Language Education: Teaching English in India 9780367485931, 9780367515492, 9781003054368

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LANGUAGE EDUCATION

This book situates the teaching and learning of language in general, and English in particular, within the sociocultural context of India. It engages with current scholarship in literacy studies and the pedagogies of language acquisition and learning. The volume discusses the cultural, discursive and sociopolitical functions of language ­education and the teaching of English in Indian schools. It examines the importance of adopting flexible pedagogical and multimodal strategies in teaching vocabulary; grammar; l­iterary genres like fiction, poetry and drama; rhetorical discourses; and communicative English to learners for whom English is not one of their home language(s). It also discusses pragmatic approaches to curriculum design for communicative competence and critical literacy rooted in theoretical principles of language education.The authors analyse issues relevant to secondlanguage acquisition; English language teaching (ELT); emergent, adult and critical literacies; and critical pedagogies in language and literature. Written in an accessible style, the book comes with case studies, exercises and additional references to support an independent exploration of the fields.This book will be of interest to students and teachers of language, literature and education, as well as teachers and educators in schools and universities. It is also of relevance to policymakers, non-governmental organisations and public and private sector bodies that work in the fields of language and literacy. Nishevita Jayendran is Assistant Professor of Language and Literature at the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (CETE; formerly CEIAR), Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, where she teaches and consults on language education, literacy, materials design, creative writing and discourse analysis. Her research and publications span the domains of critical literacy, critical pedagogy, literary criticism, representation and culture studies. Anusha Ramanathan teaches courses on assessment, instructional design, language education, literacy and mentoring and co-anchors blended and online Continuous Professional Development programmes at CETE (formerly CEIAR), TISS. She has vast experience as a content developer, curriculum consultant, department head, editor, syllabus designer, teacher-educator and (visiting) faculty for language, literature, management and media studies. Her research interests include assessment, culture studies, ed-tech, ELT, literature, media studies, policy and teacher education. Surbhi Nagpal works in the areas of language education and Teacher Professional Development (TPD). She has designed and implemented online and blended courses in language education at the CETE. She has worked as a teacher, teacher-educator and researcher in the past, and her research areas include TPD and ELT.

Principles-Based Adaptive Teaching Series editors: Mythili Ramchand, Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai and Nishevita Jayendran, Tata Institute of Social Science, Mumbai

This series brings together critical discussions on educational practices and pedagogies in the context of Indian schools. The teaching profession has undergone rapid changes and advancements in recent years. The books in this series identify the changes affecting teaching-learning practices in schools and the range of knowledge development required of educators to adopt innovative pedagogies in the 21stcentury classroom. The books include vignettes, emerging classroom discussions and case studies, along with other additional resources for teachers and students. The series caters to a range of teacher education programmes and is envisioned as resources, primarily for teacher-educators, student-teachers and others engaged in the education sector. It focusses on topics such as adolescence in India, pedagogy of language, mathematics, science and social science, knowledge and curriculum, educational policies and practices, ICT and educational technology in school education. Language Education: Teaching English in India Nishevita Jayendran, Anusha Ramanathan and Surbhi Nagpal For more information about this series, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/ Principles-based-Adaptive-Teaching/book-series/PAT.

LANGUAGE EDUCATION Teaching English in India

Nishevita Jayendran, Anusha Ramanathan and Surbhi Nagpal

First published 2022 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon OX14 4RN and by Routledge 605 Third Avenue, New York, NY 10158 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2022 Nishevita Jayendran, Anusha Ramanathan and Surbhi Nagpal The right of Nishevita Jayendran, Anusha Ramanathan and Surbhi Nagpal to be identified as authors of this work has been asserted by them in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. Trademark notice: Product or corporate names may be trademarks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation without intent to infringe. British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data A catalog record has been requested for this book ISBN: 978-0-367-48593-1 (hbk) ISBN: 978-0-367-51549-2 (pbk) ISBN: 978-1-003-05436-8 (ebk) Typeset in Bembo by SPi Global, India

To you, dear readers

CONTENTS

List of figures ix List of tables x Series editors’ note xi Foreword xiv Acknowledgements xvi Abbreviations xvii Introduction

1

1 The notion of language: An overview

5

2 Language and policy: English studies in India

30

3 Language acquisition and language learning: An overview

59

4 Perspectives and approaches to language and literacy

81

5 Teaching of language – I (communicative English)

103

6 Teaching of language – II (language through literature)

128

7 Teaching literature: Fiction, poetry and drama

147

8 Assessment and evaluation for language and literature

175

Postscript Further reading Index

201 203 210

FIGURES

1.1 1.2 2.1 3.1 3.2 4.1 8.1

Red Cross flag The flame of a candle Kachru’s three circles model of English Major structures of language A representation of Vygotsky’s ZPD Memes, multimedia and multimodal literacy Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy

12 12 50 61 70 95 179

TABLES

2.1 Extracts from national policies on education, with a particular emphasis on Indian languages and English 2.2 Kumaravadivelu’s macrostrategies in language learning 2.3 Policies for teaching English in schools: Two case studies 3.1 Difference between language acquisition and language learning 4.1 Must, should, could 4.2 Richard Mayer and multimedia learning 4.3 Understanding PCK 5.1 H. Douglas Brown’s 12 principles for language pedagogy 6.1 Modes of rhetorical communication – some examples 7.1 Features of fiction, poetry and drama 8.1 Sample hybrid rubric (created for the English modules in the Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx)1 – baseline tool, 2016)

34 53 55 62 82 95 98 123 142 153 191

SERIES EDITORS’ NOTE

The last two decades have seen developments of national importance in school education in India.With the Right of Children to Free and Compulsory Education (RtE, 2009) Act and the National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005), changes have been afoot to enable access to quality education for children at scale. Responding to the concurrent need for teacher education to support the vision of a robust education system, the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (NCFTE, 2009) recommended substantive changes in curriculum and practice of teacher education in the country. Subsequently, the high-powered committee on teacher education set up by the Hon. Supreme Court of India (Justice Verma Committee, 2012) endorsed these curricular reforms and called for an overhaul of the sector. Notably, similar shifts have been observed across the world, as teacher education programmes discuss pathways for professional development to enable teachers to work as transformative professionals in the 21st century. United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation’s (UNESCO) Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) call for transformative pedagogies, with a shift towards active, self-directed participatory and collaborative learning, problem orientation, inter- and transdisciplinarity and linking formal and informal learning (UNESCO 2017, 7). Acknowledging the need for gearing up the Indian education system to meet SDGs, particularly SDG 4 to ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all, the recent National Education Policy (2020) has proposed re-envisioning teacher education in multidisciplinary institutions that can prepare teachers to meet the needs of learners in the 21st century. With rapid advancements in science and technology, and the pervasiveness of information and communication technology (ICT) and media in our lives, the

xii  Series editors’ note

education sector stands witness to radical changes that are affecting teaching-learning practices in schools. Arguably, the onset of the Fourth Industrial Revolution requires preparing learners for a range of competencies including effective communication, intercultural sensitivity, analytical and critical thinking, problem-solving skills and creativity, which extend beyond content knowledge. In this context, educators are required to gain adaptive expertise to prepare themselves and their students for uncertain futures. A dearth of good curricular resources has been consistently identified as a key lacuna, from the first national commission on education in independent India, in preparing teachers as professional educators. In the light of the present education policy calling for substantial changes to teacher education, there is an urgent need for quality teaching-learning materials that can trigger critical inquiry, invoke a sense of adventure and provoke the curiosity of both studentteachers and teacher-educators to embark on the complex task of learning to teach. To this end, the Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (formerly, the Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research, or CEIAR) at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai, has developed a series of textbooks under the theme “Principles-based Adaptive Teaching” that make inroads into the content and pedagogical domains of study relevant to teaching-learning practice. The titles for these books have been identified based on a consideration of the NCFTE 2009, emerging understandings from comparative studies of teacher education curriculum in the international context and demands from the field to address the needs of preparing teachers for the 21st century. Drawing from current research in education, the textbooks adopt an innovative, practice-based approach to transact the selected topics. The themes covered in the series include adolescent learners in India, titles in subject pedagogies (English, mathematics, science and social science), knowledge and learning, ICT and new media in education and state, education and policy. Each book covers key concepts, constructs, theories, conceptual and empirical frameworks and contemporary discourses around the topic.The content and discussions are meant to broaden and deepen readers’ understanding of the topic. Cases, narratives and vignettes are used for contextual illustration of ideas. It is desirable that educators bring supplementary illustrations to problematise local issues. The references, range of activities and discussion triggers provided in each volume are meant to enable readers to explore issues further.The books are meant to be used as one among many ‘resources’ rather than ‘a textbook’. Additionally, with the purchase of the books in this series, readers can avail supplementary resources hosted on the TISSx platform, which can be accessed on this URL: https://www.tissx.tiss.edu/. Each book comes with a unique code on its cover that serves as a coupon to access the resources on this platform. Readers may follow these simple steps to reach the pages.

Series editors’ note  xiii

1.

2. 3. 4.

Click on https://www.tissx.tiss.edu/, taking care that the text is entered correctly. You can also scan the QR code on the cover of this book to access the website. Register on the platform with a valid email ID by clicking on the ‘Register’ button on the top of the page. Fill in the details requested. A verification link will be sent to your registered email address as soon as you register. Click on the link to activate your account. You can now log in to the TISSx platform and visit the e-resource page of the specific book/s you have purchased through the link provided. Enrol into the relevant course by entering the coupon code provided (PBAT01) in the respective books.

It is hoped that this book series will help readers gain nuanced perspectives on the topics, along with relevant skills and dispositions to integrate into their teaching repertoire. Dr. Mythili Ramchand Dr. Nishevita Jayendran Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (formerly, CEIAR) Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai

FOREWORD

The discipline of education and professional development of teachers in India and the broader South Asian region has been undergoing radical redefinition over the last 30 years, with significant advancements in its conceptual base, approaches to theory and practice and formation of the practice of teachers. Policy documents such as the National Curriculum Framework (2005) and the National Curriculum Framework for Teacher Education (2009) in India lay out for us the scope and depth of ideas that are of contemporary disciplinary interest. Resources that enable students of education to engage with these ideas, which are relevant to the developing world contexts, are, however, very few. This has been a key problem in widespread dissemination and for the ideas taking root in disciplinary discourses and practices in the university and colleges of teacher education. While planning the scope of work of the CETE at the (TISS), seeded by the Tata Trusts, therefore, we included the development of resources as one of the major activities that will be needed in order to revitalise the sector. Dr. Mythili Ramchand and Dr. Nishevita Jayendran, as series editors, have laid out the scope and vision of such resources built around a series of textbooks to be developed in English and major modern Indian languages. Recognising the importance of such an initiative, several colleagues from universities in India have joined this effort as collaborators. Textbooks are essential to support the formation and advancement of disciplines. Important scientific ideas became integrated into disciplinary thinking through textbooks written by scientists themselves. In the colonised world, textbooks came to represent ‘colonisers’ knowledge’ and the cornerstone of the examination system, defining ‘official knowledge’ and strongly framing academic discourse from the world outside. Many of us trained in education, therefore, retain a suspicion of textbooks that may come to dominate the intellectual mental scape of students and have sought out ‘original writings’ to include in our course reading compendia. Important as the reading of original texts is, particularly in the social sciences, they

Foreword  xv

do not address what good textbooks can do and need to do for their students: performing a disciplinary landscaping function that is contextually relevant, drawing on contemporary research and practice, putting ideas to use as tools for thinking, scaffolding engagement and stimulating inquiry. In developing the textbooks in this series, authors have drawn on their experiences of teaching, research, reading and field engagement. We hope that faculty of education, students of education and teachers will all find the resources useful. Padma M. Sarangapani Chairperson, Centre of Excellence in Teacher Education (formerly, CEIAR)

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

This volume has been long in the making, informed by our teaching and research across a variety of programmes, projects, workshops and courses on language education, literacy, communicative English and discourse analysis at the CETE (formerly CEIAR), TISS, Mumbai. We would like to thank Prof. Padma Sarangapani, chairperson of CETE, for her dynamic leadership, guidance and openness to ideas as we explored diverse teaching and research domains of application of language and literacy. We also owe thanks to our colleagues and friends at the Centre for their support – moral and intellectual – towards the completion of this book. Special thanks are due to Dr. Ruchi Mittal and Dr. Jayashree Inbaraj, from Smt. Kapila Khandvala College of Education, Mumbai, who took time to read portions of this book and provided feedback on the relevance of the ideas. Satej Shende, Ramesh Khade, Sayan Bhattacharjee and Shiva Thorat have been invaluable in supporting us through the creation of media content for this book and the TISSx platform for our online resources. We’d like to thank the team at Routledge, Lubna Irfan, Shloka Chauhan and Shoma Chaudhary, for their patience and understanding during these unprecedented, challenging times of the pandemic and for helping us meet our deadlines, albeit a little late, in completing this book. And, finally, we owe thanks to our families for tolerating our not-very-attractive writerly selves during the year of this journey and the COVID-19-induced lockdowns. Thank you for keeping us sane!

ABBREVIATIONS

AaL   Assessment

as Learning for Learning ALM   Audio Lingual Method AoL   Assessment of Learning ASER   Annual State of Education Report BICS   Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills CALL   Computer-Assisted Language Learning CALP   Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency CCE   Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation CEFR   Common European Framework of Reference for Languages CLL   Community Language Learning CLIx   Connected Learning Initiative CLT   Communicative Language Teaching CUP   Common Underlying Proficiency EFL   English as a Foreign Language ELT   English Language Teaching ENL   English as a Native Language ESL   English as a Second Language HEI   Higher Education Institute HOT   Higher Order Thinking IELTS   International English Language Testing System ICT   Information and Communication Technology LAD   Language Acquisition Device MALL   Mobile-Assisted Language Learning NCF   National Curriculum Framework NEP   National Education Policy NLS   New Literacy Studies AfL   Assessment

xviii  Abbreviations PISA   Programme

for International Student Assessment of View RTE   Right to Education RWLS   Reading Writing Listening Speaking TBLT   Task-Based Language Teaching TELL   Technology-Enabled Language Learning TLM   Teaching-Learning Materials TPD   Teacher Professional Development TPR   Total Physical Response UDL   Universal Design for Learning UNESCO  United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation ZPD   Zone of Proximal Development POV   Point

INTRODUCTION

Most of us enter the language classroom with beliefs about what must, should and could be taught here and a conviction of the most appropriate pedagogy that will support our beliefs. Our beliefs, in turn, are often informed by our experiences as students and teachers, the influence of colleagues and, in some instances, by reading and conducting research in language teaching. The challenge in determining effective ways of teaching and learning languages lies in the ubiquitous nature of language itself, which is not merely pervasive in our environment but also constitutive of us as humans. What are the implications of these convictions on our teachinglearning practices and on student learning?

Sarayu graduated with an MA in English and started searching for teaching positions in her hometown. A few weeks into her search, the faculty coordinator for placements in a local college contacted her to discuss the conducting of a Communicative English course for postgraduate students at the institute. The coordinator stated that she would like her students to be prepared adequately for the professional workspace, with proficiency in communication skills and the ability to speak English fluently. This was urgent, she claimed, since they would be appearing for placements with different multinational companies in six months. With a master’s degree in English, she said that Sarayu was best placed to help them. Though time was short, Sarayu agreed to try. She drew up a curriculum and shared a session plan with the coordinator for feedback. A week after this exchange, Sarayu received a message requesting a meeting. The coordinator was disconcerted, even taken aback, that the session involved reading activities. Sarayu had inserted four short pages from Reader’s Digest, a

2  Introduction

popular magazine in India, which listed different ways of using verbal and nonverbal communication effectively in getting one’s message across. She had designed group activities that required students to write dialogues collaboratively, enact different situations in the reading, and debate a point raised by the author in the article. This, she had assumed, would keep the students interested and occupied for three hours. The coordinator, however, disagreed. ‘You cannot ask them to read, no’, she said, with a decisive shake of her head. ‘They won’t read, and they will stop attending class. That mustn’t happen’. Sarayu tried to reason with her. Isn’t reading a core aspect of communication skills? Not for the coordinator, it appeared. How about writing? Well, an email or two perhaps? Definitely no role-play or case studies. She concluded the meeting with, ‘What will really help them is if you can teach them fifty or sixty phrases that will be important for them in an interview and train them to pronounce these words well’. The episode made Sarayu reflect on the different perceptions of a language and communication skills classroom, as well as her own beliefs about what language learning entails. Was language learning to remain memorising phrases and their correct pronunciation for an interview? Was the scope of communication mere mechanical exchange of predetermined dialogues? How far does the market and globalisation influence language learning objectives and outcomes while adopting a learner- and learning-centric pedagogy?

We start this book with an anecdote that highlights some questions that the current volume deals with. Many of us work within classrooms in schools and in higher education institutes (HEIs) that grapple with these questions. What is the purpose of language education and communication studies? What are the ways in which English can be taught in Indian educational institutions? What is the role of the teacher in supporting language learning? What kinds of texts and discourses are appropriate for a language classroom? And how can we ensure a constructivist, learning-centred pedagogy that does not compromise the rigour, depth and identity of the discipline? Language education is a systematic discipline of study that draws on philosophy, cultural studies, psychology, (socio)linguistics, aesthetics, rhetoric, stylistics, representation, narratology and politics, among others, to delineate, reflect on and research the practice of teaching and learning languages in formal and informal spaces. As an interdisciplinary field, language education is influenced by the unique perspectives and methods of each discipline. Communicative competence, proficiencies, cross-cultural experiences and literacies are some core concerns of language education, which necessitate the need for expanding its scope and application as a field. Communication is about connection, dialogue and collaborative growth. It is a process of co-constructing knowledge, which can unfold in diverse, creative ways. In a globalised world, communication takes on the additional responsibility of intercultural competence, as we constantly negotiate relationships across cultures, age, gender, nationalities, religion, digital platforms and media. Communicative competence

Introduction  3

is important to sustain rich, meaningful experiences; to convey one’s thoughts and beliefs with conviction; to read messages in multimodal forms with discernment; and to engage with one’s environment with sensitivity, empathy and tolerance.These competences comprise an essential part of critical literacy that has defined education practices for scholars, researchers and practitioners across the globe over the last five decades. What does it mean to learn a language? What does it mean to use a language? James Paul Gee states that ‘to read’ is an intransitive verb because we always read something. Learning a language, likewise, presupposes its use. This use may not be merely functional.We think in language.We act within and through language. Being in language is so natural that we remain unconscious of its presence in our lives. What happens, then, when this natural medium of communication and thought is taught formally within classrooms? Do we assimilate the same things through these formal learning spaces that we do in natural learning environments? Language Education:Teaching English in India is a delineation of these ideas through theoretical perspectives and strategies to promote critical literacy in the English classroom. The English language classroom continues to remain a politicised space, with English being the language of aspiration, social and professional mobility. One reason for this politicisation lies in the nature of language as not merely a tool for communication but also a socio-cultural artefact. Languages structure cognition and act as markers of identity. We approach the teaching of English through this framework, considering its historical legacy, its presence in colonial and postcolonial India and its relevance in contemporary times. Chapter 1 presents an overview of different notions of language. Adopting an interdisciplinary perspective, the chapter looks at language through the domains of linguistics, philosophy, culture and aesthetics. It then locates the discussion on the nature of language within the context of literacy as a core aim of language education. The chapter ends with a brief survey of the scope and implications of literacy. Chapter 2 historicises the teaching and learning of English in India by considering the reasons for its introduction into the subcontinent during colonial rule. The chapter considers education policies on the teaching of languages to discuss the place of English in schools. Further, by considering comparable debates from across the world on the teaching of English in postcolonial contexts, the chapter reflects on the objectives of learning the language for critical literacy. Chapter 3 takes the argument further by considering theories of language acquisition and learning. It distinguishes between the terms ‘acquisition’ and ‘learning’, highlighting the former as a natural process and the latter as requiring conscious intervention and facilitation. The chapter also looks at the place of intercultural competence, multilinguality and the principles of Universal Design for Learning for teacher professional development to create inclusive English classrooms in India. In Chapter 4, we return to the idea of literacy in general, and critical literacy in particular, to discuss ways in which English language teaching for critical literacy must factor multimodality and an integrated approach to language learning. Being able to gain communicative competence and function effectively in a multicultural world will require us to adopt a variety of principles-based strategies to address the

4  Introduction

varied needs of learners. Equally important is the need to develop critical thinking skills in the English language classroom. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 discuss pedagogies that can enable critical literacy in the English classroom. Chapter 5 focusses on communicative English Language Teaching, the theories, approaches, methods and pedagogical practices that can strengthen communicative competence in English. Chapter 6 advances this discussion by looking at the teaching of language through literature. In this context, the chapter discusses the teaching of grammar, vocabulary, the four skills (reading, writing, listening and speaking) integratedly and the rhetorical modes of communication (expository, descriptive, narrative and argumentative/persuasive). Through a discussion of case studies and lesson plans, these two chapters demonstrate pedagogies that enable critical literacies. Chapter 7 follows these activities to discuss the value of teaching literature for its own sake, as an integral part of a language classroom. In this chapter, we approach the teaching of literature along two trajectories.The first is the teaching of fiction, poetry and drama for literary appreciation. The second is the teaching of literary works to enable critical thinking and interpretation through contextualisation of the work. This practice will lead to critical consciousness when we approach literary works as cultural artefacts. The last chapter, Chapter 8, deals with assessments and evaluation. It looks at the distinction between assessments of learning and assessments for learning. The chapter also discusses evaluation in English language programs and kinds of research practices that can be conducted to understand and delve into principles of English language teaching for critical literacy. We conclude the book with a brief postscript on the way ahead and the pathways that can be explored to take the ideas of this book further. We hope, in the process, to explore ways of supporting learner-centric pedagogy that draws on principles and best practices of English language teaching (ELT) in a pragmatic way to inform curriculum, syllabus, content selection, activity design and assessments for strengthening critical literacy. This book is a reflective piece rather than a prescriptive one. It will be of relevance to language educators, curriculum designers, material developers, school and college teachers, under- and postgraduate students of language, literature and education who are interested in delving into the field of literacy and language studies. The book presupposes the reader’s familiarity with literature and language of at least an undergraduate program. It aims to push the reader to reflect on ways of applying this knowledge in teaching and learning English for critical literacy. Additional resources on TISSx, under the course title Language Education: Teaching English in India, accessible through the coupon code PBAT01, are structured to aid the process. We invite you to join us on this journey! Nishevita Jayendran Anusha Ramanathan Surbhi Nagpal June 2021

1 THE NOTION OF LANGUAGE An overview

‘When I use a word,’ Humpty Dumpty said in a rather scornful tone, ‘it means just what I choose it to mean – neither more nor less.’ ‘The question is,’ said Alice, ‘whether you can make words mean so many different things.’ ‘The question is,’ said Humpty Dumpty, ‘which is to be master – that’s all.’ Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking-Glass (1871) Language is the most pervasive and intricate system that is unique to the human species. Understanding the nature of language, its functions and the ways in which it operates remains a much-discussed topic in the humanities and social sciences. Research in domains as varied as linguistics, neuroscience, culture, anthropology, aesthetics, psychology, philosophy, literature, semiotics, rhetoric, stylistics, discourse analysis and sociology, to name a few, influence our understanding of language. Debates through the centuries have offered multiple perspectives to the question, ‘What is language’, several of which, while illuminating different aspects, remain unreconciled. How can we communicate effectively if each of us uses language in our own idiosyncratic way? Underlying this question is the assumption that language is essential for human communication. But is communication the sole function of language? And what does communication mean? It is only appropriate to start this book with the fundamental question:What is language? Unpacking and critically assessing the various responses to this question will help us formulate a more nuanced understanding of what language does, must do, should do and could do. This will, in turn, help us formulate the rationale and objectives of language education and its relevance for literacy.

6  The notion of language

OBJECTIVES In this chapter, the reader will be able to − gain an overview of language through select thinkers from philosophy, ethnography and linguistics; − understand the relationship between language and thought; − identify ways in which language, culture and identity relate to each other; and − engage critically with contemporary perspectives on New Literacy Studies (NLS) and critical literacy.

What is language? Let’s try a small activity. Think of words or phrases that come to your mind when you think of language. …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………………………………………………………………. .....………………………………………………………………………………… .....…………………………………………………………………………………. ....……………………………………… Were any of these words a part of your list? code, communication, message, system, sign, grammar, dialect, accent, syllable And how about these words? imagination, culture, art, poetry, story, sound, discourse, philosophy, narrative, literature, identity, tradition

A cursory comparison of your list and that of your neighbour’s would show that there are a wide range of areas covered in a layman’s understanding of the term. Terms like ‘communication’, ‘medium’, ‘tools’ and ‘grammar’ may be common to our lists. Less likely are imagination, discourse and philosophy. This exercise shows us that there is no ‘correct’ definition for language. Rather, our understanding of language draws from a wide range of disciplines and applications. Philosophy, linguistics, ethnography, sociology and literary studies are just some disciplines that influence our approach to, and expectations of, language. Semantics, semiotics and discourse analyses approach language as structures that carry meaning, parts of which are driven by the sociocultural contexts of their use and production. Psychologists and philosophers debate the relationship

The notion of language  7

between language and thought, as they unpack the ways in which language constructs identity. Cultural theorists take this argument ahead when they look at the ways in which identity is socially and culturally embedded.This embedding has a corresponding influence on the use and place of language in human life since our beliefs and thoughts derive from our experience of (being in) the world. Does our language then reflect what we have understood of the world, or do we construct our worlds through language? For Lachman Khubchandani, we live in language. Language is essentially human. However, Khubchandani points out that in the process of delving into the aspect of communication that is seen as the core function of language, we miss its larger attributes and capacities. Language is not a conglomerate of small parts that comprise a whole. On the contrary, the whole comes prior to the parts (Khubchandani, 1997). What this implies is that the purpose of language is to convey a complete meaning holistically. To do this, different parts in a language unit work together. So, for example, if I want to say that I saw a cat, the sounds of ‘c’, ‘a’ and ‘t’ combine as three small phonetic parts to form a word. If we apply Khubchandani’s argument here, we need to look at the three sounds together to make meaning holistic rather than focus on the individual, discrete consonant and vowel sounds. Similarly, words come together to form sentences, sentences combine to form paragraphs and so on. In each case, individual components build up a larger picture of meaning by interacting with each other in unique ways.The study of different parts of language should, therefore, be such that it helps us understand systems holistically. Khubchandani highlights further that living languages are characterised by change, fluidity and plurality. Variations in the form of dialects and regional languages are natural to living human languages (Khubchandani, 1997). Sociolinguists discuss the link between geographical locations and language variations as they investigate the ways in which languages transform and modify across space and time. Our approach to learning and teaching living languages, of which English is an example, and the knowledge systems constructed through these languages, must factor in these variations and fluidity. The sections that follow are organised around different notions of language that discuss the relationship between language and thought, its link to culture and identity, its nature and function as a representational and symbolic medium of communication and, finally, the place of language education in literacy studies and practise. We will look at some key theorists for each notion, whose ideas throw light on one specific aspect of language. We will finally draw these different strands together to understand their implications for literacy. The aspects of language we will consider in this chapter are clustered around the following thematic heads: • • • • •

Language and Structure Language and Symbolisation Language and Representation Language and Culture Language and Literacy

8  The notion of language

Language and structure Language is fundamentally rule governed and frequently regarded as a structure.We can understand structure in different ways. It can be seen as grammar, as genres, as discourses that frame speech and as cognitive structures that give shape to human thought. This understanding of language as structure has had an impact on the ways in which language is taught in schools and colleges to children and adults. The two theorists we will look at in this section, from the Western tradition, who have influenced a large part of our teaching-learning approach are Ferdinand de Saussure, a structuralist, and Noam Chomsky, who in his early works adopted an innate approach to linguistics and generative grammar. Let us start chronologically with Ferdinand de Saussure whose work on structural linguistics has had a lasting impact on not only the study of language but also on other allied disciplines of the humanities and social sciences, such as sociology, philosophy, psychology, anthropology, political theory, critical theory and literary criticism, to name a few. Saussure was a Swiss linguist who taught students at the university in Geneva in the early decades of the 20th century. His work on the nature of language, titled A Course in General Linguistics (1956), offers a systematic understanding of the study of language. Saussure approached language as a system or structure (which eventually led to the term ‘structuralism’ in critical theory to indicate a method of analysis that views knowledge as, and through, structures). Language was a sign that comprised two aspects: the signifier and the signified, presented as ‘Sign = Signifier + Signified’. Saussure defined the signifier and the signified as two sides of a coin. These two sides need to come together and coexist for a coin to be complete. Similarly, the linguistic structure is complete as a meaning-making system when the signifier, or the means through which an object is implied, and the signified, or the object that is being referred to, move simultaneously. Let us take an example to illustrate this. If I want to ask you to give me a pen, how do I do it? I can wave a pen at you, hoping that you understand that I need one. I can mime the act of writing to show that I need something to write with, again hoping that you will understand that I want a pen. I can speak to you and request that you lend me your pen. How do I know that you have understood my request, particularly in the last option where I have spoken to you? This will happen only if both of us share a common understanding of what a pen is and the meaning of the sounds emanating from my mouth. We also need to understand that the sound ‘p-e-n’ made by me indicates an object that is pointed with a smooth surface to hold on to and is used for writing. In this case, Saussure would say that the sound produced by me when I voice the consonants and vowels ‘p-e-n’ is the signifier since it (the sound) is the means through which I am making my thoughts known. The pointed object with a smooth surface used for writing is the signified (that which is indicated through the sound). The combination of these two – that is, the object and the sound ‘p-e-n’ made – when working together, comprise a sign. Through this process of signification, we are able to get our messages across to each other. The act of signification is then the central act in linguistic communication for Saussure.

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Saussure developed this idea further when he inquired into the nature of the sign itself and its place in human life. If a sign is a combination of signifier and signified and is built through an association between a sound or mark and an object, concept, idea or thought, then it need not be a fixed, pre-given fact. It is, instead, a construct. This is the first important aspect of the sign and has implications for the way it influences our view of language. If we perceive language as arbitrary and coconstructed instead of a fixed system, it leaves open the scope for experimentation in not simply its use but also in ways in which it can be taught and in meaningmaking. The arbitrary nature of the sign (language) also highlights the fact that acts that standardise and lay norms for language are acts of power and domination since laying norms is possible primarily by people in positions of authority. Language is not just arbitrary but differential as well. Differentiality means that when the process of signification is underway, we are establishing the meaning of a sign by talking about what it is not. Therefore, a pen is a pen because it is not a pencil, or an eraser, or a crayon or a quill. It is also not a table, or a chair, and so on. A consequence of the differential nature of the sign, Saussure continues, is that it is negative. If the meaning of signs is linked to other signs, it follows that it will be difficult to establish essential meanings. Saussurean linguistics, significantly, established the nature of language as a sign based on a social contract. Meaning in language and sign systems in a particular society are established when the participants mutually agree to the sign system. The contractual nature of language is evident, for instance, in the different names given for the object with three to four legs on which people sit. It is called a chair in English, kursi in Hindi, chaise in French, naarkaali in Tamil and so on. The signified object remains the same. At the same time, Saussure states that the sign system, though appearing free and fluid and based on the decisions of a community, is fixed for that community. Retaining a consistent meaning through time is necessary for the effective functioning of society. The conventions of the language are, therefore, ‘inherited’. Saussure uses the term ‘heritage’, indicating his belief that language is a legacy handed down to us from the previous generations. Societies and cultures retain these heritages, keeping them unchanging through time. These practices go towards forming the society’s cultural identity. This process is indicative of the way social contracts contribute to the standardisation of languages and are embedded in power. The dialectic between the fluidity of meaning and functionality of the system in communication plays out through a series of binaries. These are signifier versus signified, langue versus parole, synchrony versus diachrony and syntagmatic versus paradigmatic relationships. For Saussure, sign = signifier + signified. In the actual playing out of language and its use, Saussure states that a language finds itself used in many different ways. There are, however, deep-rooted structures, akin to the grammar of the language, which remain common across the variations in use. The binary of langue and parole captures this dichotomy, where parole refers to the many different ways in which language is used in society, while langue refers to the deep, underlying grammar of these surface applications. The binary divisions extend to the study of language as well. For Saussure, language can be studied in-depth at one point in time, examining the different elements that comprise the language holistically, or a single

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feature can be studied across a period of time to trace historical change.The former, studying the different features of a language in-depth at a single point in time, is synchrony, while the latter, diachrony, refers to the process of studying language across time and space. Similarly, syntagmatic and paradigmatic relationships in language look at the relationship between words. Syntagmatic relations look at the relationship between discrete units (like sounds, words, sentences, etc.) along a horizontal axis. So, for example, if we take the word ‘tell’, a syntagmatic relationship would look at the relationship between the sounds ‘t’, ‘e’ and ‘l’. A paradigmatic relationship would study language when some unit is replaced by another one, for example,‘yell’, ‘till’, ‘ten’ and so on. The same process gets extended to words and sentences. Saussure’s theory that claimed that meaning in language is constructed through social and cultural consensus provides one framework for understanding language as a structure. American linguist Noam Chomsky offered an alternative understanding of structure when he claimed that grammar, as syntax, is intentional and internalised in the human brain, while language use is extensional and externalised. For Chomsky, there is an innate structure that determines the way thoughts and language develop in humans.This structure, located in the human brain, ensures that the thoughts and concepts awakened in the brain follow a predetermined grammar. Chomsky elaborates on this through his theory of Universal Grammar and the Language Acquisition Device (LAD). Chomsky’s Universal Grammar derives from the understanding that the knowledge of language is embedded in the human brain. Chomsky states that children naturally acquire languages from their environment, and they are able to intuit meanings and the grammatical structures that underlie the languages they learn. Language acquisition happens in children. It is not something that a child consciously does. This is possible because we have an innate grammar built in us as humans. Chomsky visualises this as a Black Box and terms it the ‘LAD’. According to Chomsky, the innateness of the device to the human brain is critical to the study of language. Relying on the ways humans use language to study language is unreliable since people use language in different ways, which involve native inflections, dialectal variations, errors, etc. Chomsky’s distinction between competence and performance elaborates on this aspect of internalised language. Competence is the innate meaning-making ability that resides in languages because of its syntactical structure, while performance refers to the actual articulation of thought produced by humans. It has been observed that Chomsky’s binary of competence and performance corresponds to Saussure’s binary of langue and parole, where langue refers to the system of signs and parole, to the individual social utterances by the users of the language. It is appropriate to reflect on the way the competence versus performance dichotomy aids in meaning-making. In this context, Chomsky gives the example of a sentence that is grammatically correct but doesn’t make meaningful sense: ‘Colourless green ideas sleep furiously’. This sentence follows the Subject-Verb (S-V) form that is typical of a comprehensible, structurally accurate sentence in English. The sentence is syntactically accurate but semantically nonsensical. The question this example raises is, How do we

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differentiate a meaningful sentence from one that has no meaning? Yet another binary is introduced here, which has implications for teaching languages. This is the duality of syntax versus semantics. Does meaning in language emerge from its structure alone? In Chomskyian linguistics, the answer would lie in the mentalist model of Universal Grammar that is wired into the human brain and enables us to acquire language without it being taught explicitly. The systematicity of language structures that comprise the grammar enables us to understand and use language. This is evident in the way phonemes, morphemes and words are organised into words, sentences and paragraphs, respectively, when they come together to convey meaning. Chomsky argued that the proof of the mentalist model lies in the fact that children are often not exposed to rich language input but acquire language in different ways and at different stages, despite limitations in their environment. The argument for language as structure is one way of approaching the notion of language. It is, however, not the only explanation for understanding what language is and how it functions. Theorists after Chomsky have pointed out that a child’s source of knowledge is plural and pluralistic. While knowledge of linguistic structures, or syntax, is undoubtedly an enabler in language acquisition and learning, researchers in language have disagreed about it being the sole determinant of meaning. Several reasons have been proposed to support these claims, key among them being the value of social and cultural experience and the abstract, symbolising capacity of languages that influence the construction of meaning. Semantics as meaning-making also works with pragmatics, or the contexts in which language operates, for meaning to emerge. In the next section, we will look at language and symbolisation that expand our understanding of structure and ‘grammar’. Patterns of human experience provide rubrics for us to engage with events around us. These are found in anthropological studies on myths, rites and rituals, to cite an example.

Language and symbolisation The word ‘symbolisation’ suggests action. What does the act of symbolisation entail, and what role does language play in this act? Symbolisation is one of the ways in which meaning is constructed and disseminated within and through language.What is a symbol? What is the relationship between language and symbols? Underlying the symbol is the notion of structure, but this structure works differently from the linguistic structure that we discussed in the previous section. Let us look at some examples before we move into discussing the notion of symbol and symbolisation. Look at the images given in Figure 1.1 and Figure 1.2. What do the images signify (in the Saussurean framework)? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ………………………………

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Red cross flag. Source: Created by Ramesh Prakash Khade

FIGURE 1.1   

The flame of a candle. Source: Created by Ramesh Prakash Khade

FIGURE 1.2   

What do the images symbolise? …………………………………………………………………………………… …………………………………………………………………………………… ……………………………… Were your answers to the two questions the same? Let us first look at what the two terms mean.To signify would mean, in Saussurean terms, to indicate or point to some external signified object. In this case, the flag signifies the Red Cross and the flame, possibly, the little sprig of fire that burns at the end of a lamp or candlewick. A symbol does more than just point to an object. Symbols also embody ideas. The Oxford English Dictionary offers three definitions for a symbol. The first is a mark or character used as a conventional representation of an object, function or process.This could include chemical symbols to designate elements, etc.The second definition refers to a sign or mark that indicates an organisation, like the Red Cross.

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The third definition indicates a thing that stands for something else. A limousine, then, can be a symbol of wealth. Language functions in all three ways. Of these, the third is perhaps the most complex. Let’s explore this aspect a little further. If we look at a national flag, we immediately think of the nation to which it belongs. Along with this, we experience certain emotions, such as pride, patriotism and, perhaps, nostalgia, if we no longer live in the nation. This is because the flag is also an ideology. The image of the flag has, today, become a symbol of discourses on being patriotic, diligent and true to a national spirit. It is a symbol of our identity that is linked to a particular geographical piece of land. Similarly, the Red Cross flag stands for humanitarianism and the ideologies of the organisation. It also stands for relief aid. Now let’s look at the way the symbol of the flame works.This is slightly different from that of the flag.The flame can be a symbol of light that dispels darkness. Unlike the flag, however, the flame can take on other meanings as well. One example is the way the flame stands for the human self in Buddhist philosophy. The human being, like the wick, changes every instant and is never the same from one moment to the other. As humans, we learn new languages, have new experiences and change every minute of our lives. The wick of the candle, similarly, burns constantly and changes in composition.This is an example of an image that becomes a symbol when meaning is constructed around it. Italian semiotician Umberto Eco addresses the nature of the sign and symbol in Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (1986). The title of this book merits comment. Semiotics is a field that deals with the science of signs. It draws on Saussure’s linguistic study as it looks at ways in which signs and structure work together to convey meaning. Eco, however, expands the scope of the meaning of signs when he links it to the philosophy that underlies language. The act of meaning-making is not just a simple act of using signs to refer to external objects or things. It is this complexity that Eco highlights when he discusses the way signs become symbolic.

The concept of sign must be disentangled from its trivial identification with the idea of coded equivalence and identity; the semiosic process of interpretation is present at the very core of the concept of sign. (Eco, 1986)

Symbolism is an act of active interpretation. Before we make a symbol, we need to first understand the idea or concept that is to be symbolised. This will be followed by our processing of the nature of the sign we choose and then assigning fresh meanings to that sign to convey our understanding of the experience we have of the object or world. This is one simplistic way of explaining the way the construction of signs and symbols occurs. What is present at the heart of the process is the act of interpretation of our world and experiences and an evaluation of the potential of the tools at our disposal to engage with this world. Language is one of the tools

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available to achieve this end and performs semiotic functions of ‘inference’ rather than ‘equivalence’, as Saussure defines it. The sign, therefore, becomes a symbol when it acquires layers of meaning. To understand the symbolic nature of language and the redefined format of grammar, let us look at the following story. As you read it, try and answer the following questions: • • •

What is the story about? How do we know what the story is about? How is the theme depicted in the story?

“THE TELL-TALE WALLS” A translation of a Tamil folktale There was an old widow who lived with her two sons and two daughters-inlaw. She was very poor, and her sons and daughters-in-law were unkind to her. They scolded and abused her all day. As the months went by, the old woman grew more and more miserable, but she had no one to talk to and nowhere to go. She kept her misery to herself and started growing fat. As she bloated up, her daughters-in-law and sons found one more reason to insult her. ‘Look how big she is getting,’ they said. ‘She sits around all day doing nothing; no wonder she’s becoming fat,’ they taunted her. Unable to bear it anymore, the old woman left the house one day and walked away towards the forest that bordered the village. As she walked, she felt tired and miserable. Suddenly, she came upon a dilapidated house. The house had four mud walls and no roof. The woman went into the house and sat down on the floor. She felt a sudden need to vent her misery out loud. Since there was no one in sight, she went to the first wall of the house and started complaining about her first son. As she finished speaking, the wall in front of her crumbled under the weight of her words. The old woman, almost instantly, felt lighter. She turned to the second wall and vented about her first daughter-in-law. The second wall crumbled, and she felt herself losing more weight. The old woman glanced down at herself and found that she had become visibly thinner. She then turned to the third wall and vented about her second son. The third wall of the house crumbled, and the woman lost more weight. Finally, she looked at the last standing wall of the hut and complained about her second daughter-in-law. As the last wall crumbled in a cloud of dust, the old woman lost all the weight she had gained in the previous months.

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The widow now stood in the middle of the rubble, feeling considerably lighter. Then she turned and walked back home. Another translation of this story can be found in Folktales of India (1991) by A. K. Ramanujan, titled “Tell It to the Walls”. A stylised adaptation by Svani Parekh sits as a blog post titled “Tell It to the Walls” at the following URL: https://medium.com/lit-up/tell-it-to-the-walls-a-tamil-folktale8964e80061b9 (last accessed on 24 November 2020).

Is there a structure to this story? What is it that makes us understand the meaning of the words as we read them? Can we say that this is an example of language being used in a symbolic manner? One approach to understanding the notions of language through this tale is to look at the way syntax and semantics work together. While the grammatical structure of the sentences and the vocabulary are strung together in the predetermined formats of the English language, their specific positions as paragraphs and sentences build meaning and affect. We must, however, also ask if there are alternative and deeper meanings embedded in this structure than the straightforward narrative of an old woman. Is the image of a house with no roof symbolic of the old woman’s widowhood? Does a symbolic reading of the house without a roof increase her vulnerability and our empathetic response to her? These are some deeper and denser ways in which language functions symbolically. American philosopher Susanne Langer states in her work Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art (1941) that all languages function as signs, but they become symbolic in select instances. The human brain, according to Langer, is constantly performing symbolic transformations of its experiences. These symbolic modes are intellectual and include myths, analogies and metaphors. Langer develops the idea of symbolism as a science that presents a different kind of knowledge. For her, sciences are positivistic and demand sensory, empirical evidence to mark true knowledge. Art, myths and rites, as indicated in Langer’s title, present a different kind and form of knowledge. These are abstract and relate to transcendental ideas in the Kantian tradition. Symbolisation is an example of this kind of knowledge, and language, for Langer, is a different kind of science. The layering of meaning and being able to communicate abstract thoughts, philosophies and ideas remains one of its inscrutable features. Eco elaborates on this aspect, from a semiotic perspective, when he talks of the metaphor, the mirror, the dictionary and the encyclopedia in Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language (1986). It is worth remarking on Eco’s use of analogies like the dictionary and the encyclopedia to symbolise different kinds of knowledge. While discussing semiotics as a field that studies signs and their relationship with

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language, Eco takes recourse to some images that he infuses with meaning. The dictionary and the encyclopedia is one such dichotomy he creates to talk about the nature of knowledge construction. For Eco, the dictionary performs a referential function, where each item or entry points to a specific meaning that is listed next to it. It is, for Eco, linear in the way Saussurean linguistics projects language. The encyclopedia, on the other hand, is dense and deep. It is characterised by inter- and cross-connections and is intertextual. It evokes memories and spreads in diverse ways as it connects and uses existing knowledge holistically. Language and philosophy, Eco states, should function like encyclopedias rather than dictionaries (Eco, 1986). The symbolising capacity of language resembles Eco’s analogy of the encyclopedia, where images and objects recall other images, objects and concepts to create an interwoven tissue of meanings. Similarly, Eco’s description of the metaphor as an encyclopedic competence underscores the deep and reflective ways in which language constructs meaning. Pierre Bourdieu, likewise, in Language and Symbolic Power (1991), acknowledges the power of words when they function in subtle ways. For Bourdieu, linguistic exchanges express power relations.Variations in accents, intonations, use of vocabulary and registers are indicators of social hierarchies. As a sociological critique of a purely linguistic, structural approach, symbolism is political and links the act of constructing meaning with power politics, which we will discuss in the next chapter. Language and grammar operate within society and cultural contexts. Meaningmaking is also not apolitical or abstract. Bourdieu shows the ways in which the material nature of language emerges when structures of meaning construct thought and regulate human actions. This is possible when language is used to dominate, persuade, dissuade and convey complex thoughts across space and time. Nowhere is this more apparent than in anthropological and cultural studies of myths, rites and rituals. French anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss’s work on kinship structures, the Russian folklorist Vladimir Propp’s study of folktales and, closer to home, A. K. Ramanujan’s work on folktales in India demonstrate the symbolic nature of language. These authors look at the kinship structures and folktales that circulate within human societies through language and inform world views and perceptions of reality. This happens because stories, as symbols of human experience, act as vehicles of meaning that project human transactions.They have emotive power and are flexible, allowing them to be transported to a variety of contexts with appropriate adaptations.To give an example, a study of East European folktales reveals some interesting similarities. Social hierarchies are constantly disrupted when we find peasants becoming kings by accomplishing tasks, the ‘fool’ figure emerging victorious in many stories and the youngest sibling (girl or boy) as the protagonist of many tales. Also noteworthy is the way kindness and being unassuming to strangers and old men (who possess magical powers and grant wishes) are values that help the ‘fool’ figure accomplish tasks that their more arrogant counterparts fail to do. These narratives are structures that provide rubrics to define desirable sociocultural behaviours. They are carried within language, an example of which is the folktale “Tell It to the Walls”. The old woman’s experience is not entirely an isolated

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one. Instead, it talks of the plight of women in society and the challenges of being a widow in particular. The play on words that indicate a heavy heart and weight of words is used metaphorically to symbolise the depth and extent of the woman’s misery. Langer’s philosophical reflection on these elements of language make the field a dense space of study. Langer states that the human mind is constantly administering symbolic transformation, identifying and forging patterns and creating rhythmic structures that characterise symbolic form. Myth, analogy, art, metaphorical thinking are intellectual activities and are symbolic in nature. Langer argues that art constructs a different kind of knowledge in comparison to the sciences. Art merges, fuses and synthesises. It structures beliefs and is the key to constructive processes of thought. Langer’s ideas echo the Romantic poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge’s formulation of the poetic imagination in the Biographia Literaria (1817) as an ‘esemplastic’ power that ‘dissolves, diffuses, dissipates, in order to recreate’. In each case, language emerges as necessary for navigating thought and expression through its power of symbolisation. Closely linked to the notion of symbolisation is the idea of representation, which we will explore in the next section.

Language and representation Cultural theorist Stuart Hall indicates that representations unfold along two arms: the semiotic and the discursive.The semiotic arm suggests that representation works as signs for a larger reality, while the discursive arm looks at representation as structures of knowledge. Within cultural studies, these approaches signpost the role of language systems in constructing meanings and experiences. Three notions of representation emerge at this point. Representation can be seen as 1 . a transformed depiction of reality, 2. a substitute for reality and 3. a demonstration, rather than a narration, of reality. Representations are characterised by stylisation and creativity, as they represent reality and ideas. Representations are also seen as substitutes for reality when they stand in for a world outside.This establishes a tenuous relationship between the two. A third approach to representation is to define it as an act that shows, rather than tells, us what has happened. Let us examine each of these approaches individually. The notion of representation is most common in fictional and artistic forms that deploy aesthetics and principles of ‘defamiliarisation’ (Shklovsky, “Art as Technique” 1917) to create an effect on the audience. Presenting a common object or experience differently is a virtue in the arts, as they enable critical insight into normal human experience by deviating from the regular and commonplace. In the Indian classical tradition, similarly, representation remains a core feature of art. Bharata’s Natya Shastra (c. 800 BCE–c. 500 CE) stresses the importance of rasa or the core

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emotion that triggers our understanding of a situation. This is another example of representationalism of language. Words and gestures, when enacted, evoke emotions as they depict an idea aesthetically. Representation is, therefore, also informed by art and aesthetic theories. Pramod Nayar remarks on this aspect of representation as political when he states that literature and creative works often talk of ordinary real lives of people in a stylised manner.The simultaneous realism and stylisation of these works make us review the normal from new perspectives. Two aspects converge in meaning-making. The first is the representational function of language in capturing aspects or elements of reality, and the second is its aesthetic attribute that wilfully transforms the object of representation for affective purposes. The emphasis on aesthetics can be traced to Kantian theories that argue for art to be contemplated and valued for itself. The clarion call for these philosophies was art for art’s sake. A corollary approach to reading was seen in close reading strategies that valued the structure of the poem or work of art as the necessary and sufficient information needed to understand meaning. In all these cases, the underlying assumption was the power of art and language to re/present life. Understanding and adapting appropriate methods to interpret works that were deliberately stylised became a part of the act of meaning-making. Related to the idea of representation as stylisation is the notion of representation as a substitute for reality. As the vehicle for engaging with the world around us, representation stands in for the real. This notion has pervaded philosophy, language and aesthetics for several millennia. It can be traced in Western thought to Socrates/ Plato, who, in The Republic (c. 375 BCE), equated art, in general, and poetry in particular, with a mirror. The artist/poet was conceptualised as a person who holds up a mirror and turns it around continuously.The sun, moon, stars and the world reflect constantly in this mirror. This becomes an example of the way art works. Some other interpretations proposed by Plato/Socrates include art as a shadow within a cave. In the famous theory of forms developed by Plato, reality or truth exists in a realm above us all. The artisan makes a physical model of this reality that is a partial truth. The poet then makes a version of this physical model, thereby occupying a position that is three times removed from the original concept. While Plato spoke derisively of poets’ acts of representation as misleading substitutes of reality, Aristotle highlighted this very representational nature of art, poetry and drama as a strength. He used the term mimesis to talk of the way representations are imitations of the real. For Aristotle, creating imitations of reality is useful for enabling people to encounter and imagine events that can lead to a catharsis or purging of emotions. Theorists across centuries have commented accordingly on the different ways in which art, in general, and poetry, in particular, are representations of life. This does not necessarily mean that they depict events as facts. Instead, the notion of mimesis or imitation has been used to affirm the relationship between representation and reality as one of reflection. Taking this argument forward, we can say that representation is a substitute for reality. To understand an experience someone else has, presenting a version of it helps us approach what that person experienced. Conceiving of representation as a substitute for reality has developed

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into philosophical traditions, such as realism, that look at art forms functioning as stand-ins for the reality they depict. The third notion of representation suggests that to represent means to show, bringing together the notions of representation and substitution. This is better understood as a concept when contrasted with the idea of telling. Can you think of how these two terms, ‘to show’ and ‘to tell’, differ? Let us consider the following example. Read the sentences given below. 1 . You should be tolerant. 2. Open the window of your mind. In the first sentence, the statement is direct, didactic and tells us what is expected of us. The second sentence also conveys the same message. However, its phrasing and structure are different. It equates the mind with a window. We know, through our experience, that opening a window allows fresh air and light to come into the room. The act of opening a window in the second sentence is symbolic, where the mind is associated with a window. What does the mind contain? We could say thoughts, impressions, beliefs, attitudes or knowledge, among other things. Opening the mind would then lead to new thoughts and ideas that enter our consciousness. It is not only a mechanical act but also a symbolic one associated with tolerance. The symbolic potential of the meaning of openness is, here, conveyed through the representational aspect of language. The sentence conjures in our mind a picture of the act of opening a window and the feeling of freshness that one may encounter subsequently. This is an example of ‘showing’ as opposed to ‘telling’. In this act of showing is embedded a symbolism that evokes a feeling of freshness, which recalls Langer’s philosophy of symbolisation as one of the key attributes of language. The readers’ responses to statements derive from the effect that the statements have on them. Language’s symbolisation capacity is one of the contributing factors to the effect. Being able to build word pictures and images through language to illustrate (as opposed to state) an idea is another way in which affect is achieved.This representationalism is an attribute that is embedded in language. It derives from the creative potential of art to construct new meanings and realities. Creative writers comment regularly on the representational element that makes their art powerful and symbolic. Communicating these visions of reality occurs in a variety of ways, through varying genres and discursive frameworks. Each of these frameworks and discourses can be considered the grammar that helps in depicting meaning. What attribute of representationalism enables us to see the thoughts of the artist, as opposed to being told what she or he is thinking? Detailing is a critical aspect of representation that enables the construction of a word picture. The more detailed a representation, the clearer the image is, in the readers’ mind, of the subject. As a medium for representing life, language connects an individual’s experience to the artist’s depiction, further enriching the collaborative co-construction of meaning. To go back to the story of the old widow, we as

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readers become cognisant of the woman’s misery through the words that conjure a mental image of weight by showing us how the walls crumble with her words. This form of expression helps us infer meaning and draw conclusions by associating different concepts through metaphors. Susanne Langer’s Philosophy in a New Key (1941) and Feeling and Form (1953) build on this attribute when Langer argues that language constructs a different form of knowledge from the positivist traditions. Langer’s philosophy of language as representational and symbolic is critical in situating the potential of language to free the imagination. According to Langer, the positivist sciences work with the limits set by the physical universe that is their subject of study. In the arts, on the other hand, the limits to knowledge are internal, set by the limits of one’s thoughts, the ‘power of conception’ and the power of formulative notions with which ‘mind meets experience’ (Langer, 1941).This experience manifests as discourses where the mind strings out ideas to illustrate thought, even though thoughts are nested within each other. For Langer, senses are windows to knowledge and experience. She argues that seeing is not a passive act but an active process of constructing meaning. Unlike a statement of fact, representation in the arts is an active process of construction and interpretation of meaning. Presentational symbolisation and use of discourses as abstract ideas offer pathways for language as a science that is qualitatively different from positivism. The symbolic and representational notions of language are embedded in cultural experience, as we shall see in the next section.

