‘The importance of speaking English to Rural students’ by T. Bhaskar David

Abstract

English is the most widely spoken language in the world and it stands out as the most popular and influential on earth. It is being spoken almost all over world and has gained a prominent place in the minds and hearts of people especially even the rural students want to learn the second language by any chance. Even though it is a second and alien language many parents want their children to learn English for which they are ready to spend any amount of physical labour and financial assistance. The daily wager expects his children to study in the English medium schools. This awareness has come among the rural people. Although India is a multi-cultural country English has become the common and official language of the people today in the computer world. In the internet world, people and rural students want to acquire the speaking skills of English by any means, coaching centres, spoken English classes etc. it is the felt need and need of the hour for rural students to learn the importance of speaking skills of English today. This research article throws some light on the salient features of the importance of speaking skills of English to rural students in a detailed manner.

1.0. THE GENESIS

English is an international language, spoken in many countries both as native language as well as a second language.  No language, ancient, or modern can be compared with English in the number of geographical distributions of the homes, factories, companies, institution, shops and offices in which the language is spoken, written, or read. [F G. French.3] Besides the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and South Africa, where about 400 million people use English as their native language, English is an important second language in many parts of the world including India. English has become the common man’s language in today’s context.  It is taught in the schools in almost every country on this earth. It is a living, vibrant and growing language.

Globally English has become a vehicle for communicating scientific and technological information. English language today is a powerful unifying factor in our national and international life. It is through English that we are connected with information technology and electronic time and space.

Knowledge of speaking English has become an important factor if one wants to come up in life. Spoken English institutes are mushrooming every nook and corner of our country, especially in Tamil Nadu. The pity thing is that pupils are not properly trained to speak, read and write English in our schools. One of the major factors leading to this picture is the paucity of good teachers who are willing to take the necessary steps to ensure the development of speaking skills in the children. The second factor is the low-self esteem and the lack of learner motivation. The third factor is the insufficient time and resources. If such helps are provided without ceasing, it would prove a fruitful measure in student’s life. The overcrowded classrooms are another major block in our schools. The government does not give needed attention on the development of speaking skills in English. It never conducts any experiments on students learning out comes for many years after entering the school.

There are two types of language styles: spoken and written. The spoken form serves as our primary means of coordinating our day today behaviours with others. The written form serves language use such as knowledge communication, business correspondence, contracts etc. It also serves as a long – term record of knowledge from one generation to the next. In oral language, sound is the basic element while in written language it is letter.

Speaking is the most important skill to acquire while learning a language. In the case of second language, it has to be learnt with more conscious effort. Teaching speaking skills to students of Tamil Nadu turns out to be more difficult where students find no English speaking environment and the parents are not in a position to pave way to learn to speak English. This investigator’s research tries to find out problems in the environment of students in learning speaking skills of English.

In our schools the role of teacher is a holy thing. That is why, Dr. kokila S. Thangasamy in his book ‘Teach Gently’ says that “there are two holy places in the world: one is the womb of a mother and the other is the classroom of a teacher. One gets his life from the womb but gets his knowledge in the class.”

“Speech is the ground work and all the rest are built up from it” Says French. This same view is supported by champion who said, “The first duty of teacher of English is to teach students to speak English.” Thomson and Wyatt suggested the method to teach correct pronunciation to the students. They said “to acquire correct pronunciation, prolonged practice in listening to speech sound is needed.”

1.1 PROBLEMS OF THE STUDY

The ultimate goal of English language teaching is to develop the four language skills namely Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing. In the colonial era there was a great need for written communication. Therefore the educators of that time framed curriculum in such a way that it helped the students develop reading and writing skills. Mostly Grammar-Translation method was used to teach English. The students were taught how to communicate properly through written letters without any grammatical mistakes.

Now the time has changed. The world is globalized. In the globalized new world there is a great want of people who have developed their speaking skills well and can communicate effectively and efficiently. There is a big question mark whether our present day class rooms give enough importance for the development of speaking skills.

1.2. OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

1. To find out whether there is a significant difference in the efforts taken to impart speaking skills between male and female students.

2. To find out whether there is a significant difference in the efforts taken to impart speaking skills between the urban and rural students.

3. To find out whether there is a significant difference in the efforts taken to impart speaking skills between Tamil Speaking and Telugu Speaking Students.

4. To find out whether there is a significant difference in the efforts taken to impart speaking skills between Tamil Medium and English Medium Students.

