Roll no: 12
Course : M.a Sem-3
Year:- 1216-17
Paper name: English Language Teaching-1
Professor’s name: Dr.Dilip Barad
Topic: English in India
Submitted by:Department of English, M .K. Bhavanagar University.
Introduction:-
English plays a vital role in increasing
opportunity around the world. It provides access to the information with which
individuals can learn and develop and it provides access to the networks which
are vital in building and maintaining economic links. Perhaps more importantly,
it provides a common language to share knowledge and ideas and to create the
kind of relationships which go beyond a simple deal or contract. It enables
people to explore cultural differences and to create the kind of trust and
understanding which is vital in negotiating and agreeing our common future.
One
might assume that India, a country with a long history of English speaking,
would be ahead of the curve in the teaching and learning of English, but
increasing access to opportunity is a significant challenge. The challenge of
taking what is currently the language of the elite and turning it into a tool
for the masses is complex and daunting.
English Next
India sits as part of a wider programme of work by the British Council in
India, one which aims to contribute to the development of English language
teaching and learning in India. The study aims to develop a better
understanding of the issues facing India and draws on the contributions of a
wide range of experts from India and the UK.
The project of English in
India has cover up four ideas like
1) The story of English in India
2)
English in India is growing
3)
How many speak English?
4)
English in India Trends and issues
1) The story of English in India:-
When the British has came India in the early
17 century in the form of East India company and they are more interested in trade than imperial possession.
The company at that time needed employees to learn local languages, so they
could negotiate the best deals and ensure their agents were not diverting
profit into their own pockets.
We have remembered one name from this period – Thomas Babington Macaulay.
In 1835, as law officer to the Supreme Council, he gives a document which has
become known as ‘Macaulay’s Minute on Education’.
Macaulay’s Minute has become central one in the history of English-medium
education in India, Focus on the Minute has distracted generations from
understanding the wider socio-economic and political context in which English
rapidly became so dominant in India.
Apart
from this rather practical and economic need, it seems the British had little
desire to impose English on India, Macaulay was keen to bring into India ideas
from modern science and technology, which had begun to transform European
society and economies, and he saw English as the vehicle.
2)
English in India is growing
The official
position of English in India remains that of a transitional necessity. But this
agenda has been overtaken by events. Economic growth means that more jobs
require English; the expansion of education means that English is needed by
more people for study; and for a growing, globalised, urban middle class
English is playing a greater role in both their work and personal lives.
In August 2009, the Indian television channel
CNN-IBN carried out a ‘State of the Nation’ poll and they give the record of
the English in India.,
87%
-feel that knowledge of English is
Important
to succeed in life
54%-
feel those who can speak fluent
English
are superior
82%
-feel that knowing the state language
Is
very important
57% -feel
that English is making us forget
our moth tongue
63% -feel
jobs should be reserved for those
who speak the
state language.
The Dalit
movement’s demand for English (see right) is part of a wider desire from poorer
sectors in Indian society for access to English. The British successfully
restricted English is no longer a language only of the elite. The English language to an elite class. Subsequently it became a means for
that elite to maintain their status in independent India. But the politics
around English have shifted in the last decade. Where populist politicians once
secured rural votes by promising to banish English, now there is a powerful
grass-roots lobby to extend English to the masses.
Improvements
in education, a greater awareness of the wider world brought by television and
better communications, and the prospect of well-paid jobs based on merit rather
than social background, have fuelled the aspirations of the lower castes.
Dalit activists such as Meena Kandasamy from Tamil
Nadu, and Chandra Bhan Prasad from Uttar Pradesh, argue that English is a key
to Dalit emancipation – not just because of the opportunities for social
mobility it provides, but because it allows escape from the traditional caste positioning which is
encoded into the regional languages themselves.
They
also see English as the language
That unites the Dalit movement across India, allowing
them to fight a common political cause – a parallel, perhaps, with the role
that English played for those who originally fought for India’s independence.
3) How many speak English?
India
has a world reputation as being an English-speaking country but no one knows
how many people actually know the language.
For many years, estimates have
hovered around 5% or less of the population, which at the start of the 20th
century suggests around 10 million speakers, and in 2010 around 55 million.
On the other hand, Kchru (2004)
suggests 333 million people in India ‘use English’ – a figure based on a survey
by the magazine India Today in 1997, which reported that over one third of
Indians claimed to speak English.
However, the 2001 census data (released in late 2009) reports that 10.4%
of the population claimed to speak English as a second or third language – that
equates to around 126 million speakers in 2010.
Geography is one determinant that The south India has long had a
reputation for producing more English speakers than the north; some
north-eastern states use English as their official language and educate nearly all
children in English.
A survey of wage
earners in India, carried out in 2005, found that around a third claimed to be
able to ‘read English’, but less than half of those also claimed to ‘speak
English’. This no doubt reflects the fact that English has for a long time been
treated as a ‘library language’ in India, used for reading textbooks and
writing exam papers, but not for conversation.
4) English in India Trends and issues:-
The story of
how English came to India is still a contested issue in ideological debate in
modern India. However, there are intriguing parallels between the arguments
over English in the 19th century and those today.
No one really
knows how many Indians speak English today – estimates vary between 55 million
and 350 million – between 1% of the population and a
third.
English is now closely
associated with wider social and political aspirations. Where English was once
a language of the elite, now demand is coming from lower castes and rural
areas.
Conclusion:
Throughout India, there is an extraordinary belief, amongst almost all
castes and classes, in both rural and urban areas, in the transformative power
of English. English is seen not just as a useful skill, but as a symbol of a
better life, a pathway out of poverty and oppression. The challenges of
providing universal access to English are significant, and many are bound to
feel frustrated at the speed of progress. But we cannot ignore the way that the
English language has emerged as a powerful agent for change in India. India can play a significant role in developing the
international agenda created by the growing use of English as a global language.