Language and culture To understand a language, Terry Eagleton states, is to understand ‘a form of life’ (Eagleton 2016, 187). Eagleton’s statement draws attention to another function of language that we need to take cognisance of as educators: its link to culture. In contrast with arguments that make claims for the timelessness of great art that speaks to all ages and cultures, this statement signposts the link between language, meaning and culture. Words draw meaning from their contexts of use. They also reflect the cultures within which they exist and function. Understanding and teaching a language entails an understanding of the culture within which it operates.

Language as communication and as culture are then products of each other. Communication creates culture: culture is a means of communication. Language carries culture, and culture carries, particularly through orature and literature, the entire body of values by which we come to perceive ourselves and our place in the world. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, extract from Decolonising the Mind: The Politics of Language in African Literature (1987)

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Bronislaw Malinowski states that culture manifests in various ways, as implements and consumers’ goods, as constitutions and charters that group human beings into social structures, as human ideas and crafts, beliefs, religious and spiritual practices. It ranges from the very simple to the extremely complex, comprising a ‘vast apparatus, partly material, partly human and partly spiritual, by which man is able to cope with the concrete and specific problems that face him’ (Malinowski 1944, 36). For Malinowski, these problems arise out of the fact that man is a physical being with organic needs; he lives within an environment that provides him with the raw materials for meeting his needs and requirements but can also become hostile to him. In order to survive in the environment, man has to be systematic and organised, develop practices that must be transmitted across generations in order to create functional communities. As he creates economic systems and belief structures, he also needs to consider values and ethics. The essential concept of a culture, then, is ‘organisation’ that is characterised by a very definite scheme or structure and that Malinowski terms an ‘institution’ (Malinowski 1944, 39) whereby humans enter into a formal agreement with each other. By this definition, language and conventions of expression qualify as cultural practices where groups of individuals enter into social contracts to determine means and structures of communication. Language is one of the sites where cultural changes are constructed. Malinowski’s ideas find reflection in sociocultural and sociolinguistic theories that look at the way cultural experiences structure human thought and the way human language, as dialect, is a mark of identity. The Sapir-Whorf hypothesis on linguistic relativity is an example of the former, while the sociolinguistic argument of the gradual transformation of languages across time and space has implications on culture and identity. Let us briefly look at these notions in this section. Edward Sapir’s and Benjamin Whorf ’s anthropological studies on language and culture led them to propose their hypothesis on linguistic relativity. According to Sapir and Whorf, our language conditions and structures our world view.We think through language and the structure of language informs the way we perceive the world.

Lucien Goldmann, in his discussion on the human sciences, defines world view as a ‘coherent and unitary perspective concerning man’s relationship with his fellow beings and with the universe. Since the thought of individuals is rarely coherent and unitary, a world view rarely corresponds to the actual thought of a particular individual’ (Goldmann 1980, 111). World views are historical and social facts, and they function as totalitarian ways of thinking, feeling and acting. Human sciences deal with the study of human societies that comprise individuals who exist in relation to their environments. Human sciences, therefore, necessarily consist of studies of relationships, of subjects and/as objects. Transformations in world views, for Goldmann cannot be the act of a single individual but a slow, gradual transformation enacted over a period of time that influences an entire social group.

22  The notion of language

To take an example, feminists have argued that patriarchal structures construct images of women in binaries. Women are seen as either pure, angelic beings who should be worshipped or fallen, depraved temptresses who should be shunned. Language adopts a corresponding discourse to depict these beliefs. Our emotional and intellectual responses are conditioned by the connotations of the words and images constructed within and through language.

Let’s take a small example to illustrate this point. Listen to and read Chief Seattle’s speech at the following link: http://www.halcyon.com/arborhts/ chiefsea.html. As you read it, focus on the way the relationship between man and nature is built up. Also, look at the way this relationship is contrasted with the white man’s relationship with nature.

The chief ’s speech is an example of the reflection and construction of world views through language. While the governor of Washington approaches the chief to buy his land, the chief ’s reflection on how he doesn’t own the land but belongs to it, and therefore cannot sell it, overturns the possessor-possessed relationship. It indicates an alternative way of relating to the environment. Chief Seattle’s bemusement of encountering a different discourse of land, ownership and property acts as an example of linguistic relativity, where his relationship with the land as not a possession but a place of belonging makes it difficult for him to comprehend the materialistic, capitalist discourse of the market. It is significant also that this relationship influences human behaviour, making the chief a more considerate inhabitant of the environment. Our experiences shape our knowledge of the world that, in turn, influence our experiences. Sapir’s and Whorf ’s studies highlight the relativity of knowledge that is imbibed through our cultural experiences and its corresponding influence on our world views. Benjamin Whorf states in “Language, Mind and Reality” (1942) that every language and sub-language incorporates certain points of view and patterned resistance to divergently different points of view within society. Recognising the importance of points of view, and by extension perspective, is critical in language and its relationship to culture. Perspective challenges absolute approaches to cultural practices, exposing their constructed and ideological nature. Language, embedded in culture, partakes of this subjectivity as well. Another related implication of the centrality of perspective and counter-perspectives is that language and culture are located within ideologies and power structures. The choice to use a particular language within society and, more importantly, the choice of a specific language for official purposes, in administrative spaces, in educational institutions and government bodies, are informed by ideologies that draw on, and reflect within, cultural practices.

The notion of language  23

Sapir and Whorf discuss the attributes of social speech in this context, recognising that it is the most potent socialising force. Spoken language, they argue, is directly expressive but also possesses tremendous symbolic power. Common speech serves as a potent symbol of social solidarity, such that people are bound by their ability to speak a common tongue. In the process, language builds communities through shared experiences and cultural practices. For Sapir and Whorf, some of the forms taken by language as a culture-preserving instrument are proverbs, medicine formulae, standardised prayers, folktales, standardised speeches, song texts and genealogies. Through these, communal identity develops. This does not, however, discount the construction of individuality through language. Articulation of speech also reveals personality that is related to culture. Sociolinguistics deals similarly with the ways in which languages transform within society. The presence of dialects, for instance, are markers of identity. They indicate geography, class, caste and religion. Similarly, slangs developed by subcultural groups, counter cultures, adolescents, etc., are examples of ways in which language is used to build a shared community, as well as communicate within that group. Making sense of jokes, acronyms or memes, for instance, will require the participants in the group to share a common understanding of the content and conventions of representations and agree on the message to fully participate in it. Lev Vygotsky, who writes on the relationship between language, mind and society, argues that apart from serving as a psychological tool that has a functional purpose of conveying information for communication, language also has a cultural function and mobilises action. With this point, Vygotsky’s argument advances Langer’s approach to the philosophy of language where the representational and symbolic nature of language displays discursive potential. These notions support E. D. Hirsch, the hermeneutic theorist, who argues in support of cultural literacy when he says that language is not an isolated trove house of decontextualised words. Language is, on the contrary, a space that carries culture and values within words. Learning a language is, necessarily, a process of learning the culture within which the language functions. Literacy is, therefore, not merely the act of decoding a script but also an act of acculturation and comprehending the culture of its use.

Language and literacy Let us review the notions of language covered so far. We looked at the way language is a rule-governed system. As a structure, language enables meaning-making. While neurological and cognitive sciences indicate that language development abilities are embedded in the human brain, the social and cultural element of language is highlighted by anthropological and cultural studies.We cannot discount the power of aesthetics in the representational and symbolic nature of language. It is important to note that each of these notions is marked by tangible attributes of language use. The definitive grammatical component, the cultural aspects of language use and representation that are discursive and the aesthetic elements that evoke affect in the audience make the study of language dense

24  The notion of language

and layered. It stands to reason, then, that literacy as the field within education studies that concerns itself with language proficiency should comprise building learners’ competence in all these aspects. Richard Hoggart, in Uses of Literacy (1957), considered one of the earliest treatises on culture studies and literacy practices, remarks that the act of reading cannot be seen as apart from other human activities, such as family life, workspaces, cultural and religious practices or sexual orientation. Hoggart’s work examines the changes in workers’ lives in post-war industrial England, and he projects reading and literacy as a life practice. In the process, Hoggart questioned the purpose of literacy when he reflected on the coexistence of high, low and popular culture in the lives of people. While academic spaces and universities taught high art and the best that had been written within a culture on a range of topics and disciplines, there flourished, simultaneously, a vibrant culture of working and middle classes that also had institutionalised practices and ideologies. For Hoggart, these cultures were as worthy of study as high culture. His Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Cultural Studies was established with this view of expanding the scope of research and investigation to the lives, languages and cultures of the masses. Approaches to literacy begin to take on wider connotations as language competence and life get linked. Equally important is the move to redefine the space of language education and what literacy means and entails. Palincsar and Ladewski signpost this change in “Literacy and the Learning Sciences” (Sawyer 2006, 299–314) where, through an extensive historical overview and review of contemporary work published in leading international journals on literacy, they point to three emerging areas of study. The first is operational literacy, which deals with the ability to read and write any language for basic functional purposes. The second is cultural literacy, which deals with the learner’s ability to understand and engage meaningfully with systems and sociocultural structures. The third is critical literacy, which enables the learner to see the connection between him or herself and the world. Palincsar and Ladewski argue that while the learning sciences have been looking at operational literacy in the past, increasing cross-, interand transdisciplinary studies reveal that cultural and critical literacies are essential for education.They also reveal shifts in emphases within language classrooms where content and pedagogies target cultural and critical literacies as much as operational literacy. Policies in education inter/nationally, similarly, stress the importance of literacy as a life skill. The understanding and definition of literacy has, over the last few decades, transformed from its earlier approaches. The traditional understanding approached the idea of literacy as the ability to read and write. Literacy was also seen as something distinct from oracy. Recent developments in language learning, however, challenge this discrete stance and emphasise a holistic approach to language learning that integrates the four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking. Eli Hinkel rationalises that since we don’t demarcate a particular skill in language use individually, it stands to reason to teach language in an integrated manner. This understanding has implications for pedagogy, as we shall see over the next few chapters.

The notion of language  25

Another significant change within literacy studies emerges from the understanding of early literacy and the ways in which young children learn language and build knowledge. Traditionally, this branch has fallen under the term ‘oracy’, which in turn derives from orality. Orality is a nefarious term to define since it encompasses cognitive, emotional and cultural elements. At a simplistic level, we can define orality as a process of knowledge construction that works without a script. This is often in the form of words and in oral cultures through the performance of actions. Orality maps to Langer’s theorising of the representational and symbolisational features of language and comprises the primal way in which humans acquire language naturally. As Langer’s suggestive subtitle in her book Philosophy in a New Key (1941) indicates, orality manifests in the form of rites and rituals and has an influence on language learning as it structures the imaginative potential in linguistic expression. Scholars working in early literacy studies take cognisance of this feature of language through their ethnographic studies. Barbara Rogoff ’s research on the way children acquire knowledge of social customs and language practices by participating in their communities has had a tremendous impact on language education and literacy practices. New and critical literacy studies now account for the deep and lasting influence of the informal home environment on the linguistic and cognitive skills of children. As a reflection on pedagogical practices, literacy scholars stress the need to include the mother tongue and play in the language learning process, especially in the early stages of formal language learning in schools. (Performative) arts, such as drawing, drama, dance and music, are also recommended as methods through which the entry into language learning can be facilitated. Kate Stephens remarks, in this regard, that the NLS (new literacy studies) is no longer restricted to the acquisition of reading and writing skills. All four microskills, reading, writing, listening and speaking, have equal importance in creating literate individuals. Embedded in each of these skills is the element of critical thinking. New and critical literacy studies lay emphasis on critical consciousness as an important element of the language classroom. Colin Lankshear and cultural theorists reinforce this aspect when they locate language within cultural processes and systems. Their arguments draw on the perception of language as a cultural artefact and a mark of sociocultural identity. Enabling the learner to navigate the world through the word, for James Britton and Paulo Freire, is a non-negotiable element of language learning. In this regard, Freire’s need to inculcate critical consciousness underlies educational practices in the language classroom in general and pedagogies for critical literacy in particular. The act of reading is an act of consciousness and interpretation of one’s experience. This happens through and within language that is, equally, acquired from the world and used to construct the world. It is possible to achieve this critical consciousness, it follows, when the language classroom affords opportunities to not just engage deeply with the nuances and syntax of language but also allows for the contextualised discussions of meaning (semantics) that will arise through a critical reading of texts in the classroom. Oracy and literacy converge in this process of negotiation of meaning. Expanding the scope of the term oracy, early literacy scholars such as John Mathews, Teale and

26  The notion of language

Sulzby have highlighted the way drawing and art forms play a role in meaningmaking, construction of ideas and self-expression. In the absence of knowledge of the script that children are still acquiring as they move into formal school, allowing them different modes and media to express themselves hones their creative thinking and imaginative skills. These processes also help them represent their experiences in a scaffolded manner, where words are supported with images and doodles. Involving children in making lists, writing short scripts or small words act as a further supported activity to allow self-expression. Researchers argue that these small activities, supplemented with play, music, storytelling and performance, help children develop literacy skills. Apart from listening and speaking activities, therefore, researchers introduce art and drawing as aspects of oracy that supplement script. Under these circumstances, the scope of literacy expands to include multimodality and multimedia in language learning that makes the classroom inclusive of learning differences and diversity. Of significant import in the elementary language classroom is the use of the mother tongue. Scholars of early literacy stress the need to use the child’s home language for several reasons. It makes the transition from the home to a formal learning space familiar and easy. With the home language (and/or mother tongue) being the emotional language of the child, it is easier for the young learner to connect with the learning environment and materials. The home language is also the medium through which the child has developed his or her world view. This functions as a cognitive model or schema that can be disrupted if the language of the classroom differs drastically from the home language. It has been proposed that it is desirable to retain the mother tongue in classroom practices and transactions while teaching young children. From the perspective of culture, using the mother tongue also helps reinforce indigenous beliefs and traditions – a point that is of significance in postcolonial India, which has thousands of dialects but uses English in the formal educational and professional spaces. Bilingual and multilingual approaches are seen, therefore, as inclusive practices that enable an equitable learning environment. It is interesting to note that while the expansive scope of literacy operates at the level of elementary education, age-appropriate variations of this practice can be found in adult literacy as well. The multilingual, multimodal, multimedia approach to critical literacy becomes acute and immediate, particularly in the context of culture and media studies, whereby digital and media literacy becomes a necessary personal and professional skill to acquire. Critical literacy involves not merely interpreting discourses, genres and words but also reading critically across a variety of media and contexts with sensitivity and empathy towards human experience.This is reflected, in particular, in the discussions by Colin Lankshear et al., who underscore the importance of ‘discourse’ in (critical) literacy studies. Discourse is seen, variously, as cultural practices, ideologies, genres and patterns of thought constructed through language. Analysis of discourses and mastering the ability to construct and interpret discourses becomes an integral part of new and critical literacy practises. This suggests that the design of activities and the pedagogies that must be adopted

The notion of language  27

in the classroom must be repurposed to suit the specific requirements of language for critical literacy. We see herein a movement in literacy studies away from a behaviourist approach of decoding script and sound-pattern recognition to a constructionist one of cognitive competence that involves critical thought, interpretation, cultural and political sensitivity and creative self-expression. These approaches emphasise the role of the language classroom in not merely supporting functional skills in learners but, more importantly, preparing the learners for civic responsibility and democratic citizenship. New and critical literacies, therefore, reflect and build on our discussions of the nature of language as representational, symbolic, structural and cultural. We will explore the different definitions and processes of literacy in greater detail in Chapter 4. We will take these aspects ahead to Chapter 2 by locating the teaching of a language, English, in India.

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we looked at various notions of language. • Language is structured, rule governed and species specific. Every language in this world has a form and sets of principles that govern its use. Some scholars argue that language is innate to humans, while others argue for the sociocultural nature of language, which implies that language use is determined by consensus and mutual agreement. Languages are also inherited and passed down through generations. • Language is symbolic. Language has the power to evoke images and thoughts about things not present in the immediate environment. It has a critical role to play in creativity and imagination, as it can evoke not only images but also abstract, ideas and discourses. These are categorised by American philosopher Susanne Langer as presentational and discursive symbolisation, respectively. • Language is representational. There are three ways of understanding the term ‘representation’ and, by extension, the notion of language. The first approach is to see representation as stylisation or representation wherein it changes or modifies our perception of reality. The second is to see representation as a substitute for reality. By this approach, representation stands in for reality and conveys information or helps us experience the world through it. The third approach states that representation is an act of showing rather than telling. The demonstrative capacity of representation helps us experience the world more immediately. Language, as a representational medium, partakes all three qualities.

28  The notion of language

• Language is embedded in culture. Knowing a language is synonymous with understanding the culture. Language also shapes our world view as we think within and through language. • Understanding these notions of language is important for literacy. Literacy, as the field that engages with language education and developing language competence in learners, takes cognisance of these different notions and characteristics of language that need to be imparted to the learner.

Exercises 1. Discuss, with relevant examples from your environment and context, how the different notions of language inform its use in reality. Can you think of any other characteristics of language? Make a list, describing these features. 2. Source linguistic artefacts that demonstrate the different notions of language discussed in this chapter. Reflect on the way they influence our approach to teaching language in the classroom. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 1 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

References Bourdieu, P. (1991). In (J. B. Thompson Ed., G. Raymond & M. Adamson, Trans.). Language and symbolic power. Polity Press. Carroll, L. (1871/1875). Through the looking glass, and what Alice found there. Macmillan and Co. Chomsky, N (1959). Verbal behavior by B. F. Skinner. Language, 35.1, 26–58. http://www. jstor.org/stable/411334. ———. (2002). On nature and language. Cambridge University Press. ———. (2006). Language and mind. Cambridge University Press. Eagleton, T. (2013, 2016). How to read literature. Seagull. Eco, U. (1986). Semiotics and the philosophy of language. Indiana University Press. (Original work published 1984) Goldmann, L. (1980). Essays on method in the sociology of literature. Telos Press. Hall, S. (1997). Representation: Cultural representations and signifying practices. SAGE Publications. Hirsch, E. D. (1983). Cultural literacy. The American Scholar, 52.2, 159–169. http://www.jstor. org/stable/41211231. Hoggart, R. (1957). The uses of literacy: Aspects of working class life with special reference to publications and entertainment. Penguin. Khubchandani, L. (1997). Revisualizing boundaries: A plurilingual ethos. SAGE Publications Langer, S. (1941). Philosophy in a new key: A study in the symbolism of reason, rite and art. The New American Library. ———. (1953). Feeling and form: A theory of art. Charles Scribner’s Sons.

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Malinowski, B. (1944) 1960. A scientific theory of culture and other essays. Oxford University Press. Saussure, F. de. (1956). In (C. Bally & A. Sechehaye with A. Reidlinger Eds.,W. Baskin,Trans.). Course in general linguistics. Philosophical Library. Sawyer, K. (Ed.). (2006). The Cambridge handbook of the learning sciences. Cambridge University Press. Thiong’o, N. (1987). Decolonising the mind: The politics of language in African literature. Zimbabwe Publishing House. Whorf, B. (1942). Language, mind and reality. In J. B. Carroll Ed., Language, thought, and reality: Selected writings of Benjamin Lee Whorf (pp. 246–269). MIT Press. Vygotsky, L. (1986). In A. Kozulin Ed. and Trans.). Language and thought. MIT Press.

2 LANGUAGE AND POLICY English studies in India

Where there are eighty nations and several hundred governments, fighting and quarrelling must be the common business of life; unity of purpose and policy are impossible. Mark Twain, on the Indian subcontinent (quoted in Srinath Raghavan’s The Most Dangerous Place: A History of the United States in South Asia) The place of English in the cultural and academic landscape of India is a politically fraught question that we must confront when we approach English studies in India. In this chapter, we will engage with the social, political, cultural and academic complexities of the place of English in a nation influenced by globalisation. If critical thinking is one of the core aims of literacy, and knowledge of a language provides insights into its cultural aspects, what is the role of English in influencing the emotional and cultural landscape of the learner? How does the teaching and learning of a language that is not one’s mother tongue foster critical literacy, especially when seen in the context of debates on multilingualism? Postcolonial studies provide one lens to approach these questions, as well as the politicisation of the teaching and learning of English. Language, culture, national identity and perceptions of the self are some notions that are central to the study of societies that have been erstwhile colonial subjects. Upheavals in education and knowledge systems were some common markers of societies affected by colonisation. Decolonisation and postcolonial studies, therefore, debate ways of redefining identities, preserving indigenous languages and rewriting history from the native’s perspective. These debates are informed by a tension between the colonial heritage that is also a part of the nation’s history and the gaze into a precolonial past that may not be accessible or authentic to current socio-­economic, political realities. These debates have a critical role to play in education practices in general and language education in particular. In the

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Indian context, the teaching of English in schools, colleges and universities occupies the locus of tensions that draw from these debates on the appropriate forms of knowledge that must be imparted to students in a postcolonial, globalised world. This chapter will look at the place of languages and English in national education policies, the relationship between English and Indian languages, debates on the standardisation of languages and multilingualism and the teaching of English in academic institutions in general and schools in particular. Discussions on English studies will require us to look, equally, at higher education spaces and spaces of school education. Accordingly, this chapter will problematise the contexts within which teaching and learning of English occur by highlighting the tensions inherent in the policy visions and their application within historical contexts.

OBJECTIVES At the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to − − − − −

contextualise the place of English in a globalised economy; understand the relationship between knowledge, language and power; debate the place of English studies and the teaching of English in India today; discuss the challenges of bilingualism and multilingualism in the Indian schoolroom; and comprehend the complex relationship between English and Indian languages in the classroom.

This chapter is organised around the following thematic heads: − − − −

English in India: A Historical Overview National Education Policies: Teaching Indian Languages and English in India Postcoloniality, Globalisation and English Studies Language and Power: World Englishes, Dialects and Standardisation in the Classroom − Teaching English for (Critical) Literacy, Communication and Academic Purposes Through the sections, we will revisit the ideas of language education and literacy discussed in Chapter 1 to contextualise the rationale and the teaching of English in contemporary India.

English in India: A historical overview Regarded as a historical legacy of the British presence in the country, the teaching of English in India has its share of defendants and detractors. On the one hand, English is seen as a mark of Westernisation and, therefore, opposed to the idea of ‘Indianness’. On the other hand, English, as the language of commerce, aspiration and social mobility, is gaining importance in a neo-­liberal globalised economy as an international language.

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Supporters of English argue that in a multilingual nation like India, English functions as a cementing language between Indians and between India and the world. As a pan-­Indian language, it is also not a first language for a majority of the population. This becomes a strength where English serves as a national language without privileging one region or language over others. The tension between these two positions characterises the political debates on the place of English in India and in education. For a better understanding of the complexity of English studies in India, it is necessary to adopt a historical perspective of its presence and spread in the subcontinent. English entered India through the East India Company in the 17th century and continued as the British Empire grew in size and scope. When the East India Company first arrived, the traders attempted to learn the multiple Indian languages to understand their clientele better. Their approach changed when the political powers of the Company increased and English prevailed. English was taught to Indians with the view of creating efficient administrators who are Indian in ‘blood’ but British in morals, values and spirit and who can help in supporting trade and commerce. Though the purpose of the British presence in India shifted gradually from trade to rule, the specific act of teaching English remained unchanged. The methods adopted for teaching English further reflect an interesting change. Sunil Khilnani argues that since the earlier goal of teaching English was to create administrators in the country who would help the British govern the land, Indians were tutored in legal and administrative discourses. This resulted in a group of Indians who were fast becoming conversant with not only the language for communication but also with the critical discourses of legality, rights and freedom communicated by the texts they studied. Recognising the possibility of an impending challenge as Indians started reflecting on their rights, the British shifted their approach to a religious one, welding the agenda of education with the missionaries who brought the Bible and Christianity to the Indian masses.This approach enabled the British to create collaborators who could convert other Indians to the British cause – a legacy infused into the education system through the teaching and learning of English across the country (Khilnani, 2003). Other macro-­narratives also entailed sustenance of the complex position of English studies in India. Ravi Sheorey signposts the opportunities that English offered the Indian middle classes for social mobility, post-­Independence, where knowledge of the language was a prerequisite for a government job. Another space where English was beneficial was in science. Reformers like Raja Ram Mohan Roy recognised the advancements made in the West and acknowledged the advantages of learning English to inculcate scientific knowledge and spirit in Indians to stay intellectually connected with the world. Gandhi’s and Nehru’s writings also engage with the link between language and thought. Gandhi’s experience of learning and writing in English illustrates the dichotomy of language as a tool for emotional and cultural expression and language as a discursive tool for critical thought that can be built on the foundations of the mother tongue. Having written and spoken in Gujarati since his childhood, Gandhi made a painful foray into the learning of a foreign tongue. His self-­education was, however, accompanied by an awareness of the need to know English to counter the hegemony and brutality of

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the coloniser. Gandhi and Nehru, Sunil Khilnani argues, used the language to make it speak of the experience of the Indians. The construction of new meanings within and through the language became ways in which these leaders eschewed the intellectual and cultural hegemony of the colonisers.They recognised, further, that resistance to colonisation had initiated a convergence of different parts of the nation that were linguistically and culturally diverse. English served as the linking language that could bring people together to fight the common cause of independence from the British Raj (Khilnani, 2017). It is interesting to note that while in the early decades of the 20th century the leaders upheld the need for multilinguality as characteristic of Indian identity, the years closer to the freedom struggle saw them increasingly adopt English for a variety of purposes that included official communication, publications in newspapers and gazettes on current issues and a common discourse to unite the country in the independence struggle. Leaders like Tagore, Gandhi, Ambedkar, Bose, Nehru, Swami Vivekanand, Sri Aurobindo, etc., adopted a multilingual approach, using English along with Indian languages to circulate opinions, thoughts and ideologies in a variety of genres.The understanding of language as a vehicle for political thought superseded discussions on learning a language. English provided a vehicle for indigenous ideologies that reflected the reality of the Indians. It is this imagination of English as a language that captures an Indian’s experience which remained in the national vision of the founders of the nation when they struggled to articulate its position in a newly independent India. A good starting point to understand the complex place of English is through national policy documents on education, Indian languages and English.

National education policies: Teaching Indian languages and English in India In this section, we will look at the national education policies in India and their approach to (English) language teaching in schools and higher education spaces.We will also compare these discourses with policies on the teaching of Indian languages to analyse, historically, the place of languages in the Indian classroom in a multilingual country. Language policies in India, post-­Independence, have contended with the changing dynamics of English within the sociocultural reality of the country. The challenge of imagining a place for English within the country has developed in dialogue with the socio-­economic, cultural, political and ideological leanings of visionaries and leaders. It has, equally, evolved in dialogue with decisions on Indian languages and the place of English in a global environment. Let us begin by looking at the core language education policies in India from Independence to the present. Reflect on the following questions as you read Table 2.1. • •

What are the key principles that influence the teaching of (a) Indian languages and (b) English as articulated in the policies? How do socio-­economic, cultural and political factors influence the formulation of these policies?

policies can be accessed on the website of the Ministry of Education, India. Policies National Education Policy (1968)

National Education Policy (NEP, 1986, 1992)

Some key ideas - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Development of science and technology must be emphasised Cultivation of moral and social values Development of Indian languages and literature is absolutely essential for educational and cultural development Adoption and implementation by state governments of the three-­language formula, which includes the study of a modern Indian language, (preferably) a southern language, Hindi and English Effort should be made to promote Hindi as the link language Importance should be given to Sanskrit for its cultural value Study of English should be strengthened to keep pace with the world Effort should be made to ensure that employees working in large commercial, industrial and other concerns are functionally literate Provide education in the mother tongue and switch over to a regional/modern Indian language as early as possible Prepare and produce textual materials/reference books in modern Indian languages Orientation of university teachers to teaching in Indian languages Translation of textbooks, reference books from English into Indian languages Implementation of the three-­language formula is desirable Undertaking research in methodology of teaching languages by language institutions, as well as in the use of ICT and new communication technologies Identification and assistance of some universities in strengthening arrangements for English language teaching (ELT) by the University Grants Commission (UGC) Development of textual materials for attaining specified language abilities Pre-­and in-­service training of teachers in the methodology of language teaching Preparation of high-­quality translations and bilingual and multilingual dictionaries Development of Hindi as a link language by creating a vocabulary for general use Augmentation of facilities for correspondence courses teaching Hindi through various Indian languages Establishment of Hindi resource centres, free distribution of Hindi books throughout the country, increased assistance to voluntary organisations for teaching Hindi Promotion of interdisciplinary research in Sanskrit and Indology

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TABLE 2.1 Extracts from national policies on education, with a particular emphasis on Indian languages and English (emphases added). The original

Policies National Focus Group (NFG, 2005–2006)

Some key ideas

(Continued)

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Position Paper on the Teaching of Indian Languages (2006) - Language faculty and the ability to learn any language are innate in humans. - Language is a rule-­governed system and performs several functions. - Language education policies ‘cannot afford to ignore the fictional, narrative, metaphysical, or rhetorical elements of language’ (NFG, 2006, 3). - Development of language is stimulated by our cultural heritage and, simultaneously, language is needed in human society for communication, formulation of thought and accumulation and transmission of expression. - Aptitudes, intelligence, attitudes, motivation, authoritarianism and ethnocentrism are some variables that influence language learning. - Access to the target language community is highly variable in India. - A language is often a dialect with an army and a navy. - Language facilitates identity formation and identification. - Sociopolitical, economic considerations make people decide the national, official and associate official languages to be used for education, administration, judicial and other purposes. - Language is a powerful influence on gendered construction of identity. - Language is the main source of cultural transmission, social and cultural frameworks and cognitive structures. The Sapir-­Whorf hypothesis is quoted to state that the background linguistic system of language shapes our ideas and mental activities. - English is slowly but surely becoming a part of this sociocultural matrix. - Language learning should be focussed on understanding for responsible citizenship so that we learn the principles that govern the workings of the world to enable us to live in harmony with the environment. - One major objective of language learning is to become literate, to read and write with understanding, sustain a degree of bilingualism and multilingualism and equip learners with the communicative competence to negotiate communicative encounters with dignity and tolerance.

Policies

Some key ideas - A holistic approach to the teaching of language is preferable to a discrete approach of teaching the four skills separately. - Outcomes of language learning should include the ability to understand what one hears, read with comprehension, express effortlessly, write coherently, control different registers, study language scientifically, be creative and sensitive (NFG, 2006, 10). - The multiplicity of languages in the country and the continued relevance of English as an international language, a language of opportunities and contacts makes a simple solution to learning Indian languages problematic. - Use of and instruction in the mother tongue helps in national reconstruction, frees knowledge from elites, builds interactive and interdependent societies, creates better democracies, decentralises information and ensures free media. - Teaching of English should be woven into the fabric of teaching in a multilingual classroom. - Teaching and learning of foreign languages should ideally happen after the child has gained proficiency in one or more languages since this will help in a transference of CALP (Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency). Position Paper on the Teaching of English (2006) - Level of introduction of English in schools is a matter of political response rather than academic need or feasibility. - Aim of English teaching is to create multilinguals who can enrich all Indian languages, which is part of the national vision. - English is a symbol of people’s aspirations and participation in national and international life. - Levels of introduction in schools have, for these reasons, resulted in primary sections and an increase in private English-­medium schools. - Multilingualism can be used to counter the burden of language deaths and incomprehension of English by students who do not have access to the language in their environment. - Broad characterisation of English teaching situations in India include (a) teacher’s English proficiency and (b) exposure of students to English outside schools. - Goals for a language curriculum include (a) attaining basic language proficiency, (b) developing language as an instrument for abstract thought and knowledge acquisition. - Language across curriculum approach breaks down barriers between English, other subjects and other Indian languages.

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TABLE 2.1 (Continued)

Policies

Some key ideas - Input-­r ich communicational environments are necessary for language learning and include textbooks, learner-­chosen texts, class libraries with a variety of genres and media such as print, parallel materials, books in more than one language, radio, audio, video and authentic materials. - Higher order skills such as literary appreciation and the role of language in gendering can be developed once fundamental competencies are ensured. Oracy, along with print, is an important route to literacy. - Introduction to beginning literacy decoding can be top-­down and bottom-­up. Systems must support comprehensible input of the language. - TPD and teacher education must be ongoing. This includes pedagogic support and development of their own proficiency in English. This has implications for the contents of pre-­service and in-­service training programmes. - Language evaluation must not be tied to ‘achievement’ but to assessing language proficiency. - David Crystal’s tri-­dialectal model, with speakers moving smoothly from a regional dialect (like Tamil English or Punjabi English) to a national dialect (like Indian English) and, finally, an international dialect seems a feasible one for India. Language and policy  37

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Here’s a little note-­taking reflective activity. Read the National Education Policy (2020). Note some of the points made in the policy about (a) education in general and (b) language learning in particular. How can we interpret the policy from the perspectives of globalisation and the sociocultural and economic realities of India? What would be the implications of the policy for the English language classroom?

Post-­Independence, India has had three education policies, the first of which was in 1968, the second in 1986 that was revised in 1992 and the third in the form of the National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005), which resulted in the formulation of Focus Group Position Papers on the teaching of different subjects in schools. This included the Teaching of Indian Languages (1.3) and the Teaching of English (1.4), in that order.The most recent education policy, the NEP (2020), advances the NCF (2005) to address the needs of a globalised and neo-­liberal economy. Also notable is the shift in the language of these policies, whereby the policies after 2005 deploy academic discourse and research in the field of language acquisition as they engage with the concern of language learning in schools and TPD. The structure of these documents as curricular frameworks and position papers provide a focussed road map for language education.The academic discourse of these policies reinforces the specialised disciplinary fields they deal with and the systematic body of knowledge they draw from in signposting the path of language learning. In this section, we will look at some of the key ideas on the teaching of languages emerging from these policies. The first national policy on education came 19 years after Independence, drawing on the existing state of Indian society to construct a discourse for the future. The policy speaks, for instance, of positioning polytechnics near factories in order to support the training of students as skilled workers in the industrial space as part of vocational education. The policy also mentions courses on home science for women, which can equip them with the necessary skills of cooking, sewing, baking, childcare, etc. (NEP, 1968). A structure of this kind can be seen as a discourse on the roles envisioned for young men and women in our country, as well as a reflection on their contribution to the Indian economy. At the level of language, there is a mention of promoting Indian languages as part of national identity and culture, as well as the place of English in supporting the professional development of students. This is interesting since we see the policy confronting tensions inherent within the place of Indian languages and English in the country. The next policy in 1986, later modified in 1992, makes more detailed inroads into language and education. The overwhelming emphasis lay in supporting and developing modern Indian languages with high-­quality textbooks and reference materials, training of teachers in research methodologies and translations within and between different Indian languages. The mention of the teaching of English

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sits alongside statements on supporting research in Sanskrit and Indology. English is seen as a skill to be honed, but the urgency in developing Indian languages overrides the emphasis on English (NEP, 1986). Paradoxically, these were the decades that witnessed a brain drain, as young Indians left the country for foreign shores to further their academic and professional prospects. Fluency in English was an advantage for these youths and made the language an avenue for personal aspirations and social mobility.This dialectic is evident in the NCF and the NFG on the Teaching of Indian Languages and the Teaching of English (2006). The NFG Position Paper on the Teaching of Indian Languages (1.3) highlights the many functions of language and its place in the emotional and cultural landscape of the child. Language is constantly underscored as the medium for communication, cultural transmission and reconstruction of identity. It is also the space for cognitive restructuring. Multilingualism is posited as a strength that should be inculcated within the Indian classroom. The Position Paper, interestingly, acknowledges the place of English in the Indian imagination as the language of mobility, aspiration and professional growth. It is also a language of international contact. In these contexts, the policy recommends not a relegation of English to the background but a modification in the pedagogy of teaching English within multicultural environments that will help students retain their cultural identities as they acquire a second or a foreign language. The negotiation of the place and the teaching of Indian languages alongside English characterises the discourse of the NFG Position Paper on the Teaching of Indian Languages. The Position Paper on the Teaching of English (1.4) similarly focusses on the rationale for the place of the language in the Indian classroom and goes beyond to also consider its role as a medium of instruction. Like the Teaching of Indian Languages, Teaching of English articulates the need to place English alongside other Indian languages and regional dialects. It also asks educationists to factor in the importance of language across the curriculum. The policy draws on language pedagogies to illustrate ways in which input-­rich environments with a focus on understanding through multilingual practise can be gradually expanded to acquire cognitive skills in order to transact other subjects through English. Communicative competence appears as the primary focus for learning English, with the term ‘communication’ adopting a variety of interpretations that range from the functional use of language for everyday purposes to a competence in using language for special and academic purposes and constructing knowledge. Creative writing, literature, rhetoric, grammar, vocabulary, etc., occupy the space of CALP in language, which is further complicated by the multilingual contexts within which creativity operates. It is noteworthy that the policy establishes its arguments within the larger framework of second-­language pedagogy as the principles governing language learning in general and English in particular. We can see a movement in the discourse of the policies discussed so far. While the policies of 1968 and 1986/1992 were vision documents with statements on plans of action of implementing frameworks for the teaching and learning of language, the Position Papers of 2006 are grounded in pedagogical and theoretical principles. They draw on academic research as evidence for the statements they

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make about the teaching and learning of first and second languages. The policies, further, are historical artefacts located in a spatio-­temporal realm. The Curriculum Framework of 2005 draws on and reinforces the statements of the NEP of 1992, suggesting that the challenges of teaching English in India have persisted, especially in times of technology and international prospects. It is equally noteworthy that the strategies suggested in the Teaching of Indian Languages and the Teaching of English converge on the principles of pedagogy of (first) language acquisition and learning. The point of divergence can be located in what is discussed under the larger concept of cultural literacy, whereby languages are projected as markers of identity, and teaching a language is equated with engagement with cultural experiences. In the Indian context, with nearly 1,652 recognised Indian dialects and 22 languages identified in the Eighth Schedule for administrative purposes that comprise the linguistic demography, the teaching of Indian languages and English alongside the multilingual vision of these policies pose challenges in practise for learners and teachers alike.While debates still abound regarding the place of English in the emotional and cultural landscape of India, it is necessary to retain this caveat as we reflect on the teaching and learning of English in the country. Drawing on language pedagogies and the principles of language acquisition as analytic frameworks for interpreting the policies, it becomes evident that transacting teaching-­learning processes of English in resource-­constrained multilingual contexts with limited access to rich authentic materials, which are some core requirements for language acquisition, presents difficulties at several levels. Teacher proficiency in English and strong content knowledge are ways of creating deep learning experiences in the language classroom. Recognising this, the policies stress continuous professional development and pre-­and in-­service training to help teachers meet the growing challenges within an English classroom. The challenges are compounded further as the approach to language education reflects the dynamics of sociocultural changes that in turn influence the demands on students’ competence towards responsible citizenship. Post-­Independence, English was adopted as the language of administration and official use, with the understanding that within 15 years, sufficient emphasis will be given to the revival of Indian languages to suitably shoulder the responsibility of national development. The socio-­economic and political landscape of the country has, however, transformed and presents challenges in achieving this vision. We will explore the nature of these challenges and the contexts in the next section, which locates the teaching of English within a globalised economy, where communicative competence becomes an essential attribute of progress.

Postcoloniality, globalisation and English studies Globalisation, according to Gayatri Spivak, takes place only in ‘capital and data’. For Spivak, command over information has ruined knowing and reading, which suggests that as a utilitarian enterprise, emphasis on crowdsourcing information relegates critical reading and interpretation to the background and makes universities as

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a whole an ‘adjunct to civil society’ (Spivak, 2012). One consequence of this move is that the humanities and imaginative social sciences find no place in the information economy. Ania Loomba, likewise, discusses the future of languages in postcolonial societies, forecasting the role of economics and neo-­liberal policies in driving the place of language in sociopolitical and cultural spheres. Discussing the nature and challenges of a postcolonial globalised economy, Loomba notes that they are marked by the decentralisation of power and the rise of market forces under the influence of globalisation and technology (Loomba, 1998). This has an influence on the role and the teaching of English in professional and academic spaces in India. While English gains in importance as the lingua franca, how and what is taught and why become debatable, requiring us to constantly revisit the notions of language discussed earlier. Loomba’s discussions on colonialism, postcolonialism and neocolonialism provide a critical entry point into reflections on the place of English, which, in India, remains a remnant of the colonial experience. According to Loomba, colonialism marks a process where the physical presence of the coloniser or settler mobilises movement of goods from the colony to the coloniser’s land. Postcolonialism, by contrast, is characterised by the physical absence of the coloniser but does not necessarily mean expunging the influences of colonial rule. This continues in the form of capitalism, economic policies and intellectual hegemonies. The current hegemony of the United States on international policies and economies is, for Loomba, an example of imperialism and neocolonisation, where societies are controlled by the sway of ideologies driven by economic power rather than an individual or nation (Loomba, 1998). Postcolonialism is also characterised by the move to decolonise and reclaim one’s economy, language and culture. For Loomba, postcoloniality and decolonisation are marked by the natives’ need to reject colonial intervention and reconstruct an identity of the Self that is separate from the definition thrust upon them by the colonising Other. Postcolonialism starts with the end of the colonial experience. Frantz Fanon and Ngugi wa Thiong’o have also spoken of the complexity characterising the postcolonial process of decolonisation. This involves a rejection of an imposed identity that has been internalised by the colonised. Accompanying this act of rejection is a corresponding need to resurrect indigenous traditions and practices as the cultural identity of the colonised. Within colonial experiences that involve an erasure of these traditions and a replacing of the colonisers’ culture, the process of reconstruction is fraught with tension. Decolonisation as a reconstruction of thought and identity also involves revival of language and literary traditions and overthrowing hegemonic influences of the past that are internalised by the natives in the course of the colonial experience. Loomba, at this point, indicates two paths that one must be cautious about in the process of decolonisation. The first is to recognise the ‘worldliness’ of the colonial and decolonial experience. Both are located within a historical time and space and are influenced by economic policies, cultural factors and international relations, among others. In the current context of India, globalisation is a critical determining factor in the decolonisation trajectory. The second, and more critical, characteristic

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to be cognisant of is the danger of romanticising native cultures in the process of recovering one’s indigenous identity. Loomba extends the concept of worldliness to native cultures, arguing that they are located equally within sociocultural and temporal contexts and may, likewise, not be free from inequalities.The decolonising critic must remain alert to the temptations of projecting indigenous frameworks as the ideal utopian alternative to the coloniser’s culture (Loomba, 1998). These two points are crucial in our evaluation and consideration of teaching English in contemporary India.They become critical also in the light of policies that articulate the preservation and invigoration of indigenous languages and dialects, and which require an informed approach that does not slip into an ‘essentialising’ impulse. In the current scenario, neocolonisation poses a greater challenge than the colonial experience. With colonisation it is possible to identify the oppressor as a physical individual, a nation or a culture. Neocolonisation, when driven by economy, globalisation and market forces, becomes discursive and decentralised. It works through capillaries of power and can penetrate systems ideologically. In this situation, the motivating factors for language learning become diverse, even as the teaching and learning of languages become enmeshed in politics of power. In the Indian education policies, we can locate this tension in the dialectic between the teaching of Indian languages and English. Reconstruction of an Indian identity cannot happen without the languages and dialects of the country. The process of negotiating these challenges is, however, qualified by several questions: in a multilingual, multiethnic nation like India, what can be the binding language? How do we negotiate international relations and obligations that require competence in English with the indigenous necessity of protecting and nurturing our identity? How can students be made fluent in English and the Indian languages without increasing their cognitive burden? While English as a lingua franca gains importance as the language of social and professional mobility, Indian languages hold cultural and emotional value. In some instances, English becomes indigenised and operates as an Indian language, evoking emotional and cultural connections through its creolisation. English in these circumstances occupies a liminal place, simultaneously desired and distrusted. The proliferation of private and public schools that advertise education in the English medium is an example of this dichotomy.The teaching of English then requires strategic handling to achieve the aims of a language classroom that strengthens critical literacy in a globalised world.

Multilingualism and World Englishes: The question of standardisation in the teaching of English in India In the previous section, we discussed the place of English in India in a globalised world that is driven by capitalism and neo-­liberal policies. We must recognise at the same time that India is a multilingual, multicultural nation that presents additional challenges for teaching English. Multilingualism is an important step in the

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decolonisation process, as reclaiming and reinstating indigenous languages is a political move that rejects the hegemony of the coloniser’s language. This section will attempt to understand the context of multilinguality and the English classroom, the debates on standardisation of English and dialects and its implications for teaching English for operational, critical and cultural literacy. Shreesh Chaudhary remarks on the multilingual nature of India by quoting evidence on the diverse languages spoken in the subcontinent from Vedic times. All languages have had their domains of use and have coexisted in India. However, not all of these languages have enjoyed equal status. There have always been some languages that have been used as the language of governance, education, administration, diplomacy, science and technology (Chaudhary, 2001).

‘In each age, along with many other languages, there has been a prestige language discharging prestigious functions like medium of administration, diplomacy, education, literature, sciences, etc. It was Sanskrit, once upon a time, followed by Prakrit, Pali, Apabrahmsa/Magadhi, then Arabic-­ Persian, English, and Hindi. But none of these so-­called “prestige-­languages” has ever been the mother tongue of a sizeable group of people in India. Chaudhuri (1968: 43) observes, For something like two thousand years no language spoken naturally by any section of the population of India has been the common language of the country’s politics or culture. The languages actually current, as such over that period, have been three – Sanskrit – a synthetic language, Persian and English, both languages of foreign rulers.’ Chaudhary, S. (2001). Language education, language modernization and globalization. In C. J. Daswani (Ed.), Language education in multilingual India (p. 143). UNESCO

Chaudhary’s signposting of the prevalence of an official language through the ages that is neither the spoken language nor the language of private use of the masses is important since it normalises the relationship between language and power as an inevitability within a multilingual context. It also highlights the inevitability of tensions that will arise in language education. Indicating the synthetic nature of Sanskrit and the foreign origins of Persian and English as the languages of administration, diplomacy, science and technology further implicitly acknowledges the struggle that will accompany the learning of these languages since they are not the languages of the culture or emotions of the masses. By Chaudhary’s account, these challenges would have persisted through the ages and informed pedagogical practices in language classrooms across centuries.

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Let us now look at our contemporary reality and studies on multilingualism and language education in India. Linguistic studies highlight the benefits of knowing more than one language. It enables translanguaging and enhances the ability to learn many more languages as the user becomes adept at transferring his or her knowledge of the grammatical rules of one language onto another. By this assumption, it would be reasonable to infer that Indians are prolific linguists. The answer is not as easy as it seems though, tempered as it is with qualifications. Suresh Canagarajah reflects on multilinguality and language learning when he states that much of the language acquisition theories may require substantial adaptation to suit the needs of non-­Western communities. He quotes Lachman Khubchandani’s two-­point strategy on language learning adopted by Indians, where Indians seem to learn languages through ‘serendipity’ and ‘synergy’.While systematic processes may indeed help in language learning, the energetic multilingualism of the Indian subcontinent seems to provoke a certain trial-­and-­error process between learners in understanding a language. People are always open to negotiating diverse languages in their everyday public life. Through synergy, people put forth their own efforts to communicate meaningfully with each other. In serendipity, they accept the others on their own terms and are open to the unexpected in their communications. These spontaneous ways of learning a language contrast with classroom-­based approaches and pedagogies of learning English. They also contrast with monolingual contexts of language acquisition and learning where learners use the ecosystem, the setting, the objects around them, paralinguistic cues, the body, etc., to communicate and, over time, learn the language. Khubchandani reflects that sometimes intuition and extrasensory perception are also deployed for meaning-­making, thereby making language learning more than a mere cerebral activity. Language and communicative competence involve being able to align learning to one’s context because that is where language is used. In this respect, learners in multilingual societies develop and adopt their own codes to address specific language needs (Khubchandani, quoted in Canagarajah and Wurr, 2011). Two caveats need to be borne in mind at this stage with respect to multilinguality and the learning of English in India. The first is to understand that learning a language, like any other skill, is also dependent on individual capacity, motivation and aptitude, among other non-­cognitive factors. Some people learn languages faster and more easily than others. The rate and extent of learning languages cannot be generalised and is acknowledged in the Position Paper on the Teaching of Indian Languages that recognises aptitudes, attitudes and motivation as some variables that influence language learning. The second caveat is sociolinguistic and involves the proximity of the learner’s mother tongue to the language family of the target language. To give an example, it is easier to learn Germanic languages that share a common root or Dravidian languages that share comparable grammatical structures. Switching between

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language families that are dissimilar can cause difficulties in learning languages because the principles of transference of one language structure onto another may not be smooth. The linguistic structure of English and Hindi, for instance, differ in their subject-­verb-­object order (SVO), which makes it difficult for a first-­time learner of English to adapt his or her existing knowledge of grammar rules to learn a new language. This difficulty is not as acute when one tries to shift the understanding of the grammatical principles between Indian languages like, say, Hindi and Marathi. There also remains the challenge of acquiring sufficient vocabulary in the target language to be able to attempt communication of meaning and intent. This is one of the challenges faced by first-­generation learners of English in India when they come from environments that do not have the language in their surroundings as either audio or print. Multilingual approaches to language learning also present a hurdle in India since the Indian languages across the subcontinent belong to four different language families – the Indo-­Aryan, Dravidian, Mon-­Khmer and Sino-­Tibetan. Migrations and mixing of dialects often cause a kitsch classroom where different languages are used simultaneously. These remain challenges for operational literacy. We have seen, however, that language education promotes critical literacy, cultural sensitisation and global citizenship. Early and critical literacy theorists indicate the role of language in providing emotional and cultural support to make sense of the world around us. They also underscore the discursivity of human experiences that are constructed within and through sociocultural structures. Teaching language to learners must necessarily encompass building these cognitive, cultural and emotional competences. In the language classroom, multilinguality can be an asset, especially in postcolonial nation states, where the plural linguistic and literary traditions can be mobilised to support multilingual skills in students. The teaching and learning of English, at this point, must not be seen as an act isolated from the teaching and learning of indigenous languages and their cultures. Instead, the rich narrative, discursive and representational traditions embedded in postcolonial contexts can be leveraged to achieve cultural and critical literacy, in the process of which, operational literacy develops naturally. Speaking from a postcolonial context comparable to India, African writer Ngugi wa Thiong’o observes that following colonisation, Kenya saw a prolific resurgence in writing in African as well as French and English languages. Surveying the creative and literary output from Africa postcolonisation, Thiong’o remarks that much of the writing that is rich and critical has appeared in English and French, which were  the colonial languages. While the medium of creativity was the coloniser’s tongue, the experiences and contents were African. For Thiong’o, distinguishing this aspect is critical for the purpose of nation building and for locating the place and activities of educational institutions in the process of constructing national culture and identity.