5. To find out whether there is a significant difference in the efforts taken to impart speaking skills between Day scholars and Hostellers.

1.3. THE NEED AND SIGNIFICANCE OF ENGLISH

This research was born out of the felt need of the investigator himself. Even after undergoing many years of training in English it is not uncommon to see our students finding it very hard to communicate in English. It is a matter of fact to notice that in spite of strenuous Himalayan efforts undertaken by educationists for imparting English language over the past few decades in Tamil Nadu, yet there is a sorry state of affairs still rampant in the achievements of English language teaching among the students of all levels. Hence, it is a need of the hour to unearth the real reasons and deficiencies our students encounter in the process of learning speaking skills. It is also needed to find the remedial methods of teaching English that might create favourable disposition towards learning speaking skills in English.

1.4. IMPORTANCE OF EDUCATION

At the time of birth, the human child is highly helpless and dependant on others. It is through education that the child acquires knowledge, skills, healthy habits and other virtues to become a complete human person. It is through education, the human person learns to adjust with his physical, social and spiritual environment. The core of Educative Process consists of those activities that attempt to make him a full man. But for education man would have still remained an uncultured beast. Only through education man qualifies to be the noblest of all the creation of God.

1.5. IMPORTANCE OF LANGUAGE EDUCATION

Man is a social animal. His superior intelligence differentiates him from other living beings. Other creatures could only be trained. But man alone can be educated. As T.Raymonds puts it, “Education is a process to develop the potentials of man so as to differentiate him from other living beings”. One of the most important potential that is developed through education is man’s linguistic potential. In Tamil Nadu, Tamil and English are the two languages which are taught in the schools.

1.6. THE IMPORTANCE OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE

The fact about English Language is that it has become one of the major languages of the world, and one can neither ignore the importance of English Language nor can neglect the studying of it. English language, though in the beginning, was a combination of the dialects of the Germanic tribes Angels, Saxons, Jutes, Sots and Celts, later on improved itself as a language, imbibing the vocabularies and many linguistic elements of other languages such as Latin, Greek, French, Dutch, Spanish and so on. Over 2500 years of its existence English language had developed continuously, thanks to its adapting and adopting nature, and now it is a global language making itself inevitable not only in the field of academics but also in the field of science and technology, communication, international business, social and cultural affairs of the world. Hence today English has become the official language of the commonwealth and the Lingua Franca of the world. Other languages – Greek and Latin, Spanish and French, Turkish and Arabic – have spread beyond their original homelands in the wake of political , cultural, or religious expansion; but no language in the history of the world has spread more widely  or has been used more extensively other than English. It is the world’s most widely spoken language. It is the common means of communication between the peoples of different nations. One out of every four persons on earth can be reached through English. Now about 250 million people of the world have English as their mother tongue or ‘first language’. If one adds to this, the number of people who have a working knowledge in English as a second language or foreign language, many Indians, Africans, Russian, and French and so on, they exceed the number of the native speakers of English.

1.7. STATUS OF ENGLISH IN THE WORLD

Americans, Canadians and Australians too have become the native speakers of English. That is to say the native speakers of English are not confined to Great Britain alone, but are spread over three continents of the world, namely Australia, Europe and the United States of America. It is historical accident which led English to take deep roots also in other continents like Africa and Asia. There were many countries which became the colonies of Great Britain and since the day they came under British rule, English has been taught and used as a medium of communication there. In countries like India, Ceylon, Singapore, Pakistan, Nigeria, Zambia etc., English is still used.

David Crystal, while discussing what makes a language ‘world language’ would say, “A language becomes an international language for one chief reason: the political power of its people, especially their military power.” (Crystal 1997, p7) Historically that might have been true, but now it also depends on the way that cultural values are projected and in the way international markets are opened for the circulation and consumption of goods and services. David Crystal very emphatically says, “There is no reason to believe that any other language will appear within fifty years to replace English as the global lingua franca”. The stride in space technology, telecommunication, the remote controls cordless phones, satellite communication, cellular phones, internet computer technology all these are self- evident of this fact. Without adequate knowledge of English it is very hard to understand and absorb the developments in this field. Any attempt to translate the technical terms into regional language will be disastrous. With its growing influence on the various fields like world trade, economic modernization, global market, science and technology, communication systems, English proves to stay on for many more years.

