Dr. K.N. Anandan
3
Recall the beliefs quoted in the previous blog. The
global marketing of English depends upon keeping these beliefs alive in the
minds of people. When these beliefs are translated into practice, decisions
will have to be taken on several matters such as what kind of English is to be
taught and learnt, what the content and the nature of materials could be, what
methodology is to be used, who should teach the language and so on. In addition
to these, propaganda mechanisms and agencies would become necessary to ensure
that only those products whether they are the materials, methodology, or human
resources, that are in tune with these decisions will get space in the
international market. This is how only those products that follow the
parameters of what is labelled as Standard English dominate in the market.
Consequently, a situation arises where a single global or centralised teaching-learning
English package will be projected as what is needed for all learners and
teachers across the world. Eventually, market economy will be able to control
the academic domain. It is never critically examined whether these products
will suffice to meet the actual needs of the learners.
So
long as English is conceived as a finished product the core issues involved in
learning the language will never be discerned. They will be detected only if
the language is perceived as a political and historical phenomenon.
Unfortunately, the global packages of the so-called Standard English marketed
as quality products do not approach the language as a political and historical
phenomenon. Nor do they approach language holistically as an innate system.
Instead they hold and propagate a dubious claim namely, English can be mastered
through practising LSRW by virtue of treating language as discrete elements
such as grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, etc.
Consider
for example, Case 1. The British Council has undertaken a massive project of
training 750,000 master trainers in English across the country by the year
2014, a project that was conceived by Gordon Brown, the British prime minister
in 2008. What message does the world get when the State or central governments
entrust the British council to train English teachers? The British Council has
a very clearly defined agenda; it is the agency designated to materialize the
colonial agenda of establishing its academic control over the world population
through the spreading of English. This is done by virtue of a simple mechanism.
The training of select master trainers is directly done by the British council which
is cascaded down the line with the help
of these master trainers. The expenses for all the training programmes is to be
met by the concerned state government but the modules for the training will be developed by the British
council. The packages insist that all users of English irrespective of their
country should be using English according to the parameters of Standard English
as propagated by the BC. This insistence leads into a linguistic divide within
English in the sense that a particular variety of English gets upper hand as Standard
English whereas the other varieties of English are marginalised under the label
of non-Standard English. This in fact results in the demolishing of the
linguistic and cultural identity of the native speakers of the non-Standard
varieties of English. The problem will be much more intense in the case of the native
speakers of other languages who are compelled to learn the nuances of Standard
English. This in true sense is nothing but linguistic imperialism which at any
cost needs to be resisted. (to be continued)
