Vol. 1, Issue 4 of IJELLS

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH:
LITERATURE, LANGUAGE & SKILLS
IJELLS, 2278-0742
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A tribute to “nirbhAyA”
RIP India’s Daughter
Saudamini Ashish Patki
People, you say RIP India's daughter.
But our freedom you continue to slaughter.
You say with tears in your eyes, that she was very brave.
Crying over her body, resting in her grave.
But in spite of all the protests we gave.
You still haven't given us what we crave.
By the time the song is over and sung
Will oh lord the devils be hung?
Where is our respect, where has our honour gone?
Millions of women weep on and on.
If they had only known what being a woman in India meant.
There would be hundreds of versions by now of such lament.
Why are we discriminated against, why are we abused.
Are we just objects to be thrown after use?
Give us an answer, tell us why.
Tell us how long we have to be insecure, till we die?
India's daughter as she is called.
Aren't we India's daughters too?
But dear anonymous, you too know.
That we don't want to end up like you.
Indira Gandhi, a great woman she was.
Mrs. Obama, Beyonce, Kiran Bedi, Jaya Bachchan....
Miss liberty with her torch, she is a woman too.
Despite that, why is the picture of the common woman so blue?
We India's common women, we have the power of Mata Durga.
We will banish all evil omen, We won't need a veil and a burkha.
We will fight to lead a free life, but law, we will need your helping hand.
Help us to hold Mother India's head high.
And India's daughter will be someone whose success has touched the sky
* R.I.P India’s Daughteris a poem written by Saudamini on the unfortunate event of gang rape and
the sad demise of the victim, the press referred to as “India’s Daughter”.
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EDITORIAL BOARD
Founding Editor Profile
Dr. Mrudula Lakkaraju, Professor Trained from EFLU and a Doctorate from
Osmania University. Prefers the designation of a trainer and a writer.
Presented several academic articles to international and national seminars and
conferences. Also rendering voluntary services as an editor to an International
Journal. Casual and creative writing is also her forte. A prolific reader and
writer.
Co-editor Profile
Dr. G. Venkata Ramana, Head of Writers Division English Writers and Software
Solutions Translated several short stories, presented papers in the
international and national conferences. A certified Senior Technical Writer
working on content development, user manuals, Installation guides,
deployment guides etc. and also widely travelled soft skills trainer dealing with
all the aspects behavioral training. Is a keen learner, working on the fringe
language sciences.
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eDitor’S note
Dear Readers & Contributors,
We wish you a very safe, happy, prosperous, healthy and academically thriving
New Year. We feel extremely happy to publish the final issue of our first year.
We could achieve this because of you. You being the major stakeholders also
can send in your comments and suggestions, which would help the journal
flourish.
We also are happy to inform that we are expanding our footprint into various
databases. Ulrichsweb, USA – Global serials directory and Open J-Gate
directory are the first two feathers in the listing cap and many more will follow
soon.
One of our deepest endeavours is to sustain IJELLS into a successful academic
enterprise. We promise in the coming year we shall uphold highest and
stringent standards for it.
Happy Reading!
-Editor
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CONTENTS
R.I.P. India’s Daughter
Saudamini Ashish Patki………………………………………………………………………………………….………………………..02
Editorial Board………………………………………………………………………………………………….…………………..…….….03
Editor’s Note…………………………………….………………………………………………………..……………….………………….04
Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……………05
ENGLISH LITERATURE
Archetypes, Myth and Aesthetics in the Dramas of Girish Karnad
K. Charles Godwin……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…….…………….07
Spices – A symbol of Patriarchy in “The Mistress of Spices”
Dr. K. R. Sujatha……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….……..12
Fictional Art of Shashi Deshpande
Dr. G. Hampamma………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………17
The Loss of Individualism in American Society: Dos Passos
K. Karthikeyan……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…………………………23
Breaking the Barrier of Widowhood - Dissent of Widowhood: A Study of Bollywood and
Sandalwood films
L.S.Rohith………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….28
Harlem Renaissance- African American’s Cultural Identity
Dr. Y. Nirmala Devi…………………………………………………………………………………………….……………………….……34
The Portrayal of Criminals in The Short Stories Of O’Henry
C. Arun…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..……………………..…39
To Be Or Not To Be’: Concern Of Women In Githa Hariharan’s The Thousand Faces Of Night
S. Ramanathan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….44
The Absence of the Domestic in the NCERT Textbook ‘Marigold’ for First Standard Students
Dr. B. V. Rama Prasad………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….….49
Ecofeministic trends in the cross-cultural poetry of A.K.Ramanujan
Dr. C. Kavitha, S. Sushma Raj & Prof. L. Manjula Davidson………………………………………………………….….53
The Pattern: Style, Diction, Imagery and Symbolism of Sylvia Plath’s Writings
P. Sunita Rao…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….…….60
ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
Video Clips and Songs – A Tool to Teach English Language and Literature
P. Hiltrud Dave Eve…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..………70
The Potential of Blog-centric Classrooms in Teaching English as a Second/Foreign Language
Abdul Latheef Vennakkadan…………………………………………………………………………………………………………….77
Research and Innovation in the English Teaching- learning Process
Ms. Neetu Baghel & Dr. Sheela Tiwari………………………………………………………………………………..……..….…87
Digital Resources and English Empowerment
Kaushik Trivedi & Pushpendra Sinora………………………………………………………………………………..…..………..97
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Material production for enhancing the oral fluency of tertiary level learners
P. Satya……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………...…….……105
Action Research - A Device to solve language issues in English Classroom
B. Sreekanth Reddy……………………………………………………………………………………………….…….……..….………110
An Input and Information Processing Method for Engineering Undergraduate Learners of ESL in
Haryana
Dr. Varalakshmi Chaudhry……………………………………………………………………………………………..….…….……114
ENGLISH & COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Creative Use of Technology for Enhancement of English Language Skills
Dr. S. A. Khader ………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………...……..128
Using L1 for the Enhancement of Speaking Skill in a Multilingual Setting
Manali Karmakar…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…...…….…132
The Art of Saying ‘No’
K. Chandra Sekhar………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………...….137
Assessing LSRW Skills in the English Classrooms
Dr. N. S. Vishnu Priya…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..…141
Author Profiles……………………………………………………………………………………….………………………………….….145
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ENGLISH LITERATURE
Archetypes, Myth and Aesthetics in the
Dramas of Girish Karnad
K. Charles Godwin
Introduction
Girish Karnad one of the renowned bi-lingual dramatist of post-independence India,
occupied a very prominent place in Indian English Literature. Girish Karnad was born on May 19
1938 in Matheran near Bombay. He has the power of rewriting and enacting plays with a flavour of
Indian Tradition. He holds the language very tight to his thought as the characters are bound to bind.
As a bilingual dramatist he has marked a milestone in both the languages (Kannada and English). In
terms of theme and contend of his plays Girish Karnad implants his roots in the Indian soil and
sketches his dramatic imagination. It is unfortunate that the tradition of Indo–English drama earned
minimum critical attention. The greatness of Girish Karnad lays the success on the stage as well as
among the readers. The use of folk elements is one of the reasons behind Karnad's success as a
playwright.
The firmament of post-independence India, English Literature is studied with the names of
many writers of national and international reputes. The origin, growth and evolution of Indian
English Drama are based on the tradition of Sanskrit drama in the pre-Vedic era. Girish Karnad, one
of the most leading Indian dramatists in English, has achieved a commendable success in the recent
times. Karnad’s plays have a tradition both in continuity and innovation.
Girish Karnad’s plays revolve around the central character with different Archetypal images
which is embedded in the human unconscious mind. The images and symbols in the human psyche
make the reader to revolve around the aspect of myth. Myth is one of the primary roots for Drama.
In the Indain context Myth is an integral part of human ethos and consciousness. Girish Karnads
plays are rich with Aesthetical approach (art for art sake). The plays are molded with art and the
stage crafting involvement of the author involves various techniques for aesthetical purpose. My
paper will focus on Archetypal images, Mythalogical factors and Aesthetical practices in the dramas
(Collected Plays Volume II) of Girish Karnad.
Drama as an Art
Literary work of art is a reflection from society and it is also an imitation of life. Drama
imitates life not just in words but also in action. It depicts the life of saints, apostles and miracles
performed by Jesus Christ. Like the same Indian Drama also has its origin from religion. Dramatics in
India could be traced to the religious rituals of the Vedic Aryans. Drama is a special mode of fiction
represented in performance. The term comes from a Greek word meaning action which is derived
from “to do”. Construction of plot is one of the significant features of Drama. The greater need for
plot implies a greater need of eliminating the irrelevant. This is called the “law of dramatic
economy”. Girish Karnad always draws the wealth of his dramatic knowledge from the past, weaves
them in the present, and makes them desirable for the future. His dramatic imagination is highly
charged with humanistic thoughts, secularist ideology, nationalist commitment, cosmopolitan spirit,
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traditionalist approach and modernist hypothesis. “A true olay is three dimensional ; it is literature
that walks and talks before our eyes” (The Anatomy of Drama-3).
Girish Karnad is essentially Indian in thought and imagination but quite essentially Western
in modernization and orientation of his ideas. His plays are the thesis play based on the archetypes
of myth, folklores and history. As a translation of his own plays and other’s plays he has served his
role as a facilitator of Indian beliefs, tradition and culture. The setting of his plays with myths,
legends, folklores, history, beliefs, caste and community are the internal aspects of Indian integral to
his imagination. Girish Karnad’s visual imagination and profound thought elevates his drama and he
starts his plays from the point it ends. For most people to see a play is more exciting and memorable
than to read a novel.
Indian Theatre
The earliest form of the theatre of India was the Sanskrit theatre. The major source of
evidence for Sanskrit theatre is A Treaties on Theatre (Natyasastra). Sanskrit theatre was performed
on sacred ground by priests who had been trained in the necessary skills (dance, music and
recitation) in a (hereditary process). Its aim was both to educate and to entertain. Drama is regarded
as the highest achievement of Sanskrit literature. Under British rule modern Indian Theatre began
when a theater as started in Belgachia. Rabindranath Tagore a Nobel laurel for literature in 1913 is
probably India’s best known.In search of new theatre Girish Karnad enriches the Indian Literature
scene by his contribution to art, culture, theatre and drama. He follows a golden mean of thought
and action when he launches a new play. Girish Karnad importance as a dramatist is marked with his
academic excellence and dramatic achievements. As a multifaceted personality Girish Karnad is
recognized as one of the successful dramatist for the Indian stage.
His plays are read as dramatic literature and performing art. As a propagator of India’s
cultural tradition, preceptor of philosophical and religious thinking, proponder of political hypothesis
and social crisis, Karnad pulls the traditional subjects from Myth, Folktales, history and modern
urban family and sets to establish the identity of India and Indian. The Fire and the Rain was first
presented at the Chowdiah Memorial hall, Bangalore in Nov 1999. The Dream of Tipu Sulthan was
first presented by the Madras payers of the YMCA Amphitheatre, Chennai on 17th Feburary 2000.
Broken Images was first presented in Kannada as Odakalu Bimbo by Theatre Ranga Shankara,
Bangalore on Tuesday, 22 March 2005. Broken Images was first presented in English, as a heap of
broken images by Theatre Ranga Sankara, Bangalore on Friday, 25 March 2005. “As a connasiure of
Indian theatre an icon of Indian English Drama and a renovative of traditional proscenium Girish
Karnad had enjoyed the Smell of the soil” (Srinivasaraju-140).
In terms of Girish Karnad’s theatrical themes his plays implants his roots in the Indian soil
and sketches his dramatic imagination engendering different realities at a junction point where
“Drama is simultaneously reality, where invisible coincides with the visible, where the object is both
itself and the revelation of something not itself” (Coe 213-214). With the presentation of Indian
Theater and culture he inscribes the socio-cultural philosophy, political and the world of fantasy and
reality.
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Literature that Walks
It is more exciting to see a play and it is a memorable experience, than to read a novel. A
true play has dimensions. “It is not intended that the eye shall perceive marks on paper and the
imagination turn them into sights, sounds and action’s ; the text of the play is meant to be translated
in to sights, sounds and actions which occur literally and physically on a stage, (Anatomy of Drama3). A play that keeps strictly to all the unities but has no true dramatic qualities, that has no life like
characters, no vigorous dialogues, no grippy actions may be a miserable failure. But Girish Karnad’s
plays hold the audience continuously.
Archetypes, Myth and Aesthetics in the Dramas (Collected Plays Volume II) of Girish Karnad
The term Archetypes defines narrative designs, images, signs and symbols which occur in
literary work of art and it helps the critics to interpret a work of art. The term Archetypes was
developed by a Canadian critic Northrop Frye in a book titled, “Fearful Symmetry: A Study of William
Blake” (1947) and later “Anatomy of Criticism” (1957). The concept has been dealt briefly in his well
known essay “The Archetypes of Literature” (1951). In his essay The Archetypes of Literature he say
that one cannot learn literature by his own by he learns literature transitively and that is the
criticism of literature. Myth to Frye is the central informing power that gives “archetypal significance
to the ritual and archetypal narrative to the oracle” (Twentieth Century Literary Criticism - 313).
Myths are stories of unascertainable origin and it helps to explain the religious beliefs. Myth
criticism seeks to interpret literature by relating it to myth, mythic structures and themes. Myth
criticism turned to psychology and anthropology to develop myth criticism in the twentieth century.
To a lay man ‘Myth’ is a narrative about supernatural beings. Myth criticism is closely related to
archetypal criticism but these two approaches are not totally identical. “While myth criticism
emphasizes the mythic structures and themes of a literary work, archetypal criticism seeks to
identify archetypes, cross-culture images and story patterns in a work of literature” (Twentieth
Century Literary Criticism – 89,90).
Aesthesis (aesthetic perception) is normally a blend of aesthetic pleasure and appreciation.
It is defined in three kinds i.e. aesthesis of composition, aesthesis of complimentarily and aesthesis
of condensation, resulting from the perception of aesthetic qualities in a work of art. The aesthetic
movement or Art for art’s sake, which started in France in the later part of 19 th century and
flourished in England during 1880’s and 1890’s. The pleasure for literature are usually multiple and
its proper appreciation therefore limited to aesthetic. Critics like Paul de Man and terry Eagleton
have argued that the aesthetic is primarily an ideology category reflecting and promoting bourgeois
taste.
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WORK
ARCHETYPAL IMAGES
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MYTHICAL ASPECT
AESTHETIC QUALITY
& SIGNIFICANCE
The Fire and
the Rain
Fire- Holiness, of ritual
status, of ceremony and acts
as a witness.
Rain- Pure and simple acts
as Elixir and Cleanser.
Myth of Yavakri
(Vana parva, forest canto of
Mahabharata).Conflict between Indra,
Vishwarupa and Vritra.
Performance 
disruption by demons
building of a protective
enclosure discussion
second performance inside the
enclosure.
Tale – Danda
Head-An identity,
The play has a humanistic
approach with an appeal of
social justice.
The playwright exposes the
hollowness of rituals of
organizes religion
Flowers: A
Dramatic
Monologue
Lingham- A combined Sakthi
of male and female.
Historical movement that took place
in Kalyan in Karnataka
during 1168 A.D. Basavanna, the
greatest Sanskrit poet-saint who
fought to eradicate the caste
difference forms the main theme in
the play.
Mythical Tale from Kannada
and Sanskrit epic respectively.
Broken Images
Image – Ones own self. The
shadow Archetype.
The Dreams of
Tipu Sulthan
Battle Field – A psychological
image and political moves
compared to the Chess
board.
….for you know only
A heap of broken images, where the
sun beats,
And the dead tree gives no shelter…..
- T.S.Eliot, The Waste Land
Historic moments in the life of the
Ruler of Mysore, Tipu Sultan through
the eyes of an Indian court historian,
Mir Hussain Ali Khan Kirmani and a
British Oriental scholar, Colin
Mackenzie.
Spiritual and aesthetic intensity
with which the priest has
devoted himself to the task of
worshiping and beautifying
lingam.
The issues that the playwright
satirises through the dramatic
TV monologue of a celebrity.
Colonial ambivalence and
inventive play.
Dream allegory –it is an
allegorical tale presented in the
narrative framework of a
dream.
Conclusion
In all of Girish Karnad’s plays it starts with a conflict. Archetypes, Myth and Aesthetiic
elements hold the play together and the scenes shift to create a sensation towards the audience.
The plot carries a heavy load as well. The unity of action is more important than convention. Folk art
originated in the areas where most of the people could not read and write. The genesis of this form
can be attributed to the intellectual limitations of the primitive audience that found certain
elements like supernatural fantasy, myths and legends, the hyperbolic beliefs associated with
animals, and nature to be more absorbing. The rhyme used in folk art is simple, almost of the type of
nursery rhyme and the interpretation of nature and weather also has a distinct logic, typical of the
region that marks the growth of the art form. The performance of folk arts was chiefly associated
with festivals and it is, however, imperative that the scope of festivity was not confined to the
celebration of mirth but even the death rites contribute significantly to folk art. His dramatic
imagination is highly charged with humanistic thought, cosmopolitan spirit, cognitive learning
possibilities, performative potential and wide spread awareness.
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References
Barry, Peter. (2006). The Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory. Chennai:
T.R Publications.
Boultan, Marjorie. (2010). The Anatomy of Drama. New Delhi: Kalyani Publishers.
Childs Peter, Fowler Roger. (2006). The Routledge Dictionary of Literary Terms: New Delhi: Atlantic
Publishers.
Das, Kumar, Biji. (2012). Twentieth Century Literary Criticiam. New Delhi: Atlantic Publication.
Jung, Carl. (2001). Jung: Four Archetypes. New Delhi: Viva Books Private Limited.
Karnad, Girish. (2004). Three Plays of Girish Karnad; A Study in Poetics and Culture. New Delhi:
Prestige Books.
Karnad Girish. 2005. Collected Plays: Volume Two. Tale-Danda, The Fire and the Rain, The Dreams of
Tipu Sulthan, Two Monologues: Flowers, Broken Images. UK: OUP
Nayak, Bhagabat. (2011). Girish Karnad’s Play’s: Archetypal and Aesthetic Presentations. Authors
Press. New Delhi.
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Spices - A Symbol of Patriarchy in “The Mistress of Spices”
Dr. K.R. Sujatha
Introduction
A symbol uses concrete objects to represent abstract ideas. The word symbol is
derived from the Greek verb “symballein” which means “to put together and the related
noun“symbolon” which means “mark”, “taken” or “sign”. Literature makes an effective use
of it as a figure of speech. Symbolism in literature gives layers of meaning to a person,
object or anything that has a literal meaning of its own. In literature a symbol makes it
worthwhile to read as it makes a work of art profound. It poses a challenge for the reader as
the literary text can be understood in its totality only when its symbols are interpreted in
their right sense. Symbolism also gives a reader a chance to contribute his or her own
interpretations as individual ideas and experiences invest the text with an entirely new
meaning. When something becomes a symbol it transcends the its own physical aspect and
suggests ideas that are universal. Even colours have been used as symbols.
Indian women writers have made an extensive use of symbols in their novels. The
women writers become the voice of the voiceless in their writings that present the
marginalization of women in a male dominated society. They are read as the champions of
Feminism that is seen as a movement against Male in general. Even some women and
female writers do not like to be branded as feminists because it is considered as a term that
means that woman is waging a war against man. In truth Feminist are not against men but
against the Patriarchy an ideology that man is superior and has the right to control woman.
Patriarchy considers men as the touchstone for valuing women Simone De Beauvoir in
‘Women as other’ writes that a woman is always ‘differentiated with reference to man’.
Patriarchy is naturally defined as, "The organization of society on the supremacy of
the father in the clan or family”. So patriarchy is the control exercised by men, as opposed
to matriarchy which means women are in charge as head of the families. Even Religions
seem advocate a Patriarchal society. Religion itself can be considered as an omnipotent
patriarch as religious teachings are rooted deep into the psyche of both man and woman.
Patriarchy became stronger as social reforms drew support from scriptures, epics and
Vedas.
"Wives submit yourself unto your husbands as unto the lord, for the husband is the head of
the wife even as Christ is the head of the church".
-Ephesians 5:22.23.
"A woman must never be free of subjugation"
-The Hindu code of Manu V.
"Women have weak memories and indisciplined, impulsive and dangerous, when given
authority over anything."
