Language and Language Teaching, Issue 2 - Azim Premji Foundation

Language and Language TeachingVolume 1 Number 2 July 2012ContentsArticlesEvaluation: Is it the Cane that Guides orthe Dog that Guards?Geetha DurairajanChoosing Texts for TeachersNamrita BatraImpact of Content: English TextbookDesigning in IndiaSantosh Kumar MahapatraMultilingualism and Bilingualism forLanguage TeachersAsha IyerCartoon Shows: A Tool to FacilitateComprehension in Young LearnersSaumya SharmaTeaching English in Class 1Nivedita Vijay BedadurDemocratising the Classroom: AugustoBoal’s Theatre of the Oppressed as aCritical Pedagogical ToolChitra SeshadhriInterviewFace to Face with M K AnandanP K JayarajLandmarksTheory and Practice of Language Teachingin IndiaKapil Kapoor4015913182326Overcoming Bias in ELT Textbooks: A Studyin the Indian ContextRudrashis Datta31A Short Paper Proposing that We Need toWrite Short PapersStephen Krashen3537Book ReviewsIndian English: Towards a New ParadigmRajesh KumarEnglish through FolktalesKamal Kumar ChoudharyTeaching other Subjects through EnglishRamesh Kumar MishraSuggested ReadingsBeyond Training: Perspectives onLanguage Teacher EducationPictures for Language LearningConditions for Second Language LearningPractice in a Second LanguageSuranjana BaruaClassroom ActivitiesRead Sight Words FluentlyDevaki LakshminaraynanBasic Communication SkillsManu GulatiDeveloping Listening SkillsFalguni ChakravartyReportWorkshop on Continuous andComprehensive EvaluationAhvaan GroupForthcoming EventsNational and International Conferences,Seminars, Workshops and SymposiaHaobam BasantaraniReaders’ Response45464749505152535456586162

Evaluation: Is it the Cane that Guides or theDog that Guards? 1Geetha DurairajanNature of teaching, learning andevaluation outside educationAll of us as living beings teach someonesomething at some time in our lives. Caregiversand parents do this much more than others. Theyteach children to tie shoelaces, plait hair, tieribbons, make tea/coffee, answer the door bell,eat without spilling, etc.; an adult may teachanother adult how to cook, sew, knit, or drive acar. The list is endless. This, as Gardner (1999)beautifully described it, is an education that tookplace long before there were formal institutionscalled schools. If we think about the nature ofsuch teaching, we realize that there are no lessonplans or lectures. Teaching is implicit, either byexample, or a simple “Come, I will show youwhat to do”. Examples are provided, but theexample (and by implication the teaching)differs from person to person; teaching is finetuned,calibrated and individualized. This‘individualization’, needs an implicit ‘evaluation.’As an illustration, I am going to use the exampleof a concept I had to teach to both a threeyear-oldchild, and an adult. The concept wasthe story behind the well known painting fromthe Bhagavad Gita 2 (in which Krishna is acharioteer and Arjuna—one of the five Pandavabrothers—is depicted as dejected and visiblyupset), and its significance. A young child askedme in his first language, Tamil, “ithu ennathu?”(what is this?). I simply told him the story of theGita in a simplified form; about uncles andcousins who took what belonged to one set ofbrothers, and how this one brother (Arjuna) didnot want to fight with his relatives, and howKrishna told him that when someone doessomething wrong, others, even if they areyounger than him, have the right to make that‘wrong’ known. A British friend (with an interestin Hindu mythology) asked me a similar question,“Can you tell me something about this famouspicture and what it represents?” In response Igave her a small but quick ‘lecture’ on how thehorses represent the five senses, the chariot thebody, the charioteer the soul, Arjuna the mind,etc. The stimulus behind the question was thesame picture, but the two listeners or learnersheard different versions of the answer, one asimplified tale, and the other a symbolicinterpretation.The most important role of evaluationwithin education is not to do the job ofgatekeeping, weeding out the ‘have-nots’from the ‘haves.’ Evaluation of this natureis like a dog that barks at those outsidethe gates to guard and protect its ownterritory; some are allowed to enter,others are not. The gatekeeping exercisehas its own merits (in entranceexaminations), but not within the contextof teaching and learning.The tale and the interpretation were both‘honest’ teachings, which were genuinelylearner-centred. Although this ‘learnercentredness’happens all the time, it is notpossible without an inbuilt evaluation. The natureof teaching (what to teach, and how) is basedon an assessment of learner needs; theevaluation is, however, minus any grading orLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 4

marking. The judgment is not a ‘look at you,you don’t even know’. It is a convivial evaluation(Durairajan, 2003) (with care and tolerance,whose only purpose is to help someone learn)that enables individualized learning to happen.It is like the two hands that go around a smallcandle flame and help it to continue burning andnot go out, like the two hands in the logo of theLife Insurance Corporation of India (LIC).Teaching, learning and evaluation withineducationA lot of teaching and learning takes place inclassrooms, and for this a range of tasks andactivities are used. What different children orstudents take away from a particular task neednot be the same. Teaching may be whole classoriented, but learning is individualized. Weacknowledge the fact that teacher input andstudent intake may be different, and thatindividual abilities may vary, but this variation israrely echoed in the testing that happens inclassrooms. At the end of the fifth or the eighthunit of teaching, a test is administered (or aquarterly or half-yearly examination conducted)to all students on the same day, at the sametime; they are tested for the same information,and evaluated using the same criteria/scoringkey. Marks or grades are given, added up, andas part of internal assessment, these‘measurements’ feature in some form in the finalsummative evaluation for certification. Whendeciding what, when and how to teach, theteacher is perceived as empowered, as havinga ‘sense of plausibility’ (Prabhu, 1987). But thisability to select, modify, adopt or adapt materialsis rarely evoked in classroom testing. Thefreedom to extend the duration of the test, orconduct the test separately on a different day isnot made available to the teacher. Formativeevaluation that should serve an educationalpurpose becomes an administrative anddisciplinary exercise meant to either ensureattendance in class, or show marks registers asfilled, or worse still, pass or retain students. We‘discipline and punish’ (Foucault, 1978/1991)through examinations: the teacher’s knowledgeof her students is continuous and comprehensive,but that does not get recognised, let alone valued.The most important role of evaluation withineducation is not to do the job of gatekeeping,weeding out the ‘have-nots’ from the ‘haves.’Evaluation of this nature is like a dog that barksat those outside the gates to guard and protectits own territory; some are allowed to enter,others are not. The gatekeeping exercise hasits own merits (in entrance examinations), butnot within the context of teaching and learning.Evaluation in education is a very different kindof a dog; it is the ‘seeing eye dog’, that servesas a guide dog for the blind. Instead of usingthis image, which is a little alien to us in India, Ihave chosen to alternate it with the white caneused by a visually-impaired person that providesmobility, enables movement, and aids navigation.Genuine formative evaluation has to fulfil apedagogic role. Evaluation that is marked orgraded, that is entered in report cards, is stressfuland creates tension; it simply fulfils anadministrative, certification-oriented purpose. Inthe context of public education, such acertification is unavoidable, but it should notbecome the predominant motivation behind alltesting. The two kinds of evaluation can bedifferentiated; one is development-oriented andacademic-purposed, the other administrative andjudgmental.Academic-purposed evaluation aims to capturethe indicators of development in the child. Butsuch a development (an integral part of learning)is traumatic for every individual. To understandthe nature of this ’individualized trauma’, let usexamine classroom teaching and learning a littlemore closely. At some point in our educationalcareer, we have studied that ‘learning’ is changein behaviour (Bloom, Hastings and Maduas,1971). ‘Learning’ here, is not reduced to abehaviouristic change to be reinforced positivelyLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 5

or negatively. Instead, the focus is on theindividual change in perceptions, actions, andeven beliefs. But it is neither instant norimmediate. It is not like the switching on of abulb! Learning is painful and time-consuming!We only need to contemplate on the time andeffort it takes for a child to learn to eat foodwithout spilling, or tie shoelaces. Also, learningnever happens at the same time on the sameday for the whole class. It happensincrementally, individually, and very slowly. Asingle test cannot capture this individualizedlearning.As an example, let us think of languageclassrooms where large quantum of learninghappens. Students have to learn what to say,when to say it, why and to whom, (rules ofappropriateness). They also need to learn whento use ‘since’ and ‘for’(rules of grammar), howto use words correctly, how to write withcoherence, or read and comprehend a text. Noneof this happens overnight! If it did, we wouldnot be teaching the use of discourse markers,word-meaning, and even the use of articles andtenses at the college level. In spite of this, evenat the school level, in every test, we deduct marksfor ‘mistakes’.Language learning is described asdevelopmental, incremental and on going, butwe expect perfection at every stage of languageperformance.When we teach a child something outside ofeducation, every single milestone is celebrated:the first step, the first word, the first plate offood eaten without assistance, etc. Thiscelebration has to become a part of educationalacademic evaluation. It will then be continuousand comprehensive, and at the same time,academic in its orientation.This kind of ‘individualized’ evaluation, however,does not make life easy for a teacher: there are40 or more students in a class, a vast syllabus tocover, ‘portions’ to finish. However, if anyteacher is asked to think for just 5 minutes, andidentify the 8 children who need help, or the 8children who are ‘good’, there is no hesitation.Every teacher knows his/her students. This‘knowing’ is ‘academic’ evaluation; it capturesthe little things that a learner achieves. For achild, learning how to read, distinguishing thecover page of a book from the text inside, orpointing to the first and the last word on a pageis a big achievement (Mariotti & Homan, 2005).Over two weeks, a child may learn to use aword with a lot more confidence; these ‘smallgains’ (Tharu, 1981) are difficult to capture in atest, but are recorded in the mind of the teacher,and documented if required, in a teacher’s diary.Alternative evaluative possibilitiesThere are many kinds of teacher observationsthat can provide evaluative knowledge. First andforemost is the natural observation that happensin the look of an eye, or body language. Thenthere is informal question-answer sessions inwhich a teacher may note things such as(Sharanya is trying to answer, and althoughKarthik is silent, he is nodding). A third levelconsists of the small tests given by the teacher,and finally there are the slotted, inevitable,promotion/certification examinations.The summative examination paper can also beused for academic or educational purposes, asa guiding cane. The whole class/group/individualcan be given a feedback; but what we do withthe answer papers after we enter the marks iscrucial. As teachers, we can use it to improveour teaching, or tell students what their strengthsand weaknesses are.Class test papers can be used to provide bothteacher and peer feedback. With training, selfevaluationis also a possibility. If evaluationcriteria are made known, then the evaluationitself becomes a teaching exercise for studentsto not only learn but also observe and evaluatethemselves.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 6

All classroom experiences are instances wheredevelopmental evaluation can and does happen.This is particularly true of multiple-choice orshort answer type questions. A discussion of thepossible answers and explanations enablesindividualized learning to happen, and alsoprovides the teacher with insights into theworkings of her students’ minds. Teachers onlyneed to ask, “so why did you choose thisanswer?” (without giving away the rightanswer), and listen to the explanations to laterenable a ‘change in behaviour.’ Academicevaluation can be used as a thinking tool, “whydid I answer this, why is X not the answer?”An additional point is that in multilingual contextssuch as India, this thinking tool need not bemonolingual (Durairajan, 2009, Mathew 2008).The guard dog or cane image, with referenceto English in India, applies also to the languageused. In classrooms where L1 is predominantor more enabled, language is often perceivedas a ‘problem’. It can instead be used as aresource to help children go ‘meta’ in thatlanguage; it can also become the language ofdiscussion to enable thinking and reflection.The language of thinking and reflection in Indiais often, for many students, their first language;we, with our baggage of ‘colonialism’ , guardagainst the use of that language; instead, it canbe used as a prop, as a guide, to help children.In the twenty-first century India, with theimplementation of the Right to Education Actand the need for inclusive Education, thisbecomes even more crucial. A teacher cannotafford to evaluate the mere presence or absenceof a capability; evaluation needs to function asan enabling and empowering tool.ReferencesBloom, B. S., Hastings, J. T., & Maduas G. F. (Eds.).(1971). Handbook on formative and summativeevaluation of student learning. New York:McGraw-Hill Book Company.Durairajan, G. (2003). Enabling non-prescriptiveevaluation: Rediscovering language as aconvivial meaning making tool. (UnpublishedPhD thesis). CIEFL, Hyderabad.Durairajan, G. (2009). Languages, capabilities andrecognitions: Educational possibilities. OsmaniaPapers in Linguistics, 34, 45-60.Foucault, M. (1978/1991). Discipline and punish: Thebirth of the prison. New York: Vintage Books.Gardner, H. (1999). The disciplined mind: What allstudents should understand. New York: SimonSchuster.Mariotti, A. S. & S. P. Homan. (2005). Linking readingassessment to instruction: An applicationworktext for elementary classroom teachers(4th edition). New York: Lawrence ErlbaumAssociates.Mathew, R. (2008). Assessment in multilingualsocieties. In E. Shohamy & N. H. Hornberger(Eds.), Encyclopedia of Language andEducation (2 nd edition),Volume 7, pp. 19-36. NewYork: Springer.Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second language pedagogy.Oxford: Oxford University Press.Tharu, J. (1981). Measuring small gains. Paperpresented at the National Seminar on Evaluationin Language Education, Mysore.1. An earlier version of this paper was presented atthe ‘Opportunities, Options and Challenges inEnglish Language Education’ Seminar at RIESIBangalore in February 2011.2. This reference is to a part of the Indian epic, theMahabharata, that deals with the war between twoclans, the Kauravas and the Pandavas, who werealso cousins. In the tale, the Pandavas have to fightthe Kauravas for what was rightfully seen as theirproperty; Arjuna (one of the Pandavas) is dejectedand upset at the beginning of the war at the idea ofhaving to fight with his own uncles, cousins, andother relatives. As his charioteer, Krishna adviseshim and that ‘advice’ comprises the Bhagavad-Gita.Geetha Durairajan is Professor and Head of theDepartment of Testing and Evaluation, at the Englishand Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. Herareas of interest include pedagogic evaluation andlanguage education in multilingual contexts.gdurairajan@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 7

Choosing Texts for TeachersNamrita BatraIntroductionMany of us struggle with the task of helpingchildren learn how to read and write, and becomeproficient readers who enjoy reading. That manyteachers are also not proficient readers and donot enjoy reading as much as they ‘should’ isnot very surprising for those of us who workclosely with them.Capacity building of teachers is a prominent areaof work at Vidya Bhawan Education ResourceCentre (VBERC) Udaipur. An important facetof this has been generating self-learningmaterials for teachers in various areas likepedagogy, child psychology, disciplinaryconcepts, etc. Over time we have realized thatwe also need material which helps teachersengage with their own reading and writing ability.An effort in this direction was made by us whenwe designed a certification course for teachersof alternative schools of rural areas in Udaipurdistrict; the jaded reading and writing abilitiesof these teachers stood in the way of theirbecoming both independent learners as well asbetter teachers.Teachers of alternative schoolsThe teachers of alternative schools belonged tothe communities in which they were teaching.Most had not been able to complete their schooleducation and their qualifications varied from8 th to 12 th grade. Moreover, their day-to-dayactivities gave them little opportunity to read andwrite on a regular basis and in any substantialmanner; reading activities being restricted toreading infrequently the local newspaper. Theirmother tongues were either Mewari or Vagri,however all spoke and understood Hindi. Hindiwas also the medium of education in the schoolsin which they taught.Simply put, we wanted to help teachers readwith understanding, insight and discrimination.This involved helping teachers examine andunderstand not only the chain of events, theinformation and ideas that were explicitlymentioned in the text but also the ideas andemotions that were implicit in the writing. It alsoWe also felt that as teachers the readersmust engage with the texts with childrenas their protagonists. The texts we choseto do this depict the childhood of a crosssection of children with inherent respectfor their struggles and thoughts.involved helping the reader attach herperspectives/opinions to what she was reading.It was also clear to us that improvement inreading ability requires reading more and moreand so while the course should be able togenerate interest in reading and help teachersread more regularly, any substantialimprovement in reading would occur only ifteachers were able to continue this process.Thus , while an important part of our job was tohelp the teachers engage with their readingability, the flip side to it was generating interestin reading itself. Choosing texts which could doboth for the course was thus an area of concernLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 8

for us. In this article I focus on the things wekept in mind when we were choosing thesetexts.Selecting textsThe selection was centred on four major issues:The basic issue was ‘What kind of texts wouldhelp improve reading ability?’ The other threeinvolved much more time, effort and discussionand they were: ‘What would be interesting forteachers to read?’, ‘What ‘should’ be of interestto teachers?’ and ‘What picture of society andhuman endeavor should the texts engage withand what should be the tone of this engagement?’The last was perhaps the most significantrealization for us: Every time you select a textand use it for public transaction, you are makinga moral choice.We understood that the answer to the firstquestion involved giving texts which challengedthe current reading abilities of the teachers(borrowing from Krashen’s concept ofComprehensible Input) and that the degree ofchallenge should go up as ability increases. Thelength of the text was one clear indicator of theamount of challenge that a text can present andmost of the texts ranged between 1500-4000words. We also found that in many casesaverage words per sentence in the shorter textswere fewer than those in longer texts. Anotherfacet of challenge was the variety of genre weintroduced. These included stories, poems, plays,essays, letters, posters, advertisements etc. Yetanother was being comfortable with not onlynarrative but also descriptive, expository andargumentative styles of writing, and these nodoubt also depended on the variety of genre.Another way in which we answered thisquestion was by introducing readers to writingstyles of various distinguished authors-Premchand, Rabindranath Tagore, AmritaPritam, Mahasweta Devi, Bhishma Sahni,Rajendra Yadav, Phanishwarnath ‘Renu’ etc.;each with their individual styles of narration anddescription presented their readers with a uniquechallenge and also held their interest. We hadbeen told that texts with higher ‘idea leveldensity’ (ratio between number of ideas andnumber of words in a text) would be morechallenging. Though we never calculated thedensity for texts we found that texts which werewritten by authors like those mentioned aboveas well as those which can be categorized asacademic writing were more challenging forteachers to read. Simultaneously, we startedthinking about what kind of texts would interestthe teachers.And texts which engage with life- its joys,sorrows, victories and defeats- wouldalways hold appeal and would interestour teachers too.We had heard many a time that reader interestis dependent on whether the text is placed inher context. Initially, we understood theteachers’ context to include their physicalenvironment- the geography, flora and fauna andtheir ways of life (occupations, marriages,relationships, customs etc). While we felt thattexts which are sensitive to this context mightaid comprehension, we also started realizing thattheir ‘context’, does not define their boundariesof interest. For all of us can think of things thatwe find interesting to read even though they arenot within our context and inversely might findsome texts un-engaging even though they are.For instance, our teachers might find itinteresting to read about communities withpractices and mores different from theirs andfind reading about various farming practices uninteresting.Thus, we realized that it is not difficultto construct a context for what is interesting forus; our ability to use what we know about theworld and abstract about what we do not know,aids this process.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 9

The issue of contextWe also soon realized that we were using anincomplete definition of context. Integral to themeaning of context are also the emotions andvalues we experience as human beings in ourlives. These in fact create a context which isuniversal and not bound by geographies; the loveof a parent for her child, the romance betweentwo human beings, the intrinsic human need forfreedom, etc are some examples of these. Wefound that literature speaks of such universalcontexts and whether the text is placed in a ruralcontext or not is of little consequence. And textswhich engage with life- its joys, sorrows,victories and defeats- would always hold appealand would interest our teachers too.The texts we thus chose sometimes took thereaders to faraway places, sometimes into thedistant past and sometimes to people whoselives were similar to their own. They were botha mirror in which readers could see theirreflections, and also a window through whichthey could explore the world around them.We encountered some other questions whiletrying to choose texts which catered to theinterest of our readers. Most of our teacherswere young, adult males who enjoyed a certainamount of ‘action’. Many of them would quotetheir favorite movies to be action packed ones,of Mithun Chakraborty and Govida and acertain set of expletives which would beconsidered ‘uncultured’ were a part of theirregister. What kind of space could the coursegive to such experiences? Would not our readersalso find themes like ‘romance’ engaging?We felt that it was important for the texts togive space to the ideas, interests and experiencesof a young adult population and again decidedto use literature to walk the thin line. Munariand Godhan’s romance in Phanishwar NathRenu’s Panchlight, the superstition and ritualaround the apparent killing of kabri billi inBhagwati Charan Verma’s Prayashchit and thepolitical drama in Harishankar Parsai’s ViklangRajeeiti all gave space to the emotions,aspirations and also register of this age group.Another matter which is noteworthy whiletalking about reader interest is that while wegave space to a variety of genre, we did usestories more, partly because we found theteachers engaging much more actively withthem and partly because so many of them areavailable.Lastly, the texts were chosen keeping in mindthat the ‘Hindi’ being used in them was close tothe one spoken by the teachers in their day-daylife.The third question we engaged with was whetherthere are certain types of texts that we ‘should’give teachers to read. Since the course wasmeant for teachers who are also developmentworkers in their communities, should we notintroduce teachers to academic writing ineducation, social change and development?Also, should not texts give a special place tochildren’s views, experiences and feelings?We also felt that as teachers the readers mustengage with the texts with children as theirprotagonists. The texts we chose to do this depictthe childhood of a cross section of children withinherent respect for their struggles and thoughts.Also, the innocence of childhood does not standin the way of depicting children as thinkingindividuals. Mahashweta Devi’s Kyon-KyonChori, Bhishma Sahni’s Gulelbaaz Larka,Jaishankar Prasad’s Chhota Jadugar, RajendraYadav’s Bhay were a part of the course. Wealso felt that as teachers we must introduce thereaders to academic writing in education, butsince a separate paper on the ‘learningprocesses of children’ was being planned, wedid not include such texts. However, tocomplement their role as development workerswe did try to introduce the readers to thoughtsof some prominent thinkers like JawaharlalNehru, Mahatma Gandhi on development.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 10

