CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ENGLISH IS TAUGHT IN INDIA

CONDITIONS UNDER WHICH ENGLISH IS TAUGHT IN INDIA

English is taught in India under the conditions which are far from being satisfactory. English is still playing a prominent role in our country as a national link language besides Hindi, as an international language in the world and an easy medium for science and technology.  But it is a fact that despite studying English in schools and colleges for about  6-8 years, students, especially coming from rural background, do not understand English. Even in some areas where students use regional language as L1 besides Hindi and in such areas English becomes L3, in some cases students in such areas lack all the four linguistic skills - comprehension, reading, writing and speaking.

Since language learning is a skill, it should be approached in that light. Our method of teaching has not yielded the desired objective. So measures have to be taken to bring out a change for improvement of English but prior to it the conditions under which English is taught need to be mentioned:

1. Lack of clear cut policy.

2. Little understanding of aims}

3. Incompetent teachers} report of the study group on teachers of English.

4. The defective method:

(a) Translation method being adopted.

(b) Oral work neglected.

(c) Auro-oral approach/structural approach should be followed.

5. Sub-standard books:

(a) No attention is paid to the selection and grading of structures.

(b) Teaching of language not given emphasis.

6. Inadequate material facility:

(a) Audio-visual aids like flash cards, charts, pictures, models, filmstrips, gramophone records, tape recorders lack in our schools which help in language learning.

7. The faulty examination system:

(a) Prescribed text-book need not be studied.

(b) Due to oral test, spoken English has a low standard.

8. Large classes.

9. Reduction of the number of periods:

(a) English introduced at later stage.

10. Lack of supervision:

(a) No trained specialist engaged in such task.