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‘English, like French and Portuguese, was assumed to be the natural language of literary and even political mediation between African people in the same nation and between nations in Africa and other continents. In some instances these European languages were seen as having a capacity to unite African peoples against divisive tendencies inherent in the multiplicity of African languages within the same geographic state’. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, an extract from Decolonizing the Mind:The Politics of Language in African Literature (1981)

‘Is it right that a man should abandon his mother tongue for someone else’s? It looks like a dreadful betrayal and produces a guilty feeling. But for me there is no other choice. I have been given the language and I intend to use it’. Chinua Achebe, from a speech “The African Writer and the English Language” (1975)

‘Living languages grow like living things, and English is far from a dead language. There are American, West Indian, Australian, Canadian and New Zealand versions of English. All of them add life and vigour to the language while reflecting their own respective cultures. Why shouldn’t there be a Nigerian or West African English which we can use to express our own ideas, thinking and philosophy in our own way?’ Gabriel Okara, extract from Transitions (1963)

In the words of Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Chinua Achebe, two acclaimed African writers, we find the dichotomy of using English, a coloniser’s language, within an indigenous context that is vibrant and teeming with multilinguality and cultural plurality. English functions as a medium of communication, binding people from different regions in Africa through a common platform. At the same time, Achebe articulates the doubt and betrayal that can accompany the use of a language other than one’s mother tongue within postcolonial societies.This angst is prevalent across nations that have been colonised. Raja Rao in India speculates on how English has been adapted to suit the need of capturing the experiences of Indians who move fast, think fast and speak fast. Achebe acknowledges similarly the irrevocable changes in the linguistic, literary and cultural landscape of Africa wrought by history and the colonial experience. Achebe embraces this change as he makes it a part of his

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identity, discourse and language of creativity. Extending these ideas to educational spaces and the teaching of languages can lead to similar tensions in not simply the kinds of languages to be taught in classrooms but also the choice of teaching-­ learning resources and pedagogies to be used. One example from the language departments in African universities is given next. As you read Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s recommendations, reflect on the • similarities between the African and the Indian contexts with respect to the teaching of English in schools and colleges, • differences between African and Indian contexts with respect to the teaching of English in schools and colleges, • possible adaptations of these recommendations within the India context and • possible challenges and consequences of adapting these recommendations to the Indian context.   8. We … suggest A. That the English Department be abolished B. That a Department of African Literature and Languages be set up in its place …  9.  We know that European literatures constitute one source of influence on modern African literatures in English, French and Portugese; Swahili, Arabic and Asian literatures constitute another, an important source …; and the African tradition, a tradition as active and alive as ever, constitutes the third and most significant. This … is the base from which we make our cultural take-­off into the world. 10. Languages and linguistics should be studied in the department because in literature we see the principles of languages and linguistics in action…. 11. On the literature side, the department ought to offer roughly: a.  The oral tradition, which is our primary root; b. Swahili literature (with Arabic and Asian literatures): this is another root, especially in East Africa;; c.  A selected course in European literature; yet another root; d.  Modern African Literature. Ngugi wa Thiong’o, “On the Abolition of the English Department” in The Postcolonial Studies Reader 1995, 2003, pp. 439–440.

Scholar and academician Harish Trivedi makes a similar observation when he speaks of the panchdhatu approach to teaching languages and literature in India. In Colonial Transactions: English Literature in India (1998),Trivedi comments on the need to break the colonial legacy institutionalised by Macaulay’s Minutes that suppressed

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Indian literature and languages to prioritise English. Trivedi proposes, as an alternative, a five-­pronged approach to teaching literature in Indian universities. He recommends that English departments in universities become a consolidated department that teaches, through a comparative approach, literature in English translation, literature in English from elsewhere, literature in English from England, literature in a modern Indian language and literature in a classical language. Trivedi argues for the need to look at English and Indian languages in dialogue with each other rather than as mutually exclusive categories. Similarly, genre-­based approaches like narrative fiction or poetry, for instance, can incorporate writings by authors from around the world in a comparative literature approach.Trivedi’s suggestions echo Ngugi wa Thiong’o’s recommendations made to the Kenyan government to include African literature in English, and in translation alike, as part of the reading list. Let’s pause here for a moment to note a few points. Ngugi wa Thiong’o and Trivedi write from within the space of higher ­education – i.e., colleges and university departments that offer degrees in languages and literature. They do not necessarily speak of school education. One cannot, however, disconnect school and university spaces. Teachers who join schools move through the higher education spaces of colleges and universities. Their content and pedagogical knowledge, as well as beliefs on content and pedagogies, are shaped by the ideologies and practices of these spaces. In that respect, considering a language teacher’s preparation as an ideological and professional being that occurs in higher education institutions will have bearing on their practices within the schoolroom when they start working as teachers in schools. In their perspectives on disciplinary identity, Thiong’o and Trivedi converge in their approach to language and literature. Their discussions of literature indicate the relationship between language and culture. Arguing for dialogues through translation casts the multilingual debate in a new light. It shows that multilingualism is an experience rooted in identity and culture. Indian and African experiences can be expressed in English, as well as in any other language. According to this perspective, it is possible to incorporate writings in English by Indian writers within the language classroom without the fear of losing one’s identity. We see examples of such texts in the language textbooks of several states in India. The English textbooks in the state of Telangana, for instance, have short stories by Vaikom Basheer, Ruskin Bond and other Indian writers. Similarly, the National Council of Educational Research and Training English textbooks have drama by Girish Karnad, as well as writers from across the world like García Márquez, among others. The multilingual aspect of ELT and learning can be approached, then, in a variety of ways, deriving from postcolonial studies and their impact on educational spaces. It enables us to think beyond multilinguality and bilinguality in the classroom as involving the use of the mother tongue to transact learning. Multilingualism within critical literacy can be seen as a process of engaging with literary, discursive and cultural artefacts and practices to make meaning within the language classroom. This can involve reading and engaging with works in (Indian) English and translation that brings cultural experiences that are Indian into the language classroom.

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Such an approach recalls authors like Raja Rao, Salman Rushdie, Arundhati Roy, Vikram Seth, Amitav Ghosh, Anita Desai, Shashi Deshpande and others who adopt the English language to capture an experience that is unique and indigenous. As Raja Rao states in the foreword to his novel Kanthapura (1938), we in India should not write like the British. We cannot write only like ‘Indians’ either. Our language must instead capture the rich dialect that springs through a mix of these two languages, making the admixture a mark of its distinctiveness. These are some ways in which languages can be appropriated to become authentic to a learner. It is worthwhile then for us to recast the idea of multilingualism in the Indian classroom within the frames of cultural and critical literacies, which can help envision alternative methods and pedagogies for teaching English in plurilinguistic contexts.

Language and power: World Englishes, dialects and standardisation in the classroom Debates over language are linked closely to power. Sociolinguists recognise this when they say that a language is a dialect with an army, signposting the choice exercised by governments and political parties in privileging one dialect/language over others. Chaudhary’s discussions on the complexity and inevitability of this choice in multilingual nations, in the previous section, highlights the functional purpose of choosing to make one language the mode of administration, diplomacy, etc. Similar tensions are visible in the teaching of English across the world. As a living language, English has (and continues to) change in use, vocabulary, pronunciation and local variants. This produces World Englishes, where each variety is distinctive of the region and peoples who use it. Indian English is one such variant, apparent most keenly in the literature produced in the subcontinent, as well as the inflectional peculiarities in the actual use of the language (like the duplication of words, e.g. ‘quickly quickly’, to cite an instance, or the ‘chutneyfication’ of language, a term coined by Salman Rushdie to indicate the mixing of words from multiple languages to convey thoughts and experiences). In the English classroom in India, the complexity multiplies manifold, as teachers deal with not just teaching English as a second language but also contend with the challenges of linguistic plurality in the form of multiple languages and dialects. The heterogeneous language classroom in India must be confronted at theoretical and practical levels alike to better understand and navigate the space. Let us first look at the concept of World Englishes. Braj Kachru’s description of the different ways in which English is present in the world is a good starting point for understanding World Englishes. According to Kachru, Englishes across the world occupy positions within an expanding concentricity of circles. The central circle is the space where English is the native language of the users (English as Native Language or ENL). These countries are characterised by the presence of English in their immediate surroundings. English is the first language for the people of these countries.The next circle depicts those regions where

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English is the second language (English as Second Language or ESL). These countries include India, Pakistan and Africa, among others. In these countries, English is used for administration, official purposes, science and technology, but it is not the first language of a majority of the population. English may, however, be prevalent in their environments in some form. The final outer circle comprises those countries that have English as a foreign language (English as a Foreign Language or EFL). Here, the language is not present in the immediate environment, nor is it used by the governments for official purposes. Learning English serves purely functional purposes for developing international relations, business communication, etc. Some examples of these countries would be China, Japan, Korea, Germany, Belgium, etc. (Figure 2.1). Kachru’s expanding circles contest Randolph Quirk’s argument that there should be a single Standard English, the British English, which will function as the model for non-­native users of English, by indicating the irrelevance of a universal Standard English in countries that may not use the language regularly. Kachru’s rejoinder to a Standard English led to the subsequent creation of World Englishes as a field of study. It becomes apparent that when English as a lingua franca travels to the ESL and EFL countries, its forms and roles modify, giving birth to World Englishes. Kachru identifies three phases in the postcolonial context through which the non-­ institutionalised varieties of English seem to pass. The first phase is when the inner

FIGURE 2.1 

Kachru’s three circles model of English.

Source: Created by Ramesh Prakash Khade, adapted from http://www.thehistoryofenglish.com/ history_today.html and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Englishes

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circle variety of English is valued and used over the native variety.The second phase is when the native varieties of English are recognised as variations of English and coexist with the inner variety, but the inner variety of English is still the preferred variety, especially during formal occasions.The third phase is when the local variety of the language is recognised as standard and becomes socially accepted. Andy Kirkpatrick reviews the positions of linguists who accede to the point that a variety of Englishes is a natural phenomenon, but the point of reference for a standard variety of English still belongs to the inner circle. This is evident in our use, for instance, of British or American English as the two spelling indicators in (academic) discourse. Kirkpatrick’s review of writers and novelists from around the world depict varied positions from an acceptance of English and its elasticity to depict their experience, to reflections on whether embracing English would be akin to a betrayal of their cultures and traditions. The emerging identity of English as an international language of commerce, professional development, social mobility and power frames these debates, highlighting, in the process, the need for contextuality in approaching the teaching and learning of English. The ‘postanglophone’ period also marks the emergence of what Kirkpatrick calls a ‘postanglocultural’ period where English is used by nations to discuss their specific nation-­centric issues (Kirkpatrick, quoted in Kirkpatrick 2014, 42).

World Englishes and the development of English as a multilingual language strongly suggest that context should be the overarching determinant of which model of English to teach. So, for example, a Singaporean who speaks standard Singaporean English and is suitably qualified would appear to be the most appropriate English teacher for Singaporean students. Moreover, as the major role of English is as an international lingua franca, the teacher needs to be able to impart intercultural competence. Kirkpatrick, A. (2014). World Englishes. In C. Leung & B.Street (Eds.), The Routledge Companion to English Studies (p. 41). Routledge.

Kirkpatrick’s remarks signpost a few important points. •

Native speakers of English need not always be relied upon as sole authorities in teaching English. • The teaching of English moves beyond merely communicative functions to encompass intercultural competence, a core aspect of communication in a globalised world. • Indigenous varieties of English are sometimes better suited for the purpose of intercultural competence than the traditional British or American varieties. • World Englishes today represent a multilingual space that embraces dialects, variations and variety since English is a dynamic living language.

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• •

Context (of students, teachers, spaces of learning and application) is an important consideration in the teaching and learning of English. There can be standard Englishes within specific (postcolonial) contexts as well – e.g. Standard Singaporean or standard Indian English.

When seen in light of these debates on standardisation, constructing meaning and meaning-­making that are central to critical literacy involve negotiations between Indian languages and English, and present a unique set of challenges. Sociolinguistics highlights the role of power in the standardisation of some languages and the choice of select dialects or languages over others in the classroom. By elaborating on the place of dialects in society, it shows that variations within a language are a natural phenomenon. A number of factors influence variations in language and dialects. These include geographical distance from a source language, migration of people for trade or business, and cross-­cultural marriages. Dialects reflect the influence of different cultures and individuals’ styles of speech in deviating from standardised language. Subcultures and countercultures also play a role in introducing variations within a language.The choice of a single dialect among the many available variations, sociolinguists argue, remains a strategic choice made in the interest of functionality of social systems. This leads to the process of standardisation of a language that then becomes a benchmark for all other languages to emulate. The act of standardisation is, therefore, political and an act of power. A consequence of standardisation is that other dialects lose political significance and, consequently, use. In extreme cases, it could lead to language death, resulting from a systematic decrease in the number of speakers and (literary) output of the language. When a point is reached where the only surviving users of a language are older members of the society, the language falls into disuse and eventually dies. Standardisation can also lead to learning difficulty in the classroom for students who speak a different dialect at home and who may find it difficult to follow the discourse of the educational institution.

Language, dialects and codes Basil Bernstein in Class, Codes and Control (1971) makes a direct correlation between social class and language and throws light on the relatively poor performance of the students from a working-­class background as compared to those belonging to the middle class. Bernstein argues that there are two codes in which language users operate: • •

restricted (that assumes a shared understanding between the speakers and is economical in its use of language) and elaborate (that does not assume that the speaker and listener share the same contextual understanding and spells out everything in an elaborate fashion).

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Code, to use Littlejohn’s definition, ‘refers to a set of organizing principles behind the language employed by members of a social group’ (2002, p. 178). It is not to be confused with dialects or the richness of the language used. Bernstein argues that a working-­class code is more restricted and consists of shorter sentences and common words that rely on contextual inferencing on the part of the listener. The middle class, on the other hand, he opines, uses both restricted and elaborate codes when communicating. The elaborate code uses more complex sentence structures and uncommon words and aims to decontextualise the information to make it more available to all. The world of academia uses more of the elaborate code that the middle class is already exposed to. This reflects Margaret Donaldson’s characterisation in Children’s Minds (1978) of the school language as more ‘artificial’ than the students’ home language/s.

In the case of teaching English, the challenges for bilingual and multilingual instruction arising from dialects, codes and academic discourse multiply since English, in large sections of the country, is not a part of the daily living environment of the child. Using a bilingual and multilingual approach in the classroom also presents a problem if the classroom has students who speak multiple dialects or variations of a single dialect. It is necessary, then, to approach the teaching of English in India as a flexible process of rethinking and negotiating objectives specific to the region and the envisioned outcomes.We must locate policies on language learning within a sociopolitical and economic moment in a nation’s history and through critical investigation, define the purpose of teaching English in a multicultural context. This definition will, by extension, guide the pedagogy to be adopted to address the specific requirements of a particular group of learners – a macro-­method that B. Kumaravadivelu labels ‘principled pragmatism’ in a postmethods era. Kumaravadivelu outlines ten macrostrategies that, he argues, can help us teach English in a multilingual context (Table 2.2). These macrostrategies are significant in shifting focus from learning language as a product to approaching language learning as a process. Kumaravadivelu acknowledges the multiple methods and strategies currently available for the teaching of English. He recognises, equally, that these strategies cannot be used as sole overarching TABLE 2.2  Kumaravadivelu’s macrostrategies in language learning

The ten macrostrategies in language learning for ‘principled pragmatism’ 1. Maximising learning opportunities 2. Minimising perceptual mismatches 3. Facilitating negotiated interaction 4. Promoting learner autonomy 5. Fostering language awareness

6. Activating intuitive heuristics 7. Contextualising linguistic input 8. Integrating language skills 9. Ensuring social relevance 10. Raising cultural consciousness

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methods to teach English. Different contexts and learning spaces, as well as different profiles of learners and available teaching-­learning resources, require educators to adopt different pedagogical approaches. Kumaravadivelu terms this process of choosing the appropriate approach for the specific learner profile ‘principled pragmatism’, whereby the practicality of adopting specific (combinations of) existing methods or innovating methods is guided by pedagogical principles. As inhabitants of a postmethods era, Kumaravadivelu proposes that educationists rely not on a choice between one or the other method but move beyond the constraints of rubrics to think of an alternative-­to-­methods approach (Kumaravadivelu, 2003). A pedagogical philosophy of this kind bestows agency on the teacher to understand the context of students better and devise teaching-­learning strategies that best address their needs. The postmethods approach also enables teachers to create inclusive classrooms, using multilingualism as a resource. The emphasis on intuitive heuristics, social relevance and cultural competence coexist with a focus on language awareness and pedagogies thereby addressing the concerns of not merely functional/operational literacy skills but of critical and cultural literacy as well.The macrostrategies, as a result, make critical and cultural literacy an integral part of the language learning process. Given the context of neo-­liberalism, international relations and economic and cultural globalisation that, through the increasing pervasiveness of technology, bring the world closer to home, how can ELT make inroads into critical literacy as a core aim of the language classroom? Contextualising the teaching of English and, by extension, the materials and methods to use therein implies a convergence of the operational, critical and cultural literacies required of learning languages. What do these three literacies comprise in the case of teaching English in India?

Teaching English for (critical) literacy, communication and academic purposes Let us briefly draw together the different strands of arguments discussed so far. We considered a greater role for education that goes beyond the merely functional. Education should enable critical consciousness. It should promote critical reflection and understanding of the world around us rather than a problem-­solving approach that, Paulo Freire believed, was the domain of the engineer. Language education lies at the heart of these agendas as it creates literate individuals capable of connecting with the world around them at cognitive and discursive levels. Nested within this context, the language classroom is a place for identity building, self-­expression and critical thinking. Language learning would be, by this approach, a process and functional literacy a stepping stone to the larger life skills that knowledge of languages and cultures foster through cultural and critical literacies. We also considered the place of the mother tongue, as a language of the home in constructing a child’s knowledge of the world. Much emotional and cognitive weight is given to the role of the first language in the early development of children. Acquiring languages from the environment is natural because there is a contextualisation of the articulations of speech.Vocabulary, as well as structures of meaning, develops synchronously. Second-­language pedagogies draw on the principles of acquisition

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that stress the influence of the natural environment and culture in language learning. This brings with it the challenge of creating a native language-­like environment, which is social, cultural and emotional alongside the linguistic and which can support the learner’s attempt to gain proficiency in the second language (Table 2.3). TABLE 2.3  Policies for teaching English in schools: Two case studies

Here are examples of two schools in two different communities that have adopted different policies for teaching English. As you read these cases, think about the following questions: • What is the nature of linguistic composition in each of these communities? Are they comparable? • Does the adoption of English teaching practices align with the needs and multilingual nature of the communities? • Is there a gap between the policy on the teaching of English and the socio-­economic aspirations of the respective communities? • Can either practice be adopted by the other community? What would be the consequences in each of the national and cultural contexts if so adapted? The Navajo Nation is a native American territory that covers 17,544,500 acres of land in the regions of NE Arizona, SE Utah and NW Mexico in the USA. On April 15, 1969, the Navajo Nation staged a resistance to establish itself as a sovereign nation. Traditionally, the Navajo people’s governance was rooted in a clan system and comprised a rich oral history. Their traditions pre-­date the colonial rule by Spain and later encounters with the American government. The Navajo’s understanding of governance has changed and continued to evolve in response to contemporary times. The Rock Point Community School in the Navajo Nation adopted an interesting strategy to negotiate the demands of contemporary reality with their need to preserve their indigenous identity and heritage. The school has had bilingual education for almost 30 years, where the school builds on home and community language preservation efforts. Two thirds of kindergarten time and one half of the time in grades 1–3 was Navajo immersion, with content taught in Navajo. In grades 4–12, one fifth to one fourth of class time was taught in Navajo.

Telangana is the 12th-­largest state in India, located south of the Vindhyas. Telugu is the official language of the state and is spoken by 77% of the population, while 12% speak Urdu. After 1948, Telugu became the official language of the government of the state (then Andhra Pradesh) and was used as the medium of instruction in schools and colleges. Apart from Telugu and Urdu, other languages spoken in the state include English, Hindi, Dakhini Urdu dialects, Lambadi, Marathi (2%) and Tamil (1%). In March 2018, the Telangana government announced that it would start introducing English-­medium instruction in government schools in that academic year. It was reported that due to a ‘lack of English-­medium education and pre-­primary education in government schools, students’ enrolment has come down in these schools’ (The New Indian Express, March 26, 2018; retrieved from https://www.newindianexpress. com/states/telangana/2018/ mar/26/telangana-­government-­to-­ introduce-­english-­medium-­in-­more-­ schools-­1792481.html; July 4, 2020).

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Policies and practices of these kinds influence not only language learning but also, as we have seen, learners’ analytic and cognitive lenses for relating to the world. Critical literacy, developing a critical consciousness and reading the word and the world in dialogic cyclicity emerge as consequences of mobilising one’s world view, gained through language, in interpreting and constructing worlds. These objectives are problematised in postcolonial contexts where English is viewed as a colonial legacy and is yet the language of the administration and social aspiration, as reflected in the Telangana government’s decision to introduce English as the medium of instruction in their government schools to increase student enrolment. What does the act of acculturation into English mean in the Indian context? Whose culture does the learner articulate? Advancing the discussions on World Englishes, it would imply that speakers of English today must be adept at using the language to define and address concerns specific to their contexts, while simultaneously acquiring intercultural competence to function effectively within global contexts.The NFG on the Teaching of English (2006) stresses the communicative aspect of the language as an important goal of the English classroom.There is also a mention of the role and importance of literature in English and creative writing in the teaching of English present in the policy in the Teaching of Indian Languages (2006). The latter document highlights the importance of culture, emotions and literatures in the teaching of Indian languages, appealing to the representational, symbolisational and cultural role played by language in human life. What emerges through these documents and debates is the need for dialogism in the complex process of teaching English, where multilingualism roots the pedagogic content knowledge of English in the classroom within local contexts and needs to gradually expand outwards to a global context. Language, we said, is representational, symbolic, rule governed, structured and cultural. It is a cognitive tool and shapes our world view. Literacy, furthermore, when considering these attributes of language, is not merely an act of decoding a script but enables critical thinking, interpretation of meaning and construction of thoughts. It also involves creative self-­expression. Lachman Khubchandani points out that the earlier approach to language as a product that is based on structures reinforced the teaching of rules and principles. Recent research on the fluid nature of living languages and the innateness of variations in structure and use have shifted the focus of language learning from product to process based. Communicative competence is defined varyingly in different disciplines.These can be placed at the basic level of interpersonal communication, as well as communication within discursive categories and specialised domains. In this context, the teaching of language for communication is broadened in scope and application. Within ELT, it is possible to identify two broad purposes of language. The first is a functional aspect that involves being able to negotiate interpersonal communication (BICS or Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills). The second involves academic language (CALP). BICS becomes necessary in not merely communicating essential thoughts but also, in the educational set-­ups, in giving and understanding instructions well enough to transact the academic landscape. BICS is, therefore, necessary for success in CALP. Dhir Jhingran captures the relationship between

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these two aspects when he says that in the case of rural and semi-­urban India, a language deficit translates into a learning deficit. Language educators have attempted to answer this challenge in a variety of ways by proposing multilinguality and bilinguality in classrooms that involve the use of the mother tongue to immersion methods that propagate a sustained use of the target language. We propose in this book a balanced approach between these two positions, suggesting that you, as educators, take the cue from your learners as you decide what method would best suit their requirements and needs in gaining proficiency in English. We will explore a variety of methods in the following pages that can help you innovate on your own teaching methods. To quote Kirkpatrick, ‘Will we be able to understand each other with so many different varieties and uses of English? The answer is simple – yes, if we want other people to understand us, and no, if we do not want other people to understand us…. To this I would add that multilingual users of English who operate regularly in international settings tend to be extremely adept communicators in English, often more so than some speakers of inner circle varieties of English’ (Kirkpatrick 2014, 43).

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we have looked at the following: •

The change in status of the teaching of English in India from a historical perspective • The different positions adopted by language policies in India with regard to the teaching of English and Indian languages • The concern of pedagogues, policymakers and language departments in teaching English within a multilingual context, factoring in the political tensions that accompany the introduction and teaching of English in schools • The relationship between language and power and its reflections in debates on standardisation, World Englishes and the teaching of English as a native language, second language and foreign language • Different attitudes towards the teaching of English, the use of multi lingualism as a resource in teaching and learning other languages and the role of the ‘postmethods’ approach of principled pragmatism in the teaching of English in India

Exercises 1. Frame a set of objectives for building critical literacy skills in your English language classroom. Justify your objectives by using appropriate arguments drawn from postcolonial contexts.

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2. Frame a language teaching policy for your school/classroom. Give reasons for your tenets. 3. What are the dis/advantages of introducing English as a subject in schools from the primary grades? Give reasons for your answer. 4. What are the dis/advantages of using English as a language of instruction in schools? Give reasons for your answer. 5. According to Dhir Jhingran, language deficit becomes a learning deficit. Do you agree with this statement? Give reasons for your answer. 6. How can multilingualism be used as a resource in an English language classroom? Discuss with suitable examples. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 2 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

References Ashcroft, B., Griffiths, G., & Tiffin, H. Ed. (1995). The postcolonial studies reader. Routledge. Canagarajah, S., & Wurr, A. J. (2011). Multilingual communication and language acquisition: New research directions. The Reading Matrix 11 (1), 1–15. Daswani, C. J. (Ed.). (2001). Language education in multilingual India. UNESCO. Khilnani, S. (2003). The Idea of India. Penguin. (Original work published 1997) ———. (2017). Gandhi and Nehru: The uses of English. In A. K. Mehrotra (Ed.), A concise history of Indian literature in English (pp. 151–176). Permanent Black. Khubchandani, L. (2001). Language demography and language in education. In C. J. Daswani (Ed.), Language education in multilingual India (pp. 3–47). UNESCO. Kirkpatrick, A. (2014). World Englishes. In C. Leung & B. V. Street (Ed.), The Routledge companion to English studies (pp. 33–45). Routledge. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond methods: Macrostrategies for language teaching.Yale University Press. Loomba, A. (1998). Colonialism/postcolonialism. Routledge. National Education Policy. (1968). MHRD, GoI. https://www.education.gov.in/en/ documents_reports?field_documents_reports_category_tid=19 National Education Policy. (1986 1992), MHRD, GoI. https://www.education.gov.in/en/ documents_reports?field_documents_reports_category_tid=19 National Curriculum Framework (NCF). (2005). MHRD, GoI. https://ncert.nic.in/nc-­ framework.php? Position Paper on the Teaching of Indian Languages. (2006), MHRD, GoI. https://ncert.nic.in/ focus-­group.php?ln= Position Paper on the Teaching of English. (2006), MHRD, GoI. https://ncert.nic.in/focus-­ group.php?ln= Sheorey, R. (2006). Learning and teaching English in India. SAGE Publications. Spivak, G. C. (2012). An aesthetic education in the era of globalisation. Harvard University Press. Thiong’o, N. (1987). Decolonising the mind:The politics of language in African literature. Publishing House.

3 LANGUAGE ACQUISITION AND LANGUAGE LEARNING An overview

‘But I don’t want to go among mad people,’ Alice remarked. ‘Oh, you can’t help that,’ said the Cat: ‘we’re all mad here. I’m mad.You’re mad.’ ‘How do you know I’m mad?’ said Alice. ‘You must be,’ said the Cat, ‘or you wouldn’t have come here.’ Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865) No, no! The adventures first, explanations take such a dreadful time. Lewis Caroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865) In Chapter 1, we approached the study of language through the interdisciplinary lens of linguistics, culture, representation and literacy studies. Chapter 2 adopted a sociopolitical approach to situate the teaching and learning of English in India. In this chapter, we will look at select educational theories on the acquisition and learning of languages in general and English in particular. Are learning and acquisition processes the same? What implications do language learning theories on this subject have for language education? Through these questions, we will consider the evolution in the understanding and applications of language learning. The chapter will then consider the importance of language in shaping and being shaped by world views and discuss what mastery over a language entails. The chapter will also emphasise the connection between language and culture and the need to constantly examine and revise one’s ideas about competencies in language learning and acquisition.

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Objectives Through this chapter, the reader will be able to • • • •

distinguish between acquisition and learning, identify different theories on language acquisition and learning, explore facets of the theories in relation to the Indian context and become familiar with the sociocultural-political-economic considerations of adapting theories into practice in a multilingual context.

The discussions are organised along the following topics: • The difference between language acquisition and language learning • The evolution of thought on how language learning occurs • The debate between whether language shapes thought or thought shapes language • The differences between language in informal interactions and language in academia • The importance of culture and intercultural tolerance in learning a language • The principles of Universal Design for Learning (UDL) • The teacher as a lifelong learner

Why English? Despite the presence of a mere 378 million native speakers across the world, English remains a global language. Simons and Fennings point out in Ethnologue that Mandarin alone, of the various Chinese dialects, has 909 million native speakers. The various Chinese dialects have a consolidated 1,299 million native speakers. Spanish has 442 million native speakers. Unlike Spanish and the Chinese dialects, however, English has emerged as the people’s tongue due to its worldwide spread so that the non-native speakers of English outnumber native speakers, accounting for most of the one-billion-plus users of the language. English is spoken in at least 118 countries, as opposed to the various Chinese dialects or Spanish that are spoken in 38 and 31 countries, respectively. This suggests then that there are more secondlanguage learners of English in the world, which must be taken into account in the education systems. David Crystal states, in The Guardian (2004), that India has more speakers of English than any other country in the world. Similarly, a study conducted by Ravinder Gargesh in 2003–04, of 108 under- and postgraduate courses across 727 universities of India, highlighted the prevalence of English as the medium of instruction and examination in higher education. English was the lingua franca in almost 80% of the

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courses. While this survey is dated and limited to HEIs, the increasing spread of English as a subject and the medium of instruction in central and state government schools as a matter of policy, at times, and the driver of parents’ choice of schools for their wards indicates its looming presence and impact in the Indian education system. Using English as the medium of instruction can, however, pose learning challenges for students and learners for whom English is not present in their immediate environment. The NEP 2020 engages with this anticipated deficit in learning and advocates for more bilingual and regional language curricula in higher education institutions. Despite these policies and measures, English remains a language of aspiration and calls for interventions in the education system to focus on the nuances of language and learning.

What is language? It is appropriate to start the reflection on language and learning with the question: what comprises a language? We have already discussed this in some detail in Chapter 1. The following figure outlines the major structures that constitute a language (Figure 3.1).

FIGURE 3.1 

Major structures of language.

Source: Adapted by Ramesh Prakash Khade from Thomas, J. J., & Cook, K. A. (Eds.). (2005) Illuminating the path: The research and development agenda for visual analytics. National Visualization and Analytics Center. https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Major_levels_of_linguistic_structure.svg.

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A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TERMS Phonology: the study of how speech sounds pattern and how they are organised (i.e. the sound system) – e.g. art, *rta (where ‘*’ = ungrammatical). Can you think of a word in English that has ‘r’, ‘t’ and ‘a’ in that precise order? The answer is ‘no’ and hence the word is ungrammatical. Morphology: the study of word formation – e.g. un-happy-ness. Syntax: the study of sentence structure – e.g. She hit the man with a hammer. Semantics: the study of meaning in language – e.g. The cat killed the rat = The rat was killed by the cat. Pragmatics: the study of how meaning in language depends on context – e.g. Yeah, right! (sarcastically stated, hence it means the opposite).

If these are the components of a language, how does one understand the rules and apply them to receive and produce language meaningfully? How are the components related to each other? Is it natural for all humans to acquire and use language, or is it something that we learn to do, such as being socialised into cultural practices like wearing clothes? These are some questions we will discuss in the following sections.

Language learning versus language acquisition Is it possible to understand and use language to communicate without formal training? The answer is yes.This process is known as acquiring a language, and it is distinct from language learning. Let us, at this point, consider some fundamental questions pertaining to language and the choice to learn specific languages (Table 3.1). TABLE 3.1  Difference between language acquisition and language learning

Language acquisition

Language learning

• The purpose is communication. • It is a subconscious process. • The learner is unaware of grammatical rules. • It works with a feel for what is and what is not correct. • It needs a source of natural communication. • The emphasis is on the content of the communication and not on the form. (Ref: Chomsky, etc.).

• It is initially not driven by a communicative purpose. • It is a result of direct instruction in the rules of language. • It is not an age-appropriate activity for very young learners. • Students have conscious knowledge of the new language and can talk about that knowledge. • It is instruction based: (Ref: behaviourism, etc.).

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• Is language a mere system to communicate ideas, or is it a tool to transmit culture? • Is there a difference between home language/s and second language/s? • Who makes decisions about the choice and variety of language to be taught in formal contexts? • Does learning in one’s home language aid subject mastery and cognitive development? Does learning in a second language do the reverse? The table indicates the difference between learning and acquisition. If one has sufficient input/exposure to a language, one can acquire the rudiments of any language to be able to communicate effectively without necessarily being aware of the formal features that constitute that language. It is a subconscious process that intuits the grammatical structures in use without knowing the grammatical rules. Do we then need formal learning that follows rigid, rule-based structures when acquisition requires language input as a core element for learners to use the language? The answer depends on our approach to language + acquisition. Is language a construct that needs to be taught? Is language innate to humans? Or does the view lie somewhere in between these two positions? The nature versus nurture debate on language is an old one. Philosophers like Plato (428–347 BC) and Descartes (17th century) opined that knowledge is innate and a child can master a language by the age of ten.The other point of view considers humans to be born with a blank slate (tabula rasa) and suggests that learning occurs through one’s senses. Aristotle (384–322 BC), Avicenna (11th century), Locke (17th century), Rousseau (18th century) and Freud (20th century) are some proponents of this second theory. It is through the premise of this debate that we will approach some influential theorists of language learning.While we will consider a few selected theories in this chapter, the references at the end of the chapter can be used for further exploration in the domain.

Nature or nurture B. F. Skinner (1904–1990), a pioneer of behaviourism, extended this principle in his book Verbal Behaviour (1957) to his understanding of language development in humans. Skinner believed that children learn as they do through operant conditioning, wherein they associate a positive reinforcement with an action or, in the case of language, an utterance. Unlike respondent or reflexive involuntary behaviour, operant behaviours are controlled by consequences and are conscious responses to stimuli. Operant conditioning is an inductive reasoning process that involves the four stages of motivating operations (you need to desire the response, and situations can make the response more or less desirable), discriminative stimuli (the presence of this indicates whether the rewarding response will occur), responses (the utterance should reliably lead to the response) and reinforcing stimuli. For Skinner, in the context of children, this is further broken down into imitation of others, with their utterances

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being prompted, modelled and shaped through innumerable language instances. This explains the acquisition of the home language that almost all children seem to acquire effortlessly and why children in a stimulus-free environment seem unable to learn language.

Motivating Operations: Think about the first words a child learns to speak. Do these words, acquired and produced by the child, have anything to do with the child’s motivation to get what she or he wants? Discriminative Stimuli: To whom does the child speak? Strangers? Caretakers? Parents? Why? Responses: Does the child develop his or her pronunciation of words he or she is unable to make others understand? Do children with a lisp exaggerate their lisp if rewarded and strategise to hide their lisp if punished or not rewarded? Reinforcing Stimuli: How much does ‘motherese’ (imitating child talk) influence the child’s development of language? Think of old sayings in your culture, such as everyday examples or connections to traditions, regarding a child’s acquisition of language and the beliefs surrounding delays in some children’s oral communication. Examine if the beliefs and practices in your culture correlate with Skinner’s behaviourist principles of language learning. Reflect on the following statements. Identify the corresponding stage/s, if applicable. • • • • • • • • •

Allow the child to cry a bit for his or her milk. Hold the bottle and ask the child if he or she wants milk. When the child asks for a biki, give the child a biscuit, even a tiny piece. Let the child cry and look to the caretaker (nanny, crèche minder, teacher, etc.) to provide his or her needs. Let the child ask to go to the bathroom. Do not always pre-empt it. But let the child know that wetting is a bad habit. Praise the child for wanting to go to the bathroom, even if it is a false alarm. Do not speak for the child. Do not reward the child till the child says ‘please’. Rephrase the child’s demand with the right pronunciation when giving the item.

What is not clear is whether caretakers do provide reinforcing stimuli and feedback to children and shape children’s responses. While children cannot imitate all language possibilities with their infinite permutations and combinations, they,

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nevertheless, seem to understand them. Further, children are able to discern the right structures of language despite being exposed, at times, to erroneous language productions by adults. Another point of contention to Skinner’s postulates was that there are certain irregularities in language use that are not discernible on the surface (for instance, irony), and this requires a more nuanced understanding of language acquisition than the ‘simple’ theory posited by Skinner. These arguments form the core of Noam Chomsky’s (now famous) article, “A Review of Skinner’s Verbal Behavior” (1959). In this article, Chomsky argues that humans were born with an innate capacity to learn languages. This ‘Black Box’ or a ‘LAD’ contains a ‘Universal Grammar’ that houses the various categories of language, such as noun, verb, adjective and so on. The child maps the home language vocabulary to the categories and is instinctively able to use the language in the right combination meaningfully. Chomsky contends that this combinatorial nature of language requires a level of cognitive development, which is acquired sequentially as the child grows up.

LET US TRY AN EXERCISE TO SEE THIS IN EFFECT A language puzzle: It is impossible to fully grasp the flexibility of language, but here is another hint from linguist Steven Pinker. In his book Words and Rules: The Ingredients of Language (1999), Pinker poses a thought game to illustrate the incomprehensible scope of language. Imagine a language consisting of only determiners (four in number: ‘a/an, one, any, the’) plus 10,000 nouns and 4,000 verbs. Let us also assume that with these relatively few words you can only create sentences of the following type: ‘determiner + noun + verb + determiner + noun’ (DNVDN). Here is an example of this kind of sentence: ‘The book is a novel’. • • • • •

A girl is walking a dog. The postman delivered these letters. The father is a pilot. An apple spoils the milkshake. The boy reads the book.

Now flip the DNVDN: • The book reads the boy. • The postman spoils the milkshake. • An apple is a pilot. No real language is so limited in vocabulary and structure. Yet with these words and this structure you could theoretically make 6.4 trillion sentences. At five seconds each, it would take you one million years to say them all.

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Such a simple language structure as DNVDN can have enough uses to take up many lifetimes. But here is the interesting part: there is no limit to the number of structures we can create with language. We can make any sentence longer, more complex or differently nuanced. This is also what distinguishes humans from other species. Humans alone can use a limited number of structures to make an infinite combination of sounds and concepts. Note: Steven Pinker largely agrees with Chomsky’s proposition of Universal Grammar or the ‘language faculty’ but also believes, unlike Chomsky, that the evolutionary theory can explain the language instinct in humans.

Though the Chomskyan approach (1965) was accepted, there are researchers and linguists who have increasingly been challenging the notion of Universal Grammar. Daniel Everett, for instance, identifies the Amazonian language Pirahã as being limited to the ‘immediacy of experience’ (2005) and reflective of their cultural values. Similarly, tribes around the world have been noted to use language differently. Some, like the Pirahã and the Munduruku, are anumeric, with no numbers in their language. These instances seem to indicate that there are different kinds of languages in the world, and children exposed to two or more varieties of language understand the right structures for each language based on the input they receive.

TYPES OF LANGUAGES FROM AROUND THE WORLD Isolating languages (a.k.a. analytic) → ones that use invariable words but have strict rules of word order to keep the grammatical meanings of things clear. Included are Chinese, Indonesian, Pidgins and Creoles. English is inflexional (see below) but has been moving towards being isolating. Isolating languages are easy for adults to learn but not as easy for children. Agglutinating languages (a.k.a. synthetic) → ones that add very regular prefixes and suffixes to main words in order to express nuances. Included are Finnish, Turkish, Japanese, Tamil, etc. These languages are very explicit and logical, and they are easy for children to learn. Inflexional languages (a.k.a. fusional) → languages that use prefixes and suffixes but also vary words to express nuances of meaning. Included are Indo-European and Afro-Asiatic languages. Declensions – variations on nouns (e.g. man, men, man’s, men’s).

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Conjugations – variations on verbs (e.g. sing, sang, sung). Inflexional languages can be difficult to learn because they usually involve many irregularities. Amalgamating languages (a.k.a. polysynthetic) → a much smaller group of languages that tend towards complex words that carry a sentence-worth of information. Included are Basque, many Amerindian languages and Klingon. These languages are usually very difficult to learn unless you are brought up with them. The Basques joke that they are immune to the Devil because he couldn’t learn their language!

Similarly, there is a difference in the sentence structures in these languages, further challenging the notion of a Universal Grammar. Given next is an outline of the different word orders in languages around the world that we know of up until now.

Language: Word order (01) SOV (subject-object-verb) is preferred by the greatest number of languages. For example, Indo-European languages of India, such as Hindi and Bengali, the Dravidian languages of southern India, Armenian, Hungarian, Turkish and its relatives, Korean, Japanese, Burmese, Basque and most Australian aboriginal languages. Almost all SOV languages use postpositions (‘therein lies a tale’), with a notable exception in Farsi (Persian). Most have the adjective preceding the noun (red shirt). Exceptions include Burmese, Basque and the Australian aboriginal languages, which have the adjective follow the noun.

Language: Word order (02) SVO is the second-largest group but has the largest number of speakers. They are split between languages that use prepositions (‘I go to school’) and ones that use postpositions (‘therein lies a tale’). Among the prepositional languages are the Romance languages, Albanian, Greek; the Bantu languages; languages of South-East Asia, including Khmer, Vietnamese, Thai and Malay; and the Germanic languages. Most of these have the adjective following the noun (‘un enfant terrible’), except for the Germanic languages, which put the adjective before the noun (‘ein schreckliches kind’).

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The second group uses postpositions. These include Chinese, Finnish and Estonian; non-Bantu languages of Africa, such as Mandingo; and the South American Indian language, Guarani. The first three use adjectives before the noun, while the others use adjectives after the noun. Some linguists believe that Chinese is moving towards an SOV language structure.

Language: Word order (03) The third kind of word order is found in the VSO (verb-subject-object) languages. In Irish, they say Cheannaich mi blobhsa – ‘Bought I blouse’ – as opposed ‘I bought a blouse’. These always use prepositions. Although a relatively small group, it includes most Semitic languages, including Arabic and Hebrew; Celtic languages, such as Gaelic and Welsh; the Polynesian languages; and a number of American Indian languages, such as Kwakiutl (British Columbia) and Nahuatl (Aztec). Most have the adjective after the noun. Kwakiutl and Nahuatl have the adjective before the noun.

Language: Word order (04) Few languages put the subject after the object. Several north-west US and Canadian Indian languages use VOS, including Coeur d’Alene, Siuslaw and Coos. While the first uses prepositions and adjectives after the noun, the others use postpositions and adjectives before the noun!

Language: Word order (05) There are also languages that use more than one of the standard systems. Notable among these is Tagalog and English. Strongly inflexional languages, such as Russian and Latin, often permit varied word order as well. Can you give examples of different word orders that English allows? (Hint: Look at the varieties of World Englishes.)

The differences in the sentence structures of languages further challenge the notion of a single Universal Grammar. For instance, as native speakers of Indian languages, such as Hindi, we understand the SOV (subject-object-verb) order that leads to sentences such as ‘hum seb khaate hain (we apple eat)’ that is used by a majority of the world’s languages. The SVO order of English and other languages produces sentences such as ‘We eat an apple’. This second group has the greatest number of speakers in the world. A bilingual child switches between these word orders and seems to understand the differences between the grammars, leading some linguists to question if a Black Box can explain the language acquisition process and whether the process is guided equally by the input provided in one’s learning environment.

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We can see now why this debate of nature (innate language acquisition) versus nurture (language learnt through an enabling environment) is so fundamental to the idea of language learning and acquisition.This debate is, in fact, ‘considered by some linguists to be one of the most important in the social sciences, with implications for evolutionary theory, neuroscience, and “human nature” itself ’ (McWhorter, 2016).

The stages of language learning Let us now move to Piaget (1951) who furthered the cause of associating cognitive development with language learning. Piaget charted a series of language acquisition stages linked to the sensory-motor development in a child. Several other theorists proffer similar arguments, albeit along a different developmental timeline. We will explore some of their ideas in this section. Jean Piaget posited that learning occurs as a result of the child’s direct interaction with his or her environment.The concept of active learning emerges from this kind of thinking. Piaget believed that the mental development in children leads to the creation of schemas within which language structures are housed. He envisioned language acquisition as a process of assimilation (adapting one’s environment to fit one’s existing schema) and accommodation (adapting one’s schema to fit the environment) and believed that children below the age of seven have a limited ability to think and reason. Lev Vygotsky (1978) threw light on how social interactions play an important role in the zone of proximal development (ZPD), whereby children are enabled to move from their current level of learning to the potential they are capable of. This forms the foundation of the sociocultural approach to language learning and acquisition.Vygotsky opined that there were no particular stages of development and that it was through language that thought was largely shaped. Language was acquired not as a result of cognitive development but from social interactions with adults and peers who knew the language. Unlike Piaget, who focussed on language as a tool for labelling experience and linked it to a gradual process of cognitive constructivism, Vygotsky emphasised culture as a tool for language learning and valued this approach to language learning in education (Figure 3.2). Jerome Bruner (1983) built on Vygotsky’s argument and focussed on the process of language learning in adults. He emphasised the importance of scaffolding in learning in enabling a child’s acquisition of language and reasoning. Through his work on the cognitive development of children, Bruner proposed three modes of representation in which information or knowledge are encoded in one’s memory: • Enactive representation (these are action-based, used to understand tool use, etc.; 0–1 years) • Iconic representation (these are image-based, used to understand the world through our senses; 1–6 years) • Symbolic representation (these are language-based, used to understand concepts; 7 years onwards)

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FIGURE 3.2 

A representation of Vygotsky’s ZPD.

Source: Adapted by Ramesh Prakash Khade from https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/ File:Zone_of_proximal_development.svg#mw-jump-to-license.

The third mode of representation is, for Bruner, the most significant since it allows one to deal with the abstract and transcend the immediacy of sensory experiences. For Bruner, meaning-making is at the heart of all human endeavour. Further, he posits that children’s ability to make sense of their world is ‘not simply a mental achievement, but an achievement of social practice that lends stability to the child’s social life’ (p. 68).

Recall Susanne Langer’s concept of representational and discursive symbolisation as features of human language. Do you see points of convergence between Bruner’s and Langer’s ideas about language, symbol and representation?

David Crystal (1987) extends this idea of a stage-wise language acquisition process, adding that these stages are not clearly defined and often flow into each other. • Stage 1: Children use language to either get something, attract attention or draw attention to something.They have a limited vocabulary, are limited largely to two-word phrases and use rising intonation to pose questions. • Stage 2: They ask questions, mainly ‘where’s’ and ‘what’s’, and try to classify objects into simple binary categories. • Stage 3: Children ask more and different kinds of questions. They also have an expanded sentence structure, although they make mistakes.These are occasions of self-correction and are often evident in their language use. • Stage 4: Children use complex sentences more easily and more often. They are focussed on explanations and reasons and not just the what, where, when, who aspects of information. More questions about the why’s and how’s flood their

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•

conversations.They also communicate a range of demands and seek permission instead of merely expressing a desire. Stage 5: Children are able to use language for all its functions – giving information, seeking information, answering questions, requesting, comparing, persuading, evaluating, suggesting and so forth.

Crystal, like Chomsky, believes that language acquisition is a process of trial and error that is focussed on meaning-making. Similarly, Jean Aitchison, in The Language Web (1996), expands on her earlier work in 1987 on the three stages of ‘a biologically organized schedule’ for language development in a child. She identifies three simple, fluid stages: • Labelling: linking sound to concept with explicit references in the real world. • Packaging: understanding the range of words – for instance, intonation. • Network building: recognising the connections between words, such as synonyms, antonyms and metonyms. Aitchison, interestingly, believes that language development occurs as a result of a combination of innate abilities and an interaction with the environment. She acknowledges the role of the imitation of language input in language development in children.

Can you identify examples of language acquisition for each stage as laid out by the theorists? How do they relate to each other?

Piaget

Vygotsky

Bruner

Crystal

Aitchinson

Who among the theorists discussed so far in this chapter will agree with the statements given below? • Language is innate to humans. • We are born with a tabula rasa (blank slate) and learn everything in this world. • One needs to reach a particular stage of cognitive development to acquire a corresponding level of language use. • Language learning can precede the corresponding cognitive development. • The social environment is most necessary for language learning. • Imitation is a necessary process to learn a language.

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Linguistic determinism or linguistic relativity So far, we considered debates on how language is acquired. We will now consider whether the acquisition of language leads to the shaping of our world view or the converse occurs, with world views shaping language acquisition. Language, we have seen, is viewed ‘primarily as a system of phonetic symbols’ to express ‘thoughts and feelings’ and is ‘heuristic’, enabling one to discover knowledge by oneself. Edward Sapir (1929) posited that language can substitute experience. The following website provides an overview of the ideas proposed by Edward Sapir: https://youtu.be/N-mot0obI2c

His student, Benjamin Lee Whorf, was responsible for constructing the theory of linguistic relativity that examines the extent to which one’s language shapes one’s world view. The strong version of linguistic relativity, which has been contested as a construct by Sapir and Whorf, implies that thought is not possible without language and language shapes one’s understanding of the world. The more widely accepted weak hypothesis purports that language influences one’s perception of the world. Watch this video for an overview of the theory of linguistic relativity: https:// youtu.be/sGUok7jBrcA Case study 1 There are many parts in India, such as Himachal Pradesh, the interiors of Rajasthan, etc., where buses do not operate. Instead, people travel in mini-vans and trucks. Since there are no buses and, therefore, no tickets to be sold, the bus conductor is an unknown figure to residents of these regions. Would a student from these regions who reads the word conductor for the first time be able to grasp the concept? How should this student be taught about bus conductors? Would there be a change in world view for the student through exposure to the word ‘conductor’?

Case study 2 In India, a popular way of introducing relatives involves the use of phrases such as ‘my own sister’, ‘blood brother’, ‘Savi Aunty’, ‘Rahim Chacha’, ‘my cousin from my mother’s side’, ‘Francis Anna’, ‘Neelam Didi’ and so on. This is unlike native English speakers who would refer to their relatives as ‘Aunt Fanny’ or ‘my cousin Rita’. Terms like ‘aunty’ are also used to indicate blood relatives when used by native speakers, while many Indians use the term as a generic one to indicate an older woman among their acquaintances. How do these nuances of use of language reflect, inform and/or condition our world views? Let’s reflect: Does language shape reality or our perceptions of it? Can we, through our thoughts, influence language? Give examples to justify your response.

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The input hypothesis Irrespective of one’s position on the debates on language development, input is a necessary aspect of language learning. Stephen Krashen’s monitor model, or the input hypothesis, first published in 1977, comprises five interlinked hypotheses that have had a significant influence on theories of language acquisition. •

The input hypothesis: Learners need input to be one level above their current one (i+1) for language learning to occur. • The acquisition-learning hypothesis: Learning is a conscious process that does not necessarily translate into fluent and appropriate language use. This is dependent on the more subconscious acquisition process of language development. • The monitor hypothesis: Learning can enable the correction of mistakes made in language output but does not result in spontaneous language use. • The natural order hypothesis: The innate language learning order influences language acquisition, irrespective of the order in which language learning is organised. • The affective filter hypothesis: Emotions affect learning a language. Negative emotions impede language development. Krashen later introduced a sixth reading hypothesis in which he argued that the more one is exposed to language through a variety of reading materials, particularly literary works, the more one gains proficiency. He builds on this argument, establishing through quantitative studies that learners who voluntarily chose from a curated list of texts to read in a reading programme displayed better language learning competences in terms of vocabulary enrichment and comprehension abilities. By this hypothesis, content is important.

Competence and performance As we reflect on various language learning theories and ways in which one can learn languages, we must also consider if it is enough to learn the linguistic structures of a language in order to acquire it. Is it enough to know words and grammar to communicate? Dell Hymes, in 1966, identified ‘communicative competence’ as the functional knowledge that governs language use. A normal child acquires knowledge of sentences not only as grammatical, but also as appropriate. He or she acquires competence as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, when, where, in what manner. In short, a child becomes able to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, and to evaluate their accomplishment by others. Dell Hymes (1972, p. 277)

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Communicative competence consists of four competencies • Linguistic competence – that is, knowledge of language structures, of syntax and of semantics in order to use the language. • Sociocultural competence – that is, the knowledge of sociocultural rules that enable one to use language to communicate appropriately in accordance with the context. • Discourse competence – that is, the knowledge of the mediums one would use to communicate.This includes producing written texts or knowing how to listen to a lecture versus a fictional narrative and so on. • Strategic competence – that is, knowing how to repair any communication breakdown possibilities to ensure effective communication. For instance, mouthing words, enacting or writing to communicate the same message when there is noise in the environment.

The role of medium of instruction and examination Cummins, in his studies in 1980, underlined the lack of awareness among educators and policymakers about the difference between BICS and CALP and the impact of this lack of awareness on teaching and assessing language learning in formal contexts. He points to the need for support systems to enable second-language learners to understand instruction and to continue to improve their language skills (2017, p. 73). However, despite the wide acceptance of Cummins’s arguments, there is still a dearth of systematic intervention in education systems in these areas. 1. Identify some distinctive features of language/s that children speak in the playground or in social interactions, and in the language used in the classroom. Features

Classroom (textbook) language

Playground (informal Playground (informal communication) communication) language 1 language 2

Vocabulary – informality (use of slang) Syntax (use of complete sentences) Connect to home/state culture Add rows for each new point

2. Which sections of the NEP 2020 support or argue against Cummins’s point of view? 3. Where does the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) viewpoint on language teaching in school education stand in relation to Cummins’s argument?

