Decolonizing English Teaching and Studies in India: Need to Review Classroom Practices and Teaching Material

Abstract

Decolonization implies the need of the emancipation of the colonized countries like India from the subservient psychology and mindset subjugated by the fabricated colonial ideologies imposed on them due to the long-term rule of the colonial powers. Even after independence, these countries used the colonial content and methodology for teaching the English language. Imposition of stereotyped and homogeneous methods and materials in a pluralistic country like India proved to be a hurdle in the way of learning English and have even been looked upon with fear by the student community. Hence the need to decolonize ELT in India by contextualizing teaching methods and materials with respect to Indian socio-cultural setting and classroom situation has been strongly felt. The present paper emphasizes on the need to review ELT methods and materials in order to decolonize English studies and language teaching to improve the communicative competence of the learners to meet the requirements of the age of globalization and information and communication technology.