2. GOALS FOR A LANGUAGE CURRICULUM
A national curriculum can 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, and which provides illustrative models for use. A consideration of earlier efforts at curriculum renewal endowed some of our discussion with an uneasy sense of déjà vu. However, we hope that current insights from linguistics, psychology, and associated disciplines have provided a principled basis for some workable suggestions to inform and rejuvenate curricular practices. English does not stand alone. It needs to find its place
1. along with other Indian languages
i. in regional-medium schools: how can children’s other languages strengthen English teaching/learning?
ii. in English-medium schools: how can other Indian languages be valorised, reducing the perceived hegemony of English?
2. in relation to other subjects: A language-across the-curriculum perspective is perhaps of particular relevance to primary education. Language is best acquired through different meaning-making contexts, and hence all teaching is in a sense language teaching. This perspective also captures the centrality of language in abstract thought in secondary education; whereas in the initial stages contextual meaning supports language use, at later stages meaning may be arrived at solely through language. The aim of English teaching is the creation of multilinguals who can enrich all our languages; this has been an abiding national vision. The multilingual perspective also addresses concerns of language and culture, and the pedagogical principle of moving from the known to the unknown.
Language acquisition inside and outside the classroom
Second-language pedagogy, more than the teaching of any other curricular subject, must meet the most stringent criterion of universal success: the spontaneous and appropriate use of language for at least everyday purposes. This is a feat achieved in one’s own language(s) by every pre-school child (Chomsky 1975). It is this “minimum level of proficiency” (which can, however, be shown to require a mental grammar of remarkable sophistication, which allows for the comprehension and production of language in “real time”) that the person on the street aspires to: “speak English”, as against merely passing examinations in it, or knowing its grammar.
• Can the English-language classroom replicate the universal success in the acquisition of basic spoken language proficiency that a child spontaneously achieves outside the classroom, for the languages in its environment? If so, how? • Other spoken language skills in limited domains (for example, for the travel and tourism industry) would build on such a basic proficiency.
3.2 English at the initial level
3.2.1 Building familiarity with the language:
A pre-literacy curriculum Regardless of the particular class in which English is introduced (Class I–III or Class IV, or Class V–VI), the aim at the initial levels (the first, or first two years of English) is to • build familiarity with the language (through primarily spoken or spoken-and written input) in meaningful situations, so that the child builds up a working knowledge of the language. “There is at least one characteristic that is common to every successful language-learning experience we have ever known, and that is that the learner is exposed one way or another to an adequate amount of the data of the language to be learned” (Rutherford 1987: 18).
o The reference to “adequate data” suggests that a single textbook presented over a year is inadequate. The emphasis should shift from mastery learning of this limited input to regular exposure to a variety of meaningful language inputs.
o This has implications for evaluation, to be discussed below. Currently, the emphasis is on early literacy and mastery of answers to prescribed texts. We stress the need for a pre-literacy curriculum. We begin with suggestions for providing “comprehensible input”. Inputs include textbooks, other print materials such as Big Books, class libraries, parallel materials in more than one language, and media support (learner magazines, newspaper columns, radio/ audio cassettes, etc.), and the use of “authentic” or “available” materials. Research suggests the existence of a “silent period” of about three months in natural second-language learning situations before the learner attempts to produce any language. The input that the learner receives during this period serves as a base for attempts at early production (which may be limited to a few words, fragments of sentences, and formulaic language). Thus, the classroom must not insist on early production at the expense of exposure to and understanding of language, checked through the mother tongue, gestures, or single-word answers.
o One route to early modified production in the classroom could be through the “pseudo production” of comprehended input, such as the learning of rhymes and poems, of language routines and formulae for classroom management, greetings, requests, etc. The need for pseudo-production perhaps motivates the current rote-learning approach. By recognising and giving it its legitimate place in the curriculum, true production might be later attempted.
o Drama and the enacting of plays is a traditional route to such pseudo-production in authentic, comprehended contexts. Beginning with action rhymes, simple plays, or skits, theatre as a genuine class activity can promote the child’s engagement with language and its performance. At later stages, this can develop into the study of rhetoric (along with grammar, see below).