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In India, proficiency in English often does not extend to BICS because Indian students have few opportunities to practice their interpersonal skills in English, relying often on their home or state language. Aspiring Minds’ National Employability Report – Engineers 2019 reported, for instance, that ‘most engineers (76.78%) do not exhibit the required competence in English communication’ (p. 19). This can exacerbate the students’ difficulty with the academic register required of them in higher education, leading to possible hesitation on their part in sharing their thoughts in spoken/written forms in larger academic circles. One consequence of the lack of BICS proficiency affecting CALP is a marginalisation and construction of hierarchies within educational spaces that eschews inclusivity in learning and creates inequity. BICS and CALP are different registers. While BICS can be acquired quickly in a couple of years through sustained exposure, CALP remains a lifelong learning process. Different kinds of texts are constructed differently and will, therefore, require different strategies for meaning-making. Magazine articles and academic journals, for instance, require different reading strategies because they are different genres of writing. Writing processes, further, are more advanced in CALP than in BICS. Our education systems, language classrooms, mediums of instruction, language pedagogies and examinations need to factor these differences and adapt to suit the requirements of students studying in Indian vernaculars. In this context, Pauline Gibbons (1991) spotlights the difference between BICS or ‘playground language’ and CALP or ‘classroom language’ as stark, leading to cognitive dissonance within the classroom if the gap is not bridged consciously. How often, Gibbons asks, would we encounter the following utterance on a playground: If we increase the angle by 5 degrees, we could cut the circumference into equal parts. Nor does [that language of the playground] normally require the language associated with higher order thinking skills, such as hypothesizing, evaluating, inferring, generalizing, predicting or classifying. (p. 3) As a result, students are often tasked with using a language focussing on functions and structures that do not occur in their immediate environments like playgrounds and homes. If strategies to enhance their proficiency in the use of CALP are not consciously focussed on, their academic progress and upward mobility can be hampered. It must be noted that while BICS generally precedes CALP in language acquisition, Cummins argues that this need not be so. He gives an example of a scientist who might be proficient in writing research papers in the second language but may be unable to converse in social situations in the same language (2000, p. 5). Cummins refers, also, to Corson’s analysis of the English language lexicon that identified the prevalence of Graeco-Latin words in children’s literature in English, arguing that students must be exposed to written texts in order to acquire the academic register. Cummins submits that ‘standardised tests and premature exit from bilingual

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programmes have contributed to the perpetuation of coercive power relations in the educational system’ (Cummins, 2000, p. 15). Cummins’s Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) theory assumes that students will be able to draw on their first language to be able to function at an acceptable standard in the second language in both BICS and CALP. However, in India, when the language that the students are exposed to in school is often not their first language, this has repercussions equally for their language proficiency in the state language (such as Hindi) and their aspirational language, English.The challenge increases in the higher education system that, currently, is primarily in English.

Intercultural competence In addition to the discourse differences between language structures in academic and basic communication and the syntax of the home language/s and English, other factors affect language learning. In the United States of America, a popular reference for this is the World-Readiness Standards for Learning Languages (https://actfl.org).This is a revised edition of the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century, published first in 1996. Adopted nationally, the World-Readiness Standards identified 5Cs (communication, cultures, connections, comparison, communities) as goals in learning languages, even as it highlights how language learning involves 11 standards in language proficiency. In this framework, culture is accorded substantial significance as learners make connections while learning another language. This can become a perspective-building exercise that can expand one’s community. The more popular Common European Framework of References for Languages: Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) that is widely adopted and adapted across the world and includes sign languages, refers to cultural knowledge as a competence that influences appropriacy in language use (https://coe.int). By doing so, it acknowledges the pluriculturalism and plurilingualism of sociocultural systems, even as it emphasises creativity and problem solving in language learning. Revised periodically since 1975, the CEFR is referred to for standards across languages to determine thresholds for, and describe competencies in, each level of language learning from A1 to C2. It is evident that we need to account for not only the single C in cognitive development but also many other cultural factors that can influence language use and development in the language classroom. Culture includes belief systems and the practices of a people that are evolving and overlap with other cultures due to several reasons, such as interactions among the members of the group or archetypal notions adopted by societies that have roots in a common ancestry. Does intercultural competence aid language learning? Deardoff in Process Model of Intercultural Competence (2006) asks university administrators and scholars of interculturalism to identify necessary skills in the area. An overwhelming number of respondents identified self-awareness and openness to new ideas to transform one’s opinions and self as the strength of intercultural competence. Language learning, especially in the second and foreign language space, requires an ability to extend

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one’s imagination and accept ideas alien to one’s immediate contexts and beliefs. The language learner continually constructs knowledge and is akin to a researcher on a voyage, discovering new ideas and constructs. Michael Byram (2008) identifies the language learner possessing ‘conscious awareness’ (p. 72) of his or herself as a cultural being and constantly engaged in discovering, analysing and evaluating meaningful information as an ‘intercultural mediator’ (p. 68). This information, Gómez Rodríguez (2012) opines, is better found in authentic texts, such as literature, films, documentaries and other media. Further, the teacher is no longer the gatekeeper of knowledge, but a facilitator of the learner’s exploration. Think of a story you read or a film you saw that fascinated you but that was alien to your belief system and practices. What aspects of language in that experience gained new meaning for you? These could be words (newly acquired or acquiring new dimensions), language structures, use of metaphors and so on.

Universal design principles for learning It is evident that the debates on language learning and acquisition are unresolved and the ideas posited by various scholars need to be consistently revisited, reexamined, reframed, revised and re-envisioned. We may, perhaps, never really have a single answer to any of these debates; perhaps, we do not need a single answer. We can find multiple pathways to enable language learning, irrespective of the theory of language acquisition and learning that is predominant, especially in light of the multiplicity and diversity inherent in learner profiles and contexts within an English language classroom in India. The flexibility inherent in this approach can enable an inclusive language classroom. Let us reflect on some of the foundational features of learning as proposed in the UDL that adopts a variety of ways in which language learning could be facilitated for greater inclusivity. There are three principles that UDL espouses. These are as follows: • •

•

Representation of learning content in multimodal ways to appeal to all ­learners – for instance, informed and balanced use of text, images and audio. Opportunities to express learning in multitudinous ways to enable learners to exhibit their competency – for instance, allowing students to write, speak or draw when testing their learning. Enabling engagement in learning by understanding student interests and using this understanding to motivate students to learn – for instance, using games, music or popular songs to teach language.

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Brij Kothari is credited with same language subtitling (SLS) to encourage mass functional literacy in India. Begun as an experiment in 1996 on all major TV channels, SLS became a national policy in 2019. SLS requires subtitles or captions to be written in the same language as the one spoken on screen. This enables learners to pick up the language and subconsciously make connections between the script and the phonetics of that language. Kothari subsequently founded PlanetRead, a not-for-profit organisation, to research, promote and further innovate on his concept of SLS. Analyse if and how SLS adheres to principles of UDL and intercultural competence. Give reasons and suitable examples to justify your response.

TPD for language acquisition and language learning The world of teachers has become more complex as increasing economic opportunities across states and around the globe have led to more transnational and transstate migrants traversing the country. Different cultures prioritise different learning styles, attitudes and interests. The need to adapt to the changing dynamics of policy decisions that support specific views on what constitutes language acquisition and learning presents challenges for teachers. There has also been a shift in education to aspects that transcend the language structures of semantics (vocabulary and meaning) and syntax (grammar) and move into pragmatics (language in use within contexts). The teacher needs to adapt to learning outcomes that value appropriacy and fluency over accuracy and the effectiveness of communication over error-free communication. Creating a safe environment for learning from errors, enabling constructivist learning opportunities and motivating learners to discover, explore and interact with learning materials in multiple ways to make meaning from them are some of the many responsibilities that the language teacher shoulders today.To cope with this, the teacher as a practitioner has to be a researcher, a problem solver, an innovator, a collaborator and a communicator. Being conversant with current developments in language education in pedagogy, content and use of technology requires the teacher to be a lifelong learner. The paradigm of ‘learning to teach’ seems to have shifted in favour of ‘teaching to learn’.

IN SUMMARY In this chapter we looked at the following: • The difference between language acquisition (a subconscious process based on inputs) and language learning (a conscious exercise with reflections on structure of language and so on)

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• The evolution of thought in how language learning occurs from behaviouristic ideologies of learning language through reinforcement, to nativist thoughts of innateness and stage-wise development linked to milestones in mastering cognitive skills • The argument between whether language shapes thought or thought shapes language that the Sapir-Whorf hypothesis highlights with its strong and weak versions • The difference between the language of the classroom and the language of the playground highlighted by Cummins in his distinction between BICS and CALP • The importance of culture and the need to have an open mind to learn a language • The principles of UDL for representation, expression and engagement • The role of a teacher as a lifelong learner

Exercises 1. Present a comparison of the estimation of three prominent thinkers Piaget, Bruner and Vygotsky with respect to children’s ages and their abilities in language use. 2. Present a comparative analysis of an English language textbook with any other language textbook of the same grade with respect to the exposure to opportunities to develop intercultural competence. Explain your analysis with reference to learning situations and the learners’ background. 3. Create two activities for any one lesson in an English language textbook of any grade using UDL principles. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 3 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

References ACTFL. (n.d.). ACTFL. Retrieved from https://www.actfl.org/resources/world-readiness-​ standards-learning-languages Aggarwal,V., Nithyanand, S., & Sharma M. (2019). National Employability Report-Engineers 2019. Aspiring Minds. Retrieved from https://aspiringminds.com Aitchison. (1996). The Language Web. Cambridge University Press. Bruner, J., & Watson, R. (1983). Childs’'s Talk: Learning to Use Language. W.W. Norton & Company. Byram, M. (2008). From Foreign Language Education to Education for Intercultural Citizenship: Essays and Reflections. Multilingual Matters.

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Chomsky, N., & Skinner, B. F. (1959).Verbal Behavior. Language 35(1): 26. doi:10.2307/411334 Council of Europe. (n.d.). Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning, teaching, assessment (CEFR). Retrieved from https://www.coe.int/en/web/ portfolio/the-common-european-framework-of-reference-for-languages-learningteaching-assessment-cefrCrystal, D. (1987). Child Language, Learning, and Linguistics: An Overview for the Teaching and Therapeutic Professions. Arnold. ———. (2004). ‘Subcontinent Raises its Voice’. The Guardian. Retrieved from https://www. theguardian.com/education/2004/nov/19/tefl. Cummins, J. (1979). Cognitive/academic language proficiency, linguistic interdependence, the optimum age question and some other matters. Working Papers on Bilingualism, No. 19, 121–129. ———. (2000). Putting Language Proficiency in its Place. English in Europe: The Acquisition of a Third Language 19: 54. ———. (2017). BICS and CALP: Empirical and Theoretical Status of the Distinction. Literacies and Language Education 59–71. doi:10.1007/978-3-319-02252-9_6 Deardorff, D. K. (2006). Identification and Assessment of Intercultural Competence as a Student Outcome of Internationalization. Journal of Studies in International Education 10(3): 241–266. doi:10.1177/1028315306287002 Everett, D. L. (2019). How Language Began:The Story of Humanity’s Greatest Invention. Liveright Publishing Corporation, a division of W.W. Norton & Company. Everett, D. (2005). Cultural Constraints on Grammar and Cognition in Pirahã. Current Anthropology 46(4): 621–646. doi:10.1086/431525 Gibbons, P. (2015). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning:Teaching English Language Learners in the Mainstream Classroom. Heinemann. Gómez Rodríguez, L. F. (2012). Intercultural Communicative Competence Through Reading Authentic Literary Texts in an Advanced Colombian efl Classroom: A Constructivist Perspective. Profile Journal 14(1): 49–66. Hymes, D. (1972). On Communicative Competence. Sociolinguistics 269293, 269–293. Krashen, S. D. (1999). The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Implications. Laredo Publishing. Kothari, B., Takeda, J., Joshi, A., & Pandey, A. (2002). Same Language Subtitling: A Butterfly for Literacy?. International Journal of Lifelong Education 21(1): 55–66. Languages of the World. (n.d.). Retrieved from https://www.ethnologue.com/ McWhorter, J. (2016, September 14). The bonfire of Noam Chomsky: Journalist Tom Wolfe targets the acclaimed linguist. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/ the-big-idea/2016/9/14/12910180/noam-chomsky-tom-wolfe-linguist Pinker, S. (1999). Words and Rules:The Ingredients of Language. Phoenix. Rose, D. H., & Meyer, A. (2006). A Practical|Reader in Universal Design for Learning. Harvard Education Press. Skinner, B. (1957). Verbal Behaviour. Appleton Century Crofts. The Guardian. (2004, November 19). Subcontinent raises its voice. Retrieved from https:// www.theguardian.com/education/2004/nov/19/tefl Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in Society:The Development of Higher Psychological Processes. Harvard University Press. Vygotskiĭ, L. S., Hanfmann, E., Vakar, G., & Kozulin, A. (2012). Thought and Language. MIT Press.Walz, H. P. (n.d.). 6. Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis and Brain Activity. Universalism versus Relativism in Language and Thought. doi:10.1515/9783110805826.109

4 PERSPECTIVES AND APPROACHES TO LANGUAGE AND LITERACY

Surely there is not another language that is so slipshod and systemless, and so slippery and elusive to the grasp. One is washed about in it, hither and thither, in the most helpless way; and when at last he thinks he has captured a rule which offers firm ground to take a rest on amid the general rage and turmoil of the ten parts of speech, he turns over the page and reads, ‘Let the pupil make careful note of the following exceptions.’ He runs his eye down and finds that there are more exceptions to the rule than instances of it. Mark Twain, on the travails of learning German, in “The Awful German Language”, A Tramp Abroad (1880) In “Literacy Myths”, Harvey Graff and John Duffy observe, [T]here is little evidence that increasing or high levels of literacy result directly in major economic advances…. Schofield (1973) found that the literacy rates of textile, metal and transport workers declined in the late eighteenth century, as these occupations did not require advanced reading and writing skills…. Industrial development may have depended on the inventiveness or innovativeness of a relative few, and thus stimulated their literacy development. Harvey Graff and John Duffy, “Literacy Myths”, in Encyclopedia of Language and Education (Volume II), 47–48 Graff and Duffy signpost the assumptions that frame the purpose of literacy, that it should serve a workforce and make individuals employable. At the same time, they identify inventiveness and innovativeness as the understated, implicit characteristics of literacy. Finally, they reconceptualise literacy as moving beyond the ability to read and write to inculcate constructionist aptitude in learners. In the process, they highlight the historical relationship between literacy and professionalism and the urgency in revisiting the literacy framework in current times.

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These are some elements that we will explore in this chapter as we look at what literacy entails and the language pedagogies that speak to the current approaches to, and perspectives on, literacy.

OBJECTIVES At the end of this chapter, readers should be able to − gain an overview of contemporary approaches to literacy, new literacy, critical literacy and multiliteracies; − enumerate and analyse different approaches to teaching language in the classroom for literacy; and − understand the need for continuous professional development of teachers to address the needs of learners in a postmethods space.

The chapter is organised around the following thematic heads: • • • • • • •

Literacy and Language Education What Is Literacy Reading, Writing and Critical Literacy Oracy and Literacy: Listening and Speaking Multimedia and Multimodality in Literacy Studies Balancing Pedagogy and Content Knowledge Teacher Professional Development for Literacy and Language Education

Let us begin with an overview of literacy and its relevance to language learning.

Literacy and language education Literacy is commonly defined as the ability to read and write. Earlier, we examined the link between literacy and language education in its ability to determine the rationale and scope of outcomes of a language classroom. Understanding the purpose of language classrooms and the debates of what must, should and could be taught in it shape curricula, syllabi and pedagogies. Here’s a small activity. In the following table, list the kinds of skills that you feel ‘must’ (absolutely necessary), ‘should’ (highly recommended/desirable) and ‘could’ TABLE 4.1  Must, should, could

Must

Should

Could

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. 2. 3. 4.

1. 2. 3. 4.

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(maybe) be taught within a language classroom. Map your list to the discussions in the first two chapters on the nature of language and the sociocultural and political contexts within which language learning occurs in schools (Table 4.1). Now, look at the following list. How will you slot them into the ‘must-shouldcould’ grid? Reading, writing, listening, speaking, interpreting stories, stylistics, cultural sensitivity, empathy, tolerance, imagination, multilinguality, intercultural competence, critical consciousness, grammar, vocabulary, sentence types and structures, pronunciation, discourse

• • •

Which column did you slot ‘reading, writing, listening, speaking’ in? Where were ‘imagination, stylistics, grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation’ slotted? What place did ‘empathy, tolerance, intercultural competence, discourse’ occupy in the grid?

According to the 2001 Census, India’s literacy rate for the population aged 7 and above was 65.4%. Can 65.4% of the 7+ population read-and by that we simply mean decode, with or without understanding, a simple text that a second grader would be expected to read? Indeed, that is a minimum expectation of anyone who is considered to be literate, regardless of one’s definition of literacy. Most definitions of literacy expect far more than an ability to decode simple texts, but no definition excludes the ability to decode at a very basic level. (Kothari and Bandyopadhyay 2010)

Kothari and Bandyopadhyay’s study on whether the literates in India can read raises a few significant issues for literacy studies. The most apparent assumption is the equation of reading with the behaviourist aspect of decoding without necessarily understanding the text. Equally important is the statement that definitions of literacy go beyond decoding, though the latter is the minimum expectation underlying all definitions. What emerges is the need to include comprehension and understanding in literacy studies and surveys to get a clearer picture of the language abilities of learners. As a study set in the Indian context, reflections on the understanding of literacy highlight the gaps and tensions in the field and the need to approach language education with expansive definitions. The earlier exercise in categorising terms and attributes of language education highlights our priorities within the classroom as we support our students in becoming literate and socially responsible citizens. At the same time, our reflections on prioritising certain skills and competence over others indicate the implicit institutional frameworks and curricular demands within which we work, which may prevent a

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flexible holistic approach to language development when we teach towards assessments and examinations. The categories, however, also require a rethink along the lines of recent development in the field of literacy studies. In this section, we will revisit these terms used in language education and their significance in a globalised world. We will also contextualise the terms ‘reading’, ‘vocabulary’, ‘grammar’ and ‘writing’ to reflect on the changing pedagogical requirements for teaching these skills today in the language classroom.

What is literacy? The world is changing – education must also change. Societies everywhere are undergoing deep transformations, and this calls for new forms of education to foster the competences that societies and economies need, today and tomorrow.This means moving beyond literacy and numeracy, to focus on learning environments and on new approaches to learning for greater justice, social equity and global solidarity. Education must be about learning to live on a planet under pressure. It must be about cultural literacy, on the basis of respect and equal dignity, helping to weave together the social, economic and environmental dimensions of sustainable development. (UNESCO, 2015, emphases mine) UNESCO’s articulation of the inadequacy of mere literacy and numeracy and the need for cultural competence emphasises the importance of expanding the scope of literacy from the ability to decode scripts to include sensitivity, tolerance and mindfulness towards political and cultural discourses and life skills. Annemarie Palincsar and Barbara Ladewski’s metareview of the literature on literacy in “Literacy and the Learning Sciences” (2008) offers a comparable understanding of literacy as a field of study and research. In their review, Palincsar and Ladewski outline the transformation of reading and writing practices across history, moving from stone walls in caves to animal skin, papyrus, paper and, finally, the digital screen. Each new mode of reading and writing has necessitated the development of new sets of skills. Literacy practices have, therefore, never remained constant through history. If the invention of writing required knowledge of calligraphy and script, the digital age adds the additional skill of mouse control and digital literacy. Further, in a connected world, the user of technologies is both an ‘author and reader, both consumer and generator of knowledge, engaging in both an individual and collective enterprise’ (Palincsar and Ladewski 2008, 299). The core concept of literacy implicates reading and writing practices that involve readers and writers equally in a textual community and a scribal culture. A text and a script become central to literacy practice, as does dialogic practice in meaning-making. The primary definition of literacy is the ability to read and write. The term, however, carries a second definition, implying familiarity with literature. The tension between these two definitions reflects a bifurcation of approaches to literacy, one that argues for basic

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reading and writing skills and the other that prepares learners for specialised, elite, literary and scientific discourses. Concurrent research and work attempt to establish that learning to read and write cannot be separated from social and intercultural competencies. Literacy is also a technology, or tool, that enables meaning-making by familiarising learners with conventions of representations in multimedial and multimodal contexts. The challenge faced by schools and teachers at this point is that of balancing individual needs with the requirements of educational institutions and society. In this context, Olson and Torrance’s outline of the five transformations that have occurred in contemporary understandings of literacy is relevant. First, literacy is approached as an episteme that organises work on human and social sciences. It is no longer an empirical fact but comprises intellectual and social practices. Second, literacy is no longer restricted to just reading and writing but assimilates the primary communicative modes of listening and speaking as well. In addition, in the digital age, multimodality defines literacy where different forms of representation with different communicative potentials serve distinct social and intellectual purposes. The third transformation shifts literacy from being a reading and writing skill to a set of social and cultural practices. Under this transformation, literacies are not viewed as uniform processes. Instead, it is now recognised that readers and writers approach texts from different social, cultural and historical contexts in very distinct ways. Further, modalities of reading, such as privately, in groups or academic spaces, produce different kinds of effects. Learning to read and write, therefore, signposts an entry into a convention of practice. The fourth transformation identifies literacy as promoting social and democratic change. Literacy can be equally a tool for social control and a device for liberation, depending on how it is used. The fifth transformation is the understanding that literacy cannot merely be taught to learners. Learners bring to the learning task relevant knowledge that is required for high levels of literacy to be achieved.These competencies include cultural predispositions, as well as rich implicit knowledge of the language that is reconfigured in the process of learning and the design of pedagogies (Olson & Torrance, 2014, pp. xv–xviii). Olson and Torrance’s overview signposts not only a transformed understanding of the scope of literacy but also indicates a corresponding transformation in pedagogies at school and higher education literacy programmes. The teaching and learning of languages in the classroom will require a corresponding shift in pedagogic content knowledge if students are to become operationally, critically and culturally literate. Palincsar and Ladewski spotlight these as the three dimensions of literacy that are relevant to the learning sciences. Operational literacy involves gaining competence in technologies, tools and procedures required to handle language proficiently. Cultural literacy is defined as being conversant with a meaning system of a (cultural) practice. Critical literacy is the ability to engage with the way texts represent the self and others. Literacy has, therefore, come to encompass familiarity with literary, cultural and scientific discourses, alongside functional literate practices, such as composing personal letters, participating in reading circles and writing recipes, contracts, announcements and so on.

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Literacy in my conception comprises gaining competencies involved in effectively using socially constructed forms of communication and representation. Learning literacies involves attaining competencies in practices in contexts that are governed by rules and conventions. Literacies are socially constructed in educational, governmental and cultural practices … Literacies evolve and shift in response to social and cultural change and the interests of elites who control hegemonic institutions. (Kellner, 2000, p. 197)

Developing familiarity with these ideologies will inform the educator’s choice of objectives and appropriate pedagogies for their specific learners. To take an example, Richard Hoggart’s classic work on literacy titled The Uses of Literacy (1957) outlines the purpose of promoting the skill in an age of mass culture and is viewed as a defining moment in culture studies. For Hoggart, the rise of mass culture with the working classes led to a fragmentation of community-deterministic cultures associated with high culture. He identified tabloid newspapers, pop culture and Hollywood as some markers of individualism and mobility, which broke the sense of a community. In these contexts, literacy aided in meaning-making that was specific to the individuals and therefore not an inherited value. Hoggart’s work formed the basis of the Birmingham Centre for Contemporary Culture Studies, which initiated a sustained study of creative works, cultural artefacts, mass media and popular culture with as much rigour as the study of high culture in the past. The Centre heralded a new way of looking at reality and the production of knowledge as it expanded the frontiers of what could legitimately be studied within academic spaces to include counter- and subcultures, as well as under-represented communities. Hoggart’s approach is a necessary part of the shift in approaches to literacy mobilised by researchers like Scribner and Cole, Brian Street, Robin Alexander, Gordon Wells, Colin Lankshear and Michele Knobel, Bill Cope and Mary Kalantzis and James Paul Gee, among others, who redefine the practise of reading not merely from a functional, linguistic-based perspective but also from a systemic, sociocultural discursive context. Hoggart’s work, and subsequent research in culture studies, establish that (a) all kinds of reading, writing, creative and knowledge practices are worthy of study and exploration; (b) the kinds of discourses produced by each genre are distinct and distinctive; (c) the language of these discourses are embedded in the cultural, socio-economic and political contexts of their production; and (d) as readers, consumers and producers of these cultural artefacts, we are an integral part of the material circumstances that produce these texts. The nature of mass media, further, forcibly projects the way print and oracy cannot be separated. Reading, writing, listening and speaking (RWLS) combine in creating a holistic experience of the new cultural practices that surround us. These cultural practices, embedded within and carried through the medium of language, comprise the

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environment that can support language acquisition and that has become integral to the NLS approach. Before considering the approaches to reading and language structure, let us look briefly at some influential concepts on literacy and oracy. Brazilian educationist Paulo Freire’s postulates on the need to challenge the ‘banking model’ of education and foster ‘critical consciousness’ are core to the expanding notions of literacy. For Freire, the approach to educational practices that view the learner as a consumer in whom the educator deposits knowledge, as one does in a bank, cannot enable learning. One must, instead, engage in education with a spirit of love, humility and dialogue. Respect for the learner will arise if there is a mutual love between the teacher and the student. This kind of love and respect is founded on the empowering belief that the learner has something valuable to contribute to the learning process, and teachers are learners themselves. Acknowledging this within the learning spaces is necessary for creating a democratic classroom. A democratic classroom in turn can foster critical consciousness. Freire’s argument agrees with Britton’s belief in the power of expressive writing in fostering agency and agentivity in learners (for more on the concept of agentivity, see Britton’s Language and Learning (1970) and Prospect and Retrospect (1982)). Critical consciousness is another significant concept proposed by Freire, where he distinguishes between engineering and the social sciences. The engineering and empirical sciences, for Freire, adopt a problem-solving approach to knowledge while the humanities and social sciences problematise reality the way we know it. Critical consciousness is the state of mind that questions received impressions of reality. Cultivating critical consciousness is an important step in responsible civic citizenship. Language education as a humanities discipline and as the vehicle of all discourses and media of communication is an indispensable space for cultivating critical consciousness. Related to critical consciousness is Freire’s articulation of the need for dialogue between reflection and praxis. Action without reflection is mere activism that will not reap the required results. Similarly, reflection without action leads to stasis. A combination of critical thought, reflection and action leads to an educated, responsible citizen. This can be brought about not merely through the pedagogical practices adopted by the teacher but also through the appropriate choice of content for learners to reflect on. In these respects, Freire’s sketch of literacy and its subsequent diffusion into literacy discourses challenge the portrayal of literacy as decontextualised, ahistorical and apolitical. Dialogism becomes core to language and literacy. Oracy theories adapt the Bakhtinian notion of dialogism to look at ways in which the language classroom enables knowledge construction through dialogic listening and speaking. It should be noted here that the manner in which the terms ‘dialogue’ and ‘dialogism’ are used in oracy studies differ from Freire’s use of dialogue. For oracy critics, the terms encompass (a) listening and speaking skills, (b) the concept of dialogue that is at the heart of primary communication when we listen and speak to each other and (c) the deeper process of critically engaging with oral and written forms of communication in formal learning spaces that require learners to delve deeper into the cultural and

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sociopolitical discourses that structure speech patterns. Critical thinking, however, remains central to all literacy practices to promote critical consciousness in the Freirean tradition. The language skills are integrated as they bring together RWLS practices to support a learner’s engagement with not only the structure and form of the language but also its symbolic, representational and cultural aspects. Gordon Wells, a proponent of oracy and an advocate of the importance of constructivist language learning that focusses on meaning-making and connects to the sociocultural world of the child, encourages the engagement of the learner using play and exploration to make language acquisition an active process. Wells, like Jerome Bruner, attests that children with even a minimum exposure to language deduce and formulate structures and use language for all their functions. However, factoring the appropriateness of the content and style in relation to the audience, genre and learning situation must be informed by the language input that the child receives. Wells emphasises the need for children to be able to draw connections between text and speech by being given opportunities to talk about the text. He further argues that this talk must be situated in what interests the child in order to maximise the potential of language acquisition. Robin Alexander similarly promotes dialogic teaching by placing emphasis on the teacher to develop strategies to provide opportunities for learners to talk. It is important that the activities arouse the learner’s interest; build their abilities to evaluate, explicate and justify their point of view; and engage in a process of learning that is democratic and authentic. Such strategies portend well for lifelong learning that connects knowledge and social contexts. It is evident that current discussions on literacy foreground the importance of talk, as well as meaningful contexts of learning that constantly connect the learner to the world he or she inhabits. Interest, motivation and learner agency must inform pedagogical strategies to build the learner’s competence in critical and cultural literacies.

Reading, writing and critical literacy Critical consciousness and dialogism, we have seen, promote deeper engagement with the environment and enable knowledge construction, which confers agency on the learner as the producer (and not a mere consumer) of knowledge. Within this theoretical and argumentative framework, the terms ‘reading’, ‘writing’, ‘listening’ and ‘speaking’ acquire greater depth, involving constant interpretation in order to engage dialogically with the world. In “The Importance of the Act of Reading” (1983), Freire states that his introduction to reading was through the world when he traced letters on the ground and learned to read the word through the world. Over time, the world was carried to him through the word. Freire’s dialogic play on the word and the world underscores the inextricable link between language, reality and experience. Reading the world through the word further highlights the constructivist act of interpretation that accompanies processes of meaning-making. Reading is not a decontextualised act of decoding script but a life skill that supports agency and self-actualisation. Individuals

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are invested and involved in the act of reading as they decipher and interpret words and their meanings. The art of reading is then a cultivated act that involves critical consciousness, delving into the depth of the text. For Maryanne Wolf, deep reading during times of technology is a requisite to help the reader slow down the pace, unravel the layers embedded in works and retain focus on meaning. For Wolf, the age of the hypertext causes fragmentation and splintering of attention spans. With speed as the criteria for reading, communication becomes a superficial act of sourcing information. For reading to be truly meaningful, deep reading practices must involve a well-paced practice of looking into the depths of a work. Louise Rosenblatt reinforces these thoughts through her transactional theory of reading and the importance of reader response and literature for literacy. Rosenblatt distinguishes two kinds of readings: the efferent and the aesthetic. Efferent readings focus on summary and facts within a text. Aesthetic readings, on the other hand, look at the affective nature of the text. They require the reader to understand the mood and the emotions that underlie a work, focussing on the representational and symbolic attributes of a work. Interpreting the aesthetic attributes of a work through affect ushers in reader response as a transaction between the reader and the text in the act of meaning-making. Rosenblatt’s discussions on aesthetic and transactional reading pedagogies are examples of the way the Freirean ideal of critical consciousness in education finds expression in a language classroom.

The following are a few instances of when efferent or aesthetic readings might occur. Identify the instances where you will use efferent reading practices and the ones where you will use aesthetic. Reflect on why this would be so. . 1 2. 3. 4.

You read a manual to decide on the brand of washing machine to buy. You want to know about Spain’s culture and watch films made in Spain. You are reading a murder mystery. You are reading about a 16th-century royal household.

Our response: To get basic information for an instrumental purpose, one would use efferent reading strategies. Thus buying a washing machine may require efferent reading when we peruse a manual to understand the basic features of different machines. Culture, on the other hand, has symbolic underlying meanings, and films would need an aesthetic appreciation. Of course, didactic documentaries can provide ‘facts’ to enable efferent strategies. Similarly, a murder mystery may require one to deduce who committed the crime, but a well-written text always layers the message with nuances that need to be decoded for it to be effectively gripping. Thus the scope of a reading strategy may rest on the writer’s ability to craft a dense work to identify the strategy to be adopted. This is also true of situation 4 where one reads of a 16th-century royal household.

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However, in this case, it is also the learner’s interest and access to materials that determine the reading strategy. A well-written descriptive historical passage can lend it to an aesthetic reading, while factual statements may lead to an efferent reading.

The Australian school of (critical) literacy, deriving largely from the works of Colin Lankshear et al. (1997), is another approach that looks at reading and literacy as the means to explore the relationship between the self and the other/world. Lankshear et al. focus on the role of ‘discourse’ in language and argue that the act of reading must involve interpretation of the overarching discourse and the smaller underlying discourses from which a work arises and within which it is embedded. Lankshear comments on the rise of new literacies and their relevance in every age as new technologies, print and digital, require new literacy practices. New literacies also require new ways of engaging with the world around us and reading the world through words in multimedia and multimodal forms. Lankshear and Knobel’s (n.d.) study of the sociocultural perspectives of new literacies, to quote an instance, is rooted in this vision of literacy as an enabler and a bridge for the learners between the school and the world. Lankshear and Knobel recognise that with changing times, the technologies and the ethos of learning change. It is, therefore, necessary to take cognisance of the spaces that learners inhabit outside academic institutions and the activities they engage in, in order for literacy practices to better prepare them for the foreseeable future.

Think about the prevalence of memes on social media today. Richard Dawkins coined the word ‘meme’ in The Selfish Gene (1976) to refer to a behaviour that transmits from person to person. This word is now used to play on popular perceptions that are stereotypical, to refer to multiple situations simultaneously within a single frame or to make a behaviour or a dialogue viral. To read a meme, which is often an image or a series of images (GIFs), one needs to read beyond the surface meaning. Since it comprises a juxtaposition of different contexts, the reader also needs to be familiar with its individual components and build connections as intertexts. Activity Share a meme with your peers and see if they can decode the meaning. What kind of reading strategies and prior knowledge would be needed to decode the meaning? Is it an efferent or aesthetic reading? Would this act of decoding comprise an act of critical literacy? Why or why not?

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Here’s an example:

Source: Stupid humans meme by rjk9601

The pandemic, COVID-19, has generated a range of memes across a variety of themes and contexts, which include inequality within gendered experiences with lockdowns, educational challenges for teachers in online practices during the pandemic, the plight of doctors and frontline workers in attending to the infected, the struggle of migrant labourers stranded and homeless during closure of intercity and interstate travel and governments’ responses to the global health crisis across the world. Some are humorous, several satiric, as they critique the attempts and at times apathy of society to the plight of the subaltern. Can you think of a few such memes that you might have seen on social media, including WhatsApp, Facebook, Twitter and Instagram? What themes do they deal with, and how are they represented? What was your reaction to these memes when you first saw them?

It is possible to recognise, across the works of the educationists and researchers discussed so far, a specific emphasis on meaning-making as an integral part of literacy practices. Comprehension, vocabulary, grammar, reading and writing are contextualised within this rubric to state that comprehension happens when the learner engages mindfully with a work, exercising critical thought in the act of meaningmaking. This response arises from the recognition that children and adults imbibe knowledge in a contextual way. Barbara Rogoff ’s ethnographic study of children’s active participation in their communities establishes the link between social practices and knowledge building. Margaret Donaldson remarks, similarly, that children find it difficult to adjust to schools because their seamless way of assimilating knowledge from their environment is disrupted by consciously structured activities within

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schools that can often be artificial and decontextualise knowledge. Critical thought is more spontaneous, however, within the contexts of their application. Literacy, through reading and writing practices, is linked to the construction of meaning that would be authentic to the learner. Writing pedagogies engage similarly with (critical) literacy. Writing can be traced to Palaeolithic ages where marks on caves and drawings conveyed meaning in symbolic forms. In the absence of a direct contact with the author of the markings, writing is frozen in space and time. It is linked to authorial identity. Writing is also a production skill, allowing for creativity and self-expression. As technologies change, writing practices have continued to change, as have the audiences for the writing. By extension, teaching writing has also undergone transformation. Knowledge of script was essential in the Middle Ages for replicating liturgical texts in the absence of printing presses. Copying texts became a central concern of learning to write. Decoding and replicating scripts, however, did not necessarily indicate comprehension of the text. Recent studies in writing pedagogies continue to highlight the gaps in practices in schools and colleges that do not encourage free expression. Studies by the British educationist James Britton, notably, argue in favour of free expressive writing and extensive and intensive use of literature in the language classroom to enable this form of knowledge construction. The studies reflect that by requiring students to follow structured writing patterns and replicating pre-given responses to questions, imagination and creative thinking are stifled. Researchers argue that it is necessary for students to understand that writing, like any creative art, is not a neat process. Instead, it is cyclical and messy. It requires revisions and multiple draft attempts of making and reworking mistakes. As a production skill, writing confers agency and demonstrates critical consciousness. For critical literacy, there is a need to provide opportunities for learners to produce language independently in a scaffolded manner. Studies in appropriate pedagogies to enable this can be found in a variety of programmes that include language through literature and creative writing. In the space of school education, these pedagogies are not very frequent, given the syllabus-driven, exam-oriented learning environment. As in reading, writing for critical literacy faces the challenge of negotiating the requirements of an outcome-driven system with the ideal of creative self-expression. Emphasis on accuracy and structure, further, can relegate writing to a rote exercise. A point to note in this regard is the specific case of teaching English in India. While the theoretical reflections on literacy propose meta-frameworks for understanding and addressing challenges related to learning languages, the nuances of engaging with first, second and foreign languages are unique. In addition, in the case of a multilingual nation like India, the lack of linguistic uniformity caused by interaction between dialects, multiple languages and English in a single classroom increases the challenge manifold. In this context, oracy and orality become integral to mental models of knowledge and influence the pedagogies of English language.

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Oracy and literacy: Listening and speaking While literacy was traditionally associated with reading and writing skills and occupied a prominent place in formal schooling, studies over the last few decades have highlighted the impossibility of separating oracy from literacy. Not only do listening and speaking support communicative abilities in children, but they are also integral to constructing mental schemas that are crucial in supporting higher knowledge acquisition processes. Dialogue and co-construction of knowledge occur through oracy more spontaneously and immediately than through reading and writing, which register a time lag between the moment of composition and its reading. Oracy is also integral to classroom transactions. Research shows that the nature and duration of classroom discourses play a role in triggering critical thought in learners. Look at the two instructions given next as an addendum to a lesson taught in the classroom. Case 1: T – Tell me the key points in this story. Case 2: T – Do you find the ending of the story appropriate? Why do you say that? What difference do you notice in the nature of teacher talk between the two cases? What would be the nature of students’ responses to the respective instructions? Our response: In Case 1, the prompt for a speaking activity requires students to give a summary of the idea in a text. This can also be found in guidebooks and notes on websites. A question prompt of this kind may be useful in strengthening the students’ content knowledge, which is, assuredly, an important part of any classroom. It may not, however, get the students to think more deeply about why the content knowledge is important and how to take this ahead. Case 2, on the other hand, shows a prompt that requires students to think. They can only answer the question about whether they find the ending of a story appropriate if they have first understood the story well. The prompt then requires them to formulate and articulate an opinion, providing a reason for their answer. A prompt of this kind can require students to prepare before they speak. It will require them to read the text well and then craft a response, after which they could read/speak in class. A well-planned session of this kind would involve an integration of the four skills in the process of students’ formulating a critical individualised response.

This is one way in which oracy practices in classrooms that stimulate critical thinking depend on the nature and quality of talk and interaction between teachers and students, as well as between students. Before looking at the classroom context, however, let us first understand the broader meanings associated with oracy, which

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can help us innovate in our own language learning pedagogies through ‘principled pragmatism’. Oracy influences learning cultures in a variety of ways. It offers, at a functional level, the medium to access and exchange information. It provides cognitive frameworks drawn from folk cultures as it partakes of orality and oral traditions. It also offers mental schemas for engaging critically with the world. Talk is affected by numerous factors that are sometimes not immediately recognisable. Our senses, our environment, our conceptual understanding and body language are some factors that influence talk. Oracy depends, equally, on the content of the language transacted and the process in which it is transacted in the classroom. Further, studies in language teaching over the last four decades have been highlighting the impossibility of teaching the RWLS microskills in isolation. An integrated approach to teaching RWLS implies that oracy and literacy cannot be separate approaches in language education. Drawing on emergent literacy research, oracy studies have further expanded the scope of the term to include other forms of expression, such as art, music, play and performing arts. Researchers in emergent literacy foreground the way children use doodles, drawings, play and performance to express themselves. They recommend the use of these mediums to introduce young children to print in a gradual manner. Teale and Sulzby’s study of young children just initiating their journeys into literacy indicate the increasing use of sketches and drawings that support and supplement script, their imagination and creative expression that shape literate practice, the errors they make through inventive spellings and the pathways that these open to literacy practices. The use of art forms or play, for instance, supports the acquisition of script since these are representational forms. Symbolisation and representation are two core features of language that are most evident in art, to which John Mathews draws attention when he speaks of the power of painting and pictures in impressing ideas forcefully. Visual representations are, therefore, appropriate media to support entry into print. As a scaffold, art can supplement meaning. It can build on the word dialogically. It can also create layered narratives to convey complex thoughts. The memes that we considered earlier in this chapter are an example of the interplay of the visual and the textual. Graphic novels and comics are other genres within which different modes of representation work dialogically in works. Music and the performing arts, similarly, with their emphasis on the body, offer avenues for selfexpression. Oracy then deploys various forms of listening and speaking in making meaning.

Multimedia and multimodality in literacy studies Multimedia plays an integral role in literacy today. Seen as a new form of oracy, media offers representational content that is a complex convergence of audiovisual-text. Films, podcasts, newspapers, graphic novels, memes, performative media, music and art are some ways in which media surrounds us on social platforms and in our environment. As cultural artefacts, deciphering the underlying symbolism

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FIGURE 4.1 

Memes, multimedia and multimodal literacy.

Source: Stupid humans meme by rjk9601

requires critical ‘reading’. Developing critical consciousness to interpret multimedia and multimodal content is, therefore, now identified as a part of literacy skills. Let us look at the meme we considered in an earlier section (Figure 4.1). What skills would be required in interpreting this image? What is the text commenting on? What is the significance of the chimpanzee in the image? These are just some questions that propel the decoding of a relatively straightforward comment on human decision-making abilities. That it is uttered by a monkey that is one step lower on the ladder of evolution than humans lends a humorous edge to the comment. Reading the image would then require juxtaposing several faculties and intertextual contexts to unravel the layered assumptions underlying the media content. Multimedia also offers opportunities for critical and constructive pedagogies. Let us begin with a thought exercise. Answer the statements in the following table with a yes or a no based on whether you think they aid learning or not (Table 4.2). TABLE 4.2  Richard Mayer and multimedia learning

#

Statement

1

Less is more: Too many images, graphics and superfluous words make learning difficult. Connectors are important: Phrases and design features that indicate links between two ideas aid learning. Less is more: Graphics and narration aid learning, but if we add on-screen text as well, then the overflow of information reduces focus. Near is dear: Images and their descriptions should be close together to aid learning.

2 3 4

Yes/No

(Continued)

96  Perspectives and approaches to language and literacy TABLE 4.2  (Continued) Richard Mayer and multimedia learning

#

Statement

5

Together is best: Images and text should appear together to aid learning. Chunking is great: Small segments help one learn better than a long continuous lesson, especially video content. Orientation is key: Knowing the organisation and characteristics of the content, especially a multimedia one, helps one learn from it better. The importance of sound: Graphics and narration together are more effective than animation and on-screen texts by themselves. Two is better than one: Images and writing together are more helpful in learning than words alone. Being casual aids learning: A casual tone, conversational style and informal manner help learning more than a formal tone does. Machine or human: People learn better when a human voice speaks the content rather than a machine voice reciting it. Personalisation: Adding one’s face to the multimedia content, such as a talking head on a presentation slide, does not necessarily make for better learning.

6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Yes/No

Were all your reactions to the statements above yes? If so, you are in agreement with Richard Mayer, who published the seminal Multimedia Learning (2001). The 12 principles he posits are in the same order as explained in the table: (1) coherence, (2) signalling, (3) redundancy, (4) spatial contiguity, (5) temporal contiguity, (6) segmenting, (7) pretraining, (8) modality, (9) multimedia, (10) personalisation, (11) voice and (12) image. The reason for the answers lies in the three premises of learning that Mayer outlines in his work. •

There are two channels – visual-pictorial and auditory-verbal – that are distinct from one another and process information separately.This is known as the dualchannel assumption. •   Human beings can process about five to seven ‘chunks’ of information at a time. This is known as the limited-capacity assumption. • Learners need to engage with the material for learning to take place. A mere ‘transmission mode’ is not a good way to aid learning. This is known as the active-processing assumption. Bearing these aspects in mind, it is easy to see why animation and on-screen text or graphics overload the visual-pictorial channel. Conversely, narration and graphics reinforce the same message using two channels, thereby making it more easily comprehensible. Mayer points out that research is sparse for some of the principles he posits. For instance, unlike Mayer’s claim, current research suggests that the talking

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head is a good way to personalise the information and, therefore, is as effective as the 10th and 11th principles of informal, human communication. However, they are best left out of slides that have a lot of information in them since the talking head would otherwise distract the learner. Mayer’s principles are still followed by instructional designers. They also take into account the three cognitive loads that Mayer posits: • •

•

Extraneous load: The brain wastes effort processing information that does not add to learning outcomes and should be minimised, if not eliminated. Intrinsic load: It takes effort by the working memory of the brain to properly decode concepts. This process can be made easier by segmenting information or signalling connections to aid or pretrain the brain. Germane load: Decoding material needs to move to the next stage of meaning-making and comprehension, and this is best aided by segmenting information to enable the brain to process the information presented.

It is possible to see a convergence of these ideas with Krashen’s input hypothesis wherein he speaks of (i+1) comprehensible input and the reading hypothesis of engaging in free voluntary input for a richer and varied vocabulary, which we discussed in the previous chapter. Multimedia and multimodal literacy is also, in recent literacy research, seen as a core aspect of digital and cognitive competence.Whether we approach multimedia literacy as the ability to read multimedia and new media or a tool to support learning, it is necessary to understand the dynamism of the digital space that provides and represents information in different forms. Lankshear’s comments on the need to expand discursive skills to multimodality and new media can be systematised as we consider the affordances of multimedia, as well as the pedagogies that can enable critical consciousness to decipher the embedded codes herein. In the Indian context of teaching English to students for whom English is not the home language, multimodality acquires additional significance from the perspective of multilinguality. Suresh Canagarajah’s work on multilingualism in the Indian context, discussed in Chapter 2, has become relevant in this context. The use of the home language to aid English language acquisition has been increasingly proposed as the necessary step to learning the language in a multilingual nation without disadvantaging students who do not have English in their immediate environments. Apart from the audio-visual scaffold, the home language presents another kind of i+1 input that can reinforce English language learning. The input appears not only at the level of reinforcing grammar but also at the level of cognitive structures and mental schema. It is necessary to factor multilingualism as well, therefore, as an aspect of multimodality in the English classroom, where Indian languages are used as explanatory tools for CALP, group activities that involve translation between languages are used to reinforce English language proficiency in a deductive manner, and so on. We will discuss further strategies in the forthcoming chapters.

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Balancing pedagogy and content knowledge (PCK) The overview of literacies (new literacy, critical literacy, cultural literacy, ­multimodal literacies) is important to consider within the language classroom at two levels. The first is at the level of students in schools who must be prepared for a digital globalised world and will, therefore, require deep learning spaces and experiences to read the world through the word. The second is at the level of building teachers’ abilities to become critical thinkers. Constructing teachers’ content knowledge must factor in critical and cultural literacy skills as essential parts of professional formation. Adult literacy and educating the ­educators will enable language classrooms that create spaces for critical l­iteracies, adopt an integrated approach to learning the language and assimilate multimodal forms, multimedia and new media in the teaching-learning process. It is evident that teaching requires one to balance content knowledge with appropriate pedagogy and use the right technological aids (technology, pedagogy and content knowledge [TPaCK]). Facilitating language learning is a challenge, especially within multilingual, resource-constrained, second-language classrooms like English in India. Concerns abound about when and how to segment information, scaffold learning and give relevant feedback. Look at the examples given in Table 4.3 of a student asking a question about a month after learning vowel sounds and the use of appropriate articles ‘a’ and ‘an’. Identify the teacher’s language command and adoption of content and pedagogy in each case. Is the teacher in each example using an appropriate strategy to teach the topic? Is the teacher demonstrating content knowledge?

TABLE 4.3  Understanding PCK

Example 1: Student: Ma’am, is it a or an universal truth? Teacher: An universal truth. Example 2:Student: Ma’am, is it a or an universal truth? Teacher: A universal truth.

Example 4:Student: Ma’am, is it a or an universal truth? Teacher: Do you remember learning about vowel sounds and consonant ones? We can look up the chart we created again. Here it is. Now, how do we pronounce universal? Can you now tell me the answer? Example 3: Student: Ma’am, is it a or an Example 5: Student: Ma’am, is it a or an universal truth? universal truth? Teacher: If you know how to pronounce it, you Teacher: Is it an uncle or a uncle? should know the answer.We have already An? Right. So what do you think the covered this concept a few weeks ago. answer to this will be?

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Our response: In an ideal scenario, the teacher should scaffold information or at least link to past learning to activate the student’s active engagement in assimilating knowledge. Example 1: The teacher simply gives the answer to the student. Further, the answer is wrong. This is a poor demonstration of PCK. Example 2: While the teacher gives the right answer, the information is ‘deposited’ in the student in a demonstration of Freire’s banking model.There is no opportunity provided to the student for rationalising based on previous knowledge. A learning opportunity has not been adequately availed. Example 3: The teacher’s content knowledge is not evident in this example, but we can give her the benefit of the doubt. While she tries to link the student’s knowledge to past learning, it is not clear if that alone is sufficient in helping the student think through the answer. The learner could have been asked to refer to notes from the class on vowel sounds and deduce a response from it, which could have made the feedback more constructive. Example 4: Here the teacher seems to know the answer, although we cannot be absolutely sure. The pedagogy used to reinforce past learning and to segment the deductive process involved is an excellent example of scaffolding and Krashen’s (i+1) input hypothesis. Example 5: Here the teacher attempts to scaffold the learning process and links it to prior knowledge the child has/may have. However, the example used can be confusing since it, too, begins with ‘u’, albeit one with a vowel sound. Jumping from there to universal is likely to create misconceptions. Thus while the pedagogy may be right, the lack of content knowledge on the part of the teacher can lead to mislearning. Let us look at another example. Read the extract that follows and reflect on the resources (intellectual, content and pedagogical) that a teacher will require to teach the extract in a class for critical literacy. MANJULA (DEFENSIVE):  She never asked for anything. Soon after her birth, the moment the gravity of her situation was realised, my parents moved to Bangalore. Took a house in the Koramangala Extension. She became the… the (searches for a phrase and then settles for)…the apple of their eye. When she was old enough to go to school, a teacher came home to teach her English and Mathematics. Everything else, she reads up for herself. History, Philosophy, Anatomy. She was hungry—hungry for life. Gobbled it all up. IMAGE:  And you? MANJULA:  I have often wondered whether I would have been as bright if I’d received all that love and attention. IMAGE:  No, you wouldn’t. Let’s face it. Broken Images by Girish Karnad

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Teaching the play in the classroom will require a nuanced framing of the objectives. What is the content that must/should/could be taught? Should the teacher summarise or explain the play to the students? Should she draw attention to the grammatical structure of the sentences? Should the emphasis be on the emotive, affective aspects of the play? Should she draw attention to the feminist undercurrents in the play, indicated by the last cryptic response of the image? How should the performative element of the extract be factored into the teaching? As is evident, each of these aspects comprises an important element of literacy. Language as a structure is an important part of representation. Also important, however, are activities in meaning-making and critical thinking. Gender, for instance, is an integral part of human identity. Making sense of gendered experience is a core aspect of the Freirean tradition of critical consciousness. How a teacher transacts the lesson will influence students’ acquisition of critical thinking skills. The teacher must, at the same time, be sufficiently aware of the context of the work and Karnad’s writing and the profile of her learners (their age, contexts, etc.) to interpret the work and unpack the different layers of meaning embedded within the play effectively for the class to think over.

TPD for literacy and language education The previous examples illustrate the importance of TPD in, equally, the in-service and pre-service spaces, where English language teachers are prepared in not merely the latest pedagogical practices but in content knowledge as well. Further, they must be proficient in the English language, although not necessarily in standardised English. It is worth recalling Andy Kirkpatrick’s comment that in light of World Englishes and the many purposes that national varieties and variations of English serve, proficiency in the form of English used in a particular nation may well be sufficient competence for the national context. Indian (writing in) English is, after all, a field of study in its own right. Creating rich learning experiences in the classroom can occur when the English teacher is not only able to teach texts and summarise lessons in her class but also build her own capacity in navigating creative works with confidence. Critical consciousness, which Freire posits as an important component of adult education, must comprise the core competence of teachers, in general, and a language educator, in particular. This is also the perspective reiterated in the Position Paper on the Teaching of English (2006), discussed in Chapter 2. Literacy practices and competence in reading for meaning and critical consciousness are necessary prerequisites in teacher education. This competence will enable teachers to create rich RWLS experiences in the classroom that are imaginative, productive and interpretative.