1.8. STATUS OF ENGLISH IN INDIA

Just as in the Caribbean, the English Language arrived in South Asia as a result of colonization. Unlike its history in the Caribbean English has always co-existed in the Indian subcontinent alongside thousands of local languages. So for most of the population, it has been only a second language.

1.8.1. THE ORIGINS OF ENGLISH IN INDIA

The British first arrived in India in the early 1600s and soon established trading posts in a number of cities under the control of The East India Company. By 1765 the Company’s influence had grown to such an extent that the British were effectively controlling most parts of the country. This date is often taken as the start of what is referred to as The Raj — a period of British rule in India that lasted until Independence in 1947.

Initially English was only taught to the local population through the work of Christian missionaries. There were no official attempts to force the language on the masses. But by the 1700s, English had firmly established itself as the language of administration and many educated Indians were demanding instruction in English as a means of social advancement. By 1857 universities had been opened in Bombay, Calcutta and Madras where the instruction was in English. English was increasingly accepted as the language of government, of the social elite, and of the national press.

1.8.2. RECOMMENDATIONS OF WOOD`S DESPATCH

Wood`s Despatch on Education in 1854 laid the foundation on which the educational system has since developed. The Wood`s Despatch proposed several recommendations in order to improve the system of education. According to his recommendations, it was declared that the aim of Government`s policy was the promotion of the western education. In his Despatch he emphasized on the education of art, science, philosophy and literature of Europe. In short, the propagation of the European knowledge was the motto of the Wood`s Despatch. According to the Despatch, for the higher education, the chief medium of instruction would be English. However, the significance of the vernacular language was no less emphasized as Wood believed that through the mediums of vernacular language, European knowledge could reach the mass. Wood`s Despatch also proposed the setting up of several vernacular primary schools in the villages at the lowest stage. Moreover, there should be Anglo-Vernacular high schools and an affiliated college in the district level. Wood`s Despatch recommended a system of grants-in-aid to encourage and foster the private enterprise in the field of education. The grants-in-aid were conditional on the institution employing qualified teachers and maintaining proper standards of teaching.

1.8.3. AFTER INDEPENDENCE

After Independence, India became a nation state, and it was intended that English would gradually be phased out as the language of administration. But there was no simple solution as to which language should replace it. At first, Hindi, the most widely spoken language, seemed to be the obvious choice. But, following violent protests in 1963 in the state of Tamil Nadu against the imposition of Hindi as a national language, opinion has remained divided. In a country with over 120 crore people and more than a thousand languages, it is difficult to choose a single national language, as mother tongue speakers of that language would automatically enjoy greater social status and have easier access to positions of power and influence. Even Gandhi, a proponent of a native variety as a national language, accepted that his message was most widely understood if expressed in English.

The constitution of India adopted in 1950. It gave a lease of 15 years to English as the official language of the country. In 1963 a Bill was passed declaring English as the Associate Official Language for an indefinite period. Leaders like  Raja Gopalacharya, Maulana Abulkalam Azad and Jawaharlal Nehru insisted upon retaining English language. Nehru said, “one hundred and fifty years of her intimate contact has made English as an integral part of our educational system and this cannot be changed without injury to the cause of education in India. In addition English has become one of the major languages of the world today and the Indians cannot neglect its study without the risk of a great loss to themselves”.

Radhakrishnan University Education Commission observed, “English is a language rich in literature abundant with humanistic, scientific and technical knowledge. If under sentimental urges we should give up English, we would cut ourselves off from the living stream of ever growing knowledge”. The Kothari Commission has also rightly stressed that English would play a vital role in education as an important “library language”. A constant touch with outside world is absolutely necessary for bringing about the revolutionary changes in the field of agriculture, medicine, industry, telecommunications, transport and basic research system. It is impossible to train young engineer, doctors, technocrats and researchers to grip with modern technology of respective fields without adequate knowledge of English. English is the only language through which we can bring in the wonders of scientific discoveries to our doorsteps. This will help us to fight poverty and bring prosperity by creating new job opportunities.

So, although English is not an indigenous language, it remains as an ‘Associate Language’ in India, alongside Hindi, the ‘Official Language of the Union of India’ and eighteen ‘National Languages’, such as Tamil, Bengali, Gujarati and Urdu, that have a special status in certain individual states.

