2 ENGLISH BEFORE INDEPENDENCE AND ENGLISH NOW IN INDIA and present status

ENGLISH BEFORE INDEPENDENCE AND ENGLISH NOW IN INDIA:

 Place of English before Independence- 30

 India inherited English‘ from the Britishers who ruled our country for more than two centuries. For over 200 years Indian intellectuals have been studying English. Today English has entered the fabric of Indian culture. English education in India began with the year 1765, when the East India Company became a political power. The first six decades of English education in India did not witness any remarkable progress. Firstly Macaulay‘s Minutes (1835) paved the way for the development of English in India by making its study compulsory. His this famous minute on education became the ‗Manifesto of English Education‘  in India. Macaulay‘s minute is very clear and unambiguous about the goals of English education in India We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern a class of persons, Indian in blood and color, but English in taste, in opinions, in morals and in intellect. To that class we may leave it to redefine the vernacular dialects in our country, to enrich those dialects with of science borrowed from the western none culture and to render them by degrees fit vehicles for conveying knowledge to the great mass of the population.

Explaining the importance of English in his minutes Macaulay says, ―English stands preeminent among the languages of the west, whoever knows that language has ready access to all the west intellectual wealth which all the wise nations of the earth have created." He was of the view that the need for English education in India was even greater than that for Sanskrit or Arabic. Indians themselves, including the patriots like Raja Ram Mohan Roy preferred English education. Macaulay‘s plan that English should be taught in India, was further endorsed by Lord William Bentic and Lord Auckland who diverted all funds to the development of English education. But Macaulay‘s dream of completely Anglicizing India mentally and intellectually was not fulfilled; nor did his expectation that ―Indians would renounce their past history; traditions and culture come true. This was because he had completely ignored the fact that India had an ancient culture and her own heritage besides having her own language with their cultures. But this scheme resulted in the adoption of English as the ‗official language‘of education in, 1837. The government policy was to establish English schools or Anglo- vernacular schools in each district. Good English schools were given the status of colleges. As a result of this system of education, English became the unifying force in India because it was used for internal communication. Besides, many English educated Indians could think and express themselves as effectively as the English. Macaulay‘s role in regard to English education in India has been interpreted in various ways. Some people have condemned him as an enemy of India and he has been admired as a great benefactor of India by others. English was the official language‘ in India and it played a significant role in schools and college curricula as well as in daily life. Meanwhile people also began to think the English was a foreign plant transplanted in the Indian soil and were doing immense harm to the growth of our nation. As a result in 1904, a government resolution suggested that medium of instructions in the middle class should be the mother tongue and English should not be taught before the age of thirteen. Nevertheless the Calcutta University Commission (1917) supported Bilingualism‘. Thus English continued to dominate the curriculum of Indian schools, college and Universities. The most efforts of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century were made on the supremacy of English language and literature. Dr. Zakir Hussain Committee of Basic Education (1938) recommended that the proper teaching of the mother tongue is the foundation of all education, without the capacity to speak effectively and to read and write correctly and lucidly, no one can develop precision of thought and clarity of ideas. This committee included a seven year course of Basic education. And this course of Basic education emphasized the importance of the mother tongue. The constituent Assembly of 1949 indicated the significance of English in India. Hindi was a threat to the South Indians by North Indians who supported the importance of English in India. Although English was not listed in the schedule VIII of the constitution, It was given the status of the associate official language for a period of 15 fifteen years.

