ELTWeekly Newsletter Vol. 3 Issue#92 | July 17, 2011
Colonial Past of English Language
Politics of language has always been crucial in the human history as it has proved the most potent tools in the hands of colonizers to colonise the natives. Language was then taken as the carrier of culture and means to dominate and it was commonly upheld by the radical anti-colonial thinkers like Frantz Fanon for whom “to speak a language is to take on a world, a culture” (1986: 38). The question of language and culture have been debated by a range of colonial/postcolonial thinkers to condemn English as a language signifying colonial authority or to defend it as the most obvious uniting force not only among the colonies but also the lingua franca of the world at large.
Taking clue from Fanon’s idea and to reflect upon his schooling in a missionary school where English was the language of his formal education, Ngugi Wa Thiong’O found that the language of his education was not the language of his culture. The position that English acquired in Kenya, was even better than the native languages as all the others had to bow before it in deference. So, he considered English language as the means of spiritual subjugation and the most important vehicle through which the imperial power fascinated and held the soul prisoner. Recollecting the humiliating experiences of school days, he remarked that “the most humiliating experiences was to be caught speaking Gikuyu in the vicinity of the school. The culprit was given corporal punishment—three to five strokes on bare buttocks—or was made to carry a metal plate around the neck with inscriptions such as I AM STUPID or I AM A DONKEY….” (1994: 11)
Similarly, Edward Kamau Brathwaite, Caribbean author shows his concern towards the popularity of alien language of the colonisers i.e. English. On the introduction of English language and literature in the Caribbean institutions stressing upon the study of Shakespeare, George Eliot, Jane Austen—British literature and literary forms, he found that the English dominated models had hardly anything to do with the environment and the reality of non-Europe. For him, it was ridiculous to force the people to learn things which had no relevance to themselves. Edward Braithwaite could find no sense in the Caribbean people being educated in the system through which they came to know more about “English kings and queens than they do about our own national heroes, our own slave labours, the people who helped to build and to destroy our society.” (Ashcroft 2009: 43)
Taking an exception to these anti-English anti-colonial theorists, Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian Novelist in his essay “Politics and Politicians of Language in African Literature,” (1989) reacted against Ngugi and favoured English language for it being the common language of the colonies. He asserted: “I write in English. English is a world language… As long as Nigeria wishes to exist as a nation it has no choice in the foreseeable future but to hold its more than two hundred component nationalities together through an alien language, English… English is therefore not marginal to Nigerian affairs. It is quite central. I can speak across two hundred linguistic frontiers to fellow Nigerians only in English.” (Ashcroft 2006: 268)
In Indian context, Raja Ram Mohan Roy, Ishwar Chander Vidya Sagar and other social activists of Indian renaissance realised the importance of English language as the tool of enlightenment which was endorsed by the development model of Pt. Jawahar Lal Nehru in the later years. Setting aside the language controversies, in the Foreword to his novel Kanthapura (1937), Indian English novelist Raja Rao considered English as the language of our intellectual make-up and emphasised the Indianisation of English in the colonial context. He defends English because, for him:
… English is not really an alien language to us. It is the language of our intellectual make-up—like Sanskrit or Persian was before—but not of our emotional make-up. We are all instinctively bilingual, many of us writing in our own language and in English. We can not write like the English. We should not. We cannot write only as Indians. We have grown to look at the large world as part of us. Our method of expression therefore has to be a dialect which will some day prove to be as distinctive and colourful as the Irish or the American. Time alone will justify it. (1947: vii)