1.8.4. ENGLISH IN INDIA TODAY

Even after sixty five years of Independence English language is being used in every walk of Indian life and still continues to retain the status of associate official language of India. Despite continued pressure from nationalists, English remains at the heart of Indian society. It is widely used in the media, in Higher Education and in government proceedings and therefore remains a common means of communication, both among the ruling classes, and between speakers of mutually unintelligible languages. According to 2012 survey, approximately 4% of the Indian population use English. That figure might seem insignificant, but out of the total population this represents 48 million speakers — the largest English-speaking community outside the USA and the UK. In addition there are speakers of English in other parts of South Asia, such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, where English plays a similar role. Although for the vast majority it remains only as a second language, English is virtually a mother tongue for many educated South Asians. This means that there are speakers, whose spoken English is heavily influenced by speech patterns of their ethnic language, along with those whose speech reveals nothing of their racial background and some who are ranged somewhere in between.

1.9. ENGLISH IN TAMIL NADU

In India we have three-language formula. But Tamil Nadu follows two-language formula. For all Tamil medium students Tamil is the first language and English is the second language. Majority of students are socially, economically and educationally backward and first generation literates. Teaching English, a foreign language, to students of such types is indeed a tiresome task.

Tamil Nadu Government has taken several efforts to improve the standard of teaching and learning English in various ways. Different language teaching methods have been implemented and special officers were appointed to examine in schools. According to Juliet, Headmaster of Government Higher Secondary School, kalimankundu, Ramnad, our government has provided sufficient instruments for setting up English language lab to all Government schools. Yet none of the schools show interest in using those instruments and teach speaking skills.

Many students get arrears in the colleges and failures in the schools due to poor knowledge in English. Many students in Tamil Nadu perceive English as a difficult subject to pass. Even a degree holder finds it very difficult to speak in English with people from other states and foreigners who visit India as tourists.

English is introduced in Tamil Nadu in Third Standard in the age of 8 or 9. Many schools in our State do not have sufficient number of qualified English teachers. Therefore English is not taught properly and is not given enough importance. As the teacher herself does not know how to teach English to the budding students, the students do not show the needed eagerness to learn English. In the high school level, preparing the students for public examination becomes the primary task of the teachers. There the students are taught to mug up the essays and paragraphs to write in the exam papers. The students, without understanding the meaning of what they write, present the answers in the examination papers. When they come to college for graduation, they find it hard to acquire language skills which they had failed to do so in the in the primary level itself. Those basic skills which they had failed to master in the primary education itself are to be taught in the graduation level. The students realizing their pathetic condition try to develop their language through various private institutions where spoken English is taught.

1.10. IMPORTANCE OF SPOKEN ENGLISH

English is one of the foremost languages in the world. English ranks second to Chinese with regards to the number of native speakers. However, the span of spoken English is far reaching and engulfs the globe. The speakers reside all over the globe rather than being restricted to a region or continent. Many people speak English as a second language as well.

Spoken English has achieved paramount importance over the past two centuries due to the colonialism culture which existed over Asia and Africa. In the modern world, the emergence of US as a world leader and prevalence of global media have been the chief proponents for the growing influence of spoken English.

There are a number of barometers which can be used to gauge the importance of spoken English for the world’s populace.

1.10.1 OFFICIAL LANGUAGE

English is the official language of no less than 49 countries. The list excludes the United Kingdom as well as the US, both of which have no recognized official language. However, a majority of the communication that takes place there is in English. Most of the countries prefer to carry on their liaison activities in English rather than any other leading languages of the world.

1.10.2. EDUCATION

The leading universities of the world are located in countries which predominantly have spoken English as the medium of communication. Majority of the curriculum is in English, and the lectures are delivered only in English. It is of paramount importance for an expatriate to be well versed with spoken English to be able to get his education from a leading university in the world.

1.10.3. BUSINESS

English is a Lingua Franca in the business world. When businessmen or delegations assemble from more than two countries, it is expected that English would be the language of communication there. English has the widest span among all the well-known languages of the world. It is helpful to be adept at spoken English when the persons at a meeting or conference don’t have a common language.

1.10.4. PERSONALITY

Learning a language and speaking it perfectly accentuates the personality of a person. It provides an aura of confidence, and since English is one of the classiest languages, it is a good choice to learn as a primary or secondary language.

1.10.5. TRAVEL

There are many people who like to travel around the world. It is important to know how to speak good English because it will be the most frequently spoken language that a traveler will encounter on the road. Learning the native languages of all the countries one visits would be a challenge, therefore English can help him bridge the gap.

There is no doubt about the importance English has as a language around the world. Knowing how to speak good English is an asset in this day and age.

