Category Archives: Native Perspective

Examining Examinations

Native Perspective


Pavan Kumar Sah

Treasurer, NELTA Siraha

Email: pavan.sah99@gmail.com

Exams have long been an inevitable phenomenon in schools, colleges and universalities. We assume that exams have the power of enhancing learning. Unfortunately, most exams in Nepal, particularly SLC exams have been most infamous due to slack administrability. In this write-up, however, I take into account of a different cause of notoriety in SLC exams and that is attitudes of people towards it.

S.L.C. (School Leaving Certificate) examination also known as the iron gate of school level education has concluded in the month of Chaitra.  We all know that SLC exams have ever been as famous as infamous. It has been crucial because until now it has been an evaluation system at the final level of schooling but it has been infamous due to rampant cheating. Comparatively the examination system seems to be improving gradually the authorities have claimed. The concerned authorities say that they have paid due attention on the examination this year. The Chief District Officers (CDO), District Education Officers (DEO), Resource Persons (RPs) and other responsible authorities say that they have realized that SLC exam needs to be improved and have therefore have taken steps to do so.

However, upon scrutiny, the exams have not improved to the extent they should have. This year also we witnessed the cases of cheating, fake students appearing in exams, invigilators involved in helping students cheat, brawls between policemen and guardians. At many places it has been found that if students were not able to cheat in the exams or if they were held for cheating, or if they were put in police custody, both the parents and students became upset and approached various people in post and power for help, showed agitation, shouted slogans against the superintendents and invigilators that they be allowed for cheating. We also found many fake candidates appearing in the exams in place of others, even constituent assembly members at some centers.

Students’ preparation for exams can often be questioned. Many times, students do not seem to have prepared properly and have depended on cheats. Their level of study is seen so low that many of them have copied whatever they have been given. Let me share an incident that happened this Chaitra in SLC exam:

One of the guardians happened to be the fake invigilator to help his daughter (candidate) in the exam. He had a number of papers in his pocket including cheats for his candidate. While the Chief District Officer (CDO) came to supervise the exam, he became frightened and hurriedly and unknowingly gave the paper related to court. When the candidate came home and when her father asked her if she copied the same paper, she said ‘yes’ from beginning to end.

This reveals the level of our students.

The most distressing fact is that guardians themselves have been found involved in helping students cheat in exams. It is very sad that they have not been aware of the implications of such cheating in the lives of their children ultimately. Many guardians approach invigilators and policemen and request them to help their students with the unfair means in the exams. They call their relatives, particularly those who have already passed SLC exams to help the candidates during the examinations periods as if they are preparing for celebrating some festivals. If their relatives don’t come to help, they do not hesitate to break relationship. They call some people to prepare cheats and others to take cheat to the candidates. They gather at the examination centers as they have come to watch fair.  They want their children to cheat and secure good marks in the examinations. They think nothing except their children’s success in examinations. In some parts of the country, they think if their candidates pass the SLC exam, their guardians will have to give fewer dowries in their daughters’ marriage and will get good husbands. Their sons will also get good dowry and good family. They can go to foreign country to earn money. It is very pathetic that guardians have taken exam and education synonymously. They merely want their students to get through the exams and obtain higher scores at any cost and that’s it. It is truly very pitiable that many of Nepalese guardians are not aware of what education is and what exam is.

I would like to ask a few questions. How justifiable it is for parents or guardians to approach for cheating? If so, will their students be capable for higher studies even if they can get through the SLC exams? What worth human resources will we have tomorrow? What can we expect from them for the development of the community and nation? I realize that we ourselves are responsible for spoiling our land by producing only certificate holder manpower.

Multilingualism in/and Nepalese Education

Critical Pedagogy, English as a Global Language, Miscellaneous, Native Perspective, Scholarly Article

Shailaja Jha

We all know that Nepal is an extremely multilingual society. But what is the status of multilingualism in educational context of Nepal? In this essay, I describe multilingualism and the spread of English in Nepal. I also discuss multilingualism as a means for creating social harmony as well as enhancing teaching and learning in general. I conclude by highlighting the role of teachers in promoting multilingualism.

Most of the Nepalese people are multilinguals, and many people don’t even have a clear order of first and second languages. For example, my home language is Maithili but, interestingly enough, I cannot speak it very well. Instead, I have learned Newari in addition to the mainstream language Nepali. This means that we are such a multilingual society that some of us even get confused as to which language is our “home” or “heritage” language.  In fact, most of the world’s population speaks more than one language but most of the population in western cultures is monolingual in one of the “major” languages in spite of being exposed to other languages mainly in the school context. So, multilingualism is the norm rather than exception of human societies, except that educational and political institutions try to create artificial situations where one or a few languages are given systematic privilege without realizing that suppressing language diversity is counterproductive as well as insensitive.

“There are almost no territories [in the world] in which only one languages is used by the citizenry” (Cenoz & Genesee 1998). In South Africa eleven languages are given a constitutional recognition as official ones; in India, this number is twenty-two! When people are left to their own linguistic devices, especially in the urban environments which are increasingly the norm of life in this country, their speech behavior is characterized by fluidity, interconnection, multi component code switching and easy transcendence of notional linguistic boundaries. This is true particularly of informal domains.

Also, if we look at the issue of multilingualism in societies like Nepal, South Africa, and India, we will see that there is no single and simple definition of multilingualism. Multilingualism can be rigidly defined as being native-like in two or more languages, but it can also be loosely defined as being less than native-like but still able to communicate in two or more languages. Multilingual speakers have acquired and maintained at least one language during childhood, the so-called first language (L1). First languages (sometimes also referred to as mother tongue) are acquired without formal education, by mechanisms heavily disputed. Children acquiring two first languages since birth are called simultaneous bilinguals. Even in the case of simultaneous bilinguals one language usually dominates over the other. This kind of bilingualism is most likely to occur when a child is raised by bilingual parents in a predominantly monolingual environment. It can also occur when the parents are monolingual but have raised their child or children in two different countries.

Many people believe that Nepali language has always been the majority language of Nepal; in reality, Nepali was called Khaskura spoken by a group of people that was probably no larger than other groups like Magar, Tamang, Sherpa, or Limbu today. Nepali (Khaskura) evolved from the language spoken by a group that became politically powerful in the last two centuries, and in fact it also spread far and wide into Bhutan, India and Myanmar. Nepali language is also the official language of the state of Sikkim in India. At present, almost half of the total population of Nepal speaks Nepali; the other half of the population speaks almost a hundred different languages. If you think about it, Nepal is not only home to more language families than all of Europe combined, but also has more distinct and individual languages in one country than the whole of the European community (Yadava, 2003). However, there is the lack of study and discussion of endangered minority languages and the possible reasons of their status of being endangered for the integrated development of the country. Negligence of Government on Language policy towards poor, rural ethno-linguistic communities, and overemphasis on one language policy considering Nepali as the official language and as the medium of creating national identity and homogenization also can be pointed out major influential reasons for disregarding minority ethnic and indigenous languages. The state policy of the government takes endangerment and extinction of minority language as the matter of mere ‘language shift’ whereas the members from the ethnic and indigenous community might take it seriously as the matter of as Skutnabb-Kangas (2000) states as ‘linguistic genocide’. Some linguists diplomatically point towards political and ideological perspective in regard to the matter of endangerment, extinction of minority languages.

The newest and most important dynamics in Nepali multilingualism is the entry of English as a medium of education and a language of business, diplomacy, and cross-cultural communication. On the one hand, everyone knows the benefits of multilingualism: they would like to teach their children not only English but also other languages. But on the other hand, it is difficult for the next generation to develop the same level of language proficiency for academic and professional communication, for higher learning and sharing of complex ideas if they only use their local languages for basic communication and use English only for educational, professional, and intellectual purposes.

Educators understand that multilingualism helps to facilitate access to curriculum and to learning in school. It also improves communication between different linguistic groups. Multilingualism provides children with ability to share in a wide range of intercultural experiences such as literature, entertainment, religion, and other interests. Children can become fluent in more than one language and for many people throughout the world multilingualism is very common. The level of fluency depends on factors such as the language programme children follow in school and the extent of parental support. The ability to speak the mother tongue as well as the national language and an international language creates a much wider range of life choices for individuals but can also achieve national unity. There is no scientific evidence that learning more than one language is intellectually damaging. Children who have a good understanding of how different languages function are more likely to have good analytical skills and are often more effective communicators.  Therefore, there is no doubt that multilingualism is a positive social and personal resource.

As teachers of language and literacy, we also know that there is no evidence to show that multilingual societies are more disadvantages than monolingual countries. Social disadvantage is caused by factors other than language. It is important educationally that children learn in their mother tongues in the early years of schooling. Our Government also make policy regarding this.

However, the forces of globalization, prevailing myths about the power of English (as if it is a magical potion that will create jobs and opportunities and intellectual progress on its own) make it very difficult for societies to develop educational systems based on their understanding of multilingualism. Due to the globalization of English, parents and teachers are attracted towards giving education to the students in English medium right from the very beginning. They wrongly believe that students will be able to better succeed in the competitive world if they have English proficiency. In reality, it is knowledge and skills that students most need. A lot of research regarding multilingualism shows that supporting children’s first language will enhance the acquisition of the second and third language. Similarly, there is a link between multilingualism and creativity. Multilingualism broadens access to information and offers alternative ways of organizing thoughts. But unfortunately, these realities get lost in the maze of myths about the magic of English.

Just consider the work of a businessperson; most business people need to travel around the world, communicate with people who speak different languages. It is very clear that if your students can speak multiple languages they will be much better business people who can not only sell better but will also create and maintain goodwill with a lot more people in the future. Or consider your students who may become diplomats, administrators and managers of multinational corporations or the United Nations, writers and journalists. There is no profession that I can think of where our students will not do better if they are multilingual. But remember, it will not be enough for them to “know” how to conduct basic communication in all the other languages except English. Only if we allow, encourage, and facilitate the use of multiple languages at higher levels of education can our students be efficient multilinguals in their future careers.

Many educators wrongly believe that promoting multilingualism is costly, impractical, or difficult. The reality is that such assumptions are simply wrong. Promoting multilingualism need not cost anything: you can just encourage your students to use and develop different languages by asking them to express their ideas in different languages in the classroom (maybe as long as everyone understands). Similarly, there is nothing impractical about equally respecting and promoting different languages that your students speak; instead, the opposite should be seen as unprofessional, unethical, and shameful for educated people and educators. Finally, multilingualism is becoming a profitable business in many areas. Think about a student who is able to translate documents. Realizing the importance of multilingualism, nowadays many software companies are developing multilingual interfaces, multilingual applications for translation, multilingual communicative mechanisms, etc.

Yet another problem with educators is that they believe that they are not qualified to teach or promote multilingualism. While it may be true that you are not “qualified” to teach different languages, there is no reason why you should not promote and encourage multiple languages among your students. And, there is absolutely no reason why you should suppress students’ languages. Just think about it: you have no right to do that in the first place.

Yes, politicians try to divide the society along linguistic lines. But as educators we can help our students speak the languages of different ethnic groups and thereby help them become cross-cultural citizens and promoters of cultural harmony. For this we need to realize that we are very rich in culture and its aspects, we need to utilize our culture to create peace and harmony among the people of Nepal not for fighting with each other in the name of culture and language.

As teachers of language in a rich multilingual country, it is our duty to facilitate multicultural education among our students. Trust me, if we do so we will not betray our students’ need to learn more English. If our students continue to learn new ideas, if they grow up as citizens of the world who understand and respect different cultures and their languages, in the long run, their English will be better.  We need to prepare students for the real world and the real world is multicultural and multilingual. At the very least, we need to draw on students’ linguistic and cultural experiences and knowledge, allow them to utilize those resources, and never try to suppress them—whether intentionally or not. Teacher in multicultural classrooms should be open to their students and put forth the effort needed to know their students inside or outside the classroom. Evaluating cultural diversity, teachers should build multicultural programs, show appreciation of differences, avoid stereotypes, acknowledge differences in children and discover the diversity within the classroom. If we think about it, respect and promotion of multilingualism could be the basis for a new kind of thinking among the future leaders and citizens of this country—different from the monolingual presumptions that lie at the heart of violence, protest, strike, kidnap, rape, robbery and mass brutality in our time.

References

Crystal, D. (2003). Dictionary of Linguistics and Phonetics. Blackwell publishing.

The Interim Constitution of Nepal. (2007). Part 3, Article 17)

Phayak, P. (2009). MA in Teaching of English to Speakers of Other Languages, Institute of Education, University of London.

Yadav ,Y.P. (2007). Linguistic Diversity in Nepal Perspective on language policy, Kathmandu, Nepal.

Kansakar, T. R.  (1996). Multilingualism. Nepal, Kathmandu.

Subedi, D.P (2010).  Multi cultural classroom issues in the Nepalese context, Journal of Education and Research Nepal, Kathmandu.

Koirala B.N. (2010). Opportunities for multi lingual Education in Nepal,  Journal of Education and Research, Nepal, Kathmandu.

The Process-Genre Approach: Some Ideas for Teaching Writing in Nepal

Miscellaneous, Native Perspective, Teaching Tips

Madhav Raj Belbase

Are you teaching a writing course in a college of university in Nepal? If you are teaching in a school, is writing an important component of your language curriculum? Do you help your students write multiple drafts of a text or do you just ask them to submit final versions? Do you only provide a final score on students’ writing or do you provide feedback during different phases of their writing? Do you pay attention to the type of writing genre you are preparing your students for (e.g. emails, letters, websites, creative writing pieces like poems or essays, newspaper editorials, etc) or do you just focus on grammar, vocabulary and spelling? While the curricular mandates, time constraints, and availability of resources will largely determine what you can and cannot do, as teachers we also have a certain level of control over how we want to teach our students how to write and to facilitate their growth as writers.

Here is my proposal for teaching writing in our context—the process genre approach. In my experience, English teachers in the Nepalese context face unique challenges in teaching writing: while teacher education courses expose pre-service teachers with theories and ideas of teaching writing developed in the West, our teachings are mostly motivared by exam-driven product-based writing assignments that encourage students to reproduce what they learned in the classroom. Despite such tensions, “efficient teachers” can implement their “hidden” curricula where they can adopt an eclectic approach to teach writing and prepare students for the global world making them able to write a range of tasks, instead of just memorization and reproduction in exams.  In order to build expertise in such a pedagogic skill, teachers need to be familiar with a range of teaching pedagogy options available to them. Here I try to present a model of an approach called the process genre approach that blends two approaches – the process approach and the genre approach. This approach takes account of different steps, for instance, preparation, modeling, planning, joint constructing, independent constructing, and revising and editing. However, before that I present some major shortcomings of product approach to writing which is dominant in the Nepalese context at present.