Place of English after Independence

After Independence drastic changes came regarding the place of English in India .Since it was a language of the rulers who had exercised cruelties over Indians, the first reaction was to dethrone English from its exalted position. As a consequence – First, Hindi in Devnagri script was declared the official language of the Union by Indian Constitution .In order to give Hindi sufficient time to replace English as an official language ,English was declared to continue as an associate language for a period of 15 years ,that is ,till 1965. Second, English did not remain the medium of instruction .Third; regional languages became the medium of examinations. Fourth, English ceased to be a compulsory subject. Fifth, the state governments started using regional languages in administration. It is obvious that English did not have the same place after independence which it had in days before independence. Now, there had been no clarity regarding the goals of education in general, English education in particular and the status of English. All the commissions and committees appointed to the study of the problem of education in India have emphasized the importance of the mother tongue as the medium of instruction and the study of English as a subject; these were emphasized earlier by all the committees and commissions, starting with the wood‘s Dispatch. All the recommendations are well entrenched in the educational system of India; English got institutionalized in India and it got its own identity after 1947. After independence the question of language become more emotional. The constitution of India has given Hindi in Devanagari script the status of the official language of the country. The first national language among the fourteen was recognized in the 8th schedule. Prime Minister Nehru declared that it was government‘s policy to shake India free of English with in a generation; he declared a speech on August7, 1959 - ......For an indefinite period-I don‘t know how long - I should have, I would have, English as an associate, additional language which be used, not because of facilities and all that, but certain doors of advance are closed to them because they are forced to correspond- the government, I mean- in the Hindi language. They can correspond in English. So I would have it as an alternative language, as long as people require it and the decision for that; I would, leave not to Hindi- knowing people, but to non-Hindi knowing people. 12 34 The Chief Minister‘s Conference (1961) concluded, English should be taught along with Hindi in order to get ‗outside affairs‘ for All India Services, for engineering, medical, and forest departments. The Indian Education Commission of 1966 also is recognized the importance of English in this statement, ―….The English should be the most useful library language‘ in higher education and our most significant window on the world. In the conference of Vice - Chancellors in New Delhi (1969), Sri, V. K. R. V. Rao, Education Minister of India, expressed his opinion as, ―Far from abolishing English University students will, in future, have to acquire an adequate command over English to read and understand English books in their chosen subjects and use English as their library language. After Nehru‘s death in 1964, two in self-immolation and sixty-six killed in madras with the slogan, ―Hindi Never, English Ever‖, forced the government to pass 1967 Official Language Amendment Act, assuring the continuance of English in addition to Hindi as the official language of the union. In reality, English is still the language that examines students in the universities, conducts foreign affairs and transacts business with the world outside; the numbers of learners waiting to learn English is increasing day by day. The first education commission to be appointed in free India was the University Education Commission‘ and again only the tertiary level received attention first in this commission and for the medium of instruction for higher education English to be replaced as early as practicable by an Indian language which cannot be Sanskrit on account of vital difficulties. The commission however recommended the continuance of the study of English. It said that English should be studied in high schools and in the Universities in order that we might keep ourselves in touch with the living stream of ever growing knowledge. The Kunzru Committee, 1955 recommended that the teaching of English literature should be related to the study of Indian literature so that apart from its value for linguistic purposes, it could be an effective means of stimulating critical thinking and writing in the Indian languages. The committee stressed the importance of the use of special methods in English language teaching and the study of linguistics. The three language formula was proposed by the conference of Chief Ministers, which was held in 1961, recommended in schools, this meanta) The regional language, or the mother tongue when different from the regional language; b) Hindi, or any other Indian language in Hindi speaking area; and c) English or any other European language. This formula was modified by the Kothari Commission (1964-66), which advocated regional languages for self-identity, Hindi or Sanskrit for national identity and English for technological and administrative purpose as well as for international identity. But in spite of such reports the emphasis on English at the cost of Indian languages continued. In this way after Independence, many commissions came for the improvement of the English language learning in the schools and colleges.

