Reach out to the world outside...

Dear friends,

Hopefully, you are all aware that we have been pursuing a critical approach to ELT ever since the introduction of the constructivist paradigm in our curriculum. Some of you may have perceived the socio-political significance of the new paradigm in the backdrop of the non- critical ELT practices that are in vogue across the world. We must be aware of, and sensitive to, the overt and covert efforts of individuals, agencies and institutions that have been inadvertently or even purposefully promoting conventional ELT practices, practices which have neither theoretical nor empirical backup. Very few have realized the fact that the non-critical ELT practices are tools for spreading and sustaining linguistic imperialism which eventually will culminate in the demolition of our individual, cultural and linguistic identities. Being practitioners of the critical paradigm we must take up the mission of resisting this as best as we can.

The revision of the State curriculum in Kerala in 2007 and the curriculum and textbook revision process that has been initiated in Andhra Pradesh since 2011 have been major interventions in this regard. But this alone will not suffice. The classroom processes we have conceived are likely to lose its vigour if teachers do not get sufficient support in addressing the issues that arise in the course of classroom transaction. Unless special measures are taken by the system the practising teachers are not likely to get the right kind of pedagogic support they should be getting. There is a proliferation of ELT material available around us in the form of course books and source books both in print and multimedia. However, the lion share of this material is from non-critical ELT sources and as such that may not meet the present needs of the teachers. Of course, there are several teachers (yet not known to the outside world) who have owned up the new paradigm with passion and have been doing excellent job in their classrooms. Their experience is precious not only for those who are working inside the State but also those who are working elsewhere. What they have done is to be documented and anthologised for the benefit of all who have genuine concern for language.  We need to chalk out a multifaceted action plan for this:

1.Develop a large variety of ELT material in the form of

·         Source books, news bulletin, journals and magazines for the use of teachers. These books will cover all the pedagogic aspects related to the modular transaction of English at various levels.

·         Children’s literature including books and magazines for the use of learners from classes 1 to 12

·         Reference material for the professional development of teachers

·         Multimedia material for the use of both teachers and learners

2. Build up a network of practicing teachers and resource persons of critical ELT

·         Share experience through net (blog, face book, twitter, etc.)

·         Participate in on-line discussions and debates on ELT

·         Subscribe to critical ELT journals produced within the State, country and elsewhere

3.Periodical conventions

·         Organize and participate seminars and workshops in the critical ELT

·         Organize local festivals in English

To begin with we will have an anthology of the experience of teachers who have been translating the new paradigm into classroom practice. I suggest that all of you can develop a write up on your experience in the new paradigm. The write-up (of about 2000-200 words) should touch the following aspects:

·         Your earlier beliefs about teaching and learning English and the changes

·         How you were inducted into the new paradigm (SLAP, ACE, RACE, PACE, FACE, REAP, The state curriculum and textbooks, etc.)

·         Your experience with the new paradigm in giving training, in teaching with focus on any one of the transaction modules (pre-reading, reading, discourse construction, editing, publishing children’s journals, conducting English fests, classroom interaction, graphic reading and writing, etc.)

   Your own contribution to the new paradigm

Since we are the only ELT practitioners who have experienced the new paradigm, it is historically important that we reach out to the world outside.

Yours sincerely,

Dr. K.N. Anandan

Processing of Poems-Dr.K.N.Anandan

Processing of poem construction at primary classes
Dr.K.N.Anandan
Please watch!

 Dr. K.N. Anandan

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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)

 Dr. K.N.  Anandan

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Let me reiterate the point I was trying to make in the previous post: If at all we are serious about empowering English teachers  we have to resist the spread of linguistic imperialism in our country. I would like to illustrate the point with the help of a few cases:

Case 1

Several states in the country have entrusted the British Council (BC) to train teachers in English. To begin with, a team of master trainers will be trained by the BC who in turn will be cascading the training down the line to the practising teachers. The module for these trainings is developed by the BC.