The product approach

In the product approach, according to Brown (1994), teachers focus on what a final piece of writing will look like and measure it against the criteria of vocabulary use, grammatical use, and mechanical considerations such as spelling and punctuation, as well as the content and organization. The normal procedure is to assign a piece of writing, collect it, and then return it for further revision with the errors either corrected or marked for the student to do the corrections. This approach has received much criticism because it ignores the actual processes used by students, or any writers, to produce a piece of writing. Yan (2005) claims that it focuses on imitation and churning out a perfect product, even though very few people can create a perfect product on the first draft. Another criticism is that this approach requires constant error correction, and that affects students’ motivation and self-esteem. The product approach does not effectively prepare students for the real world or teach them to be the best writers. I encourage the English teachers in Nepal to critically reflect on their approaches to teaching writing and think about making necessary changes.

The process approach

The process writing originated in the first language (L1) classroom, where it was developed in reaction to traditional types of teaching writing. This approach, for Caudery (1997), assumes that writing normally takes place through the making of series of multiple drafts of text. The process approach identifies four stages in writing- prewriting, drafting/composing, revising, and editing. These stages are recursive, taking place many times over in the course of composing. This approach emphasizes revision, and also feedback from others, so students may produce many drafts with much crossing out of sentences and moving around paragraphs. The correction of spelling and punctuation is not of central importance at the early stages. Caudery (1997) points out that the process approach is in many instances potentially extremely motivating and, to teachers and students alike. Most often it involves students in new and stimulating learning experiences. Peer feedback, for instance, is which students show each other their writing and obtain comments on it.

The genre approach

The genre approach to the teaching of writing developed as an approach inAustraliain the 1970s which is now gaining recognition throughout the world. By investigating different genres such as essays, editorials, and business letters students can perceive the differences in structure and form and apply what they learn to their own writing. Following Cope and Kalantzis (1993), the genre approach to writing consists of three phases: (1) the target genre is modeled for the students; (2) a text is jointly constructed by the teacher and students; and (3) a text is independently constructed by each student. Badger and White (2000) support that the approach acknowledges that writing takes place in a social situation and reflects a particular purpose and that learning can happen consciously through imitation and analysis, which facilitates explicit instruction. This approach seems more capable in showing students how different discourses require different structures. In addition, introducing authentic texts enhances students’ involvement and brings relevance to the writing process.

The process-genre approach

Today many ESL researchers have recognized that the teachers should not rigidly adopt just one approach all the time in the writing classroom. I also encourage English teachers in the Nepalese context to reconsider their own current practices and welcome insights from this model of teaching writing. Combining of approaches results in a new way of thinking about writing. One example is synthesis of the process and genre approaches, which Badger and White (2000) have termed the process genre approach. This approach allows students to study the relationship between purpose and form for a particular genre as they use the recursive processes of prewriting, drafting, revision, and editing. Using these steps develops students’ awareness of different text types and of the composing process. The different activities included in this approach ensure that grammatical and vocabulary items are taught not in isolation, but in meaningful, interactive situations and derived from the particular genre.

According to Badger and White (2000), the teaching procedure for the process genre approach is divided into the following six steps: (1) preparation, (2) modeling, (3) planning, (4) joint constructing, (5) independent constructing, and (6) revising. Figure 2 illustrates how these six steps interact in a recursive way with themselves and with other writing skills.

A short description of what occurs during the six steps will also illustrate how elements of the process and genre approaches work in unity.

Preparation

The teacher begins preparing the students to write by defining a situation that will require a written text and placing it within a specific genre, such as a persuasive essay arguing for or against an issue of current interest. This activates the schemata and allows students to anticipate the structural features of the genre.

Modeling

During this step the teacher introduces a model of the genre and lets students consider the purpose of the text. For example, the purpose of an argumentative essay is to persuade the reader to act on something. Next, the teacher discusses how the text is structured and how its organization develops to accomplish its purpose.

Planning

This step includes many meaningful activities that activate the students’ schemata about the topic, including brainstorming, discussing, and reading associated material. The aim is to help the students develop an interest in the topic by relating it to their experience. Since they have to participate and contribute in the classroom, learners will find the activities interesting and entertaining.

Joint constructing

In this step, the teacher and students work together as a beginning of writing a text. While doing so, the teacher uses the writing processes of brainstorming, drafting, and revising. The students contribute information and ideas, and the teacher writes the generated text on the black/white board. The final draft provides a model for students to refer to when they work on their individual compositions. It fosters collaborative writing. This step can be boosted by providing a very caring and sharing environment by the teacher. This step will provide students with a chance to write in a group and to prepare them for individual work.

Independent constructing

By this time students will have examined model texts and have jointly constructed a text in the genre. They now undertake the task of composing their own texts on a related topic. Class time can be set aside for students to compose independently so that the teacher is available to help, clarify, or consult about the process. The writing task can also be continued as a homework assignment. The teacher has to clarify what students should do for writing homework.

Revising and editing

Students lastly will have a draft that will undergo final revision and editing. This does not necessarily mean that teachers have to collect all the papers and mark them one by one. Students may check, discuss, and evaluate their work with fellow students, as the teacher again guides and facilitates. The teacher may make an effort to publish the students’ work, which will impart a sense of achievement and motivate the students to become better writers. Their final achievement will foster self-esteem among learners as they have produced something.

Final Thoughts

Things are easier said than done. Learning to write in a foreign language is a demanding task that can easily leave learners unmotivated. It can be more discouraging when students are evaluated on the basis of their writing products only, as we now observe in the Nepalese context. To combat this problem, teachers have to play more agentive role in order to empower the learners with their ability to perform real world writing tasks. We are not preparing our students just for exams, but for the global world that may require an unpredictable set of writing skills. We language teachers are the change agents even if our curricula are constrained. Use of the process-genre approach to writing allows teachers to help students recognize the steps they go through to create a written text which should lead to less stressful and motivated writing. The fact that learners are encouraged to discuss, asses, and analyze their own writing made them feel more confident and less threatened. Theoretical ideas can be confusing and conflicting at times; it is the teacher who is responsible for translating abstract ideas into a classroom practice. Further the practice to produce optimal learning benefits, teachers should constantly and systematically record, contemplate, and analyze what they have done in the classroom, and use their reflective experience as a basis for improving their instructional practice.


Works Cited

Badger, R. G. & G. White. 2000. A process genre approach to teaching writing. ELT Journal 54(2): 153-60.

Brown, H.D. 1994. Teaching by principles: An interactive approach to language pedagogy.Eaglewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall Regents.

Cope, B. & M. Kalantzis. (eds). 1993. The powers of literacy: A genre approach to teaching writing.Pittsburgh,PA:University ofPittsburg Press.

Coudery, T. 1997. Process writing. In Glenn, F. (ed). Writing in the English Language Classroom. Hertfordshire: Prentice HallEurope ELT.

Mixed Ability of the Learners: Challenge for ELT Teachers

Native Perspective, Scholarly Article

Mandira Adhikari

Most of us teach large classes. One of the unavoidable challenges of having many students in the same class is that there will be a wide range of language proficiency levels in the class and it is hard for us to adjust our lesson plans to fit the learning needs of all the individual students. In this article, I want to share a few ideas about how to address that problem, additionally challenging the conventional wisdom that large classes only have drawbacks by showing that there are also benefits to large classes with mixed levels of ability.

In most of the schools of our country, whether private or public, there are more than 35 students in the same class. It is the duty of the single teacher to control them and to deliver the lesson plan effectively.  I used to teach two different classes of the same grade in one of the schools. In one section, students were arranged in terms of their ability; average students were in a section and mixed students in another section. I used to prepare one lesson plan and teach in both the sections. There was no problem in the section where there were average students, but there was always problem in the class having mixed ability because some of them used to understand before I taught, but some of them didn’t understand even if I taught the same thing five times. Thus, the situation was really challenging for me.

Benefits of having mixed ability classes

Before I elaborate the challenges of mixed ability classrooms, let me quickly note that contrary to conventional wisdom, mixed level or multi-level classrooms can also have some benefits if teachers know how to make use of the difference as a positive asset.

Hess (2001) has presented some of the advantages in a mixed level classroom are as follows:

  • There are always enough students for interaction,
  • We get a rich variety of human resources,
  • The teacher is not only pedagogue ,
  • We are never bored,
  • Professional development occurs naturally (p. 2-4).

When there are students having mixed ability in the same classroom, each individual can bring different and new ideas. They may be from different cultural backgrounds having different world-views and values, which mean many different experiences and many styles of learning. If they share the same experiences with their friends the poor students can be benefitted as well as it will be helpful for the teachers as well. This ability of the students help the teacher to apply different student- centered methods inside the same classroom. So, students don’t need to depend only on the teachers for learning.

Mixed ability classes are really challenging. So while facing those problems, we need to develop new ideas and while dealing with such problems teacher also becomes creative in teaching which is interesting and it directly helps us to develop our professional skills because these types of situations provide opportunity to develop skill of facing problems, we sometimes can get new idea from our learners as well.  Now let us look at the challenges.

Challenges of having mixed ability students in the ELT classroom

I have found most of the teachers are worried about having mixed ability students in the same classroom. It is because if there is variety in the classroom, it is very difficult for the teachers to implement their lesson plan because teachers need to take care of each student equally. It is difficult even for the students because those who understand easily feel bored with more explanation, but it is necessary for other students. Hess (2001) has presented some of the challenges that a teacher need to face in a mixed level classroom such as:

  • We often feel out of control
  • In large class we sometimes feel trapped in the problems
  • It is difficult to provide for individual learning style
  • Activating the quiet student is difficult (p. 4-6).

Thus, as Hess indicates, in a multilevel classroom teacher often feels out of control. In such classroom management becomes a formidable obstacle. In large multilevel classroom it is very difficult for the teacher to take his/her lesson ahead because some of them have better understanding than others. The most challenging job for ELT teachers in such classroom is to guide students according to their pace. The most difficult task in the mixed level class is the problem of managing the class and checking the home assignments. I have often found that in such classes active students are always active, whereas passive remains passive if the teacher doesn’t pay attention to them equally. As there are mixed abilities of the learners only one method isn’t suitable for all and it is again the challenge for ELT teachers to provide different techniques as their individual need and it is somehow impractical in practice.

Possible strategies to cope with the problem

As I have already mentioned there are a few benefits of having mixed level students in a classroom alongside more challenges of it. Let me now describe some of the strategies to cope with such problems. In order to handle such situations, teachers have to think in a different way. They need to find such strategies which will be helpful for all types of learners of the classroom. For example, audio- visual materials will be equally helpful for all the learners. Copur, in his article entitled ‘Coping with the problems of mixed ability classes’ has provided some points that are useful for ELT teachers to deal with mixed ability classes. They are: appeal to all senses, contingency plans, in-class activity, open ended plans, personalizing the tasks, games, competitions and dramatization, extra homework, portfolios, group-work activities, Self -access centers.

Therefore, to cope with mixed ability class, teacher has to think about such strategies so that it will be helpful for all the learners. Teacher can divide the whole class into different groups and different student centered methods can be very helpful such as: In-class activity, game competition and dramatization extra homework can be very helpful. Similarly, teacher can ask students to make their portfolios as well as self access centers will be very helpful for the learners to improve their study and motivate them towards learning.

Similarly, Sharma (2006) in her article entitled “Ways of effective language teaching in heterogeneous class” has presented some of the points to manage effective classes in heterogeneous classes or classes having mixed level learners. They are: planning, teacher’s leadership, communication, the well managed classroom, voice, effective presentation, pause and pacing, chunking, verbal aspect, visual, student’s participation, positioning, posturing and movement, movements, eye contact, gestures , use of teaching aids, and evaluation. Thus, above points are also helpful to deal with mixed level classroom because the planning and the leadership of the teachers are very helpful to deal with the situation. If ELT teachers are able to bring variety in the class, the chance of being out of track in the classroom decreases. Using different teaching aids in the classroom helps to motivate all the learners. Continuous evaluation of the learners helps teacher to identify poor learners so that they can improve them accordingly.

Conclusion

Mixed ability of the learners is universal and we find mixed ability students in almost all classes. There are challenges for the teachers to deal with such classes because there is variety and teacher feels out of control in such cases. But if we try to apply the benefit of such classes and apply learner centered methods inside the classroom it can be the easiest way to deal with stronger as well as weaker students. Teacher can apply different strategies for teaching four skills of the language, especially by specifying the different task for stronger as well as weaker students.


References

Hess, N. (2002). Teaching large multilevel classes. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Negi, J.S. (2010) “Teaching English to Multilevel EFL learners in Large Classroom: A Pedagogical Discussion.” Paper presented at the 15th international conference of NELTA, Kathmandu, Nepal, 19-21 February 2010.

Sharma H.M. (2006) “Ways of effective language teaching in heterogeneous class. Journal of NELTA , 11(2), 115-118. 

A Reflection on Teaching English in Large Multi-level Classroom

Native Perspective, Teacher's Experience/anecdotes, Teaching Tips

A Reflection on Large Multi-level Classroom

Janak Raj Pant

This is a short reflection on my teaching experience in a large multilevel class at university level in Sindhuli. In this piece, I discuss the opportunities and challenges in a large multi-level classroom. My focus is on how large classrooms can be made maximally beneficial for the students. I conclude by emphasizing that all language classrooms are diverse in one or another way and the larger a class the more diverse it is likely to be. It is our level of awareness, attention and devotion as a teacher that can address the challenges of the large multilevel class into opportunities for the students in their learning.

There are varied perceptions of a large classroom among the ELT professional as well as the other stake holders. For a teacher who does different activities for which the students need to move around a class in which such activities cannot be done very efficiently because of the high number of the students is a large class. For a teacher who basically delivers lectures the same class might not be a large class so far he or she is audible, can maintain non-verbal communication with the students, and can monitor the activities of the students. In the both of these contexts, the idea of large class is at substance level different but still it is not different at pragmatic level. So, it seems more beneficial not to leave it to the teacher to define a large class in their context, based on their teaching strategies, the resources available, and the strategies they can execute. As Baker and Westrup (2000) state, ‘A large class can be any number of students, if the teacher feel there are too many students for them all to make their progress’.