Place of English in Present days

In the present scenario, India has two national languages for central administrative purpose. They are Hindi and English. Hindi is the national official and main link language 36 in India. English is an associate language. The Indian constitution also officially approves twenty two regional languages for official purpose. In present time, English serves two purposes. First, it provides a linguistic tool for the administrative cohesiveness of the country, causing people who speak different languages to become united. Secondly it serves as a language of wider communication, including a large variety of different people covering a vast area. Generally, English is used among Indians as a ‗link language and virtually it is the first language for many well educated Indians. It is the second language for many, who speak more than one language in India. The English language is a tie that helps bind the many segments of our society together. Also it is a linguistic bridge between the major countries of the world and India. Now it has a special national status in India. It has a special place in the parliament, judiciary, broadcasting, journalism and in the education system. One find surrounded by English everywhere. The importance of the ability to speak or write English has recently increased significantly because English has become the defected standard. Learning English language has become popular for business, commerce and cultural reasons and especially for internet communication. Modern communications, videos, Journals and newspapers on the internet use English and have made Knowing English ‘indispensable. In this way we can say that English language has become as an; official language ‘associate language‘, associate additional language‘, library language‘, tool language‘, compulsory language‘, optional language‘, additional optional language‘, language of wider communication,‘ language of need filling‘. According to an estimate, in 1989, one third of all the published books in India, and one fifth of the periodicals are in English. According to the 1981 census, the literacy rate in India is 32.23 percent, and the English literacy rate may be about 6.5 percent; this will roughly mean bout 25 to 30 million users of English in the country. There are very few countries in the world where English is taught on such a massive scale as in India. Unfortunately, it is equally true that in very few does the profession suffer from a greater sense of frustration and helplessness than here. According to a recent report, those who speak English fluently earn up to 34% more and those who speak a little English earn about 13% higher on average than those who don‘t. But only 20% of Indians can speak English, and only 4% can do so fluently. Today, in India English education is often expensive and difficult to access. In most government –funded schools, which account for about 70% of school education, the medium of instruction is Hindi or the local languages. No wonder poor parents willingly opt for not –so –cheap private school education. The number of children enrolled in English –medium schools have more than doubled since the turn of the century. English as the medium of instruction, which was in fourth place behind Hindi, Bengali and Marathi in 2006, is now next only to Hindi, and will soon overtake it. The government must recognize and address this need by vastly improving the quality of English education in its school. The benefits to society from this relatively small investment would be enormous. The hypocrisy of some politicians who advocate vernacular education for the masses while sending their own children to English medium schools must be allowed to derail this effort. Even after knowing the Importance of English, the Indian students have no inclination towards learning English and studying in English medium schools. There are less than 25% students studying in English medium schools in Bihar, U.P. and West Bengal along with north mid India whereas this data is 75% in South India. The following pages are intended to give an idea of the growth in the number of educational institutions and the development of education-basically English education-in India.

 Statistical Description of Education in India (2014 - 15):

1. Primary Schools 7,48,547

2. Upper Primary Schools 1,31,215

3. Secondary Schools 13,12,15

4. Senior Secondary Schools 72,046

Total = 13, 99,408

(Source: Education in India, Rajasthan Patrika, 2014.)

Enrolment of Students & Teachers in these Institutions (2014 - 15):

1.       Enrolment of Students 4,69,30,000

2.       2. Teachers in Schools 64,94,000

3.       3. Teachers in Higher Education 08 Lakh

4.       (Source: Education in India, Rajasthan Patrika , 2014.)

India must meet the globally accepted norm of central and state government spending at least 6% of GDP on education rather than the roughly 4% that states and center put together spend currently. This is essential if the shocking dropout rate of about 50% by class 10 is to be brought down, and the gross enrolment ratio in higher education rose beyond the current 16-17%. That number compares poorly with china‘s 24%not to mention the OECD‘s 62%. The Center must take the lead in this.

 Some Background Information related with Education in India (in %)(2014 -15):

1 .Can read& write 9.5% 4 Graduate 12.5%

2 .Standard 1-5 15.4% 5 Post-Graduate/ Technical 3.5%

3 .Standard 6-12 33.7 6 Illiterate 25.6

In the field of higher education India is far behind China and Brazil. With only 1% of

India‘s student population enrolled as post –graduate researchers, the report puts India far

behind neighboring China. India also has a low rate of enrolment in higher education, at

only 18%, compared with 26% in China and 36% in Brazil. 30-40%teaching posts are

vacant, means India‘s academia is drastically understaffed.

