Role of Teacher in Teaching English to Non-Native Speakers of Indian Origin

Role of Teacher in Teaching English to Non-Native Speakers of Indian Origin

Dr. Ritu Sharma Associate Professor

Atharva College of Engineering, Malad

Prof. Rajendra Mahajan Assistant Professor

Atharva College of Engineering, Malad

Abstract – English is the most widely spoken languages in the world and in India more than a century. But still it is a challenge for non native speakers.It is widely used in offices,business,industries,and in academic institutes

.So,English has gained importance in our country, But still, in rural India teaching is done in vernacular language.On the other hand, most of the competitive examinations are held in English medium. The vernacular language is spoken and is in common use. The present paper is an attempt to highlight the problems faced by Non-Native (vernacular) speakers and important of LSRW and role of teacher to model the life of these Non- Native speakers.

Keywords- Non- Native, LSRW (Lisenting,Speaking,Reading, Writing),Teacher.

1. INDRODUCTION

   English is the Queen of languages. Shri C. Rajgopalachari once wrote, English language is the greatest gift of Goddess Saraswati to India. We have been using English in India for more than a century. English language is associated at National and International level. Now a days it is commonly used language in offices, business,industry,schools and colleges. Indian students seek to study abroad have to clear GRE,IELTS,TOEFL examination. Hence, the teaching of English is capturing the great importance in India. Teaching English as a second language in India is thus beset with problems such as poor motivation,inadequate exposure,psychological ,financial and environmental interference ,lack of interest and practice of the language. Due to all these reasons Non- Native speakers face problems in higher studies in urban cities. Lack of communication skills and soft skills make it difficult to get employment.English teacher will help Non- Native speakers to upgrade and update the professional knowledge ,soft skills to keep the teaching learning process healthy and innovative.

2. IMPORTACE OF LSRW (LISENTING,SPEAKING,READING, WRITING)

   Communication and success are closely related with each other. In todays competitive world excellent LSRW skills provide the right key to success. Lack of these skills will definitely affect the future of any student because most of the careers and job require that employees should be competent in English language. To have mastered in English language LSRW plays a vital role.Listening skills could be strengthened by making students to hear sounds of that particular language. To improve English of students

   AICTE and UGC had made compulsory to establish a language laboratory in all Technical and Nontechnical colleges. Speaking skills could be improved by understanding Para-linguistic attributes such as voice quality,volume,tone,voice modulation, pronunciation, etc This will help students in group discussion, debate, public speaking and getsselected in placements. Reading skills help the students to interpret, comprehend,and become engaged in things around. Different type of reading like sampling,skimming,scanning, will provide joy to the students. Reading a newspaper daily and finding meaning of jargons with help the students in both ways.Reading as well as learning new words daily. Writing is an art ,which can be developed over a period of time. Writing is a way to express your thought, feelings and communicating ideas and views. Most of the communication in offices,colleges, schools,industry is done in writing. So, to improve writing skills more importance should be given to creative writing. The teacher should give more emphasis on all these skills of LSRW. By following these skills students can achieve the desired result.

3. PROBLEMS FACED BY NON- NATIVE

   SPEAKERS

   Students from rural areas face more difficulties than those from urban areas during learning of language .Parents of urban areas are educated and make their child learn and write language but students of rural area dont get chance to either speak or read in English as parents are not educated.In rural schools teacher teach English in vernacular language to make students understand. Some of the major problems Non-Native speakers faces are-

   1. Dominance of vernacular language in speaking and writing language

      In rural areas, teachers are using vernacular language to explain English lesson to students in order to help them in learning. Teacher guides students to first think sentence in their mother tongue and then convert it into English because of this students are not able to speak a single sentence without any grammatical error.Dilemma of the rural students is that they study subject from exam point of view and our exam system also encourages students to learn lesson by heart and just to get pass marks.When students go for higher studies thet came to

      realize the importance of English and challenges they face due to lack of communication skills.

