It is the teacher who plays the
pivotal and vital role in multifarious aspects. His primary goal is to shape
the future of the students today, the citizens of tomorrow by means of his
knowledge, and enrich society and civilization by virtue of his wisdom. It is
worthy to quote in this regard Dr. S. Radhakrishnan’s view: ‘the teacher is the
pivot of civilization’. His role begins with the student in particular and
culminates in society in general. In every occupation or profession, one
primarily needs a guide, teacher or coach in the stages of learning to reach
perfection in one’s field. Particularly the teacher has the obligation of
imparting adequate knowledge to students. More specifically the teacher of
English has more responsibilities on his part to teach the content in respect
of literature and language in respect of grammar for accuracy, pronunciation
for fluency and body language for decency and train his students in a committed
and devoted manner and transform them into competent students to face
challenges in career capture and life settlement. In that mission he enables
students to achieve communication skills:
The academic opportunities are
now-a-days at our doorstep due to the mushroom growth of institutions in the
arena of privatization. Students seek admission in professional colleges with
high expectations or ambitions At the undergraduate level they wake up to
realize the vital importance of English in the age of scientific advance and
technological progress i.e. the internet generation. They feel English is life
and life is English as English becomes the language of interviews on or outside
the campus, competitive examinations and the bread winner. They are supposed to
have advanced communication skills which most of the students lack in. Their
aspirations and ambitions are too high for them to reach. Most of the students
are with the inadequate knowledge of English to face the keen competition. They
ascribe their inadequacy of knowledge to various reasons: regional language
medium background, shortage of experienced and qualified faculty, insufficient
exposure to English, irregular attendance in the class, etc at lower levels,
and cut sorry figure. However the said
reasons do not serve the purpose and solve the problem of impressing the
interviewers for their jobs in a company or organization.
In professional colleges the
classroom situation is different as we find the students at various levels and
a clear-cut gap between the teacher and the students: many below average, some
average, a few above average and very rare availability of extraordinary
talents in rural setting. When there is such a gap is created between the
students and the teacher, especially for the teacher of English to bridge it
with the spirit of challenge. He has to train them in various aspects starting
with fundamentals and bring them to the higher levels. Broadly speaking he finds
the students in the class different as per their communicative standards and
they are classified into four categories: the students with ordinary skills,
the students with moderate skills, the student with good skills and the students
with excellent skills in respect of their communicative skills.
Students with Ordinary Skills
Most of the technical students in
technical colleges now-a-days are below average, not up to the mark as far as
their communication levels are concerned. They fail to impress the interviewers
and come out from interviews to see themselves crest-fallen as they lack in communication
skills. They can communicate only certain and limited ideas as their acquired English
is confined to stock expressions: ‘Good morning’, ‘a nice trip’, ‘a happy
journey’, ‘a happy new year’’ nice to see you’, ‘a happy festival’, etc for
greetings; ‘What cost is it?’ ‘Is there any offer?’, ‘any discount’, ‘What
about guaranty?’, ‘What brand?’ and such questions in business dealings and
many more limited expressions related to their fields like cinemas, politics,
love affairs, etc. However they use the sentences to which they are frequently
exposed. They cannot create new expressions. They suffice with their stock
expressions. Their language is a mixture of languages. Their language consists
of wrong sentences, broken spoken English, incomplete utterances and
inappropriate expressions. Such level communication skills characterize the low
standards of the students with ordinary skills who are not successful in their
fields. In such situation the teacher has to teach the students of the category
the essentials of grammar, the building of vocabulary, etc to enable them to
frame correct sentences for accuracy and bring them to the level of the
students with moderate skills. He trains them to use correct language by means
of the principles of grammar: Singulars, plurals, the Persons, the agreement of
the verb with the subject, the conjugation of different verbs, actives,
passives, the degrees of comparison, direct and indirect speech, the analyses
of simple, compound and complex sentences, the synthesis of sentences, the
figures of speech, so on to be at least the students of moderate skills.