However, we were not successful in thisdirection and very few such texts were a partof the course.The fourth and last question essentially askedus to give a moral framework to our work. Wecame to the consensus that the picture of societyenvisaged by the Indian Constitution shouldguide the framework to our work. The centraltenants of the Constitution- freedom, equalityand justice are the lens we have used to look atsociety. At the same time we were also clearthat the texts we chose would explore socialrealities, understand homes, communities and theworld and not preach the right way to live. Sosome texts we have chosen depict exploitationand struggle in various unequal powerrelationships like-employer-employee, manwoman,adult-child, rich man-poor man, uppercastes-lower castes etc. Some others celebratehuman endeavor and human struggle againstwrongs. The texts depict both men and womenas capable of being right and wrong and alsoexplore the relationship between human beingsand their environment. Ultimately there has beenan attempt made to give readers the space toexplore various ideas and develop their ownleanings.Namrita Batra has been working at Vidya BhawanEducation Resource Centre for the past 10 years andher areas of interest include generating teachinglearningmaterial for children and teachers as well aseducational research.namrita.batra@gmail.comConclusionWhile this entire engagement was aboutchoosing texts for adults, we felt that there wasa lot to be learnt about choosing texts for evenchildren from this entire process. In fact theremight be things that we can add to this list whenit comes to children, but might find it very difficultto remove any.ReferencesKrashen,S. (1982). Principles and practice in secondlanguage acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon PressInc.Vidya Bhawan Education Resource Centre.2003-2006.Certification course for teachers of alternativeschools. Udaipur: Vidya Bhawan Society.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 11

The Impact of Content: English TextbookDesigning in IndiaSantosh Kumar MahapatraIntroductionHuman consciousness plays a huge role in theformation of one’s identity. In this regard,(Vygotsky, 1925) states that social activitiesexplain the emergence of consciousness inhuman beings. So social can also be an artifactand thus, may also be ‘a regulatory agency thatchannels human behavior and thought’(Ramanathan, 2005, p. 25). Considering thatschools can communicate the legitimate formsof truth through prescribed textbooks, and thatthe English language controls and moulds powerrelations in contemporary Indian society,critically looking into how texts are chosen andtasks are designed in English textbooks in Indiamay explain their possible impact on theformation of student identity.English textbook designing in IndiaDat (2008), in a review of English textbooksused in South-East Asia, points out that Englishtextbook designers in the region “seriously lackprofessional course developers and that therehas not been adequate training in materialsdevelopment” (p. 276). The scenario is not verydifferent in India, even though there have beensome positive developments in the field in thelast few years. However, having only a handfulof trained experts in the area does not reallyhelp the cause. To make matters worse, quite afew so-called ‘trained experts’ prefer writingtextbooks for reputed publishing houses becauseof the huge financial benefits. This leaves thestate as well as the central educational boards(such as NCERT) with fewer options. Giventhat a large percentage of textbook writers at astate level is unaware of what Littlejohn (1992)calls ‘What is there’, ‘What is required’ and‘What is implied’, i.e. the basic theories andpractices of textbook designing, quite a few ofthem choose easily available texts, follow thedesign of a few already existing textbooks, anddevelop some traditionally used task and activityBasically, those who have access tosocial comforts, luxuries, advancedtechnology, books, magazines, etc., caneasily and happily identify themselveswith the characters presented in the texts.On the other hand, students frombackward classes who have very little orno access to the facilities mentionedabove, may not have many charactersand contexts to identify with.types. With pre-service training for Englishteachers offering little help with materialsdesigning, teaching and learning becomedawdling and uninteresting.Textbook content and politics of class andcasteMorarji (2004), in an analysis of theEnvironmental Studies textbooks prescribed bythe NCERT, comments: “Lessons in textbooksare coded in ways which marginalize ruralidentity markers, and actively prescribe identitiesthat are coded as urban middle-class”. Morarji’sLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 12

observations are very similar to that of Illaiah(1996), who claims that the course content iseither unrelated to the cultural experiences ofdalit students, or undervalues their educationalexperience, dignity and self-esteem. Suchirregularities can also be found in Englishtextbooks. However, it is surprising that thecontent and context in English textbooks havenot drawn much attention for research, eventhough the fact remains that “English languageproficiency in a globalizing India is an essentialcomponent of one’s cultural baggage....For themiddle classes, English is a resource that mustbe defended and maintained at all costs”(Scrase, 2004, p.16).There are several ways in which the selectionof content for English textbooks can have adirect impact on the formation of identity of thelearners. In India, students from backwardclasses and minority communities often findthemselves at a disadvantage. Their community,belief systems, socio-cultural practices, etc., areeither presented in a distorted manner, orexcluded from the textbook altogether. Also,students coming from the dominant classes/communities to the classroom start forming aderogatory picture of these unrepresented orbadly represented classes/communities and ofthe people belonging to these communities.Basically, those who have access to socialcomforts, luxuries, advanced technology, books,magazines, etc., can easily and happily identifythemselves with the characters presented in thetexts. On the other hand, students frombackward classes who have very little or noaccess to the facilities mentioned above, maynot have many characters and contexts toidentify with. For example, a chapter onComputers is prescribed for Class IX studentsin Odisha, where more than 60% of studentsare from backward classes.As if the bias and ignorance in the contentselection is not enough, the end-of-lesson tasksfurther complicate matters. The questions usedin these tasks often develop a sense of ‘rightand wrong’, and ‘good and bad’ in students. Inother words, they stealthily infuse “forms ofconsciousness that enable social control to bemaintained without the necessity of dominantgroups having to resort to overt mechanisms ofdomination” (Apple, 1990, p. 3). For example, atext talks about a female student from a slumwho is given guava leaves boiled in water byher mother when she has fever. The questionsat the end of lesson are asked in a way thatmakes the students believe that tablets andmedicines prescribed by the doctors andavailable in the medical stores are the only rightkind of medicines. Again, if the text mentionsthat the girl’s mother does not take care of her,and beats her if she asks for clothes and otherthings, the end-of-lesson questions may portrayTextbooks are mere tools in this practiceof hegemony in which English as a culturalcapital helps maintain the dominance ofthe middle and upper class over theunderprivileged class. In this set-up, allthe good intentions of the ‘education forall’ policy remain unattended.the mother as a villain, instead of looking at thepathetic condition she is in, and the strugglesshe has to undergo every day to earn a living.Moreover, the questions can sometimes createa picture of what a ‘good and ideal’ woman isexpected to do.If the inclusion of Western or foreign texts atan early stage of English education bringscultural alienation (e.g. NCERT Class Vtextbook Marigold), texts where the socialpractices of students are presented in a negativelight does more damage to their self-esteem andmotivation. They become apprehensive abouttheir socio-cultural identity, and try to eitheracquire a pseudo-identity of higher classes, orend up feeling a sense of depression, shame,anger and rebelliousness. Similarly, one’s senseLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 13

of right, wrong, good, bad, clean, hygienic, andsocial acceptance, etc., is also shaped by Englishtextbooks, because of the power, prestige andglamour attached with its learning. Ultimately,what the students start believing in is exactlywhat the politically dominant class wants themto believe. Such beliefs get fossilized; then theindividual gradually loses the power ofquestioning; and finally, he/she gets assimilatedinto the belief system of the dominant class.Government and private school EnglishtextbooksThe government-private divide is perhaps themost obvious factor when it comes to classpolitics in ELT in India; NCERT, CBSE, ICSEand the state educational boards, all produce theirown English textbooks. As I have discussedearlier, textbook designing at the central levelinvolves more expertise than in the states.However, there has been a long and inconclusivedebate about the validity of a national curriculum.It is virtually impossible to cater to the needs ofa large variety of students from differentlinguistic and socio-cultural backgrounds throughone textbook at one level. Moreover, theinclusion of a high percentage of foreign Englishtexts in the English textbooks, such as in theICSE (Classes IX and X) and NCERT(‘Marigold’ for Class V), is ridiculous andunreasonable.The state-level textbook designing in India hasimproved over the last decade. But issues basedon caste, class, gender, sexuality, politics, religion,etc., have remained forbidden territories fortextbook writers, and ‘critical thinking’ has beenconfined to garnishing policy materials. So thereis little scope for preparing students to challengethe unequal and undemocratic practicesprevalent in Indian societies.Like the elitist set-up of private English mediumschools, the English textbooks used in suchschools are often designed by well knownmaterials designers and produced by renownedpublishing houses. The absence of a ruleemphasizing the use of only governmentproducedtextbooks encourages these practices.It is not only the layout and price of the books,but also the texts and tasks presented in themthat ensure the exclusion of students fromunderprivileged backgrounds. Textbooks aremere tools in this practice of hegemony in whichEnglish as a cultural capital helps maintain thedominance of the middle and upper class overthe underprivileged class. In this set-up, all thegood intentions of the ‘education for all’ policyremain unattended.Decolonizing and democratizing EnglishtextbooksThe politics of English textbooks is a part ofwhat Ramanathan (2005) calls ‘assumptionsnexus’. She defines it in the following terms:“…everything in class-related conventions thatinform how and why particular class groups liveand make the choices they do in almost everyrealm of everyday existence, including thoserelated to schooling, child-rearing, literacypractices at home, clothing and publicappearances, food, how money gets spent, bodysizes, weight, health, nutrition and hairdos and,most importantly, in the present case, opting forfluency in English (sometimes through an EMeducation)” (p. 37).So changing the writing practice of textbooks isa huge challenge because all the stakeholdersin the decision-making position are part of thesocietal structure it is based on. However, thereis a possibility of changing the socially generatedand constructed consciousness through a criticalcurricular pattern based on democraticideologies. Introducing critical thinkingcomponents in training programmes for textbookwriters and teachers may make a good start.However, it will be better to have suchcomponents in pre-service programmes, toLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 14

ensure that they get a solid foundation in criticalthinking. The next step could be making thepresence of experts working in governmentuniversities mandatory during textbook designingprogrammes at the state level. There should berestrictions on people who work for privatepublishing houses while drawing fat salaries fromgovernment treasuries. Also, it could be of greathelp to have a national certification body tomonitor the writing of English textbooks in thecountry. There should be clear guidelines againstwhich all the content and tasks of textbooksshould be examined and passed before gettingpublished. Efforts should be made to pitch textsand tasks on a democratically representativeground so that they promote communal harmony,mutual respect, nationhood, and above all,critical thinking. This may lead to the realizationof an NCF (2005) dream- “...nurturing anoverriding identity informed by caring concernswithin the democratic polity of the country” (p.viii).National Council of Educational Research andTraining. (2005). National curriculumframework 2005. New Delhi: NCERT.Ramanathan, V. (2005). The English-vernaculardivide: Post-colonial language policies andpractice. Cleveland: Multilingual Matters.Scrase, T. J. (2004). The hegemony of English in India.In R. Cribb (Ed.). Asia examined: Proceedingsof the15th biennial conference of the ASAA,Canberra, Australia.Vygotsky, L. (1925). Consciousness as a problem inthe psychology of behavior (N. Veresov, Trans.).Retrieved from http://www.marxists.org/archive/vygotsky/works/1925/consciousness.htmSantosh Mahapatra is a Ph. D. (Language Testing)student at the University of Hyderabad. His researchinterests include Language Testing, CriticalPedagogy, ESP and Teacher Education.santosheflu@gmail.comReferencesApple, M. (1990). Ideology and curriculum. London:Routledge and Kegan Paul.Dat, B. (2008). ELT materials used in Southeast Asia.In B. Tomlinson (Ed.). English languagelearning materials: A critical review. (pp. 263–280). New York: Continuum InternationalPublishing Group.Illaiah, K. (1996). Why I am not a Hindu. Calcutta:Samya Publications.Littlejohn, A. (1992). Why are ELT materials the waythey are? (Unpublished PhD Thesis). LancasterUniversity, Bailrigg.Morarji, K. (2004). A lesson in State formation:Schooling, moral regulation and genderrelations in Uttaranchal, North India. Paperpresented at 18th European Conference onModern South Asian Studies, LundsUniversitet, Sweden.National Council of Educational Research andTraining (2006). Position paper of the nationalfocus group on curriculum, syllabus andtextbooks. New Delhi: NCERT.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 15

Multilingualism and Bilingualism forLanguage TeachersAsha IyerIntroductionA language teacher, if not all teachers, can worksuccessfully with two or even more languages.In many CBSE schools including the KendriyaVidyalayas, English is the medium of education,therefore, it seems only pedagogically desirableand psychologically advantageous for both thestudents and the teachers to work with Englishas well as the other languages being taught inthe school or represented among the children.Unless a teacher treats the languages of thechildren as a resource, she may not be able tounderstand their output, and may not bepedagogically very effective.Why should we do it?Children in class one have a good knowledge oftheir mother tongue. Also, in each classroomthere is an average of 4-6 language groups,depending upon the State. Let me explain—inUnless a teacher treats the languages ofthe children as a resource, she may not beable to understand their output, and maynot be pedagogically very effective.the States, we may find some children who speakthe regional language of that State as well assome other languages, such as Tamil and someother languages in Tamil Nadu; Bangla as wellas some other languages in West Bengal, andMarathi and some other languages inMaharashtra. The second group may belong tothe neighbouring States—a Marathi group inplaces adjoining Maharashtra such asNepanagar or Burhanpur of Madhya Pradesh,or an Oriya Group in Chhattisgarh, or a HindiGroup in Punjab along with Punjabi andHaryanavi.In such situations a language teacher can doreally well if he/she knows some basics of thelanguage concerned. It is always easy toapproach a child in his/her own language.Moreover, children, especially in primary classes,feel closer to the teacher when he/she tries tosay some words/simple expressions of theirmother tongue and the language becomes a veryimpressive tool.In primary classes, children have a difficult timeadjusting to an alien language such as English.Most of our children are not conversant withEnglish. If the teacher tries to speak in theirown language or even says a few words,children feel at home. One important thing tonote is, never joke about the mother tongue ofchildren, or tease them about it. If you laugh attheir language, they will hate you as well as thesubject you are trying to teach, forever.How does it help?Let us look at Maharashtra as the majority ofmy experiences come from the two KendriyaVidyalayas of Bhusawal and Nepanagar.Nepanagar is situated at the border of MadhyaPradesh and Maharashtra. While teaching inNepanagar, I found students using words fromMarathi while speaking to each other in Hindi.Their tone and expressions also resembled thoseLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 16

of Marathi. The remarkable thing was that formany of them, Marathi was not even theirmother tongue! But I could hear expressionssuch as the following quite often when they triedto speak in Hindi:1. ye meraich hai.This mine only is.This is mine only.In Hindi it would be, ‘Ye meraa hii hai’. Theuse of ‘meraich’ shows a Marathi influence.2. kaiko re!Why oh‘Why eh!‘kaiko’ is used in Marathi in informal speech.In writing, I found many ‘errors’ in the use ofmatras (symbols showing vowels and the lengthof time needed for their pronunciation),especially in the use of short and long ‘i’ and‘u’. To correct such errors, a language teachershould first know why these happen. I examinedthe work of many students and discovered thefollowing: They wrote the short sounds with asign of the longer matra and vice versa. I listenedcarefully to the elders as well, and found thatthey also pronounced these sounds in a similarmanner. One should understand that these areall ‘errors’ in the process of learning, and happendue to the language used around them, andchildren do eventually learn to write correctly.Thus, what we treat as mistakes and oftenpunish our children for, are actually expected,and are simply an evidence of what they arelearning from their environment.Then what did I do?I searched for a Marathi-speaking parent anddiscussed the problem with him. He said it wasall due to the use of the wrong wilanti, which inMarathi means maatraa. Therefore, the word‘hindu’, was pronounced hinduu in Hindi, andhiindu in Marathi (the short ‘i’ became longand long ‘uu’ short). The children also wrote itas hiindu when writing in Hindi; after all, inHindi we want them to write as they speak!So I thought it over and came up with a verysimple solution. It may seem silly, but it worked.I asked the students to exchange the matrasthey intended to write, therefore they wrote ‘i’in place of the longer ‘ii’, and the longer ‘ii’whenever they intended to write a small ‘i’.After a bit they caught up with it and came upwith a similar solution for correcting their small‘u’ and long ‘uu’.One important thing to note is, never jokeabout the mother tongue of children, ortease them about it. If you laugh at theirlanguage, they will hate you as well as thesubject you are trying to teach, forever.Aspirated Hindi consonantsNow let us look at a Tamil-speaking child whois in class one. She/he is either new to Hindi, orhas just learnt a few words in it. How would aHindi teacher make her/him say themahaapraan, i.e. aspirated sounds? Aspiratedsounds are produced with an extra puff of air.That is what makes kaanaa, meaning ‘oneeyed’different from khaanaa meaning ‘food’.Tamil does NOT have aspirated sounds. If ateacher understands that what is involved inproducing an aspirated sound is just an extrapuff of air, she would be able to help her studentsa lot. In this case, early intervention also helps,for once the tongue and other relevant parts ofthe mouth become habituated to speaking in acertain manner, it will be very difficult to correctthe pronunciation. Even our brain will refuse toaccommodate the new way of pronunciation.The first two classes of the Primary is the besttime to perform this task.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 17

Prior knowledgePrior Knowledge is another obstacle in learninga new language, as we all know from our B.Ed.days. The language the child has acquired sincethe day she/he learnt to speak may pose someproblems in the learning of an entirely newlanguage.For instance, in Tamil, there are three genders:masculine (M), feminine (F) and neuter (N) andin Hindi, we have only two.In Tamil we have 3 forms of verbs to go witheach gender, such as:avan poran aval poral adu poraduHe goes She goes It goeswah jata hai wah jati hai no separatewordsA child coming from a largely Tamil-speakingfamily will be flabbergasted! Where to put achair or a table: in the masculine gender or inthe feminine gender? In Tamil, both table andchair belong to the neuter gender, whereas inHindi kursii ‘chair’ is feminine but mez ‘table’masculine. My grandfather used to say:relgaadi roz subaha samay par aatii hai parsham ko pataa nahiin kyon der se aataa hai?‘The Train is always on time in the morning; butI don’t know why it comes late in the evening?’We could never make him understand the genderissue, and sometimes it would be hilarious justto listen to him and my grandmother talking toeach other in Hindi, mixing all the genders! Butwe cannot laugh when our students do this; wehave to teach them the correct rules. I do notsuggest that all Indian languages should be learnt,just the ones that are spoken in the region or bythe children in their respective classes, plusEnglish.I will relate one incident that my father told me.He had a Bengali friend. After their training,they were posted to different stations. Whenthey met after some time, my father asked himabout his office, and he told my father thateverything was okay but there was no ghoraaand ghorii.My father was perplexed—why would a clerkneed a ghoraa (horse) and a ghorii (mare) inan office? As some of you would have guessed,he simply meant gharaa ‘pitcher’ and notghoraa ‘horse’; and gharii ‘watch’ and notghorii ‘mare’.Though this is a very good example, but it doesnot apply to a primary class where we have tobe very careful not to let such situations get outof hand, or they might destroy the goodwillamong the children. Everybody’s mother tongueis close to their hearts. Most of the children andparents are extremely sensitive to the issue oftheir language.Some fundamental steps• Within a week an efficient teacher mustknow what the mother tongues of thechildren in her/his class are. On an averagethere will be 4-5 different language groupsin one class. It would be a good idea tomake a list.• Make all the children speak or read loudly.Make notes of the letters or words whichneed attention.• Group the children according to their mothertongue, e.g. 5- Marathi speaking; 6-locallanguage; 9-Hindi; and so on.• Casually, ask the children synonyms ofsimple words that will appear in the text.Ask questions such as:“What would you call a ‘chair’ in yourlanguage?”Ask whether a word is masculine, feminine orneuter in gender .For this you may have to keeptheir age in mind. Therefore, in class 1 you mayask:Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 18