The class I am going to talk about is the class of B. Ed. first year students a community college in Sindhuli.  Usually more than 80 students attend the class. It is a class on general English. Different learners have different level of language proficiency varying from beginner to upper intermediate. Some of them study major English while others study other subjects such as Nepali education, population education. I found them differing in terms of their interests. Some of them have keen interest to learn English for academic purpose while others are keen interested in English for communication. However, for majority of them to pass the examinations is the ultimate aim. It is quite significant to note that for some others it is simply matter of formality to attend the class no motivation in learning at all. For some of them, being inside the class is equal to learning, they expect everything done by teachers for their learning expect copying, they remain silent in the class. The peer influence, family background, their own life orientation has deep rooted integrative influence in them. There is even terrible group of the students who have their pleasure in disturbing the class and do not have any intention to study. They just behave like visitors; for them learning is not any goal at all.

However, in spite of limitations like the above, there are a number of good things about large classes. First of all, the learners with higher level of English language proficiency have been good model in the classroom and it is good to push the weaker learners too. The learners with higher level of language proficiency have been the source of motivation for the weaker ones. Actually they are made the source of motivation.

Likewise, the learners with different cultural background have been significant in order to create communication gap in the classroom activities so as to form genuine language learning activities. It is also useful to address and illustrate several social issues in general English course.

In such large classes, I have always found willing volunteers to actively participate in classroom activities. Such classes are livelier than the smaller ones. So, it is easy to move them towards any direction. I have found the students learning from each other. One the one hand, it has been source of motivation for the one who have been supporting and on the other hand, he could support rest of the friends. This promotes mutual learning and challenges each learner appropriately. In this case brighter learners have challenges to maintain their position while the weaker ones have challenge to be as good as the brighter ones.

There is another advantage, such situation reflects real life situation as real life situations are also full of diversities. It has caused a number of challenges as well. First of all, it is quite difficult manage appropriate level of input in course of instruction. It is impossible to satisfy individual need as well. It is so because the same input becomes easy for on group and very difficult for another group. However it is possible to address such problems by some of the ways to make the lesson useful for all the learners in one or another way. Hadfield and Hadfield (2008) have shown the possibility in the following words:

It may feel like an impossible task to try to satisfy all the individual needs of your students, and you are right! But there are some practical things you can do to make sure that there is something for everyone in each of your lessons (p.152).

Similar is the case with other activities. Setting home work is even more complicated. In order to overcome this problem, I usually set the multilevel task and graded exercise to promote independent learning of an individual student. I found learning more useful than in a normal case as because we have variety of learners with the varying with varying expectations.

Having outlined some of the advantages of large classes, let me now turn to the drawbacks of them, because it would be unfair to not do so at the same time. But while presenting the challenges, I will also include how to address those challenges.

In large classes, it is difficult to monitor classroom activities and conduct class progress tests because if the teacher cannot reach all the students in order to monitor and we cannot have enough time for individual feedback and whole class feedback might not be very effective. Gallery walk and group feedback can be helpful for addressing this challenge.

Large classes also make it very difficult to counsel the students individually, mainly because of the number of students. In many cases we might not have detailed information in order to support students. When I teach a large class, I know little about most of my students; as a result, I don’t how to counsel students even if I can manage some time for them.

Sometimes, in large classes, students with low motivation influence the students with high motivation level. There is always possibility that students are influenced by the peer pressure. It is equally possible for the laborious and sincere learners to influence the lazy or insincere ones and vice versa. The existence of the latter case is challenge for me. I have found acknowledging former instance has been helpful and somehow preventive for the latter case.

Students in large classes are often likely to dodge classroom activities and can go off the task. Such class is also likely to go noisy. Immediate performance based task can help us to improve the situation. There are always some late arrivals and some passenger students (the students who enjoy the lessons like passengers view (not focused, not intensive, not rigorous). For me nothing is as helpful as being strict in terms of the norms of the classroom.

In large classes, the teacher always has to speak very loudly in order to be audible in the class. Occasional written instruction and the systematic and consistence use of gesture is significant for me in many cases. The existing diversities in such situation takes longer time and how carefully you design the activities in the classroom the are student for whom it does not become very much relevant. It is also difficult to remember their names which can become another complexity in setting activities and designing the activities.

Obviously, dealing with a large group of people requires a complex set of social and professional skills. Let us take a very simple example. Let us suppose that someone slaps a child. What will he or she do? There are so many possible ways in which the child will behave: the child will flee, will respond violently, will start crying, will ask you  why you slapped him/her, will rush to his or her parents and ask them to slap you in turn, and so on and so forth. The same might be the case of positive response. Let’s say you offer a candy to a child in the street: what will the child do? Takes your candy and thank you, looks at you feels shy and goes away, take the candy and goes away, does not take your candy and says “no thank you”, becomes afraid of you and leaves the place, and so on.

Learners in the class have diverse experience, cultural understanding, self esteem, level of motivation, needs, aims, interests, context, facilities, attitude, etc. So, naturally they are likely to behave differently in the language class as well. The similar is the case even in smaller classes so diversity is the norm of language class rather than the exception. You will have diverse students whatever criteria you use in grouping them. It is essential to some extent as well. So, teaching, more than dealing with people in ordinary situations, requires highly advanced skills.

Larger class exerts some pressure on the side of the teachers to be more efficient and deal with the existing challenges. So, it makes teachers strategic and more competent in their profession.

References

Dewan, S. (2003). Teaching large multilevel classes. Journal of NELTA, 8:158-162.

Hadfield, J. K. & Hadfield, C. (2008). Introduction to teaching English. Oxford: OUP.

Baker, B. & Westrup, H. (2000) The English Language Teacher’s Handbook: How to       teach large classes with few resources. London: Continuum.

Ur, P. (1996). A course in language teaching. Cambridge: CUP.

 

 


An Interview with Professor Khaniya

Interview, Native Perspective

Mr. Test Writer,

Does your test really test what it should test?

It is all apparent that testing in general and language testing in particular in Nepal have been plagued with a bundle of issues. Some of the blazing issues that call for immediate intervention include memory and content based (English language) tests, slipshod marking system, lack of post result analysis, derogatory influence of exams on education, guess paper based exams, abolishment of entrance exams, issue of remarking papers, escalating cheating and so forth. Unfortunately, exam authorities have turned deaf ear to the issues. I put a few questions before Professor Tirth Raj Khaniya, a well known expert on the subject of testing if his visionary perspectives and long gained expertise could offer some guidelines to trim them down. Here are his insights and observations in his own words.

Please also feel free to put your comments, no matter you like or you feel difficult to digest the views expressed in the interview.


1.   Professor Khaniya, you have been involved in testing and evaluation for a long time. We do acknowledge your contribution in exam reforms in Nepal. However, if you look at the current trends in testing in Nepal, are you satisfied with what and how we have been testing?

Your question reminds me of the time when, after completing my PH. D. from University of Edinburgh, I was flying back to Kathmandu from London in the then RNAC flight thinking of how I would be working on bringing about reforms in the SLC Examination in particular (my area of investigation) and examination system of Nepal in general. As a matter of fact, I was able to influence some authorities involved in the management of the SLC exam to initiate some reform activities. I must say that there have been several changes in the SLC exam since then. However, I should also confess that I have not been effective in bringing about the reforms I wanted to bring about in the SLC Exam. What it is that I wanted the SLC to be is both an exit exam, as it is now (administrative), as well as a research process (academic) to bring about reform in the whole school sector of education. What it means is using the SLC exam as evidence of school performance and post analysis of the exam would give us sufficient information about what kind of intervention is needed in the school sector reform so as to make the system better. Doing this every year would obviously build the system better. It is mainly because of our failure in utilizing useful information available from the post analysis of the academic aspect of the SLC exam, even after spending a lot of money on school education, accomplishment is very little.

In response to your query, I must say that my academic pursuit forces me to work on making examinations as powerful instruments for causing learning, which is possible only when we produce good exams, but the situation in which I and we have been working leads me/us to be with the community that understand(s) exam only as an administrative tool. In that sense I have not been able to accomplish my mission so far. I will continue working towards this direction. The new generation is very positive about such changes. I am optimistic about it.

2.   When we look at the tests made in Nepal-whether be them for the English language or for other subjects/disciplines, we find most of the questions can be answered only if students have committed the contents well. Are we supposed to test that at all?

You have rightly touched on the main problem of testing in Nepal. As a matter of fact, we do not care what questions we ask, what answer our questions will stimulate the learners to produce, how to develop a question, how a learner will answer our question, etc. Especially in language testing, asking a question is more difficult than answering it if we really appreciate the art of questioning.

In response to your concern, I would say that the whole lot of the people involved in testing in the present set up does not have adequate orientation to testing. Their main source of knowledge about testing is that they took exams during their study period. But in modern education, testing has become an independent discipline and thus people who want to work in the field of testing need training on it.  Without training they cannot appreciate that a question cannot be a question simply because of its structure and a question mark, rather the one who asks a question needs to know what he is asking for (i.e. the expected answer or response or performance). On most occasions, I have seen people setting questions in such a way that there is no way for creative and innovative answers. To give you an example, in most question papers on the top, you find the statement saying “Candidates are required to give their answers in their own words as far as practicable” whereas you do not find even a single question in the paper not asked in the previous exams. How can the teacher expect original answers from students when he has not used even a single word in the whole set of question paper on his own? The argument is that in order to stimulate students to produce creative and innovative answers, you need to ask such questions and this is possible if testing procedures (e.g. specification) are truly followed.

3.   You have written a book entitled ‘Exams for Enhanced Learning’.  Contradictorily, tests are criticized for exerting deleterious influence on education and for not being able to assess the actual competence of a person. If so, why should test exist at all? Do not we have any alternative to it?

In my views, what we test, if done professionally, represents what we want our learners to learn. It makes the learner clear what they should strive for. In addition, testing is associated with intrinsic and extrinsic values which make the learner work hard. The combination of all these has a lot to do with how teachers prepare students for testing, how students prepare for it and how parents support them for getting through it. Then if we have good tests, working for such tests will enhance students’ learning. By the same token, if it happens to be a bad test, students are bound to suffer from its derogatory influence. The argument is that derogatory influence of an exam is not inherent, it depends upon whether the test is good or bad. A good test allows students to deal with what they are supposed to learn, and through testing their learning becomes powerful.

The main crux is what we ask students to produce and how we want them to demonstrate. Since a human brain is intelligent, and can tell a lie, as you said, it may be difficult to test real competence. However, a good test can lead a learner to truly perform tasks which can be accepted as an indicator of the learner’s competence.

My argument about exams is that at least for a foreseeable future, exams are likely to survive because even the advanced technology could not find a substitute for an exam. If so, why not prepare for using the power of exams which leads towards better learning, and it is possible if we design good tests

4.   Many allege that exams in Nepal have virtually remained guess-paper based? Why is it so? How can we check it?

As I said above, students’ behavior in an exam is shaped up by the questions we ask. When we ask questions borrowed from previous exam papers, commercial notes and guide books, we are forcing the students to be guess paper based. We can change the situation only when we make our students know that questions will not be based on market materials, and marking will be done on the basis of a marking scheme not on the basis of the answers copied from different sources.

5.   Specifically, what are English language testing issues in Nepal? What efforts are to be made in order to check them?

There are several issues in language testing in Nepal. One of the major issues, for example, is that we need to be clear about what we want to test- language or content. For me it is language not content.  If we want to test language we should not put a pressure on the students about contents. Content in language is merely a way of eliciting language. Lack of knowledge about this concept makes the whole process of testing complicated. We do not understand the difference between asking Nepalese students to write on Pashupatinath and The White House. When students do not write, we do not know whether it is because of lack of knowledge or language. In language testing we need to make sure that when students do not give us proper answer it is because of language not because of content.

6.   Particularly what tips or suggestions do you provide to test writers so that they unveil creative and critical abilities of the students?

What we need to understand is testing should not be treated as an isolated activity; rather it is a comprehensive activity. What I mean by this is that testing cannot be improved only by changing tests. Before we produce a changed test in an exam hall, we need to present it to the classroom in the beginning of the academic year so that the teachers and students understand what they are expected of; be it creative or innovative or practical or something they need to demonstrate. Once students and teachers know what they need to demonstrate in the exam, they will work for that and when what we want them to learn and what they need to demonstrate in order to pass an exam become the same, then we can concentrate on strengthening creative and critical abilities of the students through and for the exam.

7.   Language Testing has been established as a separate discipline elsewhere and that has systematized the evaluation of language learning from perspectives to practices. What about ours? Do not you think we need to make it more organized here in Nepal?

Everywhere language testing is emerging as an independent discipline.  In a short period of time, let’s say, after 1960s, it has grown in such a way that it is like any other disciplines which have long history and rich literature. Nepal’s case is the same. When we were students in Nepal, there was no concept of language testing. We were trained through measurement and evaluation concepts under pure education courses. Now we have a 50 marks’ course for language testing. I agree with you that we need to do more like forming language testing groups, publishing language testing journals, organizing special activities for training and sharing focusing on language testing, etc. The increasing popularity of language testing is creating sufficient spaces for doing what you are proposing.

8.   Often fingers are lifted on the marking system in Tribhuvan University and elsewhere. Many departments have been set on fire alleging subjective and careless examination of the papers? What do you have to say on this?

You are right. Our department was set on fire two times during my headship. I see problems not only in marking, but in the whole process of enrolling students for teaching and testing. Recalling that time, I think the students who were serious and regular in the class were not the ones who damaged the department. Those who led the vandalism were guest students but strong enough to exploit the situation. Saying so, I also agree with you that our testing involves subjectivity and carelessness. We need to provide some sort of professional development courses to all who are involved in teaching and testing about language testing. We happen to wrongly believe that good teachers are good testers. Once questions are developed professionally, many anomalies can be sorted out

9.   Students of TU and Higher Secondary Board have expressed their disgruntlement over the marking system time and again. Universities in the world do have the provision of remarking system. Do not you think TU should introduce this system at least for the students’ satisfaction and also to show the fairness of exams?

Many universities have a provision for an appeal when students do not accept results for any reason. In order to satisfy them, the provision for remarking is a way to give them justice. There is another advantage of remarking, that is, making teachers feel responsible for what they do. When teachers know that they are not the final authority for marking, when they know that the answer sheet may be examined again, they would to be more serious and do the job sensibly.

