Daily News Online
 

Tuesday, 23 June 2009

News Bar »

News: Novel way to English ...        Political: UNP nominates for Jaffna MC ...       Business: Inland Revenue Dept nets Rs. 105b in five months ...        Sports: Yousuf returns for Sri Lanka Tests ...

Home

 | SHARE MARKET  | EXCHANGE RATE  | TRADING  | SUPPLEMENTS  | PICTURE GALLERY  | ARCHIVES | 

dailynews
 ONLINE


OTHER PUBLICATIONS


OTHER LINKS

Marriage Proposals
Classified
Government Gazette

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.

Anti-intellectual behaviour of university students

 

This statement provides a yardstick against which the modern university education can be measured. The purpose of this article is to examine the fundamental challenges the Sri Lanka universities face in realizing the above laudable goals.

Full Story

Iraq-six years after United States led invasion:

Intellectual crime

 

All over the world and throughout human history intellectual community, which contributes for the political, economic, social, cultural progress of any society, has been the prime asset of any country.

Full Story

Prospects bright for tea, rubber and coconut


Plantations Industries Minister D. M. Jayaratne said the Ministry has implemented a series of programs to elevate the cultivation of the three main export crops by providing relief and assistance.

Full Story

 

EMAIL |   PRINTABLE VIEW | FEEDBACK

www.lanka.info
St. Michaels Laxury Apartments
Donate Now | defence.lk
www.apiwenuwenapi.co.uk
LANKAPUVATH - National News Agency of Sri Lanka
www.peaceinsrilanka.org
www.army.lk
www.news.lk
www.defence.lk

| News | Editorial | Business | Features | Political | Security | Sport | World | Letters | Obituaries |

Produced by Lake House Copyright © 2009 The Associated Newspapers of Ceylon Ltd.

Comments and suggestions to : Web Editor