Honing English-speaking skills in schools

Our post- graduate class was of 40 students. Out of 40 students 30 students were from the city of Hyderabad who studied in English medium schools. The remaining 10 students including me were from rural areas and small towns . .After every two classes in the PG course we used to have an interval. During the recess the students from the city would sit in small groups in the veranda of the college and chat in English. Though we students from the rural areas learnt English as a subject till the intermediate level.

We always felt diffident to carry on a conversation in English with our fellow students from the city as we had no practice in spoken English. Our English was book based and formal. Their English was informal and conversational English. Their word for a policeman was a 'cop'; for a cigarette, a 'fag' and for attractive ,'groovy'. Lack of proficiency in conversational English was a great barrier for us to mix up and interact with our city colleagues.

Years later the above problem persists and is confirmed by various studies on learning outcomes of school- going children. Students who are taught in vernacular medium in schools and who study English as a subject can't speak or write it well because they are not taught spoken English and how to write new sentences in the classroom. Their knowledge of English is limited by the words and subjects given in the English textbook

The teacher teaches some grammar and lessons on topics from the textbook. Questions on topics covered from the textbook are asked in the annual examination and the students who learned the answers reproduce them in the examination. When we learn our mother tongue, we are exposed to various situations at home, on the street and in the community. An all-round exposure to various situations that we normally encounter in life makes us a natural speaker of our mother tongue. When English is taught as a separate subject in a classroom environment with the only object to pass the annual examination, the chance to acquire proficiency in spoken or written English is lost.

The students who take up their education in English medium schools obtain some kind of fluency in spoken English because teachers of all subjects speak in English in the classroom. Their interactions with fellow students are in English. However, when it comes to written English, the students from English medium schools falter. Ask them to write a report on a subject that is not taught to them, they'll fumble. This problem stems from the fact that students are taught to write answers for the questions given in their text books. It may be incorrect to say that in all schools English is taught from books only. Many schools give opportunities to students to make presentations, to debate and to put thoughts into words by programs like 'show and tell' But these events are not part of a regular curriculum and are few and far between.

A good command over written and spoken English is not enough in the modern world. We need to learn new skills to write better emails, Facebook posts, tweets on Twitter. We have to know how to make impressive presentations and how to pitch a business idea in the shortest possible time (elevator pitch).As English cannibalizes more and more words from other languages, we need to learn the nuance of each word to communicate an idea in the clearest way.

Dr. K Kasturirangan, chairman of the panel that drafted the new education policy (NEP) ,had this to say in an interview recently on our current education system." In the past we put emphasis on inputs (rather than outcomes) and although this led to dramatic improvements in access to education, an unacceptably high number fail to attain basic educational literacy and numeracy. It has severe consequences including high drop-out rates. The assessment system in schools and higher education promotes shallow learning and high stake exams and misses the merits of low stake assessment to facilitate deeper learning."

The outcome is narrowly defined in English language education in our schools. It's to pass the annual exam. Conversely ,the broadly defined outcome should be to enable a student to master spoken and written English, to speak with authority on subjects and situations which are not included in textbooks. The curriculum of English teaching has to be designed with courses in:

n Written and spoken English

n Discussions on various topics

n Presentations on different subjects

n Phonetics

n English lessons to navigate social media and technology world

n Story telling and story writing

Fluency in written and spoken English invariably gives an edge to a person anywhere in the world especially in the English-speaking world and India. The Skilling India Programme of the government aims to impart vocational skills to our young men to make them ready to be absorbed by the industry. Good communication skill in English is an anchor skill on which other skills have to base. We need to focus on imparting this skill first to our young men before attempting to train them in other skills.

(The author is a retired IAS officer of Telangana cadre)