Students with Moderate Skills
Students with moderate skills communicate
clearly and correctly as they have command over the rules of grammar. The life
of language is grammar: the appropriate use of verb (tense) form, the correct
sequence and appropriate use of words: nouns, adjectives, adverbs,
prepositions, articles; punctuation marks, etc. They have a clear idea of how
they have to construct sentences. For that they should be quite aware of
structures or the verb patterns. The sentences with proper structures lead to
clear-cut understanding. They are well versed with grammatical technicalities
and syntactical devices but lack in the art of pronunciation to have fluency as
per the most standard pronunciation, the Received Pronunciation with stress,
intonation, the terseness of expression and smooth flow of words. The stumbling
of words or the abrupt halt in course of speaking mars one’s fluency and clear
expression of ideas. Fluency sounds good when accuracy stands valid. Fluency
aims at a normal flow of words for a clear understanding. Under the guidance of
the teacher of English, they rise to the level of the students with good
skills.
Students with Good Skills
Students with good skills belong
to a better category than those of moderate skills as they maintain not only
the correctness of language but also the aptness of pronunciation. They have
the knowledge of accurate pronunciation with the right tone, accent and
intonation apart from that of correct and appropriate language with structural
and syntactical patterns. The most standard pronunciation to be followed is
‘the Received Pronunciation’ (RP) which is accepted all over the world. It is
the non-native speakers who face the problem of pronunciation as their
languages are phonetic as their pronunciation sounds in accordance with the
spelling of words. He should always guide them to pronounce words with regards
to the appropriate pronunciation with the stress pattern. The art of intonation
is also essential in the process of pronunciation. They have the clear
knowledge of the correct use of intonation with great care. The quality of
voice should be properly maintained or modulated. Pitch, speed, modulation, etc
are important to be noted and followed to achieve steady speaking and attentive
listening which should go hand in hand for the clear comprehension of the
subject. The voice should be neither loud and quick nor low and slow. It should
be audible to the audiences. At this stage, the teacher enriches their
standards with the knowledge of body language, the non-verbal communication to
be the students with excellent skills.
Students with Excellent Skills
Apart from the correctness of
language and the aptness of pronunciation, the students with excellent skills
have the positive body language with its gestures, postures, facial
expressions, physical appearance, eye-contact, etc. to be successful in
effective communication in all situations and contexts. It is the body language
which speaks volumes. By means of body language, the speaker can make his presentation
effective for it reflects his inner state of emotions. An effective speaker
establishes a synchronizing coordination between the mind for thought flow and
the body for body reaction in the form of gestures, postures, facial
expressions, eye-contact, etc as the face is the index of the mind. Apart from verbal communication:
grammaticality, the correctness of language and the aptness of pronunciation,
the body language (GPB formulae: grammar, pronunciation and body language) is
very essential on the part of the speaker while speaking. We should not forget
the significance of body language on the part of a speaker for it is an
integral part of speaking. According to Patricia Ball, “To effectively
communicate, it’s not always what you say, but your body says that makes the
difference.”
They should ‘get in touch with
the way the other person feels. Feelings are 55 percent body language, 38
percent tone and 7 percent words’ as quoted in Communication Skills for Engineers. The communicative ability of the
hands and the legs, especially the face plays a vital role on the part of the
speaker. The speaker can make his speaking interesting by attracting the
attention of audience by means of eye-contact.
They build up confidence to have
competence to speak in all situations. They are bold and fearless to speak at
audiences. They, at the same time, modulate their speaking to be convincing and
interesting to the audience. They rise to the level to learn the fact that
excellent presentation mainly depends on the eyes, the voice, the expression,
the appearance (dress style) and postures.
The success of one’s speaking
rests on their language with a felicity of expressions, a mosaic of quotations,
a fine array of idioms, a series of examples apart from accuracy, fluency (smooth
flow of the words), and preeminently decency in respect of the positive body
language with gestures, postures, eye-contact, facial expressions, etc. The
teacher has to train his students to use the positive body language enabling
them to come out of the interview hall with success by means of the correctness
of language, the apt ness of pronunciation and positive body language (GPB
formula). The teacher has to deal with the students applying his various
approaches to bridge the gap between him and his students as follows.