10. Tribhuvan University abolished entrance exams in some disciplines? How justified was the decision? Is there any university in the world which holds open admission?

It is unfortunate that the TU abolished entrance exam in some disciplines. As a matter of fact, it comes under university’s autonomy- a university making decisions on who to be allowed for admission and who not- my argument is, it is a matter of deciding on the quality of students for enrollment. When a university has no say over what kind of students it wants to invite and select, how can it talk about the quality of its product? Our student leaders also feel proud being able to allow those who do not merit for admission. They do not understand how it damages university’s credibility. In my view, this decision should be revisited.

11.    Last but far from the least, cheating has been rampant in Nepal-whether be it SLC or Higher Secondary or even exams of university? It has become a matter of headache for one and all. Why do you think has it happened? What do you think could be the best solution to check it? Can anything be done on the part of test writers to check cheating?

I am of the opinion that cheating is a byproduct. Students go for cheating because cheating is possible in the exam, they have seen their friends passing exams by cheating, questions are asked based on previous exam papers and published materials available in the market, etc. If we do not ask cheatable questions, if we effectively communicate to them that cheating cannot lead them to pass an exam, if we ask them questions answers of which cannot be supplied through cheating, and if we make them that cheated answers would not be awarded marks, I think they would not cheat.

Yes, you are right, we can stop cheating by improving how questions are asked and how answers are expected. But this has to be clearly communicated to teachers and students and classroom teaching has to be improved.

Thank you so much for illuminating us with your viewpoints.


 About Professor Khaniya 

Tirth Raj Khaniya is a familiar name in the arena of Nepalese education and ELT both. A Ph. D. in Language Testing from University of Edinburgh, UK.  Dr. Khaniya led several examination and education reform taskforces. Currently, a Professor of English Education, he teaches language testing in the Department of English Education, TU.  To his credit, he has a number of books and articles published in national and international journals on Nepalese education and ELT. New Horizons in Education in Nepal (2007) and Examination for Enhanced Learning (2005) are his highly acclaimed works. 

Presidential Address: Sixteenth NELTA International Conference

Native Perspective

– Mr. Laxman Gnawali

Honourable Member of National Planning Commission and Founding President of NELTA Prof. Tirth Raj Khaniya,

Past President, Current

Advisor and Chief Editor of NELTA Journal Prof. Jai Raj Awasthi,

Prof. Abhi Subedi sir,

British Council Country Director Robert Monroe, and British Council Country Exams Manager Ewan Davies

RELO Kathmandu Fife McDuff, RELO New Delhi Joelle Uzarski, Colleagues from the US Embassy,

Mr. Anil Kedia, Chairman, DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School

Distinguished Guests on the dais,

Key speakers, participants from home and abroad, publishers, NELTA colleagues, media persons, ladies and gentlemen,

I feel truly delighted and honoured and privileged to welcome you here to this 16th conference of NELTA. Your gracious presence in this august gathering has added to our belief that networking works in teacher professional development.

At this moment, I would like to begin with my sincere appreciation to those who initiated NELTA and also those who nurtured it. NELTA that now operates through its over 30 branches spread all over the country, has over 1700 life members and several hundred general members and a sizable number of institutional members.  NELTA that encompasses teachers, learners and enthusiasts of English of every kind, from schools to universities, public and private, from every walk of like. NELTA that is looked up to by ELT colleagues and other professionals of home and abroad. NELTA that does not market for membership but its size grows every year.  NELTA where we learn and let learn.

This is not just eulogizing. This phenomenon has a theory behind it.

In Sanskrit, there is a saying ‘Sanghe shaktih kalau yuge‘ which means organization holds the key to strength in modern times. Here the word organisation means association and network. Being on a network makes a crucial difference in one’s career and professional attitude. With the help of network, one not only develops and rises, but also snowballs strength to help others to move on. The members help the network to grow. This is true to NELTA. At NELTA, there has been a literal give and take. NELTA is what Emilie Durkheim calls organic bonding which acts as a tool to help the individuals grow in the profession, self-actualise and be recognized in a broader circle. It helps them realise their full potentials. NELTA provides its members with opportunities to realise their potentials and with those realised potentials, the members explore newer avenues for NELTA to grow into a bigger platform. Mike Solly rightly put at the end of his presentation in an ELTeCS meeting in Srilanka a few years ago:

Tell me and I will… Forget

Show me and I will. …Remember

Involve me and I will…Understand

Network me and I will. …Grow (and help others to grow)

This is not just a theory now. It is a reality.

How is this possible? This is possible because NELTA’s foundation is built on three ships S-H-I-P-S: membership, partnership and relationship.

First the membership: Our strength is our members who bring with them ideas and aspirations, hopes and dedications, they give and they take as I said earlier. They put pressure on the leadership and bear the pressure of the tasks assigned to them. They are the backbone.

Second this partnership, without partners we would not be where we are today. Together with the partners, we run the conferences, training programmes, English language courses, radio programmes, surveys and other research studies, disseminate the ideas, make interventions into where English is important. Together with the partners, we think and act.

Third is the relationship. We build relationship with the individuals and organizations home and abroad. We share our experiences, best practices, learn and let learn. We network with other networks.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Now I would like to highlight some of the recent achievements which are also listed in the programme that you in you in hand.

We have made progress in the ELT survey in which NELTA works with the National Planning Commission, Ministry of Education, British Council and the US Embassy.  Our survey design including the tools is almost ready to be implemented.  Now time to put together funds.

NELTA and the US Embassy have just started a two year Access Micro-scholarship program in which we teach English to the non-elite youths in Kathmandu , Gorkha and Bhairahawa.

NELTA has collaborated with Radio Sagarmatha in the English by Radio program supported by the US Embassy and it is very popular. Also, the US embassy has been very kind to supply the ELT Forum magazine to all the life members of all the NELTA branches.

Another support from the US is that we now have Senior English Language Fellow Dr. Barbara Law, who is travelling with NELTA trainers to different branches and reaching the unreached.

NELTA now manages the six ETAs in Lalitpur under the Fulbright Commission ETA program and we have planned to have six ETAs to work with NELTA next year.

We partnered with British Council to implement the English for Teaching and Teaching for English (ETTE) project at the branch level.

A cadre of NELTA trainers have received training from the British Council. They will cascade it in different parts of the country.

The NELTA participants of the British Council’s Learning Centre training now receive joint certificates signed by the NELTA and the British Council.

The British Council and NELTA are now working out how we can collaborate in teacher and learner support activities such as the Global products.

Capacity building of the NELTA leaders and members is our priority. With the support from the British Council and the US embassy, NELTA members have participated in different international courses and events, TESOL USA and IATEFL, UK. With their kind support eight NELTA speakers represented the ELT of Nepal in the first teacher educators’ conference in Hyderabad India recently. We are very pleased to share with you that the selection for the Hornby Scholarship to do a Master course in the UK is underway. This has been possible with the fresh initiatives taken by the British Council Nepal and the Uzbekistan office. The announcements will be made soon for the Bell Centre the UK’s scholarship to attend trainer’s development course in the UK. This is special arrangement between NELTA, Bell Centre and the British Council. Altogether six trainers completed a trainers’ course from EFLU India in the last three years, RELO India and the US Embassy collaborated with the EFLU on this. The TEFL International provides scholarships for the NELTA recommended individuals  to do Certificate and diploma courses.

As a decentralisation process, we have started organizing a regional chapter of the NELTA conference. Last year was in Birgunj and this year we are travelling to Pokhara.  This also shows that the branches have built up their capacity to organize the evens of this level.  NELTA Dhangadhi branch has acquired land and funds are being sought for the constructing the office building

The NELTA journal is peer reviewed and has the ISSN number. The credit for this goes to the highly dedicated editorial team led by Prof. Awasthi.  NELTAchautari is a different versions of NELTA forum; Prem Phyak, Ghanshyam Sharma, Bal Krishna Sharma, Sajan Karna, Kamal Poudel and Hem Raj Kafle work to make it resourceful and user-friendly coordinating from places of varying clock times.   The yahoogroup has been an excellent forum for our members to connect themselves with the global ELT. Please log on to these sites, learn and let learn.

We cannot sit back and rest because achievements have been made, there lie newer avenues with newer challenges.  On the one hand, NELTA has to continue the projects already initiated, on the other it has to look for un-trodden paths for newer achievements. This calls for the collaboration and coordination with stakeholders in more effective ways.  While we need a strong and leading Centre, without stronger branches we will not step ahead. The implementation of the ELT survey project still remains a plan and will need to be realized into concrete actions. Whatever the plans and ambitions, without the active participation and cooperation from all the sectors including the government, nothing will happen. I hope we will stand united in every effort NELTA makes.

This conference is richer than before with more than 150 speakers from more than 17 countries. I would like to welcome the two key speakers Prof. Adrian Holliday and Prof. John Fanselow, plenary Brian Tomlinson, Sheilagh Nelson speakers and the presenters including the representatives of our neighbouring ELT organisations like SPELT, BELTA, SLELTA, ELTAI and all the participants from home and abroad. I would like welcome you all to this Himalayan nation and to express my gratitude to you all for accepting our invitation. I wish all the participants and speakers to have a memorable time. I also wish the foreign and out of valley participants a pleasant stay in Kathmandu. Please bear with us for any discomforts you may suffer.

Finally, I take this opportunity to thank DAV Sushil Kedia Vishwa Bharati Higher Secondary School who have made such a contribution by providing the venue and facilities including human resource that we remain thankful to them. Thank you DAV team. My sincere thanks go to our sponsors, supporters and exhibitors the British Council, the US Embassy, the Cambridge University Press, the Oxford University press, the Routledge India, the Ekta Books, the Brikuti Books. I can speak here today because for the last few months, NELTA colleagues worked tirelessly day and night. I would like to document their voluntary and sincere contributions to make this event a grand success.

Thank you very much indeed.

Laxman Gnawali

Acting President, NELTA

18 February 2011

Causes and consequences of the loss of Native language among Paharis at Khopasi:Sociocultural and Linguistic perspectives

Native Perspective

Madhav P. Timalsina

This article is a synopsis of a thesis submitted in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology. It will be helpful for the students of sociology and those who attempt to prepare thesis in partial fulfillment of Master’s Degree. This study was carried out at Panauti Municipality ward no.12 Khopasi. Only fifty respondents from Pahari community were chosen. The respondents were of different age groups i.e. from twelve years of age to over sixty.They were interviewed duly through structured-interview and ten people from different sphere of life and well known to Paharis and their state of affairs were taken as key informants and they were also interviewed. Apart from interview, observation was also made and the findings were considerably justified with sociological and linguistic theories.