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IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we have looked at the following: • The meaning of literacy as distinct from mere command over reading and writing • The five transformations that have occurred in our understanding of literacy • The different types of literacy • The importance of critical literacy • Reading as a constructivist act of interpretation • The role of oracy in the classroom • The principles of multimedia use in language learning • The importance of the critical literacy approach in in- and pre-service TPD programmes • The importance of improving teachers’ knowledge of both content and pedagogy for a dynamic English classroom

Exercises 1. Select an English language textbook from middle or high school and identify exercises that focus on the different types of literacy explained in this chapter. 2. Cast the answer to the above in a table format and identify which literacy type is given more prominence. Why do you think that is so? 3. Analyse the same textbook for opportunities given for oracy in the classroom and explain the strategies you will adopt to facilitate talk in the classroom with respect to any one of the activities. 4. Take any one lesson and create a multimedia presentation to teach a concept from the lesson. Ensure that you are guided by the tenets laid out by Richard Meyer. Was it very difficult to follow the principles? Why or why not? 5. Identify your proficiency level in TPaCK and identify the areas that you might need to improve. Lay out a road map to build your competencies. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 4 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

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References Alexander, R. (2018). Towards dialogic teaching: Rethinking classroom talk. Dialogos. Bokova, I. (2015). Rethinking education:Towards a global common good? UNESCO Publishing. Britton, J. (1970). Language and learning. University of Miami Press. ———. (1982). In G. M. Pradl, Ed., Prospect and retrospect: Selected essays of James Britton. Boynton/Cook Publishers. Dawkins, R., & Davis, N. (2017). Impact and influence today. The Selfish Gene, 52–54. doi:10.4324/9781912281251-11 Donaldson, M. (2013). A study of children’s thinking. doi:10.4324/9781315013336 Freire, P. (1983). The importance of the act of reading. Journal of Education, 165(1), 5–11. doi:10.1177/002205748316500103 Freire, P. (1985). The politics of education. doi:10.1007/978-1-349-17771-4 Hoggart, R. (1957). The uses of literacy: Aspects of working class life with special references to publications and entertainments. Chatto and Windus. Kellner, D. (2000). Multiple literacies and critical pedagogies. In P.Trifonas (Ed.), Revolutionary pedagogies: Cultural politics, instituting education and the discourse of theory (pp. 196–221). RoutledgeFalmer. Kern, R., & Schultz, J. M. (2005). Beyond orality: Investigating literacy and the literary in second and foreign language instruction. The Modern Language Journal, 89(3), 381–392. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4781.2005.00312.x. Lankshear, C., Gee, J. P., Knobel, M., & Searle, C. (1997). Changing Literacies. Open University Press Lankshear, C., & Knobel, M. (n.d.). Englishes and digital literacy practices. The Routledge Companion to English Studies. doi:10.4324/9781315852515.ch30 Lankshear, C. (2001). Modernizing literacy. Linguistics and Education, 12(1), 127–131. doi:10.1016/s0898-5898(00)00041-3 Matthews, J. (2003). The art of childhood and adolescence. doi:10.4324/9780203397398 Mayer, R. E. (2001). Multimedia learning. doi:10.1017/cbo9781139164603 Olson, D. R., & Torrance, N. (2014). The Cambridge handbook of literacy. Cambridge University Press. Palincsar, A. S., & Ladewski, B. G. (2005). Literacy and the learning sciences. The Cambridge Handbook of the Learning Sciences, 299–314. doi:10.1017/cbo9780511816833.019 Rogoff, B. (1985). Childhood as culturally construed. Contemporary Psychology: A Journal of Reviews, 30(6), 444–445. doi:10.1037/023831 Rosenblatt, L. M. (2018). The transactional theory of reading and writing. Theoretical Models and Processes of Literacy, 451–479. doi:10.4324/9781315110592-28 Street, B.V., & Hornberger, N. H. (2008). Encyclopedia of language and education. Springer. Teale, W. H., & Sulzby, E. E. (1986). Emergent literacy: Writing and reading. Writing research: Multidisciplinary inquiries into the nature of writing series. Ablex Publishing Corporation. Twain, M., & Neider, C. (1977). A tramp abroad. Harper & Row. UNESCO. (2015). Rethinking education:Towards a global common good. UNESCO Publishing. Wells, G. (2004). Language and learning. doi:10.4324/9780203214817 ———. (1986). The meaning makers: Selected extracts of children’s conversation. Heinemann Education. Wolf, M. (2016). Tales of literacy for the 21st century. Oxford University Press.

5 TEACHING OF LANGUAGE – I (COMMUNICATIVE ENGLISH)

If you don’t know where you are going any road can take you there. Look after the senses and the sounds will look after themselves. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865) For last year’s words belong to last year’s language And next year’s words await another voice. T. S. Eliot, The Four Quartets (1943) What are the different ways of learning English? The underlying implication in this question is the variety of prevalent approaches and methods to language learning. Kumaravadivelu’s macrostrategies for ‘principled pragmatism’ guide our understanding, as educationists, of adopting the most appropriate strategy to address the needs of our students in our specific contexts. As we devise ways of teaching English, we must be conscious of (a) the kinds of literacy skills that will be imparted to students through the specific approaches and methods we adopt so we can nudge learners to move beyond operational/functional literacy to critical and cultural literacies and (b) the kind of language competence (BICS or CALP) focussed upon and how the methods and approaches to teaching BICS and CALP can be refined to enable critical and cultural literacy. This chapter will approach these objectives by looking at one specific arm of language teaching: Communicative ELT.

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OBJECTIVES Through this chapter, the reader will be able to • identify various strategies for language learning, • explain the importance of holistic learning of language by integrating the four skills, • map the purpose of learning to the strategy used, • use constructivist practices to facilitate language learning in a meaningful way for the learner, • source and adapt materials and methods that suit one’s learning purpose and environment and • evaluate the efficacy of methods and materials used in a language learning situation.

Introduction Before we talk about the Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) approach, let us recall our own English language learning experience. Many of us might recollect a focus on the rules of grammar, exercises on sentence structure, reading and writing activities and error correction through practice and repetitions. There has been a movement, in recent years, away from these models of language learning because of the importance of the communicative function of language. Communicating in English, especially, is a skill that is globally acknowledged and desired. The CLT approach aims to enable learners to learn language through its meaningful use, mimicking real-life communication over rule-/form-focussed activities. According to this approach, the purpose of a designed learning experience should be communication. In a communicative classroom, a single rule/structure/form is not transacted in isolation. On the contrary, the communicative use of language demonstrates how these rules and forms, as semantics and pragmatics, work together to help one use language meaningfully.

Different approaches to language teaching Read the following statements and state whether you agree or disagree with them. 1 . 2. 3. 4. 5.

Learning grammar is necessary to know a language. Knowing one language can help one learn another language. One learns a language best through practice. Doing an activity is the best way to learn the language. The teacher must teach rules of language use before students can understand a second language. 6. Learning with and from friends is the best way to learn a language. 7 . Language can be enjoyed and learnt for its own sake. 8. Language must link to real-world concepts for it to be learnt meaningfully.

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  9. Learning a language must be incidental to doing something. 10. One’s first language interferes with learning the second language. Each of the statements showcases approaches and the underlying philosophy towards the nature of language and language learning. For instance, point 2 implies that all languages have some kind of commonality, and this helps one learn a new language by relying on the language/s one knows. Point 10 holds the view that no two languages are alike and that one should learn a new language in tabula rasa. Do you think that a teacher agreeing with point 10 would teach language in the same way as the teacher agreeing with point 2? If not, why do you think she or he would use different methods? Our response: A teacher who believes in point 10 will likely not allow multilingualism in the class, whereas the teacher who agrees with point 2 would possibly allow for home language/s to be spoken in the classroom.

The view of the nature of language and the nature of language learning is termed an approach (Richards & Rodgers, 1986, 2001). An approach is not limited by set procedures or content or roles of teachers and learners. It focusses on the principles of how a language is defined and how language learning takes place. Each approach may lead to different methods, procedures and techniques (Harmer, 2001). Methods, or design as Richards and Rogers (1986) refer to them, are primarily approaches put into practice. They consider the skill to be taught, the material to be selected, the order of presenting information and the roles of the teacher, the learner and the learning environment in the learning process. Procedures are a sequenced set of techniques used to teach the language using the chosen method. A technique is a step undertaken to learn language. It could be an activity or an exercise ‘controlled, guided or openended practice of some aspect of language’ (Richards, 2014). Let us now focus on some approaches to, and methods of, language teaching. One of the most popular traditional approaches to language learning is the Grammar-Translation Method. The name signals the method used. By this method, the rules of grammar of the target language were learnt, and the student practiced the rules by translating the text of the home/known language to the foreign/target language. The texts used in this case were generally literature-based.

AN EXAMPLE The origins of the sonnet as a form of poetry can be traced to Italy, and it is distinct in its use of an octave (eight lines) and a sestet (six lines), in that order. Sir Thomas Wyatt and Henry Howard, the Earl of Surrey, first introduced the sonnet in English through their translations of the Italian sonnets. Today, the form is used by poets across the world in a variety of languages.

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The Grammar-Translation Method is rule-based and deductive in nature, with a focus on grammar. A student was deemed successful when she or he translated a classical text from the original to the target language. Speaking and listening, or the use of the target language to communicate in everyday life, were not given importance. Have you ever done a dictionary study? Have you studied a bilingual list of words, in, for instance, a glossary? Have you worked on exercises that asked you to translate from one language to the other? These are some typical activities in the Grammar-Translation Method. These exercises are still used, especially when learning classical languages.

A method that emerged almost in reaction to the Grammar-Translation Method and that has been used since the 1900s is the Direct Method. This method stems from the belief that all language learning must occur in the same way as the first language and that there must be no interference of the known language in the learning of another language. The Direct Method uses immersion to teach the target language. The learner must communicate only in the target language and cannot use their home language. In contrast to the Grammar-Translation Method, this method uses an inductive approach to language learning, wherein the learner discovers the rules governing the target language through regular exposure and use. The student learns through miming actions, use of visual materials and objects, much as a child learns the home language.The focus in this method is on everyday language use and emphasis is placed on the ability to speak fluently and accurately in the target language. Nativelike pronunciation and vocabulary expansion are given importance in this method. Do you think the Direct Method influences language teaching in the current school system? Consider these activities. • Students read passages aloud, focussing on tone and pronunciation. • Teachers dictate words or passages for students to take down. • Teachers pose questions, and students answer them. These are some common practices used by the Direct Method.

A similar approach is seen in the Audio-Lingual Method (ALM), which is also known as the army method because it was used extensively by the army during World War II to help soldiers learn to communicate with locals quickly.This system focussed on drill and practice of grammar. The patterns of sentence structure are introduced by the teacher, and the students recite them after her or him. Here too, as in the Direct Method, there is mimicking.What is being mimicked, though, is the

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teacher’s pronunciation, tone and inflection. Memorisation occurs enough times to make the language pattern come naturally to the learner. Skinner’s idea that learning occurs due to positive and negative reinforcement is incorporated into the Direct Method. The focus in this method is on listening and speaking, although reading and writing are also given their due. Each skill, however, is treated as a distinct one. You must have heard of, or seen, language labs. List a few features of the lab. Did your list contain some of the following? • • • •

The focus is on language form in the content presented. The learner practices drills and matches the material presented exactly. There is repetition of pattern-based instruction. The material is presented in a sequence that the learner has to follow in the same order. • Each skill of RWLS is focussed on separately. The language lab, it is apparent, followed the ALM and was used widely in the army. This form of the language lab is still popular.

An approach that is often confused with the Direct Method is the Oral Approach, also known as situational language teaching. Behaviourism as the underlying learning theory and structuralism as the linguistic theory form the core of this approach. However, unlike the Direct Method, the Oral Approach focusses on teaching vocabulary within the context of sentence structures. Further, it does not focus on reading and writing skills until the learner acquires sufficient oral command of lexicon and syntax. This is similar to the philosophy of the ALM, where teaching progresses from controlled production of language to a freer use of language. These methods are akin to the Direct Method and ALM. The Oral Approach was, however, inspired by the Direct Method. The underlying similarities between the ALM and Oral Approach/Situated Language Teaching indicate the way the underlying philosophy of one’s view of language and the nature of learning influences methods, procedures and techniques. Let us consider your English language textbooks. • What kinds of sentence structures are introduced in Grades 1 and 2? • How are they different from the sentences used in textbooks in Grades 6 and 7? • What skills are emphasised in Grades 1 and 2 as compared to Grades 6 and 7? If the sentences become longer and more complex, and speaking and drawing skills give way to reading and writing skills-based activities and

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exercises, it is an example of how situated language teaching emphasises the selection and gradation of learning and the presentation of learning material and activities to match them.

The methods discussed so far have largely been teacher-centric. In 1972, however, Caleb Gattegno introduced the Silent Way. This method is based on teaching structures of language but focusses on problem-solving and peer learning as the major tools of learning. The teacher’s role is to provide initial instruction and modelling of language for the students and to create an environment conducive to learning, as students discover the principles of language use as they accomplish tasks. The use of wall charts, colour-coded phonetic charts known as Fidel charts, colourful Cuisenaire rods (developed by Cuisenaire to teach mathematics) and various reading-writing exercises links sound to script and meaning. Students are allowed to use languages known to them to locate words and language structures needed to complete a given task. However, while the Silent Way gives students more agency and ensures that the teacher’s role is that of a facilitator, it still shares several traits with the ALM and the Direct Method (Richards & Rodgers, 1986). We will now consider an approach prevalent in different educational contexts today. In Chapter 3, we saw how behaviourism was challenged by Chomsky’s understanding of language learning as an innate ability possessed by all human beings. This Chomskian understanding of the nature of language forms the core of CLT.To understand the widespread shift and popularity of CLT, let us revisit the idea of communicative competence (Hymes, 1972). In his paper “On Communicative Competence”, Hymes adds to the concept of linguistic competence and performance given by Chomsky through the idea of communicative competence that encompasses the sociocultural effect on linguistic competence. We discussed Chomsky’s ideas about competence and performance in Chapter 1. Can rulebased competence suffice in language learning? How can one learn to communicate effectively in a social and cultural situation? Knowledge of rules, along with an ability to use them to communicate in sociocultural contexts, leads to effective communication. Barbara Rogoff ’s ethnographic studies in literacy practices naturalise and demonstrate the effectiveness in strengthening communicative competence when learners engage actively in their social communities and practices. Communicative competence, therefore, can be achieved through participation in sociocultural interaction. Based on this idea of communicative competence, the CLT approach departs from focussing only on grammatical and structural aspects of language learning. The changing discourse of language teaching adopted new techniques and methods that favoured the appropriate use of language in social situations during communication. For Savignon (1987), this departure forefronts negotiation of meaning and interpretation during language learning. Savignon argues that the context of language use in this approach is imperative and learners assume an active role when interpreting meaning.

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Case Study 1 Imagine a class where the teacher gives directions, the students physically perform the directives and all language learning is conducted using the whole body (creator: Ramesh Khade; idea: Anusha Ramanathan).

This method is James J. Asher’s Total Physical Response (TPR) approach, which is founded on the belief that language learning is an innate biological faculty that all human beings possess and that the physicality of learning aids language acquisition. This method is especially used in lower classes and programmes that cater to those with learning challenges, such as dyslexia.

Case Study 2 Imagine a class with no textbooks other than the notes the students themselves take. In this class, students are part of a community of learners that includes the teacher. Here the students learn from and teach each other. Language learning is considered a social process, and students and teachers enter into a contract where they mutually agree to achieve some language use goals in the course. In this class, after an activity, there is reflection on what one has learnt and the discussion that ensues focusses on not only language but also personal feelings. This kind of learning environment was conceptualised by Charles Curran, a psychologist, who formulated the Community Language Learning (CLL) method. He and his associates, such as La Forge, viewed language learning as a social process while acknowledging that language had structures, such as sound systems, and these must be taught. They based the learner-knower relationship on the client-counsellor one that they were familiar with as professionals. While CLL has several criticisms levelled against it, such as the lack of a

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predefined syllabus, the lack of training for teachers who are acting almost as counsellors, the use of a counselling model in language teaching and so on, the support for CLL praises the humanistic nature of a CLL class (Richards & Rodgers, 1986).

Case Study 3 Imagine a class where learners are told what they will be able to achieve at the end of the course. Imagine that learners are exposed to language items in the way they learn their first language. There are TPR activities that require learners to perform an action as an aspect of learning the verb. It is not the teacher who corrects errors but the learners who monitor their own language production and correct themselves. Imagine that this class introduces a sequence of progressively challenging language structures through the course that recognises errors as a developmental aspect of language learning. Imagine this teacher trusting the students to be able to use extralinguistic information and contextual understanding to comprehend language that is slightly more sophisticated than the level they are at. Imagine this class giving visual cues, such as pictures presented next to the text, to enable comprehension. Imagine a class that recognises that learning is affected by emotions and that self-confidence and motivation are best aided by focussing on meaning rather than form. This sequence is an illustration of Stephen Krashen’s hypotheses discussed in Chapter 3. The Natural Approach (not to be confused with the Natural Method, also known as the Direct Method, discussed earlier in this chapter) was introduced in 1983 by Krashen and Terrell. It follows the philosophy of language learning that Krashen laid out in his language acquisition theory: the Acquisition/Learning Hypothesis, the Monitor Hypothesis, the Natural Order Hypothesis, the Input Hypothesis and the Affective Filter Hypothesis. The Natural Approach is similar to the CLT approach, with the exception that in addition to meaning-making activities, this approach believes that language structures are acquired sequentially, acquiescing to the traditional methods of language learning.

In the previous sections, we discussed several traditional approaches to language learning that were quite prevalent in language classrooms and continue to find space in our classrooms today. Can you identify the focus of these approaches? Do the approaches focus on learning the form and structure of language or do they emphasise language as a medium for communication? Richards argues that traditional methods focussed on explicit grammar teaching, memorisation and mastery of rules, thereby valuing accuracy more than use or fluency of language (Richards, 2006)

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I picked up one of the library books and began dictating. I read out a sentence. But hardly had I said a few words, then the boys began to take them down: they paid no attention to the complete sentence. They began to ask me to repeat the sentence. There were repeated requests to repeat it. ‘Look!’ I said. ‘I’ll show you how to take down dictation. You should look at me when I speak. Listen to me carefully; understand what I say and then write. After that, look at me again for the next sentence.’ I continued to dictate the passage. At first they could not give up their old habit, but after a while, they learnt to take down dictation by the method I had shown. And after that, none of them had to ask me to repeat what I had said. I spoke only once and did not repeat a single word. After the dictation they put down their slates and I went through their writing. I found many words misspelt. Quite a few of them were unable to write conjunct consonants. Their handwriting also left much to be desired. I had made no corrections on their slates. These I returned after I had gone through them. The boys began to clamour, ‘How many mistakes have I made?’ asked some, while others wanted me to give them ranks. One of the boys said, ‘Now Laxmirambhai also will teach us as other teachers do and give us ranks.’ ‘I am going to do nothing of the sort,’ I said. ‘You all know how to write fairly well. Try again tomorrow. Gradually you will learn to write well. And practice will help you to write well – I’m sure of that. Anyway, what’s the point of marking your mistakes?’ − Excerpt from Gijubhai Bhadeka’s Divasapna (First published in 1932 in Gujarati, translated into English in 1989, p. 20–21) Does the teacher in this excerpt prioritise fluency or accuracy? Do you think the teacher succeeds in enabling students to learn the language? Read ahead to verify your prediction. … Within a week I was able to bring about some improvement in the area of dictation. I gave them transcription as homework every day. They were to copy out four lines from one book. I gave them dictation for ten minutes every day. They were also asked to take down dictation from each other and correct each other’s work. − Excerpt from Gijubhai Bhadeka’s Divasapna (1932, tr. 1989, p. 22) So, did you guess right? Focussing on accuracy is a legacy of the approaches and methods that arose from behaviourism. Fluency emphasises meaningful communication without

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hesitation. Fluency does not mean speed of speech, but an overall lack of hesitation in speech, also known as automaticity. The CLT approach highlights fluency as a crucial skill that will lead to accuracy over a period of time. Diary writing is a popular activity that exemplifies how fluency can lead to accuracy. There is no correction of mistakes made in this exercise. Instead, consistent attempts to express one’s thoughts lead to a better command over language. Another aspect of language use is appropriacy, based on the movement from semantics to pragmatics. As one progresses in learning a language, the contextual use of the language is important to notice and apply in one’s language use. This too comes from repeated exposure to, and use of, language. For instance, we would speak in complete sentences in formal environments when informally, brief phrases would suffice: ‘Would you like some tea, please?’ (formal) as opposed to ‘Want some tea?’ or just ‘Tea?’ (informal).

We now need to ask what CLT entails. How is it different from the traditional methods discussed so far? We will discuss two case studies in the next section to understand this difference better.

CLT in the classroom Case Study 1 Ms. Snigdha’s goal for this week’s English language classroom is to enable students to use future forms of verbs effectively. She begins by introducing future tense and its four forms – simple future tense, future progressive tense, future perfect tense and future perfect progressive. She explains all the grammatical rules related to converting sentences into each of these forms. After introducing these forms, Ms. Snigdha holds a session revising the rules and ensuring that everyone in the classroom is acquainted with them. This is followed by a whole-class practice of converting sentences into various forms. The last session of the week involves solving exercises and activities related to future tense, which are evaluated by Ms. Snigdha.

Case Study 2 Ms. Manjula is teaching future tense to her students of Grade 5. She begins with a textbook story, where she reads part of it and stops at a critical point in the narrative. Students are then asked to predict what will happen next in the story. She writes their predictions on the blackboard. After the story reading session, she draws the students’ attention to the kinds of structures used while predicting

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and introduces the future tenses. In the next session, students are asked to read the story and identify the future tenses. Ms. Manjula then conducts a small group activity where students are divided into pairs. Each pair has to select a topic from a predetermined list and discuss them with their partner. They then compose a small write-up based on their discussion. • How do you think the environment will change in the forthcoming 50 years? • What are your plans for the coming year? • What will you do when you reach home today? • What do you think your friend/parent/relative is doing after lunch today? After this activity, Ms. Manjula collects the write-ups, looks at a few examples from the bunch and indicates the different forms of future tenses that the students used while composing their pieces.

Based on the two case studies consider the following questions: 1 . What is the difference between the two cases? 2. How are the techniques and strategies different? Some reflections arising from the case studies that comment on CLT are as follows: •

Ms. Manjula focusses on familiarising students with grammatical components through the contexts of their use, while Ms. Snigdha focusses on grammar as a discrete structure. • The activities designed by Ms. Manjula are authentic and meaningful, while in Ms. Snigdha’s classroom, the activities are rule-based, with an explicit focus on grammar and structures of language. • Learners play an active role in Ms. Manjula’s classroom, while in Ms. Snigdha’s class, they assume a passive role. • Ms. Manjula allows learners to communicate in the classroom naturally by designing group tasks, while Ms. Snigdha elicits responses in a more controlled environment without providing opportunities to students for mutual interaction or communication. Berns (1990) outlines principles of CLT that are relevant to understanding the practices that we have seen in the earlier cases. 1 . Language teaching is aimed at enabling meaningful communication by learners. 2. Language competence is affected by various cultural factors, and CLT takes into account this learner diversity.

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3. Accuracy is relative, not universal. Acceptance levels of accuracy can vary across learner characteristics and contexts. For instance, we would accept more errors from a child than from an adult speaking their language. Similarly, with the pervasiveness of World Englishes discussed in Chapter 2, the accuracy levels of speech in different countries need not be measured against British or American English as the standardised accurate versions of the language. 4. Language learning is not dependent on a single method. Language teaching pedagogy in the communicative approach allows learners to actively use and engage with language for different purposes. 5. Language learning serves ideational, interpersonal and textual functions. Consider the following activity, reflecting on the roles of the learner and teacher and compare them with the roles of the learner and teachers in a conventional English language classroom. As we observed in the activity, students engage in different types of tasks and use language to achieve concrete objectives other than identifying or learning about language structure and form. Students use their language skills and enhance their language abilities by participating in authentic communication tasks. In an attempt to create materials for an exhibition or communicating about the event with other students in the school, learners use language meaningfully in the course of the

The students of Grade 8 organise a storyboard exhibition as a part of their English project. They invite students from Grades 6, 7 and 9 to see the storyboards that have been created. As part of the process, the students are divided into the following groups. 1 Organising Team   The organising team prepares plans for where and how to set up the exhibition (e.g. the date, time, venue and so on) and shares them with their classmates. 2 Communication Teams   This team disseminates the information about the exhibition through posters, announcements and by responding to queries related to the event. They prepare material for communication and present it to the students involved in the planning of the exhibition. 3 Activity team   The activity team creates and handles the activity corner, preparing at least ten activities for the exhibition. These activities are conducted with their classmates to orient them before the final event. 4 Registration team   This team provides a welcome kit to the participants who join the exhibition and explains to them the best ways of exploring the exhibits. This team also maintains a feedback register to record suggestions from the participants.

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Two English teachers work closely with each team and help them prepare the plans and materials. Appropriate formats and examples for each activity are shared with the students. Some materials from the school’s earlier events are displayed in the classroom to help the students organise the current one. Both teachers provide feedback to each team and help them finalise their draft, which is shared for peer feedback and then finalised.

activities. There is no single way to complete the tasks given, and each student contributes his or her ideas, knowledge and background information through the materials created. In this case, learners assume an active role in their learning process. They use language, direct and guide the activities according to their own contexts and levels. They are not bound by close-ended activities that are guided by a teacher. Through group work and peer feedback, students’ interpretations and interactions find a central place in language learning and use that occur incidental to the activities. The teachers facilitate and create spaces for peer communication. In such activities, teachers must discard the idea of ‘a single correct way’ of learning and/or use of language and allow for multiple interpretations and perspectives to enter the classroom. For example, there is no one ‘perfect’ way to design an exhibition plan since students can construct their own template and create a plan that can later go through multiple negotiated iterations. Such sessions need not be driven by feedback that is corrective and focussed on errors. Rather, the sessions work towards a feedback cycle where teachers and students collaborate to complete the task at hand. We see that activities in a CLT classroom have communication as the primary aim. They focus on language fluency through real-life, authentic activities. Contrary to popular misconceptions that CLT-focussed activities stress speaking and listening skills alone, the CLT classroom addresses all language components through meaningful integrated activities. CLT is thus an approach that informs the planning and design of tasks ranging from role plays; information gap activities; speaking and conversation activities; information gathering tasks, such as interviews; and sharing points of view and experiences, such as writing a recipe, creating invitations for school events, designing classroom games and so on) (Richards, 2006). Littlewood (2007), in his paper outlines a framework that designates activities on a communicative continuum. Non-communicative learning comprises tasks that are drills-and-rule-based or memory-based. Pre-communicative tasks primarily focus on language structure but offer some scope for meaningful language use, such as finding answers to comprehension questions from the text. Communicative practice shifts focus and emphasises

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communication through finding and sharing information such as information/reasoning gap activities found, for instance, in map-reading exercises. Structured communication allows for interaction and communication through role plays and interviews. Authentic communicative tasks involve real-life interactions through project work, debates, etc. (Littlewood, 2007). Littlewood emphasises that teachers who use the CLT approach in their classroom can aim to move towards the other continuum by passing slowly through all categories rather than through a dramatic shift from the first to fifth categories. Such an approach aligns with the Postmethod framework, as it allows teachers to consider learners’ backgrounds, levels, educational contexts and cultures, thereby successfully adapting it to their classrooms. Analyse the activities discussed in this chapter. In which category will you place them based on Littlewoods’s categorisation?

Task-based language teaching (TBLT) The TBLT approach takes ‘tasks’ as starting points of a language classroom. Richards (2006)calls TBLT instruction an extension of the communicative approach to language teaching, with a common goal of developing the communicative abilities of learners. In order to understand this approach better, let us explore what is meant by a task.

DEFINING ‘TASK’ An activity which needs learners to come to a conclusion from a given information through some process of thought, and which allows teachers to handle and control the process. (Prabhu, 1987, p. 24) My own definition is that a task is a piece of classroom work that involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is focused on mobilizing their grammatical knowledge in order to express meaning, and in which the intention is to convey meaning rather than to manipulate form. (Nunan, 2006, p. 17)

A task can be any activity that has a goal other than identifying language structure and form. It provides space for the learner to use language meaningfully in order to complete a particular task. The TBLT approach was popularised by N. S. Prabhu through his Bangalore Project, where he used various tasks, such as reading railway timetables, listening and drawing, interpreting rules of transport and so on, to achieve communicative and language-related functions. A task-based lesson can be divided into a pre-task, a task cycle and a language focus (Willis as cited in Harmer, 2007). According to Willis, in the pre-task stage, the teacher gives instructions related to, and prepares the learner for, the task. This is

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followed by the task cycle, where learners complete the given task and share their reflections with their teachers and peers. The language focus stage, which can also be called the post-task stage, involves discussions about the performed task with a focus on specific language features illustrated by, or used during, the task. A similar organisation was proposed by Prabhu, who stated that a task must be preceded by a preliminary task. One must note here that language features are not separately discussed in this process but brought to notice after the task performance, indicating its meaningful usage during the task and anticipating the learner’s retrospective reflection as contributing to their assimilation of the language. Case Study 1 Look at the following tasks conducted with students from Grade 7. Can you identify the skills and language functions that the tasks will hone? This activity has several parts. Part 1: Mr. Roy asked his students to watch a cookery show. He asked them to focus on the language used by the chef while hosting the show. Part 2: Mr Roy asked the students to focus on the language and sentence construction used by the chef while giving instructions in the show. He gave each group 15 minutes to discuss, compare and reflect on the language used to give instructions and the vocabulary used to welcome viewers. He then asked each group to share their reflections. Based on the discussion and through examples from the show, Mr. Roy introduced imperative verbs. Part 3: The next day, students were given a number of recipe cards to examine in groups and pick any one recipe to host their own cookery show. They were encouraged to pick recipes that didn’t require much heating/cooking and that could be demonstrated easily in the classroom, such as making lemonade, sandwiches, salads or fruit chaat. Part 4: Each group saw the presentations made by their peers and noted the recipes in their books after watching the show. Mr. Roy facilitated the activity and provided feedback on the language and presentation of the recipes. The shows were recorded on a mobile app by the teacher.

Case Study 2 Mr. Singh gave a flight schedule to his students. They were then divided into groups and asked to read the schedules together. Date: May 11, 2020 1. Delhi to Mumbai 2. Chennai to Bangalore 3. Jaipur to Kolkata

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Based on the schedule, they were asked to find the best flights suitable for the following people: 1. Ruchi needs to visit her parents in Mumbai and wants to book a flight for May 11, 2020. However, she did not get a leave of absence from her office for the 11th and can only take an evening flight. Find a suitable flight for her. 2. Aslam’s Nani (grandmother) is travelling from Chennai to Bangalore. She prefers to take flights only during the day. She would also like to book a direct flight that offers cheaper tickets. 3. Mr. Garg is travelling from Jaipur to Kolkata for a sales pitch. He has a meeting with the client at 2 p.m. He also gets a corporate discount with Vistara and Indigo Airlines. Mr. Singh plans to give feedback on how the student groups arrived at a particular flight and the strategies they used to choose the schedule.

CASE STUDY 3 Imagine that Ruchi took the flight that you selected and lost her checked-in luggage. She has to write a complaint letter to the airlines about how she was inconvenienced and ask them to trace it and send it to her at the earliest. 1. Can you divide the activities given in the first two case studies into pre-task, task cycle and language focus stages? 2. For Case Study 3, please design a pre-task, task and language focus task. How will you ensure that students use formal academic language while completing this task and develop CALP?

We have discussed the implementation of CLT in the classroom through various case studies. How would the communicative syllabus differ from a syllabus designed for a traditional English language classroom? Based on your understanding of the CLT approach, reflect on and enter the characteristics of each syllabus in the following table. Traditional syllabus

CLT approach syllabus

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A traditional syllabus would focus on topics that introduce the structure and forms of language to the students. It may not look at language skills holistically or in an integrated manner. To understand the idea behind a CLT approach–based syllabus, one must begin with Wilkins’s (1976) work on the notional syllabus. Wilkins (1976) argued that the starting point of a notional syllabus design is communication and not language structure or form. He envisioned the syllabus as comprising ‘notions’ based on real-life communication, such as greetings, introductions or expressing dissent, that is rooted in meaningful use of language. Syllabi designed on the basis of this principle will help learners develop communicative abilities for appropriate use of language and not merely acquaint themselves with the structure, form and grammar of language. Notional/functional syllabus designs have been generally recommended as appropriate for a CLT approach. There have, equally, been many critiques of this approach to syllabus design as well. Nunan, Candlin and Widdowson (1988) point out that a list of functions and notions is, in principle, similar to structural-traditional syllabi that outline a list of grammatical and structural items. The list of functions and notions may often not take into account the contextual and sociocultural realities of the learner. Savignon (1987) indicates that although a functional approach towards syllabus development is meaningful and useful, it is not systematically selected or arrived at. She proposes, instead, a combination of structural and functional elements for syllabus design. Savignon goes beyond providing a list of components to be included in a communicative syllabus and suggests a larger curriculum design for a communicative classroom. Savignon (1987) identifies five components of a communicative language curriculum that is based on integratedness: an overlap between components and a non-linear flow. The first component, language arts, deals with the rules and structure of language. The second component, language for purpose, focusses on real life and meaningful use of language. My language is me, which is the third component, stresses personal expression and competence that each language user seeks that is beyond formal rules and accuracy of the language. Theatre art, the fourth component, pays attention to inclusion of role play, drama and improvisations in a communicative curriculum. The last component, beyond classroom, is geared towards preparing students to communicate effectively outside the classroom.

Have you come across English language textbooks that follow the components laid out by Savignon in a single lesson?

Richards (2006) outlines two kinds of syllabi for a CLT classroom – skill-based and function-based. The former focusses on an integrated microskills-based syllabus and the latter on language functions that are essential for effective communication, such as introductions, greetings, expressing opinions, communicating disappointment, apologising, congratulating someone and so on. While Richards acknowledges the prevalence of other kinds of syllabi, such as notional and task-based ones,

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he critiques them for their exclusion of language components, such as grammar, vocabulary and language topics. In this, Richards’s concern reflects the one raised by Savignon (1987). Do you agree with the given statements? 1. The CLT approach focusses on real-life/meaningful use of language. 2. The CLT approach doesn’t focus on reading and writing activities/skill. 3. The CLT approach involves awareness about grammatical structure and functions. 4. The CLT approach doesn’t focus on rules, syntax and structure of the language. 5. The CLT approach can be adapted according to the learners’ context.

The CLT approach does not restrict itself to a single method or list of topics. It concerns itself, instead, with helping learners use language holistically through meaningmaking activities and, in the process, acquaint themselves with different language components and structures. Merely limiting oneself to a set of linguistic structures, as in behaviourist methods, or a list of topics suggested in the notional-functional approach, will limit the creativity and critical thinking of the learner by controlling the pace of instruction and choice in expression. CLT gives agency to the learner as well as the teacher to include their experiences in the language learning process. In this respect, CLT offers scope within a Postmethod paradigm, inviting educationists to approach it as a tool that can be adapted and redesigned to suit the specific needs of the learner. Contemporary approaches that include sociocultural factors in CLT ensure, equally, that the goal of critical and cultural literacies in developing intercultural competence and critical reflection are not forgotten in the language classroom. The scope of defining ‘communicative English’ becomes expansive.

The role of the teacher in the Postmethod era Although CLT has become popular in ELT, efforts must be made to prepare teachers to facilitate authentic and meaningful communication in the classroom. Nunan (1987) points to the need to conduct research activities that can ascertain if the classroom practices promote genuine communication. In the process, he highlights the role of teachers and the development of their capacities to enable meaningful communicative interaction in the classroom. Reliance on any one strategy or method will limit the growth of learners and the options for teachers. In order to prepare teachers to make their classrooms truly communicative, the macrostrategies formulated by Kumaravadivelu offer a suitable rubric. CLT, as stated earlier, is an approach and comprises various methods,

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techniques and strategies that can be applied to enable authentic communication in the classroom. Kumaravadivelu (2003) highlights three features definitive of contemporary times: the need to find an ‘alternative to method rather than an alternative method’ (pp. 32–33), the need to recognise and enable ‘teacher autonomy’ (p. 33) and the need for ‘principled pragmatism’ (p. 33) that requires teachers to reflect on their own practices and through self-critique, engage in professional development or get feedback from their community of practice to improve the teachinglearning process. He identifies three parameters that govern these processes: 1. Particularity – the selection of pedagogy, syllabus and materials must take into account the local contexts of the particular teacher/s, learners and learning situations, including social, political, economic and cultural. 2. Practicality – the process must be relevant to the teacher and learner and must acknowledge that the teacher is in the best position to address the needs of the learners. 3. Possibility – the teaching-learning process must tap into the sociocultural experiences and existing knowledge of the teachers and the learners, giving space to their individual identities.

KUMARAVADIVELU (2003)’S MACROSTRATEGIES Match the following statements with the ten macrostrategies that Kumaravadivelu proposes as a language-learning-theory-agnostic, teachinglearning process. 1. The teacher should use his or her learners’ interests and experiences to promote language learning. 2. The teacher should be aware that the learners may have misinterpreted instructions and so must be vigilant so that she or he can course correct. 3. The teacher should not merely facilitate learner responses but encourage learners to initiate and suggest topics for discovery learning in the classroom and arrive at fair class agreements on what should be focussed upon in the learning situation. 4. The teacher must enable the learners to take charge of their learning. 5. The teacher should help learners notice language structures and forms. 6. The teacher should provide plenty of rich materials that facilitate the learners to infer grammatical rules and language use. 7. The teacher must be aware and make the learners aware that there are linguistic, extralinguistic (such as visuals), situational and extrasituational contexts that affect language use and usage. 8. The teacher should not separate RWLS skills in her teaching.

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 9. The teacher should take into account current events and the learners’ sociocultural, politico-economic contexts and be sensitive to them. 10. The teacher needs to acknowledge the information that students possess and enable them to express themselves and change the power dynamics in the classroom.

Kumaravadivelu (2003) ’s terminology: a. Minimising perceptual mismatches b. Contextualising linguistic input c. Promoting learner autonomy d. Ensuring social relevance e. Raising cultural consciousness f. Facilitating negotiated interactions g. Integrating language skills h. Fostering language awareness i. Maximising learning opportunities j. Activating intuitive heuristics Answer: 1- j|2 - a|3 - f|4- c|5 - h|6 - j|7 - b|8 - g|9 - d|10 - e

CASE STUDY: A COMMUNICATIVE TASK FOR LANGUAGE LEARNING AS PROCESS A teacher wants to conduct an information gap activity in the classroom and make it meaningfully communicative. She or he decides to take up map reading since the learners have been introduced to this earlier, and they enjoy doing this particular task. To make it contextual, she or he uses the map of the school. The teacher maximises learning opportunities by designing the mapreading task as a collaborative peer activity where learners are required to interact with, and talk to, each other. The students guide each other to a specific point or collaboratively fill out a worksheet that requires them to navigate directions and reach the spot. Since map reading can present many possible options to reach a particular destination, students are encouraged to negotiate and arrive at a solution. The activity uses the heuristic technique, and the designed task encourages them to problem-solve. Post-task completion, the teacher invites students’ responses, discussing how they arrived at the answer and the language elements utilised during the process, such as sentences and expressions used to give directions. The task designed here utilises all four language skills and enables their meaningful use. The teacher makes map reading relevant by using a familiar

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school-based map. Sociocultural consciousness is raised by introducing culturally relevant ways of interacting and giving directions during discussions and facilitation. Can you observe how each of the macrostrategies ascertains that the activity creates space for meaningful communication to take place in the classroom? Are there aspects you would like to change or make more explicit? How would you design an activity to develop CALP (see Chapter 3) using at least four of Kumaravadivelu’s macrostrategies?

On a similar note, Douglas Brown (2007) offers 12 principles for language pedagogy (Table 5.1).

TABLE 5.1  H. Douglas Brown’s 12 principles for language pedagogy

Cognitive principles

Socio-affective principles

Linguistic principles

• Automaticity – Learning is automatic; overthinking rules will impede learning. • Meaningful learning – Connections must be made between existing knowledge and new knowledge and learning in small chunks of language items does not aid deep learning. • Anticipation of reward – Some form of recognition is a motivating factor to heighten learning. • Intrinsic motivation – Learning occurs best when the learner is self-driven. • Strategic investment – Time and energy must be invested wisely in the learning process. More time does not necessarily equal better learning.

• Language ego – Learning a new language develops a new consciousness in a person, a new ‘ego’. • Self-confidence – Belief in one’s ability to learn aids learning. • Risk-taking – Experimentation enhances long-term learning. • Language-culture connection – Learning a new language enables connection to another culture.

• Native language – Effect – the home/first language (L1) can both aid and impede learning the target language (L2) but what is helpful is to try and think in L2 instead of translating. • Interlanguage – Language learning is systematic and hence the L2 learner will have a developmental stage of being logically correct but grammatically incorrect in language use. These interlanguage errors are temporary and an important aspect of language learning and need not be corrected. • Communicative competence – Language learning should focus on fluency and appropriacy and not just accuracy.

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An adolescent learner in the advanced beginner stage of learning English uses sentences such as the following: • The childrens are dirty. • I walks to the park every day. • He selled his cycle yesterday. What kind of errors are these? We can identify them as interlanguage errors that result from generalising language rules. These rules include ones such as plurals end with ‘s’, that singular subjects have an ‘s’ in the present tense verb form or that past tense forms of verbs end with ‘ed’. These errors are developmental ones and need not be subject to correction by the teacher. Are there such examples you can identify in your own experience for the other 11 of Brown’s principles?

The role of the teacher: New technologies and materials Language learning programmes have syllabi and content prescribed for students. However, increasingly, teacher agency is granted in how the material can and must be taught and in the selection of complementary and supplementary materials. To set the context of material selection, let us look at the following example. It was a very hot day. The temperature outside was almost 95 degrees. What do you think needs to be thought of when selecting this material for a Grade 3 class in India? • Is the vocabulary simple enough to understand? • Are the sentence structures age and learning level appropriate? • Is there a concept that needs to be explained? The concept of 95 degrees is based on the American system of measuring in Fahrenheit. In India, we use the Celsius measurement for temperature. For example, 1 degree Fahrenheit = 17.2222 degrees Celsius and 95 degrees Fahrenheit = 35 degrees Celsius. This is something that a third-grade student would not know and would imagine the heat to be abnormally high. What should the teacher do with this material?

A sentence of this kind may occur in an authentic text, such as a literary piece or a newspaper article. In a CLT classroom, it is desirable to use authentic materials to promote communication in English. However, in the earlier case, there is a cognitive load involved in comprehending the content.Temperature measurements are taught

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at the earliest in Grade 5. It requires content knowledge of temperature measurement, understanding of its varying use in different geographies/cultures and being able to use one’s critical faculty to understand that 95 degrees Celsius would be equivalent to the temperature of boiling water. It is in this context that the concept of fabricated materials for language learning becomes relevant. The fabrication can be a simple change of 95 degrees to 95 degrees Fahrenheit or 35 degrees (that it is Celsius would be understood by a learner from India). Fabricated materials also can be created by designers afresh, such as a teacher crafting a newspaper article to focus on certain aspects of English. The choice of using authentic or fabricated materials usually rests with the teacher, foregrounding the importance of teacher agency and the belief that she or he is the best judge of the needs of the classroom. Another aspect of TPD is the appropriate use of relevant ICT in teaching. With the release of the National Education Policy (Government of India, 2020), the United Nations’ identification of 21st-century skills and the thrust on digitisation and use of ICT in learning, teachers need to enhance their skills in using technology and stay current with developments in the field. Technology-enabled language learning, which includes Computer-Assisted Language Learning and MobileAssisted Language Learning (MALL), comprises some approaches and instructional platforms that use the affordances of ICT, such as interactivity, real-time feedback, individualised instruction and adaptive multimedia, in the language classroom to scaffold learning. There are many tools and applications available online and offline to use in ELT. Here is a list of tools and applications that one can use in the language classroom. • Freeplane: A mind-mapping tool: https://www.freeplane.org/wiki/index. php/Home • Pratham Books StoryWeaver: A repository for short stories and images https://storyweaver.org.in/ • CLIx English Modules: https://clixoer.tiss.edu • TED Talks: A repository of talks by expert speakers with interactive transcription https://www.ted.com/ • TED Ed: A platform for lessons based on TED Talks https://ed.ted.com/ • Poll Everywhere: Allows for both close-ended and open-ended quizzes https://www.polleverywhere.com/ What kinds of contexts will these tools be relevant within? What kinds of students (age group, socio-economic strata, nationality) will find these tools relevant? What kinds of activities can these tools support?

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The teacher’s role is to constantly reflect on practice and beliefs and strive to enhance learning. This means that the teacher needs to upskill periodically and become a lifelong learner. Building on skills includes developing knowledge and competence in not merely pedagogical practices but in content knowledge as well; awareness of writers, poets, genres and discourses; reading and interpretative practices; and the changing contours of humanities and language studies that inform classroom practices.

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we considered the following: • The definition of approach, method, procedure, technique, task, activity and exercise • Select approaches and methods of language learning: Grammar-Translation Method, Direct Method, ALM, Oral Approach/Situated Learning Approach, Silent Way, CLL, CLT, TBLT, functional-notional approach • The characteristics of a syllabus based on the approach selected • The role of the teacher in the Postmethod era • Kumaravadivelu’s 10 macrostrategies and Brown’s 12 principles of language learning • The use of authentic and fabricated materials • The need for a teacher to stay current with developments in language learning, the areas of content, pedagogies and ICT for effecting principled pragmatism in the classroom

Exercises 1. What are the advantages and disadvantages of using a notional-functional syllabus in the classroom? 2. What are the challenges of adopting a communicative approach in your classroom, and how can you overcome these challenges? 3. Design a lesson plan using the CLT approach and focussing on the Postmethod macrostrategies suggested by Kumaravadivelu. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 5 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

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References Berns, M. (1990). Contexts of Competence: Social and Cultural Considerations in Communicative Language Teaching. Springer Science & Business Media. Bhadeka, G. (1989). Divasapna. (C. Pathak, Trans.). National Book Trust. Brown, H. D. (2007). Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Pearson Longman. Gattegno, C. (1972). Teaching Foreign Languages in Schools:The Silent Way (2nd ed.). Educational Solutions. Government of India. (2020). National Education Policy. MHRD. Harmer, J. (2001). How to Teach English: An Introduction to the Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education Limited. ———. (2007). The Practice of English Language Teaching. Pearson Education Limited Hymes, D. (1972). On Communicative Competence. Sociolinguistics, 269293: 269–293. Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond Methods: Macrostrategies for Language Teaching.Yale University Press. Littlewood, W. (2007). Communicative and Task-Based Language Teaching in East Asian Classrooms. Language Teaching, 40(3): 243. Melrose, R. (1995). The Communicative Syllabus: A Systemic-Functional Approach to Language Teaching (Linguistics: Bloomsbury Academic Collections). Bloomsbury Academic. Retrieved September 21, 2020, from http://dx.doi.org/10.5040/9781474285438 Nunan, D. (1987). Communicative Language Teaching: Making it Work. ELT Journal 41(2): 136–145. Nunan, D., Candlin, C. N., & Widdowson, H. G. (1988). Syllabus Design (Vol. 55). Oxford University Press. Nunan, D. (2006). Task-based Language Teaching in the Asia Context: Defining ‘task’. Asian EFL Journal 8 (3). Prabhu, N. S. (1987). Second Language Pedagogy (Vol. 20). Oxford University Press. Richards, J. C. (2014, July 03). “Difference Between Task, Exercise, Activity.” Professor Jack C. Richards. Retrieved from www.professorjackrichards.com/ difference-task-exercise-activity/. Richards, J. C., & Rodgers, T. S. (2001). Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C. (2006). Communicative Language Teaching Today. Singapore: SEAMEO Regional Language Centre. Savignon, S. J. (1987). Communicative Language Teaching. Theory Into Practice 26(4): 235–242. Wilkins, D. (1976). Notional Syllabuses. Bulletin CILA (Commission interuniversitaire suisse de linguistique appliquée)(«Bulletin VALS-ASLA» depuis 1994) 24: 5–17.

6 TEACHING OF LANGUAGE – II (LANGUAGE THROUGH LITERATURE)

Imagination is the only weapon in the war against reality. Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865) Teaching language through literature remains a popular approach within language education. The national policy documents on the teaching of Indian languages and the teaching of English acknowledge the power of creative and literary works in supporting holistic development of language skills. This happens in a variety of ways, as discussed in Chapter 1, where we approached the notion of language from the linguistic, cognitive, representational, symbolic and cultural perspectives. In this context, we looked at theories of language learning and acquisition, the place of literacy and approaches to teaching English for communication. We also considered the cultural discourses that surround us and ways in which communication channels flow through a variety of forms and media. Communication, as it emerges through these perspectives, is not merely a functional process of encoding and decoding messages but a deeper life skill that connects us to each other and our environment. Recent studies in communication theory and literacy, alike, draw on discourses and ideologies as intellectual constructs that communicate social and cultural values. In this chapter, we will look at ways in which literature, as a discourse and as a stylised mode of communication, can be used to teach language in the classroom. We will also explore the aspects of literacy, functional/operational/basal, critical or cultural, which are suitably addressed through the teaching of language through literature. It should be noted that recent research challenges a linear understanding of literacy as progressing from the functional to the critical. Instead, the focus of language education should be critical and cultural literacy, which will naturally lead to functional literacy while simultaneously equipping learners with critical consciousness. From transacting literary works to sharpen RWLS skills that can support critical thought and different approaches to teaching grammar and vocabulary, to developing competence in different rhetorical modes of communication (expository,

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descriptive, narrative, argumentative and persuasive) and cultural discourses, this chapter will look at ways the use of literature in the language classroom can support critical consciousness and intercultural competence.

OBJECTIVES By the end of this chapter, the reader will be able to − become familiar with the different objectives and approaches to teaching language through literature for critical literacy; − construct objectives for teaching RWLS skills for critical literacy using literature; − teach grammar and vocabulary for critical literacy using literary texts; − identify and teach different rhetorical modes of communication for critical literacy; − understand and adapt discourse-based approaches to teaching language through literature; and − analyse, evaluate and design, Teaching Learning Resources (TLRs) using literature to teach language for (critical) literacy.

This chapter is divided into the following sections: • • • • •

Teaching RWLS Skills for Critical Literacy Teaching Vocabulary for Critical Literacy Teaching Grammar for Critical Literacy Discourse-Based Language Teaching Teaching Rhetorical Modes of Communication

Teaching RWLS skills for critical literacy Kate Stephens, speaking of the NLS, remarks on the integral aspect of critical thinking to the development of RWLS skills.With comprehension, understanding and construction of new knowledge as the core objectives of teaching the four skills in the classroom, analytic thinking, synthesis and evaluation become indispensable to the development of these skills for critical literacy. In this section, we will unpack the meaning of the terms comprehension, understanding and meaning-making by looking at activities designed to sharpen local, global and inferential comprehension, as well as skimming and scanning for information. It is necessary at the same time to look for layers of meaning through deep reading that, according to Maryanne Wolf, requires moving vertically within a text, plumbing its depths and slowing the pace of reading for deeper understanding. A literary work, by virtue of its form and content, offers a viable place for this practice. This section explores the different ways in which teaching RWLS skills can promote critical literacy by making the connection between the self and the text, the word and the world, a core concern of activities in the language classroom.

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Consider the following lesson plan, based on William Shakespeare’s verses of “The Seven Ages of Man” – “All the World’s a Stage”. As you read the lesson plan, reflect on the following: 1 . Did the plan focus on all four skills of language separately? 2. What language topics have been covered using this lesson plan? 3. How does the lesson plan allow readers to connect to the poem? The poem can be accessed at https://allpoetry.com/all-the-world’s-a-stage. Learning outcome

time required: 95 minutes

At the end of this session learners will be able to 1. read and summarise the poem in their own words, 2. participate in discussions related to the poem and 3. guess the meaning of new words in the poem.

Assessment activity for students Pick poems from the reading corner (in the classroom/library), summarise them individually and create a compilation book of the poem summaries for the reading corner. Students are free to complement and/or represent the summary through word maps/comics/pictures or any other multimodal form. Materials required: poems, notebook, blackboard/whiteboard, colourful paper, colours and sketch pens

Sequence of activity 1. Pre-reading task: Students are divided into pairs. Each pair discusses how people of different ages differ from each other. The pairs list the differences. The teacher asks a few pairs to share their answers with the entire class (10 minutes). 2. After the reading task, the teacher reads the poem out aloud to the class. Students listen to the poem. Students are then asked to individually and silently read the poem (15 minutes). 3. After students finish reading, the teacher and students engage in a discussion related to the poem. The following questions guide the discussion. a. What is the poem about? b. What is the first thought that came to your mind after reading the poem? c. Do you think that the poet has appropriately described the seven stages of man?

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d. What did you like about the poem? Is there something in the poem that you disagree with (15 minutes)? 4. In preparation for the next activity, the teacher creates a flowchart or a mind map on the whiteboard/blackboard, discussing the major ideas in the poem. After this, students are encouraged to write a summary of the poem individually (20 minutes). 5. In the next activity, groups of students are asked to highlight new/unfamiliar words in the poem and guess the meaning after reading the particular line or paragraph in which the word is located. They can later use the dictionary to check if they guessed it right. The teacher facilitates the group task (15 minutes). Assessment task (20 minutes)

Some reflections: 1. The lesson plan, based on Shakespeare’s “The Seven Ages of Man” (“All the World’s a Stage”), focusses on summary writing as one of its objectives. The instructional activities designed to achieve this objective are integrated with nature and learners will make use of all four language skills while attempting the given activity. The tasks on listening and reading the poem and creating a mind map through discussion, followed by writing a summary, will require learners to use different language skills and abilities in the process of task completion. 2. Another objective of the plan is to enable vocabulary development by guessing the contextual meaning of the words. Such an approach targets vocabulary acquisition through the meaningful use of words embedded in the context. Margaret Donaldson points out that while reading books, students do not pause to find the meaning of individual words. For instance, when we read a novel, we do not consult the dictionary for every new word we encounter. Does ignorance of the exact meaning of words affect our understanding of the story/novel we are reading? We often guess the meaning through the context in which the words are used. The same is true when we engage in conversations.Vocabulary acquisition happens effectively if the words are encountered repeatedly but in meaningful situations and not as separate disembodied entities from the text. 3. Within the lesson plan, students are also encouraged to respond to questions during the discussion activity, which helps them express their interpretations, feelings and thoughts after reading the poem. It is evident that comprehension skills are an integral part of teaching students to read, write, listen and speak a language. Critical thinking, meaning-making and understanding are embedded in the act of RWLS. Let us now consider another activity where Ruskin Bond’s story “Tiger My Friend” is used to strengthen reading comprehension skills in students through a multimodal approach. Think also of the age and context of learners that would be most suited for this set of activities.