1.11. DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SPOKEN AND WRITTEN LANGUAGE

We describe the four traditional skills of language use (speaking, listening, reading, and writing) in terms of their direction and modality. Language generated by the learner (in speech or writing) is productive, and language directed at the learner (in reading or listening) is receptive. Modality refers to the medium of the message (aural/oral or written). Thus, speaking is the productive aural/oral skill. It consists of producing systematic verbal utterances to convey meaning. Speaking is “an interactive process of constructing meaning that involves producing and receiving and processing information”. It is “often spontaneous, open-ended, and evolving”, but it is not completely unpredictable.

Spoken language and written language differ in many important ways. Spoken language is received auditorially, whereas written language is received visually. As a result, the spoken message is temporary and its reception by the learner is usually immediate. Meaning in spoken language is conveyed in part through phonemes (including rhythm, stress, and intonation) whereas punctuation marks and type fonts convey such information in writing. For second language learners, speaking English can be particularly difficult because, unlike reading or writing, speaking happens in “real time.” Spoken English “is almost always accomplished via interaction with at least one other speaker. This means that a variety of demands are in place at once: monitoring and understanding the other speaker(s), thinking about one’s own contribution, producing its effect, and so on”.

Finally, because spoken communication occurs in real time, the opportunities to plan and edit output are limited. We cannot edit and revise what we wish to say, as we usually can in writing. Being able to speak English clearly is important for second language learners in order to get their needs met. Thus speaking skill is very significant in language acquisition.

1.12. TEACHERS’ FAILURE AS ROLE MODELS

English language teaching in India is mostly a teacher text-book-class affairs. The teacher is mostly concerned with paraphrasing the lessons in the text book, dictating modal answers, explaining rules of language, and taking the students through a serious of pattern drills for reinforcement.”(Gangulay and Ganguly 1996p.48) Many teachers of English in India particularly in Tamil Nadu are not those who have taken a degree in English literature. Many of them teach English with other subject background, and therefore they teach it just like any other subject. This kind of teaching of English can never be fruitful. Balasubramanian (1985) has rightly pointed out that in the present day teacher’s target is mainly to prepare his students for examination and not to make them competent in the use of language they are learning (p.56). The Indian students need urgently to acquire the skills of reading, listening, writing and speaking in English in that order to survive with in educational framework. According to Gokak (1964) the performance of pupils as a rule, is (p.65) deplorable in their mother tongue as well as in English.

1.13. Teaching of English in Tamil Nadu especially in sivagangai and Ramnad Districts

Over the years in India especially in Tamil Nadu sivagangai and Ramnad Districts are sealed as drought-hit districts at all levels. They are educationally poor but most of the teachers of English working in these two civil districts are hailing from capecomerin district. As the educational qualification is less these teachers of English registered their names in the districts employment office of these districts and got job placement. Their slang is different from the rural students of these two districts. These rural students neither understand Tamil nor English as taught by them.

According to various socio-economic and political reasons, the Government has introduced Tamil as the medium of instruction. It is indeed that learning through mother tongue is easy and quicker. But people failed to realize real value of English. Even a degree holder finds it very difficult to speak in English with people who come from other states in India and the foreigner who come to India as a tourist.

The second language English is introduced to students from third standard in the primary education. When the children learn some of the basic skills in their mother tongue they easily pick up whereas the same students find it very hard to make out the second language. They learn this alien language around the age of 8 or 9. Most of the schools of Sivagangai and Ramand do not have sufficient number qualified teachers. Many students hail from rural area and so they need some basic facilities and same kind of problem continues to be in the secondary high schools and arts and science colleges. The primary schools are the feeder schools of the adjacent high schools. All most in every school, English is not given as much importance as they give for their vernacular. They never have the desire to learn other language in addition to their mother tongue. The major barrier is that teachers themselves do not know how to teach English to the budding students of future India. When they come to college for graduation they again find it hard to acquire language skills without the basic skills in the primary education. They are supposed to have learnt the basic but the plight of the student’s level is very pathetic. The teachers of high school cannot go to the level of VIII standard and teach them basic skills of the language which is not possible for them to bring them to the main stream of the class. At last they teach the basic units which are needed for the exams.