Popularizing any language is a two-wayaffair; you learn and respect mine, andI will learn and respect yours! It is aseasy as that! Look at small children livingin a multilingual locality; they learn 3-5languages effortlessly, and can as easilyswitch over from one to the other.kursii chhotii hai ki chhotaa?Chair small.FEM. is or small.MASC.?ped ooncha hai ki oonchii?Tree tall.SING. is or tall.PL.?Asking these questions will encourage thechildren to think about these things; we can seethat in English there is no change in theadjectives with the change of gender in thenouns.Even in class 9, I had great difficulty in teachingthe correct gender form of Hindi verbs to theMarathi, Tamil or Malayalam-speaking students,as they would mix them with the rules or normsof their own respective mother tongue.I also did my best to instill respect for otherlanguages in my students. Though they did notdare make fun of my mother tongue; I pushedthe issue on them. I wanted them to come outwith the strange notions that people usually haveregarding South Indian languages. One or twoboys said in a low voice “idli, dosa”, someoneelse said “ai ayyai yo!” They had heard thesewords so often in the Hindi cinema, that for themthese were the only words Tamilians knew! Oneday I feigned real anger and told them aboutthe rich literature of Tamil. I also pointed outthe similarity in the vocabulary of Hindi andTamil, and told them about its rich culture andfine artsPopularizing any language is a two-way affair;you learn and respect mine, and I will learn andrespect yours! It is as easy as that! Look atsmall children living in a multilingual locality; theylearn 3-5 languages effortlessly, and can aseasily switch over from one to the other. Bothmy children learnt Hindi, Tamil and English plusa bit of Urdu and a lot of Marathi just by livingon the border between Madhya Pradesh andMaharashtra. Being offspring of bi/multilingualparents also helps a lot.Projects/assignments to promotebi/multilingualismCollect the following in the respective languagesof the children• Various expressions of welcome• Names of relations (kinship) and findingsimilarities• Alphabets of the mother tongue• Words used in day-to-day living, such asnames of vegetables, fruits and grocery.Games to play in the class(1) This is a game which we used to play aschildren, during the summer holidays. Wewould select a letter and all of us wouldwrite names such as the following (the letterhere being ‘n’):Narendra- name of a boy; Neeta- name ofa girl; Nagpur-a city; Narangee-a fruit;Nose-a part of the body; Namak (salt)-anobject; Navrang-title of a movie; Naachnaa(to dance)-a verb, etc.Similarly, an alphabet may be chosen, andeach child may be asked to write one wordbeginning with that letter in their ownlanguage. This helped a great deal in letterrecognition and vocabulary building, and alsoclassifying words in different categories.(2) Pick out some sounds that are generallymispronounced, or sound similar in 2-3languages, but change the meaning of theword, such as ‘Z’ and ‘J’. Many Persianand Arabic sounds and words have foundplace in Hindi along with a few English ones.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 19

One such sound is ‘Z’, which is used bothin English and in Urdu. Hindi also has a ‘J’sound, and usually educated people alsopronounce ‘Z’ as ‘J’. Next, collect somehomophones and explain the difference intheir meanings. Ask the children to makesentences using the following words:zara ‘a little’, jara ‘old age’; zamana ‘aparticular period’, jamana ‘ to curdle’(3) A very interesting project may be given tothe children by asking them to collect wordsthat have a sound similar, but have entirelydifferent meanings, such as:1. ‘more’ - In English it denotes thecomparative degree of ‘much’; in Hindiit means ‘peacock’ the bird; in Tamil itmeans ‘buttermilk’.2. ‘hii’ - In English as well as Marathi, itdenotes a masculine pronoun in thirdperson ‘he’; but in Hindi, it is either anadverb meaning ‘only’, or used forgiving emphasis.Many such words can be found in various Indianlanguages, and interesting short stories or jokescan be composed around them. So, aren’t therelimitless possibilities in using multilingualismas a resource! It is not difficult if our hearts arein it.By bringing languages together, you will beworking towards the solidarity and unity of thenation, and will always find a place in the heartsof your students.Asha Iyer nee Aisha Bi, M.A. (Hindi) is a freelanceshort story writer and a translator. She worked as aPGT Hindi teacher and Vice Principal in KendriyaVidyalayas.asha.yunus52@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 20

Cartoon Shows: A Tool to FacilitateComprehension in Young LearnersSaumya SharmaIntroductionThis article employs the story grammar modelto explore the role of televised cartoon serialsin facilitating comprehension in school childrenof elementary grade. In India, research inEnglish language teaching has not only addressedthe methods and approaches of teaching Englishin a multilingual society, its cultural and psychosocialaspects and the dilemmas of curriculumand texts, but also has focused on how to teachthe four basic skills of listening, speaking, readingand writing (henceforth LSRW) (Agnihotri andKhanna, 1997; Shorey, 2006, Tickoo, 2003;Kudchedkar, 2002). However, scant attentionhas been paid to assessing whether or not thelearner has comprehended the text. The factthat comprehension precedes production is wellestablished, both in first and second languageacquisition. Scholars such as Jean Piaget (2001)and Stephen Krashen (1981) have discussed thechild’s ability to comprehend (assimilateinformation and understand the various stimuliin the environment) much before his ability toarticulate. Krashen (1981) uses the term ‘silentperiod’ to denote such a comprehension phase,in which ‘comprehensible input’ is necessary forlearning. Comprehension is a complex process,which comprises cognition, affect andperception: through it learners negotiate meaningby creating schemas or mental frameworks,about the self and others (persons, objects andevents). We can gauge the extent of a child’scomprehension by analysing these schematicconstructs, and this very premise has beenemployed in the story grammar model (Stein andGlenn, 1979). This article tries to highlight howcartoon shows can be used to help develop thechildren’s comprehension by forming schematicconstructs. It is this comprehension, or cognitiveprocessing, gauged through LSRW, that formsthe focus of this paper, and not LSRW itself.Cartoons: A tool of instructionThe soaring income of working parentscombined with long office hours, has contributedto a child’s excessive viewing of the television,be it in the form of cartoons or video games.Adapting cartoons—a much-malignedmedium—as a teaching tool can help both theteacher and the taught to view learning as fun.Cartoon channels such as Pogo, Nickelodeon,Hungama TV, Cartoon Network, etc.,broadcast different serials in a bid to attract theyoung viewer. These serials include cartoonssuch as Walt Disney’s anecdotes of Tom andJerry; Japanese narratives of Doraemon,Kiteresu, Hagemaru, Shin-Chan; Indianmythological tales such as Chota Bheem, TenaliRaman, Ramayana; and the exploits of PowerRangers, Ben 10 and Pokemon. Most of theseare easily accessible; thus their recreationalvalue can be exploited in the classroom. Theyare thematically relevant, since they portraydiverse cultures, and raise key moral and socialissues. Also, their repeated and short durationof broadcast, and their multi-modality (verbaland visual elements creating a dramatic effect)permit them to be used as effective teachingtools.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 21

Theoretical frameworkAdopting the story grammar approach (Stein andGlenn, 1979), cartoon shows can be utilized forteaching comprehension. This approach statesthat stories are thematic and plot-based, andcontain the following features:a) A setting that introduces the characters, timeand action.b) An initiating action, which is the action orthe event that sets up the problem for thestory.c) The internal response of the main characterto the problem.d) The attempts made by the protagonists tosolve the problem.e) The consequences of the actions of thecharacters, leading to the resolution of theproblem.f) The reactions of the protagonists to thesituation or event.The fact that comprehension precedesproduction is well established, both in firstand second language acquisition.Scholars such as Jean Piaget (2001) andStephen Krashen (1981) have discussedthe child’s ability to comprehend(assimilate information and understandthe various stimuli in the environment)much before his ability to articulate.Adults use the same story-structure in recalling(Mandler and Johnson, 1977) and summarizingstories, and this approach has even beenemployed to teach reading comprehension tolearners via stories. To illustrate my premise, Ihave chosen three popular cartoon serials—Tomand Jerry, Doraemon and Tenali Raman(though others can be used as well)—todemonstrate how they contain the basicelements of story grammar, and can thereforebe used to teach comprehension.Story GrammarElementsInitiating ActionTom and JerryDoraemonTenali RamanMostly, Tom wishes tocatch Jerry.Mostly, Nobita creates aproblem by disobeying hisparents or teachers, or bygetting into trouble withGian, the school bully.Nobita is worried and seeksDoraemon’s help.Doraemon produces agadget to solve theproblem, but Nobitamisuses it and the troubleescalates.Tenali’s enemies hatch aplot to revile him in courtby creating a problem, orsome commoner brings hisgrievance to the king.Tenali is puzzled and mullsover the problem.Tenali attempts to solve theproblem through his wit/clever tricks. Sometimes hetakes the help of his wife.Internal ResponseTom gloats over Jerry’spanic.Tom continues the mischiefand Jerry retaliates eitherwith objects-at-hand, orwith the help of otheranimals such as Butch thedog.Jerry is saved from Tom’sattack, who is eitherpunished for hismisdemeanor, or sustainsan injury.Jerry is happy and relieved,whereas Tom is sad.Attempts to solve theproblemConsequencesThe problem is solved,Nobita is saved, and thegadget is restored toDoraemon.The culprit is caught, orderis restored, and Tenali isrewarded by the king.Reactions of theProtagonist/sNobita realizes his mistakeand promises not to repeatit; Doraemon is happy.Tenali’s enemies areshamefaced; the kingpraises him much toeveryone’s joy.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 22

Comprehension is a two-fold process whichincludes surface comprehension of the text aswell as a deeper comprehension of the eventsconcerning the society at large. By viewing thesecartoons, the learners are exposed to themannerisms, social norms and cultures of variousregions.Analysis: Story grammar through cartoonshowsTom and Jerry, produced by Walt Disney,shows the tales of a tyrannical cat called Tomwho is always pestering a mischievous mousenamed Jerry. Doraemon, a Japanese cult iconthat has become immensely popular of late,presents the anecdotes of an intelligent, humanerobotic cat—Doraemon—who employs‘electronic gadgets’ to help his naughty butinnocent friend Nobita from problematicalsituations, or the school bully Gian. Its popularitycan be evinced from the fact that it is telecastin most vernaculars, and was officially declaredby the Japanese government as the animeambassador of its culture in 2008. Unlike theseStagesInitiating actionInternal ResponseAttempts to solve theproblemConsequencesReactions of theProtagonist/sAdditional Questions onhumour and social relevanceQuestions on Tom andJerryWhere are Tom and Jerry?What prompts Tom totrouble Jerry?What plans does he make tocatch him?How does Tom feel afterlaying the trap for Jerry?How does Jerry feel?What does Jerry do to savehimself?Whose help does he take andhow?What does Tom do tocontinue chasing him?Does Tom finally catchJerry?How is Jerry saved?What happens to Tom inthe end? Is he punished?Does Tom realize hismistake?How does Jerry feel?What is/are the funniestscene/scenes in the episodeand why?What do we learn from it?What could have Tom doneto save himself?Questions on DoraemonWhat does Nobita’s motheror teacher ask him to do?What does he actually do,and why?What are the consequencesof Nobita’s disobedience?Why is he worried?Why does he go toDoraemon?What does Doraemon do tohelp Nobita?What does Nobita do withthe gadget?Why does Nobita get intofurther trouble?Why does Doraemon getangry with Nobita?What do Nobita andDoraemon do?Who helps them?How does Doraemon solvethe problem?Who is punished and why?Is Nobita saved?Does he realize his mistake?How do Nobita andDoraemon feel?What is your favourite scenein the show and why?What do we learn from thestory?What would have happenedif the problem had remainedunsolved?Who would have been hurt?Does this problem affect ustoo?If yes, what should we do tohelp ourselves?Questions on TenaliRamanWhat do Tenali’s enemiesplan, and why?What problem does thecommoner face?How does Tenali feel whenhe learns of the problem?How do his enemies feel?What puzzles Tenali?What does he do?Does he take anyone’s help?If yes, who is it?Is the problem solved?Does Tenali solve theproblem?How does he do so?What tricks does he use?What reward is Tenali given?What happens to theculprit?How does Tenali feel?Is the king pleased?Do his enemies realize theirmistake?What do you learn from thestory?Do we face a similarproblem?If yes, how should we solveit?Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 23

two shows, Tenali Raman tells the tales of the‘Birbal’ of South India—a minister in the courtof King Krishnadevaraya in Vijayanagar, whouses his intelligence to defeat his enemies. Thislegendary character has been adapted by variousproduction houses in multiple regional languages,a notable case being The Adventures of TenaliRaman produced by Cartoon Network in 2001.Each episode of these shows has a differentsetting which introduces the place, thecharacters and the time frame.The story grammar model allows comprehensionto be tested on two grounds: a) actions and b)emotions of the characters, by forming schemasabout the characters, events and settings. Theteacher can show an episode and give handoutsof a set of questions for each stage of the storyImagination, an integral component ofcomprehension, is employed in such avirtual world, allowing the young learnerto become a part of the problem, andfinding a solution by either impersonatingone of the characters, or helping them.Alternatively, a recall test may include anoral or a written recollection of the salientevents of the story and the teacher canmaintain records of the learners toevaluate their progress.grammar. He/she may even add an additionalset of questions on humour and values in orderto contextualize the model and make it sociallyrelevant to the young learners. These questionsare deliberately generic, so that they can bemodified by the teacher according to the episodeshown, and the issues raised.In the process of comprehending the text, thechild thinks, feels, perceives and interpretsspeech within the context. The questions helpto facilitate this comprehension further; theyserve as prompts to decode the dialogue andvisuals (Doraemon and Tenali Raman), or onlyvisuals (Tom and Jerry), by forming schemasabout the characters, their actions and feelings,the sequencing of events, and the setting.Comprehension is a two-fold process whichincludes surface comprehension of the text aswell as a deeper comprehension of the eventsconcerning the society at large. By viewingthese cartoons, the learners are exposed to themannerisms, social norms and cultures of variousregions. According to Hall (2011), the L2classroom becomes a “place where the ‘local’and ‘global’ come together” (p. 27). He alsoquotes Johnston suggesting that languageteaching is a value-laden activity. So thesecartoons can serve to teach social and moralvalues and also raise awareness about theirrelevance. The questions help the learners tounderstand the events in the show, and to relatethem to their everyday experience. For example,one of the episodes of Doraemon shows theprotagonists building a subway for Nobita’sfather so that he does not have to walk incrowded places to reach that subway. Thisepisode can be used to highlight the relevanceof subways in modern India. In Tenali Raman,the protagonist agrees to serve the cruel RajPurohit in order to teach him a lesson on how totreat servants humanely. The teacher can, byunderscoring the importance of treating thedomestic help in a humane manner, educate thechildren to be socially responsible citizens.The responses of the learners can be scored torecord the progression of their comprehension.After viewing a series of cartoons, teachers maygive the children a home and a classroomassignment in the form of an online game and arecall test, respectively. A worksheet consistingof the following questions about the online gamemay also be given as follows:1) On which website did you find the game?2) What were the names of the characters inthe game?3) What problem/s do they face?Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 24

4) What did they do to solve the problem/s?5) Did you play one of the characters?6) How did you help the characters to solvethe problem?Imagination, an integral component ofcomprehension, is employed in such a virtualworld, allowing the young learner to become apart of the problem, and finding a solution byeither impersonating one of the characters, orhelping them. Alternatively, a recall test mayinclude an oral or a written recollection of thesalient events of the story and the teacher canmaintain records of the learners to evaluate theirprogress.ConclusionComprehension can be enhanced by usingelements of story grammar to explain andexpress the plot and themes of cartoons shows.Cognitive understanding includes a complex setof thinking, feeling, perceiving and listening skillsthat can lead to successful teaching andassessment of comprehension. Furthermore,exercises on writing, grammar and vocabularycan be designed based on the same shows,making them an all-embracing yet enjoyablemedium for teaching English in India.ReferencesAgnihotri, R. K. & Khanna, A. L. (1997).Problematizing English in India. New Delhi:Sage.Kudchedkar, S. (Ed.). (2002). Readings in Englishlanguage teaching in India. Chennai: OrientLongman.Mandler, J. M., & N. S. Johnson. (1977). Remembranceof things parsed: Story structure and recall.Cognitive Psychology, 9, 111-157.Marshall, N. (1983). Using story grammar to assessreading comprehension. The Reading Teacher36 (7), 616-620.Piaget, J. (2001). The psychology of intelligence.(Malcolm Piercy and D. E. Berlyne, Trans.)London: Routledge.Ravi S. (2006). Learning and teaching English inIndia. New Delhi: Sage.Stein, N. L., & Glenn, C. G. (1979). An analysis ofstory comprehension in elementary schoolchildren. In R. O. Freedle (Ed.), New directionsin discourse processing (pp. 53-120). Norwood,NJ: Ablex.Tickoo, M. L. (2003). Teaching and learning English:A sourcebook for teachers and teachertrainers.Hyderabad: Orient Longman.Cartoons“Raman Jeopardy Jester.” The adventures of TenaliRaman. Cartoon Network, India. 2001. CD.“The Yankee Doodle Mouse.” Tom and Jerry. WaltDisney. Cartoon Network, 26th June, 1993.“Build up Subway.” (Television series episode inDoraemon.) Cartoon Network, 14th April, 1979.Saumya Sharma is an Assistant Professor(Linguistics) at EFL University, Lucknow Campus,Lucknow. Her interests include critical discourseanalysis, discourse and psychology and children’sliterature.saumyasharma2@gmail.comHall, G. (2011). Exploring English languageteaching: Language in action. Oxford:Routledge.Krashen, S. (1981). Second language acquisitionand second language learning. New York:Pergamon Press.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 25

Teaching English in Class INivedita Vijay BedadurIntroductionI was posted to the remote area of Diu, andwas miles away from urban civilization and itsbenefits. When I was asked to teach Class I, Ifelt nonplussed. I was tired of everybody tellingme, “teaching kids in this school is a fruitlessjob; if they manage to learn their a,b,c etc., itwill be a wonder.” I began to wonder how Icould teach children to read. As a child, I hadbeen taught in a traditional manner, beginningwith a year long practice of first the capitalletters, then the small letters, followed by twoand then three letter words, and finally shortsentences. I had learnt many words by heart,and had been my teacher’s pet. But I stillremember the pain in my hands and the boredomin my heart with hatred.Teacher trainingIn my BEd classes, I had been taught theimportance of phonic drills which went onsomething like “bill, pill, mill, dill”. Then, we alsohad incremental drills such as “at, bat, it, bit”.We had been taught to create rhyming wordlists such as“sat, cat”, or alliterative lists suchas “sing a song”. It was like a parrot being taughthow to speak. I wondered how all of that wouldlead to speaking or reading English in ameaningful way.I wondered if the aim of learning and teachingwas to teach how to write and read the alphabet,and a few words and sentences. Wasn’t thesoul of learning lost in this meaninglessrepetition? I was in search of those tasks whichwould engage and give children a joy of learningand discovery. I also wanted the children’sexperience of learning to be meaningful andmemorable.The fateful dayAt last the fateful day arrived, and I stood infront of an eager batch of children bursting withenergy. It was very difficult to keep them inplace, to stop them from fidgeting, and to listenI told them many stories, and the storieswould be woven around their lives, theirmother and their father and fishing netsand fish. These stories were mostly bilingual,with Hindi syntax and English vocabulary.They also contained phrases in dialoguesthat were in English,e.g. “Come here”, saidthe fisherman’s wife. In the evenings, mostof us would meet at the seashore, and gofor a walk, where the sea, the fish and thefisherman’s wife would come alive. Thechildren also told me stories of sighting ofdolphins, the return of their fathers fromlong fishing trips, a marriage in thecommunity, etc. I often retold these storiesto them in English.to me for a while. So I decided to listen to them.I just sat down among them and listened. Soon,we formed a circle and sang some songs. Mostof the songs were in Hindi, which was children’sschool language, and two songs were in English.The children tried to follow the songs, but mostof them lost interest.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 26