A national curriculum can 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, and which provides illustrative models for use. A consideration of earlier efforts at curriculum renewal endowed some of our discussion with an uneasy sense of déjà vu. However, we hope that current insights from linguistics, psychology, and associated disciplines have provided a principled basis for some workable suggestions to inform and rejuvenate curricular practices. English does not stand alone. It needs to find its place
1. along with other Indian languages
i. in regional-medium schools: how can children’s other languages strengthen English teaching/learning?
ii. in English-medium schools: how can other Indian languages be valorised, reducing the perceived hegemony of English?
2. in relation to other subjects: A language-across the-curriculum perspective is perhaps of particular relevance to primary education. Language is best acquired through different meaning-making contexts, and hence all teaching is in a sense language teaching. This perspective also captures the centrality of language in abstract thought in secondary education; whereas in the initial stages contextual meaning supports language use, at later stages meaning may be arrived at solely through language. The aim of English teaching is the creation of multilinguals who can enrich all our languages; this has been an abiding national vision. The multilingual perspective also addresses concerns of language and culture, and the pedagogical principle of moving from the known to the unknown.
Language acquisition inside and outside the classroom
Second-language pedagogy, more than the teaching of any other curricular subject, must meet the most stringent criterion of universal success: the spontaneous and appropriate use of language for at least everyday purposes. This is a feat achieved in one’s own language(s) by every pre-school child (Chomsky 1975). It is this “minimum level of proficiency” (which can, however, be shown to require a mental grammar of remarkable sophistication, which allows for the comprehension and production of language in “real time”) that the person on the street aspires to: “speak English”, as against merely passing examinations in it, or knowing its grammar.
• Can the English-language classroom replicate the universal success in the acquisition of basic spoken language proficiency that a child spontaneously achieves outside the classroom, for the languages in its environment? If so, how? • Other spoken language skills in limited domains (for example, for the travel and tourism industry) would build on such a basic proficiency.
3.2 English at the initial level
3.2.1 Building familiarity with the language:
A pre-literacy curriculum Regardless of the particular class in which English is introduced (Class I–III or Class IV, or Class V–VI), the aim at the initial levels (the first, or first two years of English) is to • build familiarity with the language (through primarily spoken or spoken-and written input) in meaningful situations, so that the child builds up a working knowledge of the language. “There is at least one characteristic that is common to every successful language-learning experience we have ever known, and that is that the learner is exposed one way or another to an adequate amount of the data of the language to be learned” (Rutherford 1987: 18).
o The reference to “adequate data” suggests that a single textbook presented over a year is inadequate. The emphasis should shift from mastery learning of this limited input to regular exposure to a variety of meaningful language inputs.
o This has implications for evaluation, to be discussed below. Currently, the emphasis is on early literacy and mastery of answers to prescribed texts. We stress the need for a pre-literacy curriculum. We begin with suggestions for providing “comprehensible input”. Inputs include textbooks, other print materials such as Big Books, class libraries, parallel materials in more than one language, and media support (learner magazines, newspaper columns, radio/ audio cassettes, etc.), and the use of “authentic” or “available” materials. Research suggests the existence of a “silent period” of about three months in natural second-language learning situations before the learner attempts to produce any language. The input that the learner receives during this period serves as a base for attempts at early production (which may be limited to a few words, fragments of sentences, and formulaic language). Thus, the classroom must not insist on early production at the expense of exposure to and understanding of language, checked through the mother tongue, gestures, or single-word answers.
o One route to early modified production in the classroom could be through the “pseudo production” of comprehended input, such as the learning of rhymes and poems, of language routines and formulae for classroom management, greetings, requests, etc. The need for pseudo-production perhaps motivates the current rote-learning approach. By recognising and giving it its legitimate place in the curriculum, true production might be later attempted.
o Drama and the enacting of plays is a traditional route to such pseudo-production in authentic, comprehended contexts. Beginning with action rhymes, simple plays, or skits, theatre as a genuine class activity can promote the child’s engagement with language and its performance. At later stages, this can develop into the study of rhetoric (along with grammar, see below).
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