P = ELT + ECC
by Ms. Anjali Thakur, Dharmsinh Desai University, Nadiad – India.
English language teaching in the professional institutes is subordinated and substandard, so are the skill acquired by the passing out students. The NKC found the quality of Engineering graduates as ‘unemployable’, so, it recommends ‘multiple skill development’ at large and proposed ‘qualitative transformation in engineering education’, which is possible only if the English language teaching in these institutes be given a new direction and approached with an Andragogical method of English Language Teaching (ELT) and English Communication Competency (ECC) development, combining these two will definitely result in English Language proficiency. So the key for Professional students as well as institutes to develop the proficiency does not lay in the traditional ELT methods and approaches like AVM, SLT, CLT, etc. etc. but in the experiential classroom treatment and discovery based learning or learn by doing it. The experience and research work of one decade with the engineering Institute and various English Language and Communication Competency experiments has compelled the writers to conclude that the master key for proficiency (which is not only of English Language, but the wholistic one) lies in the following equation:
P = ELT + ECC
(Proficiency = English Language Teaching + English Communication Competency)
‘P’ is the vision of NKC and P is the mission of academia which needs proper alignment substantial weightage in the professional and Technical course curriculum and pedagogy. The research findings compels to conclude that the, traditional pedagogical method of competency and proficiency development as it is followed in professional and Technical Institutes is not suitable for English Communication Competency. The approach and method for ELT must not be pedagogical but Andragogical because all the learners in all these institutes are adults and they have come through ‘enough contact’ and ‘enough acquisition’ of English language, grammar, items, structures, etc. This repertoire and resource of the learners/students if used by providing them discovery based learning and experiences of real life English Language use, they adopt and adapt very quickly to both requirements, the linguistic as well as the communicational which results into a competent English Communicator, this provides them sand footing in their respective professional subjects and courses, their developed confidence level reflects in their overall performance level. This developed proficiency is reflected in their professional as well as personal performance which leads towards what NKC is expecting, that is the wholistic development.
The methods like, ‘Grammar-Translation Method’ – where student memorizes the long list of words and a set of grammatical rules where the written language rather than the spoken language is emphasized.
“There are individuals who can achieve great expertise in writing, but not in speaking. One example is the author Joseph Conrad, whose novels have become classics of English literature but whose English speech is reported to have retained the strong Polish accent of his first language.” (George Yule 1996: 191)
The another method is, ‘Audiolingual Method’ strongly influenced by a belief that the fluent use of a language was essentially a set of ‘habits’ developed with lots of practice, practice involved hours spent in a language lab repeating oral drills which is isolated practice where there is no resemblance to the interactional nature of actual language use as well as it is boring. So, these two methods does not solve the purpose for these learners, even the traditional ESP approach is insufficient and ineffective.
The approach for ECC (English Communication Competency) to some extent that can be considered is ‘Communicative Approach’. This approach is partially a reaction against the artificiality of ‘pattern – practice’ and also against the belief that learning the grammar of a language will necessarily result in an ability to use the language. This is the most effective approach in the beginning where students especially the regional language medium students are conscious about their English and so, are not ready to communicate.
This approach emphasises on ‘the functions of language (i.e. what it is used for) rather than the forms of language (i.e. correct grammatical or phonological structure).
During the experiment at Dharmsinh Desai University, the mix groups comprising of students from different (English and Non English medium schooling) backgrounds were formed for the Group Discussion at the very first session. They were allowed to be normal with no restrictions and control over their emotions, feelings and especially their behaviour. Only rule they had to follow was the maximum usage of English Language with or without errors and L1. They were motivated to interact. They were allowed to make mistakes; the importance is given to ‘what they communicate’ not ‘how they communicate’ (grammar). It was observed that those students who generally shy away from communicating in the class because of their Non-English medium background were very comfortably communicating in English. They were not only conversing but they were discussing on varied topics.
The ‘focus should be on the learner’. There should be tolerance towards the ‘errors’ committed by learners. Traditionally, ‘errors’ were regarded negatively and had to be eradicated, but, an ‘error’ is not something which hinders a student’s progress, but it is a clue towards active learning progress being made by a student as he or she tries out ways of communicating in the new language.
The researcher would also like to share the findings: some of the distinctions and differences of the, ‘Present Common ELT Practices in this part of the world and the Androgogical Approach of ELT we are practicing at our University:
| Present Common ELT Practices | Andragogical Approach | ||
| 1. | ELT items are not contextualized | 1. | ELT contextualization is a basic premise. |
| 2. | ELT structures and Forms are important not meaning | 2. | Meaning is important and negotiated by interactions |
| 3. | ELT is learning vocabulary, sounds, and grammar | 3. | English language learning is learning to communicate |
| 4. | Native speaker like fluency and pronunciation expected | 4. | Comprehensible fluency and pronunciation is accepted |
| 5. | After rigid drills and exercise comes selected communicative drills and activities | 5. | From the very beginning attempt to communicate encouraged |
| 6. | In ELT classes students’ native language use is banned | 6. | Native language use is allowed to bridge the communication gaps |
| 7. | Linguistic competence is the goal of ELT | 7. | Communicative Competence is the goal |
| 8. | ELT units, contents and their seque3ncing is fixed by some principles or complex theory, so it is static | 8. | Units, contents and their sequencing is not fixed but determined by the learners level of competency, so it is dynamic |
| 9. | ELT is teacher-controlled; learners are not allowed to do anything which conflicts with the theory and principles | 9. | Learner-centric class, where teacher helps and motivates the learner to work with language as well as communication. |
| 10. | Formal correctness and accuracy of linguistic items is expected at all costs | 10. | Accuracy is judge no by abstract but by context, because fluency and acceptable English Language is the expectation |
| 11. | In Audio-Visual and computer/ICT enabled ELT classes students are expected to interact with fixed English language items, controlled/imported material and complex machines | 11. | Students interact with living people, through pair work, group work or elocution, which is supported by ICT. |
We can share many more differences but we expect method change, mind change and approach change. If looked at the approach, the change needed is not material one but it needs a change in the attitude of the teachers in the technology institutes. The NKC perception is very clear, that for effective knowledge delivery and efficient knowledge generation New Age Pedagogy is needed in the Indian Higher Education but, Indian Higher Education mostly is instructed, interacted and transacted through English Language. So, it is high time that, English Communication Competency is used as a foremost priority in professional and Technical Institutes, so that, the overall proficiency of the individual, the institute and the industry is developed which will result in wholistic development of all, so that, the present as well as the future demand supply chain of globalize world is satisfied locally as well globally.
References:
1. Yule, George, 1996, The Study of Language (second edition), Cambridge University Press, UK
**This paper was presented during the National Conference on Technology in ELT at CHARUSAT – India.