Then we sat down, and I told them that I hadsome colours–real water colours for them. Thistriggered their interest immediately. We talkedabout what they would like to draw, what theyhad seen outside, what they had seen inside theclassroom, etc. Most of this conversation tookplace in Hindi, but I surreptitiously sneaked inEnglish words which they knew and understood,and some of which they did not. They seemedto understand the meaning from the context. Iasked them what they would like to draw; somewanted to draw their house, others wanted todraw fruits, and it went on like this. We decidedthat we would give two names to each drawing,one that they would choose, and one that I wouldchoose. And I would tell them the name I hadchosen.This interested them, and so I made groups andmade them sit around a box of paints, waterand paper. I went around, and sat with eachgroup while they drew and painted. We chattedabout colours. The words “red, blue and green”were discussed. Soon I was telling them inEnglish to bring water from the tap, close thedoor, try green here, mix red and blue. They didnot seem to notice the difference between thetwo languages. They were so engrossed in thetask that they responded to me automatically;some children even started using English namesfor the colours.Later, when their painting sheets were ready, Iwrote in English the names of the things theyhad drawn on the sheets. Each child broughther picture to me; we chatted about the picture,wrote the names both in Hindi and English, andclipped the pictures to a clip board. Everybodylooked at each other’s pictures, commentedupon them and talked about them. We decidedthat we would talk about the pictures, and saywhich ones we liked. So children talked aboutthe pictures, and when they asked me tocomment, I said things like, “This should havebeen a little greener, red looks better”.I then wrote down on the board under eachpicture the child’s name,what they had drawn.They started telling me the names of the things—some in Hindi and some in English. It happenedquite spontaneously, and I too wrote them downspontaneously. Some children had drawn biscuitsthat they had taken during breakfast, others haddrawn their houses, and some had drawnbananas and balloons that we had brought justthe other day for our class picnic.Every day we would do something similar.Sometimes, we would fill our water bottles withclean water from the tap, and then name eachbottle, so there was a big bottle, a small bottle,etc. These names remained on the bottles for ashort while, but they were etched on the mindsI wondered if the aim of learning and teachingwas to teach how to write and read thealphabet, and a few words and sentences.Wasn’t the soul of learning lost in thismeaningless repetition? I was in search ofthose tasks which would engage and givechildren a joy of learning and discovery. Ialso wanted the children’s experience oflearning to be meaningful and memorable.of the students with permanent markers! Andwe would sit down and talk about them. Soonmost of our talk was in English!I told them many stories, and the stories wouldbe woven around their lives, their mother andtheir father and fishing nets and fish. Thesestories were mostly bilingual, with Hindi syntaxand English vocabulary. They also containedphrases in dialogues that were in English,e.g.“Come here”, said the fisherman’s wife. In theevenings, most of us would meet at the seashore,and go for a walk, where the sea, the fish andthe fisherman’s wife would come alive. Thechildren also told me stories of sighting ofLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 27

dolphins, the return of their fathers from longfishing trips, a marriage in the community, etc. Ioften retold these stories to them in English.Now, I started bringingbig books to school, asour walls were chock-a-block with the children’swork. We had named a lot of things in English,and put up their pictures on the walls. Thepictures, with their name labels, hung like kiteson the criss-cross wires singing in the wind thatblew from the sea. We often pointed to themand talked about how they looked, and removedsome to replace them with better versions. Ofcourse, the names of the things were written byme, but the children had started writing theirown names, and very proudly too. We often satunder the banyan tree in the yard, reading thebig book about the little mermaid or thefisherman’s wife, with children drawing picturesin the sand.Of course, I had to teach the alphabet, and itwas fun to discover them in the books that wehad read.More often than not, the children couldread an entire word once they had located thealphabet in the text. We had read the books somany times that it evoked instant recognition.All this happened when we started bringing tothe class bottle labels, pamphlets, shampoosachets, and empty packets of kurkure. Welooked at them and read the names on the labels,and sometimes the instructions too on them. Westuck them in a large album that I had createdout of old chart papers and covers, and thechildren wrote under them. The spellings wereoften funny; they were invented spellings andthe letters were all awry, but they were allwritten by the children. I would sit down andask them what they were writing. Each one wasso special.Nivedita Bedadur has been an English languageteacher, resource person and Principal in KendriyaVidyalayas in the country and abroad. Her researchinterests include learning and teacher capacitydevelopment. Presently she is working as Specialist,Academics and Pedagogy in the UniversityResource Centre of Azim Premji University.nivedita@azimpremjifoundation.orgConclusionThus, we started on our journey of literacy—amemorable journey filled with fun and lots ofhard work, but the children were with me.Ourbonds cemented with the glue of love.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 28

Democratizing the Classroom: AugustoBoal’s Theatre of the Oppressed as aCritical Pedagogical ToolChitra SeshadhriIntroductionThis paper is thoroughly experimental indesigning various activities to suit the studentswho hail from the underprivileged sections ofthe society as well as those students whointernalize a sense of oppression whenever itcomes to learning English. Democratization ofthe classroom leads to the participation of allthe students to not only communicate in English,but also to start speaking a few words. Studentswho are first generation learners internalize afear when a teacher talks continuously inEnglish. They feel alienated, and the wordsuttered become mere incomprehensible soundsto them. In this scenario, the English teacher’srole is to first take his/her class into confidence.The Theatre of the Oppressed by Augusto Boalcomes as a critical tool in breaking the ice insuch classrooms.English often afflicts the audience/students. Andyet, they have to communicate in English, andthis develops an ambivalence among them. Inthis scenario, the technique of the Braziliantheatre director-cum-social activist AugustoBoal is likely to have a therapeutic effect on theaudience. Boal was raised in Rio de Janeiro,and was formally trained in ChemicalEngineering. He attended Columbia Universityin the late 1940s and early 1950s. Although hisinterest in theatre began at a very young age, itwas after he finished his degree at ColumbiaUniversity that he was asked to return to Brazilto work in the Arena Theatre in Sao Paulo. Hiswork at the Arena Theatre led him to experimentwith new forms of theatre that would have anextraordinary impact on traditional theatrepractice. The present argument, and theactivities proposed thereafter are structured onthe concept of the spect-actor developed byBoal.The spect-actorPrior to Boal’s experimentation, audiences wereinvited to discuss a play at the end ofperformance. In so doing, according to Boal,they remained mere viewers and ‘reactors’ tothe action before them. In the 1960s, BoalStudents who are first generation learnersinternalize a fear when a teacher talkscontinuously in English. They feelalienated, and the words uttered becomemere incomprehensible sounds to them. Inthis scenario, the English teacher’s role isto first take his/her class into confidence.developed a process whereby audiencemembers could interrupt a performance, andsuggest a different action for the character whowas experiencing oppression; the actor playingthat character would then continue with hisperformance incorporating the suggestions ofthe audience. But in a legendary development,a woman in the audience once was so outragedwhen an actor could not understand hersuggestion that she came onto the stage andshowed what she meant. For Boal, this was thebirth of the spect-actor (not spectator), and histheatre was transformed. He began to inviteaudience members with suggestions for changeonto the stage to demonstrate their ideas. In soLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 29

doing, he discovered that through thisparticipation the audience members becameempowered not only to imagine the change, butto actually practise that change.In overcoming inhibition, performative pedagogyis always expected to create greater impact thannarrative pedagogy. Therefore, most of theactivities developed here are based on thetechniques of Boal and the main focus will beon social issues at the local, regional and nationallevel. Teachers must choose issues that thestudents are familiar with, can react to and areable to participate in.Some of the steps involved in Boal’s techniqueare: A script should be prepared and enactedby a group of students. There should be a joker/facilitator to mediate between the actors andthe audience. The teacher himself/herself canplay this role. The audience may be allowed tointerrupt at any point to perform any role, ortheir suggestions may simply be taken intoaccount and the original conclusion of the scriptbe changed. Interchange of roles between thestudent performers and student spectators is alsoallowed.Activity 1The following activity is based on a scene thateveryone can relate to.Theme: In a bus during peak hourMake 10 students stand in two rows of fiveeach, not facing each other, with one studentperforming the role of the conductor. Let themslightly sway to and fro to mimic the movementin a bus. Let one row represent men, and theother women, both of varying age groups. Thedriver brakes suddenly; while all the women holdon to the rails and maintain their balance, threeout of ten men fall on their women counterparts,leading to a heated exchange.College girl student : Are you not ashamed tofall on me like this?Man : As though I don’t have any other work.It is because of the sudden brakes.College girl student : All the passengers weresubjected to the sudden brakes.Did they all come and fall on this side?Man : Oh! You are such a beauty queen; that iswhy I fell on you. UghSecond Man : Sir, don’t create a problem.College girl student : Don’t talk too much. Youdid it wantonly that is what I mean.Second Woman : These men degrade womenon purpose.Man : All these college girls carrying bags andtravelling by buses, wanting to become collectorsand doctors. We know how you roam around.College girl student : Mister! Don’t talk toomuch. We are not of such character. What youdid was wrong, just accept that. Don’t slandercollege-going students. Better shut your mouth…Or else…Second Man : Please, both of you keep quiet.It’s getting late for work.Second Woman : Do these men not havesisters? They insult women far too much.Man (teasingly) : What will you do madam? Letme see. Let me see. (Coming closer)Conductor (intervenes) : Hey you, I will stopthe bus and you will have to get off.Man : Oh! You are the security guard for women,is it? You think you can get away with whateveryou want to do?Conductor : Driver, take the bus to the policestation.College girl student : Yes, that is the right placefor this manThe Man : What did you say ? (Shouts angrily)The facilitator/joker may allow the activity tobe interrupted at this point, and ask the audiencefor their opinion. He/she may:Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 30

I) Ask for different ways of handling thesituation (at least 5).II) Ask for solutions to the problem fromdifferent students (at least 5).The students may be allowed to recommendsuggestions/solutions in their native tongue. Thesuggestions should be translated into English byanother student, and then repeated by the firstone. Based on the suggestions, a new scriptwith a different set of exchanges may beprepared and performed by another group ofstudents. During the course of the performance,the facilitator may ask the students to switchroles. Hence interchange of role even within agroup is possible.Activity 2Newspaper theatreIn this technique, Boal suggests that a script bewritten around any interesting news item. Thefollowing activity is based on the news itemGreen Guardians, which appeared on the firstpage of The Hindu Metro Plus dated 26 April2011.Student 1 : Today I am going to tell you all thestory of how a grief-stricken man turned into agreen-guardian.Student 2 : What Green guardian? I am not ableto understand (looking at her friends). Can oneof you tell me the meaning of green guardian?Allow at least five student spectators to interactbetween themselves. They may try and guesswhat the green guardian is.Student 1 : Okay! That’s fine. I will tell you themeaning of green guardian; it means a personwho protects trees and plants to make our eartha greener place.Student 3 : But you said that a grief-strickenman turned into a green guardian. What is that?Student 4 : Let me continue. Yes, that is a sadstory. It is about a farmer called Mullaivanam,from Sriperumbudur. In 2006, he lost his wifeDhanalakshmi to cancer.Student 5 : Oh! That’s really sad. Whathappened to him after that?Student 6 : He must have become heart-brokenand sad. It is difficult to overcome such grief.Student 3 : But she said that he turned into agreen guardian. Wait wait let us hear the entirestory.Student 4 : Mullaivanam emerged from hisdespair through fresh commitment to a socialmission.Student 7: Oh! That’s really great. I think it mustbe through the trees and plants that he musthave found solace. Am I right?Student 8 : Exactly. I am going to ask you all aquestion.Actors/spectators : Yes …Student 8 : Blood saves lives; hence there areblood banks similarly...Student intervention : Trees save lives, hencethere are tree banks.Student 1 : Yes, good. Now can anyonecontinue?The facilitator may suggest someone, or leaveit to the students to volunteer.Student 9 : That’s fantastic! Blood banks andTree Banks. You know Mullaivanam foundedthe Tree Bank of India in 2008.Student 10 : Yes, this has given a massive boostto social tree planting. Can you guess what itsactivities are?(At least five reactions from the student/spectators are required.)Student 3 : Almost all of you have guessed itright. The Tree Bank gives free saplings toanyone who cares to ask.Student 4 : Yes, tree lovers in a district areelevated to leadership roles.Student 7 : How is that possible? Please explain.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 31

Student 4 : The tree lovers run the Green Ribbonclub. The volunteers who work under them areassigned three different roles and they areawarded three different coloured stars.Student 8 : Wait wait. Let me tell them. I did notget a chance to speak so far.Student 4 : Yes, go ahead.Student 8 : The three differently coloured starsare: green for planters, yellow for nurturers (ofthe plants and trees), and white for thedistributors of saplings.Student 9 : Hats off to this man. His positiveattitude towards life and his social mission aretruly inspiring. What do you say?Allow as many reactions as possible, even ifthey are negative. Another script could beprepared based on these reactions.Student 10 : The story is not over. Please sitdown. The tree bank also trains teams in theessentials of tree service. They collect seedlings,prepare makeshift bags, grow plants in them,transfer them to the ground and protect themwith tree guards.Student 9 : According to Mullaivanam, his teamgoes all across India to train people. Those whorequire their services just need to pay for thetickets to their place. The services are free.Student 8 : What are the reasons forenvironmental degradation?Allow at least five reactions.Student 6 : We have a very important duty, ofsaving our planet Earth. Social tree-planting isthe best way for achieving this.All together : The Earth would be a better placeto live in.Activity 3Forum theatreThis activity is based on the Forum Theatretechnique of Boal, which begins with theenactment of a scene (or anti-model) in whicha protagonist tries, unsuccessfully, to overcomea form of oppression relevant to the audience.The joker then invites the spect-actors to replacethe protagonist at any point in the performance,where they can imagine an alternative actionthat could lead to a solution. The scenes arereplayed numerous times with differentinterventions. This results in a dialogue aboutthe oppression, an examination of thealternatives, and a ‘rehearsal’ for real-lifesituations. This activity caters to higher-levellearners.Theme: The anti-corruption campaign of AnnaHazare and the Lok Pal Bill.Student 1 : Oh! The Indian society is doomed.Even God cannot save it. Look at the scandalsand the corruption that one reads about in thenewspapers every day. It’s sickening.Student 2 : Why are you so disheartened? Don’tbe so pessimistic. This is how it is in Kaliyug.Student 3 : What? You are talking like an oldperson.Student 4 : What he/she says is true. Accordingto the Puranas, it is believed that the dark powerKali occupies only the material space on thisearth.Student 3 : What do you mean by materialspace?Student 4 : Material things such as land, money,gold, gambling, alcoholism, etc., which ultimatelyleads to the deterioration of the society.Student 3 : I can’t understand this logic.Student 4 : The Kali Purush is an embodimentof all these dark spaces, and he tempts thepeople of this world to commit sins in order toattain these things.Student 2 : That is why people run after realestate, gold, platinum, crores of rupees etc.Student 1 : It is crass materialism that leads tosuch attitudes. The attitude of people shouldLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 32

change. They are ready to flout ethics andmorals to become millionaires.Student 3 : So you mean to say that it’s not justpoliticians who are greedy and corrupt but eventhe common man is like that.Student 4 : Then in that case you are not infavour of the LokPal bill that investigates andconvicts corrupt politicians.Student 5 : May be he means that a mere LokPal Bill cannot cleanse this society of its sham.A change should occur in the individualconsciousness.Student 6 : Okay then let me throw thisdiscussion to the audience.(Get as many views as possible and encouragethe students to express them freely, and basedon their views, change the set of actors.)Similarly, other activities may be evolved bythe teacher to involve the students. This wouldbe the first step towards making themcommunicate in the classroom, which shouldnot be monopolized by the better students.Boal’s Theatre allows participation but notmarginalisation, thus democratizing theclassroom.ReferencesBiswas, Benil (2009, January 24) Theatre &performance: A link between theory and praxis.[Web log post] Retrieved from http://rangamancha.blogspot.com/2009/01/theatre-ofoppressed-augusto-boal.html.Boal, Augusto (2008). Theatre of the oppressed atRiverside Church in New York City. Retrievedfrom http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Augusto_Boal_nyc5.jpg.MacDonald, Susie & Rachel, Daniel (n.d.). AugustoBoal’s FORUM THEATRE for teachers: (Notesfrom a workshop at Athens conference 2000).Retrieved from http://organizingforpower.files.wordpress.com/2009/03/games-theater-ofoppressed.pdfPaterson, Doug (n.d.). A brief biography of AugustoBoal. Retrieved from http://www.ptoweb.org/boal.htmlRoss Mckeehen Louis (2002). Critical performativepedagogy: Augusto Boal’s theatre of theoppressed in the English as a second languageclassroom (Doctoral dissertation, LouisianaState University and Agricultural andMechanical College, LA) Retrieved from http://etd.lsu.edu/docs/available/etd-0413102-182717/unrestricted/Louis_dis.pdfChitra Seshadhri works as Associate Professor,Department of English Bharathi Women’s CollegeChennai, Tamil Nadu India. Her areas of interestinclude translation, Cankam Tamil literature, women’swriting, theater,Vaishnavite Alwar hymns and Englishlanguage teaching.chitranaresh@gmail.comAugusto Boal conducting a workshop.(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki File: Augusto_Boal_nyc5.jpg)A teacher may even make his/her students sitaround the performers rather than in theconventional mode. This creates a friendlyatmosphere.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 33

Overcoming Bias in ELT Textbooks: A Studyin the Indian ContextRudrashis DattaIntroductionTextbooks form the primary resource of Englishlanguage teaching in classrooms in most secondlanguage scenarios of the world. Their primacyas the basic source material lies as much in theirversatility of production, as in their ease of usein actual classroom situations. Furthermore,textbooks serve as models of language materials,graded and refined, and made to suit the levelof learners in accordance with the immediateand long-term requirements of the policy makers,both at macro- and micro-level contexts. Thoughsome commentators have degraded theimportance of textbooks in ELT, and describedthem as “a shackle for the innovative teacher”,(Saraswathi, 2004, p. 120), the primacy oftextbooks in English classrooms has not beeneffectively challenged to this day.Content of textsIt is commonly accepted that textbooks arecollated from English language and literatureresources, either directly, or in an abridged orsummarized form, in accordance with the levelof attainment of the learners. In the Indiancontext, ‘readers’ or graded textbooks whichserve as the repository of basic language andliterature structures, have formed the core ofEnglish language curriculum across the state andnational boards administering secondary andsenior secondary examinations. Since alltextbooks in ELT are supposed to contain lexicalunits which are “central in language use andlanguage learning” (Richards and Rodgers, 2001,p. 227), it is significant that content be so chosenthat contextual and lexical use can be unitedthrough carefully selected passages or extracts.The content of textbooks in English courses canbe categorized under the following basic types:1. Prose passages, directly lifted from originalEnglish works, such as extracts2. Prose passages abridged from originalEnglish works3. Short stories4. Extracts from newspapers, generallyjournalistic reports5. Poems by English or Indian poets, usuallylimited to sonnets or lyrics not more than 30lines6. Recreations of well known English plays inprose7. Extracts from full length plays, usually inthe form of an important or climactic scene‘Bias’ and where it creeps in‘Bias’ is a widely defined term in the contextsof sociology and social psychology. Ordinarily,‘bias’ can be defined as the tendency to portrayand interpret individuals, their actions, or socioculturalpractices according to the parametersdefined by the observer, usually in rigid, nonflexibleterms (Baron and Byrne, 2002, p. 91).This rigidity often results in the portrayal of adifferent culture or practice as ‘wrong’ merelybecause it differs from the point of view of theLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 34