Teacher’s General Approaches:
We are able to express our ideas,
feelings, experiences or reflections effortlessly and spontaneously in our
mother tongue, vernacular, learnt from our mother, family and region. It does
not mean that we speak fluently as per RP and accurately as per the rules of
grammar. The fact is that we express our ideas and the listeners receive them
with proper comprehension and prompt reaction on their part to respond to us,
the speakers in a spontaneous manner. Whoever speaks effortlessly and
spontaneously may not be able to speak fluently and accurately. To speak
fluently and accurately, they need proper coaching and teaching; methods and
techniques; approaches and guidelines in the process of learning. There is a
dire necessity of a teacher to equip students to speak fluently and write
accurately. The teacher may possess enormous knowledge in his diverse
disciplines or in his own discipline but the knowledge he has, must be
translated into the reality of imparting it to students by means of his
pedagogical approaches from the learners’ point of view. The general approach
of the teacher is that he is approachable and his knowledge is accessible to
them to obtain it. In the coveted and committed mission, his approaches are
bound to be from the learners’ point of view as he plays the most prominent
role in shaping not only an individual in particular but also society in
general. He should create a general impression in their minds that he is there
for their welfare and well-being.
Teacher’s Moral-Supporting Approaches:
The teacher is a living Supreme
and seen Divine when he is for the welfare of students. There is a bounden
responsibility on his part to promote their standards, enabling them to reach
the highest pinnacle of success. He should be impartial in evaluation and
unbiased in treatment, etc. He should pat, encourage and inspire all of them
especially average and below average students to shine in studies. As a teacher
of English in particular, he should see that they overcome their shyness, stage
fright, inferiority complex, etc and the obstacles and hurdles in their path of
success. Under his inspirational guidance, they participate in speaking
activities: group discussion, debate, JAM sessions, speech making, describing
objects, situations and persons; giving and asking for directions, interviews,
telephone conversation, role play, video conferencing, situational dialogues,
oral reporting, etc. Credit goes to him when individual attention is paid to
every student especially the student who needs his guidance to be on par with
the other students in the maintenance of standards. They should feel that their
teacher is there to support them morally to shape them into good articulates
and worthy candidates to have success in career capture and life pursuits.
Teacher’s Practical Approaches:
The teacher is supposed to have
practical approaches rather than theoretical approaches. The methods and techniques he follows as per
theoretical methods may not be practicable in a given context or situation.
Then the teacher has a wise option to switch over to practical approaches
conducive to the situation to make his students understand the subject he is
teaching as he has a good deal of experience in the field of teaching. The
practical experience is more a teacher to help students than the theoretical
knowledge. He has to cite living examples from his practical experiences to
enable them to understand the content or the subject perfectly and have command
over the subject. When we talk of the learning of English by technical students
at advanced levels, the teacher should have pragmatic perspectives in shaping
them into worthy students to be competent and confident in facing the
challenges in this age of healthy competition of the internet generation. Under
his supervision they browse the software programs in the advanced level on the
internet. First he should refer to all the language items in teaching, making
them realize the importance of correctness and appropriateness in the language
they use. He should make it clear a clear-cut distinction between the active
voice and the passive voice. For that he should state some practical examples
from day-to-day life as follows. One student wrote a letter to his father
regarding his payment of fees: “I was paid fees yesterday.” He did not know
what it meant. What he meant is different from what it meant for him. People
use passives where actives are used. In the same way “I was completed
Intermediate”, “I was bought a text book” etc are due to inadequate knowledge
of the difference between the active voice and the passive voice and all
grammatical rules at large. Another student wrote in his letter: “I am well and
I hope that you are in the same well.” What he thinks of conveying in his
letter is different from what the sentence means. He thinks of the
correspondent’s well-being but the sentence doesn’t mean so.