The idea of Rajarao to indigenise English language popularised the concept of ‘relexification’ defined by Loreto Todd as “… using English vocabulary but indigenous structures and rhythms,” (Ashcroft 2006: 285) further giving rise to new Englishes around the world. The ample use of ‘chutnification’ (as evident in the works of Indian English writers like R.K. Narayan, Mulkraj Anand, Kamala Markandaya, Salman Rushdie, Shobha de and others), hybrid language and indigenisation of English has become quite fashionable in the postcolonial period. Besides, keeping in view the wider acceptance of English in the postcolonial age, auto-translation, transliteration and translation in general have become quite commonplace. Defending the deconstruction of English language, Bill Ashcroft in his book Post-Colonial Transformation negates the claim of Standard English language owned by the erstwhile colonisers and underlines the malleability of English when he comments that: “All language is marginal, all language emerges out of conflict and struggle. The postcolonial text brings language and meaning to a discursive site in which they are mutually constituted, and at this site the importance of usage is inescapable….” (2001: 67)
English in the New World Order:
Though language was, is and will remain the carrier of culture, with the emergence of LPG, English language is taken as a convenient tool to serve the multicultural contexts. The colonial jargon of ‘authority’, ‘self’ or the ‘other’ has now been replaced by a different glossary in tune with English as a universally accepted global lingua franca. Earlier claim on the ownership of English language has been denied in the age of Englishes with the popularity of many varieties of English. According to David Crystal, “English is now so widely established that it can no longer be thought of as ‘owned’ by any single nation” (Crystal 2003: 26). Erstwhile focus on Received Pronunciation (R.P), Queen’s English, King’s English or BBC English has been replaced by neutral accent or indigenised accent. Homi K. Bhabha’s notion of colonial ‘mimicry’ is no more relevant in the globalised postcolonial world when English language acquisition and learning has become common place event in Indian context.
With ever-enlarging corpus1 absorbing the cultures of the humans on the earth and 1.5 billion users across the world, English is the second largest spoken language after mandarin. The tremendous growth in the number of first language as well as second language speakers of this language invites the attention of researchers and teachers engaged in English Language Teaching around the world to deliberate the larger issues like claim over ownership of standard English language, global English, neutral accent, and world Englishes. Now, it is no more a language signifying the tool of imperial ‘authority’ or cultural ‘hegemony’2 resisted by the natives of colonies; rather, it has been recognised as a global lingua franca at the time when relationship between English and globalisation is taken as complementary to each other because economic globalisation encourages the spread of English as much as the spread of English encourages globalization. In the age of globalization, according to David Graddol, “English is now redefining national and individual identities worldwide; shifting political fault lines; creating new global patterns of wealth and social exclusion; and suggesting new notions of human rights and responsibilities of citizenship.” (2006: 13)
In the changing world order, English Language Teaching goes beyond ESL or EFL and targets the youths to learn the language with new idioms i.e. English for Specific Purposes (ESP), English as an International Language (EIL), English as Global Language (EGL), English for Business Purposes (EBP), Teaching English to the Students of Other Languages (TESOL), English for Science and Technology (EST), English for Academic Purposes (EAP), English as Additional Language (EAL), English for Young Learners (EYL) etc. Similarly, with the new clientele of English language in the global world, the concept of ‘linguistic competence’ has been replaced by the ‘linguistic performance’3 further replacing the traditional methods and approaches of ELT like Grammar and Translation Method or Bilingual Method with Communicative Language Teaching (CLT), Direct Method, Task Based Language Teaching (TBLT) and Functional Approach.
In the globalised multicultural world when “the world is rapidly becoming more urban and more middle class – both of which are encouraging the adoption of English,” (Graddol 2006: 50) proficiency in communicative skills is pivotal. So, the focus has shifted from accuracy to fluency, content to skill, teacher-centred to learner-centtred classroom, first language (L1) to second language acquisition (L2), local context to multicultural/global/international context, and rote memory to interactive approach.