observer. In the context of the present study,the bias may not be as explicit as has beendefined. In some instances, its presence is sosubtle that for an ordinary reader, it would bealmost non-existent. It is this aspect that makesdealing with bias in ELT textbooks difficult todetect and deal with.Mcdonough and Shaw (2003, p. 65) clearlyhighlight the examination of cultural biasas one of the nine important evaluativeparameters of a coursebook. Once a biasis detected, a specific workplan dedicatedto neutralizing the biased material has tobe chalked out by the teacher.Teachers using ELT texts in Indian schools oftenencounter bias, usually in the form of:1. Neglect and invisibility: This can becommonly detected in textbooks wherewomen and religious or cultural minoritieshave little presence in the selected prose orpoetry pieces.2. Stereotyping: This involves assigningtraditional and rigid roles to certain sectionsof the society or individuals, thereby makingthem unable to function as members indifferent roles in the society.3. Selectivity: Since individual literary worksmay not have the scope to infuse deliberatesocio-cultural universality in their plot unlessthe author deems it necessary, it often makesrandom selections of prose or poetry piecesfor ELT textbooks a hazardous exercise.4. Unreality: In many cases, our textbooksproduce extracts from works which arewritten from specific viewpoints in contextsthat are different from the target studentgroup. Students who are taught such textsmay tend to take whatever they read as trueor real, and invalidate their own real lifeexperience as something untrue.5. Isolation: Women and socio-religiousminorities are often neglected in mainstreamliterary texts. Extracts from such texts inELT textbooks may present them to befringe groups with little or no socialimportance.Basic Guidelines in ELT Material Preparationto Minimize BiasIt has been highlighted earlier, that no editor ofa textbook would normally include materials thatare overtly violent or in any way offensive tothe learners. However, in spite of the besteditorial competencies, materials containingbiases often creep into a text. A study of theexamples of biases encountered by our teachersin English language texts reveals that the normsof content-selection and content-illustration areoften flouted during the editorial process. Thebasic norms which may minimize biases in textsare:1. Photographs and illustrations, if used, shallportray a wide range of socio-religiousbackgrounds, rather than a limited number.2. Characters having names common toreligious or social minorities should besensitively portrayed, so as not to give animpression that members of such groups areprone to certain types of behaviour.3. Plots of stories should avoid gender typecasting.For example, a prose piece entitled‘A Happy Family’, showing that the fathergoes out to work and the sister helps hermother in the kitchen, while the brother playswith his friends outside the house, can easilygenerate a notion among learners that malemembers of a family are generally earningmembers, and female members are moresuited to household chores.4. Literature pieces sourced from foreignwriters should be filtered for nuances thatmay appear foreign to the target students.5. All vocations and professions in the textsshould be depicted in such a way so as toLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 35

show equal respect and importance forthem.6. Nationalities, if necessary, should bedepicted in a manner that promotes mutualrespect, rather than animosity.7. All textual materials should be subject topeer review for detection and eliminationof instances of bias. This may significantlydiminish instances which would otherwiseescape the eyes of a single editor.Clearly, these checks and balances can go along way in decreasing instances of bias in ourEnglish textbooks for children. However, in spiteof a number of such precautions, our teachersoften encounter instances of bias in textualmaterials. Significantly enough, Tickoo (2003,p. 265),,stresses on the need for assessing atextual material on the basis of its ideology, since,admittedly, most biases that creep into a textare a manifestation of a flawed ideology.Dealing with bias in actual classroomsituationEnglish language teachers wanting to use atextbook in a particular class are likely to gothrough the textual matter in some depth.Examples of bias, if any, are likely to be detectedat this stage of evaluating a language material –well before the text is used in the classroom.Mcdonough and Shaw (2003, p. 65) clearlyhighlight the examination of cultural bias as oneof the nine important evaluative parameters ofa coursebook. Once a bias is detected, a specificworkplan dedicated to neutralizing the biasedmaterial has to be chalked out by the teacher.In such an instance, a teacher ought to keep thegolden rule of teaching English texts in mind,which is, “English teaching materials are notmeant to be taught in the exact way they havebeen produced” (Ramadevi, 2002, p. 207). Sucha plan may take the following sequential steps:Step 1. Look out for bias.Step 2. If bias detected, note the nature of thebias, whether linguistic, cultural, religious, social,gender or racial.Step 3. Devise alternative paradigms, usuallythrough extraneous examples, to neutralize thebias in the classroom.Step 4. Involve the students in discussions onwhy the matter is biased, and why it is notsupported by facts from real life.IllustrationA textual material in the form of a journalisticreport describes how local villagers enter aprotected forest without permission, and collectlogs of wood in darkness. In the absence of logsand twigs post-autumn, they cut branches fromtrees. Trees have been destroyed for yearsthrough such a practice.In fact most children, in actual practice,go beyond the meanings of words andphrases and generate their own worldview on the basis of a text. In fact,according to Davison and Dawson (2003,p. 276), says that ‘knowing thespecification’ is an essential parameter ofa successful detection and neutralizationof a text-based bias in English languageclassrooms, ‘specification’ referring to thelayers of meaning that a text can generatein the course of an in-depth study.Areas where bias is generated in the youngreaders:1. Villagers are insensitive when it comes tofollowing the laws of the land and concernfor environment.2. In the absence of reasons for cutting thelogs of wood, a learner may not know thatLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 36

poverty and lack of alternative sources offuel are forcing the villagers to act in theway they are doing.How is the bias neutralized in the classroom?1. The teacher highlights the reasons for theactions of the villagers.2. The teacher highlights other examples toshow how people in the villages adoptenvironmentally sensitive practices in theirhomes and surroundings.As is seen in the illustration above, it isimperative that a teacher equips himself/herselfwith the sub-texts of a given textual material,since texts do not remain at the level of a firstlevelmeaning generation in most children. Infact most children, in actual practice, go beyondthe meanings of words and phrases and generatetheir own world view on the basis of a text. Infact, according to Davison and Dawson (2003,p. 276), says that ‘knowing the specification’ isan essential parameter of a successful detectionand neutralization of a text-based bias in Englishlanguage classrooms, ‘specification’ referring tothe layers of meaning that a text can generatein the course of an in-depth study.ConclusionIt is unanimously agreed among all thestakeholders of the English language instructionthat bias has to be eliminated in text materialsbecause of its potentially harmful impact onadolescent minds. In fact, since English isveritably a link language for the entire globe,and writers use the language in varied contexts,course materials taken from original Englishworks are prone to varied levels ofmisinterpretations and bias. Only a careful editorand an alert and informed teacher can helplearners develop a realistic, balanced andunbiased world view, which can withstand thetwin rigours of literary scrutiny and generalrationalism.ReferencesBaron, R. A. & Byrne, D. (2002). Social psychology.New Delhi: Prentice Hall of India Pvt. Ltd.Davison, J. & Dowson, J. (2003). Learning to teachEnglish in the secondary school. London:Routledge Falmer.Mcdonough, J. & Shaw, C. (2003). Materials andmethods in ELT. London: Blackwell Publishing.Ramadevi, S. (2002). Teaching Materials. In S.Kudchedkar, (Ed.), Readings in Englishlanguage teaching in India (pp. 182-216).Hyderabad: Orient Longman.Richards, J. C. & Rodgers, T. S. (2002). Approachesand methods in language teaching. Cambridge:Cambridge University Press.Saraswathi, V. (2004). English language teaching:Principles and practice. Hyderabad: OrientLongman.Tickoo, M. L. (2003). Teaching and learning English:A sourcebook for teachers and teachertrainers.Hyderabad: Orient Longman.Rudrashis Datta is Assistant Professor in Englishat Raiganj B.Ed College, a government sponsoredteachers training college in Uttar Dinajpur, WestBengal, under the University of Gour Banga, andspecializes in training would-be and in-serviceteachers in ELT.rudrashisdatta@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 37

A Short Paper Proposing that weNeed to Write Shorter PapersStephen Krashen“When we ask the time, we don’t want to know how watches are constructed.”Georg Christoph Lichtenberg (1742-1799)IntroductionOur current journals in language education arefull of long papers. A typical journal might have,at most, five major papers. Sometimes we haveto write long papers, but most of the time, it isunnecessary: the papers often contain longintroductions more suitable for doctoraldissertations or review “state of the art” papersapparently designed to provide evidence that theauthor is well-read. They also have longconclusions, with a repetition of the findings andthe author’s detailed and lengthy speculationsabout what the results might mean for theoryand application.Readers of professional journals do not needthis. Introductions should only give enoughinformation to alert the reader as to what thearticle is about, and provide a few citations incase the reader needs more information. If thearticles cited in the introduction are readilyavailable, readers are free to consult them, anda brief indication of implications is generallymore than enough for experienced readers.Also, if the results section is clear, no repetitionof the findings is necessary in the conclusion.Watson and Crick’s (1953) Nobel Prize winningpaper on the double helix was only one page.Their conclusion: “It has not escaped our noticethat the specific pairing we have postulatedimmediately suggests a possible copyingmechanism for the genetic material” (p. 737).Long papers drain intellectual energy from bothreaders and writers, and waste their time.Long papers take longer to write, and much ofthe energy in writing them is dedicated tosections that don’t engage the writer: Writing isa powerful tool to solve problems, and can resultin substantial cognitive development (it can makeyou smarter), but to do this, the writing must bedirected at a difficult problem (Langer andApplebee, 1987).Long papers also take longer to read. Evenreaders who try to skim long papers have todevote time and energy to find the essentialparts, and run the danger of missing the details.A Disservice to the Profession and to theScholarToo-long papers hurt the spread of knowledgein two ways: They waste our time in bothreading and writing, and they promote sloppyreading. Many readers are content just to readthe abstract and perhaps the summary oftechnical papers, with just a glance at a table.This means that significant details onmethodology, crucial points and analyses buriedin the paper, are missed, and often errors areperpetuated.Too-long papers also take up space. A journalwith five long papers could easily include 20short papers. This space limitation hurts thedissemination of knowledge, because not onlyis the information less genuine, but it muchharder for junior scholars to publish and to gettenure and promotion, especially whenuniversities require publication in certainjournals. This problem will be alleviated as morejournals become available electronically.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 38

ConclusionAgain, sometimes papers have to be long. Butoften they don’t, and the problem usually lieswith the long introductions and conclusions thatgo far beyond the needs of the paper.Language education has clearly taken itstradition from the humanities, which favorsdissertation-style prose, rather than the sciences,where papers are usually much shorter.It is probably no coincidence that citation ratesin science are much higher: Hamilton (1991)reported that about 91% of papers published inatomic, molecular and chemical physics, and86% in virology, had been cited at least once. Inlanguage and linguistics, only 20% had been citedand in American literature, less than 1%.ReferencesWatson, J. & Crick, F. (1953). A structure fordeoxyribose nucleic acid, Nature 171, 737-738.Hamilton, D. (1991). Research papers: Who’s unitednow? Science 251: 25.Langer, J. & Applebee, A. (1987). How writing shapesthinking. Urbana, IL: National Council ofTeachers of English.Stephen D. Krashen is Professor Emeritus at theUniversity of Southern California; he moved fromthe linguistics department to the School of Educationin 1994. He is a linguist, educational researcher, andactivist. He has been perhaps the most influentialvoice in second language acquisition in recent times.We publish this paper to show to our readers howso much can be achieved through well-written shortpapers.skrashen@yahoo.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 39

InterviewFace to Face with K.N. AnandanP.K. JayarajDr. Anandan is a Chomskyan linguist turned ELT practitioner. He conceived Second Language Acquisition Programme(SLAP) which brought about a shift from the skill based and fragmentary teaching of strcutures and vocabulary to a moreholistic approach, giving primacy to language acquisition. His book Chomskyan Revolution in Linguistics won him theKerala Sahitya Academy Endowment Award in 2006. His second book Tuition to Intuition introduces his vision of secondlanguage pedagogy.P. K. Jayaraj (PKJ): You began your careeras a school teacher in a remote, rural village ofKerala, and later became the headmaster in thesame school. Could you tell us briefly about yourbackground, your areas of academic interest,and what led you to become an educationalactivist?K. N. Anandan (KNA): I began my career in1969, as a headmaster. When I started teachingand observing classes, I became disillusionedwith the teaching-learning process. I decided toexercise my freedom to do something different.I started devising new classroom processes forteaching science and languages. I improvisedcost-effective lab equipment and apparatus, andencouraged students to learn science by doing.When I look back I feel that I always had a lensof my own.PKJ: What led you to get interested in languagepedagogy?KNA: In those years, my interest in languagepedagogy was partially due to my ego as aperson who could use English to teach English.In spite of the enormous time I spent on teachingstructural patterns with the help of teaching aids,I realized that children were not doing well. Myinitial enthusiasm in working as a headmasterstarted waning because of the boringbeaurocracy. I got myself enrolled in the Post-Graduate Certificate in the Teaching of English(PGCTE) at CIEFL (now EFLU), and later forthe Post-Graduate Diploma in the Teaching ofEnglish (PGDTE) and M.Litt. My life on thecampus changed my outlook towards teachingand learning of English. I was lucky to get ProfJayaseelan, a renowned Chomskyan linguist asmy research guide for M.Litt. and Ph.D. Havingstudied Chomsky, I became more and moresceptical about the entire field of ELT, which Ithought was erected on ‘dubious’ claims. I wasalso wondering why the ELT scholars weregrossly ignoring Chomsky.I left the campus. “What next?”, this questionintrigued me. Would I be satisfied with being amere theoretical linguist? Could Chomsky helpthe rural and poor children of Kerala learnEnglish better? Deriving insights from Chomsky,I started developing and trying out severalpedagogic models for teaching English. The firstmodel, ACE (Acquiring Competence in English),was tried out in schools. In ACE, the major inputfor the learners was interaction between twoteachers based on selected pictures. Eventually,children also started participating in theinteraction. As an innovative pedagogic model,ACE received a lot of media coverage.PKJ: The language pedagogy you advocate hasbeen widely discussed within and outside Kerala.What inspired you to become a strong promoterof this pedagogy?KNA: I was convinced that Chomsky could betranslated into classroom processes. He was theonly linguist who claimed that man had an innatelanguage system. When I was appointedconsultant of the District Primary EducationProgram (DPEP) Kerala, I got a platform toput my practical model of Chomsky before awider audience. It was then that I conceivedthe Second Language Acquisition ProgrammeLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 40

(SLAP), which materialized a shift from the skillbasedand fragmentary teaching of structuresand vocabulary, to a more holistic approach,giving primacy to language acquisition. SLAPfaced a lot of resistance. In the place oftextbooks, I had conceived an evolving text book(ETB), in which the individual learner was thecreator of the textbook. There was a majorhurdle before me. Who could help me to takemy vision to the field? Through a series ofworkshops, a team emerged that was convincedabout the rationale for rejecting ELT practices.SLAP was finally in the field!PKJ: I think it was perhaps during the days ofDPEP that there was a shift in the languagepedagogy, from teaching English with letters andsounds, to teaching with a language discourse.In other words, there was an emphasis on aholistic approach to language teaching. Couldyou explain, with a few details, the salientfeatures of the discourse pedagogy?KNA: There was a shift in language pedagogyin the late 1990s. But the ELT circles in Indiasaid, “It is not possible in the second languagecontext”. My experiences led me to sharpeningthe classroom processes and eventuallyDiscourse Oriented Pedagogy took shape. Icontinued my field research on languagepedagogy from 2000 to 2005. I developed severalpedagogic models, such as RACE (RapidAcquisition of Competence in English), REAP(Rapid English Acquisition Programme), andFACE (Facilitating Acquisition of Competencein English). Two powerful pedagogic tools wereused in all these programmes—the first was theuse of narratives as a major input, and the secondwas code-switching for beginners. Theseprogrammes were tried out in hundreds ofschools across the state, and in all of them theywere able to bring about tangible changes in theperformance of the learners.Discourse Oriented Pedagogy is built on theclaim that a language cannot be acquired bysimply learning the elements of the language,and practising language skills. Since languageexists only as meaningful discourses, both theinput and output should be in the form ofdiscourses. Textbooks do not have slots forpractising language elements and vocabulary.Instead, they contain discourse tasks which takecare of both language elements and skills.PKJ: How did you begin implementing thispedagogy? Could you tell us the circumstancesin which you began with it? What sort ofchallenges did you face? What was the reactionof the administrators, and the teachingcommunity in particular?KAN: In light of my experience in working ondiscourse pedagogy in Kerala and AndhraPradesh, I was invited to join the Sarva ShikshaAbhiyan (SSA) Kerala, in 2006. It was alsoduring this period that I was entrusted with thechairmanship of the English Focus Group ofKCF (Kerala Curriculum Framework - 2007).As a forerunner of the curriculum and textbookrevision in Kerala based on KCF, a programmecalled ACE (Acquisition of Competence inEnglish) was conceived for SSA, and launchedin 1300 schools in Kerala. The tryout experienceof ACE gave a lot of vigour and momentum tothe state team involved in the revision of Englishtextbooks.PKJ: Despite stiff resistance from all quarters,how did you manage to play a key role in theprocess of curriculum development and textbookpreparation in Kerala?KNA: The Kerala textbook writing teamcritically examined NCF 2005 and NCERTtextbooks. Instead of the theme based approachfollowed in NCERT books, they decided tofollow an issue-based approach. All thetextbooks from classes 1 to 10 were organizedaround major social issues, which had local aswell as global implications. At the secondarylevel, authentic texts were used, which gave alot of importance to literature. Eminent linguistssuch as Prof Jayaseelan endorsed the pedagogyand worked with the team.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 41

There was a lot of resistance, but it was notagainst English alone. Several quarters launchedmassive attacks against issue-based curriculum,and the critical approach it envisaged. TheGovernment of Kerala democratically tackledthe debate and the polemics that were generatedin the state. However, since there was a highlymotivated and convinced group of peopleworking with me, I could face the criticism withease. Besides, those who criticised were notready for any intellectual debate; nor did theypropose any alternatives.PKJ: How far have your ideas beenincorporated in the current English textbooks ofthe state level schools in Kerala? Are you happywith them?KNA: I am happy with the textbooks, thoughthere are certain areas that need to be revisited.In any case, no textbook should run for morethan five years. Besides, I do not fully endorsetop-driven models; models must be evolved atthe bottom level with the ownership of theteachers, the people, and the community ingeneral.PKJ: In spite of an increasing acceptance ofsome of your ideas in the Kerala academia,there is a lot criticism of the books that havebeen produced under your guidance. You havebeen accused of idealism, and not understandingthe reality of Kerala. How do you respond tothese criticisms?KNA: I have been criticized for being adreamer and an idealist. In a democracy, anyonewho initiates a change will be criticized. As Iam a student of critical pedagogy, I think thateven my models should be critically examined.At the same time, no one can ignore the changesthat have been taking place in the field.PKJ: Your popularity has led the AndhraPradesh State Council of Educational Researchand Training (SCERT) to seek your guidance inpreparing their English textbooks. Could you tellus the extent to which the curriculumdevelopment and textbook preparation teamshave accepted your theoretical understanding?Have you experienced any contextualconstraints, or diluted your position?KNA: I have worked for the curriculum andtextbook revision of SCERT Andhra Pradesh,with experts such as Rama Kant Agnihotri andA. L. Khanna. I personally believe that therevised textbooks of Andhra Pradesh havemoved away from skill-based pedagogy todiscourse-based pedagogy.PKJ: How do you wish to carry out your agendaat the national level?KNA: There are a lot of challenges ahead ofus. I understand that similar initiatives are takingplace across the world. There are market-drivenforces that work for corporate demands ineducation. There are also forces that promotelinguistic imperialism. I join hands with all thosewho work against these forces.P. K. Jayaraj is an ELT expert at the RegionalInstitute of English, South India, Bengaluru. He hascontributed to the development of the statecurriculum, and the production of text books inEnglish for the States of Kerala and Andhra Pradesh.He has published three books in English forMathrubhoomi publications. They are: Say What YouMean, Grammar and Grammar Wars, and WhenWords Bloom.pkjayarajs@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 42

LandmarksTheory and Practice ofLanguage Teaching in IndiaKapil KapoorIndia has a long pedagogical tradition in languageteaching. Of the six Vedangas (sciencesauxiliary to the study of Vedas), four are devotedto language – phonetics, grammar, etymologyand prosody/metre.Education, particularly early education was builtaround two disciplines, language andmathematics, as the primary goal of Indianeducation was to produce virtuous(discriminating) minds and for that the firstrequirement is to develop and sharpen cognitiveprocesses. So education was centered aroundlanguage and mathematics and languageteaching was centered around grammar becausegrammar develops cognitive and analyticalabilities. Indian thinkers thought of education asa whole and located it in the moral and virtuousgrowth of individuals and society.The issue of how language was institutionallytaught in India - one of the world’s longest lastingoral cultures and societies - cannot be discussedexcept in the two wider contexts of (i) the goalof education, and (ii) the place of language inIndian society.We recall that India has the world’s most ancientsystem of knowledge 1 and education.Takshashila University was destroyed in 7 th -8 thcentury. We do not know when it had come intobeing but going by the galaxy of thinkers(Ashvaghosha, Caraka, Kautilya, Panini,Sushruta to mention only a few) and sciencesthat originated there (phonetics, grammar,medicine, surgery, branches of Buddhism, tocount a few) one may say that Takshashila musthave existed for quite a few millennia before itperished. The general Indian educationalpractices were founded on the followingassumptions:(1) central role of memory(2) centrality of the teacher as the agent(3) the text (oral or written) as the instrument(4) the training of the mind as the instrument ofknowledge that was designed to shapethinking (virtuous) minds.In this way, language learning and teaching isthe keystone of the arch. Language 2 is centralto India’s intellectual history 3 . As knowledge isthe supreme purifier (Bhagavadgita, 4.38) andis inseparable from language 4 , languageunderstandably, has been the central object ofinquiry and of sustained and intense investigationin all Indian schools of thought. It has beenstudied in its two aspects — its svarupa, form,and its samarthya, potential to denote/connote.In a remarkable analogy, language, shabda iscompared to dipaka, lamp (Vakyapadiya I, 44,II.298-299) – when it is lighted, it reveals itselfand also reveals other associated meanings – itis the object to be grasped (grahya) and themeans of grasping objects (grahaka).The Indian conception of language differs inthree ways from the Western:(i) language is speech, not writing (script);(ii) language is a cognitive system (not, primarily,of communication) and,(iii) language is a constructivist system (not arepresentational system).Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 43