A Brief History of Paharis at Khopasi
Khopasi was named as ‘Kuru Pasak’ during Kirat regime and it is said that Kuru Pasak later becomes Khopasi. The first people ever lived in this place were the Pahari(Sapkota,Rabin 2006).It is said that their traditional profession was to carve stone and make stone grinding mill and water-turbine. It is said that they were the first people who fished in Roshi and Salandu khola. Later Brahmins came over there from Kuntabsi, Newars from Dapcha and Bhaktapur and Paharis living at Khopasi scattered to other places like Lele,Dolakha etc. They had unique culture in marriage, funeral, feast and festivals. They claim that their ancestors were Newar and their language matches with Newar. Moreover, they also employ Napit (the one whose traditional profession is to cut nails of Newars) as Newars do. There were 11505 Paharis in Nepal according to census report 2001B.S. and only 319 Paharis were there in Khopasi. Now approximately 4oo Paharis are living there. No new generation speaks Pahari language and we do not observe any influence of Newari tongue while talking with them. A research work was done about the reason why Paharis living there do not speak their mother tongue and what will be the consequences of the loss. Interview with key informants, interview with the locals and observation were used as the tool of research and was submitted to the department of Sociology/Anthropology,Tri-Chandra Multiple Campus,Ghantaghar. The synopsis of the study is presented below;
During the interview of Paharis and key informants, the causes of the loss of the native language of Paharis were identified as follows on the basis of their responses:
I. School education
II. Lacking interest
III. Assimilation
IV. Acculturation
V. Linguistic policy of the government
VI. gradual loss of culture
VII. Speakers socio-economic status and attitudes
VIII. Literature and script
IX. Social distance
X. theories of language death
XI. Sociological theories
• Conflict theory
• World system theory
• Sociobiology
Most interviewees told that school education in Nepali language is the main cause of their loss of native language. As they did not get chance to use their language in education, they were compelled to learn Nepali language for academic purposes. It helped them to lessen the charm of using their own language. Other causes of the loss of native language of Paharis are described below:
1. Assimilation
Assimilation is a process in which a group gradually gives up its own language, culture and system of values and takes on those of another group with a different language, culture and system of value through a period of interaction (Crystal, 1991) Paharis at Khopasi came to unending interaction with Brahmins and Chhetris and they needed to use Nepali language while talking to Newars and Tamangs. They assimilated the language first then their culture gradually. As a result, they lost their language.
In Nepalese society, we mostly observe linguistic assimilation, the process of interaction between different group of behavior of the majority. Despite being a multi-lingual nation. Nepali language has been given power, recognition while the remains minority languages and their communities are impoverished and marginalized. As a result linguistic minorities have remained socially excluded from harnessing national benefits in fields such as politics, economy, education, employment and so on. promotion of one language, one religion, one dress and mono-cultural nationalism by the state not only hurt the culture of these people but it effectively marginalized them in economic political and social realms(Bhattachan, 1995)
2. Acculturation
It is a process in which changes in language, culture and system of value of a group happen through interaction with a different language, culture and system of values.(Crystal, 1991) Paharis at Khopasi acculturate Brahmins language and culture. They called Brahmin purohit to perform rites and rituals that changed their cultural values and system. It led them to abandon their native language.
3. Social distance
The feeling a person has that his or her social position is relatively similar to or relatively different from the social position of someone else. The social distant between two different group or communities influence communication between them and may affect the way one group learns the language of another(for example, an immigrant group learning the language of the dominant group in a country). Social distance may depend on such factors as differences in the size, ethnic orgin, political status, social status of two groups (Crystal, 1991). For the case of Pahari they found themselves far from their own language as they were surrounded by Nepali native speakers. They could not use their own language in interaction and gradually they forgot their own language.
4. Linguistic and cultural hegemony
Linguistic hegemony is achieved when dominant groups create a consensus by convincing others to accept their language norms and usage as standard or model. hegemony is ensured when they can convince those who fail to meet those standards to view their own language. School have been the principle instruments in promoting a consensus regarding the alleged superiority of standardized language(Wiley, in Mckay and Hornberger, 2007, p.113)
Similarly cultural hegemony is a philosophic and sociological concept, originated by the Marxist philosopher Antonia Gramsci, that a culturally diverse society can be ruled or dominated by one of its social classes. It is the dominance of one social group over another e.g. The ruling class over all other classes. The ideas of the ruling class to be seen as the norm, they are seen as universal ideologies, perceived to benefit everyone whilst only really benefiting the ruling class. (wikipedia.com). For the case of Paharis, they failed to meet the standards to view their own language and school going children found/realized the superiority of Nepali language in the past. As a result, they abandoned their native language. Nepali, as national language and dominance of Hindu culture gave them way out to abandon their culture as well. As a result, they lost their native language.
5. World system theory
World system model and Neo-Marxist divides the world into three parts viz core, semi-periphery and periphery. Standard variety i.e. Nepali lies in core and other ethnic language lies in semi-periphery and language of minorities lies in periphery. Pahari people at Khopasi were in minority and their language was dominated by Nepali language. A.G. Frank’s bi-polar division as Metropolis and Satellite also matches in the case. Pahari language was in Satellite and standard variety i.e. Nepali was in Metropolis.
6. Sociobiology (Reproductive fitness)
According to sociobiology when one loses its reproductive fitness it ultimately dies out. Similarly, Pahari language lost its reproductive fitness and the speakers gradually abandoned the language. Those Paharis who could speak Pahari language felt that they could not express them full with the help of their own language and they might have adopted words from Nepali language. During the study, old people speaking Pahari told that they did not have many words to address nature and happenings. It shows that this language lost its productive fitness and its speakers felt disadvantaged. So they did not practice it and gradually lost their own language.
2. Consequences of the loss of the native language
During the interview, the interviewees gave various responses regarding the consequences of the loss of their native language. The consequences they have perceived after the loss of native language are as follows:
1. They are how worried to loss their identity
2. They think that loss of language may cause them to assimilate with other communities
3. They think that they will no longer be people of minorities Apart from these consequences, the following things can be traced :
2.1. Collapse of culture
They no longer use their language in rites and rituals and their culture is in verge of extinction. They started calling Brahmin Purohitas to perform religious rites and rituals and they no longer celebrated their own festivals on their own. With the loss of language, they lost their own culture and 80% Paharis do not know their culture.
2.2. The Pahari language as moribund language
Krauss defines language as moribund language if children are not speaking them now, endangered if children will probably not speaking the in 100 years. (wikipedia.com) Pahari language in the study area is going to be moribund language as Pahari children do not have any interest in learning their language and even the Paharis over 50 years of age can not speak Pahari language. Krauss has suggested three main criteria that can be used to identify language as endangered. They are :
i. The number of speakers currently living
ii. The mean age of native and/or fluent speakers
iii. The percentage of the youngest generation acquiring fluency with the language in question
In the study area the researcher found only 6% Pahari who could speak Pahari language and they were found to have low and moderate proficiency. People below 48 years could not speak Phari language and the youngest generations do not speak the language at all. It shows that Pahari language in the study area is moribund language.
2.3. Language death
Language death is a process that affects speech communities where the level of language variety is decreased, eventually resulting no native or fluent speakers.
Similarly the most common process leading to language death is one in which a community of speakers of one language becomes bilingual in another language and gradually shifts allegiance language the second language until they cause to use their original(heritage) language. This is a process of assimilation which may be voluntary or may be forced upon a population. Speakers of some languages particularly regional or minority languages may decide to abandon them based on economic or utilitarian grounds, in favor of language regarded as having greater utility or prestige.
A language is often declared to dead even before the last native speakers of the language die. If there are only a few elderly speakers of a language remains and they no longer use that language for communication then the language is effectively dead. For the case of this study 6% pahari people living in the study area of the age of more than 50 and it seems obvious that even before their death, young generation is completely distant from their native language and their language in the study area will certainly die with the death of elder members.
2.4. Blockage for privileges due to loss of linguistic identity
They are not speaking their language and it has been a half-century since they abandoned their culture. They have changed their surname also. If they speak their language, it will be their ethnic identity but they are now unknown to their own language. As a result, special provision announced by the government for minorities’ will be blocked for them. Sudden setback to Pahari from Harisharan and Shrestha in the last six or seven months have shown that they wanted to get the privilege but remarkably they are still hesitating to revitalize their own culture and language. For them surname may help to deserve the privileges announced by the government.
3. Summary of findings
The main objective of this study was to find out why Paharis living at Khopasi lack interest in speaking their own language i.e. native Pahari and causes and consequences of the loss of their language. Among 396 Pahari living as Khopasi 50 people were duly interviewed to collect data and 10 people sharing different profession and social designation were also interviewed as key informants. Before preparing structured interview for the sampled population, key informants ideas were paraphrased as possible and valid option of the questions to selected Pahari respondents. Linguistic as well as socio-cultural theories were taken into consideration while analyzing and interpreting the data preliminary information’s of the respondents were also analysed and concluded.
The findings of the present study obtained from the analysis and interpretation of the data are summarized as follows:
 Respondents from the age of 12 to 60 plus were duly interviewed with structured. Interview. As other people from different communities Paharis of different age group were found to be involving in different walks of life.
 On the part of education, Paharis were not found exceptional i.e. literacy percentage of Paharis was found to be similar to other communities.
 On the part of religion, they were found to be Hindu dominated though Christianity was found to be growing In other words, 90% of Paharis were found to be the follower of Hinduism.
 They were found to be increasing their landholding capacity as they were involving in trade and business and other jobs. No Paharis were found to be landless.
 Regarding the linguistic figure of Paharis only 12% of the respondents from the age over 48 were found to have low and moderate proficiency of Pahari language. People below 48 years of age were not found to be known to their language. Schools and collages going children were found completely unknown to their language. As Krauss defines Pahari language has been ‘Moribund’ ;
 Only 8% of the respondents aged over sixty were found to be well-known to their own culture and 12% respondents knew very little about their unique culture. Remaining 80% of the respondents did not know their own culture. So, not only the language they were found to be abandoning their culture as well.
 Regarding the reasons for lacking interest in Pahari language various ideas were given by them. Mainly parents who did know Pahari language well did not use it for their children and today’s children never heard anyone talking in Pahari language in their surrounding. 88% of the respondents did not find the utility of this language in other walks of life and 80% of them had fear of being pushed back to traditional conservative life if they learned or used. Very remarkably 68% of the respondents agreed that inter-casts marriage among Paharis (marrying with Magars, Chhetris, Brahmins, Ghartis etc.) was the reason. According to them marrying with non-Paharis brought Nepali, language as dowry and children caught up mothers language ignoring father’s one. For academic purpose, they gave up their own language.
 Among the respondents, 80% did not want to revitalize their language and most remarkably all respondents below 36 years rejected to revitalize their language. It means revitalization of Pahari language was found to be difficult and would be unwanted in Khopasi.
 Regarding the cause of the loss of Pahari language, mainly schooling assimilation and acculturation, speaker’s negative attitude and lacking interest, unavailability of Pahari literature and script and linguistic hegemony were found as the causes.
 Regarding the consequences of the loss of Pahari language collapse of the culture, linguistic identity, moribund to the death of language and blockade in privileges provided by the government were found to be prominent.
3.2 Conclusion
Main objective of the study was to carry out the reasons behind lacking interest of learning native language among Paharis residing as Khopasi and to find out cause and consequences of the loss of their native language. The study was based on interview and observation. The nature and universe of the population was 396 Paharis out of which 50 people from different age-group and Gender were selected with purposive random sampling and 10 people from different walks of life but quite close to Paharis were taken as key informants. Regarding education, landholding and religion, Paharis at Khopasi were not found to be exceptional to other ethnic groups. Regarding the linguistic-identity and cultural understanding Paharis were not found to be Pahari in its unique sense. Only 12% people have moderate and low proficiency in Pahari language and they no longer use it in daily life. Due to not having intrinsic and extrinsic motivation and exposure, Paharis are lacking interest in learning native language. They did not find any use of Pahari language. Similarly social distance, assimilation, acculturation, linguistic and cultural hegemony; socio-political aspects of language planning, negative attitudes towards the language were identified as the causes of the loss of native language. 100% Paharis living in Khopasi are found fluent in Nepali and no influence of their mother-tongue could be noticed while they used Nepali language. It can be said that it has been more than half a century since they gave up their language and culture. Consequences of the loss of native language seemed to have collapse of culture, ethnic identity moribund of the language that ultimately leads to the extinction of language. Due to the loss of native language they lost their ethnic identity and changed their surname quite like Newars. Recently the government has provided special privilege for marginalized group and Pahari are included in this group. The growing trend of going back to Pahari from ‘Harisharan’, ‘Nagarkoti’ ‘Udas’ and Shrestha is a bit remarkable. Still, they are not ready to accept language as identity. Not only Pahari language but also some other languages like Newari and Magar around the study area have the same fate.
Malla (1989 ; 452 ) observed that despite the distinct decline in the percentage of Maithili, Bhojpuri, Avadi and Tharu speakers in the Terai zones, ‘the mother tongues of the majority of the population of these zones still continue to be non-Nepali.
As Nepal is a multilingual country and in a multilingual situation, vernacular language (or ethnic language) may decline in terms of prestige, speakers, areas of uses etc. If the decline is severe, the language may be endangered, moribund or extinct. In recent times only, more than 750 languages have already become extinct around the world. Stoll others have only a few known speakers: these languages are called endangered language. The UN estimates that more than half of the languages spoken today have fewer than 10,000 speakers and that a quarter have fewer than 1,000 speakers and that unless there are some efforts to maintain them over the next hundred years, must of these will became extinct(Pokhrel, 2009. p.118)
More commonly language dies through cultural change and language replacement, by assimilation to a dominant culture and language. This process is broad and complex but one major factor is negative attitude to a language, both in government policy and local communities (yee, 2000). Young generation of Paharis at Khopasi has negative attitude to their own language.
Crystal (2000) suggests six key themes in language revitalization. He postulates that an endangered language will progress if its speakers:
i. Increase their prestige within the dominant community
ii. Increase their wealth
iii. Increase their legitimate power in the eyes of the dominant community
iv. Have a strong presence in the education system
v. Can write down the language
vi. Can make use of electronic technology
In the study area, Paharis lack the suggestion mentioned by Crystal (2000) to revitalize their own language. For them, it is quite impossible to use their own language. It assists that Pahari language in the study area is a dead language like Sanskrit.
This study was done for academic purpose and it covers the area of Khopasi and may be applicable to generalize the status of languages of minorities like Magars and some Newars living in other villages of Kavre.


BRANCH SPECIAL, January 2011

Native Perspective, Nelta branch and members

Namaste!

We dedicate this issue to the colleagues from NELTA branches across the country, with special thanks to colleagues from Birgunj, Gorkha, Palpa, and Surkhet. There is no doubt that our readers will be glad and grateful to you if you can continue to publish news updates about training or other professional development events, success stories of individual teachers or schools that take new initiatives in ELT, personal anecdotes, annual summaries of ELT activities in your branch… anything you can share with the rest of the NELTA community and readers around the world. To repeat what we said in the main editorial, our vision is to make this a professional discussion forum where teachers at the grassroots level ARE the ELT scholars and researchers. We don’t need to remind any fellow teacher that the best types of ELT resources are pedagogical solutions that evolve from problems overcome by individual teachers, classroom/action research, teaching tips shared among teachers who are in similar material and institutional situations, and reflections and theorizing done by teacher-scholars in the geo-political contexts of Nepal and the local settings around the country. Simpy, this forum is yours, and you should contribute what you know, what you have, what you are interested in. The discussions of scholars at the center or in different types of professional academic settings around the world are also important, but those postings and discussions will also become more meaningful if they are based on the situations, challenges, innovations that you face at the classroom and local levels.

Here is a special set of materials from NELTA branches from across Nepal. Enjoy the local flavor and promote the conversation!

  1. NELTA Palpa Conference Vibrated the Teachers in the Area (an article by Gopal Bashyal, NELTA Palpa)
  2. NELTA = Novel ELT Activities (an event update and article by Gopal Bashyal, NELTA Palpa)
  3. NELTA Surkhet in 2010 (a branch update from Surkhet, by Mukunda Giri, NELTA Surkhet)
  4. “Teaching English with a Difference” (a report from Birgunj on a recent Training Program, by Suresh Shrestha*)
  5. English Access Microscholarship Program in Nepal (an article about a new ELT initiative in NELTA branches, by Shyam Pandey)
    (also linked from main editorial)

Please remember to leave a comment to these posts and promote updates and discussions from NELTA branches across the country. Please subscribe to Choutari so you will be alerted when there is a new post.

(back to front page)

Towards Local Literacy: Globalization and Nepalese ELT

Critical Pedagogy, Native Perspective, Scholarly Article

Prem Phyak

Introduction

Anything that is ‘local’ is generally better in terms of quality and permanence. Let me give some examples: local chicken is tasty, local fruit is hygienic, local vegetable is fresh, and local people make a big difference in your life. What about local literacy? In this short article, I highlight the importance of local literacy in relation to ELT in Nepal. I will also briefly discuss how local literacy in ELT can be promoted in the classroom. Let me start with some perspectives on globalization as the basis of this discussion.

Globalization and Local literacy: What?