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- Catholic church's edict against witches.
"I thank thee O Lord, that thou has not created me a heathen, a slave, or a woman."
- Orthodox Jewish prayer.
“Let the woman learn in silence with all the subjugation. I suffer not women to usurp
authority over the man but to be in silence".
- First epistle. Timothy 2:11. 12
The patriarchal teachings have been ingrained in the female mind so much so that
women find it difficult to extricate themselves from these teachings. Women’s writings
become the best examples to justify this point. The thematic concerns and the projection of
the woman character place its emphasis on the marginalization of woman in a patriarchal
tradition. The traditional image in literature demands that woman be content with her
familial role. The modern women writers have deliberately rejected the lineage to the old
thematic aspects. The primary interest in their novels is the individual, the woman and her
quest for self – realization. This journey to selfhood and freedom becomes the central motif
in the novels written by women. In the process, the existing stereotypes are rejected and
the protagonist is put in ‘New initial condition’ which establishes a socio- cultural and a
psychological affinity between the author and the protagonist. Inspite of all these quest for
self- realization the domestic roles as mother and wife make the journey of self – realization
and fulfillment an impossibility.
The women writers struggle to present a female protagonist who is completely free
of this patriarchal codes and fail. The male oriented society has a sympathetic view for the
submissive, intuitive enduring passive ‘angel’ woman and an opposite deprecating attitude
towards the spirited intelligent, independent ‘monster’ woman. Naturally in spite of their
attempts to visualize a free woman in the real sense of freedom the women writers present
patriarchy in various forms. The patriarchal society expects only adherence to its dictates. It
has strict rules for a woman. A woman is always expected to be self – sacrificing and never
aspire for self fulfillment. The reputed American public thinker, Camille Paglie remarks,
“Woman’s current advance in society is not a voyage from myth to truth but from myth to
new myth… An awful lot is being swept under the rug the awe and terror that is our lot”.
Spices as the patriarch
In Chitra Bannerjee Divakaruni‘s novel ‘The Mistress of spices’ the spices represent
the all powerful patriarchal codes of conduct. The training that Tilo undergoes on the island
is similar to the training that a woman has at home and outside in a male dominated
society. There is a strict code of conduct that she has to follow. Every thing including her
dressing is dictated by the Mother who is the controlling authority on the island. Her
warnings and reactions to Tilo symbolize the patriarchal world that has a long list of do’s
and don’ts for a woman. Even choosing is a taboo. The mistress has to follow the
instructions and not her own instincts. Even normal emotions like love and anger are not to
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be felt by the mistress. The mistress is supposed to be self sacrificing and altruistic always.
Self indulgence and emotional involvement are not for the mistress. The mistress has the
power to administer the power of the spices for others benefit and not for her own. Though
the spices respond to Tilo better than others, it is never meant for herself.
The patriarchal society suppresses a woman with an iron hand when she tries to
come out of her cloistered life. The self realization on the part a woman makes her start to
rebel against the patriarchal teachings. Her attempts for freedom are not viewed with
sympathy. Even a ray of thought of mutiny is silenced effectively. The Mothers warning on
the island and the hissings and warnings given by the spices whenever Tilo tries to cross the
‘Lakshman Reka’ symbolically present the power of Patriarchy over women.
The title itself is ironical. As the title suggests Tilo is not the mistress. Tilo is actually
ruled by the spices though she is supposed to be the mistress. Tilo’s stoic acceptance of the
punishment itself stands for the woman’s passive obedience to the patriarchal rules. A
woman is supposed to have committed a sin if she transcends the barriers. The ‘Mother’
warns Tilo about the consequences of rebellion from the beginning. Even rebellion is not
seen as a positive move by the protagonist as she is aware of the pain that goes along with
it.
“It is always like this when we push into the forbidden, which some call sinning? The first
step wrenches, bone and blood, rips out our breath.”
Tilo in ‘Mistress of Spice’ is supposed to use the power of the spices for
others and she is warned against falling in love by the Mother. When she falls in love with
the American she starts to break the rules.
As a mistress, stepping beyond the limits creates fear in Tilo. It is the fear of what is going to
happen. The irresistible urge to fulfill her wants is there.
“All those things that you warned me against, First Mother, I wanted them…at the same
time inside me something twisted in fear. A little for me but for him more”.
In the end she decides to break the rule and give herself up to her lover . Yet there is
fear in her heart as she knows that the punishment will be for her lover also. Still in the end
she decides tio face the punishment. She does not throw caution to the wind but there is a
stoic acceptance of punishment on the part of Tilo. Even after taking a decision her
conscience is not at peace. It is only ‘Doubts and more doubts crowd the cage of my chest,
clawing and crying for release.’ Yet there is no regret.
“… ‘Sampati’s fire calling me back’, whispers the woman, remembering the lesson in
the mother’s house. Her voice is old and without hope. There is no bargaining in this she
knows. No space for refusal. She has only three nights left.”
Sampati’s fire can be read as s symbolic representation of the fire that Sita was asked to
enter after her rescue. Just as Sita complied with Rama’s order Tilo in the end is surrounded
by fire.This witnesses the fact that a woman who ventures to be different is condemned for
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life. Tilo who is ready to break the final most sacred rule of all and sheds both her doubts
and hopes. The final submission is not partial but complete.
The Patriarchal society does not have a sympathetic view towards rebellion but represses it
with an iron hand and only total submission is acknowledged. So the patriarchal power
either breaks or makes a woman submit herself.
“Women are certainly as capable as men to be president of the U.S, yet they are not
probably won’t be any time soon. Men have been in the role for so long that our country,
probably does not believe it is possible”.4
Women are to keep themselves strictly within the narrow spade defined for them and never
even contemplate stepping out of the circle. The best example is Sita in Ramayana who has
to endure imprisonment for crossing the ‘Lakshman Rekha’. It does not end with her rescue
but continues even after that. She is left alone in the forest when she is pregnant and
delivers her twins in the ashram. The fairy tale ending ‘They lived happily ever after’ is only a
fairy tale in her life. In Divakaruni’s novel the spices make Tilo submit herself.
Tilo’s implores ‘Spices start with my life if you must. Take me first spend your hate
on me.’ And her prayer is,
“Spices, I Tilo accept your decree. In spite of terror and heart break, the loneliness of love
lost
and power turned to ash, I take it upon myself to live this way as long as I must…”
“This is my atonement. Willingly I undergo it. Not because I have sinned, for I acted out of
love, in which is no sinning.”
This stands as a proof of a stoic resignation in the mistress to face whatever befalls
her. She thinks she has to undergo the decree because she knows ’that rules broken must
be paid for. Balance upset must be restored.’The stoicism that is exhibited makes her
suffering less. Her readiness to suffer makes administration of physical suffering an
unnecessary one. The kindness is not for her but for the recognition she gives for the
superior strength of the spices. Even before the punishment she is gripped with fear that
makes her shiver and a part of her body dies as there is only one day, which she is going to
spend with her lover. The thought of the pain he is going to suffer as this day is to be the
first and the last demands her willing subordination. The sentence, ‘She is ready to give
herself up’ proves this.
Conclusion
The power exercised by the spices over the Mistresses proves that she is not the
mistress of the spices but the other way round. Tilo is made to suffer a guilty conscience
even after she is forgiven by the spices. That is why she refuses to go away with her
American as she considers herself responsible for the disaster that has occurred. Tilo is
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demanded to be self- sacrificing and self-obliterating. When she tries to cross this barrier it
is only destruction and chaos not only for her but also people around her. This beautifully
symbolizes the real predicament of women in general. This is the demand of the patriarchal
society. The patriarchal society never encourages a woman to break its rules and regulations
but expects total obedience and subordination. The patriarchal society does not expect
leadership qualities from a woman but acceptance of order just as the spices demand total
adherence from Tilo. So spices can surely be interpreted as the symbol of patriarchal power
that detains women from exercising or realizing their full potentials.
“Although feminists claim that women have been ‘silenced’ by men contain an
element of exaggeration, and major women writers have been published, read and admired
for many years, it is nonetheless true that some aspects of women’s creativity with language
have been suppressed”. 5
The novel ‘Mistress of Spices’ is an illustration of this idea. Though women try to
break free of the patriarchal teachings they find it difficult to extricate their subconscious
mind of the powerful patriarchal teachings.
References:
http://www.ape_connections.org/exorcisingpatriarchy.htm.
http://got.net/~elained/patriarchy.htm.
K.Mithilesh Pandy.[Ed]. Recent Indian Literature in English. NewDelhi: Anmol Publications
Pvt.Ltd., 1996. p.208.
What is patriarchy?/ http://www.essortment.com/what is patriarc-rhsf.htm
Surya Nath Pandey. Contemporary Indian Women writers in English A Feminist
perspective. NewDelhi: Atlantic Publishers and Distributors, 1999.p.7.
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Fictional Art of Shashi Deshpande
Dr. G. Hampamma
For Shashi Deshpande, the short story is a medium of moral and psychological
analysis and her focus is almost invariably on ‘inner’ life. The search for self, self-analysis,
and a probe into the existential problems of woman are the recurrent themes in
Deshpande’s writings. Shashi Deshpande makes a good use of metaphors and similes to
create realistic images. Obviously a metaphor is very helpful in image making, in
concretizing emotions, and in crystallizing moods. The metaphors “tend to neatly
summarize the fluctuating moods and the mysterious emotions of a sensitive woman… They
cleverly reveal the inner workings of the protagonists’ minds and the emotional ripples in
their hearts”, says A.N. Dwivedi.1
The metaphors of ‘darkness’ and ‘sunlight’ are used extensively in “It was Dark”. In
the story, an unfortunate girl is forced to submission by a man who is identified as “the
dark”, the evil. The metaphor of “the dark” is associated with horror and tyranny which the
protagonist tries to remove by allowing the sunlight in.
The metaphor of “light” is once again well operated in “It was the Nightingale”. As
Jayu says, the lives of the wife and husband are “intertwined, yet they are two distant
strands. They are like two lights that shine more brightly together.” (92)
“Silence” is another metaphor that is very often used by Deshpande. The
protagonists in the stories “Why a Robin” and “My Beloved Charioteer” are in a relationship
of silence with their husbands. This “silence” denotes lack of communication, frigidity of
feeling, and want of understanding and compassion. The wife in “Why a Robin” worries: “I
know he would walk out on me . . . but not angry. He is rarely moved to anger. But his
silences, more eloquent than any anger, freeze me”. (51)
The metaphor of “death” also prevails, though on a smaller scale. In “The
Awakening” the death of the father opens the doors of realization in the minds of his
daughter. But in “My Beloved Charioteer” the death of the father haunts his daughter, Aarti.
This metaphor is more intensely used in “Death of a Child”. After abortion, while the
protagonist is about to leave the hospital, she thinks: “I have an eerie feeling I cannot
understand, cannot explain even to myself. I feel that I am not alone. I feel that the ghost of
my dead child walks with me.” (95)
Middleton Murry attributes the qualities of intensity and ‘fertility’, in artistic matters
to the ‘non-measurable world’ created with the help of metaphors. All metaphor and simile
can be described as the analogy by which the human mind explores the universe of quality
and charts the non-measurable world. The use of metaphors and imagery enables
Deshpande to establish her “sign of genius” as a short story writer. In the story “The Inner
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Rooms” Amba’s sense of weariness gives her serenity and it was like “. . . a twig being
dropped into tranquil waters. The ripples spread and filled her. Yet, there was no confusion.
There was only a stillness and a calmness that absorbed those ripples too”. (22).
In “And what had been decided” Draupadi recalls the strange vision of horror she
had seen in the eyes of Krishna: “Men wounded and dead on the battle field. Dead horses
and rotting flesh. Blood. Cries of pain. Voices wailing in grief”. (34)
The image of the peacock and its dance in “Why a Robin” can be cited as the best
example of Deshpande’s mastery of the use of imagery. On finding the “clouds of hurts and
bewilderment” (56) dissolving from her daughter’s eyes, the mother in the story relates her
past memories:
“. . . how I went to the temple with her (grandmother) everyday. And how one day
I saw the peacock dance. And how the sunlight had glinted on its many-hued fan
and dazzled our eyes so that the world had become a different place”. (57)
Deshpande shows the gap between tradition and modernity through the images of
the peacock and the robin respectively and meticulously bridges the generation gap. Also
the use of these birds as symbols effectively enriches the thematic import. Robin stands for
the child, for an unfamiliar, untrodden ground, and is counter balanced by the peacock, a
symbol for something familiar, comfortable, for a world that the mother hankers after, a
world that is no longer there. The mother understands as much about her own daughter as
she understands about the robin, the exotic bird: “I want to share it with my daughter…the
peacock’s feather, the peacock, my excitement and the memory of my beautiful grand
mother. But she won’t listen to me. It is too late”. (52)
In the story “The Awakening” when Alka’s father dies all her dreams get shattered.
This shattering is represented beautifully:
“Now . . . they were not even dreams. Only bubbles, like the ones children blow
out of soapy water. Rainbow coloured, etherally beautiful when they go up in the
air. Then in a moment… nothing. Just nothing”. (24)
In “The Intrusion” when the highly sensitive wife is virtually raped by her husband in
her sleep, the act is compared to the heavy pounding of the sea:
“I . . . drifted for sometime between sleeping and waking, struggling out of a
confused dream that I was lying there on the beach . . . and that the waves were
pounding me. And then I woke up to realize that the sound of the sea was real, but
I was there on a bed, not on the beach. And it was not the sea that was pounding
my body, but he, my husband, who was forcing his body on me. . . His movements
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had the same rhythm, the same violence as the movements of the sea. . . When
sensation and feeling came back with a surge, my first thought was that I could not
hear even the sea now. . . I realized that there was another sound drowning it. . .
He was . . . snoring loudly and steadily”. (48).
Shashi Deshpande affects a rare kind of delicacy and subtleness in her shorter fiction
through a good deal of thought and dexterity. The metaphors used by her are few, but
. . . they powerfully highlight the dichotomy of human life, characterized by sorrow
and joy, failure and success, death and life, alienation and attraction, thereby
setting the scale of existence balanced and reasonable. Though the scale
sometimes does swing towards misery and anguish, death and destruction,
hopelessness and helplessness.
However, her writing style is marked by an absence of flamboyance or literary flourish.
To quote her words: “My path was totally unliterary, in one sense, because I was not a
student of literature, so writing was never a literary exercise; it was just a means of selfexpression”.5
Deshpande also employs irony to offer an insight into the labyrinth of human motives.
However it does not seem to be included intentionally by Deshpande. “The First Lady”
has irony on the life in which freedom has no place, in which disillusionment is the ruling
force. Such life is too heavy a mask that must be constantly worn. Situational irony is
employed in “The Liberated Woman” and attitudinal irony in “Death of a Child”. “A Wall
is Safer”, “And what has been decided?”, and “The Day of Golden Deer” are very rich in
verbal irony.
It is universally accepted that short story is the most acceptable genre that embodies
experiences and ideas in the modern age. The manner in which to write a good short story,
however, remains highly debatable. Edgar Allan Poe, the pioneer of the modern short story,
has evolved a distinctive technique aiming at the fundamental principles of the short story.
The narrative employed by the short story writer is of much significance considering the
gradual increase in the different methods of storytelling. There are several methods
available for the short story writers to choose from and tell their stories. The plain narrative
is the oldest of forms, and is still the most common method employed by the writers
because it allows them to be omnipresent or omniscient and enjoy maximum freedom and
scope.
In most of her short stories Deshpande employs the first person narrative, one of the
most recurrent techniques in Indo-Anglican fiction. This technique is most suitable for the
stories in which the theme is ‘quest for self’. This technique allows a probe into the minds of
the protagonists and to explore their fears and frustrations with admirable candour and also
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to provide a ring of authenticity to the tale. Readers encounter an intimacy, a kind of secret
bonding with her, as if she were speaking to them alone. “An Antidote to Boredom” touches
the heart in its very simplicity of plot, of narration. The wife depicts the colourlessness in her
life thus: “And suddenly, standing there, my sari tucked in at my waist, the picture of a
solicitous wife serving her husband, I retreated into a wild flight of fancy”. (67)
It is Deshpande’s forte to probe deeply and analytically into the minds and motives
of the characters. In stories like “Death of a Child”, “The Awakening”, “I Want”, and “The
Intrusion” the woman’s mind is presented entirely from a new angle of vision. Impressed by
this ability of Deshpande, C.W.Watson compares her to the master story teller, Chekhov:
“The writing is beautifully controlled and avoids the temptation of sentimentality, which the
subject might suggest, and again the control is reminiscent of Chekhov”. 6 About her
selection of the right technique for her stories, Deshpande says:
“Technique is something which I have to worry a lot about. I have to work at it and
think about it and it takes me a long time to hit upon it exactly. It’s like setting the
tanpura . . . before a concert begins. The orchestra goes on strumming, tuning up;
while you wonder what it’s all about . . . Suddenly you know that this is exactly
right for your needs. But you know at the beginning that this is the way. The
beginning is much more fumbling, blundering and very chaotic. There’s always too
much”.
This makes clear that Deshpande takes utmost care about the technique she
employs in her fiction, and hence, her stories make an interesting reading.
“Why a Robin”, “It was Dark”, and “My Beloved Charioteer” are the stories of despair
and triumph, of suppression and freedom, all framed out for the better part in the minds of
the protagonists through memories and recollections. The narrative slowly unites the knots
of memories and unravels the minds. She also uses some varied versions of the stream-ofconsciousness technique like the flashback technique or interior monologue to probe into
the psyche of her characters. This is exactly like the patch work done on multicoloured quilts
that are made for new babies. “The Inner Rooms”, “And what has been decided”, “Hear Me,
Sanjaya”, and “The Day of the Golden Deer” vacillate between the present and the past,
delving into the lives of Amba, Draupadi, Kunti, and Sita respectively. These stories are
sketched like biographies. They move back and forth in time, gradually relating one incident
after the other until the original stories from the epics are revealed. This digressional method
of story-telling is perhaps the oldest device in Indian narrative literature. This style of
narration is also found in the Bible as well as in the Greek epics where episode follows
episode in a meandering fashion. It would perhaps be better to call it the oral tradition of
story-telling. Also, in these stories the use of myth has become a theme in the hands of
Deshapande.
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It may, however, be observed that Deshpande does not always use first person
narration through the protagonists. In the stories “A Liberated Woman” and “Madhu”
though they are in the first person narration, the protagonists are not the narrators.
Deshpande’s closest sympathy lies with the protagonists but not with the narrators.
Deshpande makes her technical competence suit her purposes. Her stories do not suffer
from distorting confessional fury. Instead they achieve a remarkable degree of objectivity.
“She has an eye for detail, whether this relates to physical sensations or workings of the
mind, and shows considerable skill in the choice of background and the creation of
atmosphere”.
Apart from the narrative technique the most significant challenge for the Indian
writer in English is the use of English language in a way that it remains distinctly Indian, and
yet English. English is no longer a foreign language but has become just another of India’s
many languages. It reaches across regional barriers, if not at all levels of society, at least at a
certain level of education.
Shashi Deshpande belongs to that new breed of English writers who suffer from no
complexes about using English and for whom English is no longer a foreign language. She
displays a careless intimacy with the English language which enables her to play with it. Her
writing is unplanned and spontaneous. She aims at Indian readers more than the western,
without any obsession with the East-West conflict. Her English is both simple and natural.
Her style is lucid and direct, spontaneous and unpretentious, appropriate and adequate. 9 At
the same time she does not bring Indianism in her English except for the usage of words like
Kumkum, ajji, aai etc. She uses English language without distorting it with unseemly
translations of words and phrases or coining of new compound words.
However, Deshpande regrets her inability at times to express the right emotion in a
language alien to the characters she creates. She says: “I lose the range of nuances which are
available in Marathi, for example, the richness of the phrases that make up that language.” 10
With her literary skill she presents the issues of contemporary society realistically. Times
Literary Supplement showers praise on her creative use of language:
Deshpande eschews linguistic pyrotechnics and formal experimentation, but has sufficient
command of her tradition to give the lie to the belief that the English language is incapable of
expressing any Indian word other than a cosmopolitan one.11
She is undoubtedly as much at home in writing in English as any educated, cultured native
speaker. Her fictional characters could come from any part of India. Her suave and
competent style of writing in English neither betrays her own origin nor gives any indication
of the regional identity of the characters she creates. According to Nandita C.Puri: “Indian
writers have now confidently broken free of the chaste British mould where one was
expected to maintain the purity of Victorian English”.