1.14. PROBLEMS OF TEACHING SPEAKING SKILLS TO RURAL STUDENTS

Teaching of English in our schools and colleges is in a chaotic state today. Pupils are taught English for about six periods per week for ten years but they hardly know few words by the time they join the college or university. The mistake is in our educational system itself. A teacher’s main target is to “prepare” his students for the examination and not to make his pupils competent in the use of language they are learning” (Balasubramanian 1985.p.56)

Jawaharlal Nehru was once asked during one of his overseas visits, “Mr. Nehru, you talk about the problems of India, can you say roughly how many major problems you have?” Nehru replied we have five hundred million problems in India. One of them is teaching English. Some of the major problems in the field of teaching English in contemporary India are as follow.

1.Population

The pressure of population and the craze for English have resulted in commercialization of English teaching in India. It is market- driven and not welfare-driven.

2.      Pluralism

India is highly pluralistic; it is multilingual, multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-ethnic. This makes language planning a highly complex and emotional problem.

3.      Colonial mindset

The colonial legacy continues to be in the field of education. This mindset has made the nation dependent upon other countries and agencies for all their ideas and the very words.

4.      Ineffective teachers

The foundational years for the teaching of English in schools and colleges are in the hands of teachers who neither know enough nor are familiar with the latest and far-reaching developments in the pedagogy of English. A teacher, who’s English is faulty, cannot be a model in the classroom where English is taught. Many of the teachers, once they get a permanent Government service, cease to learn, read or take any interest in professional matters. They prefer to cover the portion in the text book than to teach effective use of Language.

5.      Imported methods

We use the old outdated and imported direct method, CLT and the structural approach for teaching in our country. These methods might be applicable for other countries like U.K. and U.S. For, they are monolingual countries. But they are not effective in multilingual countries like India.

6.      Ineffective textbooks

The textbooks and teaching aids are not effective because they are dull and unattractive with no proper illustrations or exercise material; change of Government regime changes the textbook according to its whims and fancies. Corruption has spread like a virus in the preparation and prescription of textbooks.

7.      Exam- oriented education

Balagrusamy says that “there is seriously something wrong with our teaching process. Information is dumped into students who forget the same after examination.” The present exam system is based on memorization and reproduction. It does not test the learner’s competence in English.

8.      Large classes and lack of facilities

In order to implement the activity method of teaching and learning the number of students must be limited and need to have basic amenities.

1.15 CONCLUSION

India is a multilingual and multicultural country where people in different parts of the country speak different languages. Though each state has its own language, English is the second language for most of the people. English language has dominated all walks of life for more than two hundred years. English language has benefited every branch of science, technology and literature etc.  Learning English has become crucial even for ordinary people. Students are vigilant and aware that without having English knowledge they would not be able to shine in any field today especially in the scientific field. So the present research aimed at bringing out the deficiencies in teaching speaking skills to rural students.

It is a high time that our traditional method of teaching undergoes change and adapts newer innovations in teaching English and specially in imparting speaking skills.  It will be more effective and fruitful if the teachers of English show more dedication and commitment in their teaching ministry especially in imparting speaking skills. Otherwise students will be deprived of learning speaking skills in the second language which is badly required for the success of their life.

REFERENCES

1. Balagrusamy, “Teaching Learning Process Leaves Much To Be Discussed,”

The Hindu, March 19, 2010.

2. Balasubrnamanian J., Teaching Of English Made Easy, Macmillan India Ltd,

3. Crystal David., ‘English’: The Cambridge Encyclopedia of language,

Cambridge University press: Cambridge, 1987.

4. French, F.G. Teaching English as an international language London: Oxford University press 1963.

5. Gangly S. and Ganguly B., ‘Teaching Testing Proficiency in English as a Second Language; Challenges Before Curriculum Planners’, Journal of Indian Education, 1996.

6. Gokak V.K., English in India, Asia Publishing House: New Delhi, 1964.

7. Kokila. Thangasmay, Teach Gently Good teachers teach less; but they make children learn more practical guide for aspiring teachers pari publications Chennai January 2006.

About the author

The author of the research paper T.Bhaskar David is a catholic priest of the Diocese of Sivagangai, Tamil Nadu ordained to priesthood in the year 2005 on April 3rd. He served the shepherd of the people of God for four years in the parish ministry after which he was inducted as the member of teaching faculty in the department of English in Ananda college of Arts and science of his diocesan college where he taught for the past three years. He is now pursuing his doctoral studies on ELT in Manonmaniam Sundaranar University, Thirunelveli, Tamil Nadu. His area of interest is teaching of English to rural students.