Case 2

In Kerala, six native speakers of English were deployed as special English teachers at the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at Nilambur, under ‘Sadgamaya’, a project jointly implemented by the Department of Education and the Nilambur municipal body, with UNICEF association. The authorities placed an advertisement in a leading travel magazine in the UK to get English teachers from Britain who could teach a correct and uniform accent. They avoided applications from German and French citizens living in the UK. The six teachers were selected after interviewing 10 shortlisted applicants. Seeing the level of interest from both sides, officials have planned to implement the project in 70-odd schools in the region next. 

Case 3

The Government of AP have decided to open 355 model schools in the State with classes 6 to 12 in conformity with the KV template where the medium of English will be English. In the first year of their launching the model schools will have classes 6, 7, 8 and 11 will be subsequently up-scaled to classes 9 and 12. These schools are located in villages and the learners who are going to be enrolled in these schools will be from the primary schools in the locality. Since the learners will be hailing from households around the school they will be residing at their own homes. However, hostel facilities will be provided to girls. These learners will have undergone lower primary education at the schools in the locality where the medium of instruction is Telugu. 

Case 4

I found the following advertisement (it is one, isn’t it?) painted on the compound wall of a Government Lower Primary school which has been serving the society for more than five decades.

Quality Education to All
GLP School,@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
English Medium divisions in Class 1 in June 2010
Admission started
Classes taken by expert teachers

Case 5

Short term courses conducted by state level and national level institutions and agencies for the development of proficiency in English happen to be within the framework of Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) which target a certain variety of English designated as Standard English.

Case 6

The media report that across the country there has been a consistent increase in the flow of students from the government schools where the medium of instruction is English to English medium schools in the private sector.

These are apparently independent cases but they are in fact the reflections of certain common belief systems that have been got deeply instilled in the minds of people through several decades. The opening of parallel English medium divisions in government schools, the mushrooming of English medium schools in the private sector and the opening of English medium schools in the government sector, introducing English from class 1 onwards, entrusting the British council for training teachers of English in the country, deploying native speakers of English in schools to teach English, the clamour for correct pronunciation and the fragmentary and skill-based approach to the teaching of English as is followed in teacher  training programmes are all in fact reflections of certain belief systems which have been deeply instilled in the minds of the people. These belief systems constitute what Phillipson has formulated as linguistic imperialism which has five unmistakably identifiable tenets namely,

1.  English is best taught monolingually.
2. The ideal teacher of English is  a native speaker.
3. The earlier English is taught, the better the results.
4. The more English is taught, the better the results.
5.  If other languages are used much, standards of English will drop.

(Phillipson, R. (2009) Linguistic Imperialism Continues; Orient BlaskSwan; pp 12)

(to be continued)

Empowering Teachers in English: Issues and Challenges in the Context of Resisting Linguistic Imperialism

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                                                   Dr. K.N. Anandan

Empowering teachers in English has always been a challenge to English Language Teaching (ELT) centres and teacher training institutions and the various state level and national level agencies such as Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan (SSA). Every year our country witnesses seminars on various aspects of ELT organised by state level or national level agencies and institutions where deliberations after deliberations take place all focusing on the multifaceted issues related to the teaching of English in the country. Notions such as activity based learning, experiential learning, child centred classrooms have gained much currency in our own times and course books and method books in English that are supposedly in tune with these have proliferated during the past two decades.  This is all good. Nevertheless, issues remain the same which obviously is an unhappy state of affairs. Why is it that most of our teachers who stand at the cutting edge of the ELT methodology and the classroom practices continue to do what they have been doing for ages? Is it because the academic standards that have been conceived for teaching and learning English are inaccessible for the majority of teachers and learners? Have the curriculum designers have gone wrong in setting the standards?  Are teachers entrusted with a mission impossible? Is it because what the ELT schools have been giving them as tools for  teaching English have not been fine tuned enough to suit to their local needs? 

In the forthcoming posts I will argue that a major reason for the deplorable state of affairs prevailing in the English classrooms of our country is a natural consequence of certain belief systems created and sustained by institutions, agencies and individuals through the intentional or sometimes unintentional propagation of linguistic imperialism. Unless this is prevented no matter whatever efforts we take to empower teachers in English will have practically no effect at all.