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Deshpande has strived to find an individual style rather than an Indian style and in
achieving this, her experiments are in no way different from those of any other creative
writer in the world. The study of her stories makes clear that she has shown varying degrees
of competence in handling the form of the short story and also in realizing suitable verbal
structures to portray complex human relationships.
References
A.N. Dwivedi “Recurring Metaphors in Shashi Deshpande”, R.S. Pathak ed. The Fiction of
Shashi Deshpande , New Delhi: Creative Books, 1998, p.220.
J. Middleton Murry, “Metaphor”, G. Martin & P.N. Furbank ed. Twentieth Century Poetry,
Walton Hall: The Open University Press, 1975, p.28.
Ingram Bywater, Aristotle: On the Art of Poetry, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1967, p.78.
A.N. Dwivedi, p.221.
Sashi Deshpande talks to Ritu Menon, Bangalore, India, June, 1998.
C.W.Watson, “Some Recent Writings from India”, Rev. of Roots and Shadows, Wasafiri. Spr.
1995, No.21, p.75.
“Shashi Deshpande talks to Lakshmi Holmstrom”, Wasafiri, 17, Spring 1993, p.25.
G.S.Amur, “Preface”, The Legacy, Calcutta: Writers Workshop, 1978, p.12.
G.S. Balarama Gupta. “Indian English Women Short Story Writers: An Overview”, Vikram
Journal of English Studies, Vol. 1, 1993, p.41.
“Shashi Deshpande talks to Lakshmi Holmstorm”, Wasafiri, Spr.1993. no.17, 24
Maria Couto, “In Divided Times”, Rev. of That Long Silence, Times Literary Supplement, 1
April, 1983.
Quoted from Pramita Bose, “Englishiana, Anyone?” Deccan Chronicle, 13 Aug, 2006.
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The Loss of Individualism in American Society: Dos Passos
K. Karthikeyan
Introduction
The American Social novelists differed increasingly in the decades of the twentieth
century. They depicted a different society with new social and political attitudes. They had
a tendency to present either a small businessman as hero or a villain with all kinds of
economic and social pressures or a minor employee of a large organization nominally a free
individual, subtly shaped and conditioned by the circumstances of his job. The fullest
exploration and documentation of the transition appeared in the novels of Dos Passos.
Dos Passos, the most considerable figure in contemporary American literature,
presents the evils of contemporary American Society in his novels. He plays the role of a
social historian in this regard. The characters of his novels have no inner life commensurate
with the outer world. Unlike the other writers of his time, Dos Passos invents a new form by
which he is able to present his agony in a powerful manner. His family background has an
impact on his literary career. As a journalist, he is able to observe the society, and creates
characters with a critical mind in his novels. He depicts the American life of the period after
the World War I.
American social novelists have been especially concerned with the development of
bureaucracy and institutionalism. The implications of this development for the individual
and for society as a whole. It is a development which has profoundly affected the world of
business. It has every area of the nation life. For earlier social novelists, the business theme
was not simply ‘available’ but almost inescapable. American writers, with their extreme selfconsciousness about their society, have been haunted by the archetypal figure of the
‘American-as-businessman’, and have often fallen into the mistake of regarding the
American businessman as an entirely unprecedented and extraordinary phenomenon.
For what is so significant about he is a direct link between the postwar decade and
the crisis novel of the Depression period, the defeatism of the lost generation has been
slowly and subtly transferred by him from persons to society itself. It is society that becomes
the hero of his work, society that suffers the anguish and impending sense of damnation
that the lost generation individualists had suffered alone before. The lost generation
becomes all the lost generation from the beginning of modern time in America. All who
have known themselves to be lost in the fire of war or struggling up the icy slopes of
modern capitalism. The tragic ‘I’ has become the tragic inclusive ‘we’ of modern society.
Dos Passos wrote more than forty books during his lifetime, including poetry, plays,
travel books, political tracts, histories, and biographies. He is better known, though, for his
novels, and best of all for the documentary style fiction he wrote during the twenties and
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thirties. I have limited the documentation of his critical reception to the novels. Also he is
best known for, and to those others which are representative of a period in his career or of
a change in political or stylistic direction. Though it is certainly true that no American writer
has been more subjected to political judgment than Dos Passos, has the history of the
critical response shows that what made him the most promising American writer of the
thirties and a much less respected writer. Later on, he had as much to do with his art as with
his politics, if indeed the two can be separated. A critical reception never stops developing,
and neither does historical consciousness ever fully reveal itself in openly stated principles
or propositions.
Dos Passos asserts that personal freedom and individual liberty constitute the
highest good, and that this good is under attack by evil in the form of institutional authority
in mass society and in the form of “the prescriptions of doctrine.” Finally, the theory asserts
that the individual must “struggle against oppression,” against “the daily exploitation of
everything take the leap of faith”. Dos Passos, the most considerable figure in contemporary
American Literature, presents the evils of contemporary American society in his novels.
The trilogy stands as his most forceful presentation of his central concerns: the
failure of the American dream, the exploitation of the working class, the loss of individual
freedom and America’s emphasis on materialism. In all his works the institution or the
aggregation is the enemy, bigness is evil, and the destruction or erosion of individual
integrity and dignity is tragic. This is seen to be the fate of everyman in a modern urban
industrial society. His desire for the need to save the individual from corrupt society.
Dos Passos first began to use the experimental techniques he would develop more
fully in his major contribution to American fiction, the U.S.A. trilogy. His characters are
again representations of several American social orders and the themes of the novel are
typical of Dos Passos’s work alienation, loneliness, frustration, and loss of individuality. Dos
Passos deals with the loathsome life led by Americans because of commercialism,
industrialism and World War I. His anxiety to change the dominance of capitalism is
revealed in his novels. The characters move in the old, ill–planned rusting cities or those
that are new and glittering. He hates the wreckers who treat men as if they are machines,
the speculators and the rich who live only to consume.
It is the emptiness of society and culture as revealed through individual lives in the
wasteland of the twentieth century. He suggested four major flaws in people who are the
products of the twentieth century urban society: (i) a primary interest in self and a lack of
concern for others, (ii) materialism, (iii) shallowness and hypocrisy, (iv) cynicism.
It is the result, in this country, of a failure in democratic planning, he represented by
the New Deal, which threatened the survival of human responsibility and individualism. The
Camera Eye is a series of impressionistic views of Dos Passos’s life .Dos Passos took sincere
efforts to bring forth the social evils caused by the World War I in the novel Three Soldiers. It
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represents different social types, aspects of the culture and machine of modern life, above
all the powers of military crushing individualism.
Dos Passos centers on the inviolability of the individual and his importance. Almost
all his characters taken from life had restless, baffled life and there were labor struggles.
Socialism, war and the personal sense of futility that expresses itself in whoring, violent
drinking and the aimless moving on of Americans that convey the extravagant of the
content. The obscenity of war became Dos Passos’s theme in his novels since war was the
most important political events of the century.
Three soldiers was widely praised for realistic exposure of army life or condemned as
a desecration of the recent American war effort. Dos Passos portrays the disillusionment
and dehumanization resulting from the war. Three soldiers was the first of the significant
novels to come from an American writer’s experiences during World War I. Dos Passos’s
reputation really was established with his novel of post-war disillusion. It describes the
ordinary soldier trapped in the army machine, one of the instruments of the state grown
healthy in war. We find the theme of bigness, bigness in which the individual is lost,
developed as a cause of disillusion.
Still, the novel strongly expresses Dos Passos’s hatred of the army, for the selfenclosed aspects of Andrews’s rebellion do not undo the novels indictment of the military
machine he opposes and, by implication, its indictment of all repressive institutions. Three
soldiers were the first important American novel, and one of the first in any languages, to
treat the war in the tone of realism and disillusion. It made a deep impression, and may be
counted the beginning of strictly contemporary fiction in the United States.
The Camera Eye sections make the transition from the 1920 to the 1930. It is
emphasizing the bankruptcy of capitalism and the onset of the depression. U.S.A. and Dos
Passos’s early novels branded him as a leftist. His concern was less with ideology than with
the individual and the forces that hampered the development of individuality. Dos Passos
has thus portrayed the beginning of the new century as in truth on ending. A native
tradition of open and courageous struggle for freedom of belief and action is under attack,
usually successful attack, by middle class American society.
They can also serve as a powerful weapon of the satiric ironist who is armed with a
compelling vision of an America in which the old words are used truthfully to help create the
fulfillment of the American dream of freedom and opportunity for all Americans. U.S.A. has
its origin both in the single minded intensity of Dos Passos’s vision of American life as a
whole and in his ability to engage us.
Dos Passos has chronicled the social, political and economic history of this nation
from the turn of the century to the present day.
Dos Passos looking back from the
defeats of the twenties, to chart the falling line of those hopes, and the mood of his books,
bitter, pessimistic, and disillusioned. It was to set the tone for much of the fiction of the
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thirties. Dos Passos to believe that the moral state of the middle class was most unhappy.
But he was too perceptive to neglect examination of radical as well as conservative society
and private as well as public life.
U.S.A. offers, in addition to much vivid history, a provocative moral vision. It
portrays, among other human experiences, the evil of abusing men for private or political
ends, the vanity of separating, art or meaningful life from the needs of fellow men, and the
costs and consolations of individual integrity. Probably this fiction deserves our attention, in
any case, for the novel which deals with topical political matters has not had an illustrious
history in the United States.
Between 1927 and 1936, Dos Passos experienced an intensification of his radicalism
with the one set of the depression, and later, growing pessimism and disillusionment with
the Communist party that led him to search America’s past for a viable radical tradition. Dos
Passos wrote about in his nonfiction: poverty, unemployment, political, repression,
imperialism and the degrading mechanization of work. We see the destructive effects of
values and the psychological damage done to both the rich and the poor by great disparities
of wealth.
Conclusion
After 1940 Dos Passos continued to travel, as a war correspondent and as a tourist,
to write social and political analyses, to publish fiction, and to become involved in historical
research. Dos Passos is not simply an authentic member of the lost generation but a writer
who has been as eloquent as any in our time in expressing what it means to lose and be lost.
Eventually, critical opinion viewed him as an arch conservative, a traitor to his earlier liberal
ideals. He always insisted that his main focus remained a concern for individual freedom.
In America, twentieth century opened with new hopes and desires. It was a
progressive era with the growth of labor power, reform in municipal politics, regulations in
the giant trusts and dreams for an end to the plunders to the national resources. A new
national pride enthroned the heads of America through science and technology. Dos
Passos’s experience as a journalist played a vital role in exposing him to the vast ranges of
human activities. He expressed his ambivalent attitude towards industrialization that came
to dominate among the masses to such a great extent during the first three decades of
twentieth century.
Unfortunately, during the first decade of the twentieth century, commercial spirit
was rampant everywhere. The inherent conflict between religion and science emerged. The
gap between technical capacities of science reason and the moral comprehension religion
was there and the social wisdom of the people broadened not allowing the mass to come to
a solution. Thus parallel line falls between the two, never hoping to join.
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During this period come the social critics to bring forth the importance of
individualist values, a fictional place of pastoral refreshment for Americans who lived in a
society increasingly technological, grand and anonymous. The next transition came by the
sudden arrival of war. The impact of unprecedented events caused by the war shattered the
spirituality among the mass. A new literature which challenged the traditional expectations
of both form and content through novel.
Dos Passos wanted to remain independent, something of the anarchist, in his works
supporting individual freedoms against bureaucracies wherever he saw them, while
portraying the swirl of life in his chosen country. Granting Dos Passos his political
perspectives, the reader can get from his works a remarkably broad chronicle of the
twentieth-century United States.
References:
Beach, Joseph Warren. American Fiction: 1920-1940. New York: Macmillan, 1941.
Bloom, Harold. American Fiction 1914 - 1945. New York: Chelesea House Publishers, 1986.
Hook, Andrew. “John Dos Passos”: A Collection of Critical Essays. New Jersey: Prentice Hall,
1974. 1-12
Ludington, Townsend. John Dos Passos: A Twentieth Century Odyssey. New York: Dutton,
1980.
Sartre, Jean-Paul. Literary and Philosophical Essays. London: Rider, 1955.
Thorp, Willard. American Writing in the Twentieth Century. Massachusetts: Harvard UP,
1963.
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Breaking the Barrier of Widowhood
Dissent of Widowhood: A Study of Bollywood and Sandalwood films
Rohith L. S
This paper looks into three aspects: first, it focuses on films as a main form of
cultural production; second, looks into the state of widows in India through films which have
portrayed widowhood and third, how the characters who are widows attempt to break the
barriers of widowhood in the films by looking at the Bollywood and Sandalwood films.
To begin with, it is important to say that, India is the world’s largest film producing
nation with 900 films being produced every year. People enjoy watching films, either in the
cinema hall or on a television as a source of entertainment. But cinema is no more a mere
source of entertainment. It has become a field in popular culture where dominant
ideologies are circulated, stereotypes are framed and various discourses are projected and it
is one of the forms of cultural production. Both male and female audiences have been
affected by these political messages, societal issues and gender identities that are
represented in the films.
Althusser, the reproduction of unequal social order is achieved not only at the point
of gun or policeman’s baton, but more subtly, by the operations of a wide range of
institutions which he calls The twentieth-century Marxist philosopher Louis Althusser
formulated the notion of ideology in his essay “Ideology and ideological State Apparatuses”
in 1970 where he argues that a state maintains its power through repressive apparatuses
and ideological state apparatuses1. An ideological state apparatuses which is mainly physical
force consists of government, army, police, law, courts, and prisons. For ideological State
Apparatuses (2010, 228-229). Through these medium the state imposes its ideological
power on society to adopt false consciousness, encourages society to admit and identify the
false images which are perpetuated and reinforced on the people.
Moving on to the aspect of widowhood and its portrayal in the selected movies
(White Rainbow, Water, Prem Rog, Naye Neralu, Phaniyamma), we can say with the support
of Perrie Bourdieu that in every society, a particular group occupies a dominant position
with symbolic power which it gains because of the social affiliations of belonging to the
dominant class. This symbolic power gives a particular group wa kind of authority to decide
the norms. These norms takes up the forms of discourse (as Foucault quotes) to control the
individual. To connect to the present paper, the concept of Sati system was mainly followed
by the Rajputs who were considered to belong to the upper class. Even in the select movies,
it can be seen that the people who cling to the religious norms of widowhood belong to the
upper class.
1
For further information on ‘Ideology and Ideological State Apparatuses’ see Andrew Dix, “Film and Ideology”
in Beginning Film Studies, Manchester University Press, 2010, 228-229.
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It is often comfortably stated that ‘gone are the days when sati system was followed
in India’. Well, but we fail to question what has remained and what is the state of widows
even today. Even to this day, many widows are stripped of all colour and allowed to only
wear white. Their hair is shaved and they are told to give up all adornment such as jewellery
and makeup. They are expected to give up spicy food and sweets. Worst of all, many are
abandoned and shunned by their families because it is believed it was the woman's "bad
karma" that caused the death of her husband. She is denied every form of dignity that she
knew as a wife and mother. In India, widows are considered to be unlucky and there are
many demoralizing customs associated with widowhood. Due to this poor treatment, many
widows either flock to or are abandoned in the ancient holy cities of Vrindavan and Varanasi
where they are told that Lord Krishna will take care of them. Since there are so many
widows in Vrindavan, it has come to be known as the City of Widows.
The portrayal of this pathetic situation has been projected in The White Rainbow by
Dharan Mandrayar. It narrates the story of four remarkable women and their struggle to
overcome the stigma and brutal reality of widowhood in modern Indian society. In the story,
the protagonist Priya, is an educated, affluent young woman who is tragically widowed.
Despondent, alone and desperate, she seeks unlikely solace in Vrindavan, the "city of
widows." Priya meets the streetwise Roop who has spent 30 years making her own way in
this temple town with its dirty secrets. She encounters gentle Mala tragically disfigured by
her mother-in-law and young Deepti, forced into servitude and an underground sex trade
run by the Panda priest. Together, this disparate group forms a deep bond and begin to see
the power of their own conviction to take charge of their own fate. But, their journey is not
without adversity and tragedy from a system dominated by men who prosper from the
exploitation of India's most disenfranchised citizens. In the end, Priya comes to realize that,
"Her destiny was to change their fate!" It is here that the widows are seen to transgress the
barriers attached to them because they are widows.
On the other hand the Kannada movie, Nayi Neralu directed by Girish Kasaravalli
projects a character by name Venkataklakshmi, a widow, who lives with her in-laws
Acchanniah and his wife. Being a widow, she is forced to shave her head and this has been
shown by the director several times in the movie. Acchanniah learns from a friend that a
boy in a distant village claims that he was the son of Acchanniah in his previous birth and
has been incarnated as Viswas. Achannaiah dismisses the information as baseless but, his
wife strongly believes that he is her son and forces Acchanniah to get him home.
Acchannaih's wife realises a new purpose in living and accepts this stranger as her son. But it
is Venkatalakshmi, who finds it difficult to accept some stranger as her long lost husband.
After some initial resistance, Venkatalakshmi realises that this is indeed an opportunity to
attain all that she is restrained from. Her desires emerge again and she accepts the boy as
her husband. But, the problem doesn’t end here. The society which forced her to believe its
her husband does not approve of Venkatalakshmi accepting the man as her husband and
living with him. Rajalakshmi swears that this stranger who is her age is not her father. She
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tries to convince her mother to come out of such a delusion but to no avail. Acchanniah and
his wife Nagalakshmi are shocked to hear that Venkatalakshmi is pregnant with Vishwa's
child. Matter complicate and Acchanniah is humiliated in the public by his fellow Brahmins.
Venkatalakshmi sensing the intensity of the situation decides to leave the village and live in
a god-forsaken place with Vishwa. She has a hard life trying to manage ends meet. To
worsen things, Vishwa is attracted to Sukri, a girl from the worker class. Nagalakshmi dies
unable to digest these bizarre happenings. Rajalakshmi decides to seek the help of the court
to get her mother back. They file a false complaint on Vishwa. Aware of the family's sinister
motives, Vishwa refuses to return to Venkatalakshmi. Meanwhile, a daughter is born to
Venkatalakshmi. The court announces Vishwa guilty and he is sent to two years rigorous
imprisonment. But Venkatalakshmi declares that she would wait for Vishwa to be released
although she is certain that he will not return to her. She tells her daughter that she never
believed that Vishwa was her husband reincarnated. The character of Venkatalakshmi
emerges as a very strong individual towards the end of the film. She tells her father in law
that she has lived her entire life doing things which others say and that she has decided to
live the way she wants to. The final scene shows Venkatalakshmi standing on the banks with
her child in hand looking at her daughter and father in law leave in a boat thus proving to
have crossed the barriers of widowhood twice in the movie: once, when she takes the
advantage of the force done to her by her in-laws to marry Viswas and the second when she
leaves behind her in-laws and decide to move out and wait for Viswas to return.
Yet another movie Water by Deepa Mehta shows how social oppression operates in
different ways., through various conduits, not only through men of the society but also
through its women2. The entire movie is seen through the eyes of a eight year old child
Chuyia, who is a widow , who is dumped in a widow’s home when her aged husband passes
away. At the ashram she shares her space with widows of various shades and colours: the
obese Madhumathi who is like a keeper of the brothel, younger Shakunthala, a strong but
silent sufferer aware of the injustice in their lives but unable to do anything; young and
beautiful Kalyani who is barely out of her teens and is treated differently by the warden.
Kalyani is allowed not to shave her head off and also receives gifts occasionally as she earns
the livelihood for the ashram through prostitution. In her encounter with Narayan, who is
steeped in Gandhian philosophy, dreams of getting married and moving away from the
ashram. She tries to cross the line of taboo and faces many odds in the society but finally
walks out of the ashram with Narayan to have a new beginning. To make things worse, she
discovers that her saviour is the son of the rich landlords whom she offered her services too.
