed during the research period very effective in

improving the performance of the students in spoken and written English.

6. The strategy developed during the research period by adopting ICT

MODEL, is very effective in retaining the retention ability of the students in

both spoken and written English.

 29

7. The strategy developed during the research period by adopting ICT

MODEL, and by allowing the students to do the tasks themselves with the

help of ICT tools, is very effective in various tasks which were administered

to enhance the communicative and written English.

24 Educational and Social Significance of the Study

The research work taken upon by the research scholar may be termed as a

significant attempt in the direction of the English language teaching in Tamil Nadu, in

the sense that the results and findings would be quite useful Engineering college

teachers and students of English.

The following are the educational and Social implications derived from the

findings of the study:

1. The study has revealed the fact that spelling of learners' communicative

needs and then providing instructions to the learners can help the learners

maintain and increase their interest in learning English.

2. Exposure to the real language through ICT MODEL helps the learners to be

accurate, appropriate and communicatively competent.

3. The study makes it crystal clear that the ICT MODEL more effective in

developing the communicative competence in spoken and written English

among the degree level students.

4. Adoption both formal and Informal atmosphere facilitates learning in

classrooms. The learners are more receptive and responsive when the teacher

plays the role of a participant in the language learning tasks.

5. It is also brought out from the investigation that the use of group-work and

pair work adopted during the research period in the Engineering college
 30

classroom, helps the learners develop communicative competence. Use of

English Language Lab, Samrt Classroom, Television and mobile gadgets,

Wi-Fi internet facilities, magazines and newspapers, stimulate their interest

in learning to communicate English.

6. To develop self instructional material to improve students' performance in

spoken and written English and also helping the students to create E-Content

with ICT Tools.

7. This research work suggests that the pre-service and in-service teachers

should be oriented towards the techniques of the communicative approach.

Refresher and orientation programmes may be conducted to enhance their

competencies in tune with modern facilities including the use of ICT

TOOLS.

8. The study reveals that the Under-Graduate Engineering college level

students taught through ICT MODEL, improve their spelling, vocabulary,

punctuation, grammar and pronunciation in English.

9. The research work also suggests that the Under-Graduate Engineering

college level students taught through ICT MODEL to improve their art of

pronunciation, spelling, intonation, stress, pitch, tone, homophones,

translation skill in English and develop communicative competence in both

in spoken and written English.

10. The English Language Teachers are suggested to use ICT MODEL to

develop spelling, vocabulary, pronunciation, grammar, stress, tone,

grammar, superasegmental feature/ paralinguistic feature among the

Engineering College Degree level students to improve their communicative

competence both in written and spoken English.

 31

No research is ever accomplished totally. The more one probes, the many

are the aspects one has to consider. Obviously, the investigator could not examine

many facets of the problem for the fear of expanding it endlessly. The present study is

an effort to develop degree level students‟ communicative competence in written

English. The results of the present study suggest certain points for further study and

inquiry, which are as follows:

1. To develop learners' communicative competence in spoken English in social

contexts.

2. To find out the comparative efficacy of the traditional method and

communicative approach in developing communicative competence in

spoken and written English.

3. Replication of the study may be done with different samples and at different

grade levels.

The objectives of the present study stated in Chapter V have thus been

achieved. It is feasible to design the approach for writing with topics that were

relevant to the students‟ academic and professional needs as it was evident from the

students‟ responses to the questionnaire. The researcher could try out the

communicative approach to the teaching of writing. With enough time being given to

pre-writing activities, group/peer interaction and evaluation and rewriting, the

students are guided through the successive stages of writing. The researcher is more a

facilitator than a passive spectator and evaluator and with life-oriented, topical

materials; he could make the program task- based as to develop the students‟ skills of

writing.
 32

26 Chapter Discussion

Chapter- I discusses the points about general introduction and the

importance of English Language, development of English Language, Functions of

Language, ESL in India – Problems &Challenges, ELT in India and ELT in Tamil

Nadu. In addition to these features, English language in Higher Education Sector and

The Informants‟ Family Background,Occupation and Education have been explained

in detail. Also, The Informants‟ Religion and Caste Detail, The Informant Aptitude

and Attitude for ESL The Informants‟ Problems in ESL in Madurai district English as

a Second Language (ESL), Problems faced by Second Language Learners (SLL)

Second language acquisition Vs learning process, Communicative competence,

Problems of teaching and learning English in Engineering College Students, and

Teaching English as a Skill -subject rather than a Knowledge- subject are

comprehensively described. Chapter-II discusses the Review of Related Literature

and Grabe & Kaplan on SLA. Moreover, The Use of ICT in Teaching English as a

Second Language, ICT Tools and SLA, Cox, Preston and Cox on SLA, Pete Sharma

and Barney Barret on ESL, Tools Classification have been taken up for discussion.

Furthermore, the E-creation tools and ESL, the E-communication Tools in ESL, the

Reading/ writing-facilitative e-tools, the Listening/speaking-facilitative e-tools are

discussed with in detail.

Chapter-III discusses about the Different Approaches in Language

Learning, the Major L2 Learning Theories, the Acquisition versus Learning

Hypothesis, the Interlanguage Theories, the Universal Grammar Theories, the

Cognitive Theories, and the Interlanguage Development are explained. Moreover, the

Linguistic Competence and Performance, the Major Approaches to Error Analysis

 33

(EA), the Contrastive Analysis, the Error Analysis and the Errors in language learning

are explained comprehensively. Furthermore, the Error Analysis and Error

correction in SL, Kinds of Variations in Code-Switching, the Types of Code-

Switching, the Fossilization and ESL, Redundancy, the Advantages of working with

ICT tools and the Reading/ writing-facilitative e-tools have been taken up for

discussion.

Chapter-IV discusses the theories Chesterfield & Chesterfield (1985), the

Role of Grammar in Krashen's View, the Definition of Mother Tongue, the History of

the study of MTI, the difference between Mistakes and Errors, the MT Interference in

SL learning, the Interlanguage fossilization, An Introduction to Tamil Language etc.,

have been discussed. In addition to these feature, the First Language

Acquisition(FLA), the Second Language Acquisition (SLA), the, Comparisons with

FLA, the Interlanguage, the Order of Acquisition, the SLA classroom research, the

Immersion method, and the Types of Mother Tongue Influence have been explained

in detail.

27 Suggestions for Further Research

No research is ever accomplished totally. The more one probes, the many

are the aspects one has to consider. Obviously, the investigator could not examine

many facets of the problem for the fear of expanding it endlessly. The present study is

an effort to develop degree level students‟ communicative competence in written and

spoken English. The results of the present study suggest certain points for further

study and inquiry, which are as follows:

 34

1. l. To develop learners' communicative competence in spoken English in

social contexts.

2. To find out the comparative efficacy of the traditional method and

communicative approach in developing communicative competence in

spoken and written English.

3. Replication of the study may be done with different samples and at different

grade levels.

28 Conclusion

The objectives of the present study stated in Chapter II have thus been

achieved. It is feasible to design the approach for both writing and spoken with topics

that were relevant to the students‟ academic and professional needs as it was evident

from the students‟ responses to the questionnaire. The researcher could try out the

communicative approach to the teaching of writing. With enough time being given to

pre-writing activities, group/peer interaction and evaluation and rewriting, the

students are guided through the successive stages of writing. The researcher is more a

facilitator than a passive spectator and evaluator and with life-oriented, topical

materials; he could make the program task- based as to develop the students‟ skills of

writing and spoken English.