ELTWeekly Vol. 4 Issue#43 | October 22, 2012 | ISSN 0975-3036
This book review is submitted by Ajit Kumar Pradhan. Pradhan is pursuing PhD at the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad. His interest is in English for specific purposes, English language teaching materials and English for subaltern people.
Book Details
Title: English Language Teaching: Perspective from Periphery (2012)
Author: Anand Mahanand
Publisher: Aavishkar Publishers, distributors, India
ISBN-978-81-7910-407-1
There is continuous demand of English language learning, not only from elite urban people but also from rural areas. There could be many reasons for this demand as Graddol (2010) rightly states:
“English is now closely associated with wider social and political aspiration. Where English was once a language of elite, now demand is coming from lower caste and rural areas” (p-68)
There is a need to undertake serious research studies catering to the needs of these demands of the marginalized and underprivileged sections of our society. Proper Investigations are necessary to discover how far English Language Teaching (ELT) can be integrated with the indigenous culture of the learners, how far learners can be trained to use English for their academic purposes and how best literature can be used in English language teaching and learning. There are few books which address all the above issues as successfully and succinctly as Anand Mahanand’s ‘English Language Teaching: Perspective from Periphery’.
This book has been broadly categorized into three parts. The first part of the book consists of eight empirical research studies related to the area of English language teaching in indigenous cultural contexts. This section of the book highlights some critical issues in ELT such as multilingualism, folktales as materials, folktales in the study of literature, problems of tribal learners learning English, localizing materials, developing critical thinking using folklores and teacher development. While discussing multilingual education, it has been critically analyzed how to use a child’s first language for language teaching. Highlighting the problems of tribal learners, Mahanand has critically analyzed problems of tribal learners learning English and suggested practical remedies for them. There has been nice example of a folksong, Gho Gho Rani (The Sound of Water), to demonstrate how to adopt and adapt folksong in the classroom for language teaching. Further, developing critical thinking using folklore has been demonstrated with sufficient examples. The first section of the book provides a rich experience for the language teachers who teach English especially to rural and marginalized students.
The second part of the book contains six research articles based on English for academic purposes. This section emphasizes some significant issues like developing academic and emotional skills, multiple assessment strategies, assignment writing, how to cope with academic disparities and problems of comprehending lectures. Mahanand has innovatively developed a clear-cut course outline and suggested materials for developing academic skills of Post Graduate students in the first article of this section. Here, he has made an attempt to practically demonstrate how to develop a course and materials for them through needs analysis. Further, the second article of this section provides a case study to find out the relevance of emotional intelligence in one’s own academic achievement. In addition, Mahanand has shown how he was successful in using multiple assessments tools and has given some practical suggestions on how to write an assignment. Highlighting some difficulties faced in comprehending lectures, this section provides scope to develop strategies to cope with academic disparities.
The final section of the book consists of four research articles highlighting teaching and learning language through literature. In the first article of this section, Mahanand has brilliantly demonstrated how to use R K Narayan’s short stories to develop basic language skills such as listening, speaking, reading and writing along with critical appreciation of the stories in the areas like theme, structure, setting, characters, technique and point of view. In the subsequent articles Mahanand argues inclusion of Indian writers in English i.e. Sarojini Naidu for English language teaching. This section concludes with emphasizing the significance of using non-conventional materials like folktales, comics, advertisements, films, and computers in language teaching.
I strongly believe, ‘English Language Teaching: Perspective from Periphery’ provides an excellent opportunity to explore and experiment possibilities of ELT research with a unique subaltern perspective. This book will be handy for both teachers and researchers who are working in the area of English language teaching.
Reference:
Graddol, David. (2010). English Next India. India: British Council
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