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Activity 1 Create a comic strip based on the story “Tiger My Friend” by Ruskin Bond. Activity 2 After reading the story, find answers to the following questions with your partner. 1. Were the hunters able to hunt the tiger? 2. What altered the hunting habits of the tiger? 3. Why didn't the tiger attack the men who had come with drums? Activity 3 1. Discuss the following with your partner: a. Why did Kundan miss the shot the first time? b. Why were Kundan’s men carrying drums? Activity 4 1. How did you feel after reading the story? 2. What do you think the tiger would have thought about the villagers? 3. Does this story remind you of some incident in your life? 4. Complete the story:

‘Chotu had heard the tiger roaring last night. So he…’

Look at the first three activities given in the box. What is the difference between Activities 1, 2 and 3? While all three activities are comprehension ones, the purpose and nature of each is different. Activity 1 requires learners to understand the story completely and then create a comic strip. To recreate the story in comic form, competence in multimodal literacy, an overall understanding of the story and creative thinking, is essential. The learner will also need to refer to the entire text/story. Such activities/ questions are aimed at strengthening skills of global comprehension. In Activity 2, specific questions from the text have been asked. The learner will have to read specific portions of the text/story carefully to locate information for the specific questions. Such activities/questions are aimed at strengthening local comprehension skills. Let us now look at the second question in Activity 3.The answers to these questions are not given in the story directly. The learner has to arrive at the answer by inferring from the hints and evidence given in the text and background information possessed by the learner. This is referred to as inferential comprehension. Now consider Activity 4. The questions in this activity allow the learners to connect with the text and bring in their own context, emotions and understanding in

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meaning-making. The questions range from expressing feelings to predicting events at the end of the story. According to Sinha (2012), if mechanical language tasks alone are dealt with in the classroom, students do not get a chance to engage meaningfully with the work. It becomes necessary, therefore, to pose questions that allow for diverse and dynamic understanding of the text; delimiting the questions forms specific language topics or fact-based queries. Skimming and scanning are two important reading skills that can be developed through various literary texts and materials. Through skimming, students read to get an overview of the text. Scanning, on the other hand, requires careful reading of the text to look for specific information. Skimming and scanning differ from intensive reading, which involves reading the entire text with focus and attention. Mr. Ajay gives his Grade 8 students an excerpt from the book India: A Million Mutinies Now (1990) by V. S. Naipaul to read in pairs. Here is a sample from the full excerpt given in the classroom: In the airport hall the information screens flashed news of ever more flights delayed or abandoned. It was as though there had been some national emergency or disaster. The many grey-and-white screens gave constant, silent electronic jumps, delivering the bad news above the heads of the crowd, who were going nowhere but were not still, were in constant, very slow movement. My own flight to Goa had been delayed for five hours already. Now the screens, whenever (as in a lottery) the number of the Goa flight came up, promised a further delay of four hours. But some people had been waiting in the hall all that day. (Naipaul, 2011, p. 88) Mr. Ajay advises the students to locate the answers to the following questions: • What is the text about? Explain in two to three lines. • By how many hours was the flight to Goa delayed? For the first question, students go over the whole text and tell the teacher what it is about (skimming), whereas in the second question, they look for specific information in the text (scanning). Apart from literary texts, what are some other authentic materials that can be used for developing skimming and scanning skills?

Comprehension skills, as we can see through these sample activities, can be developed deductively, through tasks that allow deeper, pleasurable engagement with literary texts, rather than inductively by requiring task-specific inputs. Deductive

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approaches allow greater agency to learners and facilitate critical thinking, which aligns with educationists’ approach of constructionist pedagogies of language for literacy, discussed in Chapter 4.

Teaching vocabulary for critical literacy Competence in a language is often quantified in large-scale literacy surveys by equating it with the number of words an individual can recollect and spell accurately. Reading literature is the most feasible way of building a rich vocabulary because, as literary texts are set in an imaginative world, these works offer a wider range and use of words than one normally uses in daily life. Literature also expands our scope of understanding new experiences and therefore offers a potent space for exploring comprehension strategies. It should be noted, at the same time, that true comprehension requires a contextualised understanding and use of words. Donaldson observes that children find school learning difficult when their knowledge of a language is developed, not holistically as they use it in real contexts but in discrete parts (Donaldson, 1987). E. D. Hirsch, similarly, has remarked on the gap, in the United States in the 1980s, between SAT scores and students’ ability to understand English. Hirsch argues that a mere memorisation of a word list does not comprise understanding since language is embedded in cultural practices and experiences. We do need to teach vocabulary, but the choice of words should be carefully selected, and the teaching-learning process should encompass imparting the value of culture as well (Hirsch, 1983). In this section, we will explore the implications of teaching English vocabulary in Indian classrooms in the light of these arguments, and ways in which this exercise can build on critical and cultural literacy skills. Kachru’s circles of language learning and Kirkpatrick’s acknowledgement of the validity of local versions of English also inform the principled pragmatist approach of teaching vocabulary in English language classrooms.

CASE STUDY Sarita asks her students of Grade 8 to memorise ten new words from the dictionary every week. She makes them write the word meaning in their notebook. New words are highlighted at the beginning of the lesson and their meanings are written in the notebook. Students are then asked to make sentences using the words. Dhiraj has created a dictionary for the students in the classroom. Whenever students come across new words, they guess the contextual meaning and later match it with the dictionary meaning. All new words encountered while reading/during conversations are noted by the students and referred to in the dictionary. Dhiraj uses these words in his classes through activities like creating a poem/story using some of the words or displaying the words in the classroom periodically. Will you prefer Sarita’s or Dhiraj’s strategy to teach vocabulary to your class?

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The two ways of teaching vocabulary provide different learning experiences for the student. Donaldson comments on the challenge that students face when they are taught vocabulary in a decontextualised manner. Donaldson argues that we acquire and become acquainted with language in real contexts of its use, which is rarely disconnected from experience. Behaviourist approaches of memorising words in isolation from their use can disconnect the learner from the meaning. Meaning-making happens in language, further, in a holistic manner where grammar, vocabulary, syntax and semantics work synchronously to aid comprehension. Donaldson recommends that pedagogical strategies be adapted to engage learners in creative and constructive ways for language learning. It is also possible that, in the presence of diverse and pluralistic learning contexts, a single strategy may not work for all. Combinations of pedagogies that adopt the path of ‘principled pragmatism’ would be required for the English language classroom to develop the skills holistically.

Teaching grammar for critical literacy Like the teaching of vocabulary, grammar poses challenges in the English classroom in India. Grammar can be approached, adopting Halliday’s theory, in a functional manner with a focus on its use in meaningful contexts. It is also important to remember the role of grammar in constructing experience as a cognitive, cultural tool. The different ways of teaching grammar – the deductive and the i­nductive – influence students’ experiences of the language. Different kinds of activities also emphasise different elements in students’ learning like fluency, complexity and accuracy. Let us consider a lesson plan based on the short story “Tiger My Friend” by Ruskin Bond. Learning outcome At the end of the session, students will be able to accomplish the following: 1 . 2. 3. 4.

Read the story “Tiger My Friend” by Ruskin Bond with meaning Participate in discussions based on their reading Use direct and indirect speech while writing Identify direct and indirect speech in the text

Time: 130 minutes (Note: This lesson plan can be divided into sub-plans and can be done over several sessions.) Materials required: prints of the story, sheets of paper, blackboard Assessment activity for students Students will locate instances of direct and indirect speech in the story and note them in their notebooks.

Time

Teacher

Student

5–10 minutes

The teacher divides the students into groups, asks them to discuss the questions given below and write short responses on a sheet of paper. What does the title of the story indicate? What is the story about? Do you know that the tiger is an endangered species in India? What do you think is the reason? The teachers later collect these responses and display them in the classroom. The teacher shares the printout of the story “Tiger My Friend” by Ruskin Bond and gives students some time to read it individually. After reading the story, the teacher initiates a discussion about the story with the students. The discussion is guided by the following questions:

Students will discuss the questions given by the teachers in their groups. They will record their answers on the given sheet of paper. Students will individually read the story. Students participate in the discussions.

45 minutes 35–40 minutes

What is the story about? Why do you think the tiger did not come near the tree? Why did the villagers go after the tiger? The narrator says ‘but as long as the tiger had been there and they had heard him roar at night, they had known there was still some distance between them and the ever-spreading towns and cities. Now that the tiger had gone, it was as though a protector had gone’ (Bond, 2012, p. 30). What does the narrator mean by this statement? If you were a tiger, what message would you like to give to mankind?

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Instructional plan

Time

Teacher

Student

50 minutes

The teacher now divides the students into pairs and gives instructions regarding the next activity.

1. Students will list the interview questions that they wish to ask the villager. 2. In pairs, students will role-play the interview. 3. Together, they will write a short newspaper article. 4. Students will participate in discussions related to direct and indirect speech.

10–15 minutes

1. One member of the pair becomes the villager from the story. The second member becomes the news reporter interviewing the villager. 2. The teacher asks the students to prepare three to four questions that the reporter will ask the villager about the incident with the tiger. 3. The teacher gives students time to role-play the interview and then asks students to write a short newspaper article. 4. The teacher can share examples of comparable news articles. Care must be taken that the articles shared have examples of both direct and indirect speech. 5. After the students write their articles, the teacher asks the students to pay attention to how they have reported the interview. Some students would have used direct verbatims from the interview. Some would have explained what the villager said in their own words. The teacher uses these instances to explain to students the difference between direct and indirect speech. The teacher then conducts the assessment activity given at the beginning of this lesson plan.

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The lesson plan uses a literary genre, the short story, to deal with a grammatical topic. This approach to grammar teaching is deductive in nature, where learners are not introduced to the grammatical rule first but derive (deduce) the rule from the examples presented to them. Students examine the way direct and indirect speeches are used in the write-up, after which the concepts are introduced by the teacher, using examples from the students’ write-ups. A central tenet of functional grammar is its stress on meaningful use of grammatical structures in real-life contexts. The functional grammar approach, unlike traditional methods of grammar teaching, is not form-focussed but concentrates on understanding its usage in relevant and authentic contexts (Halliday & Matthiessen, 2014). The particular example discussed earlier illustrates a real-life, meaningful use of direct and indirect speech through a newspaper article and in the use of authentic materials to teach it through a literary genre, the short story.

Discourse-based language teaching An emerging approach to language learning is the discourse-based method that uses authentic materials like newspapers, media, blogs, podcasts, radio, TV shows and similar multimedia, multimodal communicative channels to teach languages. The discourse-based approach acknowledges the link between text and context or discourses and regards works as cultural and linguistic artefacts that are located within a sociocultural, political reality. The British cultural theorist Stuart Hall signposts the importance of representational forms as signs of the ideological and discursive frameworks that underlie reality. Understanding the meaning of cultural practices and beliefs that are embedded in texts requires us to interpret the works critically. It requires an understanding of the contexts of production of these texts. Using authentic materials to develop language skills requires the learner to engage equally with the sociocultural and political frameworks of meaning-making. Literary works, when seen as products of a time and space, function as discourses of larger historical narratives. Approaching language education through literature can enable cultural literacy and critical thinking as the reading, comprehension and interpretation of works requires critical reflection of the place of the text in the world. The ability to read and respond to discourses becomes a life skill in an age infused with technology and media. Media literacy, or the ability to understand the multimedia and multimodal discourses that surround us, is an additional responsibility that language education must shoulder for imparting critical literacy and for civic citizenship. Let us consider some examples of the form this can take in the language classroom.

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CASE STUDY: PART 1 Ms. Advaita works with Grade 10 students. Her session begins with students looking at pictures of the Narmada Bachao Andolan and Sardar Sarovar Dam. As they look at the pictures, the students discuss in pairs what they may soon read. The teacher invites suggestions from each pair, and they share their predictions. Are we going to read about the Narmada Bachao Andolan? An article on dams? History of this movement? Some student pairs share their ideas. After the discussion, Ms. Advaita informs the students that they will be reading an interview with Ms. Medha Patkar. She gives them time to read the following excerpt: There is a well-known quote from India’s first prime minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, who called dams the ‘temples of modern India’. Does that historical connection of dams with progress make NBA’s struggle more difficult? PATKAR: Nehru said that in 1955, but three years later he described big dams as ‘a disease of gigantism’ that we must withdraw from. Even Nehru, within a short time, realized that approach to water management was not going to work. But unfortunately, the textbooks have the first quote but not the second one (Jensen, 2004, p. 1). How are big dams being sold to the Indian public? This is done by exaggerating the benefits and underestimating the costs. In India, almost all of the 4,000 large dams have been sold to the public by emphasizing the benefits – drinking water, irrigation, flood control, and hydropower. The social and environmental costs are never really assessed (Jensen, 2004, p. 2). After reading the excerpt, students participate in a discussion with their teacher on the following questions:

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1. According to Medha Patkar, which quote is found in the textbooks about dams? 2. Why did Nehru call dams ‘a disease of gigantism’? 3. What do you know about Medha Patkar and the Narmada Bachao Andolan? 4. What do you think are the social and environmental costs Ms. Patkar is talking about? After this discussion, Ms. Advaita gave instructions for the task scheduled for next week.

Now let’s reflect Categorise Ms. Advaita’s comprehension questions given above into local, global and inferential ones. 1. What do you think is the objective of Ms. Advaita’s class? 2. How has the element of critical literacy found space in Ms. Advaita’s classroom?

CASE STUDY: PART 2 The next week, the students in Ms. Advaita’s class were divided into four groups. Two groups worked on writing arguments against the building of dams, and two groups listed arguments in favour of dam construction. Ms. Advaita shared some reading material with each group and encouraged them to search for materials online. She gave them a day to prepare their arguments. She facilitated each group and helped them collate their ideas. The next day, each group was asked to present their perspective on the topic Dams in India: Who gains? Who loses? Ms. Advaita recorded the debate. After the debate, each group was given feedback by their peers and their teacher. Teacher feedback was carried ahead to explain the ideas on how persuasive writing can be constructed. ‘What kind of words and phrases did you use to convince your friends that your argument is correct?’ Ms. Advaita asked each group to look at their arguments and identify words/phrases/sentences that were used in the arguments to convince the listeners. A list was made on the whiteboard. I believe that … Surely … Of course … It can be said that …

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As per this report/article … According to the other point of view … She asked students to think about the need to learn persuasive writing and speaking. There were discussions on the importance of expressing one’s point of view with conviction. Ms. Advaita also replayed the recording of the debates and asked students to focus on the tone/intonation and style of persuasion. Students noted their reflections in groups and shared them with their peers.

Now let’s reflect Can we teach other language elements/topics using this interview extract? What additional kinds of materials or texts can be used for discourse-based language teaching?

According to Celce-Murcia and Olshtain (2005), discourse-based language teaching and learning makes use of authentic language materials set in real-life communicative context to focus on forms, features and functions of language. This makes language learning more natural and meaningful, given its embeddedness in real-life experience and language use. Ms.Advaita, in the earlier case, uses authentic material, an interview with Ms. Medha Patkar. It is written in a persuasive style and is later used to demonstrate the use of persuasive writing and speaking by the teacher. To understand the interview, the learners also consider the sociocultural and political context of the Narmada Bachao Andolan within which this interview is set. A consequence of using authentic materials is that students engage automatically with real-world contexts as they decipher the content.This initiates the learner into the Freireian critical consciousness arising from reading the world through the word, thereby enabling critical and cultural literacies.

Teaching rhetorical modes of communication The activities so far highlight the variety of contexts and uses of language. Each context of utterance and creation of text uses a specific register. Within academic language, we employ a variety of rhetorical styles, didactic and non-didactic, to communicate our thoughts effectively. Cultural and literary discourses, similarly, can be didactic and non-didactic. Rhetoric and stylistics are core components of literary works. It is necessary to be able to identify and use the different rhetorical forms in appropriate contexts for effective comprehension, communication and meaning-making. Literature uses different rhetorical structures in imaginative ways, illustrating the way language structures work dialogically to weave representations of themes. The rhetorical modes that we shall discuss in this section are expository, descriptive, narrative and argumentative/persuasive.

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Rhetoric, as a concept and a field of study, is multifaceted, and includes ‘computational games, legal cases, speeches, plays, buildings, advertisements, astronomy treatises, bodies, statuary, feminist manifestos, novels, botanical atlases, music, parliamentary rolls, poems, propaganda, memory theaters, gestures, philosophical dialogues, sermons, presidential messages, medieval summae, farces, paintings, architectural ornaments, thermodynamics and countless others’. (MacDonald, 2017, p. 5)

Let us try a short activity to understand the different rhetorical styles. A few excerpts have been provided in Table 6.1. List the characteristics of each of these excerpts. Reflect on how the excerpts differ from each other. Focus on the writing style and purpose of the written material. What was distinctive about each of these texts/reading materials? The excerpts can be categorised into four different modes of rhetorical communication: narrative, persuasive, expository and descriptive, respectively. The first excerpt illustrates a narrative. Such texts narrate a sequence of events, set in a specific setting and time. This particular excerpt is a short story, which has a plot, setting and characters and refers to a specific situated action. As a narrative, it establishes causation, sequence and contingency. We will look at the elements of a narrative in greater detail in the next chapter. The second example is an interview excerpt from Medha Patkar’s interview, where the arguments are being presented from the speaker’s point of view.The style and language of the excerpt are written to convince the reader and pay attention to the speaker's view of the problem. It is a persuasive text. TABLE 6.1  Modes of rhetorical communication – some examples

An excerpt from the story “Tiger My Friend” by Ruskin Bond It was a long time – many years – since he had killed a buffalo, and he knew instinctively that the villagers would be angry. But the pangs of hunger overcame his caution. (Bond, 2012, p. 28) An excerpt from the interview with Medha Patkar: In India, even though there is hardly any land to relocate people onto, the projects are on the fast track, and those decisions are being made not just in Delhi and Bombay but also in Washington and Geneva. (Jensen, 2004, p. 13) An excerpt from a book on TBLT: The task should also have a sense of completeness, being able to stand alone as a communicative act in its own right with a beginning, a middle and an end. (Nunan, 2004, p. 4) Travelogue: An illustrative excerpt from India: A Million Mutinies Now by V. S. Naipaul: The many grey-and-white screens gave constant, silent electronic jumps, delivering the bad news above the heads of the crowd, who were going nowhere but were not still, were in constant, very slow movement. (Naipaul, 2011, p. 88)

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The third example is an expository excerpt taken from David Nunan’s book. This text simply describes a topic. This style of writing is not aimed at persuading the reader or narrating an event but at presenting information and facts related to the topic. Expository texts provide information about the five Ws: who, what, when, where and why. These kinds of discourses occur in a variety of genres, which range from the scientific to the political, literary and philosophical. The last literary excerpt is from a travelogue by V. S. Naipaul. The form of writing makes us focus on the details of the screen and the characteristics of the crowd. It is a descriptive text. It differs slightly from expository text in its attention to details about characters, place, event, object, actions and moods. A descriptive text is representational, using words to show, rather than tell, us about events, people, actions and moods. Can a single text contain some or all of the rhetorical modes of communication discussed so far? Let us look at how George Orwell’s Animal Farm (1945) begins.

Mr. Jones, of Manor Farm, had locked the hen-houses for the night, but was too drunk to remember to shut the pop-holes. With the ring of light from his lantern dancing from side to side, he lurched across the yard, kicked off his boots at the back door, drew himself a last glass of beer from the barrel in the scullery, and made his way up to bed, where Mrs. Jones was already snoring. As soon as the light in the bedroom went out, there was a stirring and a fluttering all through the farm buildings. (Orwell 1945, p. 5)

This passage is an example of the way two or more rhetorical forms weave together seamlessly to communicate the essence of a message. The paragraph has an expository function. Its position in the novel presents the backdrop to the animals’ revolt, thereby giving prior information to contextualise what is to follow.This is one of the crucial ways in which exposition functions in literature. It sets out the context, and, additionally, in some genres like drama, tells the audience what is happening in other places that impact the action they view on stage. The passage is also descriptive, as it details Mr. Jones’s actions, the light cast by his lantern and so forth. This paragraph is not persuasive. However, it has an element of narrative within it, as we see the sequence in which he performs certain actions.The second paragraph introduces the narrative when we see that Mr. Jones’s drunkenness and oversight on shutting the pop-holes become some of the causes leading to the success of the animals’ revolt. As evident from the excerpt, while the features of each of these writing styles are distinctive, a combination of two or three of these styles is not uncommon in a single piece of writing. For example, a newspaper article can adopt an expository tone when stating facts about an issue or topic. It can also contain an opinion presented by a speaker who was interviewed for the article and perhaps a detailed descriptive

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explanation about the issue/topic being discussed in the article. The essay is an apt example of a genre that uses the rhetorical modes for varied purposes. With a long history that encompasses a variety of contexts of application such as philosophical and scientific treatises, politics, criticism and commentary, the essay also remains a core aspect of teaching and testing in the language classroom.The essay deploys different rhetorical strategies in its construction of content and delineation of theme. For classroom practice, it is pertinent that students are exposed to different modes of discourse by engaging with a variety of texts and genres. Activities such as identifying the characteristic features of the writing style and tone of text/excerpt given to them will help learners identify, as well as appreciate, the differences and purpose of each of these modes. Think What are the rhetorical modes used in William Shakespeare’s “All the World’s a Stage”?

Write Rewrite Shakespeare’s “All the World’s a Stage” in (a) expository mode, (b) descriptive mode and (c) persuasive mode.

Reflect As you rewrite the passage, think about − how the message and effect of the passage changes and − the kinds of scaffolds and support needed by students as they rework the passage.

The role of the teacher What are the responsibilities of the teacher in facilitating teaching (English) language through literature? This chapter considered different methods in which literary genres and rhetorical discourses can be used in the classroom to focus on different aspects and skills of language. By giving examples of literary materials and language activities, the chapter has attempted to show how the contexts and experiences of students can be incorporated into the language learning process. An example from the perspective of content selection would be to choose short stories, essays, poems and similar works that are set in the Indian context, for an Indian student. From the pedagogical perspective, the scope of discussions and questions, such as focussing on the feelings of readers upon reading a story or relating it to an occurrence in their life, can help learners relate to the text. This reinforces the potential of the transaction between the reader and the text, making the work meaningful for the learner, as proposed by Louise Rosenblatt. Critical thinking and critical literacy are embedded in each of these activities since the lesson plans and objectives do not alienate themselves from the sociocultural and

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political contexts of the material and the learners.Take, for example, the post-reading discussion activity following the interview of Medha Patkar. The political context of 2004 when the interview occurs and the development of the Narmada Bachao Andolan is critical in understanding the interview and relating it to the larger debate on the problems and benefits associated with the construction of dams in India. Can you connect the ideas on critical literacy elucidated in Chapter 4 to the examples discussed in this chapter?

It is important to take cognisance of the way the nature of questions posed after introducing a poem, short story or interview encourages students to think beyond mere summary or locating factual information within the text. While summarising and scanning for specific information are crucial skills in reading for functional/ basal literacy, unpacking the meaning of texts critically and connecting with the reading material emotionally while remaining cognisant of the social and political situatedness of the material and its readers are integral aspects of reading, if we define comprehension as the act of meaning-making. Another noteworthy aspect of the methods and approaches used in each of these plans and case studies is their distinctiveness. These activities may not be the only way to achieve the particular language learning goal. The materials and methods a teacher selects to deliver a language topic are influenced by the context in which the learner is situated, as well as the context and experiences of the teacher. To enable students to use persuasive arguments, for instance, teachers may select a video of a news debate on television as the basis for designing activities if they feel the students may relate more to this genre and media. What emerges through the activities, cases and lesson plans discussed in this chapter are the pedagogical principles of particularity, practicality and possibility (Kumaravadivelu, 2001) that undergird learner-centric, constructionist language teaching. Drawing on Kumaravadivelu’s (2001) sketch of the role of the teacher, an educationist teaching language through literature must adapt his or her methods, strategies and selection of literary material to the specific contexts of the teachers and students, thereby placing the learners at the core of the language learning process.

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we considered the following: • The importance of an integrated approach to teaching RWLS skills in the English classroom • The importance of focussing on comprehension, meaning-making and critical thinking while teaching the four skills for critical literacy

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• The advantages of contextualising vocabulary and grammar for a holistic understanding of the language • The significance of the discourse-based approach to teaching English and the pedagogical strategies that support the approach • The four rhetorical modes of communication, their features and strategies to teach them to students • The principled pragmatist approach that teachers can adopt to teach English for critical literacy

Exercises 1. Choose any two activities/lesson plans discussed in the chapter. Analyse the use of contents and choice of pedagogical strategies from the perspective of critical literacy. 2. For each of the literary materials used in this chapter, poem, short story and interview, frame your own language learning objectives and create alternative plans and activities. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 6 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

References Bond, R. (2012).Tiger my friend. In R. Bond (Ed.), Great stories for children (pp. 26–31). Rupa Publications. Celce-Murcia, M., & Olshtain, E. (2005). Discourse-based approaches: A new framework for second language teaching and learning. In Handbook of research in second language teaching and learning (pp. 729–741). Routledge. Donaldson, M. (1987). Why children find school learning difficult. In M. Donaldson (Ed.), Children’s Mind (pp. 86–95). Fontana Press. Halliday, M.A.K. & Matthiessen, C. M. (2014). Halliday’s introduction to functional grammar. Routledge. Hirsch, E. D. (1983). Cultural literacy. The American Scholar, 52(2), 159–169. https://www. jstor.org/stable/41211231. Jensen, R. (2004, April 1). Interview with Medha Patkar. Z Magazine: The Spirit of Resistance Lives. Retrieved July 16, 2020, from: https://zcomm.org/zmagazine/ interview-with-medha-patkar-by-site-administrator/ Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001).Toward a postmethod pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 35(4), 537–560. MacDonald, M. J. (Ed.). (2017). The Oxford handbook of rhetorical studies. Oxford University Press. Naipaul,V. (2011). India: A million mutinies now.Vintage International. Nunan, D. (2004). Task based language teaching. Cambridge University Press. ———. (2015). Teaching English to speakers of other languages: An introduction. Routledge. Orwell, G. (1945) Animal farm. Secker & Warburg Sinha, S. (2012). Reading without meaning: The dilemma of Indian classrooms. Language and Language Teaching, 1(1), 22–26.

7 TEACHING LITERATURE Fiction, poetry and drama

Training is everything. The peach was once a bitter almond; cauliflower is nothing but cabbage with a college education. Mark Twain Language is simultaneously affective and cognitive. Literary studies and analysis approach these dual attributes of language by reading for deeper meaning and convergence in stylisation, form and content, whereby the emotional responses to the text by readers serve, equally, as pleasure and channels of critique of sociocultural discourses embedded in the text. In this chapter, we will discuss the value of literature and the teaching of literary genres in the classroom for developing students’ skills in literary appreciation and critical interpretation. This discussion builds on Chapter 6, where we looked at the teaching of language through literature.The aspects covered in the previous chapter involved an exploration of activities focussed on vocabulary, grammar, discourses and rhetorical modes of expression. We retained our focus on language and discourse as we considered ways in which literature is a means to an end, with the end being, in our case, to help students develop a feel for the rhythms of the language and recognise the various discursive contexts of its use. In this chapter, we will look at the value of fiction, poetry and drama as subjects of inquiry in themselves, and interpretation strategies that enable critical and cultural literacy. Men make some things to serve a purpose, other things simply to please themselves. Literature is a construct of the latter kind, and the proper response to it therefore…is to ‘share in the author’s satisfaction that it was as it was and not otherwise’. Literature is a construct in language, and language is of all the symbolic systems or modes of representation the most explicit, the best fitted, for example, to present a running commentary upon experience. (Britton, 1982)

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It is worthwhile, at this point, to revert to the discussions in Chapter 1 on the representational and symbolic attributes of language and its integration with culture and identity. According to these notions, language enables humans to communicate rich and abstract thoughts through different media. Language is also deeply embedded in cultural values and practices. Literary and creative works are some artefacts that inform, shape and construct worldviews. It is in literary writing that the potential of stylised and symbolic representations is realised. Studying and teaching ways of understanding the meaning and the process of creativity underlying literature should then become an inevitable component of a language classroom. Simultaneously, the ability to read a text with nuance and formulate an opinion is an act of critical thinking. One of the ways in which constructivism manifests within the language classroom is through acts of literary criticism and interpretation. Interpretation and critique, as we will see in this chapter, require readers’ active cognitive engagement with the text. They also require readers to mobilise their perceptions and perspectives of a work as they interpret it, thereby enabling critical and cultural literacies. We will, therefore, consider the teaching of literary works in the classroom to enable critical thinking in the form of literary criticism. Through the exercise, we will look at the way teaching literature as a discipline expands the scope of the language classroom, making it a site for cultural sensitisation, fostering life skills and intercultural competence in students, imbuing empathy and tolerance and preparing students for a globalised world. Accordingly, this chapter will begin with a discussion of the meaning and value of literature. Next, it will look at narrative discourse as a way of interpreting genres and investigate ways in which themes in fiction, poetry and drama are dealt with in nuanced ways through narrative structure. An understanding of the underlying narrative features of the three genres is necessary in ensuring critical thinking as well as in appreciating creative writing. This discussion will be used as a foothold for exploring pedagogical practices to teach literary works in the classroom and to support students in independent mindful reading, which will in turn foster critical consciousness and cultural literacy. It should be noted that activities in literary criticism must be adapted to specific grades in an age-appropriate manner. The range and depth of activities will vary based on the language competence, contexts and cognitive levels of students in the classrooms. While students in middle school can be encouraged to craft short imaginative pieces and formulate statements of critique based on their subjective responses to a creative work, formulating an effective criticism that is grounded in theoretical principles and systematic inquiry can be attempted in the higher grades.

OBJECTIVES In this chapter, the readers will be able to − understand the nature and value of literature and its role in the language classroom; − become conversant with contemporary approaches to reading and teaching literary works for appreciation, interpretation and critical literacy; and − identify, analyse, design and evaluate relevant TLRs to read and teach literary works for critical literacy in the classroom.

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Much has been written, across the centuries, in literary criticism and theory on the nature and value of literary studies.The most common arguments involve stressing the significance of literature as a creative field that promotes self-expression; the identity of literature as a cultural artefact; its affective and corrective role as a ‘sugar-coated pill’, according to the Renaissance poet Philip Sidney (1554–1586); its political function as a conscience keeper of society; and its ability to foster tolerance and empathy in readers. From formalist critics who stress the importance of the structure of the work in conveying meaning, to New Historicists and cultural materialists who spotlight the centrality of history and culture in the production of texts, the approaches to reading, studying and teaching literature expand the field into an interdisciplinary space that move beyond a functional teaching of language skills. As creative and imaginative works that act as ‘mirrors’ and ‘lamps’ (Abrams, 1952) of society, reflecting and constructing meaning remain two aspects of their representational and symbolic attributes that, in turn, define the value of literature in human life. Reading, interpreting and teaching literary works have accordingly changed in methods and vision, making them amenable to dialogue with disciplines as varied as philosophy, sociology and history, to name a few. Harish Trivedi’s panchdhatu approach to teaching language and literature is relevant in this context, as Trivedi discusses the way the inclusion of Indian literature and translated works in university syllabi helps in providing a multilingual, cultural approach to English studies. According to this approach, English studies is not just a study of a language but the study of the ways in which World Englishes structure the lives, minds and imaginations of the contemporary Indian. Chapter 2 discussed the place of English in postcolonial contexts and teaching languages and literature as one of the ways in which the tensions of adapting the language to express indigenous cultural experiences unfold. Indeed, the debate remains rife between postcolonial writers on ways in which literature in English can be used to articulate personal experiences without necessarily reinforcing colonial attitudes. Accordingly, the sections in this chapter will look at the meaning and value of literature, some contemporary approaches to reading and interpreting literature and the pedagogies that can be adopted to teach the three literary genres of fiction, poetry and drama.

Literature: Definition, purpose and value The conception of literature as a field of study is tied to the purpose and value it holds in life. As Terry Eagleton states, a literary work is, simultaneously, rhetoric and report (Eagleton, 2013, 2016). Descriptions of literature by scholars, writers and critics range from its humanistic value to its aesthetics, appeal to readers, stylisation, poetic quality and political nature. A standard definition of literature is that it is belles lettres, or beautiful letters, if we adopt a literal translation from French. This understanding stresses the aesthetic attributes of literary works. Scholars over the years have, however, added to the definition, variously attributing humanistic and political value to the field. In this section, we will consider select approaches to literature and its place within academia and cultural studies.We will consider Elaine Showalter’s 12 functions that encapsulate the various goals and contexts of teaching the discipline.

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This overview will help us better situate the teaching and learning of literature in educational contexts, demonstrating its application in interdisciplinary frameworks as it moves beyond the language classroom to promote critical literacy and life skills. Concurrent to this interdisciplinarity is the emerging emphasis on comparative world literature, whereby fiction, prose, poetry and drama from across the world are read in dialogue with each other. World literature, as a field of study, is a dynamic space that examines themes and genres, as well as their representations for a comparative study and critique of perspectives. Through this field, literature becomes an artefact, moulded by the imagination, crafted creatively and engaging actively with the world around us. Literature becomes one among many cultural practices that bear the mark of regions and beliefs. It also brings to the fore the challenges of globalisation and the exchange of ideas and/through languages and cultures. This is particularly true of classical and folk literature, and myths, to take a few examples. Works like the Ramayana, the Mahabharata, the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Norse mythology, Gaelic and Celtic traditions speak of the cultures of a specific race of people. Folktales from around the world, similarly, carry marks of rustic life and represent cultural beliefs. In such instances, literary works engage with themes as varied as love, war, society, family, nation, nature and gender.Through literary works, critics argue, readers enter a world of the imagination. They see a world that often resembles their own, see characters much like themselves and witness actions that they are familiar with from their own experience.This, according to Pramod Nayar, makes us engage with, and respond to, the situation with empathy. Recent approaches have added the dimension of politics to the features of literary and creative writing. With the rise of interdisciplinarity in the humanities, literary studies have linked our reading of literature with critical theory. This includes interpreting works through historical, philosophical, religious, Marxist, feminist and sociological perspectives if we approach literature as a cultural artefact. Further, biographical critiques that consider authorial intent also promote the politicisation of literature. Through these cases, we notice varying perspectives on the field. In classical Western tradition, poetry, the dominant form of literature, was viewed variously as a lie that is thrice removed from reality (Plato), mimesis (Aristotle) and a window to the sublime (Longinus). Poetry was considered a space that delighted and taught values simultaneously (see Horace’s Ars Poetica, c. 19 BC, where the role of art is defined as utile dulci). The 15th-century English poet, Phillip Sidney, compared poetry to a sugar-coated pill. The shift in emphasis of art from the mimetic mode to the imaginative highlighted the way creativity can be inspired but is, nevertheless, governed by rules. From William Wordsworth’s egotistical sublime to Coleridge’s ‘esemplastic power’, critics have argued that the poet’s imagination functions as a source for inspiration and creativity. In each of these cases, a literary work is conceived as a creative piece that has a value that goes beyond the functional. It is a space that registers a conflict between authorial beliefs and a negation of personality to represent larger themes. The Russian formalists highlighted the quality of ‘defamiliarisation’ (Shlovsky, 1917) that is embedded in good literary works, which help readers view the world with a fresh

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lens and observe reality more keenly. Discussions on form and content are inseparable and shape the way literature enables a reader to reflect critically on themes that are drawn from the world. From the perspective of education, literary criticism has the potential to build ‘critical consciousness’ (Freire, 2005, pp. 37–45). Revisiting our earlier discussion on critical literacy, we will recall Paulo Freire’s stress on the importance of reading in constructing critical perspectives of the world. Reading the world, he states, precedes reading the word, and our subsequent reading of the word informs our reading of the world.The cyclicity of the process of reading that brings together writing and praxis, text and experience underlies the conception of critical consciousness. Literary works as stylised, material, cultural artefacts provide an entry point into the interpretation of the world. Freire’s concept of reading critically is reinforced by Edward Said in The World, the Text and the Critic (1983), where the latter argues that critical consciousness is a necessary attitude to interpret works since the text, the writer and the critic are all worldly beings situated in a specific place and time. Reading, it emerges through these arguments, involves more than decoding a script, skimming texts or scanning for specific information. It also goes beyond stylistic analysis and building a rich vocabulary, although these are necessary components for building a rich imagination and scaffolding self-expression. Interpretation and critique of creative texts offer an avenue within the language classroom to engage in critical literacy practice. In the act of interpretation and critique is embedded the assumption of language and power, which is an underlying concern of critical literacy. Not only does the act of criticism sensitise us to the manner in which language is used, as well as the creativity underlying representationalism, but it also helps us unpack the structure of the text and reflect on the process of making meaning out of the work. These are integral parts of the act of constructing meaning.

Teaching literature and critical literacy In Teaching Literature (2003), feminist critic and literary pedagogue Elaine Showalter discusses the various goals of teaching literature across history. From the aim to teach moral and spiritual values and to creating pleasurable experiences, to Marxist and cultural materialist positions that stressed the political functions of literature as critique and subversion of discourses, the functions of teaching and learning literature span a range from the humanist and aesthetic to the didactic and the political. Showalter outlines 12 principles that she argues are innate to the reading of literary works. These include deep reading skills, paying close attention to and deciphering nuanced uses of language, understanding subtle and complex differences emerging from literal and figurative meanings within literary works, inferring cultural assumptions that underlie literary works, comparing works across genres and styles to engage analytically with themes, building criticality, problem-solving and imagination by thinking ‘creatively within and beyond literary studies’, reading contextually and defending ‘a critical judgement against the informed opinions of others’ (Showalter, 2003, pp. 26–27).

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Showalter’s goals of teaching and reading literature establish the expanding scope of the field in building critical thinking and engagement with the world around us. Paul Dawson has remarked similarly on the way literary studies is no longer restricted to a single department but finds its presence in departments of comparative literature, humanities, creative writing programmes, culture, media and films studies and transdisciplinary frameworks, to name a few spaces of its application. Literary studies, for Dawson, is experiencing a transfiguration within academia. Unlike earlier programmes on English studies and undergraduate degrees in literature, the last decade has seen a diversification, with creative writing programmes, media and culture studies and communication studies taking the agenda of literary studies ahead in different formats. Dawson argues that this does not herald the death of, or crisis within, a discipline. On the contrary, it indicates the variety of domains that literary studies has come to gain relevance within. An immediate consequence of this inter- and transdisciplinary spread is that teaching and studying literature and the literariness of writing occurs in different ways. A creative writing programme would teach engagement with genres, stylistics and themes for the purpose of honing expressive writing skills. A culture studies programme would deal with literary texts as cultural artefacts, locating them within socio-economic and cultural contexts of their production. A communications programme would approach texts as signs that convey information in as effective a manner as possible, and incorporate discourse analysis as a necessary part of curricula. These are some examples of academic spaces where reading and writing stories, poems, drama and non-fiction/fiction prose become integral to critical and cultural literacy practices, though shaped by varied agendas and objectives. We now consider not only high art but also everyday texts as examples of literary discourses. Children’s literature, young adult fiction, popular fiction, blogs, inspirational literature, memoirs, travel writing and romances are cultural artefacts that provide an insight into the social, political and cultural systems, ideologies and discourses that we inhabit. Equally, the burgeoning fields of literature in English, in India and internationally, which include Indian writing in English, comparative world literature, new literature and translation studies bring together cultural studies and creative writing in English as a process of reflecting on reality and human experience. Literature helps us engage with not merely the nuanced use of language but systems of thought as well. The following sections discuss ways of teaching literary appreciation through deeper engagement with the written word and ways of constructing critiques and interpretations of literary works as acts of critical consciousness.

Teaching and reading for literary appreciation In this part of the chapter, we will look at the features of three genres: fiction, poetry and drama.Table 7.1 presents an overview of the features of these genres. By understanding the way the genres are crafted, we can unpack ways in which structure and organisation of texts can support literary appreciation and interpretation.

Teaching literature  153 TABLE 7.1  Features of fiction, poetry and drama

Fiction

Poetry

Drama

- - - - - -

- Imagery - Diction and Syntax - Rhyme and Rhythm

- - - - - -

Story versus Plot Time Beginnings and Endings Characterisation Voice and Perspective Literary Devices

Mythos Ethos Dianoia Lexis Opsis Melos

M. H. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms (1941, 1997) and J. A. Cuddon’s Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (1971, 1999) are two resource books that provide detailed explanations for the different genres and stylistic devices used in literary works. The following website can also be visited for a quick overview of different literary terms: https://literaryterms.net/.

Understanding and teaching fiction Prose is an overarching term used for a variety of genres, such as novels, short stories and non-fiction. Chapter 6 delved into the different discourses in language that find use in genres as varied as scientific treatises, policies, non-fiction/fiction and research papers. Each of these discourses – the descriptive, expository, narrative, argumentative and persuasive – uses rhetorical elements to achieve aesthetic affect. Reading and writing prose will become engaging when students are able to identify these elements in the works they read and start using them in their creative pieces. This section will delve deeper into narrative discourse in particular. The features that we will consider in this section are story versus plot, beginnings and endings, time, characterisation, voice and perspective and literary devices.

Story versus plot We will start by looking at the distinction between story and plot. All narratives have, and work with, events. These events are delineated in different ways in the structure. The core events are present in the ‘story’. It is the answer to the questions, ‘What is the story about, and what happened in the story?’The manner of the depiction of the theme and events in the story comprises the plot. Plots need not always follow the natural logic or order in which events occur in the story. Plot is, instead, the feature that highlights the re/presentational aspect of stories. [Plot’s] function is to emphasise or de-emphasise certain story elements, to interpret some and to leave others to inference, to show or to tell, to comment or to remain silent, to focus on this or that aspect of an event or character. (Chatman 1980, p. 43)

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Plot is an important step in creative writing and literary works because it sequences the different parts of the story in a specific order, it establishes causal relationships between events and it highlights contingency. E. M. Forster, in Aspects of the Novel (1927), gives the following example to discuss the idea of plot: ‘The king died and then the queen died’, and ‘the king died and then the queen died of grief ’. In the first sentence, we see sequencing, where the king dies first and the queen dies after that.The second sentence gives a reason (causation) for the sequence of events, where the queen dies of grief. It also establishes contingency, whereby the queen’s death, resulting from grief, is contingent on the death of the king. Causation, sequence and contingency are then three core qualities of plots.

Beginnings and endings Closely related to story and plot are beginnings and endings that mark the starting point and conclusion of narratives. How a story begins is significant in setting up the expectations of the reader, as well as signposting the movement of events in a plot. Similarly, endings are good points of reflection on the action. A typical plot structure consists of five parts. These are exposition, which provides a background to the plot, rising action, climax, falling action and resolution or denouement. Beginnings of stories set the stage for rising action. The denouement or resolution of the plot provides the ending. A happy ending leaves us feeling fulfilled and satiated, while a tragic ending may leave us sad. Catharsis accompanies this feeling of sadness that makes us empathise with the protagonist and regard the action with awe. In both cases, these endings lead us towards a feeling of pleasure that accompanies the experience of beholding a work of art. Beginnings and endings are not merely plot structures for ordering the events in a story but pertinent points of engagement with structure in the processes of creative writing, as well as reading for deeper meaning to enhance their effect on the reader.

Time Time is the third element that is linked logically to beginnings and endings. Sequencing, causation and contingency presuppose a relationship between events and time. We organise and slot events in an order based on when they happened, to form a cogent narrative. It is possible to begin a story at the beginning and proceed in a linear fashion. Starting the narration at the end of the events in the story is another possibility. A third option is to begin the story in media res or in the middle of events, for instance, during the climax of the story or the rising or falling action sequences. Flashbacks and flashforwards get used frequently in cases of reordering the time of events. We will now look at the next element in narrative discourse: characterisation.

Characterisation Characters become a core aspect in delineating the story and plot. Characters and plot often work together. Some stories are driven by their characters whose

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experiences structure the events of a tale. In other stories, the events or theme dominate, and the characters help in furthering the action of the plot. Detailed development and construction of characters further the representational aspect of stories. It is possible to identify two binaries in characterisation. The first binary is flat characters versus round characters. Flat characters refer to those that do not change in the course of a narrative. Their actions are predictable, unlike round characters that are complex and change as the story progresses. Round characters are generally more realistic and easier to relate to. The second binary is protagonists (central characters) versus antagonists (villains or characters that pose challenges for the protagonists). Climax in stories is often built through the tension between protagonists and antagonists. Being able to read the different aspects of characters closely, identify possible movements and changes in their personalities and understand the effect on the plot and reading experience is necessary for literary appreciation, as well as interpretation of tales. Enabling students to recognise details in characters, imagine their personalities and identify quirks through concrete actions in the stories are some ways in which characterisation can be used as entry points in appreciating stories.

Voice and perspective Perhaps the most complex elements in stories are voice and perspective.Voice draws attention to the question: Who speaks. It is also important to remember that in fiction, the narrator should not be confused with the author of the work. This derives from the nature of literature as representational, which speaks about the real world but is not factual. Realism and life-likeness entail that literary works reflect the world but do so tangentially. This stylisation is an essential quality of literature. Within the frame of this definition, the voice is not that of the author who inhabits the text-external world. Instead, good literary works construct characters who have an independent existence in the fictional universe, devoid of authorial influence. Listening to the voice and locating where it speaks from is an important element in reading and interpretation. The narrative voice can be located within the story, where a character speaks from within the plot. It can, alternatively, be located outside the story, where an omniscient narrator tells the tale. It is important, equally, to not conflate the omniscient narrator with the opinions of the writer. Three distinct perspectives are identifiable in literary works. These are firstperson, second-person and third-person perspectives. First-person point of view (POV) makes use of ‘I’, ‘we/us’, ‘me/my’, etc., as it narrates the tale. The secondperson POV uses ‘you’ as a direct address to the audience and draws on the oral traditions. The third-person POV works with the personal pronouns ‘he’, she’, ‘it’, ‘they’, etc., as it builds up the story. The third-person POV is often associated with the omniscient narrator. Second and third-person POVs are also quite common in extradiegetic narratives where the voice appears to come from outside the story frame. The first-person narration, on the other hand, is associated with intradiegetic narratives of voices from within the narrative text.

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Reading stories for meaning involves paying close attention to the voice of the narrative and attempting to locate the position of the narrator within or outside the tale. The positioning will also give an indication of their biased narration. A first-person POV can be seen as a biased one that presents primarily the speaker’s perspective. A third-person perspective is, by contrast, considered more objective as an omniscient narrator supposedly presents facts and possesses complete knowledge of the fictional universe. While the second-person perspective of using ‘you’ can often seem didactic, since it addresses the audience directly, it has the potential to become the most dialogic form of narrative. These are, however, not fixed rules. Experimentation in the use of these voices can lead to different effects and reading experiences.

Literary devices Stylistic and literary devices play different roles in texts. They enhance the effect of a narrative, create dense works of art that convey multiple meanings at the same time (e.g. through the use of irony, satire, parody, imagery, symbolism), contribute to subversion and critique of themes and enable us to observe and reflect on our realities. Showalter’s functions of literature, which we discussed earlier in this chapter, are also enabled by the use of literary devices and stylisation of texts. Richard Bradford’s Stylistics (1997) provides a historical overview of the development of different literary genres and devices. It also looks at examples from literary history and authors on how stylistics has been used in literary works. M. H. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms (1941, 1997) and J. A Cuddon’s Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory (1971, 1999) are two resource books that provide explanations for the different genres and stylistic devices used in literary works. The following website can also be visited for a quick overview of different literary terms: https://literaryterms.net/.

Similarly, reading imagery, symbolism and metaphors as tropes for meaningmaking lead to deep reading practices and literary appreciation. Another feature that guides interpretation are ‘paratexts’ (Genette, 1987) like the title, subtitles, prefaces, forewords and epigraphs to works. Titles and subtitles act as signposts to the meaning of the text. A complex title can, however, tease a reader’s expectations of a work and sustain deeper engagement with it. Epigraphs, prefaces and forewords contextualise works within a space and time, historicising them, as well as adding layers of meaning that frame the textual structure. For a detailed understanding of paratexts, read Gerard Genette’s Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation (1987). Teaching the reading of literary devices and stylistics in the classroom will help students read deeper, become critical thinkers and reflective writers. An informed

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selection of appropriate works that display different ways of using stylistic devices to represent themes becomes a core requirement for honing literary appreciation skills. Equally critical are the guiding questions that channel students’ attention towards these devices and require them to reflect on their effects. Questions like how has the author represented her or his idea, what kind of stylisation happens in the work, is it through the use of vocabulary or is there a stylisation of the structure can help the reader pay closer attention to the nuances of literary construction. For an illustration of literary analysis of a short story using the features discussed in this section, please see the section “Understanding and Teaching Fiction” in Chapter 7 on TISSx.

Let us now see how similar strategies can be used in teaching literary appreciation of poetry.

Understanding and teaching poetry While discussing the features of the different forms of poetry across history is beyond the scope of this chapter, it is important to be aware of these genres, their historical development, features, functions and adaptations for deeper content knowledge. For an overview of different poetic forms and traditions, you can read M. H. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms and J. A. Cuddon’s Dictionary of Literary Terms and Literary Theory. Bernard O’Donoghue’s Poetry: A Very Short Introduction (2019) provides a concise summary of some of the core debates within the genre of poetry’s nature as a mirror or a lamp, its utility and function in life, the language of poetry and the devices used. This section will look at some core elements in poetry that will help us read, understand and appreciate poetic works. The elements we will consider are imagery, diction and syntax, rhyme and rhythm. While poetry as a representational language act registers the convergence of form and content in the process of meaning-making, it also functions as a principle. Speaking of poetry as a principle expands its scope, reflecting the elements of poesis in other works. Similarly, a prosaic work refers to principles of prose and narrative that are present in other genres. Let us now look at three central elements of poetry that define its generic identity.

Imagery Imagery is a core element in poetry. Writers have commented on the ease of translating poetic works (over prose) into a different language since it often involves the translation of an image. Imagery makes poetry representational and often dense,

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using language to evoke a mental picture of a theme. Imagery draws a reader into a work and creates an immersive experience. As an aesthetic attribute, imagery is central to poesis. Imagery can work through symbols that embody ideas, or metaphors that build associations between ideas to create an intertext. Examples of these kinds of poems can be used to trigger visualisation and representation activities in class to help students experience the different ways in which images and meaning-making work in poetry. These are also instances of the way cultural and critical literacy is embedded in the act of deciphering creative writing pieces. A sound grasp of vocabulary and grammar helps in unpacking the layers of meaning that underlie these verses. It should be noted that shared knowledge of references and analogies makes a poem easier to comprehend. The choice of imagery and the construction of analogies and associations that are inherent in imagery contribute to the creative identity of a work. We will now move to the second aspect of understanding creativity within poetry: diction and syntax.

Diction and syntax When we study diction, we read to identify the core message of the work and understand whether or not the poetic structure reinforces the theme.The questions that we must ask at this stage are: how does the poem represent the theme? Does the poem promote the theme or problematise it? Focussing on the syntax of the poem will give us clues to answer these questions. These two levels of questions that look at what the poem says and how language is used to express it bring together the abstraction of imagery and symbols with the concreteness of discrete words woven together in verse to convey meaning. Also noteworthy is the importance of culture in meaning-making. Diction and syntax play an integral role in evoking the cultural context of a work. It is worthwhile to recall E. D. Hirsch’s notion of cultural literacy at this point when he states that vocabulary is linked to cultural context. Teaching vocabulary should, therefore, be akin to teaching cultural experiences. In the context of our current discussion on the role of diction and syntax in writing poetry, our experience of the creative work derives from our own cultural understanding of the words. The final elements that can help us in appreciating poetic works are rhythm and rhyme, which also contribute to the aesthetic appeal of a work.

Rhyme and rhythm The most common way of differentiating a poem from prose has been through rhyme and rhythm.The metrical beats and the sound of words, concluding lines in a verse, the sibilance of the s’s, the rolling of the r’s, the tempo of the t’s as they march across lines take the reader back to the oral origins of poetry that was meant to be heard and not seen. The features of orality mark poems for their performativity and

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aestheticism. Teaching to understand and write poems, it follows, can tap into this integral part of poetry. Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms provides a concise, yet detailed, overview of types of metre, rhyme schemes and scansion methods in Western literature for reading a poem. It is evident that rhyme and rhythm are as integral to poetry as they are to human speech. Poetry uses these rhythms with greater focus, structuring the work to draw the listener’s attention to the nuanced use of words and meaning. For an illustration of literary analysis of a poem using the features discussed in this section, please see the section “Understanding and Teaching Poetry” in Chapter 7 on TISSx.

Let us now move to the third literary genre: drama.