All the three Sanskrit words for language,bhasha , vak and vani, denote the ‘soundsubstance’of language. The most significanteffect of this assumption was the rise ofphonetics as the first science in India and thesophisticated phonetic analyses achieved in thetradition. Panini’s grammar is also founded onthis assumption. The other two assumptionsconcern the philosophy of language and arerelevant here in so far as they encourage acertain plurality and tolerance of different waysof thinking and believing 5 .The assumptions about the nature of languageinspired a long line of thinking about therelationship between language, thought andreality and governed the teaching of language.Under the two aspects of object (grahya) andmeans (grahaka), and the three divisions oflanguage - substance, form and the potential ofwords to denote/connote –lay the objects oflanguage learning/teaching 6 .The theory of language, (bhasha, vak and vani),enshrined in linguistic texts such asAshtadhyayi, Mahabhashya, Vakyapadiyaand Upanishads. A Rgvedic chant says – “Maymy speech rest in mind and may my mind restin truth”. In one of the Upanishads, the humanbody is compared to the divine lute suggestingthat speech ought to be musical. 7In Indian language teaching theory, language isbest taught and learnt by teaching the grammarof the language which includes the bestspecimens of that language as examples.Patanjali in the first ahnika of his magnumopus 8 describes and argues the method ofteaching grammar. He defines grammar as ‘ashort precise enumeration of lakshana(markers or rules) of lakshya (language use orperformance)”. A Grammar according to himconsists of general rules (vidhi), exception rules(nishedha), uddharana (examples) andpratyuddharana (couter examples). Such ashastra, teaching text, is the economical meansof learning a language because language, beingopen ended, it cannot be learnt by the methodof learning words and sentences one by one.Should we teach by prescribing (vidhi) ‘the rightor acceptable usage’ or by proscribing(nishedha) the variant usages? He asks andanswers we should teach the acceptable usagesfor the universe of variation is endlessly large.The teaching-learning of language was primarilyin the oral frame-work as language was basicallyunderstood as speech and the writing practicefollowed speech as a secondary activity. Indiandefinition of intellect, prajna, being smriti +vimarsha + prayoga (memory + permutingwhat is in the memory + use at the right time),students were expected to memorise examplesof good, thoughtful or musical compositions inthat language. They later went on to hold thewhole texts in their mind 9 .A great controversy has raged in the Indiangrammatical tradition, from Patanjali throughBuddhists to Kumarila Bhatta, which bearsdirectly on the question of the role and place ofgrammar in language pedagogy. Panini’sAshtadhyayi is not a pedagogic grammar in thestrict sense - it is a linguistic grammar thatmakes explicit the native speaker’s knowledgeof Sanskrit. But this ‘knowledge’ is theknowledge of sadhu shabda the ‘acceptable’forms - the ‘rules’ that embody this knowledgegenerate the acceptable variety of language, bothwritten and spoken. Now this ‘norm’, if one mayuse this term, in Panini is an internally complexnorm - the language generated is not equal toany one actual ‘dialect’ of Sanskrit. And yet itis a ‘preferred’ form and a whole lot of dialectalvariants are asiddha. On what justifiablegrounds can we exclude those words that arewidely employed and as successfullycommunicate their meaning as the sadhushabdas? This is the crux of the controversy.The grammarians (Patanjali and Bhartrihari)argue that this precisely is the function ofgrammar - to lay down restriction (niyama).Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 44

What are excluded are asadhu forms and theshishtas 10 , the cultured, do not use them. Butthe Buddhists disagree - “only an indistinct sound,or single letters, or a conglomeration of letterswithout any reference to their signification...thatcan be said to be incorrect/unacceptable(asadhu)...the vernacular words, gavi and thelike are found to be capable of denoting the cowas well as the Sanskrit word go...in fact arequicker ...in their action of denoting...are usedmore commonly...they cannot but be recognisedas correct...”.But if this position is accepted,how does one justify the discipline of grammar?It is interesting to understand the grammarian’sresponse which defines and extends the domainof grammar as a science. And as, Bhartrihariargues, variation makes sense only becausethere is a traditionally recognised andrecognisable norm which constitutes the domainof grammar. Buddhists are, understandably,variationists and they argue that sadhutva isdetermined by expressiveness - a word thatconveys a meaning is sadhu and one that failsto is asadhu.So, the Buddhists say, “... we should make useof all words; they are all equally correct.”(Ganganatha Jha 1983: 298). To support this,they forward a number of arguments: (1) thewords gavi, goni are equally expressive of cowbecause they are used in that sense like the wordgauh etc.; (2) since they have a denotation, theyare correct (sadhu); (3) because they arecomprehensible, they are not corruptions; (4)they are also given (nitya) in that their beginningis not known; (5) no transcendental resultfollows from the use of sadhu words - the resultis exactly the same, denotation of an object; (6)grammar is not necessary for the use of wordsbecause usage precedes grammar (GanganathaJha 1983: 298). Besides, it is argued that becausegrammar does not have the form of the Veda ,because it does not deal with the subjects thatare treated of in the Veda, and because the Vedais found to express a meaning even without thehelp of grammar, grammar is not rooted in theVeda and therefore does not have the sameauthority. In fact its status is no different fromthat of a drama or a story or the words of ahuman being. (Ganganatha Jha 1983:298-299)Therefore, it is concluded that the words gavi,goni, gauh &c., being synonymous are allfound to be used in ordinary speech, and thatsuch usage cannot be prohibited particularlywhen we note that such forms are used byeven the eminent grammarians (Ganganatha Jha1983:272), and many excellent writers and eventhe Veda are found to be using words at variancewith the rules of grammar. (Ganganatha Jha1983: 271-272).Patanjali distinguishes between the principalpurpose and the ancillary purposes of thescience of grammar. Apart from questioningthe chief enterprise of separating acceptable andunacceptable forms, the Buddhists also deny theauxiliary purposes of raksha (defence), uha(interpretation), laghava (economy), asandeha(removal of doubt), agama (study of Veda),etc.We are here concerned only with the principalfunction of establishing the acceptable forms.If the Buddhist position is accepted, grammarceases to have any function at the level of lexicalusage. Patanjali had argued and subsequentlyBhartrihari had reinforced the position that whenloka is authority and in the loka all kinds ofvariants are successfully employed, what thegrammar does then is to lay downdharmaniyama. Niyama, according toMimamsa, means ‘restriction’ - restricting thechoice to one of the available possibilities, justas furniture can be made of all kinds of woodbut teak is to be preferred; hunger can beassuaged by eating the flesh of any animal butthe flesh of only some animals is to be eaten; allwater is water but only ganga water isauspicious; all colours are colourful but onlysome are soothing. In a speech situation, theintended meaning may be conveyed by (1) a‘standard’, form or (2) any of the dialectalLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 45

variants or (3) an erroneously articulated ordeviant (apabhramsa) form. In this situation,grammar lays down a restriction - the standardform is to be preferred. As stated by Bhartrihari,while meaningfulness is common to all the threechoices, dharmajanakatva, the property of‘linguistic righteousness’, ‘being generative ofdharma’ belongs only to the ‘norm’. What isthis dharma? There is reason to think thatdharma here is to be taken in its civilised andcultured (sastraic) sense of consisting in suchactions as bring about a desired result which inlanguage transaction is the successful transferof meaning and it is the function of grammar tolay down niyama - this is dharmaniyama,restriction laid down for an efficacious transferof meaning. As Kumarila Bhatta notes,discrepancies may arise in the use of variants.This sadhu form one can infer from Bhartrihari’sdiscussion, is an extant form, is widely in use, ishistorically older being one from which theapabhramsha forms can be shown to havedeveloped. (Vakyapadiya 1.23, 148). In keepingwith the principle of ekatva, the many variantsare manifestations of one. Three kinds of suchvariants, apabhramshas, are noted (first byPatanjali) in the tradition: mleccha, apashabdaand dushta shabda. There is some division ofopinion about what they exactly stand for (see,Ganganatha Jha 1983: 270) and without gettinginto details one may define these as follows:(1) mleccha prayoga is the usage of the nonnativespeakers, the language of the foreigncountries, of the lands that lie outside thelimits of Aryavarta;(2) apashabda is any of the dialectal variants;and(3) dushta shabda is an inaccurate or deviantusage caused either by physical infirmity orignorance.Grammar establishes sadhu words as siddhaand asadhu words as asiddha for it is a learneddiscipline and as such it records the tradition ofusage of the ‘educated’, the ‘cultured’ and the‘learned’ , that is the sistas. This is the dharmaof grammar and of a good man. When one canachieve one’s purpose by both shabda andapashabda, the man of virtue employs shabda.It remains to be reiterated that this debate aboutthe function of grammar is strictly with referenceto the product of the rules of grammar, that isthe forms that are shown to be siddha. Thereis no dispute about the other function of grammar,namely to describe the structure of language orabout its pedagogical use.ReferencesBhartrihari. The Vakyapadiya, critical texts of cantosI and II with English translation. Trans. K. Pillai.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass, 1971.Kumarila Bhatta (1983). Tantravarttika of KumarilaBhatta. Sir Ganganatha Jha (Trans.). Delhi: SriSatguru Publications. (Original work publishedin 1903-24).Patanjali. Vyakaranamahabhasya (Mahabhasya),based on the edition by Franz Kielhorn (Bombay1880-1885), revised by K.V. Abhyankar (Poona1972-1996), with additional references to theeditions. Gurukul Jhajjar, Rohatak (Rohtak):Hariyana Sahitya Samsthan, 1961-1963, 5 vols.Subramania Iyer, K. A. (Ed. and Trans.). (1971). TheVakyapadiya of Bhartrihari. Chapter 3, part 1of V. Poona: Deccan College.______ (ed. and tr.). 1973. The Vakyapadiya ofBhartrihari with the Prakimaprakasha ofHelaraja. Chapter 3, part 2. Poona: DeccanCollege.______(ed. and tr.). 1977. The Vakyapadiya ofBhartrihari. Chapter 2. Delhi: MotilalBanarsidass.Vasu, S. C. [1891] rpt. 1980. Ashtadhyayi. 2 vols.Delhi: Motilal Banarsidass.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 46

Notes:1We have the world’s first book on statecraft,Kautilya’s Arthashastra (4 th century B.C.), the firstbook on prosody, the world’s first grammar of anatural human language, Panini’s Ashtadhyayi (7 thcentury B.C) and the world’s first text ofinterpretation, Yaska’s Nirukta (9 th century B.C.), thefirst to conceptualise the numerals, zero and thevalue of p, to count a few peaks.2The need to maintain the Vedic Knowledge textswas the original impulse for linguistic studies.Maintenance of texts in the oral tradition dependedon a complete understanding of (i) the phonetics ofspeech, and (ii) the morphology of continuousutterances (samhita), which in turn depended on (iii)an understanding of meanings of utterances/words.This accounts for the rise of the sciences ofphonetics, grammar and etymology (Nirukta)respectively in the pre-Paninean period.3So central is language to the Indian mind that fourof the Vedangas are devoted to one or the otheraspect of language— shiksha, phonetics, Nirukta,etymology or exposition of word meaning, chhanda,prosody or metrics and vyakarana, grammar. Ofthese, says Patanjali, vyakarana, grammar is primary(Patanjali, Mahabhashya I.1), because as Bhartrihariasserts, grammar is the grand ladder, siddhi sopana,to a true understanding of language.4Bhartrihari, Vakyapadiya I.1235Speech rests in a human speaking voice and assuch no truth-claim is asserted about what is said asthe source of utterance is always identifiable as theindividual consciousness. The speaking voice is anindividual voice and not the Voice, there is no oneGod and there is no one Voice. This enables amultiplicity of points of view. This is linked to thesecond postulate – language is a cognitive systemand not just a system of communication. Asexplicated by Bhartrihari, language is the form thatknowledge takes and therefore language isindistinguishable from intelligence (sanjna) andconsciousness (cetana) (Vakyapadiya 1.126). Whatgrammar, Vyakarana, studies and describes is the‘language in the mind’, the system that is shared byall the speakers of that language. Thirdly, and finally,language is a constructivist system. As all cognition(bodha) takes the form of language, reality that iscognized by us is, therefore, necessarily a linguisticconstruct. Language is not a system that ‘names’some pre-existing reality, but one that constructs thereality that we claim to be out there. The grammarianssay that it is through naming that the objects, outsidethe mind and inside, are cognized as separate ordifferent 5 from each other creating for us thisitiamnaya, ‘this enumerable universe’(Vakyapadiya1. 120).6The science of etymology or exposition of words,nirvacana, is an interface discipline betweenphonetics, grammar and meaning as it studies/fixesthe meaning of words in terms of their derivationfrom given verb-roots in the course of which thesound form undergoes changes. Going to the rootof words to get what they mean is an establishedpedagogical practice.7Considering all this, look at the decline in publicspeech these days, the violence, the abusivenessand the untruthfulness that we hear all around.Language is used now to conceal the truth andpromote discord.8Mahabhashya Pratham Ahnika, Pashapashahnika.9That is the configurational process of knowledgein the oral culture.10A shishta is defined as “one whose worldly goodsare constituted by a jar of grain and who, without aworldly goal or purpose, devotes himself to a branchof learning and excels in it”.Kapil Kapoor is Former Professor of English,Concurrent Professor Sanskrit Studies, Pro-Vice-Chancellor, JNU; Adviser India Studies, TrinityDublin; Editor-in-Chief Encyclopedia of Hinduism(11 Vols.) published 2012; Chief Editor Encyclopediaof Indian Poetics (Sahitya Akademi); been a teacherfor 52 years; several books and articles, Bharata KiKatha Parampara Mein Rati-Bhakti, wriitten as BirlaFoundation Fellow, published 2011 being the latest;currently Visiting Professor, BPS MahilaVishwavidyalaya Khanpur Kalan, Haryana.kkapoor40@yahoo.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 47

Book ReviewsIndian English: Towardsa New ParadigmR.K. Agnihotri andRajendra Singh (Eds.).2012 New Delhi: OrientBlackSwan,ISBN: 978-81-250-4371-3,pp. 336Reviewed by: RajeshKumarThe subtitle of this edited volume modestlysuggests that it presents a new paradigm in thestudy of Indian English. However, a seriousreading of this book reveals that it sets abenchmark for the study of Indian English inparticular, and the study of English in the general;it presents Indian English in a new avatar withspecial reference to the concept of a nativespeaker. In fact the concept of a native speakerhas been redefined in this book.The design of this edited volume is extremelyinnovative. It puts a target paper at the centre,and then looks at the responses to the ideasmentioned in the target paper from variousperspectives. The target paper is in section one;the responses to the target paper withgrammatical, socio-linguistic, diachronic,cultural, political, philosophical, and pedagogicalperspectives in section two; and finallymiscellaneous comments and discussions insection three. The target paper is extremelyprovocative in its approach towards thetreatment of Indian English and the question ofa native speaker. According to the mainargument of the paper, Indian English is part ofthe linguistic ecology of India, just like any otherlanguage of India. Questioning the concept of a‘non-native speaker’, Singh examines it from asocial as well as a linguistic point of view.According to him, English must be looked at fromthe point of view of ‘English of India’. Heasserts that the study of English in terms of‘English in India’ subsumes the application ofthe concept of a native speaker in the sensethat English in India is essentially the English ofnon-native speakers.The responses to the target paper are variedand intense. R. Amritavalli, Rajesh Bhatt,Rakesh Bhatt, and Colin Masica respond to thequestions raised by Rajendra Singh from agrammatical perspective. Amritavalli examinesthe idea of English with reference to UniversalGrammar and First Language Learning. Shealso examines English in the light ofmultilingualism. Rajesh Bhatt substantiatesSingh’s argument that the study of English withreference to the distinction between native andnon-native speakers is not tenable. RakeshBhatt points out that the typical features ofIndian English are peculiar only in the sense thatsuch peculiarities exist in all varieties of English.Masica investigates the historical significanceof English, adding a new dimension to the studyof English. Agnihotri reiterates and substantiatesthe point that the classification of languages withnative and non-native labels does not add muchvalue to the study and our understanding oflanguage, since in both contexts there does notseem to be much difference as far as thestructure of the language is concerned. ThoughIndian English is a legitimate variety of English,Langue holds the native and non-nativedistinction worthy of a full length debate. Fallingin the same line and finding native and non-nativecontexts relevant in the area of multilingualism,Shreesh Chaudhary also finds the distinctionsignificant. However, for Backus, the native andnon-native distinction is part of a continuum.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 48

Mesthrie does not sound convinced with the ideaof a continuum though. He argues that the‘caught’ and the ‘taught’ comprise the twoobvious approaches to learning a language. Rittfinds the native and non-native distinctionsignificant enough for an empirical research onthe subject. In his opinion, native intuition isdirectly correlated with the speaker’sgrammatical judgment and, Singh’s proposal maybe problematic for an empirically sustainableposition. Lele finds Singh’s position subject to acritical analysis vis-à-vis power and hegemony.Rajgopalan’s response to Singh’s position onIndian English and the question of a nativespeaker is in total contrast with that of Langueand Chaudhary. Martina Ghosh-Schellhorn onthe other hand is in agreement with Chaudharythat some of these questions must be examinedin the context of multilinguality and speechcommunity. A careful reading of the responsesuggests that Singh does not appear to leavethe contexts of multilinguality and speechcommunity out. Dickinson is uncomfortable withSingh’s claim that the speakers of Indian Englishare competent speakers of that variety.This book is a unique example of an extremelywell presented compact argument. It combinesa large variety of responses to a stand adoptedin the target paper. The last section of the bookis again uniquely innovative in the sense that itgives a summary of the questions asked fromSingh and his responses to all of them.Rajesh Kumar (PhD, Illinois) is an AssistantProfessor of Linguistics and English at the IndianInstitute of Technology Patna. He teaches graduateand undergraduate courses in Linguistics andEnglish Language. His research and teachinginterests lie in syntactic theory, sociolinguistics,language and education, and cognitive sciences(language and human mind).thisisrajkumar@gmail.comEnglish throughFolktales: A Self-StudyBook.by Mahanad, Anand &Goswami, Lalita (2011)New Delhi: Viva Books.ISBN: 978-81-309-1472-5,pp. 97Reviewed by: KamalKumar ChoudharyThis book consists of sixteen folk tales fromdifferent parts of India. It is written in very easylanguage, and some scenes of the story aredepicted through pictures, which makes itinteresting for the children. As the authors pointout, this book, intended for middle schoolchildren, is designed to improve not only thebasic skills of language (reading, writing,speaking and listening), but also teaches themthe basic grammatical structures. To meet thisgoal, each story is followed by differentexercises (notes, comprehension questions,language study and communication skills). Notesgive the word-meanings (difficult words in thetext), and also demonstrate the use of aparticular word in a sentence. Following this,there are comprehension questions based on thestory. This is followed by language study andcommunication skills. Thus, this book is reallygood for improving English, particularly forchildren. The stories are interesting to read, andat the same time, they also improve the languageskills of the children.Learning English in a country such as India isimportant both for children and adults. It hasbeen observed that the students who havestudied throughout in Hindi or a regionallanguage, face several problems when they joincollege or an institute, particularly if the coursesare offered in English. Even in institutes suchas IITs, remedial classes are offered to 1 st yearstudents, as some of them really face problemsLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 49