Kalyani in despair puts an end to her life. The void created by Kalyani’s death is filled by her
another ashram mate Chuyia. She becomes a victim of the lustful old man. Shakunthala ,
rescues Chuyia and sends her away in the train with Narayan. Here, train symbolises
modernity. In this movie there are three widows who transgress the borders of widowhood2
For further information, on critical study of Deepa Mehta’s films, see Manju Jaidka, ‘A Critical Study of Deepa
Mehta’s Triology- Fire, Earth and Water,’ Readworthy Publications, 2011, 63.
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one is Kalyani (though she is shocked at the other end) second is Chuyia and third is
Shakunthala, who helps Chuyia to escape from the injustice and proves to be a very strong
character though she herself does not break the barrier but opposes to the injustice that has
happen with her.
A similar character like Shakunthala can be seen in a Kannada movie Phaniyamma
directed by Mrs.Prema Karanth in 1982 with the character Phaniyamma, a widow at the age
of nine and continues living as a widow till the age of 108. Phaniyamma is similar to the
character os Shakunthala in a way that she does not protest for the inhuman treatment that
is given to her but protects and fights for a 16 year old widow Dakshayini, when she is being
taken to shave her head off. The film is based on M.K Indira’s novella Phaniyamma. It
narrates the story of a relative of the author. The movie starts with the birth of
Phaniyamma in 1844 in a village in Malenadu, the region in interior Karnataka. It was a big
joint family; there was no count of how many people lived in the house. At her birth it was
said that Phaniyamma would live a long and fulfilled life, would bear many sons. There was
one mistake in the horoscope that was cast at the birth. The birth time was not noted
properly by the old man who had sat for hours waiting at the door of the delivery room. He
had dozed off, and did not notice that the cup of water he used to keep track of time had
got emptied. Phaniyamma grew up in the big family, learnt all the things that a young girl
was supposed to learn. When she was nine years old, she was married off to fifteen year old
Nanjunda. Just a few months later, Nanjunda died, bitten by a cobra. The couple had met
only during their wedding. Most probably they had not even dared to look at one another at
that time.
Phaniyamma had become a widow and had to pay for it for the rest of her life. The
first things that were done to her was to break the glass bangles that she was wearing, to
tear off the mangalya (the special chain a woman wears as a sign of being married), to wipe
off the kumkum on her forehead. From then on she had to wear only white saris, and could
eat only once a day. Phaniyamma's head was shaved off on the fourth day after she started
menstruating. The people around her made sure that she looked as ugly as she could. They
made sure that all desires that could arise in her were nipped before they even became
buds.
Phaniyamma lived for 108 years, spending her life in one or the other relative's
house. She was shown love and affection by all the members of her family. She was
respected, perhaps because she always held a helping hand to everyone. She never talked
badly of any body, never hurt anybody. And she had accepted that she had no right to show
- or to have- any desire, any ambition, any worldly thought. Still she did what she could to
right the wrong in the society. It was as if her doing the right things - like saving a girl of the
untouchable caste from a difficult delivery, like trying to prevent the shaving off the head of
16 year old Dakshayini when she became a widow. This is a sign where Phaniyamma is seen
to atone for the wrongs done to her. Phaniyamma did not perhaps think of what was right,
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what was wrong, nor of how to atone the wrong. She just behaved in what she considered
to be the human way.
In yet another movie, Prem Rog directed by Raj Kapoor shows how the people of the
upper class dominate in the society by circulating illogical traditional customs relating to
caste, religion and culture and makes the life of widows miserable. The film narrates the
story of Manorama, a girl born in a rich Takur family who is being married to a rich and
handsome Thakur. unfortunately, her husband dies the next day of marriage and she
becomes a widow. Her elder brother-in-law rapes her which leads to her return to her
parent’s house. It is Devdhar, an orphan and who had deep friendship with Manorama in
their childhood, decides to rebuild Manorama’s lost life back. Manorama initially is reluctant
but Devdhar being strong enough opposes all norms of the all system against widows and
revives Manorama’s lost faith in life and love. Manorama is finally seen to break the barriers
of widowhood and marries Devdhar.
India is known as the land of vast natural beauty, ancient tradition and beguiling
intrigue, great religious texts. Today known as Modern India, a nation where a highly-skilled
and highly-technical environment. But have we forgotten with a larger provincial population
that is steeped in tradition, superstition and religious dogma. Have we forgotten that the socalled great religious texts dictate the norms to every walks of life and makes the life of
widows miserable. Well widows!!!! Who are they? The ones who have been married at the
age of 8-15 when they don’t know the meaning of husband? The ones who don’t know why
their head is being shaved off? The ones who don’t know why they are made to wear white
saree ad eat only once? Widows in India are considered to be the most marginalised people
who face a future that offers virtually no hope. They have been ostracized by society,
detached from their families, economically deprived and reduced to non-entities by
tradition. I would say that, widows are trebly oppressed. One, because she belongs to a
particular group of people who strictly follow the religious norms, second, because she is a
woman and third, because she is a widow who is considered to have committed a sin which
has resulted in the death of her husband.
Its well said by Mother Theresa:
"The greatest disease and the greatest suffering is to be unwanted, unloved, uncared for, to
be shunned by everybody, to be just nobody"
I slept and dreamed that life was all joy.
I woke and saw that life was but service.
I served and understood that service was joy."
Tagore - opening line from White Rainbow film
Why Widows? Why India? Why White Rainbow?
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Once there, the unfortunate widows are exploited by the town which profits off the
various activities revolving around it being a place of pilgrimage. Each day thousands of
people come to worship in the over 4000 temples in the city. Widows can survive by
chanting in the ashrams 4 hours in the morning and 4 hours in the evening. They literally
"sing for their supper".
The widows lives revolve around chanting all day, seeking shelter, and waiting to die,
praying that their next life will be better. "No joy, no color, like white rainbows." But if you
look at it in reverse all the colors of the rainbow actually come from white light as it passes
through a prism. That is why White Rainbow - we want to shift their perspective, from
despair to joy, because we believe that they are not unlucky or unworthy, but that they
should be loved and cherished.
Widowhood is not an uncomfortable state of life in India- it’s more a living death.
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Harlem Renaissance- African American’s Cultural Identity
Dr. Y. Nirmala Devi
“Be as proud of your race today as our fathers were in the days, of yore; we
have a beautiful history and we shall create another in the future that will astonish the
world” said Garvey. His words have proved to be true. Africans in America, though a sect of
uprooted people, have proved their worth in various fields. It is a great paradox that, 100
years before, they are not considered as human beings but now they are an important part
of the society. The best example for that is the president of America, Barak Obama, AfroAmerican. He shatters more than 200 years of history. In earlier, when blacks were brought
to America, they were treated well. They signed a written contract and were known as
indentured slaves. They were bound to the master for a specified period, after which they
would become masters. Colour discrimination was not there in the beginning. But, Longterm servitude established in 1640 slowly developed into slavery systems.
For slaves, life was not an easy one in America. They compelled to work for long
hours without any respite. Food and clothing were inadequate supply, while shelter was just
an apology for housing. The slaves were in control by rules and regulations formed by the
owners. The slaves lost their human identity. They became almost like inanimate objects fit
for possession. There is a limit to one’s patience and they started to revolt. The civil war in
1861 played an important of Blacks’ position in life. In civil war, Northern states
concentrated on industries, were against slavery where as southern states which utilized
Black’s labour were in favor of slavery. Though Northern colonies emerged victorious, the
southern states had retained them as servants for a long time. Slavery was abolished, in
letter, not in spirit. Although .The emancipated slaves had no education. They were not
trained to do anything useful.
The freed slaves demanded equality of rights and opportunities. The Black became
the largest minority group. Hundreds of thousands of Black Americans moved from an
economically depressed rural south to industrial cities of the north to take advantage of the
employment opportunities created by World War I. As more and more educated and
socially conscious Blacks settled in New York’s neighborhood of Harlem, It developed into
the political and cultural centre of Black America. During the 1910s new political agenda
advocating racial equality arose in the African-American community. The efforts of Black
nationalist Marcus Garvey, whose “Back to Africa” inspired racial pride among working-class
in the limited states in the 1920s were reflected in the new agenda.
At the same time, African-American literature was developing steadily. The poetry of
Paul Lawrence Dunbar and the novels of Charles W. Chesnutt were works of African
American which received national recognition. Reality of Black life in America and the
struggle for racial identity were described in the works of writers like James Weldon
Johnson, Claude Mckay. Mckay’s volume of poetry Harlem shadows (1922) became one of
the first works by a black writer to be published by a recognized publisher. Jean Toomer’s
Cane (1923) exposed the life of Americans Blacks in the rural South and urban North. Jessie
Fauset’s There is Confusion (1924) depicted middle-class life among Black American’s
perspective. These three works laid the foundation for the Harlem Renaissance. In addition
to that, two events in 1924 and 1926 launched the Harlem Renaissance. One was Charles S.
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Johnson of the National Urban League hosted a party to the young writers and introduced
them to the White literary establishment, Survey Graphic which was interested in cultural
pluralism. It produced a Harlem issue interested in defining the aesthetic of Black literature
and art. Later this special issue was expanded into a book The New Negro which became
the landmark anthology of the age. The second event was Nigger Heaven by white novelist
Carl van Vechten. The book was a popular exposition of Harlem life. In the autumn of 1920 a
group of young black writers produced their own literary magazine Fire. It encouraged many
young people to come up with new ideas and thoughts.
Harlem renaissance was a major modern cultural and literary movement of Black
Americans. Many writers were concerned with proving that Blacks could also create high
culture. The Black artists wanted to express themselves freely, no matter what the Black
Public or White public thought. Harlem symbolizes the afro-American’s coming of age and
became a great concentration of blacks. It was the moment when the past of slavery and
servility were declared dead. The blacks considered Harlem as a platform from which their
new voice would be heard to the world. According to the conception of White America the
black is simple, indolent, docile peasant- singing, dancing, laughing and weeping child. This is
in the brighter light. In the darker light he is an impulsive, irrational, passionate savage who
wants to be cultured and hates white man’s superiority. During the Harlem Renaissance the
real pictures of blacks were portrayed. A new awareness existed for the blacks and
possibilities to write novels, poetry and plays. In this sense, the Renaissance was not rebirth
but a first birth for Afro-Americans in literature. The American Blacks had been recognized
and respected for their literary achievements. The Blacks made use of their literary heritage
and culture.
Without cultural identity, a man can not define himself. For Self-definition a man can
not say who he is, except by referring the past. The long-term slavery in America caused a
great disaster to the Blacks in a number of ways. It destroyed his tribal and family ties. The
Blacks had no name, no heritage, no ancestors and no pride. It leads to the question of AfroAmerican identity in at the heart of the Blacks. This great hurdle came to an end during the
Harlem Renaissance period. It was a state of mind. The writers like Alain Locke, Countee
Cullen, Jean Toomer, Claude Mckay, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, Lorraine
Hansberry, Richard etc., shared a common sense of community. Faced with the past of
slavery and a present of racism the writers found it was a task to be part of an American
future that honoured its own percepts. The aim of the Blacks was to forge a black identity
within the American cultural context.
Alain Locke was the first person to call the Black Arts Movement a Renaissance. He
also became its major interpreter. He contended that a spirit of cultural nationalism based
on pride in the Negro’s own traditions and folk arts led to a desire for self-determination
and an outburst of creative expression. He wrote The New Negro which contained stories,
poems, plays and many essays. Locke’s optimism in this book reflects the idealism of the
American progressive reformers. He believed that the old Negro had become more of a
myth than a man. At the same time Locke saw the New Negro nourishing his racial roots and
responding keenly to his responsibilities as a participant in the American experience. He
suggested a well-balanced and flexible approach for the black writer to transform the
richness and diversity and the anguish of the Black American experience into the stuff of art
and literature. Locke tried to get his views across to the younger Renaissance poets and
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novelists. Jean Toomer, Countee Cullen, Langston Hughes, Rudolph Fisher were some of the
writers who received encouragement from him.
The writers did not follow any common literary style. It was a movement of
individual writers, each approaching the problem of black literature from a personal
perspective. Most of the writers shared a middle-class background and all of them felt a
deep sense of racial pride. They wanted to find a black identity with in American cultural
context. However, they did not attempt to form a tightly knit movement with a well-knit
ideology, political or literary. Langston Hughes captured the essence of the Harlem
Renaissance in his essay,” The Negro Artist and the Racial Mountain”,
“We younger Negro artists, now intend to express our individual dark-skinned selves
without fear or shame. If White people are pleased we are glad. If they are not, it doesn’t
matter. We know we are beautiful .and ugly too. We will build our temples tomorrow.
Strong as we know how, and we stand on top of the mountain free within ourselves”
The literary works of the Harlem Renaissance were products of their racial
consciousness. Most of the writers dealt only with the blacks’ theme. But the treatment of
colour and culture varied from person to person. W.E.B. Du Bois was the central figure of
the Renaissance. In a collection of essays, The Souls of Blacks, he diagnosed the plight of
black people in America. For the first time the blacks were described with dignity. Langston
Hughes asserted that his words were like those from the Bible. Writers like Claude Mckay
asserted that the blacks should lead. He was considered as the icon of the black
consciousness. His words urging them to move forward served as a beacon light to the
downtrodden blacks who were making an attempt at re-awakening. James Weldon Johnson
was the elder statesman and the ‘Renaissance man of the Harlem Renaissance . His God’s
Trombones, a sequence of sermons captures the generic and at the same time highly
individual voice of the Negro preacher. His “Lift Every Voice And Sing” was sung as “The
Negro National Anthem”.
Langston Hughes was another important poet during Harlem Renaissance. As his
manner of writing, he used black’s tradition of folk music and song spirituals, jazz and blues
in poems. His matter was always revolved around on them. As he is the poet of his people,
he mentioned every aspects of blacks’ life. He commented on the social scenario in his
poems and presented the grim reality of life in the south. The blacks were lynched and there
seemed to be no justice in God’s world. Protest was the dominant theme of his poetry. His
poetry depicted America as a cage, a monster, and the black man as an alienated exiled man
groping in the dark for reconnection with his African past. A grand finale to the black-white
relationship is seen in the poem “Brothers”
We’re related_you and I
You from the west Indies
I from Kentucky
Kinsmen _you and I
Not only poetry, the theatre too played an important role in shaping afro-American
literature. During Harlem Renaissance, though black playwrights were in the learning stage
of their craft, playwrights like Wallace Thurman (Harlem, 1922) Hall Johnson (Run Little
Children,1932) and Langston Hughes (Mulatto) made great strides in their craft and their
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plays produced for larger audiences on Broadway. These dramas changed the character of
black American literature from conventional imitations of White writers to sophisticated
explorations of black culture and literature of protest which revealed a new confidence and
racial pride. Drama as a genre gives voice to the aspirations and frustrations of the people.
Lorraine Hansberry was the most important figure among the play wrights. She broke the
fetters of the narrow black and white conflict and focused her attention on wider, social
issues. Her plays Raisin in the sun, The Drinking Guard and Les Blancs were very popular
plays. It changed the scope of black theatre in America and exposed the underlying
resentment and rage of blacks against centuries of oppression and discrimination by the
white World.
The novels too reflected the color and class barriers. Harlem became the testing
ground for clashing ideas. It is the fountainhead of mass movements and it gave vitality to
the black movement. Many genres gave expression to the ideals and emotions of the blacks.
The Harlem Renaissance was an important phase of black American self-expression as
publishers for the first time opened their doors to black poets and novelists. The novels of
this period reflect an extraordinary range of thinking on the basic issues of black American
existence. The novels reflected the colour, caste and class barriers. There was not much of
patronage for the Harlem renaissance even from the blacks as the black middle class did not
support it morally. However, Harlem became the magnet for the Negro intellectual – it
became their real stamping ground.
The Afro-American novel was written by Americans of African ancestry and it
reflected the dilemmas and responses of the creative imagination to the Blacks’ social
experience in America. The novels were not just novels of protest. They displayed the
sensibility and sensitivity of the blacks. The Afro-American novel acted as an essentially a
social and human document which dealt with man and the social milieu. Richard Wright,
Zora Neale Hurston, Ralph Ellison were the important figures in Afro-American novels.
Black Americans during the 1920s excelled in fields other than literature. For
example, Jazz music as a central element of American culture, had its roots in Black culture.
In its early beginnings jazz was looked critically upon by parts of the white population, who
considered jazz and ragtime rhythms to be savage crash and bang. Its expressive and
pulsating style initially served racial stereotypes in the public mind and was widely
encountered with skeptical rejection. But during the 1920s and 1930s jazz gained
considerably in popularity and aroused increasing interest in young whites who were
attracted by the artistic, personal as well as cultural freedom of expression, of this new
musical form. Important jazz pianists such as Fats Waller, and Art Tatum played music at
house parties and other gatherings in Manhattan, making music an integral part of the black
experience in the urban north. Today, Jazz music is regarded as an integral and vibrant part
of American culture, the unique native music of America, a worldwide representative of
Afro-American culture. A compilation article appearing in the New York Times in 1923
proclaimed jazz to be “A contribution of America Arts. It is recognized the world over as part
of a musical folk lore of this country: it is thoroughly and typically American as the Monroe
Doctrine or baseball “. In the world of visual art, the leading graphic artist, and illustrator for
many of James Johnson’s works was Aaron Douglas. In northern cities, black artists such as
Douglas wanted to capture their people’s movement, energy and soul as jazz musicians did.
He was recognized as the best well known painter of Harlem Renaissance. Each of his
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paintings was done in a flat, hard-edge style that used themes from Negro spirituals, the
Bible and African and Black American customs. He transferred African art into American
culture. Like him, Palmer Hayden, William Johnson and Warrick Fuller were prominent
figures in the visual art. In the time before the Harlem Renaissance, being professional artist
was not a choice for black Americans. Moreover, Jim Crow Laws in the south separated
blacks from the main stream of American life. The Ku Klux Klan and other violently
oppressive White groups extended the separation. But, the Harlem Renaissance paved the
way for the young artists to prove their talents.
The Harlem Renaissance as a movement represented birth as well as rebirth of
African American culture in the United States. As a product of black urban migration and
black Americans’ disappointment with racism in the United States, the Renaissance was
aimed at revitalizing black culture with pride. In political life, literature, music, visual art and
other cultural areas, African Americans in the 1920s put forth their individual talents. The
Harlem Renaissance changed forever the dynamics of African American arts and literature in
the United States. The writers that followed in the 1930s and 1940s found that publishers
and the public were more open to African American literature than they had been at the
beginning of the century. Furthermore, the existence of the body of African American
literature from the Renaissance inspired writers such as Ralph Ellison and Richard Wright to
pursue literary careers in the late 1930s and 1940s. The outpouring of African American
literature of the 1980s and 1990s by such writers as Alice Walker and Toni Morrison also
had its roots in the writing of the Harlem Renaissance.For thousands of blacks around the
world, the Harlem Renaissance was proof that the blacks contributed their culture and
literature in American stream.
References:
Bain Mildred and Ervin Lewis,ed.( 1977) ,From Freedom to Freedom. NewYork:Random
House,
Bigsby C.W.E.(1985),” Black Theatre”. A Critical introduction to 20th Century American
Drama.
3 vols.cambridge:Cambridge University Press, 375-387.
Bigsby,C.W.E.(1980),” Black Drama : The Public Voice” . The Second Renaissance.
London:Greenwood Press
Franklin,John Hope.(1988) From Slavery To Freedom.New York:Knopf.
Huggins, Nathan Irvin. (1971),Harlem Renaissance. New York: Oxford University Press.
Kent, George E.(1972), Blackness and the Adventure of Western Culture.
Chicago:Third World Press
Kramer, Victor A,ed.(1987) The Harlem Renaissance Re-examined. New York: AMS Press.
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The Portrayal of Criminals in the Short Stories Of O’Henry
C. Arun
Introduction:
O’Henry wrote tight, well crafted stories; almost stick in their adroit contrivance. He
was a master of surprise ending, or twist in the tail. He lived a short period during the last
part of the nineteenth century and the first decade of the twentieth century. O’Henry had
learnt a lot from the prisoners. His stories depict the life and background of the prisoners.
He had become fascinated by their petty thieving and ignorance. The prisoners suffered
without guidance. In the world of criminals, one would outwit the other; one criminal would
go to the extent of betraying the other in order to protect him. The following stories
illustrate the lives of thieves. They usually change to lead a good citizen’s life. They are
connected with the life of the author.