Understanding and teaching drama Like poetry, drama and theatre have a long and rich history. These are conventional performative forms that are also culturally rooted in the specific locations of their performance. This means that drama draws its energy and identity from the geographical, national and cultural spaces within which it is performed. In Western tradition, there are a variety of modes from which drama derives. These modes of expression have been influenced by historical moments and movements and reflect within the creation of dramatic pieces on stage. As in the earlier sections, you can find detailed overviews of the different kinds of dramatic traditions and their characteristics in the Western tradition in Abrams’s A Glossary of Literary Terms. The six elements that can be used to help students appreciate and analyse drama are mythos (story or fable), ethos (character), dianoia (content/theme), lexis (style of the play and language used), opsis (the visual representational aspect of the play, such as sets) and melos (melody or music). It should be noted that these are elements described by Aristotle in Poetics, where he discusses the features of drama, in general, and tragedy, in particular. The Indian dramatic tradition draws on Bharata’s Natyashastra and folk theatre, which are each culturally distinct from the Western forms and each other. A discussion on these aspects is currently beyond the scope of this chapter. Interested readers may, however, read Ganesh N. Devy’s After Amnesia: Tradition and Change in Indian Literary Criticism (1992) and its sequel Of Many Heroes: An Indian Essay in Literary Historiography (1998), which provide a literary historiography of Indian literature from Upanisads to contemporary India. These books discuss the Indian literary and aesthetic traditions in-depth and across varied representational traditions.

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Let us now look at the six elements of Western drama to better understand how they can be taught to students.

Mythos Mythos refers to the distinction between story and plot discussed in the earlier section on fiction. Plot deals with the presentation of events in a play in a particular sequence. The principles of causation and sequencing govern the depiction of the events in the story. Since we are looking at the dramatic form that is performative, sequencing within a plot has a significant role to play in enhancing the effect of the work on the audience. In plays, the plot unravels through acts and scenes, where the former (act) is the larger rubric within which smaller scenes occur as pieces in a jigsaw that build towards a holistic picture of the story. Playwrights play with these structures to achieve the effect they want as they delineate the plot.

Ethos Catharsis was, for Aristotle, a core function that established drama as the foremost among art forms. Catharsis is the purging of pent-up emotions in the audience. Upon watching tragedy that depicts the fall of a great man from his position of honour because of a tragic flaw of character or twist in circumstances, the audience is awestruck and in the moment of empathy and grief experiences catharsis that leaves them refreshed. Ethos or character is instrumental in achieving the cathartic state since they affect and involve the audience in the mood of the play through characters and their actions. A tight play of emotions and moods can have an enhanced impact on the audience, especially in tragedies that are based on the actions and transformative experiences of specific characters. Reading and watching plays would require the audience to empathise by identifying the emotions depicted. Characterisation, as flat or round characters, and confrontation between protagonists and antagonists are instrumental in influencing the audience’s engagement with plays.

Dianoia From mythos (fable) and ethos (character), we move to dianoia or content.The term dianoia is used to refer to the theme underlying a play. When we ask the question, ‘What is the work about?’, we are talking about the themes, ideologies and discourse that the playwright weaves together for the audience. Reading plays for dianoia would require us to read it alongside the context within which it is set. It also requires us to be alert to the multiple meanings that frame the plot and pay attention to the world of the plot and the ideologies that frame a story.

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Lexis Lexis, or the use of language, constructs worldview. As in poetry, we will need to study the way language is used to infer whether or not a play promotes the theme. What is the overall message of the play and how is language used to convey this message? Is the play a satire? Is it realist? Is it comic or tragic? Does the use of language modify the message within a play? Does it use irony? What is the nature of dialogues and exchanges scripted in the play? The last two elements – opsis and melos – highlight the visual, spectacular and performative aspects of theatre that occur in real time and involve the audience in a representational experience.

Opsis Opsis refers to the visual elements in plays. Theatre is inherently performative and representational. Opsis or spectacle is the component through which the mimetic or imitative aspect of theatre becomes most apparent. Drama for Aristotle was representational and, through its realist character, was able to engage the audience. By projecting a semblance of reality, it was successful in drawing the audience’s attention to theme.The visualisation of the theme on stage happens in a number of ways. It occurs through the sets, the costumes, the actions of the actors and directions that cause movement on stage. For Aristotle, opsis was of secondary importance since it did not involve poetic intervention. It is, however, important to note that the experience of a dramatic theme is conveyed through details that the audience views on screen.This comprises the spectacle. Realist plays, especially in the naturalistic tradition, focussed on embellishing the sets on stage to resemble the spaces where the action takes place. A kitchen scene would, then, be constructed to depict an actual kitchen. This is one example of the way spectacle contributes to dramatic experience. Plays in the absurdist tradition, by contrast, depicted sparse sets that corresponded to the philosophy of existentialism that underlay the plays in this tradition. Spectacle supports the idea, characterisation and theme of a play. Scripting a dynamic play would involve visualising the actions, including stage directions, movement and presentation of characters as they would appear if the work were to be performed. An informed and conscious use of colour, similarly, can affect the viewing experience. Colours such as red and orange can be used as tropes to indicate violence, war, anger and fury. White could symbolise peace, while black nothingness. These also comprise spectacle and have been used by playwrights and directors to construct dramatic performances. Reading drama would be an imaginatively evocative experience in a classroom when these elements are brought to the notice of students as an essential aspect of craft.

Melos The last of the six elements that Aristotle notes as essential to theatre is melody or music (melos). The origins of drama in Greece lay in Dionysiac festivals. Music was,

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therefore, essential to the festivities. Greek theatre had a chorus that performed crucial functions of exposition and commentary, as they revealed past actions, reported on (simultaneous) events that occurred in other parts of the world alongside the actions viewed on stage by the audience and provided a critical commentary on the plot. As a part of the play, the chorus, therefore, had an integral role in the unity of action. Music also contributes to the dynamism and affect that the actions can have on the audience, leading to catharsis. Interestingly, melos is also a core aspect of Indian theatre that, in classical and folk traditions alike, incorporated dance and music in performances. Like opsis, music sets the mood of the play. It helps us engage critically with the action. Providing sombre music in a melodrama can be a guiding factor in interpreting and predicting what is to follow in the plot. Intentional mismatch of music and action can, on the contrary, be used for varied effects, such as an ironic commentary or subversive critique. Providing similarly sombre music for a trivial action, like chopping an onion, can transform the scene into a comic one. Each of these elements must be seen as tools for reading a play deeply as well as scripting a creative work. Of primary importance is the students’ ability to visualise the drama. Scripting a play becomes an exciting activity when aesthetics is woven into dialogues. Reading plays of different kinds in the classroom can be designed as an illustrative exercise in depicting different models of performance. For an illustration of literary analysis of a play using the features discussed in this section, please see “Understanding and Teaching Drama” in Chapter 7 on TISSx.

Materials design, lesson plans and assessments: Fiction, poetry and drama Designing materials for teaching fiction, poetry and drama must factor in the specific elements of each genre discussed earlier. This is necessary for detailing and sharpening students’ observation skills. It is a core aspect of representation since detailing in creative pieces helps us visualise the scenes and themes with greater concreteness. Detailing is also a necessary step in ‘defamiliarisation’ that enables us to view the ordinary world around us with fresh eyes. Reading for details cultivates critical acumen by honing students’ ability to notice things. Noticing, in turn, enables reflection. Sourcing the right kinds of works at the levels of theme, content and structure is critical in teaching literary appreciation of the genres. A dense literary work guides students’ attention to the different ways in which fiction, poetry and drama are structured, deals with themes differently and has varied effects on readers. Comparisons can also be made between texts, documentaries and films for a keener appreciation of the elements of narrative discourse. Indian writing in English and translation by national/international authors offer a range of fiction, poetry and drama that can be sourced appropriately for literary and critical analysis. Apart from readings in

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under- and postgraduate curricula, anthologies of Indian writing in English serve as good sources of writing across themes and styles. Publishers such as Katha, Sahitya Academy, Orient Blackswan, Penguin, Picador, Rupa, Aleph, Tulika, National Book Trust, Children’s Book Trust, Karadi Tales, Eklavya, Duckbill and Zubaan, among others, make a concerted effort to showcase writings in English from different parts of the country. Some of these are bilingual publications, especially in poetry, containing texts in the original and English translations. Using these stories, poetry and drama can enable deeper appreciation of multiple languages, literary and narrative traditions, as well as a critical analysis of form and content. Lesson planning for literary appreciation of narratives will require scaffolded activities in identifying characters, plot, voice, perspective and literary devices.These can lead to greater exploration in, and review of, creative expression. Teaching poetry in the classroom, similarly, will require activities that draw students’ attention to the poetic form and content. Activities that help students visualise the imagery, metaphor and symbols in the poem can enable a better understanding of the work. Teaching drama can work equally through individual work and collaborative activity. Getting students to work together towards a common goal of scripting a play for performance is a popular activity used across the world in varied learning contexts. It is also a good starting point for students in creative writing since the shorter nature of dialogic sentences and the imaginative element of visualisation can make the genre less intimidating than prose or poetry that require greater command over language. Selecting a variety of plays from across the world that use the elements of drama in different ways and deal with different themes is always a good starting point to (a) familiarise students with the different representational and thematic discourses and (b) enable students to recognise that the dramatic features are tools for communicating their thoughts effectively. Focussing on aesthetics builds students’ vocabulary and underscores ways in which creative expression can be used politically. Determining students’ ability to appreciate a work based on its features can be achieved in a variety of ways. Activities such as writing a blurb or a review for a work that they have read can gauge understanding, as well as their ability to express their thoughts creatively. Book talks in classes that require students to convince their peers to read a work that they liked is another informal way of cultivating deep reading practices for literary appreciation. Formal assessments can include statements about a selected work that students can be asked to comment on. A reading circle is yet another strategy for cultivating literary appreciation. For a group of readers who come with different impressions of a work, it becomes necessary to be able to read a work deeply and provide evidence to substantiate why a person did or did not like it. Questions that encourage readers to probe further into the structure of a work, reflect on the manner of representation of theme, which includes the creation of character types, voices, plots, imagery, symbolism and literary devices, will instil critical acumen in appreciating the structured nature of representation. It will also enable readers to formulate interpretations of works and defend them against the informed opinions of others, to recall Showalter’s discussion on teaching literature discussed earlier in this chapter.

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Flipped classrooms and activities where students maintain a diary of their readings and interpretation of poems that they share in their reading circles for peer feedback can be motivating. The teacher acts as a facilitator and mentor in these sessions. Bilinguality and the use of the mother tongue can also enable greater engagement in understanding the creativity and aesthetic elements in literary works. With the postmodernist thrust on polyphony and multiple meanings, and the focus on individuality as a mark of agency, the challenge of assessment increases manifold. Formative assessments work best as students document and compare their progress in writing over a period of time. What this presupposes is autonomy, interest and a growth mindset in students. Another assessment format could be to encourage students to create a (digital) portfolio over a period of months where their respective writings and reflections in journals and diaries are compiled to produce a consolidated chunk of work.

Teaching interpretation and critique To revert to our discussion on critical literacy, the act of reading is an act of interpretation. Practices that enable deep reading, provoke thought and encourage the formulation of individual points of view signpost ways to critical literacy. Interpretation of texts is, in this context, an important and indispensable competence that must be fostered in readers. In this section, we will look at how the process of interpretation can be scaffolded in the classroom to help students and teachers create communities of critical thinkers. Let us first examine why interpretation and analytical skills are important and how to develop these skills in a language and humanities classroom to interpret a work.

The importance of interpretation and critique

Criticism in short is always situated; it is skeptical, secular, reflectively open to its own failings…the inevitable trajectory of critical consciousness is to arrive at some acute sense of what political, social, and human values are entailed in reading, production, and transmission of every text. (Said, 1983, emphasis added)

Recent research indicates that features of literary studies that make it a relevant competence for interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary discursive contexts is its ability to ‘deautomatise’ reading and thoughtful (re)construction of meaning (Koek et al., 2019). Deautomatisation that, for Koek et al., is marked by questioning, interpretation awareness and delay, interestingly counters automaticity and prediction that characterise successful CLT. Teaching of literature as an art requires the reader to navigate layered meanings within forms that are structured to defamiliarise the commonplace. Reasoning, alternative possibilities and plurality of interpretation

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based on different perspectives are some ways in which critical consciousness in the Freirian tradition develops. Susanne Langer argues that the arts construct knowledge in a manner that is qualitatively different from the positivist sciences. While positivist sciences identify patterns in the environment, the subjective sciences work through problematising and investigating deviations. The ability to interpret and critique texts comprise an important step in problematising. Paul Gee remarks in this context that as a teacher of literature, he embarked on literacy studies by accident to discover that language education, literacy research and literature are not mutually exclusive domains. On the contrary, each of these domains influences the others to build critical thinking in students. Let us also recall our discussions in Chapters 1 and 4 on critical and cultural literacies. Critical literacy refers to the ability to engage with the relationship between the Self and the Other and works towards a reflection on discourses. Cultural literacy, similarly, signposts the relationship between words and cultural systems.Verbal utterances derive meaning from their surroundings. Understanding words is akin to engaging with the cultural systems and codes that produce them. Folk literature is an appropriate example of this point. Deriving from folk knowledge and cultural beliefs that are non-codified, folktales embody alternative worldviews. Structurally, they comprise recurring tropes that, for anthropologists, reflect social and cultural customs and beliefs. Literature is, therefore, embedded in cultures and discourses of the contexts of their production. This embedding is, however, complex, bringing together different perspectives as they use words in imaginative ways to construct meaning. M. H. Abrams’s The Mirror and the Lamp: Romantic Theory and the Critical Tradition (1953) introduces four coordinates of literary criticism that provide a useful starting point for understanding contextualisation, which can guide situated reading of texts. Abrams depicts the coordinates as three points in a triangle, with the work at the centre and the artist, audience and the universe occupying the three points. For Abrams, these points depict different influences on a work. The coordinates can be used, equally, as frames of reference to help the reader interpret a work critically. A work can be considered a verbal artefact. Words come together in unique combinations to convey meaning. As a product of an artist’s imagination, a work is a tight entity that can be seen as an author’s perspective on a theme, which is the first coordinate of criticism. As an artefact located within a sociocultural context, material reality plays an important role in the bringing into existence of a work. This is the second coordinate, the universe, which influences a work at multiple levels. It is the physical space within which a work exists as a tangible artefact, as an object that can be touched and felt. The universe also exerts an intellectual influence by providing themes and topics for the artist to work on. If we say, for instance, that a work talks about war or nature, it is because the world around us provides inputs in different forms that can figure in the plot of the work. The third coordinate is the audience for whom a work gets written. A writer has a general profile of the reader in mind as she or he crafts her or his work, which can inform the choice of theme, level of language, choice of imagery and style and depth of engagement with the

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theme as the writer delineates the work. The audience has emerged as a prominent concern in interpretation as reader-response theories following the Barthesian call for the death of the author and the birth of the reader have increasingly vested the responsibility of meaning-making on the reader. Finally, the fourth coordinate remains the work itself. A work is a product of an artist’s imagination, a linguistic and cultural artefact, an aesthetic object that employs and deploys techniques and styles to re/present ideas. A close reading of these structures helps in constructing meaning.The first part of this chapter looked at the different features of three broad genres in literature. These features contain the core evidence required to interpret and critique a work. We will now examine each of the coordinates, consider the theoretical debates around them and reflect on ways in which these literary debates can be used to interpret works and teach students to critique literature through a dialogue between the world, the work, the universe and the audience.

The work The influence of Saussurean linguistics in the early decades of the 20th century influenced structuralist and formalist positions that looked at poetry as constructed works with an attention to form. Form and content commingle in representation. This was the agenda of the New Criticism that argued in favour of reading the words on the page closely to decipher the meaning of the poem or work. Some proponents of the New Criticism were I. A. Richards,William Wimsatt and Monroe Beardsley and F. R. Leavis who argued that a poem is a ‘well-wrought urn’ or a carefully structured work of art with an internal power and logic. The New Criticism arose in opposition to earlier approaches that focussed on biography and authorial personae as instrumental in making sense of a work of art. According to the biographical approach, the author’s intentions, experiences, opinions and points of view are of foremost importance in interpreting a work. The New Critics countered this argument by saying that a close reading of a poem should be sufficient to understand the intent of the author. If the poet was successful in conveying a message, it should be evident just by reading the poem. If the meaning does not become apparent, then the poet has not succeeded in creating an effective work of art. One need not, therefore, look beyond the poetic structure at extratextual materials for literary appreciation and critique. Knowing the kinds of clothes a poet wore or the kinds of political ideologies she or he embodied were, for the New Critics, not required for interpreting a work. Going by the New Criticism, it is critical to start our analysis with the work itself. At the same time, we must consider in the context of critical and cultural literacies whether a close reading of a work is sufficient for a holistic interpretation of the work. Our discussions on the three overarching genres in the first part of this chapter reinforce the importance of craft in conveying meaning effectively. The structure, style and aesthetic unity of the work provide the necessary clues needed to interpret and critique it.This is the first step towards engaging critically with a work. Reading deeply for meaning helps us identify dominant underlying themes and also establish

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the first glimpse of the writer’s attitude towards the topic. Style can, at the same time, be used for varied effects and can convey (sometimes contradictory) messages strongly. How do we read works where we do not empathise entirely with the protagonist? What kind of interpretation can we formulate for works that have ambiguous endings like, for instance, the story of the old woman in “The Tell-Tale Walls” discussed in Chapter 1 of this book, who goes home after the walls of the mud hut collapse? The open endedness leaves us with a sense of dissatisfaction. Stories and works of this kind are more difficult to engage with. Can we formulate a critique based merely on the impression conveyed to us through a close reading of texts? Reading texts through linguistic structures and stylistic devices as the starting point of interpretation will guide us in conceptualising a topic for critique, as well as preparing ground for the contexts we will need to research to understand the discourses underlying the text. Situating texts will help us identify the kinds of contexts that are most appropriate in constructing interpretations that are supported by the work and that can be justified objectively through the theme, form and stylised representation.

The audience The responsibility for constructing the meaning of a work has, for the past several decades, rested on the audience. Reader-response theories arose in reaction to the determinism that biographical criticism imposed on the meaning of works. Roland Barthes’s influential essay “The Death of the Author” (1967) ends by heralding the birth of the text and the reader. According to Barthes, the text is a structure that comprises clues and signs that can be put together to construct meaning. The reader/audience is, therefore, a critical element in this process of building meaning. Stanley Fish, a key proponent of reader-response theory in literary criticism, argues that the poetic qualities of a text do not necessarily emerge from the source – that is, the poem or the text – but rather are made apparent by readers if/when they pay a certain kind of attention to a work, causing an emergence of its literary qualities (Fish, 1980, p. 326). This inversion in the relationship between the reader and the text confers power on the reader in constructing meaning and bringing the text to life with their many interpretations.The reader-response theory is the core element in the transactional and reader-centric theory of literature, developed by Louise Rosenblatt in The Reader, the Text, the Poem: The Transactional Theory of the Literary Work (1978). Rosenblatt’s transactional theory became significant in the context of schools that emulated the Freirean banking system of education. By talking about the role of the reader in constructing meaning, Rosenblatt vested agency in the reader in meaningmaking. The transactional theory also enabled critical literacy by building on the Self-World relationship through the act of reading, where the audience is invested in establishing the relevance of the work in a contemporary context. Since literary works are constructed in the realm of possibilities, alternative worldviews provide spaces for readers to approach their immediate realities through different aesthetic or stylistic frameworks and envision alternative endings to their own stories.

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We must, however, remain vigilant of the dangers of forcing meaning onto a work that is unsupported by it. Semiotician Umberto Eco speaks of interpretation, misinterpretation and overinterpretation as three likely consequences of reader response. Interpretation occurs when we read a work of art by following the signs, verbal and stylistic clues within the pages. Good interpretations establish their arguments by providing proof from within the work. Misinterpretation occurs when we do not read the clues correctly or misconstrue the meaning of the words on the page. It is easy to locate misinterpretations because the argument will not be supported by evidence from the text. Overinterpretation is the most difficult form of reading to navigate. Like all interpretations, overinterpretation would draw on the text for evidence. This may, however, be based on possibilities or speculation, which extend beyond the stated scope of the work. A reading that speculates, for instance, on whether the old woman in “The Tell-Tale Walls” had a loving husband (based on A. K. Ramanujan’s folktale discussed earlier in this book) or whether the faces glimpsed in the metro were those of married women in Ezra Pound’s imagistic poem “In a Station of the Metro” (1913) would be some examples of overinterpretation.While they are not incorrect, they are also not relevant to an interpretation of the story and the poem. Further, they do not draw on any concrete evidence present in “The Tell-Tale Walls” or “In a Station of the Metro” to justify the arguments. As readers, we must guard against these distractors as we critique works. Being able to differentiate between interpretations and mis-/overinterpretations becomes an important component of critical thinking and literacy. We will now look at two other external frames that inform critical literacy practice through the act of reading.The author and the universe provide information on the situatedness of a work. As extratextual information, we must keep the theme, style and structure of the text at the core as we consider ways of using authorial data and information from sociocultural, historical and political contexts to inform acts of interpretation and critique.

The artist/author The artist is, quite predictably, the source of origin for a work. Critics have pointed to the contradiction that exists between, on the one hand, the structuralist and poststructuralist arguments that pronounce the death of the author and the primacy of the reader in meaning-making and on the other hand, the emphasis in creative writing programmes on authorial voice, imagination and politics. Given the multiple disciplines within which reading programmes now operate, which include literary studies, culture studies, media and film studies and the liberal arts, it is desirable to maintain a balance between the two approaches. For this, we must expand the notion of the author as not merely an individual but as an intellectual, creative, thinking being who can be identified through the stylistic and ideological discourses that emerge in the work(s). Michel Foucault presents the notion of the author as a discourse and a function. For Foucault, an author is identifiable by the style of his or her work, his or her interest in themes and an overall set of ideologies that can be reconstructed

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by reading his or her other works. Here, again, Foucault states that we need to be prudent in choosing the right kinds of materials to gain an insight into the inner world of the author. Laundry or shopping lists made by an author may throw light on his or her material conditions of living but may not necessarily contribute to our understanding of the author’s work. Diary entries, personal letters, correspondences with peers and other writings by the same author would, on the other hand, shed light on his or her inner life and possible values that moved him or her deeply. Resources of these kinds would support deep reading and critical interpretation. Further information about an author’s interests and ideologies can also be used to decipher the meaning of layered works that border on the obscure. A. K. Ramanujan’s poem “A Black Hen” is a case in point (https://allpoetry.com/ The-Black-Hen). While a close textual reading allows us to engage with the argument of the work, it also requires us to look beyond the poem. What is the significance of the title, for instance? “A Black Hen” indicates a possible reference to an English folktale that features the bird conjured through witchery by a vicar’s servant who is later unable to control the creature, which starts to grow in size. This correlation becomes firmer when we realise that Ramanujan was deeply interested in oral traditions and folklore and was well versed in these narratives. Ramanujan’s interest in folktales is evident, among other works, in his anthology Folktales from India (1991), which comprises oral stories collected from different parts of the country, and Tales of Love and War (1985), which comprises selections and translations of the Tamil classical poems the Akanaanuru and Puranaanuru. Understanding the pattern of interests that Ramanujan has can guide interpretative practice by signposting sources for further exploration to critique his works. His interest in the poetic craft, further, might support him to bring these two elements together to get the reader to reflect on the role of poetry and magic. It is useful, then, to turn to authorial discourse as one of the additional sources of information that can frame one’s critical reading of a work.

The universe The universe helps situate and contextualise the work. The universe or world influences the work at two levels. The first level is the date and time of production and the various social, political, economic and cultural factors that influenced the production of a work. The second level is the representational one, where the work reflects the universe in its plot and theme. For both these aspects, it becomes necessary to assess and understand the world within which the work emerges and the plot is set. We should remember that consideration of the universe as a rubric for contextualisation does not mean that there is a mimetic correspondence between the theme and the world. Instead, of relevance here is the notion of realism and representation whereby the work deploys creative license to engage tangentially and critically with reality. Realism as a philosophy postulates the likeness of a work to reality, and not reality itself. Being lifelike enables possibility and exploration without being limited to facts. This interface of reality and representation happens because of ‘the historicity of texts and the textuality of history’ (Montrose 1989). The New Historicist

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argument projects the way texts are historically constructed – that is, they are situated in historical contexts. Contrary to viewing text and history as foreground and background, the New Historicists urged a dialogic relationship between texts and contexts. They also stressed the textual nature of history where our understanding of the past is constructed by the narrative of a historian.

Interpretation for critical and cultural literacy How do these rubrics contribute to the development of a critique? Why is it important to consider these rubrics from the perspective of literacy? Of particular importance are the contexts that the rubrics provide for interpretation. The artist, the audience and the universe make it evident that literary works can never be neutral. In the postmodern world, every work of art is considered political. By political, we mean that works are inherently ideological. Being aware of the contextual nature of representation is important in realising that we are reading a perspective on a theme.This is not the whole truth but just one among many truths. Awareness of this aspect works to (a) ensure that we do not generalise the theme and its representation as a whole truth and (b) help us remain critically conscious that our interpretation is also merely one among many interpretations that are possible. Placing our readings within this provisional domain will foster greater empathy and tolerance for others’ perspectives. We must note, at the same time, that while the transactional theory that foregrounds readers’ agency has gained visibility in literacy studies, we cannot discount the importance of using the work, biographical and authorial details and sociocultural contexts in generating critiques within the classroom. A reader is central in experiencing the text. However, it would be a fallacy to state that infinite readings of a text are possible. Works can support a finite number of interpretations, though opinions can abound.The mark of a valid academic critique would be to locate one’s interpretation in evidence from the actual work, as well as the contexts within which a work is situated.The choice of the lens of critique should also originate in the themes from within the work. Ramanujan’s “Tell It to the Walls”, for instance, can be interpreted through the lens of feminist theory, cultural theory and folk tales as a genre, to give three examples. Reading it as an account of the supernatural would, however, qualify as an overinterpretation and misinterpretation since it literalises a metaphorical representation of collapsing mud walls. It is necessary to preserve a dialogue of perspectives between the three coordinates for a richer understanding of the text. Some steps that can be followed for fostering critical thinking practice are given next. Content: An appropriate selection of literary texts is important in a language and literature classroom that targets critical literacy. The textual contents must be sharp and focussed. They must also be well-written, complex works since these will provide students with good models of thematic representations. The teacher’s ability to read, appreciate, evaluate and select rich materials for literary discussions and analysis is a central element responsible for inculcating critical and cultural literacy practice.

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Some guiding questions can help in material selection and activity design. Is the text rich? Does it allow multiple perspectives of the theme? Does the manner of representation in the text problematise the theme and reveal the complexity of human reality? Is it didactic (if so, how can it be avoided)? Does the text present the reader with moral and ethical dilemmas instead of straightforward, simplistic answers? A positive response to a majority of these questions would mean that the material has good content for a critical literacy classroom. Critical consciousness, empathy and tolerance, along with intercultural competence become some ­natural consequences of interpretative activities that are structured around complex texts. Pedagogy: The manner of transaction of literary texts plays an important role in strengthening analytic and critical thinking. A balance of lectures, learner- and learning-centred practices can support students’ ability to become autonomous deep readers. Initiating discussions after independent reading confers agency on the learner to construct interpretations. Additional materials and input can be provided by the teachers to support this practise.While offering interpretations, it is necessary for the teacher to offer her reading as one among many possible interpretations. It is, at the same time, necessary for her to demonstrate which of the many interpretations of a text are valid and which of them are unsupported by evidence from the text. Modelling a critique must, therefore, be a seamless part of classroom discussions on literary texts. Some guiding questions that can help in streamlining instructions for an evidence-based reading of literary works are as follows. What do you think/ feel about the work? What is the work about? What makes you think so? How is the theme represented in the text? What kinds of reflections does it provoke on the theme? Do you agree with the treatment of the theme? Why/not? Can you construct/ frame a statement or reflection about the text based on your holistic and contextual analysis of the work? Assessments: Assessment for critical and cultural literacy will need to be carefully structured to gauge students’ higher order skills of analysis, synthesis and creation. Questions that guide students to focus on the complexity of a work and formulate an opinion based on evidence from the text will enable them to bring together the interpretative frameworks of the universe, author, audience and the text in meaningmaking. Equally crucial is the need to locate literary studies within an interdisciplinary space of media, culture studies, postcolonialism, ecocriticism, gender and the liberal arts. Assessing students’ ability to relate literary texts and theoretical concerns, on feminism or postcolonialism, for instance, makes discourse analysis a critical pedagogy that can be assessed within the classroom. Tests of this kind must necessarily go beyond recollection-based questions. They must, instead, test application of the competence to read deeply and critically. Reading literature for deeper meaning and associating it with relevant theoretical paradigms will confer critical consciousness. Consideration of the universe, the author, the work and the readers’ perspective together can, therefore, lead to cultural literacy. It can foster, likewise, intercultural competence, tolerance and empathy as negotiations of meaning open up the text to multiple contexts.

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Designing learning experiences and assessments for interpretation and critique Critical and cultural literacy is mobilised through critical pedagogies. Classroom transactions effectively designed can promote analytical and critical thinking in students as they read the world through the word. This involves a multi-step approach to planning lessons. • Selection of appropriate literary texts for discussion • Adopting a learner-centric and learning-centred approach, as in flipped classrooms, where students come to the class having read the work and the activities within the classroom are focussed on understanding and co-constructing meaning • Socratic approach to teaching where the teacher guides students’ thoughts through questions on the text that helps them think through the themes critically • Teaching to notice details in a text and discourse analysis to promote independent questions • Organising questions during discussions that move from individual students’ opinions (what do you think about the work?) to the text (what is the work about?), to the structure of the work (how is the theme represented? What does the work say about the theme?) to interpretation based on close reading (why do you think so? Can you point out sections in the work that suggest what you think?). Finally, these can be used as footholds to get students to structure critiques of the work • Collaborative, peer learning helps in co-constructing critique, as well as makes students aware of the distinction between interpretation, overinterpretation and misinterpretation

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we considered the following: • The expansive definition of literature and the corresponding contexts of literary studies that are now becoming interdisciplinary • The aesthetic, stylistic and political functions of literature that are essential for us to understand in order to appreciate literary works and engage in creative writing • Select features that are core to the genres of prose, poetry and drama in order to read and interpret them better • The four coordinates of literary criticism that support interpretation and development of critical consciousness that is necessary for critical literacy

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• The ways of sourcing and designing teaching-learning materials (TLM), activities for a literature classroom that has critical literacy as its objective and appropriate forms of assessments to test critical thinking

Exercises 1 . According to Elaine Showalter, what are the advantages of teaching literature? 2. Discourse analysis as a critical pedagogy can build critical consciousness and cultural literacy. Discuss some ways in which this can be achieved in the English classroom. 3. Read the following stories. a. Read-aloud stories on Pratham’s Storyweaver: https://storyweaver.org.in/ stories?category=Read-Aloud%20Stories&isStoryCategory=true b. Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s “You in America”: https://books. google.co.uk/books?id=Y1Sv87gyGcoC&pg=PA5&lpg=PA5&dq= %22You+in+America%22+Chimamanda+Adichie+2002&source=b l&ots=cEwCGo2K1H&sig=xk4zox809QBCm8AAeMXC0zo97cM &hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjkje-FvP7VAhWrK8AKHSJ8BtcQ6AEIazAO#v=onepage&q=%22You%20in%20Amer ica%22%20 Chimamanda%20Adichie%202002&f=false c. Folktales from around the world: http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/type0105. html. Which of these works or stories do you think would qualify as literary texts? Give reasons for your answer. Which of these works would be appropriate for developing critical and cultural literacy? What kinds of critical pedagogies would support the transactions of the texts in the classroom for critical and cultural literacy? 4. Source relevant literary texts and authors that can be used to discuss (a) feminism, (b) gender equity, (c) postcolonialism, (d) ecology and conservation of the environment and (e) inclusivity. Frame activities and suitable assessments to gauge students’ understanding of these discourses and themes. 5 . Do students’ aspirations, personal and professional, shape their reception of literary and cultural texts in the language classroom? How can their engagement with cultural and critical literacy practices be strengthened through the teaching of non-didactic literary works?

To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 7 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

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References Abrams, M. H. (1952). The mirror and the lamp: Romantic theory and the critical tradition. Oxford University Press. ———. (1999). A glossary of literary terms. Heinle and Heinle. Barthes, R. (1977). Death of the author. In S. Heath (Ed. and trans.),Image, music, text (pp. 142–148). Fontana Press. (Original work published 1967) Britton, J. 1982. Response to literature. In G. M. Pradl (Ed.),Prospect and retrospect: Selected essays of James Britton (pp. 32–37). Boynton/Cook Publishers. Chatman, S. (1980). Story and discourse: Narrative structure in fiction and film. Cornell University Press. Cuddon, J. A. (2013). Dictionary of literary terms and literary theory. Penguin. Dawson, P. (2005). Creative writing and the new humanities. Routledge. Devy, G. N. (1992). After amnesia:Tradition and change in Indian literary criticism. Orient Longman. ———. (1998). Of many heroes: An Indian essay in literary historiography. Orient Blackswan. Eco, U., Rorty, R., Culler, J., & Brooke-Rose, C. (1992). Interpretation and overinterpretation. Cambridge University Press. Eagleton, T. (2013). How to read literature. Seagull. Fish, S. (1980). Is there a text in this class? The authority of interpretive communities. Harvard University Press. Foucault, M. (1969).What is an author? The Open University. https://www.open.edu/openlearn/ocw/pluginfile.php/624849/mod_resource/content/1/a840_1_michel_foucault. pdf Freire, P. (2005). Education for critical consciousness. Continuum. (Original work published 1974) Genette, G. (1980). Narrative discourse: An essay in method (J. Lewin,Trans.; J. Culler, Foreword). Cornell University Press. ———. (1987). Paratexts: Thresholds of interpretation. Translated by Jane E. Lewin, foreword by Richard Macksey. Cambridge University Press. Koek, M., Janssen, T., Hakemulder, F., & Rijlaarsdam, G. (2019). Literature education as a school for thinking: Students learning experiences in secondary literature education. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 19, 1–33. https://doi.org/10.17239/ L1ESLL-2019.19.01.01. Leitch,V. (Ed.). (2001). The Norton anthology of theory and criticism. Norton and Norton. Montrose, L. A. (1989). Professing the renaissance:The poetics and politics of culture. In H. A. Veeser (Ed.), The new historicism (pp. 15–36). Routledge. Ramanujan, A. K. 1991, (2009). Folktales from India. Penguin. Said, E. (1983). The world, the text and the critic. Harvard University Press. Showalter, E. (2012). Teaching Literature. Blackwell. (Original work published 2003)

8 ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION FOR LANGUAGE AND LITERATURE

‘Would you tell me, please, which way I ought to go from here?’ ‘That depends a good deal on where you want to get to.’ ‘I don’t much care where’ – ‘Then it doesn’t matter which way you go.’ Lewis Carroll, Alice in Wonderland (1865) ‘To ask the “right” question is far more important than to receive the answer. The solution of a problem lies in the understanding of the problem; the answer is not outside the problem, it is in the problem.’ Jiddu Krishnamurti, The Flight of the Eagle (1971) How do we know if a language topic or skill has been learnt? How do we know that the learner can apply concepts in a language taught to them? We always want to know the outcome of our efforts and with education, the outcomes of learning are important for a variety of stakeholders: the students, the teachers, the parents, the administration, the educational content developers, the advisory board members, the policymakers and society at large. In the earlier chapters, Chapters 3 and 5 in particular, we identified how theories of learning and language, the learning materials and the methods used lead to prioritising different learning outcomes.Whether we value grammatical accuracy or communicative competence, for instance, determines the learning outcomes that get measured. If there is a need to prioritise ease in the measurement of outcomes, the assessment process might get affected further. This chapter outlines the contexts and the constructs of assessment and evaluation. It presents an overview of the selection, design and administration of tests. The readings and resources attempt to showcase why, when and how assessment is used and the purpose it maps to. It distinguishes

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assessment from evaluation, discusses the need for assessment, lays out various types and tools of assessment, mapping them to the administrative and ethical aspects in the choice and creation of assessments and urges for an integration of assessment in the teaching process even as readers are encouraged to reimagine assessments altogether.

OBJECTIVES In this chapter, the reader will be able to − − − − −

distinguish between assessment and evaluation identify various types of assessment analyse connections between the desired competencies, the administrative aspects of assessment and the choice and creation of tools become familiar with the various tools available for assessment map the choice of procedure and tool to the purpose of learning and assessment

What is assessment? Caselet 1 A teacher begins a lesson on water conservation by asking students how they use water at home and what advice their parents have given them about water usage.

Caselet 2 A teacher pauses in between a story and asks the students what they think will happen next and why.

Caselet 3 A teacher organises a game of Dumb Charades where the class is divided into two groups, the member of one group picks a chit from a bowl filled with chits and enacts it, while the other group identifies the character or the scene from the textbook chapters that they have studied in an earlier lesson.

Caselet 4 At the end of a lesson on a large family, the teacher asks the students to form groups and to create a family tree for this family with names and characteristics of its members.

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The students must also design a menu for a meal that would contain at least one dish that each family member in this lesson would like (even if others do not). The students would have to explain the choice of dishes. • •

Do the activities in these caselets help in gauging students’ level of knowledge? Can the insights gained from the performance of the students in the activities be used to inform future teaching processes?

The caselets provide examples of different forms of assessments in the language classroom, which are an integral part of the teaching-learning process. In Caselets 1 and 2, the teacher activates students’ existing knowledge, which she builds on in her teaching. The teacher could also challenge students’ perceptions in some cases and help them become critical thinkers. In Caselet 3, the teacher creatively tests the students’ ability to recall what they have studied. In Caselet 4, the teacher enables students to create further discourse with a character in the story. To do so, the students would have to evaluate the characters, understand their quirks and construct an appropriate menu for the character that they each have selected. Let us then consider the question, What is assessment? Assessment is concerned with knowing what students know, moving outwards from the ‘why’ to the ‘how’ and the ‘what’, illustrated in Simon Sinek’s ‘Golden Circle’ in Start with Why (2009).While the circle looks at management practices, it is applicable to any change cycle of which education is an example. The ‘why’, which is the vision of the education system and the curriculum, informs the core of the ‘how’ and the ‘what’ of the teaching-learning processes. The approaches, methods or the postmethod as an alternative to methods, as proposed by Kumaravadivelu, focus on the ‘how to learn’ aspect of the language education system and deal with the teaching-learning process. The third circle, the ‘what’, is the outcome of the education system wrought by the processes adopted therein. Sinek asserts (for management) that the ‘what’ must be informed by the ‘why’ and not vice versa, with the objectives and purpose shaping the content. This argument applies equally to education and language learning. It is pertinent, especially, to the teaching of English in India that is influenced by a variety of personal, social, cultural and political factors discussed through Chapters 1–7 in this book. Let us revisit a story we have heard often about “The Honest Woodcutter”. The sincere, albeit poor, woodcutter once loses his iron axe with a wooden handle in the river. The river goddess tries to help him find it and, in doing so, offers him a silver axe with a silver handle, which he refuses to acknowledge as his. Once again, he is offered a golden axe with a golden handle, which he also refuses and is deeply grateful when she hands him his humble axe. The story ends with the river goddess rewarding the woodcutter with all three axes. Let us now think about assessment through the metaphorical frame of this story.

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Drawing on the previous story, think of possible answers to the following questions. • • • • • •

• • • •

•

Who is being assessed? Who is the assessor? What is the relationship between the goddess and the woodcutter? What is the instrument/method used to assess the woodcutter? Is this an assessment of something the woodcutter has learnt? Did the woodcutter know that he was being assessed? If the purpose of assessment were known, would the woodcutter have performed equally well? Does the woodcutter learn something as a result of the exercise? Is this explicit? Is there something the goddess learns at the end of the exercise? Is this explicit? At the end of the story, the woodcutter gets all three axes. Was such a reward necessary? Now that you know this story, will the same assessment be equally useful to assess others? o If you were told that the river goddess was reputed to repeatedly offer different types of axes or rings as rewards and that the woodcutter knew this, would your appreciation of the woodcutter be different? Is this story a demonstration of a good assessment? Justify your answer.

It could be argued that the woodcutter is being assessed and the river goddess is the assessor. Their relationship is an objective one, where they do not know each other for any length of time. They are, in fact, strangers. The assessment of the woodcutter seems to be value-laden and a certification of levels of honesty rather than a test of achievement of learning.This kind of scenario occurs in real life in the form of diagnostic tests or proficiency levels in language tests, such as International English Language Testing System (IELTS), the Annual State of Education Report (ASER), the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) tests and so on. Further, the woodcutter seemed to not know that he was being tested, much as in formative assessments, as against the explicit nature of testing exhibited in summative assessments. If the woodcutter were aware of being tested, it is possible that he may have behaved differently or changed the manner of his response. Moreover, it is unclear whether the woodcutter was being rewarded for his unconscious performance or for something that he has learnt. It is possible, too, that if the woodcutter were aware of the test format and the test content were known prior, his performance on the test may not be a true reflection of his honesty/ability. It may be necessary, also, for the river goddess to be aware of this and change her content and format of assessment if she wanted to know the honesty levels of the people who frequented her river.

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By approaching this story as a metaphor of the timing, format, purpose, content and context of assessment, we can understand the concept that underlies assessment. If this situation were in school, would it be fair to assess the student/woodcutter on something that may not have been explicitly taught to him? In a language and literature test, there are often questions from unseen passages that are application based and not something learnt through a textbook. Many theoreticians recommend the use of application-based questions to assess learning. School textbooks in India also recommend that the purpose of language learning should be to build students’ abilities to transact any ageappropriate material to comprehend and construct meaning independently. Is this fair? Is this necessary?

Criteria of assessment To better understand the criteria of assessment and the importance that should be accorded to each criterion in the area of ELT, it would be useful to refer to Benjamin Bloom, who in 1956 identified three domains of educational activities: cognitive (knowledge), affective (attitude) and psychomotor (skills). Bloom’s Taxonomy is, today, considered a useful tool for teachers as it introduced a classification system that categorised learning objectives and assessment. Bloom’s student Lorin Anderson, in the mid-1990s, revisited the cognitive domain and compiled six categories: (1) remembering data or information, (2) understanding the set of instructions, (3) applying a concept in a new situation (use of abstraction), (4) analysing the organisational structure, (5) evaluating the values of ideas and materials, (6) creating a new meaning or structure from diverse elements.The revised Bloom’s Taxonomy is used as a reference point across the world in both teaching and assessing academic progress (Figure 8.1).

FIGURE 8.1 

Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy.

Source: Adapted by Ramesh Prakash Khade from Vanderbilt Center for Teaching, https://www. flickr.com/photos/vandycft/29428436431

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The higher order thinking (HOT) skills of Bloom’s Taxonomy are considered more relevant, particularly in language education, as they help in moving categorically towards critical literacy. Can you think of an assessment you really liked as a student? Why? Similarly, can you think of another assessment that you did not like at all and the reasons for not liking it? A good assessment is tied to learning, where one learns as one does the assessment. Did the one you loved enable learning while you were being assessed? Would you consider the game Name/Place/Animal/Thing an assessment activity?

Name Alison

Place Alps

Animal Alligator

Thing A…

Here is another example of thinking out of the box for assessments. Do you think rap poetry can be used as a testing tool?

Assessment and evaluation Some students do not know the spelling of receive in a listening-writing (dictation) exercise.

Teacher A • • • • •

Reviews the student writings. Identifies the common error. Remarks on the error. Suggests exercises for improvement. Conducts a few focussed activities that use many words such as deceive, perceive, receive and so on and helps her class notice the pattern in the spelling such that it is after ‘c’ that the ‘e’ comes before ‘i’ for all ee (/i/) sounds.

Teacher B • • • • •

Reviews the student writings. Identifies the error. Highlights the error. Cuts marks in the answer. Totals the marks.

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Of the two teachers, which teacher evaluates students, and which one undertakes formative assessments? How are assessments and evaluation different? Let us consider the previous cases. Teacher A conducts a formative assessment. Formative assessment is an ongoing system of identifying whether learning outcomes are being met, which concurrently inform the teaching and learning processes. For instance, we have all undergone dictation tests immediately after a lesson is taught but were often not marked on it. At times, the teacher may not have corrected it.We were asked to self-assess or have our desk partners check it. However, it helped us and the teacher check whether we have grasped the concepts prioritised – spellings and punctuation. This could lead to course correction midway for the teacher and for us as learners, as she might perhaps teach rules again or give us homework to practice our spellings and so forth. This is an example of assessment. Teacher B, on the other hand, is engaged in an exercise in judgement, a summative evaluation that does not allow for improvement in the current cycle of learning. The term-end and final exams judge students on what they have learnt and how well they have learnt them in the academic session.This summative evaluation presents a report on our suitability for being promoted to the next grade. Interestingly, the Continuous and Comprehensive Evaluation (CCE), mandated by the Right to Education (RtE) Act of India in 2009, is a process of assessment that gauges students’ understanding of concepts continuously. It should be noted, also, that assessment includes evaluation, but the reverse is not true. This chapter will, therefore, focus on assessment and its place in learning.

Assessment Assessment is a complex process. It aims at documenting teaching-learning processes and giving feedback to the teacher and the learners to improve learning levels. Learning is not a linear, narrow activity. It involves understanding subject knowledge but is also influenced by the learning environment, the attitudes of the stakeholders and the materials available for learning. Since it is meant to aid improvement, it must involve the use of measurable terms to ensure that students and teachers alike understand what needs to be done to improve language learning levels. Assessment then encompasses more than just subject mastery. It is a comprehensive, reflective exercise aimed at improving learning, based on reasoned inference and evidence, and involves various functions, such as motivating students and monitoring standards and processes (see Black & Wiliam (1998); Willis & Cowie, 2014). Performances by learners, which comprise evidence, can be observed or measured and assessment tasks are those that are selected to demonstrate the learning achievement of the students. When students are periodically tested to demonstrate their learning, it is called formative assessment. It is meant to act as a feedforward or a concurrent mechanism to inform the learner and the teacher about

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their future course of action. It can also help them make course corrections as required. The end of the term or year-end assessment is more judgemental in nature and evaluates the proficiency of the student mapped to the learning goals. This is termed summative assessment and is akin to evaluation. Assessment differs from evaluation, which focusses on taking decisions about students’ artefacts to judge their merit based on select criteria. Assessment should also not be mistaken for testing that involves specific tools to measure specific skill acquisition and mastery levels.

MATCH THE TYPE OF TEST TO ITS DEFINITION 1. 2.

3. 4. 5. 6.

7.

Norm-referenced tests a. Identify the level of competence in language use in a select language skill or across skills Placement tests b. Identify the ability of a person to learn. Predicts success in learning prior to being taught Proficiency tests c. Identify the level for a particular aspect of language use Diagnostic tests d. Identify the level of learning of a particular curriculum or lesson taught Aptitude tests e. Assess based on set standards of expected performance/competence Criterion-based tests f. Identify the ability to use select aspects of language to qualify for a job or enter a programme Achievement tests g. Assess based on performance relative to others in the group of learners

Answer: 1- g |2 - f | 3 - a | 4 - c | 5 - b | 6 - e | 7 - d

The different types of tests described in the table are not so exclusive that they have different formats or test items. Instead, it is the purpose that is important in determining the test type. For instance, while a diagnostic test may include all language items as in many proficiency tests, it could also be used to identify a learning disability or other such anomalies.

Why assessment? What are its concerns? As one progresses in the formal educational system, new pathways to higher education and better opportunities become visible. This system is governed by a set of principles and rituals, one of which is assessment.We must recognise that assessment is not outside of, distinct from or separate from teaching. It is instead an integral part of education.

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‘Our present education system produces young minds lacking knowledge, confidence, values and skills’ (University Grants Commission, n.d.c, p. 2). Recruiting giants complain that the youth of the nation are largely unemployable. (Redley, 2019) Most students who have scored over 80% marks in English in their classes X and XII public examinations are neither able to write a paragraph or a letter without grammatical mistakes nor are they able to converse in English. How will these students be able to study their other courses at the tertiary level? (Rayan, 2017) While students have undergone education to reach the tertiary stage, the above accounts seem to indicate that students do not know how to communicate in English. Is this a concern of teaching, assessment or curriculum? Are these three linked?

Teachers, research scholars and even business tycoons deplore the lack of an intellectual, critically literate populace, despite the number of highly qualified professionals that the country’s educational institutions produce each year. When our syllabi and teaching methodology aim to be state-of-the-art, why does the notion prevail that there is a disconnect between the language competence of an educated person and the grades she or he has secured in the course of her or his education? This indicates that assessment cannot be a one-way, top-down process. Multiple stakeholders need to be involved and there needs to be more clarity and better processes in place for effective learning. The washback effect of testing on teaching has also been a concern to some extent in understanding the lack of proficiency in English. The stakeholders in assessment include the following: • • •

Students (since they are affected by it and have to take the tests) Teachers (since they administer and grade the tests) Parents (since they recognise their children’s potential and the teachers’ effectiveness through the tests) • Headmaster (since they come to know of teachers’ performance or students’ learning through the results) • Policymakers (since they determine the effectiveness of a programme through the test) • Course/textbook writers (since they need to understand what to include in the books to enable students to do well on a test)

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Assessment is an integral part of system [sic] of education as it is instrumental in identifying and certifying the academic standards accomplished by a student and projecting them far and wide as an objective and impartial indicator of a student’s performance. Thus, it becomes bounden [sic] duty of a University to ensure that it is carried out in fair (sic) manner. (University Grants Commission, n.d.a, p. 4) Who are the stakeholders who would be interested in assessment? Would there be people not interested in assessment? Can you make a list of those who would and those who would not be interested in assessment of English? What would be the effect of these stakeholders’ disinterest/interest on ELT?

WHAT AFFECTS ASSESSMENT? Different classroom sizes • •

• •

The ideal classroom would have 25–30 students. However, the reality in most educational institutions is that there are 40 to even 100 students in a classroom. Some classes have even more than 100 students and a few have just 15 students. Schoolteachers do not have teaching assistants to help them. In the case of large classrooms, formative assessment is difficult to administer for a single teacher.

Economics • •

The cost of conducting and assessing exams affects test type. The need for resources such as the use of paper or the need for space for proper seating.

Time • • •

More test time leads to reduced teaching time. Some do not cover the entire curriculum so may not get covered in the test. In higher grades, self-study topics may be tested.

Are there other factors that affect assessment in the English class? Can you describe any?

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For the most part in academic discourse, learning and assessment have been viewed as two separate compartments. Of course, anyone who has spent more than a few hours in a classroom knows that this is hardly the case. No matter how carefully we design and implement the instruction, what our students learn cannot be predicted with any certainty. It is only through assessment that we discover whether the instructional activities that we engaged in resulted in the intended learning for our students. Assessment becomes, then, the bridge between teaching and learning (Wiliam, 2013, p. 15). Much of assessment has conventionally been assessment of learning (AoL), where the tests focus on what has been taught in the academic year. This often includes, in language classrooms, the themes in the lesson, grammar components, vocabulary and memory-based comprehension tasks. Such questions comprise the primary, lower order thinking skills in Bloom’s Taxonomy, concerned with recall, which could lead to rote learning and reproducing content verbatim from texts, sometimes without understanding or critical thinking. This does not mean that AoL is unimportant; instead, this is to suggest that the purpose it serves is limited and, therefore, requires us to look for other ways to measure or observe learning.

A teacher taught the following in her classroom as part of a grammar component, focussing on prepositions by framing questions on the incidents that occurred in the lesson and teaching them the use of prepositions. 1.  Where did Rajesh go? a. Rajesh went to school. 2.  Why did Adrien’s mother scold him? a. Adrien shouted at his brother. 3.  Where was Rahim found? Who found him? a. Mrs Singh found Rahim in the storage room. The lesson plan the teacher prepared mentioned other prepositions and many more sentences that were not limited to the lesson, but these were not taught. The teacher said that there wasn’t enough time. In the end-of-year exam, the students had to answer the following test item that was also prepared by the teacher. Final exam Fill in the blank in the following sentences with the correct preposition (03 marks). . Yamini went _______ the market. 1 2. The teacher shouted _______ her students. 3. There was no water found ________ the well.

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What are the similarities and differences between the teaching and the learning? Did you recognise the exact mapping of the verb and the preposition? The nouns have been changed, but the sentence structures are essentially the same. Is this problematic? Why? Is this teaching to test? When the teaching content is limited to what will be tested and nothing extra is taught, it is called teaching to test. It seems the teacher did teach to test in this instance. If students answer all the items in the Fill in the Blank correctly, does the result mean that these learners know the use of at least these prepositions? The test seems to be testing the students’ ability to recall the sentences and word association rather than helping them apply their knowledge of preposition use. The teaching, too, did not seem to include the use of prepositions or help the students learn the meaning of prepositions. What may be the reasons that some teachers teach only those items that may appear in a summative exam?