   2. New environment and lack of confidence

      Vernacular medium students when move to urban areas for higher education,they have to adjust with new faculty, new culture,new peers. Vernacular students unable to understand terminology used in lectures,course books and reference books. Students are unable to understand lectures despite their best efforts, Some have problems of speed and some other with pronunciation and meaning of difficult words. However the shift of the medium of instruction is too sudden of vernacular students make quick and suitable adjustments. Some students may be intelligent, but fail to pass the subject in first attempt. They dont mix with other English medium students due to lack of confidence and tend to stay only with other vernacular medium ones,which makes the situation worse and they lose the fine opportunity to grow as fluent communicators.

   3. Unemployment

   English is gaining an utmost importance in shaping the career. India is one of the Non-Native speakers of English language which now become a hub of services for the world. Thus, English language skills have become one of the basic requirements to join ,grow and sustain in the job but Non-Native students faces problems in getting job in good National and International companies. For every selection process, students have to pass written exam and interview that will be in English only. If students are in Technology field than they have to clear group discussion besides exam and interview.

   NASSCOM reports that only a quarter of engineering graduates are employable by IT/ITES industry and even those undergraduates undergo a rigorous training using language laboratory, where they can learn

   correct pronunciation,accent, tone and compare their recorded speech with their peer group. This will help them to build a relationship and better understanding among themselves. Teacher can arrange mock activities on interview skills, group discussion, 2 mins speech,talkingabout their favourite topic, short presentations. These all things will help them to boost their self confidence,motivation and to fight the fear of vernacular medium. Teachers should play a role of teacher,guide, facilitator or trainer as per the need.

   V. CONCULSION

   India , being a multicultural, multistate and multilingual country , it is difficult to communicate within the country in a common regional language. For career growth, ability to express in oral and written language is essential. English is the common language in the corporate world and tool for employability. o form grammatically correct sentences is not English . Students should have effective communication like presentation skills, soft skills,

   programme of 3-6 months with their employers after they join the companines. NASSCOM data suggests that IT industry spends close to USD 0.75 billion annually on training fresh campus graduates. So, Non Native speakers should understand the demand of today and work in that direction to get fruitful results for successful life3.

4. ROLE OF TEACHER Englishlanguage proficiency is required for clearing aptitude test, interviews and participating in group discussion. The teacher has to understand appropriateness of English language teaching in terms of content, methods and techniques. The teacher should recognize its aptness and it should be planned and developed to meet the requirements of the placements. Students centric approach needs to be encouraged in the class. Vernacular medium students should be given activities like skits, games,puzzle

,role plays ,quzzies ,speech,debate competition etc. teacher should encourage them to take part in anchoring events to enchance their leadership skills. Teacher should motivate students to read English newspaper, English journals,watch English program on T.V and to enhance their vocabulary. They can be given a task to learn two new words a day and use them in sentence . Teacher should discuss these during classroom or tutorials. This will develop their vocabulary which will help them to clear exams like GRE,TOEFEL or ILETS.keeping vocabulary excercises or competitions can encourage them to build word power. Reading the news paper will help them to know the latest developments happening all around the world. This will help them in succeeding in an aptitude test, group discussion,and competitive exams for higher studies. Teachers can help them by

leadership skills, negotiation skills using the English language.To conclude, it is necessary for teachers and graduates to understand todays need for employability and take necessary steps to bridge this wide gap between vernacular and English medium students.

Mahatma Gandhi had said:

English is a language of international commerce. It is the language of diplomacy and it contains many a rich literary treasures. It gives us an introduction to western thought and culture.

REFERENCES

1. Bright,J.A&Mc.Gregor,G.PTeachingenglish as a second language (1978)

2. Gokakv.k,English in India, Asia publishing House:new Delhi(1964)

3. http://www.zensar.com/zensar-media/press-realse/2171- zensar-launches-first-ever-employabitiy skills- development-program [date_of_visit- 29-12-16]