The Portrayal of Criminals in his Short Stories:
In ‘Jeff Peters, as personal Magnet’, Jeff Peters was selling liniments cough mixture,
resurrection bitters and a compound in the disguise of Dr.Wanghhoo. Andy Tucker who was
a criminal and a professional rival betrayed Jeff on the pretext that he was selling his
mixtures without a license. Andy also invented a situation that the mayor was suffering from
a mysterious disease and asked the cops to bring Jeff to cure it. Jeff was brought in; the
disease of the mayor was cured in two sittings. But Jeff was arrested on a charge that he
had no license.
While in prison, O’Henry learns that there were three notorious thieves namely Jeff
Peters, Alfred E.Ricks and Bill Basset. O’Henry writes about them in “The Man Higher up”.
Each of the thieves is very clever in his own way. They indulged in thieving miraculously and
mysteriously. In this story one would overdo the other. For these robbers, the society is an
unlocked treasure house from which they would get money, women and food in no time.
O’Henry also highlights that the thieves are quick, sharp and intelligent; they could escape
from law, society and punishment or lose anything to save themselves; they also enjoyed
riches and comforts. They lead a civilian life easily.
In yet another story ‘Conscience in Art’ O’Henry portrays Andy Tucker, a greatcheat. In Pittsburg there was Corelius Scudder, a millionaire. He sold an article for twenty
five dollars and the same article was sold back to the same rich dunce for twenty five
thousand dollars afterwards. O’Henry points out that the millionaire makes money, but the
robbers are very careful and intelligent to cheat others in a socially acceptable way. The
robbers feign to be good, innocent, sincere, believable and they also know the psychology of
the people. They study the weaknesses of the individuals and collective conscience of the
people. Not even an iota of their behaviour or conduct is suspected. They cheat the rich.
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Next, ‘The Dream’ is the portrayal of a confident and poised criminal called Murray,
he is condemned to death. At the time of execution, he was calm. The accusation, the trial,
the death penalty, the little cottage, the sunlight, the bower of flowers and the women with
a child, the execution room and the electric chair were all a dream; “ Life is a dream”,
O’Henry’s philosophy is that life is a little dream. The culprit is like a great philosopher.
In a ‘Retrieved Reformation’ Jimmy Valentine was let off after four years of
imprisonment. He was given clothes, a rail road ticket, and five dollars to rehabilitate
himself. He went to the restaurant to stay; there he had a suit case containing the finest set
of burglar’s tools, drills, punches, braces, bits, clamps and augers. In Elmore, he was found
with his suitcase. There he met Annabel Adams, the daughter Mr. Adam, a banker; he fell in
love with her; she too loved him. He changed his name to Ralph D. Spencer and started a
shoe mart. His business was fully furnished. He also got the consent of Mr. Adam and the
engagement was over. They are likely to get married.
One day he dined with Adams. That day he had brought the kit to be given to his old
friend Bill, another thief. He had also confessed in a letter that he was bidding farewell to his
old job. That day Annabel’s married sister had come with her two kids, Agatha and May.
Jimmy was shown the office and the vault. The two children were playing; one child hid in
the vault and locked it from within. In minutes the child must be saved otherwise, the child
would die of suffocation. On the request of Annabel, immediately Jimmy opened the vault
with the help of the tools and saved the child. There was Ben Price, the detective. He did not
suspect him, but wanted him to be honest; Jimmy was ready for the arrest. But it does not
happen. O’Henry is for such reformation and excuse. One ought to change like Jimmy. There
should also be Ben Prices to excuse. O’Henry highlights different types of laws existing; in
Law and Order the court administrated one set of laws; another set was administrated by
the cops; the politician evolved their own laws; the criminals had different laws; there
existed yet another external law above all the people, the natural laws. This was firmly
believed by O’Henry. Jimmy’s transformation is what the author wants to happen.
In ‘A Double-Dyed Deceiver’, Sprague Dalton alias the kid was a killer, a gambler, a
cheat and a rogue at the age of twenty one. While playing the poker game, three avengers
tried to over take him; but he escaped and wanted to have a long sleep on the mesquite
grass. Then he took the passenger train and boarded a ship; finally he came to Buenas
Tierras, where he met Mr.Thacker, the US consul and elaborated the killing of a Mexican
white man, the kid wanted to take rest and enjoy the beauty of glorious morning and
marigolds; after examining his hard hand, Thacker narrated the story of the rich, old couple,
Santos Uriques. They owned gold mines; they had lost their only child, twelve years ago.
Now, the kid could be introduced as their lost child, after some time he could get the
money. Both could share the money and escape.
Thacker introduced the kid as their son. Senior Urique felt very happy. The mother
looked for tattoo; she found it on his arm. She shed tears. The kid was taken to their house.
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The kid was given respectable dress, jewels and a diamond ring. The prodigal son became
the natural devoted son. Next when he met Mr. Thacker, he told him that his adopted
father gave him the key of the safe, where he kept the money. Thacker warned him that he
would be beaten to death; if he was exposed. But the kid asked Thacker to call him, Don
Francisco Urique. When Thacker repeated that he would expose him, the kid took his 45
revolver and held it near his throat. Thacker was shocked. Again he insisted Thacker to call
him by his new name, Don Francisco Urique. He was found talking Spanish fluently with his
mother. Don Francisco Urique is the phoenix of Spraque Dalton. Criminals should change
their hearts and live a decent life like Dalton. O’Henry firmly believes in such reformation
and jail terms would not change the hearts of the criminals. The youngsters when insulted
on their parentage, they went to the extent of killing. O’Henry administers an idea that the
elders should not insult the young about their unknown parents.
O’ Henry has a soft-corner for the poor; here are a few stories illustrated in that vein.
As in ‘The Halberdier of the Little Rheinchloss’ he juxtaposes a poor waiter, who was made
to stand like a statue at the entrance of the hotel and an arrogant, rich girl who wanted Sir
Percival, the waiter, to serve her. The girl realizes her mistake; the old man pointed out that
the insolent, pampered aristocrats did anything they liked because of money. In the story,
the poor; helped the poor; the rich realized only much later in their lifetime. The poor are
associated with the life of the author. He had a sympathetic heart, especially for the hard
working poor.
Again there was a myth created by the people about a notorious marauder; he was a
terror in the border; he was called ‘Black Eagle’ in ‘The Passing of Black Eagle’. O’Henry
portrays the activities of the criminal nick named ‘Black Eagle” in holding up the train.
Chicken Ruggles is otherwise known as Black Eagle’, entered the box car of the train; instead
of giving signal to the other criminals, he forgets himself in the pleasant smell of the room,
which takes him to the memories of the past. Thus O’ Henry points out that the criminals
forget their target. Forgetting to do the intended crime is a good sign of life.
Conclusion:
O’Henry presented beautifully the life and background of criminals. He had different
passion and soft corner for them. It is believed that from his stories, criminals especially
thieves are not born they were made by the situation. He observed them keenly in the short
period and portrayed them beautiful manner to stick in the reader’s mind in long time.
Wholeheartedly he dealt with different types of thieves who were closely associated with
him. He depicted that thieves had their own way and law of living.
References:
Abrams, M.H. A Glossary of Literary Terms. Madras: Macmillan, 1987.
Barry, Peter. Beginning Theory: An Introduction to Literary and Cultural Theory.
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Manchester: Manchester Univ. Press, 1995.
Booth, Wayne C. The Rhetoric of Fiction Chicago: Univ. of Chicago Press, 1961.
Lodge, David, ed. 20th Century Literary Criticism: A Reader. London: Longman,1972.
Lowenthal, Leo. Literature, Popular Culture and Society. Palo Alto, CA: Pacific, 1961.
Maclver, R.M. and Charles H. Page.Society: An Introductory Analysis. Madras: Macmillan,
1986.
Murfin, Ross and Supria M. Ray. The Bedford Glossary of Critical and Literary Terms. Boston:
Bedeford/St.Martin’s, 1998.
Perrine, Laurence. Literature: Structure, Sound, and Sense. New York: Harcourt,1978.
Rahv,Philip. “Fiction and the Criticism of Fiction,” Kenyon Review.XVIII, 1956.276-299.
Reichert, John. Making Sense of Literature. Chicago: U of Chicago P,1977.
Sethuraman, V.S. ed. Contemporary Criticism: An Anthology. Chennai: Macmillan, 1989.
Wimsatt, William K., Jr. and Cleanth Brooks. Literary Criticism: A Short History. New Delhi:
Oxford&IBH Pub.Co.Pvt.ltd. 1957.
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‘To be or not to be’: concern of women in Githa Hariharan’s
The Thousand Faces of Night
S. Ramanathan
Introduction:
The famous and oft quoted line of Shakespeare that occurs in his play Hamlet,
alluded in the title, if clearly seen one of the best embodiment of existential crisis of the
character that was widely criticized by the Shakespearean critics. Hamlet was put in the
existential agony because he came to know that his father was assassinated by his uncle. So
he need desperately fight against his uncle. In the sphere every human being is put in the
existential dilemma of to live or not to live, as the daily course of their living and bread
winning become immensely difficult and complex affair. That too for women it becomes
even more difficult in the male dominated, patriarchal and male oriented society. This essay
analyses the basic tenants of the women’s private and public world exhibited in the society
in general and through the eyes of Githa Hariharan in particular.
Etymological analysis shows that the word ‘existentialism’ seems to have been
coined by the French philosopher Gabriel Marcel in the mid-1940s from the Danish
‘existents-forhold’ meaning condition of existence. Existentialism is a philosophical
movement that emerged during the 19th and 20th century. Literally speaking, existentialism
is the theory that humans are free and responsible for their own actions in a world without
meaning.
Human life has been a complex and a multifaceted reality defying conceptual
formulation and hence the contemporary mind has been perennially engaged in pursuit of
knowledge seeking to impose meaning on the chaos of experience, shape an orderly picture
of life and evolve coherent patterns of thought from overabundance of ardent observation
to comprehend man's existence. Existence has never been an easy ordeal for man for it
correlates with his struggle for survival in the universe materialistically, psychically and
spiritually. The formidable tasks he has faced in life, especially during World War II has
stimulated despair and frustration, set forth much difficult questions in his life about
freedom and choice of freedom, incited a penchant to die and finally led to the making of a
philosophy in the name of Existentialism that attained tremendous popularity in Europe,
particularly in France. It is essentially associated with the condition of man, his act of living,
his state of being free and the directions he takes to use his freedom in reciprocation to his
wider experiences and enormous challenges he encounters in the universe that is drastically
undergoing changes.
Existentialism, a sophisticated philosophy that deals with the definite attitude of
looking at life, recently has been simplified and applied to all sorts of people and activities
that are tenuously connected with existentialism. It is because there is no common body of
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doctrine to which all existentialists subscribe. For this reason existentialism has been
described by John Macquarrie, “not as a philosophy but as a style of philosophizing” (14). It
is a style that allows those who follow it to hold different convictions about the world and
man‘s life in it. At the same time we find a unity in their diverse thinking. They all in
common belong to the family of existentialists, concentrating on some themes, commonly
occurring in most of the works of art and literature. Such themes as freedom, choice,
decision and responsibility are prominent in all existentialist philosophers. The philosophy
begins from man and his existence as a subject and not an object. The existentialists think
passionately about man‘s existence and treat him not only as a thinking subject but an
initiator of action and a centre of feeling. Miguel de Unamuno‘s definition to philosophy and
philosophers justifies the passionate behaviour of the existentialists:
“Philosophy is a product of the humanity of each philosopher, and each philosopher
is a man of flesh and bone who addresses himself to other men of flesh and bone
like himself. And, let him do what he will, he philosophizes not with reason only, but
with the will, with the whole soul and with the whole body. It is the man who
philosophizes.” (Unameno 28)
Existentialism & Literature:
As a saying goes as “Literature is the mirror of life,” it is not exempted from
portraying the survival strategy of people in the world of turmoil. In the twentieth century
people witnessed incessant technological and scientific development, whereas people left in
the state of chaos and confusions. To the field of literature the concept, existentialism is not
new as it is to philosophy. It finds embodiment in various texts of our Puranas. Northrop
Frye says: “works of literature are not created out of nothing (79).” It may be the result of
societal structures, self identity and lifestyle or of some philosophical ideas.
In Mahabharatha, an Indian epic originally written in Sanskrit and then translated in
other Indian languages, Arjuna request Lord Krishna to station the chariot between the two
armies in the Kurukshetra, so that he may see the warriors on the field. He sees that all of
them are relatives and inquisitively asks Lord Krishna, I don’t find any good in killing one’s
kinsmen. The stress is on ‘kinsmen’. He says: “I would not fight against the, even for the
kingdom of the three worlds; how can I, then fight against them for a few clods on the
Earth?”(qted. by Gandhi 19) Thus Arjuna who came to fight for the kingdom that Pandavas
lost in the hands of Gauravas left in the existential agony, for which the existential
philosopher Lord Krishna provided a detailed explanation in the name of “Karma” and drove
away the existential crisis of Arjuna. And the rest of the whole part of Mahabharatha
constitutes “Bhagavadgitha”.
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In Hamlet also the Prince Hamlet was desperately left in the existential agony just
like Arjuna against his uncle who ruthlessly slaughtered the king of Denmark. He says: “to be
or not to be” (Shakespeare 60). He suffers like anything and he procrastinated wreaking
vengeance on his uncle which brings death, as penalty on him finally as a result of his
existential agony.
Existentialism & Githa Hariharan:
Githa Hariharan, the modern Indian English Fiction writer of our epochs of no
exception in delineating the concept--existential dilemma of women. India is a land where
tradition is mingled with the lives of the people and women are the subjects of tradition.
They are perennially caught in the nexus of tradition and values and that they suffocatingly
suffer in all walks of life especially in the Indian families. Women are harassed and
humiliated by the partial codes and ethics designed by men. The codes are partial because
they do not restrict men and because of these codes women have to sacrifice their wishes
which cause existential dilemma in their minds and results in claustrophobia. Hence their
existential crisis becomes greater and greater.
The novel The Thousand Faces of Night the focuses the existential agony of women.
Primarily it is a story of three major characters—Devi, the heroine; Sita, Devi’s mother and
Mayamma, the care taker cum cook in Mahesh’s house. All the three of them suffer in the
hands of male patriarchy and chauvinism. Hariharan portrays Indian women’s life through
the experiences of these characters.
Devi studies in America, as the story opens. She has a friend, Dan by name. America
is a land where “you can brazenly plead your rights as an individual” (Hariharan 6). She
cannot put up with the American culture. Devi wants to befriend Dan whereas Dan lures to
the beauty of Devi. She thinks about the Indian culture during a encounter between her and
Dan. Having completed her M. A. degree; she returns to India only to fall as a prey to the
tyrannical clutches of the Indian tradition. The Indian tradition forces women to marry. The
spinsters are not given their due in the society in the process of the daily transaction of life
Much against Devi’s wish and for her mother’s sake, she accepted to marry. She becomes
unsociable while she is in her home in Chennai with her mother. She cannot put up with the
age old Indian conventions and tradition.
When God created Adam, the first man and Eve, his counterpart, everything was
well; they conform to the situation in the garden of Eden, whereas on falling into the
treacherous plan of satan, i. e after picking and eating the fruit from the forbidden tree of
knowledge, they could not conform to the atmosphere in the garden. They made the leaves
of fig trees as their dress and hid themselves in the garden behind the tress, when God
arrives. To God’s question Adam replied: “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid
because I am naked; so I am hid” (Genesis 4) . Adam and Eve came to know that they had
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been naked after tasting the fruit as the consequence of which they could not roam in the
garden as before. Their existential agony started and they were driven out of the garden.
Likewise Devi could not conform to the tradition in India, on living in Chennai, she
thinks about the American culture and the mother-daughter relationship in America and
India. Hariharan beautifully narrates these experiences of Devi through her words:
In New Jersey, I had wondered at the easy relationship my friends had with their
mothers. They chatted about boyfriends, they quarreled they kissed. . . Julie
hugged her mother and said casually, ‘I love you Mom!’ I remember my deep
embarrassment, as if I had seen an embrace between lovers.” (13)
“Here in India”, and she further utters, “Amma and I did not touch each other and
we certainly did not talk about love, for each other or any one else” (13). Devi is highly
fondled by the mother daughter relationship. She is not adept to the Indian culture. She
feels lonely even when she is in the company of her mother.
Finally Devi married to Mahesh, a business executive who is often in his tours on the
matters of his business. Devi wants to have Mahesh always with her company. So she
cannot bear with solitude. Devi feels desolated and deserted as she lives in isolation finding
no one to chat with her or to love her. Mahesh does not allow her to read books. He wants
Devi a dutiful Indian wife. Indian wives pass their time in kitchen throughout their life.
Devi’s heart is throbbing and longing for a loving heart. She is exasperated by the
mechanical living of married life. She hates the purposeful love-making.
Unable to bear the confinements of life she elopes with the musician Gopal
fascinated by his music believing that he will love her. But that fellow also lures to the
beauty of Devi. All the people who come into contact with Devi wanted share the bed not
the feelings. In this situation the educated girl’s heart is broken and the crisis becomes
higher. Finally she returns to her mother in the society women are treated as commodities
to be sold and bought in the markets. In the Indian tradition swayamvara is the finest
example for that. Men are not frank; through out the episode of swayamvara nearly all men
rejected her for she is an American educated but no one has the courage to tell face to face
to her. Devi says:
“Some of the others I had met amazed me with their pretence that they were not
shopping for a wife. They chatted and charmed, grilled me about America. While
they looked into my amorously, as if we had met for a romantic purpose, they
sneaked out questions about what food I liked to cook and how many children I
wanted to have.” (23)
Devi always wants a companion to guide her. He has not got her own will and ideas
towards life. In the childhood it is her grandma who moulded and nourished her character
through the stories taken from the Indian epics—Ramayana and Mahabhatha and from the
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puranas. Devi, on listening to the stories developed a protesting tendency towards life. In
the later years she acclaims: I lived a secret life of my own: “I became a woman warrior, a
heroine. I was Devi. I rode a tiger and cut off evil magical demons heads” (41). This mostly
the cause for the existential dilemma that is grown in the mind of Devi. Instead of being a
meek wife, as tradition demands; she imagined herself as a saviour and a messiah. She lives
in a fairy land.
Sita, Devi’s mother is of no exception in falling as prey to the tyrannical
clutches of the Indian tradition and customs. House hold duties like cleaning, washing
clothes, cooking and all are ordained on women whereas men are free from doing this
works. . Before Marriage Sita’s parents taught her to play Veena. She entered her
husband’s house with a Veena as part of her dowry. After completing the household affairs,
which was considered as the foremost duty of the house- wives, she used to play Veena.
One day her father-in-law called her for performing some works before puja in morning. She
could not hear, as she was playing Veena. The father-in-law scolded Sita: “Put the Veena
away. Are you a wife, a daughter-in-law” (30). In a momentary anger and frustration, she
pulled out the strings of veena and vowed not to play the veena again and replied in a
whisper: “yes, I am a wife and a daughter-in-law” (30). Often women have to give up their
talents after marriage. They are not able to survive with the originality.
Mayamma, the caretaker cum cook in mahesh’s house reminds the early days of her
marriage. She was harassed by her mother-in-law for infertility. She suffered a lot in the
hands of her mother-in-law. Not even did she provided her to eat. She explains:
“No, no, Maya. No rice for you today. It’s Friday. No rice today, no vegetables
tomorrow, no tamarind the day after. Stop thinking of food, daughter-in-law,
Think of your womb. Think of your empty rotting womb and pray.” (114)
After delivering a boy Mayamma’s husband left her isolated and went away nowhere. She
was again tortured by her son. Mayamma suffered of the survival strategy, though she takes
life as it comes to her.
Conclusion:
The early part of Indian English fiction hardly found any women writers. As time
moves there was immense growth of women authors who writes for the cause of women in
Indian society like Kamala Markandeya, Anita Desai, Bharathi Mukarjee, Arundhathi Roy,
Jumpha Lahiri, Anjana Appachana, Kiran Desai and others. Githa Hariharan is one such
writer who attacks the Indian society from the traditional point of view. Though hailing from
a traditional Brahmin family, she works for the emancipation of women through her fictions.