Many people do not know simple
expressions like ‘one of my friends’ ‘one and half hours’ etc but they say ‘one
of my friend’, ‘one and half hour, ’etc, and think that they know how to speak
English. They never try to know the fact of their mistakes. One must be very
careful about the use of adverbs in the right position. A sentence with the use
of the adverb ‘scrupulously’ in a wrong way conveys meanings differently. For
example, “Students shall follow the principles that College evolved
scrupulously”. Here the sentence means differently from what its user means. It
means that the principles were evolved scrupulously. Here the position of the
adverb is wrong. In fact, it is to be written as “Students shall scrupulously
follow the principles that college evolved.” What one learns from the use is
that one should be very careful about the arrangement of words since the proper
structure gives life to a sentence. A student with the knowledge of grammar can
express and communicate clearly without ambiguity, confusion, etc. The mistakes
made by non-native speakers are innumerable and they are considered to be
“common mistakes”. The teacher has to concentrate on common errors in the
classroom to make his students realize common errors and enrich their knowledge
up to the mark in respect of English for technical budding graduates. Mere the
completion of the text-book does never serve the purpose. The teacher should
have special approaches to the teaching of English in the enrichment of their
standards in respect of correctness.
The non-native speakers are under
their respective Mother Tongues’ Influence (MTI) on their English. They mispronounce
many English words and tend to let others know their identity or mother tongue
or lingua franca when they speak English. Bernard Shaw once said, “No matter
how well is man dressed or behaved, he betrays his origin the moment he opens
his mouth. This holds true for an Indian.” The teacher should enable them to
take meticulous care to minimize and overcome Mother Tongue’s influence (MTI)
on their English pronunciation, stress and intonation. Certain letters in words
receive stress and the others do not. Verbs, adjectives, adverbs and nouns
receive stress but negatives, demonstratives, articles, determines,
auxiliaries, prepositions, pronouns and conjunctions do not. They must be aware
of stress-shift in respect of verbs, adjectives and nouns. The nouns have
stress on the first syllable and the corresponding verbs have stress on the
second syllable. In his supervision they should learn the most standard
pronunciation.
The teacher must be well versed
in English to teach them with authority. If he is poor in pronunciation, they
fall into the faulty ways of pronunciation. First he should be able to be away
from the clutches of MTI so that he pronounces English as per RP. Secondly he
should make them realize the fact that English is not phonetic and there is no
relation between spelling and pronunciation. He can state common words for
example: ‘food’ and ‘foot’. The two words are mostly mispronounced with a short
vowel sound in ‘food’ and a long vowel sound in ‘foot’. There are letters
present in the spelling of words but are missing in pronunciation. He should cite
various examples for the purpose. Stress, stress shift, pitch, intonation,
modulation, volume, speech rate, etc. The teacher in addition undertakes all
kinds of body language, the non-verbal communication: Kinesics to deal with
postures, gestures, facial expressions, eye-contact, physical appearance, etc;
Proxemics to deal with space distancing between the speaker and the audience
during communication or presentation to maintain dignity and decorum;
Paralinguistics to deal with tone, volume, modulation, speed, etc as per the
necessity and Cronemics to deal with time to be taken in presentation.
Conclusion:
The world in the 21st
century with its growing challenges invites students with the proficiency of
English in the global employment market. A student with great communication
skills: the accuracy of language, the aptness of pronunciation and the positive
body language should be competitive enough to reach his goal and have victory in
the competitive job market under the able and inspirational guidance of the
teacher. He builds up excellent career and comes up with flying colors in all
the fields. A manager with excellent communication skills is successful in his
profession for his harmonious co-ordination and smooth administration. How can
students gain the proficiency of English to come with flying colors? They can
make it possible when they learn it under the supervision of a teacher par
excellence.
Strengthening English Language and Learning
Issues and Challenges
Excel India
Publishers, New Delhi
Pp
305-307
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