A new approach to English
language
The
last GCE O/L Level Examination witnessed a large number of
failures in the English language paper. The decline in the
subject at schools had been a recurring problem faced by the
education authorities.
Time and again, different systems and methods were adopted to
change this pattern but from the steep rise in the failure rate
with each passing year it appears that the problem had only got
aggravated.
There are many reasons that have been attributed to the
deteriorating standards of English in the school system. Chief
among them is the incompetent and in most cases unqualified
teachers posted to rural schools. But the problem is much more
complex and goes deep down to the attitudes and prejudices
towards English as whole.
Hence, there is a reticence not only among students but also
among adults to express themselves in English - a sort of
hangover linked to the exclusive status accorded to the English
language. The kaduwa syndrome has not only made sections
cultivate an inferiority complex but has also caused deep
cleavages among society based on those with sound English
knowledge and those without.
This carry over perhaps from the colonial era has also bred
friction and resentment and divided society on the basis of
class. Even the 1971 Uprising was seen by many observers as
springing from this class difference vis-a-vis the privileges
and advantages derived by the English educated elite.
However, the days when English was looked on as a status
symbol is fast disappearing. The vast strides made in the field
of information technology has had a saturation effect. So much
so it is today commonplace to see ordinary folk browsing the
Internet and digesting all information without difficulty.
Today, English has assumed a new dimension that calls for the
dismantling of all shackles and roadblocks that had made it a
divisive force. Ditto for the prestige attached to it as a
status symbol.It is today a subject of pure utility value. No
longer can English be the exclusive preserve of the elite in
society.
Therefore a complete overhaul is needed in both attitude and
relevance attached to the subject breaking through all barriers
and prejudices so that all citizens will have access to English
- not as a language that spawned envy and hatred but as a tool
to further one’s horizons in a rapidly transforming world.
It is in this context that the decision by President Mahinda
Rajapaksa to launch a road map to promote spoken and
communicative English should be commended.
The purpose of this program is to arm the younger generation
with a knowledge of English, especially communicative English.
The program crafted by the Presidential Task Force on English
and IT envisages a complete overhaul of the traditional methods
of English language teaching and a whole change in concept about
the language.
The program will also entail an accelerated teacher training
program through which spoken English skills will be taken to all
schools in the country within 18 months and a radical change in
the school syllabus and examination system to give emphasis to
spoken English. This indeed is an enlightened approach and could
reverse the tide in the declining standards of English.
A free interaction among students in English without being
hamstrung by grammar and syntax is a good first step towards
their initiation into a subject they had been all along been
intimidated by. Today, English teaching in schools lays emphasis
on sentence making and phraseology which makes the subject
boring and uninteresting to students.
A more stimulating exercise is therefore called for to make
them grasp the nuances of language which would lead to a gradual
familiarization. This familiarization with the language at a
formative stage would enable the student to come to his own with
the language in later life and acclimatize him to the new
environment.
The Government should take care to recruit competent and
qualified teachers to handle the project. Ideally it should
think of utilizing the skills of retired English teachers which
will be invaluable in this context. The President certainly
should be lauded for this exercise of transforming the whole
concept of English education and what is more exorcising all the
hidden ghosts associated with English.
All these years, the subject was used as repressive tool to
shut out vast swathes of the country’s population from access to
privileged positions in society. It is now hoped that this
veneer of elitism attached to English would scrubbed off with
the ordinary folk taking to the subject. True, the
transformation would take time. But at least English will no
longer be the holy cow it was thought to be and the preserve of
a privileged few. |