What the study Found: Rate of Enrolment in Higher Education :

India18%

China26%

Brazil40%

The chart on this page is intended to give an idea of the growth in the number of educational institutions and the development of education-basically English education in India. The position of English as a medium of all India competitive examination continues to be strong in spite of the introduction of regional languages as alternative media. According to a survey conducted by a special evaluation unit of the Union Public Service Commission in 1969 more than 85 percent of the candidates answered their compulsory papers in English. In spite the big expansion of higher education system, 250 years of English language teaching, at least 150 years of English language publishing; 60 years of radio broad casting in English and efforts made by CIEFCL and a large number of ELT centers throughout the country the results appear to be negligible. In 1901 for example, 0.04%

Indians could speaks in English. Even today not many Indians use English. The state of English is on the whole far from satisfaction. Prator holds the view that English in India is, ―Mastered by a small minority of (3%) the population‖ 16 most of whom have an imperfect command of only a limited position of language. Two study groups were also appointed in 1965 and 1969 respectively by the Ministry of Education and Youth Services, Government of India to inquire into the current state of teaching of English in India. Both the groups were headed by Prof V.K. Gokak, the first director of the Central Institute of English and Foreign Language Hyderabad. The findings of the first study group revealed that the standards of English in India have deteriorated very fast in our schools and colleges where students can‘t write or speak a single correct sentence in English. The findings of educations commission (1966) and the study group (1970) are also the same. English is studied as a second language in India and one‘s mother tongue habits are likely to stand in one way. Robert Lado has rightly observed, ―the inference of the students‘ mother tongue accounts for a number of errors and difficulties that occurs at the time of learning and afterwards in the use of second language‖. 17 Keeping in view the importance of English, a deserving place should be assigned to this language in our school –curriculum .In this connection; the recommendations of the Indian Education Commission (Kothari Commission) can be reviewed:

a)      Only one language which will be the regional language will be taught during lower primary classes, i.e., from Ist to Vth class.

b) From Vth to VII class, two languages will be taught .One of them will be the regional language .The other can be either Hindi or English. A third language can be studied as an optional subject.

c) From class VIII to X, three languages will be taught .One of these will be the regional. For non –Hindi speaking students, it can be Hindi .The Third will be Foreign language, i.e., English.

d) After X class, language study will be optional. This three language formula has the following characteristics:-

I. With the application of this formula, some student can read English for 6 years .That is, from V classes and others can read it only for 3 years, that is, from VIII to X. But all students have to study English.

II. This formula gives ample scope to those who are much interested in this language, because it can be opted from class 5 th .

III. This formula recommends that English should not be taught at elementary stage, that is, from 1 st to 6 th classes. This seems plausible because Michael West and many teachers are of the view that second language should be taught after pupils develop a good grounding in their mother –tongue. Peter Wingard has also opposed the introduction of English in elementary stage as it increases the proportion of wasted teaching to pupils, who never get far enough really to be able to use their English.

IV. It gives appropriate place to both Hindi and regional languages, without distorting the place of English.

This three languages formula can be applied in order to have English at a suitable place in school - curriculum .It should be noted that at the lower secondary stage ,English should cease to be taught as literature because during this stage , study of English as literature has given unhappy results .For this we can take H.Kabir‘ suggestion which is - We must remodel our courses in English at the secondary stage and recognize that the learning of English is not an end in itself but only the acquisition of an instrument for adding to our knowledge .The emphasis must therefore ,shift from literature to the simple languages of every day.

OBJECTIVES OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING IN INDIA:

Language is usually thought of as a means of communication. A human society needs language for internal communication between its members as well as for external communication with other societies and to express and record its culture. ―Language is thus seen as a part of human psychology, a particular sort of behaviour, the behaviour which has its principal function that of communication.‖19 Explaining the functions of a language, Prof. A. Antony says, Language is a means of communication. Communication can be with in and out of side the speech community. In addition to these, language is a means by which the culture of the community is expressed and recorded. Thus language can fulfill two functions, communicative function and cultural function. But the primary function of a language is communicative.