We all know that English has become a part of our social and individual lives: it is not only in our education and professions but also in our homes, through television, internet, mobile phones, and other information and communication technologies. Through social networking and new media in particular, English is continuing to work as one of the most powerful means of globalization (See related article in May 2009 issue of NeltaChoutari). We cannot consider the trends of globalization and the spread of English as neutral without being extremely naïve. As Bourdieu (2001) tells us that

“Globalization” serves as a password, a watchword, while in effect it is the legitimatory mask of a policy aiming to universalize particular interests and the particular tradition of the economically and politically dominant powers…It aims to extend to the entire world the economic and cultural model that favours these powers most, while simultaneously presenting it as a norm, a requirement, and a fatality, a universal destiny, in such a manner as to obtain adherence or, at the least, universal resignation. (as cited in Phillipson, 2004)

The term ‘globalization’ has now become a buzz word in every field, and it has very important implications in ELT because the English language is the most influential means of “universalizing particular interests and particular tradition of the economically and politically dominant powers” as Bourdieu argues. To say that we are simply “using” a “common” language for “communicating” across linguistic borders is both absolutely correct but absolutely ludicrous if we don’t “also” recognize/admit that languages belong to societies that wield cultural, social, and political powers through their languages: as language teachers, we must not limit our understanding and scholarship to dictionary definition of “language” because we must also know that the relative difference of the power that different language communities makes huge difference in both material and intellectual terms for people and societies. So, it is important to understand what role English plays in globalization of ideas and practices of dominant cultures. English is considered a ‘global’ language (Graddol, 1997; Crystal, 1997), and the number of researches on the role of English in globalization has increased in the last decade. Recent scholarship in this area helps us understand why and how the role of English as a global language should be assessed critically. The views about the role of globalization in language teaching are, however, more divergent. In their groundbreaking edited book ‘Globalization and Language Teaching,” Block and Cameron (2002) summarize following major views regarding globalization:

  • Hegemonically Western, and above all extension of American imperialism
  • Extreme of standardization and uniformity
  • Synergetic relationship between the global and the local- globalization

We see that the first view takes Gramsci’s ‘hegemony’ and Phillipson’s ‘linguistic imperialism’ about globalization considering it as a means to disseminate the Western and American economic, cultural, political and educational ideologies. In this sense, globalization is another face of Westernization and Americanization. This view is concerned more with the political and ideological discussion which, as I see, does not make more sense in ELT. But the second and third views have a great impact on ELT.

We can relate two major issues – native speakerism and imported method – regarding the ‘standardization’ and ‘uniformity’ in ELT respectively. Standardization here means many things. The most obvious point related to ELT is that in order to maintain standard we have to follow ‘native’ English representing maybe CNN and BBC English. The uniformity can be interpreted as ‘adoption’ of the same textbook, method of teaching and learning material all over the world without considering the ‘local’ socio-cultural context.

The third view – glocalization – is the negotiation between the global and the local in which we find the mixture of the both. At present, this cocktail idea has come to the fore to soothe the criticisms against globalization on the ground of ‘hegemonic’ and ‘imperialistic’ ideology. With this view, we can argue that globalization has its presence at local level as well. We can also say that it is the continuum which has greater impact at the global context but have less impact at the local context. This degree also differs in terms of power, economy and technological advancement. It is obvious that the societies which are poor, powerless and technologically underdeveloped have less impact of the globalization. In this regard, Block (2008) claims

Globalization is framed as the ongoing process of the increasing and intensifying interconnectedness of communications, events, activities and relationships taking place at the local, national or international level. (p.31)

Although it is accepted that ‘local’ components can also be incorporated in the ‘globalization’, questions which have been ignored are: To what extent we have recognized the value of ‘local’ in ELT literacy practice? Which one (the global or the local) is dominant?  How can we bring the ‘local’ into ELT pedagogy? In the remainder of this article, I discuss these issues with reference to ELT in Nepal.

Local literacy and local society

Going through various literature and studies regarding literacy (e.g. Wallace, 1999, 2002), we find three major interpretations of local literacy. First interpretation takes local literacy as teaching through local languages. This is concerned more with the anti-linguistic imperialistic discussion pioneered by Phillipson (1992). Second interpretation is grounded on the use of language for daily communication. Teaching of English, in this regard, is considered as a planned and systematic academic endeavor to help ‘local children’ [Nepalese] use English in informal communications outside the classroom. But to what extent, Nepalese children, studying at Grades 1, 2, 3 in rural areas have to speak English while shopping, for example? Does such a projection of the English language as a means to achieve commodity help children achieve true essence of education? These issues are often ignored in academic discussion especially in the global ELT discourse. At the same time, as Cameron (2002) claims, ‘The dissemination of ‘global’ communicative norms and genres, like the dissemination of international languages, involves a one-way flow of expert knowledge from dominant to subaltern cultures” (p. 70).

The third view, which I want to focus in this article, is concerned with the contextual sensitivity of any language literacy including ELT. According to this view, ELT should be in consonance with the socio-cultural and politico-economic realities of particular context where literacy in English takes place. Moreover, this view believes that English language learning is a ‘situated practice’ which happens with the ‘bottom-up’ fashion rather than ‘top-down’ and through so-called expertise-delivered-knowledge. To be more specific, let me ask some questions (although there are many) regarding teaching English in Nepal;

  • Do the methods we are adopting while teaching English address our children’s values, beliefs and expectations?
  • Are the textbooks that we use for teaching the English language appropriate to our local socio-cultural and politico-economic realities?

We cannot answer these questions in a ‘yes/no’ manner. However, we can be realistic while discussing these issues. Elsewhere, Canagarajah (2002) vehemently argues that the global methods of teaching (e.g. communicative language teaching) have created inequalities in the global pedagogical village. Following a single method with ‘fits-in-all-context’ assumption does not really address learning needs and expectations of local children. Moreover, such an assumption does not empower children rather it marginalizes them psychologically and cognitively as well. This clearly indicates that we need to think about exploring our own practices of teaching English which is relevant to our own soil and people. At the same time, I am not claiming that we should not be aware of the global practices. We should be well informed with them but we should critically scrutinize those practices keeping our realities in view. I think I can discuss much about this when I come to textbook issue in the following paragraph.

In many parts of the world like in Nepal, textbooks are sole source of teaching and learning English. In that sense, textbooks are the most important component of ELT pedagogy in Nepal. However, it is not bizarre to say that, writing and production of textbooks is the most neglected agenda in Nepal. Let me start with the textbooks prescribed by the government. The textbooks in many cases include ‘foreign culture’ as reading texts and situations for conversation, which are difficult to conceptualize for children, are also foreign in some cases. In a way, such situations and texts take children away from their own context. If our goal is to develop reading skills of children, why don’t we bring the texts which deal with local issues, cultures, realities and challenges? Let us research which text (related to local or global text) is effective for enhancing reading skill of Nepalese learners of English.

The textbooks in private schools are more frustrating in terms of local literacy. The global textbooks like Headway/New Headway which are considered to be the global textbooks are prescribed in private schools without any approval from the government. Such global textbooks seem to promote more European and American culture, and project an affluent commodified life style (Gray, 2002). Through the texts like how much Bill Gates earn (New Headway/Upper-Intermediate, 1998) and going on holidays in London, New York, Paris and other expensive cities of the world, the global textbooks are projecting pleasure in life but they are ignoring pain of how a farmer in rural villages works hard to earn and feed his family. Why don’t we have reading texts on holidaying in Jomsom, paragliding from Sarangkot, trekking in Karnali and so on? Can’t we think about including the texts related to Maruni, Kauda, Dhan-nach, Deuda, Goura, Maha-puja, and so on? Are they not useful in teaching English? Of course, YES.  On one hand, such texts promote interconnectedness between society and classroom teaching/learning and on the other hand, they help to address precious linguistic and cultural diversity we have. However, we, teachers of English, should always be ready to take the role of ‘transformative intellectuals’ (Kumarivadivelu, 2003) by going beyond our traditional role – teachers as a passive technician in the classroom – to accepting the extended role to show our concern in social reflection and situated practice of teaching English.

Future Directions: Critical Literacy and Postmethod Pedagogy

The above discussion implies that the so-called global textbooks and methods of ELT do not seem to be inclusive and appropriate in diverse world contexts. ELT in Nepal has the same problem. The fundamental reason behind this is that ELT policies we have made are so far shaped by the traditional notion i.e. ELT means teaching about the English language only. But this notion is already obsolete because ‘methods’,  ‘textbooks’ and ‘assumptions’ which work better do not fit in other contexts. Moreover, ELT is more than ‘teaching about English’ it is a part of education which is heavily loaded with culture, identity and ideology which need to be scrutinized in relation to local contexts.

How we can promote local literacy is another crucial question we need to discuss. I am not expert at prescribing ideas which work better. But I think, Critical literacy and Postmethod Pedagogy are two major approaches which are helpful to promote ‘local literacy’ practices in Nepal.

The basis of critical literacy is Paulo Freire’s Pedagogy of the Oppressed (1970) in which he criticises the transmission or ‘banking’ model of education (teachers are depositors and learners are depositories) and advocates for ‘dialogic’ model  in which learners are not passive recipient but  an active ‘agent’ of whole learning process. We have already discussed this issue in a January 2009 article of NeltaChoutari.

One major issue that critical literacy addresses is inequalities that persist in ELT. It focuses on bringing social issues and controversies into the classroom. Moreover, this approach involves students in a continuous process of thinking critically through a dialogic process in which students are provided opportunities to discuss the issues which have relevance in local socio-cultural context. Thus students clearly see the relevance of learning English in their life which, moreover, promotes local literacy.  In this regard, Norton and Toohey (2004) claim

Advocates of critical approaches to second language teaching are interested in relationships between language learning and social change. From this perspective, language is not simply a means of expression or communication; rather, it is a practice that constructs, and is constructed by, the ways language learners understand themselves, their social surroundings, their histories, and their possibilities for the future” (p. 1).

The Postmethod Pedagogy (Kumaravadivelu, 2001) is another approach which may be helpful in promoting local literacy in ELT.  The three parameters of the postmethod pedagogy include particularity, practicality and possibility. According to the pedagogy of particularity, “Language pedagogy…must be sensitive to a particular group of teachers teaching a particular group of learners pursuing a particular set of goals within a particular institutional context embedded in a particular sociocultural milieu” (p. 538). Similarly, the pedagogy of practicality “does not pertain merely to the everyday practice of classroom teaching. It pertains to a much larger issue that has a direct impact on the practice of classroom teaching, namely, the relationship between theory and practice” (p. 540). Finally, the pedagogy of possibility is concerned with “participants’ experience which draws ideas not only from the classroom episodes but also from border social, political and economic environment in which they grew up” (p. 542). We can see that ‘local realities’ and ‘experiences’ of participants (teachers, and students) are core of ELT in every world context. This indicates that we need to share our experiences to generate more local knowledge which can be a treasure for the whole ELT community of practice. To this end, we have initiated NeltaChoutari as a voluntary work to tell Nepalese ELT stories to the rest of the world. We hope this sharing through monthly publication in future will provide a basis for producing local materials for ELT in Nepal.

Conclusion

The looming trend of banishing ‘local practices’ due to acceptance of ‘global practices’ as a granted is one of the serious global issues in ELT around the globe. The notion of uniformity and standardization do not seem to be appropriate in linguistically and culturally diverse world contexts. At the same time, the expectations, values and beliefs of learners should be addressed through all kinds of pedagogy including ELT. In this regard, we should think about the use of locally produced materials and be fully informed with the process of adapting ‘creative and critical instructional practices in order to develop pedagogies suitable for their [our] community’ (Canagarajah 1999 p.122). Moreover, as Holliday (2005) has argued, we should discuss whether methodological prescriptions generated in BANA contexts (British, Australia, and North America) have ‘currency’ in our contexts, whether they are locally validated or appropriated. In this sense, whole idea of local literacy in ELT is concerned with the idea of (re)generating locally appropriate methods of teaching, (re)producing local materials using local resources and incorporating local issues and identities and accommodating learners’ experiences through a dialogical process in the classroom.

I am not saying that the ideas discussed in this article address all dimensions of local literacy nor I am saying that we should not be aware of global issues. What I am saying is our full dependence on global methods, norms and textbooks in ELT may not help to promote and sustain our identities and treasure of local knowledge.  What I am saying is that we have wonderful ELT practices that we are not able to share with the people from other parts of the world which we need to do urgently. Let me give some example: we have very precious linguistic and cultural diversity in which English is being taught as a foreign language. We have been teaching under the shade of tree and sometimes in the open sky. We have been teaching more than 100 students in the same classroom even without chalk, duster and blackboard. We are teaching students who come from various linguistic, ethnic, religious, cultural and socio-economic backgrounds. Don’t you think that such realities and experiences are important source for teaching English? Of course, they are. We need to document these experiences so that other members of ELT community of practice will benefit a lot. Why don’t we take initiation of using local cultural texts (in addition to the texts given in the textbooks), for example, to teach reading and writing skills and see how it works? Can’t we bring stories of child labor, gender discrimination, inequality, poverty and so on to teaching English in the classroom? Of course, YES. But we need to work hard to achieve this end. We cannot make changes overnight but if we collaborative through different means like NeltaChoutari we can accomplish so many things for better ELT in Nepal.

Finally, the future of ELT in Nepal will be even better if we don’t consider teaching of English not simply as teaching about the English language but also as part of education that aims to empower children and to bring some positive transformation in the knowledge-based society. I argue that English teachers are not merely ‘classroom teachers’, we are ‘agent of change’. This is possible only when have a strong foundation at local level. We can access global means only with the strong ‘local foundation’.  I would say that the best ELT practice is the practice which accommodates local realities and helps learners to link them with global ones. For this, we need to be aware of maintaining balance between local and global.

(back to editorial/contents)

References

Block, D. & Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and language teaching. London: Routledge.

Block, D. (2008). Globalization and language education. In S. May and N. H. Hornberger (eds), Encyclopedia of Language and Education, 2nd Edition, Volume 1: Language Policy and Political Issues in Education, 31–43. Springer Science+Business Media LLC.

Bourdieu, P. (2001). Contre-feux 2. Paris: Raisons d’agir.

Cameron, D. (2002). Globalization and the teaching of ‘communication skills’. In Block, D. & Cameron, D. (eds.) Globalization and language teaching. London: Routledge.

Canagarajah, A.S. (1999). Resisting linguistic imperialism in language teaching. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

Canagarajah, A.S. (2002). Globalization, methods and practice in periphery classrooms. In Block, D. & Cameron, D. (eds.) Globalization and language teaching. London: Routledge.

Crystal, D. (1997). English as a global language. Cambridge, England: Cambridge University Press.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. Harmondsworth: Penguin.

Graddol, D. (1997). The future of English? London: The British Council.

Gray, J. (2002). The global coursebook in English language teaching. In Block, D. & Cameron, D. (eds.) Globalization and language teaching. London: Routledge.

Holliday, A. (2005). The struggle to teach English as an international language. Oxford: Oxford University Press,

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2001). Toward a postmethod pedagogy. TESOL Quarterly, 35/4, 537-560.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2003). Beyond method: Macrostrategies for language teaching. NewHaven, CO. Yale University Press.

Norton, B. & Toohey, K. (Eds.) (1997).Critical pedagogies and language learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic imperialism. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Phillipson, R. (2004). Review article: English in globalization: Three approaches. Journal of Language, Identity & Education, 3:1, 73 — 84.