in following the lectures. There are severalmethods of language teaching, and in the pastdecades, various materials and methods havebeen developed. But the role of folk tales inteaching a language remains unbeatable. Ibelieve that teaching through folk tales willdefinitely be fruitful. Therefore, this kind of abook can be really important for children sincethe stories are interesting, and they can be easilyunderstood. Further, it will also improve thevocabulary and usage of different words/phrases. The exercises provided are good, andwill definitely help children improve their English.Also, since most of the stories are known topeople, it becomes easy to understand thelanguage.The stories selected in this book are good andinteresting too for children. It would have beenbetter if the level of these stories had beentaken into consideration. The elementary natureof some of the stories may have an adverseeffect on the total impact of this book. Further,the exercises provided are not consistent. Forexample, all the chapters do not have only fourtasks (as mentioned above), some chapters alsoinclude critical appreciation, written skills, etc.;and some chapters do not include language skills.Therefore, these exercises should have beenmade more systematic. These points candefinitely be improved in the future editions. Thebook fills a gap in pedagogical materials availablefor teaching a language.Kamal Kumar Choudhary (PhD, Leipzig) is anAssistant Professor in the Department of Humanitiesand Social Sciences at the Indian Institute ofTechnology Ropar, Panjab. Dr Chaudhary works andteaches courses in the areas of Neuro/Psycholinguistics, Syntax, Cognitive Science, andNatural Language Processing.kchoudhary1@googlemail.comTeaching Other Subjectsthrough Englishby Sheelagh Deller andChristine Price, 2007.London: OUP, 168 pages,paperbackISBN: 978-0-19-442-578-0,pp. 168Reviewed by: RameshKumar MishraThe rise of English as a world language has ledto its increasing acceptance as a medium ofeducation at different levels. The contribution ofBritish imperialism and now globalization towardsthis phenomenon is well documented. SheelaghDeller and Christine Price, in their book “TeachingOther Subjects through English,” emphasize onthe use of English in teaching and learning ofdifferent subjects and in various classroomsituations. The book particularly uses theframework of the “Content and LanguageIntegrated learning” to demonstrate how schoolteachers can use English as a medium ofinstruction to train pupils in different subjects. Incontrast to conventional methodologies of teachinga language, CIIL gives prominence to thecomplete involvement of the learner in theacquisition process where interaction in thelanguage is considered pivotal. This means, onemust be able to think and conceptualizesuccessfully in English while indulging in theteaching of different subjects. Most teacherswhose native language is not English, find itdifficult to teach subjects in English, for they lackproficiency in the language. This booksystematically introduces several teachingstrategies across a range of subjects that suchteachers can use while interacting with students.Thus, this is a resource book for those teacherswho teach in an English medium school, and whowould like to enhance their teaching proficiencyLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 50

in using English for teaching different subjects.One of the hallmarks of human language is theinfinite flexibility it offers to its users forcommunicating abstract thoughts. This is ofprimary significance for teaching and learningof concepts. Thus, while teaching a subject usinga language, one needs to use the language insuch a way that one is optimally able tocommunicate the subject matter with thestudents. This not only requires an expertise inthe grammar of the language, but also a deepunderstanding of its functionality. Deller andPrice demonstrate this in several chapters thatare dedicated to the use of English in the learningof different subjects while at the same timedemonstrating how the teacher can successfullyinvolve the students by giving them a range ofclassroom activities. The activities will allow thestudents to get accustomed to the use of Englishas a medium of expression of ideas relevant tothe subject matter. The book is rich withguidelines for teaching different subject matterssuch as Physics, Art, etc., which I think willprovide teachers with tips for successfulteaching. The book is useful for both languageteachers, as well as teachers who are usingEnglish to teach other subjects in schools.One of the interesting aspects of this book is theuse of visual information during teaching to makelearning more inclusive. The authors demonstratehow informative visuals can be created to maketeaching more precise. The authors show howto ask questions pertinent to the subject matterso that the student can engage in constructiveand useful conversation with the teacher. I believethis is an important point that goes beyond justdelivering the subject matter. Good teachers aregood communicators, and they know how totransfer knowledge through the use of effectivediscourse techniques. Since this book deals withthe use of English as a medium of instruction, it isimportant that teachers equip themselves withsufficient knowledge of English to successfullycarry out conversations.Finally, I would like to comment on one of themost novel aspects of this book—how to developefficient and fruitful activities for the classroom,so that learning becomes intellectually satisfyingand informative. Since different subjects requiredifferent types of classroom activities, theauthors choose different examples to createactivity scenarios that can work profitably. Inconventional language, these are known asassignments that students do at their own pace.However, an activity is more than just anassignment, and its primary goal may not be toonly evaluate and grade, but to also educate thestudent on how to think creatively about variousissues and contribute in their understanding. Inmany of the pages, the authors advocate groupactivities that will help students learn how towork collaboratively.Overall, I think that this is a useful book forteachers who want to learn new skills relatedto teaching, particularly when they are usingEnglish as a medium of instruction. I think, foran Indian audience, this book is quite suitablesince for most teachers English is a second andnon-dominant language. The book can be a greatresource for researchers as well as otherprofessionals who want to know more aboutnovel teaching methodologies.Ramesh Kumar Mishra (PhD, Delhi University) is anAssistant Professor of Cognitive Science at the Centerfor Behavioral and Cognitive Sciences at the AllahabadUniversity. He works in the areas of Multimodalaspects of language processing, Interaction oflanguage with attentional systems, Cognition inilliterates, Oculomotor control, Visuo-Spatialattention,Speech-language disorders.Email: rkmishra@cbcs.ac.inLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 51

Suggested ReadingsBeyond Training: Perspectives onLanguage TeacherEducationBy Jack C. RichardsCambridge LanguageTeaching Library SeriesCambridge UniversityPressFirst published: 1998Second printing: 2000Pages: 208ISBN 0-521-62680-3 (Paperback)Beyond Training examines the nature of secondlanguage teacher development, and howteachers’ practices are influenced by their beliefsand principles. Conventionally, ‘training’ reflectsa very technical view of teaching practiceswhereas Richards, in concerning himself withthe beliefs, theories, knowledge and practicesof second language teachers, tries to provide amore holistic view of teacher development byfocusing on the notion of the teacher as acritical and reflective thinker. Until the secondhalf of the 1980s, education was essentiallydefined as training or delivery of what wasknown or thought important in teaching secondlanguages. By 1990, the emphasis had shiftedto second language teacher education. Fromthen on, a distinction was drawn betweensecond language as the content or subjectmatter, and the processes of teacher education,within which were the allied processes ofteacher training and development. As noted byFreeman (1998/2000) in his Foreword to thebook, “…training meant teaching people howto do the work of teaching. Underlying thevarious surface aspects of delivery, however,lay a rich and complex learning process, theprocess of learning to teach” (p. vii).Richards’ book takes over from this, and addsfurther direction by not only explaining theconceptual tools and schemes, but also settinginterlinked ideas within an overall structure ofdevelopment. In the first chapter, he defines thescope of second language teacher education(SLTE) or what has been called the knowledgebase of second language teaching. The rest ofthe book is divided into four parts covering i)theories of second language learning, ii)perspectives on teacher thinking, iii) examiningteacher education practices, and iv) entering thefield of language thinking. Of these parts, thefirst (chapter 2 and 3) examines two differenttypes of teaching theories that influence teacherbeliefs and practices; and also discusses variousscience-research conceptions, theory and valuebased conceptions, and art-crafts models ofteaching. Chapter 3 particularly examinesteacher’s implicit theories of teaching, andintroduces the notion of ‘teacher maxims’(personal working principles that teachersdevelop, that account for their interpretation ofgood practice and provide the source for manyinteractive decisions that teachers make whileteaching). The second and the third partsaddress the nature of teacher thinking (teachercognition, pedagogical reasoning skills, teachers’Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 52

use of lesson plans, etc.), and practices (use oftextbook vis-à-vis creative teaching etc.)respectively. The final part of the book describesa study of five novice teachers and theexperiences they faced in their first year ofteaching, while also offering practicalsuggestions for the kinds of activities that canbe used in teacher-education programmes.Although targeted for teacher trainers inlanguage schools and universities, teachersthemselves will also find this book useful giventhe importance it accords to the knowledge,beliefs and attitudes that underlie all teachingpractices.Pictures for Language LearningBy Andrew WrightCambridge Handbooksfor Language TeachersGeneral Editor: MichaelSwanCambridge UniversityPressFirst published 1989Fourth printing 1993Pages: 218ISBN 0 521 35800 0 (Paperback)This resourceful and innovative book providesan immensely valuable insight into theimportance of pictures and other visual materialsin language teaching. In demonstrating the vitalrole of pictures in a wide range of languagelearning situations, the book also underscoresthe crucial role played by teachers in usinginnovative and effective teaching methods thatcan be adapted by them to suit any kind oflearner needs. Such innovative use of picturesand visual material in language teaching alsorequires limited resources in terms of time forpreparation and money or equipment. This richlyillustrated book gives concrete examples(chapter 1), of how, for instance, the samepicture can be used to emphasize five verydifferent language concepts in teaching(example: grammatical structures, vocabulary,different functions such as requesting,expressing likes/dislikes, etc., describingsituations, and honing the skills of listening,reading, writing and speaking).The book is divided into four parts with a totalof 16 chapters: of these, the first sectiondiscusses the contributions of visuals towardsimproving the communication skills of students.Section B emphasizes speaking and writing, andsection C stresses listening and reading; together,they have over 200 practical suggestions forpicture-generated language work. Section B hasvarious sub-sections dealing with ‘mechanicalpractice’, communication, and mini dialogue androle-play/simulation. Section C focuses onmeaning-making aspects of pictures that can beused to hone listening and reading skills.Wright’s examples are practical in that theymake use of readily available visual materials,and where illustrations have been used, thesecan be easily applied by the teacher.The final section of the book suggests easy waysin which to set up a ‘picture library’, and offersguidance on how to look for visuals, categorizepictures and how to store pictures so that theycan serve as future teaching tools. Languageteachers in particular will find the book usefulbecause the activities that Wright describes canbe integrated into different levels of languageteaching process. Moreover, he provides severalpointers as to how to creatively adapt ideas tosuit different teaching environments. Chapter14 lists the types of pictures and their uses (singleobject pictures, pictures of famous people,pictures of people in action, pictures from history,Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 53

fantasies and news, maps, symbols, pairs, texts,sequences, etc.). Chapter 15 deals with creatingand adapting pictures. Both these chapters willbe useful for their practical applicability as wellas tips for preservation and innovative use ofpictures in language teaching.Conditions for Second Language LearningBy Bernard SpolskyFirst published: 1989Oxford University Press,UKPages: 272ISBN 19 437086 0(Hardcover)Spolsky’s book sets out a theory of secondlanguage learning in the form of a ‘preferencemodel’, or a series of typical and categoricalrules or conditions. This theory, which he callsthe general theory of language teaching isdistinct from theories of formal classroomlearning and of informal natural learning. Thetask of such a general theory is, as Spolskynotes, being able “to account for the fact thatpeople can learn more than one language, andfor the generalizable individual differences thatcan occur in such learning” (p.2). His theorythus accounts for both, differences betweenindividual language learners, and betweendifferent kinds of learning It is characterized byfive features: i) generality (that allowsconsideration within a single model, second aswell as foreign language learning, learning forgeneral and specific purposes, formal andinformal learning, developing knowledge andskills etc.) ii) emphasis on goals and outcomesof learning iii) integrated and interactiveorientation iv) an ‘eclecticism’ approach (thatrecognizes various conditions for languagelearning) and lastly, v) acknowledgement oflanguage learning as a social context.The ‘preference model’ that Spolsky drawsupon, involves the interaction of several clustersof interrelated conditions—he lists as many as74 conditions that are relevant to secondlanguage learning. Of these, the first cluster ofconditions relates to second language learningas taking place in a social context, and includescomponents such as the “sociolinguistic situation,the general exposure of learners to otherlanguages, the role of the target language andother languages in the outside community andat home, and the general perception of valuesof the target language and of bilingualism” (p.25-26). The second cluster comprisesconditions of the learner who brings into thelearning situation not only motivation, but also anumber of capabilities, and a body of previousknowledge and experience. Spolsky underscoresthe fact that the combination of these learnerfactors “accounts for the use the learner makes,consciously or unconsciously, of the sociallyprovided formal or informal learningopportunities” (p. 27). The usefulness of thisbook lies perhaps in the delineation of the majorconditions of language learning. The 74conditions explained over the first 12 chaptersinclude within their purview, multiple factorssuch as ‘knowledge of language’; ‘languageuse’; ‘measurement of language knowledge andskills’; ‘implication of overall proficiency’;individual/psycholinguistic factors anddifferences in language learning; ‘the linguisticsbasis for second language’ and lastly, theconditions required for learning opportunities.The multiple dimensions utilized in explainingthese conditions for second language learningas well as the implications drawn for languageteaching is the USP of this book.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 54

Practice in a Second Language: Perspectivesfrom Applied Linguistics and CognitivePsychologyEdited by Robert M.DeKeyserSeries Editors: MichaelH. Long and Jack C.RichardsFirst published: 2007Cambridge UniversityPress, New YorkPages: 323ISBN: 978-0-521-68404-0 (Paperback)Practice in a Second Language addresses theconcept of practice in language teaching froma theoretical perspective. In all the articles inthe volume, a number of questions are explored,ranging from what kind of practice is mosteffective for different kinds of language learnersand in what contexts. The ‘Introduction’ as wellas the ‘Conclusion’ chapters by DeKeyserprovide multiple dimensions, and lay out the‘praxis of practice’ for the readers. In theIntroduction, DeKeyser notes practice to be“specific activities in the second language,engaged in systematically, deliberately, with thegoal of developing knowledge of and skills inthe second language” (p. 1). He also explainsthe concept from the perspective of cognitivepsychology, educational psychology and appliedlinguistics. In the concluding chapter, DeKeysersituates the notion of practice withincontemporary discourse, and how it isunderstood in a triple sense: the narrow senseof repeated focused exercises aimed to optimizethe retrieval of what one has learned, the slightlywider sense of any kind of L2 use thatencourages expansion and fine-tuning of existingknowledge, and the widest sense of any kind ofcontact with the L2 that may improve itsknowledge at some level. In the same chapter,DeKeyser notes that procedural and notdeclarative knowledge is the ultimate goal forL2 practice activities. The distinction betweendeclarative and procedural knowledge is wellknown: in most forms of skill acquisition, peopleare first presented with information such ashow to put a sentence in an explicit form; this iscalled practice in ‘declarative knowledge’.Procedural knowledge means the practicethrough which learners incorporate thisinformation into behavioural routines.The ten articles in the book are spread acrossthree main sections: ‘foundations’, ‘institutionalcontexts’ and ‘individual differences’. Of these,language teachers and teacher trainers will findthe first four articles on input in L2 classroom,output practice in L2 classroom, and interactionas practice and feedback in L2 learning,particularly useful. The other papers in this bookwill also be useful given the various cognitive,educational psychology and applied linguisticsperspectives that inform them. The importanceof individual differences because of age,aptitude, abilities and contexts in secondlanguage learning practice is addressed in thepapers in the last section of the book.Suranjana Barua has a PhD in Linguistics from theUniversity of Delhi. She is currently working at theCentre for Assamese Studies, Tezpur University,Assam. Conversation/Discourse Analysis,Language Teaching, Gender Studies and TranslationStudies are her areas of academic interest.suranjana.barua@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 55

Classroom ActivitiesActivity 1: Read Sight Words FluentlyNote to Teacher: This is an activity on sightwords.• In all languages, sight words are words thatappear with high frequency.• Often, but not always, sight words are wordsfor which it is difficult to draw pictures/visuals.• Any text consists of around 60 per cent to70 per cent sight words.• Because they come so frequently in texts,it is important that these words berecognized quickly in the process of reading.Automatic recognition of sight words helpsstudents read faster.• Reading of sight words in a text helpsstudents to experience success in thereading process.• In teaching sight words, the emphasis is onword recognition.• Sight words are generally function words.But content words may also be taught assight words. In the case of content words,ensure that the learners have some senseof their meaning.Each week, teach at least 15 to 20 sight words.Maintain a record of the words that studentsfind difficult so that these can be specificallytargeted in the learning process.Objectives• To be able to read sight words quickly• To be able to use sight words in sentencesMaterials• List of sight words (see example below)• Slips of paper – one sight word written oneach slip• Long string• A stick/scaleScope: Grades- 1 to 3 (the complexity of sightwords will increase with the level of each class.)Activity for whole classProcedure• On a long string that runs from one wall toanother, attach the sight words (the heightshould be such that students are able toreach it with the stick/scale).• Teacher points to a student and calls out aword, e.g. “yaha” (this)• Student indicates the slip on which the wordis written, reads the word and makes asentence with it.(When students have learnt to match thecalled out sight word with its written form,then go to the group activity.)Group activityProcedure• Students are divided into groups.• Each group is given newspapers/text books/photocopies of stories.• The students underline the sight words theyhave learnt (textbook of math, science andother subjects also have to be used for thisactivity to convey the message to theLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 56

students that these words occur in all typesof texts).Methods for enhancing this activity mayinclude:• Encouraging students to bring their own sightwords and making them part of the game.• Encouraging student groups to createdictionaries of sight words with the wordswritten on one side and a sentence usingthe word on the other. If possible, thestudents may draw/cut/paste pictures of thatword. This will be a year-long project.• Creating opportunities for students to playwith the dictionary, e.g. each group calls outa word and the other group has to find it.Outcome: Students will be able to read sightwords fluently (fast and with understanding).List of Sight Words in Hindi: A sampleA Few Sight WordseSa Fkk gS Fks esjk devki og ;g lc ,d uhpsdqN mls vkSj mlds mudsge fd vf/kd vkuk tkukdkSu D;k D;ksa ckgj ÅijActivity 2: Communication skillsTask 1: Hello! How are you?Language function: Greeting someoneSkill involved: Listening, speakingType of participation: Pair workLevel: Primary (especially for beginners)Objectives• To enable the learners to familiarizethemselves with their classmates.• To enable the learners to greet their friendsverbally (in English).• To enable the learners to initiate a telephoneconversation in English.Materials required: Two thermocol glassesand a thread.Procedure1. The teacher teaches the learners how tomake a string phone using 2 thermocolglasses and a thread. The learners makethis in pairs. The procedure of making astring phone is given below.Devaki Lakshminarayan leads the Azim PremjiUniversity Research Centre. Before joining theFoundation, she was working with Central Instituteof Indian Languages, Mysore for over 20 years. Shepossesses a Doctoral Degree in Psychology fromthe University of Mysore and Masters in Linguistics,from Groningen University, The Netherlands.devaki@azimpremjifoundation.orga. Take two paper cups and poke a small holethrough the center of the bottom of eachcup. The hole should only be big enough forthe string to pass through.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 57