Language, when used for communication is a tool and the handling of any tool requires a certain skill. When a child is born in a community, it hears the language spoken by that community. When the child has been exposed to speech for sufficiently long time, it tries to imitate the speech sounds that it has been listening to for a considerable time. Thus the most important and natural language skills are listening and speaking. The objective of teaching a language or language is not simply to make the learner learn the major language skills but to enable the learners to play their communicative roles effectively and to select languages, registers styles according to the roles they are playing. According to Pit Corder the object in teaching a language, ……..is to enable the learner to behave in such a way that he can participate to some degree and for certain purpose as a member of a community other than his own. The degree to which any particular learner may wish to participate will vary. He may seek only to read technical literature, or he may wish to preach the gospel in a foreign country. These varying degrees of participation require different levels of skill in language performance.  The objective of teaching English as a Second language in India have to be formulated in the light of what we perceive our needs for English to be in a multilingual setting, at both the national and individual levels. This is related to the following questions; what are the roles of Hindi, English, regional languages, classical languages, foreign languages, and languages of the minority groups in our multilingual setting? What are the topics and situations that will necessitate the use of English? What is the kind and amount of English 46 that the learners will need? A functional approach to language, according to Halliday, means......... investigating how language is used; trying to find out what are the purposes that language serves for us, and how we are able to achieve these purposes through speaking listening, reading and writing. At the national level, English must serve as our ‗window on the world‘, as the language in which nearly all contemporary knowledge is accessible. It is a means of observing and learning about people, especially those of other countries. English is rightly called a pipeline for the stream of western thoughts. Keeping in view these functions, the primary aim of teaching English as a Second language at the secondary level should be to give the learners an effective mastery of the language, that is to help them acquire –

(1) Ability to read easily and with understanding, books in English written with in a prescribed range of vocabulary and sentence structure, and to read with good understanding (if not with seep) easy un-simplified texts on familiar topics, fully grossed and annotated in their known language;

(2) The readiness to proceed to a more advanced reading stage, that of reading unsimplified texts, particularly those bound up with personal studies and interests, with the help of bilingual dictionaries;

(3) Ability to understand a talk in English on a subject of general experience and interest, clearly spoken and restricted in vocabulary and sentence structure to the range of the syllabus;

(4) Ability to write comprehensibly in English, and without gross errors, on a familiar topic which lends itself to expression within the range of vocabulary and sentence structure that has been taught;

(5) Ability to carry on comprehensibly a conversation in English on a topic fully within the range of active command postulated by the syllabus.

Objective of Teaching English at Junior and Senior Levels - L. A. C. Strong once proclaimed, ―for us who speak English, English is everything …………English is not a subject, English is our life. But this is not true for English in India, because here it is a foreign language. It is taught as a second or a third language in schools .Its teaching and learning in schools is inspired by one aim – the utilitarian aim. This aim can be achieved by acquiring practical command of English. Yet ,clear cut objectives should be stated , so that good planning can be done and right type of methods and techniques of teaching can be adopted ,as pointed out by P. Gurrey , ―The careful thinking out of a detailed and well defined objectives for the lessons will do more than almost anything else to improve a teacher‘s work and to make it effective. The two main objectives of English teaching are: - i. Language Development ii. Literary Development With the advancement of class and age of students, these two objectives will differ.

Objectives at Junior Level – The junior level is the lower secondary stage consisting of classes V, VI, VII, and VIII. During this level, the chief aim of English is language development. This means that 48 English should be taught not as literature but as language , as pointed out by P .Gurrey , ― Our chief concern should not be about the difficulties of pronunciation ,growth of vocabulary , grammar and structure but with language abilities. At this stage, language development is not only the chief objective but also the only objective. Fourfold Objectives of Language Teaching: These four-fold objectives of language teaching can be drawn from four aspects of language. The four aspects of language are:

I.                    Semantic – related to understanding

II.                  Phonetic – deals, with sounds, spelling, pronunciation

III.                Graphic – related to writing and

IV.                Phonetic –cum –Graphic –deals with reading These four aspects indicate four objectives of English language teaching at junior level, which are:-

a) To understand spoken language

b) To speak the language

c) To write the language

d) To read the language.