Wallace, C. (1999). Critical language awareness: key principles for a course in critical reading. Language Awareness 8, 2:98-110.

Wallace, C. (2002). Local literacies and global literacy. . In Block, D. & Cameron, D. (eds.) Globalization and language teaching. London: Routledge.

NELTAChoutari, Networking and Nepalese Teachers

Native Perspective, Nelta Networking

Kamal Poudel

Until about two decades ago, information technologies that were widely available in the world outside were either out of reach for us in Nepal, or we lacked the basic skills needed for using what was available. Even teachers did not have access to teaching materials on the Internet, not to mention the possibility of using it in their classrooms. But in the last ten or so years, there has been a quantum leap in the availability, access, and popularity of information technologies in Nepalese education.

Students directly benefit from the access to knowledge and professional development opportunities that their teachers have, and in the long run the society benefits from those resources and opportunities. From that perspective, teachers are the vanguard of social change. The incredible development in the information technology field has brought all of us quite close that we can find our entire sporadically scattered friends within our room. The new discovery of science and technology have always some pros and cons, and it will be the job of teachers to select the texts appropriately, and use them to maximally benefit the students. The dark sides of the new technology should be left in the dark world itself, and encourage the students to move towards the world of self-enhancement. The development in the societies always gives birth to new cultures, and to my belief, cultures are as dynamic as language, and thus they are prone to change all the time. The new generation people (in this context: present day students) are quite likely to adopt and adapt the new cultures as they are truly native to them. In this context, although the elder generation people (in this context: present day teachers) are immigrant to the newly developed culture, they are required to acclimatize themselves to the new climate or say the cultures developed by the IT. Not only this, they also need to enhance their pace so as to meet the students and be able to lead them. No modern teachers now can escape any student’s problem or question simply saying, ‘well, I am not quite aware of technology things….’ The students are very likely to feel underprivileged to be taught by these types of teachers as they do not get the sufficient learning materials and resources from their teachers. Their expectation is marked with newness and fast pace. The newness can be in the field of using language, for example, as the new culture leads the people to change their linguistic behavior as well. We can refer to this as a kind of paradigm shift in teaching and learning. Along with the pace of modern life, the pace of learning has naturally had the quantum leap.

Public media like BBC concentrates on the value of IT and spells that fame in the modern world can be doubled or easily be enhanced by means of the use of technology. A newly published book or article can be read by millions of readers immediately after the click on ‘upload’, which makes it easier for the the contributors to be attracted by those readers. This positively encourages the beginners to upgrade and update themselves, and thus will always be in such a world where they cannot stop browsing, uploading, collecting materials and be connected in the wider world.

Considering this as significant factor to change the life-style of teachers and the dire-need of the present day world, we have been encouraging our readers, teachers to come to the world of information technology, and thus be connected with the rest of the world. We have the principle of ‘learn and let learn’.  With the motive of empowering Nepalese teachers (ourselves), NELTA is committed to create the new ways of teaching and learning. For this, would like to invite you all English teachers and be the part of NELTAChoutari, and help the Choutari finally in order to help yourselves and thus transform yourselves. Cheers NELTAChoutari anniversary!!!


(back to editorial/contents)

(back to editorial/contents)

Post Modern Paradigm in Nepalese ELT

Native Perspective

A Great Paradigm is Knocking at the Door:That is Postmodernism

Dr. Govinda Raj Bhattarai

Professor of English

Department of English Education

Tribhuvan University

Every teacher needs to be familiar with the issues that I am going to address in this essay: every teacher, educator, and every institution from primary to university levels of education and academic centers of all sorts.

The central motive for writing this paper is to draw from ‘postmodern’ philosophy and seek its application to English language teaching in the context of Nepal. It is high time we incorporated new values in our curriculums, especially in those of English Language teaching, ELT.  English language, and so literature, is soaked in ‘contemporary world values’. We need to experience and feel the pace of these contemporary values and walk in consonance with them because time has changed dramatically and cyberspace has ‘flattened’ the world, to quote Friedman’s term, and global values have seeped into local cultures all over the world. Porous culture of the present day has permeated everywhere to horizons earlier unknown. All these phenomena are the characteristics of the postmodern period that has followed the post II war period of some five decades ago.

I am not going to quote definitions of postmodernism from “Grammatology”, or from “The Postmodern Condition: A Report of Knowledge” or from “The Postmodern Reader” or from “The  Encyclopedia of Postmodernism” itself. In a brief article like this there is no room for pedantic ramblings on a subject that has already built a tremendous archive; it is so wide and diverse that sometimes it sounds unfathomable. Despite this, those of us concerned with ELT and more broadly, language teaching, should no longer remain ignorant of this all pervading paradigm shift, should look into the new values and find out if any aspects of postmodernism are applicable to our field, out of this all sweeping dimensions, and try to improve our career and profession by including these aspects. With this in mind, I would like to put my pen into paper by just referring to some major features and achievements of postmodernism that are relevant to teaching (which may apply to all teaching activities irrespective of subjects).

Before this let me relate my topic to the origin of this ‘philosophy’, to fields it has permeated and some distinctive marks that help us define the term. It was Jacques Derrida ( 1930 ­– 2004)  whose seminal article  “Structure, Sign  and Play:  In the Discourse of the Human Sciences”  (1967) attracted scholars’ attention towards a deep gap lying unnoticed between the structuralist tradition established by Saussurean school and the post II war situation that saw many changes in the existing values. This inspired and encouraged scholars to revisit the common philosophy of academics based on structuralism. This came to be known as postmodern move which challenged modernism, modernist principles and beliefs, which eventually gave way against the force of postmodern onslaught. Gradually scholars and thinkers of late twentieth century shifted their attention towards a new philosophy, a new paradigm in their respective fields. There are different angles of interpretation, standpoints or conditions of postmodern trend or. For instance, Jacques Derrida takes a philosophical standpoint. There are others, like Michel  Brown, Jean Baudrillard, Rolland Barthes, Thomas Kuhn, Charles Jenks to name a few among hundreds of forerunners, who discuss psychoanalysis, political philosophy, literary theory, philosophy of science, and  architecture, respectively. There are other great names people remember for their vigor and enthusiasm in interpreting music and dance, art and culture, anthropology, history and geography from postmodern perspectives. Ihab Hasan rightly thinks that this has formed a new movement, paradigm, or school: postmodernism.

I would like to refer to Hasan’s The Postmodern Turn (1987) to provide the readers a feel of how it has become all pervasive.  Postmodernism attacked deep foundations of meaning, truth, its finality, classifications of objects and concepts and showed that a continuum of enigmatic existence may go on till the last moment, so one always fails to claim finality, all perfection. One should keep on experimenting with what exists and look for novelty and innovation. Such points may have deep impact on an innovative teacher.  Not without good reasons have some claimed ‘death’ of many things and ideas such as history including the death of discourse (see, Collins and Skover). The term death has been used everywhere only to show a kind of departure and a sudden rupture felt in the existing practice and thought.  It is not in the literal sense they say so, it is to indicate the suddenness of a great shift towards a new present almost disconnected to its rootedness or the past.  So it was introduced as an anti foundational movement that has given a message that every foundation, even that of science, ever requires some kind of restructuring, remaking, rebuilding, and rethinking from age to age, and more so in a world controlled by machines like ours  today. The inventions and innovations that occur today are beyond our imagination, and will continue to be so. Philosophical principles too are always reinventing and reshaping themselves, like the inventions in science. Values are changing fastest of all. Peoples’ interests, demands, aspirations and lifestyle have changed accordingly.

Naturally, Derridean philosophy stands against stagnant ideas and dogmatic principles. However I am not going to sound obscure by referring to Jacques Derrida the mastermind himself, nor great thinkers like Michael Foucault, Gilles Deleuz, Frederic Jameson, Luce Irigary, Zygmunt Bauman, Jean Baudrillard, Gayatri Spivack or more such philosophers who have helped in defining the scope of this new philosophy with zeal and fervor until the dawn of the 21st century.  However “No jargons please” my heart speaks, and mind says no to a maze of debates. Those who are dead against pluralistic values and multiple perspectives on objects and truths and things are very adamant and even wish to denounce it as a new fangled thing that destroys the old values and leads us to nowhere.  They don’t know that old things decay soon of their own accord, and progress demands a rapid pace for everything: reshaping and rebuilding, by deconstructing the old ones. ‘Deconstruction’ has therefore been considered as a central point that brings change in our perspectives.

Postmodernism has stood on the principle of journey to infinite, incompleteness and this is the stand it has taken for more than three decades. But I am going to put my pen into paper also to recount my experience of being with it and in it for the last two decades. However, mine has remained a different world of literature. I noticed the concept enter into Nepali literature in the last twenty-five years, though vaguely and hazily in the beginning. At present though, there are more than two dozen books published on theory and practice of it and many more are in making, some to defend it and others to denounce. Denouncing it is equated with an act of challenging time that does not go back nor does it remain stagnant. That is why, as Derrida thought, if you cannot get the final meaning, if it ever gets deferred and is different every moment, what is the point of sticking to a particular time or value that is claimed to be final and universal and will save humanity? We believe in transitory nature and transience, we believe in the new and ever changing experience and experiment, fragmentary nature of truth, we believe in relativity of truth, because no absolute truth does exist, it is in the eyes of the beholders that truth takes shape whether it be in the field of philosophy or chemistry or astronomy or child care, adult education or teaching and learning, or the production of learning materials from everyday and common matters to universal matters.

It is difficult to define the concept of postmodern, as it encompasses everything– from art to culture, and from feminism to curriculum. Different fields of knowledge and areas of study such as history, geography, literature, sports and music have postmodern features which are distinct from those with modernist perspectives. It is change in perspectives, a change of perspectives. The whole of perspectives of looking at truth and the world has changed today. It may sound sometimes too intricate to drive this point home, but I would like to show how our total perspectives need to be revised. I would like to refer to Hasan again from whose work I quoted above. He shows how what ‘modern’ world  thought of as distance needs to be perceived as participation, purpose as play, signified as signifier, genre as text.  Each of these moves requires serious discussion, interpretation and exemplification. When one goes deep into such abstract philosophical niceties, one is most likely to get lost. Therefore I like to suggest the readers to start at the beginning, go on building their knowledge, contemplate and try to find application accordingly.

The seminal ideas of postmodernism entered the mainstream with Jacques Derrida’s principles of deconstruction which got associated with post-structuralism and gradually to postmodernism in the field of philosophy. Likewise, in literature, John Barth proposed that the conventional modes of literary representation had been “used up,” which means  everything has been exhausted before so he expounded these ideas in a seminal essay called  “The Literature of Exhaustion” and in it Barth opined that Modern values had an ultimate goal and a final point, but postmodern stretches beyond confinement. Old rules, symbols, figures, devices have completely been exhausted so we need newer images, combinations, symbols, tools, perspectives and everything.  In the field of architecture, ‘Jenkins’s architectural design’ is considered postmodern. If we look at music or painting or film or other sectors such as health, we can find pioneers who introduce postmodernism into these fields. It gives a sense of eternity, plurality or pluralism of objects ideas, and things, which is at the core of its principle. It rejects structural school of thought and language and classification. So looking at the world with postmodern perspective means looking at it as a centre less embodiment of multiplicity.  The multiplicity exists, whether or not one accepts it, so in the words of Foucault, it is an all pervading condition of the world.

Postmodernism stands for pluralism– many ideas and opinions, many practices and tolerance among them. It naturally has many centers. How it forms knowledge is still in suspense and doubt. Postmodernism asks you not to trust the practices that you are following. Some truth may be lying hidden so the concept of absence is more important than presence. All inventions were absent until they were discovered to the state of presence. Postmodernism calls for a change in concept and behavior. It is a philosophy of alternatives from no choice. From binary classification, it has reached a state of multiple options.

How can we make use of postmodernist theory in an ELT class? Firstly, it says all knowledge is constructed not just given; all knowledge is invented or “constructed” in the minds of people, they say. This belief requires student centered teaching, student autonomy and more freedom.

It promotes and nurtures multiplicity so it applies for multicultural setting of the learner and equal respect and attention to all.

It explores new centers and therefore every student has equal opportunity to be honored– the handicapped, disable, deprived, backward and marginal and excluded. The teacher treats them equally on grounds of humanity. Students that form diverse picture in the class are assets to him or her.

Cyber culture is part of our life so technology will create virtual worlds and learning modes are changed abruptly and totally. Teacher education is incomplete without resorting to the use of technology (radio, Edusat, mobiles, ICT) etc. The electronic media has erased the geographical distance and historic time so the modes of teaching and ways of learning are tat tally different from what they used to be before. An English Language Teacher, like any other should be equipped with this Knowledge.

01 Nov 2010

tu.govinda@gmail.com

Methods to Principles in Langauge Teaching

Native Perspective

 

                          Methods to Principles in Language Teaching

     Dr. Bal Mukunda Bhandari

Associate Professor

Departement of English Education

Tribhuvan University

Background

Twentieth century remained a century of methods and approaches in the field of language teaching. The applied linguists and language teaching experts in the name of reform in language pedagogy propounded new methods and approaches one after another pointing out the drawbacks of the existing methods and highlighting the merits of newly proposed ones. When English and other modern languages developed in Europe, people started studying them as second or foreign languages, the methods appeared in a “cyclical pattern in which a new paradigm of teaching methodology emerged about every quarter of a century with each new method breaking from the old but at the same time taking with it some of the positive aspects of the previous one” (Brown, 1994).

Methods Debate

Before the nineteenth century, formal language learners used to be scholars who studied foreign language consulting list of words in dictionaries. In the nineteenth century languages came into school curriculum and therefore something more was needed. This gave rise to grammar translation method (Harmer, 2008). This method as its name suggests made grammar rules as starting point followed by exercises involving translation into and out of the mother tongue. At the juncture of the twentieth century a reform movement came (Brown, 1994). This reform movement was the basis for the direct method which remained popular throughout the world in the last half of the 19th century and the quarter of the twentieth century. This method gave priority to oral skills. Writing was delayed and it rejected explicit grammar teaching (Thornbury, 1994:21). As Albert Marckwardt (Brown a99:14) sees this “changing winds and shifting sands”, the grammar was revived dropping out the translation from it. A method based on behaviorism in psychology and structuralism in linguistics was developed in the United States. (A similar method was developed in Britain at the same time which was popularly known as Oral Approach and Situational Language Teaching). This method bought grammar from Grammar Translation method and the philosophy that of the primacy o oral skills from the Direct method. The Audio-lingual method adopted drills,  and sought context for grammar teaching. It rejected translation particularly because it was not possible to use translation in the class where there were students from different linguistic background and because it was not possible to teach English by English native speakers unless they learnt students’ native language and again it was not possible to learn each student’s mother tongue by the teacher. Translation is still popularly used in countries where English is taught by nonnative English speakers.