She receives the common wealth prize for the first debut novel for The Thousand Faces of
Night. Existentialism is the philosophic doctrine of beliefs pertaining to absolute freedom of
choice. The living strategies of people in the arena of world in particular their field; they
want o establish an identity of their own. The three women in the fiction, Devi, Mayamma
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and Sita are the embodiments of the typical Indian women who suffer a lot during her daily
transaction of life. They are not granted freedom of their choice during the daily transaction
of their life. For example Devi marries much against her will; she is longing for a loving heart
but none is ready to live her instead all the characters she comes across lure her beauty;
mayamma is humiliated at the hands of her husband, her mother-in-law and later by her
son; Sita, losing her husband leads a secluded life. All three women lose their identity. They
run to all the corners seeking a survival strategy but find nothing and they suffocate during
the day-to-day life. Finally Sita and Mayamma could be adept in the process of making the
family accepting their destiny in the male centered patriarchal society whereas Devi
because of her American education of about the personal freedom relieves herself from the
clutches of life and come home to live with her mother. All the three are isolated because
they have not chosen a correct survival strategy. They struggle to create an identity for
themselves in their family and in the process the lost themselves. For them, marriage is not
grown as a delicate sapling.
References:
Primary Sources:
Hariharan, Githa. The Thousand Faces of Night. NewDelhi: Penquin, 1992. Print.
Secondary Sources:
Frye, Northrop." Literary Criterion". The Aims and Methods of Scholarship in Modern
Language and Literature. Ed.James Thorpe. Hyderabad: ASRC, 1979. Print.
Gandhi, M.K. The Bagavad Githa. New delhi: Manu Graphics, 2008. Print.
“Genesis.” The Holy Bible: New International Version. Kenya: International Bible Society,
1973. 3 – 41. Print.
Macquarrie, John. Existentialism. London: Penguin Books.1997. Print.
Shakespeare, William. Hamlet. Ed. A.W. Verity. Cambridge: CUP, 1989. Print.
Unameno, Miguel de The Tragic Sense of Life. Trans. J.E.C. Flitch. New York 1954. Print.
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The Absence of the Domestic in the NCERT Textbook ‘Marigold’ for First
Standard Students
Dr. B. V. Rama Prasad
The aim of this paper is to analyze the English textbook ‘Marigold’ (MG) for 1 st
standard students prepared by NCERT. The paper tries to examine whether gender bias
exists in the textbook. The paper first places the textbook in the context of policies related
to the curriculum by NCERT as outlined in National Curriculum Framework 2005(NCF 05).
Then it explains the criteria used to examine the gender bias in MG, and proceeds to analyze
MG. The paper argues that the domestic sphere and the activities connected with the
domestic sphere are ignored in the textbook. It also argues that the contents of the lessons
are to a great extent gender neutral, but the illustrations show a heavy gender bias.
To begin with, however, we should remember that textbooks are only one of the
means through which gender stereotyping is done in the classrooms. The wider curriculum,
the classroom atmosphere, the actual activities assigned by the teacher in the classroom,
the uniforms prescribed, etc. play a role in the construction of gender. However, by looking
at the textbooks and modifying them to accommodate concerns about gender stereotyping,
some step towards achieving gender equality can be taken. (See Blumberg, 2007: pg. 4)
At the top of the tree, we have the policy makers, and at the bottom of the tree we
have the teachers who teach in the class room. In between, we have the textbook
committee. The policymakers have tried to include the issues of gender in the National
Curriculum Framework, 2005. For example, “Gender justice … must inform all sectors of the
social sciences” (ix); “… specific measures are needed to inculcate greater self-awareness
among boys regarding their behaviour towards girls” (pg. 103). However, gender does not
find a place in the aims of English Language Education (see appendix 1, summary, Language,
pg 127). But “The Position Paper of National Focus Group on Gender Issues in Education”
makes strong recommendations about gender issues in Language classrooms (pg. 67-71),
though there are no specific recommendations regarding textbook content. The Syllabus
Framework (NCERT, 2006) also incorporates gender issues. See, for example, “The proposed
syllabus tends to integrate the concerns related to environment, gender, peace, health,
work and arts” (v); “It is extremely important that textbook writers and teachers begin to
appreciate that the passive and deferential roles generally assigned to women are socioculturally constructed and need to be destroyed as quickly as possible. Voices of women in
all their glory need to find a prominent place in our textbooks and teaching strategies” (5);
“If we wish that our dream of a democratic society should become a reality, we must make
every effort to eliminate gendered construction of knowledge” (pg. 60). Though here again
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there are no specific suggestions to the textbook writers, nor are gender issues included in
Aims and Objectives or in Attitudes to be Nurtured (see pg. 5-8, and 60-62).
We will now deal with the methods used in this paper to analyze the textbook MG.
The paper has drawn insights from some other works done in this area (Blumberg, 2007;
Mirza et al, 2004; Bahuruddin et al, 2011). Keeping in mind the length of this paper, we will
be able to use only some of the criteria used by the above works. We will analyze the
textbook in terms ofa. The number of ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ characters in the lessons
b. The number of male and female species of animals in the lessons
c. The role (active/passive)and the locale (indoor, outdoor) of the boys and the girls
in the lessons
d. The number of ‘boy’ and ‘girl’ characters in the illustrations
e. The role (active/passive)and the locale (indoor, outdoor) of the boys and the girls
in the illustrations
The analysis of the lessons
The textbook contains ten units, each comprising of two lessons, either prose or
poetry. Let us first look at the number of boys and girls as characters in the lessons. Out of
the ten child characters in the lessons, six are boys and four are girls. This 60-40 percentage
need not be treated as evidence of gender bias as ten is a very small number to make
judgment and the difference would have been significant if it was like 80-20. In terms of
locale, out of six boys, three are indoor, two outdoor and one boy moves from indoor to
outdoor. Among four girls, two are outdoor, one indoor, and one moves from indoor to
outdoor. Here again there does not seem to visible gender bias.
In terms of the activities also we do not find gender bias. Among the girls, we have
swinging, going in a merry-go-round, learning to draw, watching a rainbow and painting it;
among boys, we have drying oneself after the bath, watching a bird, sitting below a tree,
making a kite, and watching superman. We may say here that boys are at a disadvantage
because only two boys are actually doing something whereas four are in a passive role (for
the purposes of this paper let us assume that sitting and thinking is a passive activity!),
whereas all the four girls are actively doing something.
However, we should notice one significant thing here. There is an absence of the
‘domestic’ in these lessons. Once a child is shown with a family member, (unit 5, Circle, a girl
learning to draw from grandmother); and there is one lesson in which all the family
members are sitting (unit 6, Our Tree, where father, mother, two sons and a daughter are
eating mango). Out of eleven lessons with child characters, eight show children being on
their own, one shows a child watching the superman and only two have families in them.
Even when the children are in the house, there is an absence of the family. The activities of
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the children also show a similar pattern. Except for one activity where a boy dries himself
after the bath, all other activities can be described as recreational activities. There are no
community activities and no domestic activities. This probably reflects one of the dangers
when we try to include more women in public spaces in the textbooks; the traditional fields
of the ‘home’, and the activities like ‘nurturing’ associated with women may become
neglected and the so called masculine spaces and activities may dominate the content of
the textbook.
In terms of the animal characters used in the textbook, the traditional unmarking for
the masculine is evident. Of the fourteen animal characters used, twelve are male with the
pronoun ‘he’ used with them. Only a turtle and a mosquito are unspecified for gender. Even
a non-animate character like the straw is masculine, where as a beautiful kite that a boy is
making is referred to as she! Thus no conscious effort is made to change the stories to
address gender issues.
The Illustrations
In illustrations accompanying the lessons we will look at illustrations for the lessons,
the illustrations accompanying the exercises, and the side pictures next to the instructions in
the exercises. We will ignore all illustrations that are limited by the content of the lesson,
i.e. if a lesson has a boy as character, we will ignore the illustration of the boy because that
is specified by the lesson itself. We will only look at those illustrations where the choice is
independent of the content.
The very noticeable thing about the illustrations is that all the pictures accompanying
instruction for teacher have female teachers. The side pictures accompanying instructions
for the exercises also show a gender bias. For example, in unit one, lesson ‘Three Little Pigs’,
we have instructions like ‘Let’s Read’, ‘Say Aloud’ etc. Out of the nine pictures
accompanying these instructions, seven are boys, one a girl and in one case it is difficult to
specify. In terms of the characters in all illustrations, forty three are boys and twenty eight
girls. This percentage of 61-39 in favour of boys is significant because we are dealing with a
bigger number here.
In terms of the locale we again see the dominance of the outer space. For boys in 36
cases where the locale could be specified, seven were indoor and 29 outdoor, with the
percentage 19-81 in favour of the outdoor. For girls, in 22 cases where locale could be
specified, three are indoor and 19 outdoor with a percentage of 14-86 in favour of the
outdoor. But with respect to activities, boys seem to have more active roles compared to
girls. Out of the 31 activities that could be specified as active or passive for the boys, 24
were active and 7 passive, with a percentage of 77-23 in favour of the active. Of the 18
activities for girls, only six were active and 12 passive, with a percentage of 33-67 in favour
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of the passive. Some typical illustrations where boys and girls are together show the girl in a
secondary position. The boy takes the fruit from the basket, the girl receives it from her
mother; the boy is flying a kite and the girl is helping with the thread; the boy has climbed
the tree and the girl is receiving the fruits. In a fair, the boys outnumber the girls by 6-3 (54).
On a merry-go-round, boys outnumber the girls by 5-2 (55). Thus there seems to be gender
bias in illustrations.
There are some particular cases of obvious gender bias. In page 112, a list of
professions is given. Among the 10 professions, seven are illustrated with male figures, one that of the astronaut- is unspecified, and two -a doctor and a teacher- are shown as women.
There is no reason why a farmer, a dentist or an artist cannot be illustrated with female
characters. Similarly on page 17, we have the question ‘Do you wear these things?’ and all
the items shown can be worn by either a boy or a girl, but there are no girl specific items.
We have a shirt, but no skirt.
To conclude, the textbook MG shows some awareness of gender issues. The number
and the role of characters in the lessons do not show gender bias, though there is a neglect
of the ‘domestic’. The animal characters tend to be male by an overwhelming percentage. In
the illustrations, there is an obvious gender bias both in terms of the role and the number of
boys and girls. And the absence of the domestic sphere and the neglect of the activities
associated with the domestic sphere is very obvious.
References:
Baharuddin, Jamilah Hani, Yuen Chee Keong,Bahiyah Dato’ HJ. Abdul Hamid, Azhar Jaludin
“Linguistic Sexism and Gender Role Stereotyping in Primary School Science Textbooks of
Qatar” SoLLs.INTEC 2011 Proceedings 1.
Blumberg, Rae Lesser. “Gender Bias in Textbooks: A Hidden Obstacle on the Road to Gender
Equality in Education” Paper commissioned for the EFA Global Monitoring Report 2008,
Education for All by 2015: 2007
Mirza, Munawar S., Hassan Keynan & Fakhar-ud-din “Gender Analysis of School Curriculum
and Text Books” UNESCO, Islamabad, 2004
National Council of Educational Research and Training National Curriculum Framework 2005
Dec 2005
--- . Position Paper: National Focus Group on Gender Issues in Education November 2006
--- . Marigold: A textbook for the First Standard Students NCERT
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Ecofeministic trends in the cross-cultural poetry of A.K.Ramanujan
Dr. C. Kavitha, S. Sushma Raj & Prof. L. Manjula Davidson
Introduction:
A. K. Ramanujan(1929-93) was born to Tamil Brahmin parents, who lived in Kannadaspeaking Mysore and worked for sometime as an English teacher in Kerala. During his stay in
Kerala, he was married to a Syrian Christian, who familiarized him with Malayalam.
Ramanujan, a polyglot, not only translated many classics of Kannada and Tamil into English,
but expatriated himself to America when he joined as a professor in South-Asian studies in
the University of Chicago. He became a leading Indo-American poet in English and
developed a complex trait of Western material-oriented nature and Indian human – related
temperament. Bemused by the situation, Ramanujan himself remarked….in a mock ironic
tone, “….I cannot unlearn conventions of despair….they have their pride…..I must seek and
will find that particular hell only in my Hindu mind”. The newly acquired reason quarreled
with the sentiments, he had inherited from his familial traditions, giving rise to a crosscultural configuration of his poetry. As Satchidanandan (1994) pointed out, ‘his exile in
Chicago only strengthened his sense of the Indian past’.
Sentimental love for mother, grandmother, wife, and sister and the attachment to
non-human world like birds, hens, insects, snakes, cows and dogs, along with the
sanskritized Hindu faiths of birth, death and rebirth dominate the themes of his poems. Lest
‘he be blamed as an orthodox Indian in Chicago, his themes do not eulogize the traditional
past but look with a critical eye and even ridicule some of the issues taken up for poetic
treatment. On the other side, the expatriate wrote poems on modern ecology,
environment, love for non-human nature, feminism, sexual relations and androcentric
themes. No wonder, critics evaluated Ramanujan in a wide range as a poet from
metaphysical moorings to post-colonial deconstruction, with no – political agenda.
Ramakrishna, a critic came closer to the point when he assessed that “A.K.Ramanujan is
different from other expatriates like Naipaul and Salman Rushdie, for his rootedness in
Indian culture and involvement with American culture. He is part of the American-Indian
feminism of 1980s and represent the cross-cultural studies”. Due to the intrinsic values
carefully balanced by Ramanujan, in spite of the spectral divergence of extrinsic ideas,
William Walsh rated the poet as one of the six Indo-Anglian authorities in fiction along with
Mulkraj, R.K.Narayan, Rajarao, Nissim Ezekiel and Parthasarathy.
Present Work:
The alluring poetry of Ramanujan naturally invites different analytical methods for
arriving at the final picture. The expert opinion, in consensus, notes the essential point of
‘kinship with nature’ in Ramanujan’s poems (Rajagapalachary and Ravinder) like “The
Striders, Snakes, Breaded Fish, A river, Chess under the tree, ecology…..etc’.
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Dom Moraes analysed that ‘A.K.Ramanujan represents a sensibility of awareness of
the world as his poetry is ….exploring man’s kinship with nature besides social, familial and
personal relationships….echoing man’s evolutionary relationship with vegetables, animals
and minerals…..”. Kurup the critic, mentions that “the poet asserts oneness of all life on
earth…..the poet hopes to have another birth in the form of a tree “…..with the weight of
honey-hives in his branching and the burlap weave of weaver birds in my hair…”.
Further, Ramanujan evinces his deep sympathy for a most disadvantaged section of
Indian society(Surjeet, D.,)…..the women! In his poem ‘The Opposable Thumb’, he describes
the oppression of women by their husbands. In the ‘Love poems to his wife – 1 and 2’ or his
frequent references to the womankind, vulnerable for the exploitation by man, Ramanujan
appears feministic (R.K.Guptha……). In spite of his traditional – conservative background, he
repeatedly shows the pain for the helplessness of the other gender, against the male
chauvinism. In the poem ‘GURU’, Ramanujan ridicules the unholy nature of a false GURU,
who preached….. “do not forgive the woman of her malice,……you may forgive a weasel of
his tooth….. or a tiger of his claw….but do not give the woman her freedom….”. While it is
easier to identify Ramanujan with feministic anecdotes, it is not difficult to observe his
ecocritical observations. Ecocriticism, is the negation of man as the sole proprietor of
nature. His dominance of nature and his ‘self-centered’ aggressions are condemned. Nonhuman life is equally important, and a balance between the nature and culture of man is an
ecological need. The reflections of such a need in fiction constitute ecocriticism. Comparing
‘nature’ as equal to feminine gender and judging man’s egocentric attitude is termed as
ecofeminism(Legler, G.T.).
Dominance of nature by man and dominance of woman by ‘male’ are similar and
syntactically same, the study of which is ecofeminism as a philosophical category. An
attempt is made by the authors here to affirm the ecofeministic evidences from the oeuvre
of poetry of A.K.Ramanujan, with over 150 poems, analysed. While ‘feminism’ is a
universally understood movement with categories like black feminism, white feminism,
Marxian feminism, radical feminism and sexual feminism, ‘ecofeminism’, the daughter of
ecocriticism, came into existence in the last two decades of the 20th century, originating
from the Western American Universities.
Ecofeminist Literary Criticism
Karen. J Warren, in her edited volume “Ecofeminism: Women, Culture,
Nature(1997)” explains ecofeminism from a variety of cross-cultural perspectives dealing
with how one treats women and non-human natural environment. Though a women –
initiated movement around the globe, it received considerable male support also like Robert
Sessions and Joseph Loer in addition to woman scholars. Gretchen T. Legler exhorted the
critics to reinterpret the human relationships with the natural world, considering the latter
as a woman, molested by avaricious males. Ecofeminists like Holyn Wilson opposed the
Kant’s theory of ‘women and animals’ as inferior ecological beings. Ecofeminists claim that
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the moral claims about human-treatment of nature should not be grounded in traditional
objectionist notions of intrinsic value. Rather, values focusing on chosen communities,
races, regions and personal experiences have to build an ecofeministic theory of nature for
which expressions of poets like A.K.Ramanujan from an exclusive cross-cultural orientation
are necessary evidences of reasoning, Warren suggested that stories of empirical evidences
(both by fact and fiction) are important to assess the intricate relationships between
constructions of nature and constructions of knowledge, desire, power, sexuality, language,
race and gender. She further suggested merger of ecofeminist theory and ecofeministic
literary criticism, which will enable critics and theorists to speak from a position of virtue
and veracity.
Gretchen, mentioned that ecofeminist literary criticism is a hybrid form, a
combination of environmental criticism and feminist literary criticsm, originated during 1970
and 80 decades.
The environmental literary feminism undertakes the task to counter the patriarchal
environmental ethic that has conceptualized land as ‘woman’. Unmasking the metaphorical
links of representing the nature in literature as feminine and exploitation of nature as
masculine, is one of the major objectives. One of the main tasks is to redefine nature-writing
from the old non-fictional, pseudo-scientific method into a humanistic-body representative,
with a cultural view-point, without the perverse model of romanticism, that continued for
centuries. To avoid canonized expressions like ‘virgin landscapes’ and ‘manly-penetrations’
which are not just language and metaphor but lead to conceptual frameworks, leading to
categorise women as indifferent, passive and masochistic stuff. Walker summarises this
realization about the old notions that “beasts cannot feel grief, women cannot think, black
women are lazy, slaves belong to an established institution and children are easily
frightened to be ‘oppressed’, are justified by “natural” facts.
Ecoexpressions
Ramanujan, having lived upto the fag end of the last century, was quite at home with
‘feminism’ and rules of the game. Enormous love and sympathy for the other gender might
have pushed him deep into ‘hatred’ for male-dominance.
In his poem ‘The Opposable Thumb’, he describes the oppression of women by their
husbands. The hegemony and cruelty of men are implied “by the granny’s four fingers lost
to her husbands knifing of temper”. We can understand the sympathy for woman’s
helplessness in the hands of beastly manhood.
‘In the poem “The Breaded Fish”, the poet, instead of swallowing the fish in the
sandwitch, recollects the death of a poor woman on the beach in a yard of cloth, dry rolled
by the ebb, breaded by the grained indifference of sand. Rajagopalachary and Ravinder
considered it as a ‘social concern in A.K.Ramanujan’s poetry, of highest value.
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In the poem ‘Epitaph on a street dog’, the poet describes the selflessness of a street
dog which litters twelve pups and dies feeding them. He capitalizes the word ‘She’ to ascribe
divinity to the dog, the female in nature.
Analysing the ‘Love Poem for a wife -2’, Armstrong.S. points out the poetic sensibility
in the lines “My wife’s face still fast asleep, blessed on by butterfly, snake, strip rope …..by
my only love’s only insatiable envy”.
Lakshmi Raghunandan comments on the poem “ Man and woman in Camera and
out”. The poet’s love for woman is more than the ‘man-woman’ duo. The tree in the poem
symbolizes the love and the man as with nature, inside the black box of camera”. ‘Trees
dropping flowers’ symbolizes the love of man and woman in the danger of imminent
disintegration. Distorted lens focusing ‘half man – half tree’ represents ‘ardhanariswara’(
half man –half woman of God Shiva of Hindu religion) bringing out the close affinity of
‘purusha’ and ‘prakrithi’( the man and nature). Starting with the love for a woman, the poet
landed himself in an ecofeministic air-base. The poet had a smooth landing as he piloted the
craft with caution. Ramanujan’s love for womanhood and love for nature with an
ecosensitive attitude is revealed in the poem “leaky tap after a sister’s wedding” too. When
the sister leaves after the marriage, the poet metaphorically speaks of the pain caused to a
tree by a wood pecker. After all, “he and his sister wished many times that a tree could
shriek or at least writhe like a snake under the beak of the crow….”. The poet’s metaphor
comes closer to the point that a woman and tree are ideally identical.