Indian Reconciliation with English:
Earlier considered as a tool of ‘domination’ and ‘intellectual and moral leadership’, India seemed to have reconciled itself with this language. Realizing the growing importance of English, India has now become the second largest country to host the English speakers after America with 26.79% decadal increase in speaker strength (Census, 2001). Besides being given the status of an Associate Official Language of the Union of India, first language of a few states, and lingua franca among many states, it has now gained general acceptance as the language signifying growth and dynamism. Other than the global needs, English in India serves at least two purposes i.e. it provides a linguistic tool for the administrative cohesiveness of a country, and it is the only language of wider communication (national and international). Unifying character of English language in India has perhaps silenced the nationalists and advocates of Hindi or other regional languages in the present times. Braj B. Kachru justifies the popularity of English in multi-lingual and multi-ethnic India in the words:
… it has acquired neutrality in a linguistic context … whereas native codes are functionally marked in terms of caste, religion, region, and so forth, English has no such ‘markers’ at least in the non-native context. It was originally the foreign (alien) ruler’s language, but that drawback is often overshadowed by what it can do for its users… English is being used to neutralise identities one is reluctant to express by the use of native languages or dialects (in India). (1990: 8)
The success story of India in the age of globalization can hardly be realized with the compromising attitude towards the language considered as global lingua franca which is a passport to upward mobility, employability at international level and academic or corporate growth. The concept of global village, mushroom growth of BPOs, tourism industry, fast growing FDI in different sectors, strength of ‘great Indian middle class’, largest number of youth population and ambitious growth and development index will benefit our youths for long if their communicative skills are being sharpened in tune with the requirements of the global consumerist trends. History stands testimony to the fact that the movement of people has been the main reason for language spread, so the migrant workers, refugees, asylum seekers, immigrants, tourists, visits to friends and family business, workers, international students, troop movements, peace-keeping/emergency aid work and NGOs throughout the world have significantly contributed in the growth of English as the global lingua franca. According to David Graddol, one of the most notable features of globalisation has been the outsourcing of services to countries with cheaper labour costs and it is for this reason that global English has helped accelerate this phenomenon and give India a competitive edge in the present scenario.
No doubt, the census data on languages suggests that there is ample awareness among Indians regarding the importance of English as a global lingua franca, library language, IT language and obviously the only viable language for multicultural contexts. Constitutional provisions/Official Languages Act, Three Language Formula, certain policies on education and introduction of English in nursery or elementary level in most of the states, reflect upon the general consensus among the politicians, academicians and other stakeholders of the society in favour of English. With the growing demand of English speakers and subsequent awareness among the Y-generation, there are English language departments in all the colleges and universities of India.
Moreover, the premier institutes of international repute like English and Foreign Languages University (EFLU), Hyderabad, its regional centres at Lucknow and Shillong, and Regional Institutes of English are committed to train the teachers of English, impart language lab. Training, design standard curriculum for English classrooms, prepare print, online and audio-visual material for the teachers of English and to render consultancy services to other institutes in developing English language programmes. British Council India offers scores of international level programmes of elementary, intermediate and advanced level under the TESOL category benefitting thousands of aspirants every year. Ironically, to the utter dismay of most of the sensitive researchers, these institutes, policies and provisions to promote ELT programmes fail to deliver in most of the Indian classrooms.
Dark Side of ELT in India
There prevails a saddening state of affairs in English language classrooms in most of the states. At the time when our country claims to be one of the fastest growing economies of the world and is recognized as a threat in the times to come even by the superpowers like America, dismal environ of English Language learning is a matter of concern. Though there is the mushroom growth of privately managed schools and Spoken English shops on the name of communicative skills, the government funded schools and colleges don’t attract the students for the lack of professional approach. Present scenario of ELT in most of the states narrates the tale of largely prevailing disinterestedness and distrust among students. In case of government funded institutions, most of the students are prone to develop a strong inhibition towards this language of opportunity for the following reasons:
– General apathy towards English in schools, colleges and most of the universities
– Lack of uniform standards regarding Qualification of English teachers e.g. the qualification of an English teacher is B.A. & B.Ed. with no specialization in the subject of English
– Similarly for the appointment of a teacher in the colleges or university, NET remains compulsory requirement where there is hardly any focus on language part
– Lack of rigorous pre-induction teacher-training programmes
– Ignorance among the teachers towards latest approaches/methods to ELT
– Teacher-centred classrooms—no scope for interaction and individual attention with unimaginable student teacher ratio
– Over reliance on Bilingual Method and Grammar-Translation Method
– No emphasis on LSRW; rather, focus remains on reading and writing only
– Content based syllabus and no focus on skills
– Prescribed text-books on poetry, prose and grammar don’t address the emergent requirement
– Well-informed language teacher is taken as an odd man out
– No scheme to motivate the teachers to go for courses from EFLU or RIEs
– Non-academic assignments sometime mars the performance of the teacher
– Lack of proper orientation & professional attitude among the teachers and students
– Literature is given prominence over language
– Smart classrooms without smart teachers
– Faulty Evaluation system encouraging memorization and not development of skills
– Lack of electronic devices like computers, LCD or Language Labs. and essential skill-based CD-ROMs and study material
– General misconceptions about the language discourages the learner
– Lack of proper career guidance and vision
– Excessive interference of L1
– Ideological constraints
– Discouraging attitude of the parents
– Environmental variables—lack of positive reinforcement
– English as a Compulsory subject with a general feeling among the students that they will compulsorily fail
These issues obviously come in the way of productive ELT classrooms ultimately leading the students to feel disillusioned, deprived and destined to left behind in the race of the competitive global world.