The 1980s experienced an anti-grammar movement primarily influenced by Krashen’s idea that language can be naturally acquired from meaningful inputs and opportunities to interact in the classroom. Grammatical competence can develop in a fluency oriented environment without conscious focus on form (Hedge, 2000:144). In addition, Chomsky’s criticism on structuralism, Hymes proposal of communicative competence, notional syllabus by Wilkins, task- based syllabus by Prabhu, interactional syllabus by Widdowson, functional syllabus by Jupp and Hodlin (Richards and Rodges, 2000) gave rise to communicative Language Teaching which was later developed into communicative method. This method uses language through communicative activities. It teaches to communicate in English by communicating purposefully with authentic materials put in groupwork, pair work and role-play. At the end of the 20th century a good number of methods based on the principle of communicativeness appeared each claiming to be more communicative.

Principles

An approach as Anthony (1963 in Smolinski 1993) writes is a description of the nature of the subject matter to be taught. It states a point of view or a philosophy. The method  is an overall plan for the orderly presentation of language material. It is neither ‘approach’ nor ‘method’ which makes successful or unsuccessful teaching. No methods will work there. In such situation the teacher has to bear the principles of language teaching. IPA (International Phonetic Association) which was founded in 1886 declared following principles of L2 teaching (Stern, 1991:88).

  1. Foreign language study should begin with the spoken language of everyday life and not with the relatively archaic language of literature.
  2. The teacher’s first aim should be to thoroughly familiarize his pupils with the sounds of the foreign language.
  3. The teacher’s second aim should be to introduce his/her pupils the most common sentences and idiomatic expressions of the foreign language. The students should study dialogues, descriptions, and narratives which should as easy, natural and interesting as possible.
  4. In the early stages grammar should be taught inductively complementing and generalizing language facts observed during reading. A more systematic study of grammar should be postponed to the advanced stages of the course.
  5. As far as possible expressions in the foreign language should be related by the teacher directly to ideas and other expressions in the language, and not to the native language. The teacher should take every opportunity to replace translation by reference to read objects or pictures or by explanations given in the foreign language.
  6. At a later stage, when writing is introduced, such written work should be arranged in the following sequence: first reproduction of thoroughly familiar reading texts. Second: reproduction of narratives orally presented by the teacher; and third, free composition. Written translation from and into the foreign language are considered to be appropriate only at the most advanced stage of the course.
  7. At a later stage, when writing is introduced, such written work should be arranged in the following sequence: first reproduction of thoroughly familiar reading texts. Second: reproduction of narratives orally presented by the teacher; and third, free composition. Written translation from and into the foreign language are considered to be appropriate only at the most advanced stage of the course

Bailey (1996 in Richards and Rodgers, 2006) suggests the following principles for teaching a language.

–          Engage all learners in the lesson.

–          Make learners, and not the teacher, the focus of the lesson.

–          Provide maximum opportunities for the student participation.

–          Develop learner responsibility.

–          Be tolerant of learners’ confidence.

–          Teach learning strategies.

–          Respond to learners’ difficulties and build on them.

–          Use a maximum amount of student-to-student activities.

–          Promote both accuracy and fluency.

–          Address learners’ needs and interests.

 In addition to the above ones, some more principles are discussed below.

  1. Speech before writing: Language is primarily speech. Writing is imitation in some conventional symbols for the purpose preserving the language for later. In natural set up people use speech to communicate each other, and the natural fact is that every child acquires speech and only if taught children learn writing after they have acquired speech. Therefore the teaching of a foreign language should start with speech. It means that describing written materials without knowing the speech of the language is incomplete, imperfect and inefficient. The students once they recognize the script can do reading and writing themselves but they need to imitate the teacher to speak (Lado in Smolinski,1993).
  2. Focus on teaching: In L2 setting students learn language through reading. They get very little chance to listen to the target language. Their source is the textbook. They have to learn vocabulary, writing and even listening and speaking through reading. Therefore, a foreign language teacher’s due focus should be on reading.
  3. Basic sentence in conversation: The students need to learn basic sentences as a lexical unit because. Such sentences don’t give sense when each word is taught and try to derive the meaning in the ……………. For example.

A: How are you?

B: I’m fine. Thank you

A: How old are you?

B: I’m ten years old.

A: Where are you from?

B: I’m from Gulmi.

A: Are you a student?

B: Yes. I’m.

  1. Integration of language forms and skills: Language forms and skills cannot be separated though it has been suggested in ELT manuals. Studying a text, for instance, automatically involves all language skills and aspect. The students need to listen to the model, they need to know how a particular word is pronounced and what it means, their understanding is evaluated with what they respond orally and in writing. Thus all skills and aspects of language involve in teaching.
  2. Consideration of E-factor: The E (efficiency) factor includes economy, ease and efficiency. Language teaching has to be done as efficiently as possible. It should be economic in instruction, planning and resources. The technique which does not require much material is preferred to others. The efficacy of teaching can be measured in the degree of attention it arouses and the learning that the learners achieve (Thornbury, 1999).
  3. Consideration of A-factor: Appropriacy is one of the requirements of language teaching. An activity that is to one group of learners may not be the same for another. Various factors such as the age of the learners, their level and needs; the size of the group and its composition (e.g. monolingual or multilingual); the available materials and resources; and the educational context e.g. private school or public school or language institute (Thornbury, 1999).

Conclusion

There was showering of methods and approaches in the twentieth century. It was thought that the problems in language learning were caused by ‘methods’ and therefore the commonest solution to language teaching was to adopt a new teaching method or approach (Richards and Rodgers, 2006:244). Methods were adopted one after another but the problems remained in different manifestation. In fact methods become successful with the appropriate application of principles.

References

Bygate, m et al. (Ed) 1994. Grammar and the Language teacher. New York: prentice hall

Harmer, J. 2009. The practice of English Language Teaching. London. Longman

Harmer, J. 1992.  Teaching and learning Grammar. London. Longman

Thornbury, S. 1999. How to Teach Grammar. London. Longman

Stern. H.H. 1991. Fundamental concepts of Language Teaching. Oxford. OUP

Richards, J.C and Theodore S. Rodgers. 2006. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching. Cambridge. CUP

Smolinski, F. 1993. Landmarks of American Languages. Washington: United States Information Agency.

Hedge,T. Teaching and Learning in the Classroom.Oxford:OUP.

Bhandari, B.M. 2009. On Teaching Grammar: A paper presented at NELTA conference.

Cowan, R. 2009. The Teacher’s Grammar of English. Cambridge. CUP.

Brown, D. 1991. Principles of Language Learning and Teaching. Eaglewood cliffs : prentice hall regents.

Linking global with local

Critical Outlook, English as a Global Language, Global thought, Native Perspective

Linking global with local

Prem Phyak
Department of English Education
Tribhuvan University

I cannot say what exactly happened. I cannot say who said what. I cannot elaborate all important things discussed there. That was all about sharing professional ideas and experiences among ELT practitioners. This was voluntary aspiration and effort for the professional development of English language teachers in Nepal and around the globe in general. Moreover, that was all about breaking the barriers between the so-called dichotomies of senior and junior, novice and expert/experienced, researcher and applier, teacher and learner/student, native and non-native speaker and so on. In essence, that was a successful effort to establish a mutual bondage between local and global ELT practitioners.

The above background sets the foundation for sharing the experience of NELTA’s 15th International Conference held in Kathmandu on 19-21 February (I am sorry I could not go to Surkhet. We would be grateful if Surkhet friends can share about that). About 800 ELT practitioners from home and abroad not only attended the conference but also share many valuable ideas of teaching English. In fact it was a professional rendezvous place which provided English teachers a platform to generate and construct new knowledge. With the success of that mega gathering, I do not hesitate to say that English teachers have given a big lesson to the country, that is, if there is a benevolent collaborative effort, like we are doing, we can generate a lot of knowledge which can be used for the better future of not only English teachers but also of human kinds in general. Prof. Tirth Raj Khaniya, Honourable Member of National Planning Commission, in his speech said that NELTA is successful to make a significant political implication in Nepal. He reiterated that NELTA is not doing any direct political activities by following any political party’s agenda but it has become successful in giving a good lesson to all political parties. It has taught them how hardships and professional vigour can be translated into meaningful power in a difficult circumstance collaboratively. He highlighted that NELTA is successful in doing purely an academic and professional politics of English teachers. At the same time, Prof. Jai Raj Awasthi focused that we teachers should not put the hat of a teacher but that of a learner. He argues that teachers are always learners. We should learn, unlearn and relearn through sharing and collaboration. This implies that professional collaboration is needed without which learning may not become meaningful.

Let me highlight some significant issues which emerged during the conference. I will start with Rt. Honourable Chair of the Constituent Assembly (CA), Mr. Subas Chandra Nembang’s speech. I know, he was born in the Limbu community (one of the indigenous communities in Nepal) and his mother tongue is Limbu. Moreover, being the Chair of CA, all participants had expected that he would deliver his speech in Nepali as other leaders do. But beyond that expectation he addressed the ceremony in English. His speech in English has reflected his multiple identities constructed through the English language. He did not only deliver speech in English but also raised some crucial issue that we, English teachers, have to discuss. He said;
The importance of the English language has become universal. Undoubtedly, it has been widely used in the present day. Without the knowledge of the English language our access to more than half of the world would become inaccessible. Our ability to communicate with a large part of the world and do business with them would be extremely limited. We will miss al the nice opportunities that more than half of the world offers to us for our all-round development. Therefore, it is not wise not to have good command of English for all of us.
He focuses that we need to learn English in order to communicate with people from other parts of the world. This implies that our relationship (professional, business, political etc.) is based on the way we communicate in English. The tragedy of not learning English is hard to imagine. This idea is telling us that our linkage with the global community is possible only through the English language. At the same time, speaking English stands for the symbol of the civilisation on the basis of which a society progresses further. However, he contented;

I frankly want to tell you the fact that I am not satisfied with the knowledge or the skill that the majority of students acquire the English language out of their 20-year long studies in Nepal.

Of course this is true. And this leaves a significant implication for the mission of NELTA and our future initiatives. The issue which emerges from this is: How should we work to improve the standard of English in Nepal? This leads me to raise some other questions: Do we need to assess the method of teaching English we are adopting for our students? What methods fit in our context? Should we follow only one method or many methods? Are we promoting a sustainable learning or spoon-feeding students? Do we promote critical thinking skill? Do textbooks address learners’ identity, culture and values? Are we teaching the English language in isolation or making students able to link local with global issues? I am not answering these questions here because they do not have absolute answers and they cannot be measured in terms of a product. However, these questions may lead us to a process which helps us to lay a strong foundation to develop our students’ English ability and make them able to digest conflicts and differences.

David Graddol, one of the key speakers of the conference, said that “…two billion people [will] be speaking or learning English within a decade.” He highlighted that with the spread of globalisation, which includes technological advancements, global flow of people, multinational business etc., English has become a global language. He further said that the number of non-native speakers of English is increasing rapidly. However, he also mentioned that, the global spread of English… will lead to serious economic and political disadvantages in the future…. A future in which monolingual English graduates face bleak economic prospects as qualified multilingual young people prove to have a competitive advantage in global companies and organizations. This clearly indicates that monolingual knowledge of English will not be helping us to cope with the future need of the complex multilingual world. If I relate Graddol’s idea with the theme of the conference, English in Diversity, I could say that we should also make our students competent in other languages along with English. The importance and existence of English is realised vis-à-vis other languages. This argument is related to what the Chair of CA said, “Nowadays knowing only one language is not enough for our all-round development. We have to learn more than one language.”

Dr. Numa Makee, another key speaker, highlighted that not only the population of English speakers is increasing but also the varieties of English are increasing rapidly. This implies that the distinction between native and non-native speakers of English is breaking. We have different varieties of English in different countries and within a country. In this regard, Dr Markee highlighted the implications of World Englishes (WE) in the context of Nepal. “In the complex linguistic, geographical, ideological, and sociocultural ecology that characterizes WE, Nepal is in perhaps a uniquely difficult position,” he said, “Geographically, it is a small, under-developed country which is sandwiched between the world’s largest emerging economic super powers of the 21st century, India and China, respectively.” This indicates that the variety of English we are speaking should either be influenced by Indian English or Chinese English. Moreover, he raises a question: whether we have Nepalese English variety? How feasible is it to use as a medium of instruction in schools? These are important issues we Nepalese English teachers should explore. At this moment, I can only make a hypothesis that, based on the notion of WE, one day we will have a separate variety of English, Nepalese English. This may emerge with the publications of textbooks and materials in Nepal by local authors instead of importing books from India and other parts of the world.

Likewise, Markee’s presentation indicates that we, English teachers, do not only have the responsibility of teaching English but also have a key role in formulating the language policy in order to promote the status of English. At this moment I would like to put what Markee exactly said;
Nepal is in the process of developing a new constitution. Nepalese applied linguists and ELT teachers should take a leading role in framing the discussion of language issues that is bound to ensue. In particular, what (quasi) official role (if any) should English play in relation to indigenous Nepalese languages, and in particular sectors of the economy, education, science, business, and tourism?”
This profound observation has added another great responsibility among us. This indicates we do have responsibility of discussing the issue of language policy which guides the whole profession of ELT. But we need to contemplate on some other questions which are embedded in the issue raised above. Should we take this role? Are we ready to take this role? How can we be successful in taking this role? In addition to this, Markee discusses another responsibility of Nepalese ELT teachers. He asks a question: What steps should Nepal take to maintain its linguistic and cultural heritage from the potential “killer” characteristics of English? This question has a great implication not only for ELT but also for the whole notion. This indicates that being ELT practitioners we should also look after a unique linguistic and cultural diversity we have. This is our responsibility to address the values, skills, attitudes, and cultures of people while teaching English. In that sense, English becomes a tool to empower learners and maintain social harmony. When we empower children they know the local issues and build a strong base for exploring global ideas. What do you think?