De-coding English ‘Language’ Teaching In India
Dishari Chattaraj
Research Scholar, Centre for Linguistics, JNU, New Delhi
Keywords: ELT, Language Policy, Convergent Pedagogy
Abstract
English Language Teaching (ELT) in India is more than two centuries old and still, our students falter with the language. The aim of the present article is to unravel this enigma and in doing so it adopts a deductive approach and critiques our language policy in education with an aim to locate the crux of the problem. The article throws light on how our language policy in education is evidently monolingual under the façade of trilingualism. It goes on to establish that the position of English in the curriculum is that of a ‘subject’ and not a ‘language’ and questions the standards the policy aims to achieve. Providing an instance of the convergent pedagogy model from an analogous postcolonial society, it offers a solution to the problem at hand with a view to ending the plight of the learners.
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