One of the most serious consequences of this apathy towards English language programme in the schools and colleges, is the mushroom growth of spoken English centres, IELTS coaching centres and privately managed organizations charging a huge amount of money in the name of fluent English hence creating the undemocratic divide between the rural and the urban, privileged and unprivileged, and the poor and the rich. The growing popularity of these spoken English shops is ensured by the messy situation of ELT in the classrooms, insensitive policy makers, incompetent teachers, fatalist and ill-informed students and parents, sluggish academic environment where striding against the tide one is taught English without even partial interaction in English.
Ironically, the future custodians enrolled in such institutes are being shipwrecked as on the one hand they are asked to rote memorise the essays on the topics like Globalisation in India (where they highlight with red or black ink the mushrooming growth of Call Centres absorbing lacs of English speaking youths); English in India (here, they exaggerate the universal expansion of English and India to be the second largest country hosting English users after America); or IT in India ( here they boast of cyber cities like Banglore, Secunderabad and Gurgaon where they mention the potential for the proficient youth who can exploit the possibilities in the age when 80% of all websites use English and three quarters of the world’s mail and cables are in English), but when they try to internalise these concepts, they fail to harness the possibilities owing to the innumerable factors deterring them to grow in tune with the global realities. While Improving national proficiency in English now forms a key part of the educational strategy in most countries, for the rural and poor students enrolled in old-fashioned Indian institutions, the colonial inhibition towards English is not a thing of past and the job prospects of globalization are the dreams for future generation.
Works Cited:
Ashcroft, Bill. Postcolonial Transformation. Routledge, 2001.
Ashcroft, Bill et al. Postcolonial Studies Reader. Taylor and Francis, 2006.
Ashcroft, Bill. Caliban’s Voice: The Transformation of English in Post-colonial Literatures. Taylor and Francis, 2009.
Braithwaite, Edward Kamau. History of the Voice: The Development of Nation Language in Anglophone Caribbean Poetry. New Beacon Books, 1984.
Crystal, David. English as a Global Language. CUP, 2003.
Fanon, Frantz. Black Skin White Masks. London: Pluto Press, 1986.
Graddol, David. “Introduction.” English Next. British Council, 2006.
Kachru, Braj B. The Alchemy of English: the Spread, Functions, and Models of Non-native Englishes. University of Illinois Press, 1990.
Rajarao, “Foreword,” Kanthapura. Bombay: OUP, 1947.
Thiong’O, Ngugi Wa. Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature, East African Publishers, 1994.
Notes:
1. Recently Oxford English Dictionary included 2000 new words like tweetup, chillax, net book, vuvauzela, and paywall indicating tendency of cultural absorption.
2. Concept of ‘hegemony’ given by Antonio Gramsci
3. Concepts given by Nam Chomsky, a prominent American linguist.
Congratulations! A well-researched and precisely presented paper. I enjoyed reading it.