The reasons a teacher may teach to test are manifold, and the reasons often lie beyond classroom practice and the theory of language learning adopted.They range from incentives to parental pressure that could guide the teacher’s rationalisation of teaching to test. A recent emerging notion of assessment is assessment for learning (AfL). Rick Stiggins (2005) argues that unlike formative assessment, AfL is a continuous process and in addition to providing evidence of learning to the teachers, which is what formative assessment does, AfL ‘inform[s] students themselves…what progress each student is making toward meeting each standard while the learning is happening – while there is still time to be helpful’ (p. 1–2). ‘The more you teach without finding out who understands the concepts and who doesn’t, the greater the likelihood that only already-proficient students will succeed’ (Wiggins, n.d.). AfL or testing to teach (in contrast to ‘teaching to test’) is now being promoted by experts as desirable. Black and Wiliam (1998) argue that if teachers use formative assessments as part of their teaching, ‘significant learning gains lie within our grasp’ (p. 61). This is further expounded upon in assessment as learning (AaL) that envisages assessment as a process through which learning takes place. While AfL reduces teacher dependency, it relies on the belief that the teacher will control the pace of learning and change instructions or content to ensure that learning outcomes are achieved. AaL, on the other hand, gives learners greater autonomy to self-correct themselves and be aware of the learning outcomes achieved and the processes undertaken to achieve them.

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Mark each of the following statements as true or false. . 1 2. 3. 4.

AoL cannot have creative tasks. AfL does not check for lower order thinking skills. AaL eliminates the role of the teacher and the need for external feedback. AoL, AfL and AaL cannot overlap with each other under any circumstance.

Did you mark all of them as false? You are right! Analyse the exercises posed to you in this book through Chapters 1–7. How would you classify them with respect to AoL, AfL and AaL?

Assessment encompasses events, tools, processes and decisions. Taylor and Nolen, in Classroom Assessment: Supporting Teaching and Learning in Real Classrooms (2005), state that events enable a teacher to realise whether her teaching is effective. These need to occur periodically and may include activities that exhibit learning, such as a student presentation or formative assessment items.They emphasise that tools must present a clear picture of what is important in the syllabus, the criteria for evaluation and must map assessment to teaching. They argue that both students and teachers must be aware of all these aspects of assessment tools. Processes may include the use of additional TLM and feedback to support student learning, enabling them to perform better. Decisions reflect student learning levels. An example of a decision is a grade on a test or a report card. Consider a scenario where there are no tests. Does this mean that no assessment takes place? Consider a scenario where there were no consequences to an assessment. Does this mean that no learning takes place?

The use of technology in teaching-learning processes and the move away from teacher-led, drill-based behaviourist pedagogy to student-centred and learningcentred constructivist classrooms where teachers facilitate learning and include many formative assessment tasks are evidence of ongoing changes in the system. Despite these, assessment continues to remain a challenge in the educational sector.

Why study tools for assessment? ‘[If] we wish to discover the truth about an educational system, we must first look to its assessment procedures’ (Rowntree, 1987, p. 1). Assessment strategies should

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encourage learners to show what they know and what they can do rather than focus on what they do not know or cannot do. There are a variety of ways to classify assessments. The classification system is based primarily on format – how the questions are presented and how responses are produced. List the various types of assessments that you have come across and the general perception of whether these are easy and preferred. Fill the following table based on the assessment types that you identified. You have already come across the notions of surface learning (learning for information) and deep learning (learning for application and creation). Analyse if these assessment types can test multiple learning competencies given in Bloom’s Taxonomy. A few types have been listed for your reference. Assessment type

Students’ perception

Teacher’s perception

Multiple-choice questions

Attempting Studying Preference

Setting Evaluating Preference

Level(s) of learning tested

Fill in the blanks Short answer Long essay Project Discuss whether you and your colleagues have the same perception of an assessment type with respect to its acceptance and use. Would there be a further deviation in perspectives when assessing language use as opposed to literature appreciation?

Objective tests, such as multiple choice, generally focus on the recall abilities of the learners. Popham in his article on “Teaching to the Test” (2001) argues that if tests focus on memory-based items, it is likely that only these skills will be taught in the classroom, thus inhibiting learning. Achievement tests may well be valuable indicators of general school achievement under conditions of normal teaching aimed at general competence. But when test scores become the goal of the teaching process, both lose value as indicators of educational status and can distort the educational process in undesirable ways (Campbell, 1979, p. 85). The teachers who direct their teaching to the knowledge and skills focussed upon in the curriculum enable better learning for their students than item-based teaching (see Popham, 2001). Therefore, it becomes important to ensure the use of test items that also map to the curriculum objectives and do not just test learners’ long-term memory. Critical thinking, originality and creativity, as some indicators of critical and cultural literacies, present viable options for testing understanding. Open-ended tests, such as essays, often let students display their overall understanding of a topic and demonstrate their ability to think critically, organise their

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thoughts and be creative and original. While essay and short-answer questions are easier to design than multiple-choice tests, they are more difficult and time-consuming to score. Moreover, essay tests can suffer from unreliable grading; that is, grades on the same response may vary from rater to rater or from time to time by the same rater. For this reason, some faculty prefer short-answer items to openended test items (Ramanathan, 2019).

Assessment design consists of not just the method of assessment. Concerns that need thinking through include the following: • • •

What are the desired learning outcomes? What content has the learning process used? What is the purpose of this assessment? o Is it used as a diagnostic tool to understand the content to use and the scaffolding to design? o Is it a mid-teaching formative assessment to enable students to recognise their learning and to enable the teacher to make course corrections in her teaching?

•

What procedures and tools will help create the assessment? o Would the assessment be a self-assessment, with answers provided along with the test item? o Would discussion with feedback be used by the teacher to understand the learning level of the class and scaffold the discussion to enable students to deepen their learning? o Would there be a project or an assignment and would students get feedback on their responses? o Would feedback be useful to enable the student to learn, unlearn and relearn the concepts and their applications? o If there is feedback, what shape would it take?

Now, reflect on the following. There are two types of feedback given in the following table. Which one do you think is more useful for the student to know how to improve? Feedback A

Feedback B

• Overall satisfactory

• The essay covers all the essential points to answer the question. • However, three to four ideas are presented in the same paragraph. Ensure that one idea is explained in one paragraph.

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• Improve the quality of • Use words and phrases to transition from one your writing idea to the next to show how they connect. For example, furthermore, however, consequently. Did you choose Feedback B? You are right. AfL requires good feedback to be truly effective. This feedback needs to be thought through at the procedure and tool design thinking stage. Watch the following video to think through how to construct and use a qualitative tool for assessment. It indicates the difference between observation and measurement. You can look at the Construction and Use of Qualitative Tool for Assessment from NIOSSeniorSecondaryCourses’ (2017) YouTube channel for more information on feedback: https://youtu.be/NUAR8he8Tj0

Research has established the importance of feedback to support student learning (see Sadler, 1989; Ferguson, 2011; Yorke, 2003). In this context, test scores need to be based on clearly defined, reliable parameters of evaluation to be credible indicators of performance. Further, test scores have a huge impact on not only teaching processes but also on the level of policy (see Bachman & Cohen (1999) and Bachman & Palmer (2013)). It is imperative that these test scores be reliable. When we consider reliability, we must also recognise the use of technology to standardise assessment.To take the instance of machine graded multiple-choice questions, many competitive exams are taken either on a computer, or on an android phone or via Optical Mark Recognition sheets that require learners to shade the appropriate bubbles in the Optical character recognition sheets. Recent trends in schools indicate growing support for objective tests that can be automated for testing, scoring and sharing the results. Question banks are mapped to learning outcomes, content and feedback are formulated by the teachers or experts and entered into the system. The software then selects questions, administers the test for thousands at the click of a button and even tracks student attention by analysing their eye movement. Further, there is computer-adaptive testing that allows for selection based on student answers and enables the system to tailor succeeding questions to map to the learners’ levels of performance. Such software also scores these attempts, generates results, analyses performance and gives both percentage (criterion-based) and percentile (norm-based) scores. This automated process is resource-conserving and enables the declaration of results quickly with absolute reliability and fewer demands for reevaluation or reverification. A similar focus on technology has been extended to open-ended essay tests, as well in competitive exams such as the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT). GMAT has a system wherein the essay by a candidate is scored by a computer and by a human rater on a given scale of six. If there is a discrepancy of more

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than one point between the computer-generated score and the one given by the human rater, then there is a third-person evaluation. It is worth considering whether human raters and machine ratings are comparable. It is also important to ask how a machine rating can match the ratings by a qualified educator. One way of achieving parity in grading between two or more human raters and between human raters and machine grading is to use a criterion-based evaluation scale. A scale or a rubric is a guideline for raters to focus on select criteria (and to ignore others) to award marks. It lays out the criteria on the basis of which a task is to be scored. There are different kinds of rubrics, the most popular being holistic and analytic ones. The analytic rubric divides the total marks across select criteria. Each criterion may further be subdivided into components. Each of these would have descriptors, and each descriptor would merit a mark (see Table 8.1).The level of detailing would vary from rubric to rubric. The sum of these descriptor-based marks would lead to the total score for the candidate. The holistic rubric is popular for its generic rating scale. The scales for performance are predetermined and a general descriptor for each grade is given for the rater to follow. This general descriptor would include all criteria, such as language proficiency, style of writing, content relevance and creativity (see Table 8.1). The rater gives a holistic score for the entire activity or task. A combination of these two, also known as the hybrid rubric, is used at times. There is no single format that is followed across assessment practices and research is still undecided on which rating scale is better to use (see Table 8.1). TABLE 8.1 Sample hybrid rubric (created for the English modules in the Connected

Learning Initiative (CLIx)1 – baseline tool, 2016) Instructions to the rater: Mark each participant immediately after she or he completes the listening and speaking tasks for each parameter on a scale of 1–6. Analytic

Holistic

- Understands instructions in English Has understood the questions (has not said pass for more than 01 or 02 questions) - Pronunciation Is clear and we can understand the participant’s speech - Word choice The ability to use a variety of words - Grammatical accuracy Uses correct sentences - Fluency Does not hesitate too much - Presentation of ideas Organises ideas and presents them clearly Overall score of the student The overall ability of the student to understand and use English (based on your assessment of the student in the above parameters)

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The use of rating scales is manifold and of import to the teaching-learning process. Rubrics are used not just to award marks, but also to provide feedback to students and for reporting. The dilemma that raters face, the effect of variance in criterion selection and its impact on feedback, teaching-learning processes and the course affect language learning. As mentioned earlier in the discussion related to feedback, the more specific the rating scale with respect to the desired proficiency, the more useful it is. For instance, in Table 8.1, what does ‘does not hesitate too much’ mean? What is ‘too much’? Will this feedback help a student improve? Compared to this, can we say perhaps that the first criterion is more effective in enabling a learner to know what to do to reach the desired proficiency levels? A clarity in descriptors is necessary to aid the teaching-learning process (see Weigle, 2002). Which type of rubric (analytical, holistic or hybrid) do you prefer? Why? In Chapter 3, there was an explanation of the levels of language proficiency as described in the widely used Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR). What kind of rubric does the CEFR use? Construct a rubric of your own that will enable your students to do a self-assessment for any activity or exercise given in Chapters 5, 6 or 7. You may use criteria and descriptors given in this chapter or in the CEFR for this purpose.

Reliability and validity in assessment We have already seen some activities and tools that can be used in assessment. This section furthers the discussion on procedures and tools that can be used to add to the credibility of a score.

•

Should an assessment look like an assessment; that is, should it have face validity? • Should the assessment test only what has been taught or should it extend to the application of the concept? What does content validity mean in relation to learning outcomes? • Should the assessment be limited to the learning outcome being measured? Can peripheral observations be a part of the assessment? What is meant by construct validity? • Should the assessment be similar to other renowned tests to prove that it does map the level of the learner to the desired learning criteria? What is meant by criterion validity?

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A conventional assessment pattern would adhere to these four criteria for validity. It is further assumed that once validity is established, the test score patterns for two similar cohorts of learners will be similar. Repeatability of test scores across similar cohorts of learners in similar circumstances makes a test reliable.

Caselet 1 The history and English teachers in a school get together and devise a common assignment. Their Grade 8 class is asked to research the 1857 Sepoy Mutiny and make a 15-minute presentation in groups of five each. Each group has a specific focus area: • • • • • •

Demographics of the region and the prevalent cultural practices at that time The relationship between the British and the Sepoys The cause of the mutiny The immediate aftermath of the mutiny Relevance of the mutiny in the independence struggle Factual errors/cinematic liberties taken in Mangal Pandey, a Hindi film based on the mutiny

Caselet 2 The teacher divides students of Grade 12 into groups of six and gives them a week to research and find advertisements that use a mix of English and any other language(s). Each group is to present examples and comment on the potential target audience of the advertisement and its effectiveness as a strategy in conveying the message. As a follow-up activity, the teacher gives each group a book or handout on etymology of words and asks them to find three English words that have Indian origin and three from other language(s). Each group writes the words, their meanings and the origin word and language the English word came from. This is then pinned on the chart board for display. The teacher asks each group to present one word from their list whose origin surprised them. These are tasks the teacher facilitates in relation to “The Last Lesson” by Alphonso Daudette, the first chapter in the NCERT Grade 12 English Textbook of 2020–21 (see https://ncert.nic.in/textbook/pdf/lefl1ps.pdf). After the completion of the lesson, the teacher asks the students to discuss as a group for ten minutes, if they would like to revise their earlier analysis of the advertisement they had selected. They are then asked to present the changes (or lack of) and explain the reasons for their decision in five minutes.

The other groups must vote if the argument made was convincing or not.

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Caselet 3 The teacher devises a version of the Secret Santa. She asks each student to write a letter to any character from five select lessons (including poems). She lays out some further rules: • • •

The letter should address the character by a nickname. The letter should have enough references to the character to enable the reader (another student) to guess the character. The letter must contain a request.

Once the students do this, the teacher collects the letters and distributes them to the class. She keeps a record of the pairings – i.e. which students received which of their peers’ letters. Now the recipient of the letter has to complete the following: • • •

Decode who the character is. Write a response to the request made using the language style of the character. On a separate sheet, give feedback to the student for the request letter.

The student-author of the request letter also has to give feedback on the letter, focussing on whether (a) the character has been correctly decoded and (b) the letter uses the appropriate style and language. The teacher reviews both letters written by each student and the feedback given and offers comments to the students to further improve their writing styles and their language/register appropriation. Are these caselets examples of conventional modes of assessment? How would you define them? Can multilingualism be used in some of these cases? Will this be a good practice in assessment? How can the English teacher grade such exercises/activities? Would rubrics be helpful? If yes, should they be shared in advance with the students? Why?

There are multiple ways of assessing learning. In Chapters 5, 6 and 7, we discussed some unconventional forms of assessment. Games, role play, drama, using language to make presentations in other subjects and reading for meaning could all form the core of AfL and AaL. These defy, at times, face, content and even construct validity. They may use languages other than English, even when assessing students on their competence in English.This is especially so at the beginner levels of language learning to put students at ease and enable them to express themselves with confidence. Similarly, in Chapter 7, the process of contextualising literary works within the frames of biographical information, sociocultural contexts and the structure of the

Assessment and evaluation for language and literature  195

text can be used as an AfL. Asking students to source relevant information about a writer, the age in which the text was written, the possible influences on a plot and the manner in which these themes are dealt with in the work are activities that gauge students’ understanding of a work and are acceptable measures of evolving critical literacy skills. These can be group or individual projects that lead to presentations and discussions in classrooms. The activities in Chapter 6 that discussed discourse analysis, kinds of comprehension, vocabulary building and grammar activities, as well as the strengthening of the four skills of reading, writing, listening and speaking become steps that lead towards the contextual reading of creative texts. For more on assessment, look at the video titled Assessment Activities in Language Learning (2018) from NIOSSeniorSecondaryCourses on their YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/8DnEhdhlxgQ The following site presents an overview and the various tools available for assessment: http://etec.ctlt.ubc.ca/510wiki/Assessment_tools_in_a_21st_ Century_classroom. Read it and make a table of the types of assessments listed. Identify if and in what context(s) they should be used. The format presented next is merely suggestive. You may use other formats and refer to other assessment types than the ones mentioned in the reading. Assessment name

Assessment description • • • • • •

Materials needed Processes involved Time taken Student-led or teacher-led Adaptiveness to scale Age/learner level appropriacy

Purpose used for

Your analysis Very Good/Good/ OK/Bad/Very Bad with reasons and recommendations

The role of the teacher The characterisation of the teacher in a postmethods language classroom registers a shift.The teacher is a catalyst for change in assessment and teaching practices. In the postmethod era and in the light of NEP 2020, the teacher is required to experiment with strategies that ensure that learning takes place. The teacher, in this new era, designs her classroom’s learning processes to include assessment. In Chapter 5, we read an excerpt from Gijubhai Bhadeka’s Divasapna that showcased an AaL activity. The teacher is, therefore, a learner him or herself.The teacher is a researcher as well. The teacher learns about ICT tools and tries to adapt them to suit classroom practice. The teacher is also someone who is aware of the students’ interests and excites their imagination in learning and in assessment.The teacher makes assessment a fun,

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challenging task to be excited about rather than to be intimidated by. The teacher enables students to give each other feedback and provides opportunities for them to assess themselves through checklists, rubric mapping, target achievement and so forth. This process makes the summative evaluation almost redundant. The teacher’s own goal must be to enable more students to exercise agency in their learning and assessment. Above all, the teacher must be fair and maintain the students’ hopes and enthusiasm in active learning.

A teacher has tasked her students to narrate a lesson to an adult family member and then record their interpretation of and reaction to the lesson. Students have done a shoddy job of collecting such an interview. Which of the following must the teacher do? Give reasons. • • • • • • •

Review her instructions to see if she had omitted any key aspects or used ambiguous language. Give the students another attempt to complete the assignment. Give a substitute assignment. Give marks to the students, but be lenient. Give low marks to the students for not having fulfilled the expectations she had laid out for the assignment. Ask the students what they think the course of action should be and follow the one that the class arrives at consensually. Any other - Please describe.

IN SUMMARY In this chapter, we considered: •

The idea of assessment, the criteria for assessment and the types of assessment. • The difference between assessment, evaluation and test and their place in teaching. • The need for assessment, the various stakeholders involved in the process and the factors that affect assessment. • Assessment of Learning, Assessment for Learning and Assessment as Learning • The use of technology in assessment. • The various instruments (test types) of assessment, the use of feedback and rubrics (analytical, holistic and hybrid) and their relevance. • Reliability and validity in assessment as evolving constructs. • The role of the teacher as a fair and constantly innovating researcherpractitioner in the classroom with respect to assessment.

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Exercises 1. What, in your opinion, is the importance of assessment in education? Do you think there could be a world where education would reject AoL and focus only on AfL and AaL? How can this be made possible? 2. Read the following poem and attempt the activities that follow. The Swing How do you like to go up in a swing, Up in the air so blue? Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing Ever a child can do! Up in the air and over the wall,



Till I can see so wide, Rivers and trees and cattle and all Over the countryside – Till I look down on the garden green, Down on the roof so brown – Up in the air I go flying again, Up in the air and down! Robert Louis Stevenson a. Based on this poem, what kinds of questions can you frame? Which of the questions can help in strengthening functional/operational literacy, critical literacy and cultural literacy? Here are some questions to get you started: • What genre does the poem belong to? • What is the rhyme scheme of the poem? • Do you know what a stanza is? Here is a link to explore: https://literarydevices.net/stanza/. o Once you do that, please identify the number of stanzas there are in the poem. • How many stanzas are there in the poem? • Are there questions in the poem? • Who is the ‘I’ in the poem? • Read line 2. Can air really be blue? Why do you think the poet says this? • Do you think the poet is lying? Why? • Is there a message in the poem? What is it? • What is the tone of the poem? • What mood does the poet evoke? There may be many more questions the poem can inspire.You can see more in Chapter 8 on TISSx.

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Assume now that this poem is taught to students of Grade 9 in a semi-urban school in India.

•

Sort your questions into the first three categories: (1) general knowledge (2) can find out and answer (3) requires theoretical knowledge (based on learning). • Next, map the question to Bloom’s Taxonomy. • Identify the questions that do not serve the purpose of teaching poetry appreciation. Q. No.

Category 1

Category 2

Category 3

Bloom’s Taxonomy

Relevant/ irrelevant

1 2 3



3 .

4. 5. 6. 7.

Can you identify questions that could be used as teaching questions, ones that guide the students towards discovering the information themselves? Can students be assessed based on their performance on such questions? How? Pick any activity from an English textbook. A. Identify how you would grade the activity if you were using a normbased assessment. B. Now use a criterion-based assessment for the same activity and the same cohort of students. Does the grade for students change? What differences and similarities do you notice? Based on this, what would be your analysis of norm-based versus criterionbased assessment systems be? Devise an assessment of your own for any one lesson, wherein you use AaL or for learning. Identify at least five tools of technology that are used in assessment. At least one of must involve open-ended assessment. Present your analysis of the use of technology in assessment and the future of assessment in India. Essays are an important part of the English language classroom. A sample essay has been provided in Chapter 8 on TISSx. Identify how you would rate using a rubric that you designed. Compare it to the parameters that your peers may have used. Discuss why the selection of the parameters affects the rating. To access sample responses to these exercises, please visit Chapter 8 on TISSx and attempt the ‘Submit and Compare’ activities.

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Note 1 The Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) is an innovative field action programme launched by the Centre for Education, Innovation and Action Research (CEIAR) to improve the professional and academic prospects of teachers and high school students from underserved communities in India and implemented in four states. CLIx incorporates thoughtful pedagogical design and leverages contemporary technology to provide quality educational experiences at scale across disciplines, available as Open Educational Resources (OERs). The initiative was seeded by Tata Trusts, Mumbai and is led by Tata Institute of Social Sciences (TISS), Mumbai, India and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology(MIT), Massachusetts, USA. CLIx was awarded the UNESCO – King Hamad Bin Isa Al-Khalifa Prize for Use of ICTs in Education and the OER Collaboration Award for Excellence 2019 (see https://clix.tiss.edu, https://clixoer.tiss.edu).

References Alderson, C. J., & Banerjee, J. (2001). State of the art review: Language testing and assessment (part 1). Language Teaching, 34(03), 213–236. doi:10.1017/s0261444800014300 ———. (2002). State of the art review: Language testing and assessment (part 2). Language Teaching, 35(02), 79–113. doi:10.1017/s0261444802001751 Bachman, L. F., & Cohen, A. D. (Eds.). (1999). Interfaces between second language acquisition and language testing research. Cambridge University Press. Bachman, L. F., & Palmer, A.S. (2013). Language testing in practice: Designing and developing useful language tests. Oxford University Press. Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (1998). Assessment and classroom learning. Assessment in Education: Principles, Policy & Practice, 5(1), 7–74. doi:10.1080/0969595980050102 Brown, D. H. (2003). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practices. Longman Campbell, D.T. (1979). Assessing the impact of planned social change. Evaluation and Program Planning, 2(1), 67–90. doi:10.1016/0149-7189(79)90048-x Davis, B. G. (1993). Tools for teaching. A Publication in the Jossey-Bass Higher and Adult Education Series. Jossey-Bass Publishers. Earl, L. (2003). Assessment as learning: Using classroom assessment to maximise student learning. Corwin Press. Ferguson, P. (2011). Student perceptions of quality feedback in teacher education. Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 36(1), 51–62. Gibbs, G. (1992). Assessing more students. Oxonian Rewley. Hughes, A. 2006. Testing for language teachers. Cambridge University Press. NIOSSeniorSecondaryCourses. (2018, January 29). Assessment activities in language learning. NIOS senior secondary courses [Video].YouTube Channel. https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=8DnEhdhlxgQ ———. (2017, December 20). Construction and use of qualitative tools and techniques for assessment [Video].YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUAR8he8Tj0 Popham, W. J. (2001, March). Teaching to the test. Educational Leadership, 58(6), 16–20. Ramanathan, A. (2019). Rater differences in assessing writing tasks at the UG/PG Level: An attempt to establish uniformity in grading answer scripts [Unpublished doctoral dissertation]. University of Mumbai. Rayan, A. (2017, September 25). What ails English language teaching?’ The Hindu. https:// www.thehindu.com/education/what-ails-english-language-teaching/article19741269.ece

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Redley, M. (2019, June 26). Unemployability and the lack of skills: How to be job-ready. Hindustan Times. https://www.hindustantimes.com/education/unemployability-andthe-lack-of-skills-how-to-be-job-ready/story-zVugVxoG6OCl9EseiI2iSL.html Rowntree, D. (1987). Assessing students: How shall we know them? (1st ed.). Routledge. doi:10.4324/9781315798462 Sadler, D.R. (1989) Formative assessment and the design of instructional systems, Instructional Science, 18, 119–144. doi:10.1007/BF00117714 Simon, S. (2009). Start with why: How great leaders inspire everyone to take action. Portfolio. Taylor, C. S., & Nolen, S. B. (2008). Classroom assessment: supporting teaching and learning in real classrooms (2nd ed.). Pearson. Thomas, M. (1994). Assessment of L2 proficiency in second language acquisition research. Language Learning, 44, 307–336. doi:10.1111/j.1467-1770.1994.tb01104.x. University Grants Commission. (n.d.-a) UGC guidelines on adoption of choice based credit system. University Grants Commission. www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/9555132_Guidelines.pdf. ———. Students entitlement guidelines. 4336926_StudentsEntitlementGuidelines.Pdf 2/4, University Grants Commission. www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/4336926_StudentsEntitlement Guidelines.pdf. University Grants Commission. (n.d.-c). Minimum course curriculum for undergraduate courses under choice based credit system. University Grants Commission. www.ugc.ac.in/pdfnews/8023719_Guidelines-for-CBCS.pdf Weigle, S.C. (2002). Assessing writing. Cambridge University Press. Wiggins, G. (n.d.). Healthier testing made easy:The idea of authentic assessment. Edutopia, George Lucas Educational Foundation. www.edutopia.org/authentic-assessment-grant-wiggins Wiliam, D. (2013, December). Assessment: The bridge between teaching and learning. Voices from the Middle, 21(2), 15–20. www.ncte.org/library/NCTEFiles/Resources/Journals/ VM/0212-dec2013/VM0212Assessment.pdf Willis, J., & Cowie, B. (2014). Assessment as a generative dance: Connecting teaching, learning and curriculum. In C.Wyatt-Smith,V. Klenowski, & P. Colbert (Eds.), Designing assessment for quality learning (pp. 23–37). Springer. Yorke, M. (2003). Formative assessment in higher education: Moves towards theory and the enhancement of pedagogic practice. Higher Education, 45(4), 477–501.

POSTSCRIPT

This book has taken us on a journey through the dense, intricately cultivated forest of English language learning in India. We began with a map of the intersection between sociology, culture, aesthetics and the dynamic nature of language in Chapter 1. Language is ever changing, ever mindful of and ever adaptive to society’s needs. It allows for much more than just a sharing of ideas; it is also an expression of our creativity, our identity, our representation of how we see the world and a possibility for how the world can be seen. We moved on to consider how policies and practices by institutions affect language learning. Research paved the way for a multitude of approaches and methods that can be adopted in the language classroom. We saw in Chapters 2 and 3 that changes in policies and research affirmations affect classroom processes, teaching styles and curricula significantly. Chapter 4 highlighted the need to move beyond the basics of language towards critical literacy and demonstrated ways to adopt new media in the teaching and learning of English. Chapters 5, 6 and 7 provided insights into the use of constructivist, collaborative activities in the classroom to teach the rudiments of a language, to understand text-based lessons and to appreciate literary pieces. Chapter 8 signposted the way assessments can be used for teaching and as teaching and how rubrics enable us to continue the constructivist, collaborative process of enabling learners to communicate more effectively and hone their creativity while doing so. Is this journey, then, at its end? No. Quite the contrary, in fact! We have just begun. To adopt the analogy of a popular saying, ‘One cannot see the forest for the trees’, while this book has attempted to investigate the multiple trees in the forest of ELT, it is yet just one of the many possible pathways through the forest. There remains much more to explore.

202  Postscript

The use of technology in the language classroom, for instance, requires deeper exploration. As technology advances, augmented reality and artificial intelligence are being researched intensively to develop newer ways of communication. Email and cellular messaging services already offer a range of options as potential automated responses to text messages. Autocorrection, suggested inputs and voice typing technologies may transform our approach to teaching vocabulary and grammar in the years ahead as machines decipher and automatically code and decode for us. Strategies for teaching and learning scripts may, similarly, diversify as the Roman script is converted automatically to the script of the target language using software. Translation software and applications are increasingly making information accessible without the learner having to learn the language that the original message was parlayed in. Rapid changes of these kinds also give us pause to think of the cultural and emotional implications that accompany the intervention of technology and tools in language learning. This is of relevance, particularly, in light of our earlier discussions on the creative, imaginative and cultural significance of language. This foregrounds the importance of research and the need to modify our practices and our beliefs as new discoveries are made in fields as diverse as culture, anthropology, sociology, sociolinguistics, philosophy, politics, psychology, biology, economics, literature, stylistics, media and communication, semiotics and linguistics, among others. Emerging research in any of these spheres affects the understanding of language, in inter- and multidisciplinary contexts of application. For instance, we do not have much information about the effect of dyslexia on learners of regional languages.What effect this would have on English language learning and teaching remains to be seen. We have also recognised that strategies that work in one context may not work in others. Action research, documentation and critical reflection on practices by teachers are continual necessities for effective engagement in the language classroom.The argument for multilingualism and the need to teach in the home language in the early years, for instance, continues to be researched, though studies have emphatically proved the benefits of this pathway to second and foreign language acquisition. Research, then, is guided by beliefs, even as it has the potential to shape beliefs. We have attempted to provide information, in this book and on TISSx, on possible future directions in the field. We have also listed sites and books in the reference sections that can help you chart your own trajectory in English language learning and teaching. An open mind, acute observation, objective and detailed documentation and critical analysis are some ways to understand what best suits your particular context and to be prepared to adopt and adapt appropriate content, pedagogical and technology knowledge to address these needs. The forest awaits you, and we trust that this book will be a trusted companion in your journeys. The woods are lovely dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, And miles to go before I sleep. Robert Frost, “Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening” (1923)

FURTHER READING

Abrams, M. H. (1953). The mirror and the lamp: Romantic theory and the critical tradition. Oxford University Press. ———. (2009). A glossary of literary terms. Wadsworth Cengage Learning. (Original work published 1976) Afflerbach, P., Cho, B.-Y., Kim, J.-Y., & Clark, S. (2010). Classroom assessment of literacy. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching, (pp. 401–412), Routledge. Agnihotri, R. (1995). Multilingualism as a classroom resource. In K. Heugh, A. Sieruhn, & P. Puddenmann (Eds.), Multilingual education for South Africa(pp. 3–7). Heinemann. ———. (2010). Multilinguality and the teaching of English in India. EFL Journal, 1(1), 1–13. Agnihotri, R. K., & Khanna, A. L. (Eds.). (1994). Second language acquisition: Socio-cultural and linguistic aspects of English in India. Sage. Alderson, J. C., & Lukmani,Y. (1989). Cognition and reading: Cognitive levels as embodies in test questions. Reading in a Foreign Language, 5 253–270. ———. (2005, July 12). Culture, dialogue and learning: Notes on an emerging pedagogy [Keynote lecture] Education, Culture and Cognition: Intervening for Growth, 10th International Conference, International Association for Cognitive Education and Psychology (IACEP), University of Durham, United Kingdom. Alexander, R. (2010, July 12). Border crossings: Towards a comparative pedagogy. Comparative Education, 37.4, 507–523. Arnold, J., Pichta, H., & Rinvolucri, M. (2007). Imagine that! Mental imagery in the EFL classroom. Helbling Languages. Armitage, M. (1998). Forging links between talking and writing. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 79–95). Cassell. Ball, A., & Freedman, S. W. (Ed.). (2004). Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning. Cambridge University Press. Bazerman, C. (2004). Intertextualities:Volosinov, Bakhtin, literary theory, and literacy studies. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning (pp. 53–65).Cambridge University Press.

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Booth, W. C. (2004). The rhetoric of rhetoric: The quest for effective communication. Blackwell Publishing. Beach, R., & Hynds, S. (1996). Research on response to literature. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 453– 489). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Bearne, E., & Styles, M. (2010). Literature for children. In D.Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 22– 32). Routledge. Beavis, C. (2010). Twenty first century literature: Opportunities, changes and challenges. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 33–44). Routledge. Benson, P., & Nunan, D. (Eds.). (2005). Learners’ stories: Difference & diversity in language learning. Cambridge University Press. Bomer, R. (2010). Orality, literacy and culture: Talk, text, and tools in ideological contexts. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 205–215). Routledge. Brutt-Griffler, J. (2010). Bilingualism and English language teaching. In D. Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 228–241). Routledge. Britton, J. (1982). In (G. M. Pradl (Ed.) Prospect and retrospect: Selected essays of James Britton. Boynton/Cook Publishers. Brown, H. D., & Abeywickrama, P. (2010). Language assessment: Principles and classroom practice (2nd ed.). Pearson ESL. Brumberger, E. (2011).Visual literacy and the digital native: An examination of the millennial learner. Journal of Visual Literacy, 30(1), 19–47. Bruner, J. (1990). Acts of meaning: Four lectures on mind and culture. Harvard University Press. Burns, A. (2010). Doing action research in English language teaching: A guide for practitioners. Routledge. Byram, M. (Ed.) (2004). Routledge encyclopedia of language teaching and learning. Routledge. Calfee, R., & Hiebert, E. (1996). Classroom assessment of reading. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 281– 309). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Celce-Murcia, M., & Larsen-Freeman, D. (1999). The grammar book: An ESL/EFL teacher’s course (2nd ed.). Heinle ELT. Celce-Murcia, M., & Olshtain, E. (2001). Discourse and context in language teaching: A guide for language teachers. Cambridge University Press. Chaika, E. (2007). Language and the social mirror (3rd ed.). Heinle and Heinle Publishers. Chambers, E., & Gregory, M. (2006). Teaching and learning English literature. SAGE Publications. Chamot, A. U. (2009). The CALLA handbook: Implementing the cognitive academic language learning approach (2nded.). Pearson Longman. Chapelle, C., & Jamieson, J. (2008). Tips for teaching CALL. Pearson ESL. Chomsky, N. (1959). A review of B. F. Skinner’s verbal behavior. Language, 35(1), 26–58. ———. (2002). On nature and language (A. Belletti & L. Lizzi, Eds.). Cambridge University Press. Clipson-Boyles, S. (1998). Developing oracy through drama. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 114–136). Cassell. Cole, K. A., Means, B., Simkins, M., & Tavalin, F. (2002). Increasing student learning through multimedia projects. ASCD. Cook, G. (2000). Language play, language learning. Oxford University Press.

Further reading  205

Corbett, J. (2003). An intercultural approach to English language teaching. Multilingual Matters. Crawford, J. (2002). The role of materials in the language classroom: Finding the balance. In J. Richards & W. Renandya (Eds.), Methodology in language teaching: An anthology of current practice (pp. 80–92). Cambridge University Press. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511667190.013 Deller, S., & Price, C. (2007). Teaching other subjects through English. Oxford University Press. Dressman, M. (2004). Dewey and Bakhtin in dialogue: From Rosenblatt to a pedagogy of literature as social, aesthetic practice. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning pp. 34–52). Cambridge University Press. Dörnyei, Z., & Murphey, T. (2004). Group dynamics in the language classroom. Cambridge University Press. Dozier, C., Johnston, P., & Rogers, R. (2006). Critical literacy/critical teaching: Tools for preparing responsive teachers. Columbia University Press. Dudeney, G. (2007). The Internet and the language classroom (2nd ed.). Cambridge University Press Eckert, P., & J. R. Rickford (Eds.). (2002). Style and sociolinguistics variation. Cambridge University Press. Ehri, L. C. (1996). Development of the ability to read words. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 383– 417). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Ellis, R. (1997). The empirical evaluation of language teaching materials. ELT Journal, 51(1), 36–42. Ellis, R. (2011). Macro- and micro-evaluation of task-based teaching. In B. Tomlinson (Ed.), Materials development in language teaching (2nd ed., pp. 212–235). Cambridge University Press. Foster, P., & Purves, A. (1996). Literacy and society with particular reference to the nonwestern world. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research:Volume II (pp. 26–45). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Freedman, S. W., & Ball, A. F. (2004). Bakhtinian concepts to guide the study of language, literacy and learning. In A. F. Ball, & S.W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, Literacy and Learning (pp. 3–33). Cambridge University Press. Freeman, D., & Freeman,Y. (2004). Essential Linguistics:WhatYou Need to Know to Teach Reading, ESL, spelling, phonics, and grammar. Heinemann. Fulcher, G., & Davidson, F. (2007). Language testing and assessment: An advanced resource book. Routledge. Gardner, H. (2006). Multiple intelligences: New horizons in theory and practice. Basic Books. Gass, S. M., & Selinker, L. (2008). Second language acquisition: An introductory course (3rd ed.). Routledge. Gee, J. P. (2004). New times and new literacies: Themes for a changing world. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning (pp. 279–306). Cambridge University Press. Gebhard, J. G. (2006). Teaching English as a foreign or second language (2nd ed.). University of Michigan Press/ESL. Gibbs, R. W. (Ed.). (2008). The Cambridge handbook of metaphor and thought. Cambridge University Press. Gilles, C., & Pierce, K. M. (2003). Making room for talk: Examining the historical implications of talk in learning. English Education, 36(1), 56–79. https://www.jstor.org/ stable/40173153 Giroux, H. (1997). Pedagogy and the politics of hope: Theory, culture and schooling (a critical reader). Westview.

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Kaufman, D., & Crandall, J. (Eds.). (2005). Content-based instruction in primary and secondary school settings. TESOL. Knoeller, C. P. (2004). Narratives of rethinking:The inner dialogue of classroom discourse and student writing. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning (pp. 148–171). Cambridge University Press. Kothari, B., & Bandyopadhyay, T. (2010). Can India’s literate read? International Review of Education, 56.5(6), 705–728. Lalljee, B. (1998). Using talk across the curriculum. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 1–18). Cassell. Larr, B. (1998). Play and inventive activity. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 19–42). Cassell. Lightbown, P., & Spada, N. (2006). How languages are learned (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. Lindstromberg, S., & Boers, F. (2008). Teaching chunks of language: From noticing to remembering. Helbling Languages. Lukmani, Y. (1992). Attitudinal orientation toward studying English literature in India. The Lie of the Land, 156–186. Lukmani,Y. (2012). Current research in language assessment and its implications for language teaching. Language and Language Teaching (LLT), 1(1), 5–11. Lynch, B. K. (2003). Language assessment and programme evaluation. Edinburgh University Press. Mahiri, J. (2004). New teachers for new times:The dialogical principle in teaching and learning electronically. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning (pp. 213–231). Cambridge University Press. Maley, A., & Duff, A. (2005). Drama techniques: A resource book of communication activities for language teachers (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. McKay, P. (2006). Assessing young language learners. Cambridge University Press. McLaughlin, M., |& de Voogt, G. (2004). Critical literacy as comprehension: Expanding reader response. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 48 (1), 52–62. https://www.jstor. org/stable/40012284 Mitchell, R., & Myles, F. (2004). Second language learning theories (2nd ed.). Hodder Arnold. Munby, J. (1978). Communicative syllabus design. Cambridge University Press. Murray, D. (2008). Planning change: Changing plans: Innovation in second language teaching. University of Michigan Press. Murris, K. (1998). Philosophical discussions with picture books. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 137–154). Cassell. Null, W. (2011). Curriculum: From theory to practice. Rowman and Littlefield Publishers. Nunan, D., & Swan, M. (1993). Designing tasks for the communicative classroom (6th ed.) Cambridge University Press. Nunan, D. (2005). Practical English language teaching: Grammar. McGraw-Hill. O’Keeffe, A., McCarthy, M., & Carter, R. (2007). From corpus to classroom: Language use and language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Ortega, L. (2009). Understanding second language acquisition. Hodder Education. Paris, S. G., Wasik, B., & Turner, J. (1996). The development of strategic readers. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research:Volume II (pp. 609–640). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Pinter, A. (2006). Teaching young language learners. Oxford University Press. Prentice, M. (1998). Story-telling in the classroom and across the whole school. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 96–113). Cassell.

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Read, C. (2007). 500 activities for the primary classroom. Macmillan ELT. Reinking, D., & Bridwell-Bowles, L. (1996). Computers in reading and writing. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research:Volume II (pp. 310–340) Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Richards, J. C. (2001). Curriculum development in language teaching. Cambridge University Press. Richards, J. C., & Schmidt, R. (Eds.). (2010). Longman dictionary of language teaching and applied linguistics (4th ed.). Pearson Education. Rogoff, B. (2014). Learning by observing and pitching in to family and community endeavors. Human Development, 57.2(3), 69–81. https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26764709 Saville-Troike, M. (2005). Introducing second language acquisition. Cambridge University Press. Shah, M. (2010). Bilingual educational programs in Indian schools: Addressing the English language needs of the country. In D.Wyse, R. Andrews, & J. Hoffman (Eds.), The Routledge international handbook of English, language and literacy teaching (pp. 461–471). Routledge. Sharpe, R., Beetham, H., & Sara, D. F. (2010) Rethinking learning for a digital age: How learners are shaping their own experiences. Taylor & Francis Group. Smyth, J. (2011). Critical pedagogy for social justice. Continuum. Stanovich, K. E. (1996). Word recognition: Changing perspectives. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 418– 452). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Strickland, R. (1998). Questioning, arguing and reasoning. In J. Holderness & B. Lalljee (Eds.), An introduction to oracy: Frameworks for talk (pp. 43–61). Cassell. Sulzby, E., & Teale, W. (1996). Emergent literacy. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P.  D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 727–758). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Swan, M. (2016). Practical English usage. Oxford University Press. Tierney, R. J., & Shanahan, T. (1996). Research on the reading-writing relationship: Interactions, transactions and outcomes. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 246–280). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Thornbury, S. (2000). How to teach grammar. Pearson Longman. Thornbury, S., & Slade, D. (2006). Conversation: From description to pedagogy. Cambridge University Press. Tomlinson, B., & Masuhara, H. (Eds.). (2010). Research in materials development for language teaching: Evidence for best practice. Continuum. Trifonas, P. P. (Ed.). (2000). Revolutionary pedagogies: Cultural politics, instituting education and the discourse of theory. RoutledgeFalmer. Valdes, G. (2004). The teaching of academic language to minority second language learners. In A. F. Ball & S. W. Freedman (Eds.), Bakhtinian perspectives on language, literacy and learning (pp. 66–98). Cambridge University Press. Waller, R. (1996). Typography and discourse. In R. Barr, M. L. Kamil, P. B. Mosenthal, & P. D. Pearson (Eds.), Handbook of reading research: Volume II (pp. 341–380). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates. Wardhaugh, R. (2009). An introduction to sociolinguistics (6th ed.). John Wiley & Sons. Weir, C. J., Hughes, A., & Porter, D. (1990). Reading skills: hierarchies, implicational relationships and identifiability reading in a foreign. Language, 7 505–510. Wells, G., & Arauz, R. M. (2006). Dialogue in the classroom. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 15(3), 379–428. https://www.jstor.org/stable/25473525 Willis, D., & Willis, J. (2007). Doing task-based teaching. Oxford University Press. Wilson, K. (2009). Drama and improvisation. Oxford University Press.

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Woodward, T. (2001). Planning lessons and courses: Designing sequences of work for the language classroom. Cambridge University Press. Wright, A., Betteridge, D., & Buckby, M. (2006). Games for language learning (3rd ed.). Cambridge University Press. Yule, G. (2010). The study of language (4th ed.). Cambridge University Press.

INDEX

Page numbers in bold refer to tables; page numbers in italics refer to figures.

Abrams, M.H. 156–157, 159, 165 acculturation 23, 56 Achebe, C. 46 A Course in General Linguistics 8 Aitchison, J. 71 All the World’s a Stage (“The Seven Ages of Man”) 130–131, 144 Aristotle 18, 63, 150, 159–161 Aspects of the Novel 154 assessment and evaluation 175–176, 180; assessment as learning (AaL) 186; assessment for learning (AfL) 186; assessment of learning (AoL) 185; formative assessment 164, 178, 181, 184, 186–187, 189; summative assessment 178, 181–182, 186, 196 Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills (BICS) 56, 74–76, 79; see also CALP; CUP beginnings and endings 153, 153, 154 behaviourism 62, 63, 107–108, 111 Bernstein, B. 53 Biographia Literaria 17 Bloom’s Taxonomy 179, 179, 180, 185–186, 198 Bond, R. 48, 131–132, 135–136, 142 Bourdieu, P. 16 Britton, J. 25, 92 Brown, D.H. 123, 124, 126 Bruner, J. 69–71, 79, 88 Byram, M. 77

Canagarajah, S. 44, 97 Celce-­Murcia, M. & Olshtain, E. 141 characterisation 36, 53, 153, 153, 154–155, 160–161, 195 Chatman, S. 153 Chaudhary, S. 43, 49 Chomsky, N. 8, 10–11, 62, 65–66, 71, 108 Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (CALP) 36, 39, 56, 74–76, 79, 97, 103, 118, 123; see also BICS; CUP Coleridge, S.T. 17 Common European Framework of References for Languages, Learning, Teaching, Assessment (CEFR) 76 Common Underlying Proficiency (CUP) 76; see also BICS; CALP Communicative Language Teaching (CLT) 104, 108, 110, 112–113, 115–116, 118–120, 124, 126, 164 competence and performance 10, 73, 108; communicative competence 2–4, 35, 39–40, 44, 56, 73–74, 108, 123, 175 Connected Learning Initiative (CLIx) 191, 199n1 constructivist/constructivism 2, 69, 78, 88, 101, 104, 148, 187, 201 critical consciousness 4, 25, 54, 56, 83, 87–89, 92, 95, 97, 100, 128–129, 141, 148, 151–152, 164–165, 171–173 critical literacy 3–4, 6, 24–27, 30, 42, 45, 48, 52, 54, 56–57, 82, 85, 88, 90, 92, 97, 99, 101, 129, 134–135, 138, 140, 144–146,

Index  211

148, 150–151, 158, 164–165, 167–168, 170–173, 180, 195, 197, 201 critical theory 8, 150 critical thinking 4, 25, 29, 54, 56, 88, 93, 100, 120, 129, 131, 134, 138, 144–145, 148, 152, 165, 168, 170–173, 185, 188 Crystal, D. 37, 60, 70–71 Cummins, J. 74–76, 79 Dawkins, R. 90 Dawson, P. 152 Deardoff, D.K. 76 Decolonising the Mind:The Politics of Language in African Literature 20 Devy, G.N. 159 dialogism 56, 87–88 dianoia 153, 159–160 diction and syntax 153, 157–158 Donaldson, M. 53, 91, 131, 134–135 Eagleton, T. 20, 149 ethnography 6 ethos 90, 153, 159–160 Everett, D. 66 Feeling and Form 20 Folktales of India 15 Freire, P. 25, 54, 87–89, 98, 100, 141, 151 functional grammar 138 Gargesh, R. 60 Gattegno, C. 108 global comprehension 132 Hall, S. 17 Halliday, M.K. 135, 138 Hinkel, E. 24 Hoggart, R. 24, 86 Hymes, D. 73, 108 imagery 153, 156–158, 163, 165 inferential comprehension 129, 132 information and communication technology (ICT) 11 input hypothesis 73, 97, 99, 110 intensive reading 133; see also Scanning; Skimming intercultural competence 2–3, 51, 56, 76, 78–79, 83, 120, 129, 148, 171 Jhingran, D. 56 Kachru, B. 49 Karnad, G. 48, 99

Kellner, D. 86 Khilnani, S. 32–33 Khubchandani, L. 7, 44, 56 Kirkpatrick, A. 51, 100 Kothari, B. 78; Kothari and Bandyopadhyay 83 Krashen, S. 73, 97, 99, 110 Kumaravadivelu, B. 53, 53, 54, 105, 120–123, 126, 145, 177 Langer, S. 15, 20, 27, 70, 165 Language Acquisition Device (LAD) 10 language and symbolic power 16 Lankshear, C. 25–26, 86, 90; Lankshear and Knobel 90 Levi-­Strauss, C. 16 Lexis 153, 159, 161 lingua franca 41–42, 50–51, 60 linguistic relativity 21–22, 72 literacy: critical literacy 6, 24–27, 31, 42, 45, 48, 52, 54, 56, 82, 85, 88, 90, 92, 97, 99, 129, 134–135, 138, 140, 144–146, 150– 151, 158, 164–165, 167–168, 170–172; cultural literacy 165, 170–172; functional literacy 54, 78, 103, 128; operational literacy 24, 45, 54, 85, 197 literary criticism 8, 148–149, 151, 159, 165, 167, 172 literary devices 153, 153, 156, 163 Littlewood, W. 115–116 local comprehension 132 Loomba, A. 41 Malinowski, B. 21 Mayer, R. 95–97 meaning-­making 9, 16, 26, 91, 120, 156, 167, 171 melos 153, 159, 161–162 multicultural 3, 39, 42, 53 multilingual 26, 32–33, 34, 36, 39–40, 42–46, 48–49, 51, 53–54, 55, 57, 83, 92, 98, 149 multimedia 26, 82, 85, 90, 94–95, 95, 96, 97–98, 101, 125, 138 multimodal 3, 26, 77, 82, 85, 90, 94–95, 95, 97–98, 130–132, 138 mythos 153, 159–160 Naipaul,V.S. 133, 142, 143 National Curriculum Framework (NCF, 2005) 38 National Education Policy (NEP 1986, 1992) 34 National Education Policy (NEP, 2020) 11, 38, 61, 74, 125

212  Index

National Focus Group (NFG 2005–2006) 35 Natya Shastra 17 Nayar, P. 18 notional/functional syllabus 119 Nunan, D. 116, 119–120, 142, 143; Nunan, Candlin and Widdowson 119 Okara, G. 46 Olson and Torrance 85; Palincsar and Ladewski 24, 84–85 operant conditioning 63 Opsis 153, 159, 161–162 Oracy 24–25, 37, 82, 86–88, 92–94, 101; orality 25, 92, 94, 158 Orwell, G. 143 Palincsar, A. and Ladewski, B. 24, 84–85 Philosophy in a New Key: A Study in the Symbolism of Reason, Rite and Art 15 Piaget, J. 69, 71 Pinker, S. 65–66 Plato 18, 63, 150 plurilingualism 76 Prabhu, N.S. 116–117 principled pragmatism 53–54, 57, 94, 103, 121, 126, 135; postmethod, macrostrategies 53–54, 57, 82, 116, 120, 126, 177, 195 process model of intercultural competence 76 Propp,V. 16 Prospect and Retrospect 87 reading hypothesis 73, 97 reading strategies 18, 75, 89–90 representation 2, 7, 12, 17–20, 23, 27, 59, 69–70, 70, 77, 79, 86, 94, 100, 141, 147–150, 155, 158, 162–163, 166–167, 169–171, 201 rhetorical modes: analytical and comparative 129, 150, 152, 164; argumentative and persuasive 129, 140–145, 153; descriptive 90, 129, 141–144, 153; expository 128, 141–144, 153–154, 162; narrative 74, 94, 112, 129, 138, 141–143, 148, 153–157, 162–163, 169–170 rhyme and rhythm 153, 157–159 Richards and Rodgers 105, 108, 110 Richards, J. 105, 110, 115–116, 119–120 Rosenblatt, L. 89, 144, 167 Said, E. 151 Same Language Subtitling (SLS) 78

Sapir, E. 21–23, 35, 72, 79 Saussure, F. de 8 Savignon, S.J. 108, 119–120 scanning 129, 133, 145, 151; see also intensive reading; skimming semantics 6, 11, 15, 25, 62, 74, 78, 104, 112, 135 semiotics 5–6, 13, 15 Semiotics and the Philosophy of Language 13 Shakespeare, W. 130–131, 144 Sheorey, R. 32 Shklovsky,V. 17 Showalter, E. 149, 151–152, 156, 163 Sidney, P. 149–150 sign/signifier/signified/signification 6, 8–9, 12–15, 17; langue, parole, synchrony 9–10 Simons and Fennings 60 Sinha, S. 133 skimming 122, 129, 151, 153; see also intensive reading; scanning Skinner, B.F. 63–65, 107 sociolinguistics 23, 52, 202 Socratic 172; see also Plato Spivak, G. 46 Stephens, K. 25, 129 story versus plot 153 symbolisation 7, 11, 15, 17, 19–20, 25, 27, 70, 94 Task-­based Language Teaching (TBLT) 116, 126 Teacher Professional Development (TPD) 3, 37, 38, 78, 82, 100–101, 125 Teaching Literature 151 Teaching of English 36, 38–40, 56, 100 Teaching of Indian Languages 33, 35, 38–40, 42, 44, 56, 128 Teale and Sulzby 94 The Language Web 71 The Republic 18 The World, the Text and the Critic 151 TPaCK 98, 101 transactional theory of reading 89 Trivedi, H. 47, 149 Universal Design Principles for Learning (UDL) 60, 77–79 Universal Grammar 10–11, 65–68 voice and perspective 153, 155 Vygotsky, L. 23, 69 Wa Thiong’o, N. 20, 45–48

Index  213

Wells, G. 86 Whorf, B. 21–23, 35, 72, 79 Wolf, M. 89, 129 Words and Rules:The Ingredients of Language 65 World Englishes 31, 42, 49–51, 56–57, 68, 100, 114, 149

World-­Readiness Standards for Learning Languages, the Standards for Foreign Language Learning: Preparing for the 21st Century 76 Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) 69; see also Vygotsky