In his poem titled ‘ecology’, (if not ecofeminism), A.K.Ramanujan brings out the
benevolent view of a woman towards nature, as against a man, the author of
anthropocentricism.
“After the first rains of the years, I would come home in a rage, for I could see from a
mile away…that our three Red Champak trees had burst into flowers….(which) give mother
her blind migraine….with their heavy –hung, street long yellow pollen fog! No door can
shut….no wind could sift…..but mother flashing her temper would not let us cut down the
flowering trees!”.
The mother is allergic to Champak’s pollen and prepared to endure the migraine pain
but not allow them to cut off by her son (the poet….). That is the feminine reaction to
ecological damage, attempted.
Molly Daniel is not far from truth when he summarized his review on ‘Black Hen’
collection of poems, thus….. ‘A.K.Ramanujan prayed for double vision and found it in the
interconnectedness of vegetable and mineral, man and animal….above all, he found life in
art…..and art in life”. The ‘interconnectedness’ is the soul of the cultured nature of women
in dealing with nature and its culture.
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Towards a synthesis
The presence of trees, flowers, mountains, snakes, birds, storks, ants, bees and flies
in A.K.Ramanujan’s poetry is not just the making of another nature poet. The vulgarity about
the process of fertilizing the cow with a bull in public arrangement is seen by young girls
through holes in windows in the Indian scenario. The poet suggests that the whole show is
only to make young girls learn to accept their role as future mothers in cryptic manner (
Chittaranjan Misra). Misra remarks that the expatriate and local dichotomy disappears and
discovers the same unchanging motherhood among opposing cultural contexts and in the
non-human animal world. The poet feels that the snakes are like ‘terrible aunts’. The poet as
a child does not get rest till they are killed, but his mother gives them milk and father gives
the snake-charmer tips to control them.
In the poem ‘Of mothers among other things’, the poet identifies his mother with an
eagle….her wrinkled hands…..eagle’s two black – pink crippled feet, her saree hung loose
round her emaciated body like a broken feather from the wing of a wounded bird. Obviously
he loved the bird as much as his mother or vice-versa.
Vinay Dharwadker explained the Ramanujan’s philosophical line of double cultured
textuality as… “relation of human body and its relation to natural world are guided by
unique powers of reasons; of reasons gyring with reasons. When he said…… ‘from the soil
we come and finally go into the soil……the poet is caught between the conflicting secular
environmentalism and Hindu position….and resolves as…….. “ the body’s waste matter
should be collected as ‘night soil’ and used to fertilise the orange trees in a municipal
garden…”.
Charles Spretnak’s remark that ‘ecofeminism allows a consideration of the crosscultural and experiential evidence for unitive dimensions of the being stands as a witness for
the Vinay Dharwadkar’s attributes to Ramanujan.
In his poem ‘One more on a deathless theme’, A.K.Ramanujan’s fantastic account of
the body-nature nexus is brought out. “….just as this dog…all day moan at the gate for the
female in the street….will turn cold like her and her nuzzling suitors”.
The poem implies that the phases of life are same for a man or an animal. The
sequence of links from birth, to copulation, to death are common and then beyond, in case
of a human wishing for a rebirth. The man runs to universal God in the kitchens of the
houses now and offers his prayer to the great androgynous God whose ‘One Half is woman’.
Conclusion
In spite of the cross-cultural background of Ramanujan’s poetry, there is a clear
orientation towards the modern scientific view point of nature’s ecology and its being
equated to feministic overtures.
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References:
Armstrong, S., (2011) Poetic Sensibility and Translative Creativity of A.K.Ramanujan., The
Poetry of A.K.Ramanujan ed. M.K.Bhatnagar, Atlantic Pub., New Delhi.
Charles Spretnak: (1997): Radical non-duality in Ecofeminist philosophy., Ecofeminism, Ed.
K.J.Warren, Indiana Univ. Press, U.S.A
Chittaranjan Misra., (2011). Image of family in the poetry of A.K.Ramanujan., The Poetry of
A.K. Ramanujan, Ed. M.K.Bhatnagar, Atlantic Pub., New Delhi.
Daruwalla, K.N(1994) Ramanujan: The Expatriate local., Indian Literature., 162., JulyAug., No. 22.
Gretchen T. Legler., (1997) Ecofeminist Literary Criticism. Ecofeminism Ed.
K.J.Warren., Indiana Univ. Press.
Holyn Wilson., (1997): Kant and Ecofeminism., Ecofeminism Ed. K.J. Warren, Indiana
Univ. Press., U.S.A.
Joseph R. Loer. (1997). Ecofeminism in Kenya: A Chemical Engineer’s Perspective.,
Ecofeminism, Ed. K.J.Warren, Indiana Univ. Press.
Karen J. Warren(1997) Ed. Ecofeminism: Women, Culture, Nature., Indiana Univ.
Press., U.S.A.
Kurup, P.K.J., (1990) The ‘self’ in poetry of A.K.Ramanujan., Contemporary Indian Poetry in
English., Atlantic Publication., New Delhi., P.2011.
Lakshmi Raghunandan, (1990) A.K.Ramanujan: Contemporary Indian Poetry in English.,
Reliance Pub. House, New Delhi.
Molly Daniels., (1995) A note on ‘The Black Hen’ and After., Afterword to Collected Poems
of A.K.Ramanujan., Oxford University Press, New Delhi.
Rajagopalachari, M & Ravinder.S., (2012) Kinship with nature in Ramanujan’s Poetry., The
Poetry of Ramanujan., ed. Bhatnagar., Atlantic pub., New Delhi.
Ramakrishna, D. (2011) Ramanujan’s Credo., The Poetry of A.K.Ramanujan, Ed.
M.K.Bhatnagar, Atlantic Pub., New Delhi.
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Ramanujan, A.K., (2012) Collected Poems., Oxford India Paper backs., Oxford Univ
Press,(third Print), New Delhi.
Robert Sessions Alan., (1997) Ecofeminism and Work., Ecofeminism Ed. K.J.Warren.,
Indiana Univ. Press.
Satchidanandan, K. (1994) Reflections: The World mean., Indian Literature., 162 July – Aug.,
No. 6.
Surjit, D., (1989) First and only sight: The centre and the circles of A.K.Ramanujan Poetry.,
Journal of South Asian Literature, 24.2.P.161.
Vinay Dharwadkar., (2012) Introduction to collected Poems of A.K.Ramanujan, Oxford
Univ.Press, New Delhi.
William Walsh (1973)., Introduction., Readings in Common Wealth Literature., XVIII,
Oxford., Clarendon Press.
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The Pattern: Style, Diction, Imagery and Symbolism of Sylvia Plath’s Writings
P. Sunita Rao
Introduction:
Axes
After whose stroke the wood rings
And the echoes!
Echoes traveling
Off from the centre like horses. (Plath, “Words”, first stanza)
Literary words are like horses without riders with transforming power that flows like blood
jet of a living, throbbing and inspiring heart that keeps on throbbing, symbolizing life’s eternal
aspirations to go on. With fixed viewpoint and established way of expressions, Sylvia Plath moved in
writing with self-consciousness.She was an American poet, novelist and short story writer who
started writing at the age of six and won many awards during and after her lifetime.
Sylvia Plath was born on 27th October 1932 at Jamaica Plain, Boston to Aurelia Schober and
Otto Plath.Sylvia Plath was enormously committed to her academics specially writing. At the college
also she pursued literature and focused on writing. The profession of writing was not considered
rational in the gender oriented society of constructed roles of men and women where she lived. The
set roles of the society included dominant working man and subordinate and inferior wife and
mother. Sylvia Plath never accepted these constructed roles. Plath began keeping a diary from the
age 11, and maintained journals until her suicide. Her adult diaries, starting from her freshman year
at SmithCollege in 1950, were first published in 1980 as The Journals of Sylvia Plath, edited by
Frances McCullough. In 1982, when Smith College acquired Plath’s remaining journals, Sylvia Plath’s
husband Ted Hughes sealed two of them until February 11, 2013, the fiftieth anniversary of Plath's
death.
Nobody would comprehend Plath’s work; none was ready to peer at her work aloof from
any appreciations which caused more frustration to her. Her frustration yielded more and more
refinement in her work. Biographical critics have made much of the move away from the sea at an
early stage of Sylvia’s life, of her reactions to her father’s death, of her resentment towards her
mother and so on. Aurelia Plath was aware of the resentment and noted that Sylvia failed to
understand the way in which she coped with bereavement.
The Pattern of Sylvia Plath’s writings
Sylvia Plath is one of the best known woman poets of the twentieth century. She got fame
and was considered with that of world famous poets like Russian writer Anna Akhamatova or
Chilean writer GabrieMistrala who won the Nobel Prize for Literature. As per Linda Wagner-Martin,
“Sylvia Plath trained all her life for art. She read because, like many word people she loved words
and arrangements of them. But before she was very old, she read to learn how to make those
arrangements for herself. Her first small poem was published when she was eight; from that time
on, she worked diligently-almost voraciously- to home in what made writers, writers.” In 1914 the
poems of Sylvia Plath were printed in the children section of the Boston Herald, the first poem at her
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age of eight. It was a short poem, “about what I see and hear on hot summer nights,” Sylvia
continued to write again and would publish her poems and drawings in the school newspaper in her
junior high school.
Sylvia Plath has long been hailed as a feminist writer of great significance. Ellen Mores a
literary woman writes,“No writer has meant more to the current feminist movement’and still today,
at time when the idea of equality for women is not as radically revolutionary as it has been earlier in
the century. Sylvia Plath is a literary symbol of the women’s right movement.HerPattern of writing
was to weave out her tapestry of poetry with all accuracy of a master artiste and brilliance of a
natural craftsman. She adopted a method as simple and as necessary as breathing and her art went
all the way in preparing acute pieces of beauty in her own direct and perfect pattern. Her unrivalled
mastery at the technical aspect of poetry is her specialty as in poem “ Mirror”:
I am silver and exact. I have no preconceptions.
Whatever I see I swallow immediately
Just as it is, un misted by love or dislike.
I am not cruel, only truthful.
(Plath, The Collected poems of Sylvia Plath 173)
Plath’s extraordinary urge to be alive is evident in her intense involvement with whatever life
offered to her with great much opposition and with the entire artistic arsenal, she could master in
making her heart clean of imperfections, failures and frustrations. Her frustration led her to strive
for perfection in her ensuing work. Her poetic vision was to see the outer world with inner vision and
to view life through broad window of the death as destiny. Thus we can find all types of complexities
and ambivalence created in the process of her writing. She developed her inner urge to pinpoint her
perceptive of whole of the suffering universe with fixed notion of her broad spectrum like
perception. Her tool to tackle mysterious and complicated propositions is through sophisticated art.
Poetry “Mystic” is about speculations on the probable horrors of any confrontation with divine.
Mystic communion with anything outside her was a nightmare for her. Sharp and deadly images, a
statement of tension without its solution, seeking out enemies, defining and dissecting them and
ultimately acquiesce them even after surrender, involved annihilation of self. Her poems were
lyrical, precise and heartbreaking articulation of a totally passive femininity, mentally suppressed,
except in the violence of the poems themselves.
Various critics like George Steiner and A.E.Dyson appreciated Plath’s art of expressing the
situations keeping them still alive. George Steiner writes in his work Dying is an Art that Plath’s last
poems have already passed into legend as both representative and our present tone of emotional
life and unique in their implacable, harsh brilliance. A.E.Dyson characterizes the contemporaneity as
well as universality of her poem in his work and writes:
“In Sylvia Plath’s last poems, as in the work of Robert Lowell and Anne Sexton, we
are reminded that the modern movement, as Kafka himself exemplified it, is not
dead, but still with us,….that an art which ‘does’ confront our present nuclear
world fully and totally must be an art on the brink of the abyss;” (Dyson, On Sylvia
Plath In The Art of Sylvia Plath204)
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Many of the readers and Plath’s critics fail to see a definite purpose in her obsession with
the macabre and went to the extent of branding her as an abnormal and psychical poet. Indeed it
was a bold step of expressing dirt and rot within one’s psyche without hypocrisy are neither her
abnormal nor nihilistic attitudes. She didn’t have escapist attitude to shield personal and universal
evils. Awareness of her psyche and also that of the universe around her was her high moral
character which she flowed in her work. If understanding is developed in the right path one can
easily understand Plath and her other channels as self-expression of her knowledge, her realizations
of the values of life, death and rebirth, love,hatred and rage. Her art is the savior of her own creation
of work. The dubious confessional trend in her work is a breakthrough to come out of all bondages.
She put forth salvation path to her readers through her writing. Her voice was purposeful,
courageous, distinctive blooming clear out of all cacophony of seeming discord:
Within the soul becomes inevitable since no sensitive and intelligent soul can really
fight shy of it any more. Plath’s understanding of this abyss, her terror and
trepidation and final plunge into it to judge the depth , and her fearless plumbing
around, not caring for the exacerbation of hurts it generated- with a determined
wish to transcend all ,is the main purpose of her poetry. (Dyson,On Sylvia Plath in
The Art of Sylvia Plath)
Negotiating Plath’s pattern of writing, vision and theme was unique than any other writer.
Question of imitation arose when her work got recognition and started reaching new heights. The
style she adopted and the honesty shown towards her work attracted many poets and writers and
the craze to imitate Plath’s form of diction developed in them. Plath sought excruciating depth not
only simply elegance but with hard core meaning, difficult to grasp and handle by many of the poets.
Her style and theme are so expertly and sophisticatedly interwoven together that their sequence
naturally followed. Hardly any of her aspiring poets ever welcome the negative, demented and
questionable nature of theme she indulged in. Plath’s style always stayed in some form or the other
in the genre of American literature. Critics always differed with her opinion but they could realize
the truth of her intellectual only after her death. Plath was always thought to be a psychopath and
her works were viewed as immature and baseless. Thus dazzling, madly fragmented woman proved
to be an integrated being. Her mental access was willful, as she was more buffeted by situational
forces which were beyond her control. These forces were not her feminine ideas but were internally
developed like chemical reactions. She used to put the circumstances in Toto. She finally entered
into her forbidden arena of her own psyche staring fixedly at all the repulsions and aspirations of her
creative self. Her perceptions grew larger in range and deeper in sense.
Poetry collections like Arieland Winter Trees were the cherished goals for the poetic
perfection and purity of her intention. The process and the perceptive, took gradual shape to reach
the goal of perfection. Integrity of her perceptive was due to the interdependence and inter- writing
of her themes. Narrowness of the poetic range gave rise to a deeper and sharper vision whereas the
unity of her theme identified her poetic intention. The thematic unity expressed family, nature and
death. The thematic unity referred them with continuity of the theme with regard to her monitoring
force the self, in apprehension of and in contrast with the total mingling of with one another
breaking the vicious circles.
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Talented depiction of extreme and exhausted state of mind with physical state of life and
terror shows her intellectual capacity for survival clearly defines identity of her ‘self ’. But Hughes
always criticized her and depicted,Winter Treesas merely her preoccupation with formlessness and a
kind of premature posthumous disappearance of Plath’s personality. In spite of severe criticisms,
Joyce Carol Oates’ view was that the poems line by line and image by image are brilliantly expressed.
Her emotional and intellectual maturity and capacity was marvelous. Though primarily Criticized,
Plath became ideal role model for several intellectuals including her critics like Hughes. Peter
Porter rightly commented that,Crossing the Water was full of perfectly realised works which had
most striking impression of a front-rank artist in the process of discovering her true power, such was
Plath's control that the book possesses a singularity and certainty which should make it as
celebrated as The Colossus or Ariel. Linda Wagner, in her critical analysis of the novel The Bell Jar ,
stated that, Plath’s The Bell Jar was misunderstood contemporary novel. It is in structure and intent
a highly conventional bildungsroman, mainly concerned with education and maturation of Esther
Green Wood, her main character in the novel. Chronological and episodic structure keeps Esther at
the centre of all actions. Incidents were of mainly New York City. Jerome Buckley depicted in his
work “ Season of Youth” described bildungsroman’s principal elements as :
A growing up and gradual self discovery ‘, ‘alienation’, ‘provinciality, the larger
society’ , ‘the conflict of generations’ , ‘ordeal by love’ and ‘the search for a vocation
and a working philosophy’. (Buckley, 55)
Esther’s metaphor ‘figs rot and die’; a conclusion tonally aligned with the rest of the novel
The Bell Jar. In the visual presentation of Esther’s education Plath consistently shows the characters
poisoned, diseased, injured, bloodied and even killed. Esther Dilemmas during her gradual
maturation shows her persona marked by feelings of uncertainty. Joyce Carol Oates in Sylvia Plath:
Woman and the Work quotes:
….the lyric poet, if he is stuck in a limited emotional cul-de-sac,
will circle endlessly inside the bell jar of his own world, and
only by tremendous strength is he able to break free.
(Oates, Sylvia Plath: Woman and the Work206)
The art of Plath’s depiction of the selfish motives of men and cruelty towards women have
been so nicely depicted through selfish character buddy showing relentless depravity of New York.
Buddy’s malevolence as Esther’s legs were broken, expectation of her hospitalization along with
him for a long time to bring her closer to him was his selfish and male oriented motive to treat
Esther as his possession, his security, a way to keep his self image intact even during his increasing
and plumpness and fear of the disease. This was the sadistic treatment of Buddy towards Esther.
This is how her ‘self’ is hurt. Relentless depravity of New York can be seen through scenes of
violence, sexual aggression and possession. Passivity of women has also been nicely brought up
through Esther’s Character in The Bell Jar. Lack of reaction to Marcos rape attempt and thrashing
Esther’s nose shows passivity of women specially Esther.
Plath , often seen as a ‘difficult poet ’, had a highly individualistic way of writing, developing
her own mythology through the use of keywords and symbols, weaving together themes and images
in ways that are not always immediately obvious to the readers. She reveals her manic and
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depression by saying that God is this all it is ricocheting down the corridor of laughter and tears, of
self- worship and self-loathing, of glory and disgust. She puts again as her life was magically run by
two electric currents as joyous positive and despairing negative, whichever is running at the
moment dominates the life and floods it and other is flooded with despair; almost hysteria, as if
one is smothering. Many of the studies of her writing seek to make connections with episodes in her
life, and it is certainly true that at one level Plath was a strong autobiographical writer. “Poppies in
July” is poetry for identity and part of that search was to find a voice as a writer and experiment with
the craft of poetry. Her eye functioned like camera and she captured every detail of the situations
she came across. The skill full usage of adjectives and verbs endows the scenes with great
significance. She offers a personification of flowers through zoom- lens technique to cover every
detail. She exposed as little hell flames through theirs in cold fire that does not burn. The flickering
of petals can be imagined like flames and wrinkling like the skin of a mouth. The imagination of
mouth spells out another level of violence like the mouth is just bloodied indicate violence caused to
a woman reassembling spinsters’ images pointing out domestic violence and pain as depicted in .
“Poppies in July” :
Flickering like that, wrinkly and clear red, like the skin of a mouth
A mouth that just blooded.
(Plath, The Collected poems of Sylvia Plath. 203)
Plath’s technique was to zoom in small images of everyday’s reality and to expand those
outwards to acquire new layers of meaning and is repeated in poetries again and again. She began
this technique from writing letters and later experimented in her poetic work. She wrote letters
honestly without hiding anything only as personal documents, without any intention of publicizing
them and in this way she gathered real technique of writing. She felt self- gratified and liberated
while writing in verse form. In the introduction to Johnny panic and Bible of Dreams, Hughes rightly
pointed out that Plath’s subjectivity was her real theme and that plunge into herself was her real
direction and the poetic strategies were her only real means that she suddenly found herself in full
possession of her genius and special skills developed naturally. These special skills were outcome of
plasticizing her ‘self’, learning, and developing her ‘self’ in a planned rigorous training right from her
childhood. Concept of poetic art has taken root early in her poetic sojourn. She was a self-styled
poet and a writer above all the pretensions and choice of once honored decorative badges and
ribbons. She was particular about t technical perception of her art. The period she worked was giving
emphasis on technical virtuosity.