. Poke one end of the string through one ofthe cups and tie a knot on the inside of thecup.c. Make the string as long as the distancebetween you and the other person.d. Poke the other end of the string through thehole in the other cup and tie a knot so it willnot pass through the cup.e. Now that you have a cup on each end ofthe string, the telephone is ready to use.f. Hold the cup to your mouth and talk a littleloudly into it. Have your friend hold the othercup to their ear. It is important that you keepthe string tight between the cups, and thatnothing is touching the string. Now yourfriend should be able to hear your messagethrough the cup.2. The teacher demonstrates a telephonicconversation (using a string phone) withanother teacher, or with another student.“Hello! My name is Sangeeta. What is yourname?”The other person will respond by saying,“My name is __________”3. Ask all the learners to demonstrate theirconversations, with their partners bygreeting them and exchanging names usingthe string phone.4. The teacher will encourage the students tocontinue their telephonic conversation inEnglish by talking about their school, parents,likes or dislikes etc.USP: The above-mentioned task would enableyoung learners to familiarize themselves withtheir classmates: Working in pairs will build theconfidence of the learners. Using a string phonemade by the learners themselves will surelyencourage them to use it for carrying out atelephonic conversation in English.Task 2: My Likes, my friend’s likesLanguage function: Expressing likesSkill involved: Listening, speakingType of participation: Group ParticipationLevel: PrimaryObjectives• To enable learners to express their own likesverbally (in English).• To enable learners to express their friend’slikes verbally (in English).Procedure1. The teacher divides the class in groups of6-7 learners each. Each group is asked tosit in a circle. The teacher herself also joinsa group.2. Addressing a member of the group, sittingnext to her, the teacher asks about his/herfavourite clothes. He/she, first, expresseshis/her own likes verbally, followed by thelikes of another member of the group sittingnext to him/her.Example: I like to wear sarees but Krishangilikes to wear frocks.3. The learners of each group are asked toexpress their likes with regard to differentthemes such as food, heroes, games, drinks,cartoon characters, etc. The studentsexpress their likes verbally (in English),followed by the likes of an adjacent memberof the group.4. The learners are encouraged to speak inEnglish. The teacher acts as a facilitator byhelping the learners wherever necessary.• USP: In the above-mentioned task, learnerswill be given a chance to express their ownlikes. Tasks related to the learnersLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 58

themselves increase their interest,motivation and eagerness to speak the targetlanguage. Tasks performed in groups allowthe weaker and the shy learners to listen tothe better learners, and thus identify andeven use the structure correctly whilespeaking.Manu Gulati is a T.G.T. English in Sarvodaya KanyaVidyalaya, Punjabi Bagh, New Delhi. She is interestedin preparing low cost/no cost activities and tasks toimprove the English of school children.”mwadhwa22@yahoo.comActivity 3: Developing Listening SkillsUsing Songs and MusicLevel: Upper PrimarySong: Home on the RangeA. Multiple choice (task to be done whilelistening to the song)1. Play the track and let the students listen toit and enjoy it. Alternately, sing the songyourself if you know it.2. Play the song again.3. Students have to tick the words as they keeplistening to the song. (Individual work)4. Students can share their answers with theirpartners and write the correct words fromthe song.5. Play the track again and let the studentssing along.Oh give me a home where the buffalo groan/roamWhere the deer and the antelope pray/playWhere seldom is heard a discouraging/encouraging wordAnd the skies are not cloudy all dayHome, home on the rangeWhere the deer and the antelope playWhere seldom is heard a discouraging wordAnd the skies are not cloudy all dayWhere the air is so cure/pure and the zephyrsso free/greenAnd the breeze is so balmy and white/lightI wouldn’t exchange my home on the rangeFor all of the cities so bright/tonightHow often at night when the heavens arebrightWith the light from the glittering/glimmeringstarsHave I stood there amazed and asked as Iglazed/gazedIf their glory exceeds that of ours.B Fill in the blanks (task to be done whilelistening to the song)1. Play the track and let the students listen toit and enjoy it.2. Play the song a second time.3. While listening, students have to write thecorrect words in the blank spaces tocomplete the song.Play the track again and let the students singalong.Oh give me a home where the buffalo _____Where the _____ and the antelope _____Where seldom is heard a _____ wordAnd the skies are not _____ all dayHome home on the _____Where the deer and the antelope playWhere seldom is heard a discouraging wordAnd the skies are not cloudy all dayWhere the air is so __________ and thezephyrs so _____Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 59

And the breeze is so balmy and __________I wouldn’t __________ my home on the rangeFor all of the cities so __________How often at night when the heavens are brightWith the light from the __________ starsHave I stood there amazed and asked as I__________If their glory __________ that of ours.CSequencing (task to be done afterlistening to the song)1. Cut out each line of the song and putthe slips in an envelope. Alternately, cutout the paragraphs.2. Divide the class into groups.3. Distribute an envelope with slips to eachgroup.4. The students have to rearrange thesentences/paragraphs to complete thesong.5. Each group can sing the paragraphs insequence to complete the song.Home on the Range© Classic Country Lyrics,written by Gene Autry, Dan Kelley, BrewsterHighleyActivities © Falguni ChakravartyFalguni Chakravarty is a freelance CambridgeESOL-CELTA certified ELT Consultant, TeacherTrainer and Textbook writer with many titlespublished by leading publishers to her credit.Besides writing, she also provides in-service trainingto Primary teachers in urban and rural schools.falguni1960@gmail.comLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 60

ReportWorkshop on Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluationat Ambedkar University, DelhiIn collaboration with the Ambedkar University,Delhi (AUD), the Ahvaan Group (supported byAhvaan Trust) decided to have a workshop onContinuous and Comprehensive Evaluation(CCE) during May 21-22, 2012 at AUD. Basedon focus group discussions with more than fortyteachers working in various government schoolsin Delhi, the Ahvaan group realised that CCEwas a major concern for all stakeholders ineducation.The participants of the workshop included schoolteachers from various government schools inDelhi, academics, teacher educators fromvarious institutions (SCERT, DIET, DelhiUniversity and AUD), researchers and peopleworking in the area of child rights. The workshopfocussed on the following themes:• Teachers’ conception of CCE andtheir experiences of implementing it• Understanding the concept of CCE• Some tools to enable assessment ofchildren’s learning.The purpose of the workshop was to initiate areflection on the pedagogy and assessment thatCCE envisages. In a way, it was a first step tomove away from regarding CCE as a ‘technique’and to deliberate up on the broader pedagogicalconcerns it encapsulates – particularly those atthe intersection of the ideas of evaluation, theagency of children and teachers, and therelational ethos in schools. The workshop wasstructured in a way that teachers could sharetheir concerns and experiences of CCE andreflect on questions like: What are the majorMay 21- 22, 2012Ahvaan Group*shifts (if any) that teachers observe betweenCCE and the traditional pattern of evaluation?What changes do teachers observe in children’slearning with the shift to the new approach toteaching-learning and evaluation? How wouldthey ideally want to assess children in theirclassrooms? Whether the purpose of ‘assessing’is to understand and support learning or is it to‘evaluate’ a child?The first day’s sessions involved plenarydiscussions, focus group deliberations on specificquestions, and a presentation on the idea of CCEby an academic who has worked at policy levelsin the area of assessment. The deliberations ofthe first session brought to the fore severalconcerns that teachers have and the confusionsthey encounter while implementing CCE. Theimplementation of the RtE Act in schoolsmandates a need to change from the traditionalevaluation pattern to what is called thecontinuous and comprehensive approach toassessment. The manner in which the mandatehas been communicated to schools, has createda situation of flux and confusion among theteachers. Teachers are under pressure tohurriedly implement CCE without fullyunderstanding the objectives and without thetraining and resources required.The present situation makes teachers feel thatthe traditional system of examinations is beingdressed up in a new set of terminology of(formative and summative assessment,scholastic and co-scholastic domains, and thelike) instead of the necessary holistic shift inapproach to assessment. It would appear thatLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 61

even academic authorities lack an understandingof CCE. In these circumstances, the work of ateacher is limited to that of mechanicallymaintaining different kinds of records andregisters, instead of thinking about teachinglearningand assessment in a comprehensivefashion. Further, the limited infrastructure, thehigh pupil teacher ratios in many schools andthe burden of covering the syllabus and compilingthese registers, constrain them from reflectingon CCE and realizing their pedagogicimaginations. As a result, there is a huge gapbetween how CCE (or for that matter anychange) has been conceptualised and how it isbeing implemented.These discussions were taken forward in thesecond session by identifying some of the broadconcerns CCE seeks to address – thepsychological burden, the increasing competitiveand commercialised ethos in education, the lackof freedom and equity, and the contradictionsof ‘objective’ assessments. The assessmentsystems followed at the University levels and inother countries were also discussed, particularlyto highlight the overall educational experienceof a learner and its emotional and intellectualimpression on her personality. From the firstday’s sessions it emerged that although teachersappreciate the vision of CCE, the conditions inwhich they work do not allow them to be ableto ‘implement’ or practice it properly.The second day’s session began with a reflectionon some real life assessment situations to gaugehow they matched the concept of CCE. It wasstressed that the manner in which CCE is beingimplemented in schools at present, compromisesthe whole CCE approach. The changes thatCCE envisions were discussed through thespecific instance of the switch from report cardsto children’s cumulative records/portfolios.The following session pursued the idea of ‘shift’in some more detail. The participants reflectedon the ‘shifts’ they have experienced inteaching-learning at school over the past decadeor so. These discussions brought-out that inessence CCE is not a ‘new’ way of assessment– many teachers have been practicingassessment in the way CCE expects them to.However, the difference is that the teachers cannow formally use such assessment.Further in the session, through the sharing ofteachers’ everyday experiences, the groupengaged in debates which are central to the ethosof assessment practices, or rather the wholepedagogic environment in schools, but are oftenconsidered to be peripheral in discussions onCCE. These related to democracy, equity andagency of a child. As a particular instance, theparticipants deliberated extensively, on thepractice of corporal-punishment in schools. Thisdiscussion brought out the complicated relationalethos in schools, and how it is difficult to discussand situate CCE ignoring this ethos. It was alsofelt that without understanding child as a partnerin learning and creating democratic teachinglearningspaces, the vision that a humaneassessment approach entails could not berealised.The session following these discussions,focussed on the various ways of understandinga child’s learning and some possible tools thatcould facilitate these processes. These toolsincluded observations and teacher-madeschedules for observation, dialoguing with andlistening to children, anecdotal records, peerappraisal, the teacher’s diary, writtenassessment and the child’s portfolio. Theparticular feature of these tools was that thesewere developed by researchers and teachers inactual classroom situations. The focus was notto present ‘model’ tools for replication, but toshare some real-life exemplars used forunderstanding and supporting learning. Thecontextual design, purpose and nature of thesetools were specific reference points in thesepresentations.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 62

The workshop, in general, created a space whereteachers along with some other stakeholders inschool education could collect their experiencesof evaluation and assessment practices andreflect on them as a community. It also engagedwith the basic philosophy of CCE and ways ofapproaching the goals of CCE. The workshopconcluded with the expectation that thesediscussions would be explored further. It wasproposed that the work on CCE would continuewith more specific focus on the ways ofassessing learning and practicing CCE. The hopewas expressed that Ahvaan and AUD willcontinue to deliberate on aspects of the qualityof education and engage with a largercommunity of teachers to take these issuesforward.*The Ahvaan Group consists of governmentschool teachers, academics and researcherswhich has been working over the past oneyear to understand and improve the qualityof education in the government schoolsystem.Call for PapersLanguage and Language TeachingLanguage and Language Teaching (LLT) isa peer-reviewed periodical. It is not an ELTperiodical. It focuses on the theory and practiceof language-teaching and English is only one ofthe languages one might consider. Since thereare already many journals devoted to ELT, weparticularly welcome articles dealing with otherlanguages.Papers are invited for the forthcoming issues.Please follow the Guidelines given in the currentissue. The references must be complete in ALLrespects, and must follow the APA style sheet.Papers may address any aspect of language orlanguage-teaching. They MUST be written in astyle that is easily accessible to school teachers,who are the primary target audience of thisperiodical. The articles may focus on the learner,teacher, materials, teacher training, learningenvironment, evaluation, or policy issues.Activities focusing on different languages arealso invited. The article must be original andshould not have been submitted for publicationanywhere else. A statement to this effect mustbe sent along with the article.No paper should exceed 2000 wordsincluding references and the bio-note of thecontributor. The bio-note should not exceed25 words.Last date for the submission of articles:January Issue: October 30July Issue: April 30Articles may be submitted online simultaneouslyto the following email IDs:agniirk@yahoo.comamrit.l.khanna@gmail.comjourllt@gmail.comThey may also be posted to:Vidya Bhawan SocietyFatehpura, Udaipur 313004Rajasthan, IndiaLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 63

Forthcoming EventsAugust 2012PROMS2012: Rasch Family: Theory,Method and PracticeDates: August 6th (Monday) - August 9th(Thursday), 2012Organization: Pacific Rim ObjectiveMeasurement SymposiumLocation: Jiaxing University, ZhejiangProvince, ChinaJACET 2012: The 51st InternationalConventionDates: August 31st (Friday) - September 2nd(Sunday), 2012Organization: Japan Association of CollegeEnglish TeachersLocation: Aichi Prefectural University,Nagakute City, Aichi Prefecture.September 2012CUE ESP Symposium 2012Date: September 8th (Saturday), 2012Call for papers due: August 31st (Friday)Organization: College and UniversityEducators Special Interest Group, JapanAssociation for Language TeachingLocation: Nara Institute of Science andTechnology (NAIST), Keihanna Science CityOctober 2012The 10th Asia TEFL InternationalConferenceDates: October 4th (Thursday) - October 6th(Saturday), 2012Call for papers due: April 30th (Monday)Organization: The Asian Association ofTeachers of English as a Foreign LanguageLocation: Delhi, IndiaJALT 2012Dates: October 12th (Friday) - October 15th(Monday), 2012Organization: The Annual InternationalConference of the Japan Association forLanguage TeachingLocation: Hamamatsu, Shizuoka PrefectureGLoCALL 2012: The Globalization andLocalization in Computer-AssistedLanguage Learning ConferenceDates: October 18th (Thursday) - October20th (Saturday), 2012Organization: Globalization and Localization inComputer-Assisted Language LearningLocation: Beijing Foreign Studies University,Beijing, ChinaSecond Language Research Forum 2012Dates: October 18th (Thursday) - October21st (Sunday), 2012Call for papers due: April 30th (Monday)Organization: Second Language ResearchForumLocation: Carnegie Mellon University,Pittsburgh, PA, USA2012 Pan-Korea English TeachersAssociation (PKETA) InternationalConferenceDate: October 20th (Saturday), 2012Organization: Pan-Korea English TeachersAssociationLocation: Pukyong National University,Busan, KoreaLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 64

20th KOTESOL InternationalConferenceDates: October 20th (Saturday) - October21st (Sunday), 2012Call for papers due: May 31st (Thursday)Organization: Korea Teachers of English toSpeakers of Other LanguagesLocation: Sookmyung Women’s University,Seoul, KoreaFukuoka JALT Conference and Bookfair2012Date: October 28th (Sunday), 2012Call for papers due: April 30th (Monday)Organization: Fukuoka Chapter of the JapanAssociation for Language TeachingLocation: Seinan University, Nishijin, FukuokaNovember 2012Pan-Asian Conference on LanguageTeaching and Learning (PAC) 2012Dates: November 1st (Thursday) - November4th (Sunday), 2012Call for papers due: May 31st (Thursday)Organization: Pan-Asian Conference onLanguage Teaching and LearningLocation: Far Eastern Federal University,Vladivostok, RussiaMay 2013CELS Symposium 2013Dates: May 27th (Monday) - May 28th(Tuesday), 2013Call for papers due: September 30th (Sunday)Organization: The Centre for EnglishLanguage Communication (CELC), NationalUniversity of SingaporeLocation: National University of SingaporeJanuary 03, 2013 5th International SanskritComputational Linguistics Symposium(ISCLS) Mumbai MaharashtraReaders’ResponseThe topics of the journal are very relevant for aschool context. They throw open questions thatteachers and leaders at school level should beengaging with. The language used is simple, andcan be understood easily. This journal willdefinitely bridge the gap between academicresearch and teaching practice.Harpeet Kaur, Curriculum Developer and TeacherTrainer, Bharat National Public School, DelhiAll the authors in the first issue of Languageand Language Teaching have raised pertinentquestions related to school education: literacy,comprehension, exposure, resources, firstgeneration learners, and many others. These areall real issues at the grass root level that theteachers grapple with all the time. Some of thearticles suggest ways in which small steps haveled to or could lead to better teaching/learningoutcomes.However, I feel that some of the teachers ingovernment schools may need models ortraining to learn how to employ scaffoldingtechniques for activating their students’knowledge, or to teach their students tocomprehend reading or develop writing skills.If we could get some articles that focus oninitiatives or experiments that have been triedout in actual classrooms using differentpedagogic techniques, and have drawn uponsome of these very relevant suggestions, it wouldhelp school teachers immensely in implementing‘tried and tested’ techniques.Chhaya Sawhney, Assistant Professor, Deptt. ofElementary Education, Gargi College,University of Delhi, DelhiLanguage and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 65

The LLT journal is just what we need in termsof the themes dealt with, and the easeand simplicity of the presentation and length ofarticles, since it can be used asresource material for teacher capacitydevelopment during forum meetingsand workshops. Difficult and confusing ideasare often described in a lucid manner with lotsof examples from ELT. I believe we can findanswers to many of our questions inits pages.Nivedita Bedadur, University Resource Centre,Azim Premji University, BengaluruI am sure this journal has been well received,and will fill a vacuum area.Keerti Jayaram Director, Early Literacy project(ELP), Organization for Early LiteracyPromotion (OELP), New DelhiI shared the LLT journal with another colleagueof mine at school. A few brief comments:He found the section ‘Classroom Activities’useful, saying he always looks for somethinglike that in journals. However, I think if theactivities described could also be linked verybriefly to the theories of language-acquisitionand learning that they support, it would be moreuseful. Somehow in the current teachinglearningdiscourse, activities have come to havea life of their own without any adequate rationalefor why or how certain activities are helpful ornecessary.Another useful area could be asking teachersto write down specific questions or topics oflanguage learning or teaching, on which theywould like more theoretical, research articles. Idon’t know if a journal like this can entertainsuch a need. But it would be useful to knowwhat teachers are thinking, and the areas thatthey need help in.Snehlata Gupta, Lecturer in English at RajkiyaPratibha Vikas Vidyalaya (RPVV), Delhi1) Most of the articles focus on thedevelopment of four basic skills, especiallythe communicative skill, which is obviouslythe need of the hour.2) In both the articles of R. Amritavalli andSobha Sinha, they discussed how readingcould be a part of learning to developcognitive ability. I like their idea that oneshould continue reading even if one doesnot understand the meaning, which is verypositive.3) Being sensitive to the young languagelearner and helping them bring their realworld experience into the classroom to makethe environment more comfortable forstudents is a significant point of the article,“Towards a conceptual framework for earlyliteracy: A balanced and socially aensitiveapproach”. It touches the theory of usingmultiple intelligence and learning styles inthe classroom, which looks quite interesting.4) Articles such as “Collaborative spaces onthe web and language teaching: Blogs andwikis” can make positive changes inteaching and learning situations. Blogs andwikis are now very popular across the worldin the field of education. They seem veryeffective in the present day situations wherewe can work collaboratively. I am sure, likeme, readers would like to read more articleson the use of technology in the teaching andlearning process, and could bring effectivechanges in the system. After spendingalmost four months in a university in the US,I think that blogs, wikis, and the use ofInternet can bring substantial changes in theteaching-learning environment. I had theopportunity of visiting a high school in theUS, where it was encouraging to see howtechnology, instead of being a distraction,has been used constructively. Undoubtedly,its use depends on the teacher.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 66

5) I liked the article written by Shefali Ray thatemphasizes on communicative skills and theimportance of interaction in a classroom.This would surely open up new ideas tomake the classroom more interactive andenjoyable.6) On the whole, the language used in thearticles was simple and easy to understand.I just want to say that people are going touse this journal a lot.Nabanita Baruah, Teaches English at Betbari HigherSecondary School, Sivasagar, AssamIt would be good to have key words, shorterparagraphs, and more headings. I do realize thatas writers, we have not put headings into ourarticles, but this could be the ‘house style’ ofLLT, and this could be something that could beadded by the editor.Joseph Mathai, Consultant, Ankur Society forAlternatives in Education, New DelhiThe contents look well rounded and veryinteresting.Mukul Priyadarshini, Associate Professor, Deptt. ofElementary Education, Miranda House,University of Delhi, DelhiThe journal looks very attractive and thecontents seem to promise an equally stimulatingreading experience. I enjoyed Praveen Singh’sarticle on “Language Teaching in Greek andRoman Times”, and Pushpinder Syal’s interviewof Prof Tickoo.Rupin Desai, Formerly Professor of English,University of Delhi, DelhiLLT looks good; just what was needed.LLT’s objective to establish a dialogue betweentheory and practice while focusing on languagepedagogy is brought out very well in the articlesin the inaugural volume of the Journal. Thearticles mainly address the issue of languageacquisition and literacy, distinguishing it frommerely learning to read or write. They talk aboutcognition, wisdom, vision and imagination, whichare all mediated through language. Autonomouslearning, and developing the ability to choosethe text become the focal points of praxis.The diversity of strategies proposed by thewriters to attain better models in languageteaching is not debatable, but my primaryconcern is whether or not the proposed outcomeis achievable. My own personal involvement hasbeen primarily with literature; yet the interestand curiosity that the range of the articles hasraised, has certainly added to my constantlyevolving engagement with language acquisitionconcerns. Whether it is the innovative use oftraditional art form, or the meaningful exploitationof technology, the play text or the blogs and thewikis, the questions that disturb are related toissues of execution, negotiations and transactionsthat need concentrated, serious and prioritizedattention. The LLT must open discussions onthem in the form of symposia.LLT, I hope, will also focus on the need fordeveloping strategies for teaching language tothe visually impaired students in inclusiveclassrooms. I would like to suggest that thereshould be a dedicated volume that would focuson the impact of various social disparities,stratifications and socio-economic and politicalinfluences on the concerns of language. Thiswould also be able to take care of the need forspecial approach in communication, inmainstream teaching.Chandra Nisha Singh, Associate Professor,Lakshmi Bai college, University of Delhi, DelhiMaxine Bernsten, TISS, Hyderabad.Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 67

Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 68

Language and Language Teaching Volume 1 Number 2 July 2012 69