LANGUAGE IN INDIA

Strength for Today and Bright Hope for Tomorrow

Volume 9 : 10 October 2009
ISSN 1930-2940

Managing Editor: M. S. Thirumalai, Ph.D.
Editors: B. Mallikarjun, Ph.D.
         Sam Mohanlal, Ph.D.
         B. A. Sharada, Ph.D.
         A. R. Fatihi, Ph.D.
         Lakhan Gusain, Ph.D.
         K. Karunakaran, Ph.D.
         Jennifer Marie Bayer, Ph.D.

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Teaching English through Indian Writing in English
in Rural India

Sandeep K. Thorat, M.A., M.Phil.

Interest in Learning English in Rural India

English is accepted by almost all the universities in India as a significant medium of education. At the same time, teaching English effectively and interestingly has become more important than ever. Everyone, today, is eager to acquire the knowledge and competency of English to stay ahead in this competitive world. And this is still a distant dream for rural students.

Teaching English through Indian Writing in English in Rural India

This paper attempts to point out that teaching English through Indian Writing in English (IWE) in rural India can be beneficial for several reasons: firstly, most of the rural Indians are closely connected to traditional belief systems; secondly, pride in such belief systems is seen to be an important part of one's identity as Indian and the practitioner of true Indian culture with all its prestige in rural India. In such circumstances Indian Writing in English offers good opportunities for reading, writing, speaking and thinking in English, engaging oneself with known values, metaphors, stories and expressions.

Using IWE actually follows the universal trend which recognizes that "the English Language is no longer the preserve of a few nations, but it is now used globally" (Lazar, 1993). As a result, IWE is included as part of course materials to teach English in India.

Need to Remove the Foreignness

We should recognize that English materials, developed with only English motifs, urban practices and global expressions close to Western practices, may make many rural learners shy away from them, and distract the attention of many learners of English from rural India. These learners would find it easy to hold their attention and progress further in learning English if the materials they are exposed to are familiar and interesting, not just meet their practical ends.

Materials from Indian Writing in English for English Teaching

The most important step to reach rural learners of English is to study their attitude and interest. If English is applied to them in the easiest and most intimate way through the syllabus of schools and colleges, they will be convinced to learn it appropriately.

Of course, IWE is one such easy and intimate way to meet their needs. Use of short stories, short novels, poetry and plays helps maintain the interest of the learners. It has enormous power to make up their minds that English is not a language of their oppressors. By reading their own experiences, attitudes and liking in IWE, they will definitely appreciate it as their own language.

This is only the beginning part of the article. PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE ARTICLE IN PRINTER-FRIENDLY VERSION.

Spelling Variations in Kannada | A Survey of the State of the Art in Punjabi Language Processing | The Representation of Homosexuality - A Content Analysis in a Malaysian Newspaper | Noun Reduplication in Tamil and Kannada | Journey of Self-discovery in Anita Nair's Ladies' Coupé | A Study of Communicability and Intelligibility of Advertisements in Tamil With Special Reference to Tooth Paste and Health Drink | Explicit Grammar Instruction | Teaching English as a Second Language Using Communicative Language Teaching - An Evaluation of Practice in India | Discovering Values in English Language Teaching | The Core Functions of the Hindi Modals - Speech Act Approach | Textbook Analysis of English for Engineers | Cross-Professional Collaboration on E-Learning Courses | Reading Arundhati Roy's Fiction The God of Small Things Through Her Non-Fiction | Teaching English through Indian Writing in English in Rural India | Proverbs in Modern Tamil and Telugu Societies | Using Problem Based Learning Technique in Teaching English Grammar | Problems in Reading Comprehension Skills among Secondary School Students in Yemen | The Literary Value of the Book of Isaiah | Will Sentences Have Divergence Upon Translation? : A Corpus-Evidence Based Solution for Example Based Approach | HOME PAGE of October 2009 Issue | HOME PAGE | CONTACT EDITOR

Sandeep K. Thorat, M. A., M. Phil. (English)
Department of English
S.S.S.K.R.Innani Mahavidyalaya
Karanja(lad)
Dist. Washim (M.S.)
India
sandeepk_thorat@rediffmail.com

 
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