 These four-fold objectives have been recommended by many scholars, e.g. - P. Gurrey, ―It is necessary that the Indian pupil should not only understand English when it is spoken or written, but also he should himself be able to speak and write it. For the proper development of language, passive as well as active command is needed. 2.3.1.2 Objectives at Senior Level - 49 Senior level is higher secondary level consisting of IX, X, XI, and XII classes.

The objectives of English teaching at this level are both:

I.                    Language Development

II.                  Literary Development It means that along with the four –fold objectives of language development which are related to listening, speaking, writing and reading, the literary development is also an important objective at higher secondary level. Studying English literature can facilitate this development. The objectives which come under language development will remain the same as in junior level or lower secondary level or during higher secondary level.

The literary objectives will be:-

i.                     Development of a taste for English Literature by reading prose, poetry, story etc.,

ii.                   Drawing aesthetic pleasure from reading English Literature ,

iii.                  Understanding critical views ,

iv.                 Development of translating ability and

v.                   Developing creative interest in English literature. In short, the main objectives of English teaching, level-wise, can be shown as follows:-

Junior level -Language Development Objectives

Senior level- Language and Literary Development Objectives

Curricular Objectives

We do need to remind ourselves of some of the basic facts about the nature and acquisition of language before we formulate the objectives of English Language Teaching. Some of these are following:  Every child is born with a Language Faculty that enables her to acquire as manyØ languages as she needs.  Languages can‘t be taught; they are acquired. They are acquired as the child‘sØ Language Faculty Interacts with processes of socialization and language becomes inextricably linked with the social, political, gender, and power structures of society.  It is not possible for teachers to teach the rules of language simply because theyØ don‘t know them (not their fault at all; what is available in the name of school grammar and what is taught as grammar is often inadequate and wrong). The child has the potential to acquire the most complex rules at the levels of sounds, words, sentences and discourse on her own.  No amount of formal teaching of grammar can promote the levels of creativity andØ fluency and accuracy that a child so effortlessly displays at a very young age without any formal intervention. In fact, most parents enjoy and celebrate the errors‘ children make in the process of learning.  There is no reason to believe that what works in the acquisition of first languagesØ in childhood will not work, with some careful effort, in the acquisition of additional languages. The role of the teacher is not to teach the rules of grammar or paraphrase texts butØ as has often reminded us, to facilitate maximal exposure to language being used in different domains in anxiety – free situations. The tasks that children undertake should have the message at their center and children should feel engaged in activities that would challenge their thinking abilities; as thought is not divorced from language, language proficiency will automatically develop.  Language flourishes in each other‘s company; their nature is fundamentallyØ porous; they tend to wither away if they are isolated from languages.  Errors‘ are necessary stages in the path of language acquisition; theyØ automatically disappear in due course. The amount of time a teacher spends on correcting errors‘(they are not errors if seen in terms of the system a child has at that point of time) could be more usefully spent on carefully planned language exposure and innovative activities.  Language is not a set of skills. It is not a sum of LSRW (Listening, SpeakingØ .Reading and Writing) as stated above, it is constitutive of us; it is at once an instrument and a product and it is difficult to conceptualize a disjunction between two at any points. If anything, it needs to be seen as a system of unique knowledge.  Language is best acquired in a holistic context where a total text (it could be aØ picture, a couplet, a story or an advertisement) is at the center of classroom activity. There is nothing special about teaching of English in India. The fundamental principles of language acquisition do not change. However, the political economy of English in India is quite a different matter. The teaching of English therefore has to be planned far more 52 carefully .It is on the one hand the language of opportunity , social status and upward social mobility and on the other hand ,in glove with the processes that consistently enlarge the distance between the elite and the marginalized .We therefore need to ensure that every child attains a high level of proficiency in English without losing any of her own languages; and also exploit the teaching of English as a space for generating subversive discourses. As to the more specific goals of language curriculum, it is perhaps best to turn to the position paper on the Teaching of English of the National Curriculum Framework (NCERT2005). A national curriculum should aim for:―a cohesive curricular policy based on guiding principles for language teaching and acquisition, which allows for a variety of implementations suitable to local needs and resources……