Plath’s technique of zooming in on a small image from everyday reality to expanding it
outwards for acquiring new layers of meaning is a unique feature. This process is repeated in most of
her poetry and in journals too. She experimented with form and language in her technique. She was
competent enough to put real picture of a maternity ward, showing the way women feel under
clutches of narrow thinking of the society and react to the birth of a male or female child. The
technique of her work is such that reader flows automatically in the river of Plath’s thoughts and is
forced to re- think about dark side of the traditional society. She was included in the section entitled
‘Where are the women playwrights?’ in Women in American theatre ‘edited by Helen KrichChinoy
and Linda Walsh Jenkins. Her presentation touches the heart as to how a mother depicted in “
Three women”, on birth of a male child feels happy and delighted:
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Who is he, this blue furious boy,
Shiny and strange, as if he hurtled from a star?
What did my fingers do before they held him?
(Plath, The Collected poems of Sylvia Plath176)
The other mother a student in “Three women” on birth of a female chills gives the child for adoption
and laments:
The books I carry wedge into my side.
I had an old wound once, but it is healing.
I had a dream of an island, red with cries.
It was a dream, and did not mean a thing.
(Plath, The Collected poems of Sylvia Plath.176)
John Fredrick Nimms argues in an essay “The Poetry of Sylvia Plath: A Technical Analysis” that, Plath
produced poetry of timeless excellence since she had a strong of language and metaphor and was
aware of the physical rhythms of her verse. Far from seeking to control Plath’s work or to diminish
her achievement Hughes presented her works with great care and professionalism. Plath carefully
dated her work which enabled Hughes to publish her poems in chronological order. He publicized
volume of her collected poems during 1981 in chronological order. In the introduction he mentioned
about how Plath organized her thoughts and shaped the materials of her work.There was no end to
her thoughts, even chair or toy also could shape the material. Just as wood carver gives a definite
shape to a smallest piece of wood, so was the technique of Plath while exercising her work. Hughes
rightly quoted as:
Her evolution as a poet went rapidly through successive molts of style, as she
realized her true manner and voice. Each fresh phase tended to bring out a group of
poems bringing a general family likeness, and is usually associated in my memory
with a particular time and place. At each move we made, she seemed to shed a
style.
(Hughes, intro. The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath)
Plath’s poems have been variously termed as Confessional and she was labeled as a confessional
poet and was impressed by confessional poets like Anne Sexton and grand old man of confessional
poetry Robert Lowell. In one of Lowell’s seminars on her ‘poems criticism of rhetoric’ she stated that
Lowell compared her with Ann Sexton and honored her. Plath points out that Ann Sexton had very
good things and they got better in spite of some loose stuff in her work. Plath never used loose stuff
in her work. Many critics though termed Plath’s poetry a confessional still they were trying to seek
suitable term as symbolist or surrealistic to describe her original poetic style and visualized power in
her poetry. On considering her full work they could find collapse in general. Her poetry is different
from that of other confessional poets and stream of consciousness flow in her poetry and her poetry
has artisan like quality. Plath insisted the importance of control of material and emphasized on
individual pain need to relate broader world picture and had a view that personal experience is very
important, but certainly it should not be a kind of shut -box and mirror- looking, narcissistic
experience. She believed it to be relevant to the larger and bigger things as Hiroshima and Dachau
and so on.
Plath’s the “Beast” depicts, a bestial husband , as how he treats his bride who never knew
him earlier and a gap develops between them with negative images of refuse and ugliness. Bride
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expresses that she was married to a cupboard of rubbish and she bedded in a puddle, she was a
house keep at the gut-end and duchess of nothing but hair tusk’s bride. In the poem “Witch Burning”
a burning of a witch provides the central theme, but not crucifixion, though the final lines are a
rejection of positive suffering and victimization. Instead of giving back shape she got the torment of
flames writhing around the human body and the poet is filled with light and brightness and states
that her ankles brightened, brightness ascended on thighs and she is lost in the robes of all this light.
Fifth poem opens with cold of winter, the dying colours of the onset of liberation. Christ’s
crucifixions as suggested in final verse as the molts were tongue less that sang from above the water
of Golgotha at the tip of reed.
Though Ariel poems were with great violence still aggressive poems like “Daddy”, “Cut” or
“Getting There” is juxtaposed with poems of introspection. “Elm” returns to Plath’s favourite images
of trees at night , sea and cold whiteness of the moon with the violence in “Medusa” and “ the
Moon of the year” followed in later period during 1961 and the terrifying poem “Daddy” is followed
by a comic “you’re” depicting Plath’s unborn child through a string of very physical images.
Our traveled Prawn,
Snug as a bud and at home
Like a spart in a pickle jug
.
A creels of eels, all ripples.
Jumpy as a Maxican bean.
(Plath,The Collected Poems of Sylvia plath.141)
Arielis collection of poems that displays not only virtuoso brilliance of Plath as a poet but it
can be read as exposition of her personal biography, to her parents, marriage, children, her despair
and also those images she has woven out of her all despair into her writing. The Moon Goddess, the
quest for journey, the moment from conception to the death that is existence, the fetus , the skull ,
the joy of motherhood and the horror of war. Lucas Myres a close friend from Cambridgein short
memoir of Plath and Hughes writes with great perception about the Ariel poems:
The way the poems of Ariel actually function for the mostpeople is as a licencefor
regression or aggression; that function not by way of explaining what is wrong with
desires for personal and cultural regression but as a licence granted by virtue of the
poetic force, the absoluteness , the power with which they express those desires.
The fame of the Ariel poems springs not only from the distinction of the verse but
from the strategies of the ego that allow the reader confidently to enter into their
inward regard with verse as vehicle.( Plath, Myres’ Memoir to Ariel 100)
Stylistic accomplishments of Plath's work, is remarkable for its mixing of comic and serious
elements, its coarse humor fashioning of near and slant rhymes in a free-form structure, its crisp
voicing of themes that have too often been treated only with pity. Its ability to reach today's reader,
because of its concern with the real problems of our culture is most valuable. The mixture of
comedic self-deprecation and forceful anger made her work a foreshadowing of the feminist writing
that appeared in the later 1960sand the 1970s. In The Bell Jarit appears as:
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I felt like a race horse in a world without racetracks or a champion college footballer
suddenly confronted by wall street and a business suit, his days of glory shrunk to a
little gold cup on his mantel with a date engraved on it like a date on a tombstone.
(Plath, The Bell Jar)
Plath, after moving into the London flat experienced that living apart from Hughes was
wonderful and she was no longer in his shadow. Plath’s early poetry focused on its darkness, on the
imagery of violence and the blood that appeared to pre figure her eventual suicide. Later feminist
critics reassessed her work, and drew attention to the power of her language, to the expressions of
her rage and outrage that run through her writing and the way in which her work could be seen as
exemplifying many of the contradictions and dilemmas faced by woman struggling for selfrealization endeavoring to confirm to social expectations. Some critics saw her as a woman, whose
poetry spoke of the pain of being a woman struggling to live up to impossible ideals of womanhood,
while other critics read into Plath’s work the story of a damaged individual whose death was the
culmination of a long flirtation with the idea of dying. There are notable differences between her
earlier work and the later phase of work, not only in subject matter and imagery but also in the
format. This can be seen in her early juvenilia of the collected poems and the poems published
during later period like ‘The Colossus” as a prelude to her later work. Suzanne Juhaszcommented in
her own way that the poetry was glittering, brilliant and self-conscious of surface and a cold poetry.
Plath experiments with the form, she conceives poetry as word-craft, and as a medium
through which her experiences could be shared and represented. The vogue for supposedly
spontaneous writing has passed her by and she dismissed what she perceives as false spontaneity:
I cannot sympathize with these cries from the heart that are informed by nothing
except, you know, a needle or a knife, or whatever it is. I believe one should be able
to control and manipulate experiences, even the most terrifying, like madness, like
being tortured. (Plath, The Poet SpeaksRG 455)
Conclusion
Death was casual to her. She stated that a dead body wears a smile of accomplishment. The
dead woman is a kind of a statue, a monument to herself, watched by the old moon in her hag
phase. The woman and children have come so far and it is over and it should be accepted by
children. In the poem “Contusion” she puts death as simple as a routine:
The heart shuts,
The sea slides back,
The mirrors are sheeted.
( Plath, The Collected poems of Sylvia Plath)
Plath knew that she had to keep rendezvous with death, her long wooing lover, and so she
was well aware of her forthcoming suicide she decided to commit. At that time she was neither
hysteric nor wallowing in self-pity. She was in perfect peace during her concluding days of life and
was only bothered about finishing her poems with sculptor’s skill. Hence the poem “Edge”, the selfportrait drawn by her about the disillusionments of life, written on the last edge of life seems to be a
poem of peaceful resignation of life. She describes in the poem “Edge” that women is subjected to
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so many rules and regulations of the society , her duty for her husband and children lasts till her last
edge of her life and she comes out of turmoil of her agonized soul successfully:
The woman is perfected,
Her dead
Body wears the smile of accomplishment.
(Plath, The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath)
Eminent, brilliant, practical minded but frustrated woman took the death so easily by
attempting suicides several times, finally stuck to one. On the morning of 11 February 1963 glass
walls descended round her once again and she was too exhausted to fight back. The whole poetic
world including her critics lamented for the loss of poetic techniques and experimentations on the
forms of technique Plath used to do. Plath’s work inspired many of the readers, scholars and critics,
due to the correlation of the life she led and the period of the time in which she led her life greatly
influenced many of her works. She was a role model and icon and source of inspiration to feminist
Writers and also for the Feminist movement. Her life was short but so productive that her literary
work of art continued to create evaluation, discussion and introspection.
References
Buckley, Jerome. Quoted by Linda W. Wagner’s Women’s study: An Interdisciplinary Journal Vol. 12,
55.
Chinoy, Helen Krich and Jenkins, Linda Walsh.(1981),‘Where are the women playwrights?” Women
in American Theatre, New York: Crown Publishers.
Dyson, A.E. (1970), On Sylvia Plath In The Art of Sylvia Plath. Ed.Charles Newman. Bloomington:
Indiana
University press. 204-210.
Hughes, Ted. (1985), Sylvia Plath and her journals (13 October 1959). London: Harper and Row.
Myres, Lucas. (2001),“Memoir” Sewanee, Tennessee: Proctor, Hall press.100.
Nims, John F, The poetry of Sylvia Plath: A Technical Analysisin the Art of
Newman.136-152.
Sylvia Plath.Ed. Charles
Oates, Joyce Carol. (1977), The Death Theories of Romanticism: The poetry of Sylvia Plath, Sylvia
Plath: Woman and the work.Ed. Edward Butscher. New York:Dodd, Mead. 206.
Sylvia, Plath. (1981), ‘Beast’, TheCollected Poems of Sylvia Plath. Ed. Ted Hughes.
London: Faber & Faber. 134.
---. (1981),“Three Women”,The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath.Ed. by Hughes.
London: Faber a & Faber.176.
---.(1981), “Mirror”, TheCollected Poems of Sylvia Plath.Ed. by Hughes. London:
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Faber and Faber.176.
---. (1981),“Poppies in July”, TheCollected Poems of Sylvia Plath.Ed. Ted Hughes.
London: Faber and Faber, 203.
---. (1981),“Sonnet to Time”, The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath.Ed. Ted Hughes.
London: Faber and Faber.
---. (1981), “ The Edge”, The Collected Poems of Sylvia Plath.Ed. Ted Hughes.
London: Faber and Faber.
---. (1962),The Poet Speaks Agro record co., No. RG 455 LM
---.(1981),“you’re”, TheCollected Poems of
andFaber,141.
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Sylvia Plath.Ed.
Ted
Hughes.
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ENGLISH LANGUAGE teaching
Video Clips and Songs – A Tool to Teach English Language and Literature
P. Hiltrud Dave Eve
Introduction:
Technology does not necessarily drive education. With multimedia, the process of
learning can become more goals oriented, more participatory, and flexible in time and
space. Unaffected by distances and tailored to individual learning styles, it increases
collaboration between teachers and students. Teaching through multimedia enables
learning to become fun and friendly, without fear of inadequacies or failures.
In multimedia teaching our eyes and ears, in conjunction with our brain, form a
formidable system for transforming meaningless sense data into information. In the past 15
years, with increase in access to video and video technology, language teachers as well as
teachers who teach literature began to use video as a tool in the classroom. Videos are
valuable tool that can enhance a classroom experience, proving that a picture is truly worth
the proverbial of 1000 words. By showing short clips such as news items, short
documentaries, music videos and trailers for films etc may enhance the learning attitude in
an effective way. There is substantial research promoting the use of video in the classroom
as a dynamic resource for supporting curricula. According to a survey, 94% of classroom
teachers had effectively used video during the course of an academic year. And most
teachers were using it frequently-on average, once per week. Videos are clearly an
instructional medium that generates excitement. Using sight and sound, video is the perfect
medium for students who are auditory or visual learners. Video taps into emotions which
stimulate and enthral students, and it provides an innovative and effective means for
educators to address the curricular concepts. Arthur (1999) climbs that:
“Video can give students realistic models to imitate for role-play; can increase
awareness of other cultures by teaching appropriateness and suitability; can strengthen
audio/visual linguistic perceptions simultaneously; can widen the classroom repertoire and
range of activities; can help utilize the latest technology to facilitate language learning; can
teach direct observation of the paralinguistic features found association with the target
language; can be used to help when training students ESP related scenarios and language;
can offer a visual reinforcement of the target language and can lower anxiety when
practicing the skill of listening.”
Advantages of using video clips in the classroom:
At the most basic level, video is a form of communication and it can be achieved
without the help of language, since we often interact by gestures, eye contact and facial
expression to convey a message. Video provides visual stimuli such as the environment and
it can lead to and generate prediction, speculation and a chance to activate background
schemata when viewing a visual scene is re-enacted. Language found in videos could help
non-native speakers understand stress patterns. Videos allow learners to see body rhythm
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and speech rhythm in second language and speed of speech in videos allow the learners to
see body rhythm and speech rhythm in second language discourse through authentic
language and speed of speech in various situations. The use of visuals overall can help the
learners to predict information, infer ideas and analyse the world that is brought into the
classroom via the use of video instruction.
Language and Literature:
As Obediat states, “literature helps students acquire a native-like competence in
English, express their ideas in good English, learn the features of modern English, learn how
the English linguistic system is used for communication, see how idiomatic expressions are
used, speak clearly, precisely, and concisely, and become more proficient in English, as well
as become creative, critical, and analytical learners”.
The use of literature as a technique for teaching both basic language skills (i.e.
reading, writing, listening and speaking) and language areas (i.e. vocabulary, grammar and
pronunciation) is very popular within the field of foreign language learning and teaching.
The speech of Barak Obama, Martin Luther king, and Abraham Lincoln may be broadcasted
to the students as a piece of literature. TED talks can be shown to the students to improve
their LSRW skills.
News videos in the classroom:
News has always been a focus of modern language teaching lessons. Since the news
is of vital importance to all, it usually requires no effort on the part of the teacher to
motivate students to listen to the news. In the early 1990s Cable news network (CNN) joined
the broadcasters who were working with news as a teaching medium. It now offers the
nightly CNN newsroom broadcast a thirty minute, commercial free news broadcast that
teachers can tape and use in the classrooms.
As Mejia(1989) has pointed out, headline news, although it quickly becomes dated,
has the advantage of being of immediate importance to the student. Apart from obvious
interest factor, news broadcasts have their formulaic rhetorical structures to recommend
them as teaching tools. Most news episodes start with a newscaster raising the issue of the
upcoming episode with a teaser; a brief overview of the issue stimulates interest and gets
the viewer ready to listen.
In planning a lesson through video clip the teacher must consider several questions;
When will the video be used- before, while or after using the accompanying a book
material?
What is the level of the students and the strength and weakness of the class?
What is the level of video access?
What pitfalls should be avoided in planning the lesson?
Teaching four skills through literature and video clips:
Using the short video clippings the teacher can teach the students the four
important skills which will enhance the competency of the students. The following are
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suggestions for teaching a news broadcast. As Stempleski (1987) has noted, repeated
viewing is one of the keys to success with using video in the ESL classroom. After pre
teaching, the teacher can show the video clip about five times. The following are the
activities a teacher can use while teaching through video clips.
Predicting:
The teacher can choose any topic for the class. He can use the pause control to stop
a scene and ask the student to predict what will happen next. It will arouse the interest of
the student to think in a divergent way. It will enhance the mental calibre of the students.
The teacher may use the pause control to stop after a particular line of a dialogue
and ask the student to predict the next line. In teaching the plays of Shakespeare the
teacher may use this technique to kindle the student’s memory.
With audio off:
The teacher can off the audio and ask the students to predict the situation and
characterization based on viewing an entire scene without the sound.
Then the teacher may ask the students to predict the lines of the dialogue after viewing
an entire scene without sound.
The teacher may ask the students to predict individual lines of dialogue by using the
pause button to stop the scene.
Viewing comprehension:
The teacher can check the students’ understanding of the situation and characters in
the following ways.
Pre Viewing:
The teacher can give specific things to look and listen before they watch the scene.
The teacher may narrate the scene or the gist of the clip to the students for their better
understanding. He may use videos, flash cards, word searches, online games, stories, songs
or movies. Brainstorm the vocabulary connected with the video. If there is new vocabulary
the teacher can use a flash card picture to students. The teacher enhances the speaking
ability by drill. He may ask the student to repeat the new word.
While viewing:
The teacher may give some activity while watching. Freeze –Frame the scene by
using pause button and check the students’ understanding. The teacher can ask some
questions while viewing the clip to check their knowledge about the particular scene.
Post viewing:
Give students cloze scripts and have them fill in missing words in dialog lines. This
may help the teacher to know about the student’s level of understanding about the clip.
After viewing the clip ask the students for a personal response. Discuss some of the
questions under each video and ask the students to give their own opinions.
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Listening Practice:
The teacher can asks the students to listen to the speeches and ask them to write
what they had listened in a note. After a dialogue the teacher may pause the clip and ask
them to write the dialog.
Cloze Scripts:
As students view a scene, make them fill in missing words in a cloze script that the
teacher created. The teacher may blank out some words, phrases or questions. Ask the
students to complete the scripts as they watch.
Speaking Practice:
After viewing the video ask the students to play a role of a particular scene. Ask the
students to practice the dialogue for correct intonation and emphasis.
On location Interview:
The teacher can divide the class into group and ask the students to interview each
other using questions contained in the video segment. Students can then report to the class
about their interviews. Questions may chosen by the students and they have given
autonomy in this activity.
Information Gap:
The class can be divided into two and play the video without audio to one half of the
students and play the audio without picture to another half of the class. Students from each
half of the class then pair up talk about the situations and characters, and act out the scene.
Reading Practice:
The teacher can ask the students to read the dialogue and ask them to find out the
stress and intonation in that part. While reading it, ask them to imitate the conversation.
Award them according to their performance and it will increase their interest to score good
marks as well as in learning.
Strip dialogue scenes:
Ask the students to write the dialogue on separate stripes of paper, distribute them
randomly and ask the students to recreate the scene by putting the lines together. Ask the
students to discuss the scene, plot and characters, actions, thoughts and feelings.
Capturing the student’s performance:
The teacher may ask the students to play the role and drama productions,
interviews, songs, presentations, fictitious television, news reports and adverts. The teacher
can capture the performance of the student in the classroom. If the students are happy with
the outcomes, they might revisit their clips from time to time and in doing so; inadvertently
revisit language that was recorded in conjunction with them. A teacher can refer back the
video later and revise the corrections. Teachers may wish to have students read and record
their voices at home using electronic resources such as snapvine, Audacity and Podomatic.
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In addition students can record their voices over images and create videos using power
points that can be added to you tube via Author stream.
Teaching Shakespeare:
Shakespeare played a huge role as part of the history of English Literature. He is an
embodiment of British culture. EFL lessons are not just about teaching language. The
teacher needs to teach culture to the students to provide them with the full picture. As
estimated 3000 words and expressions that we use today originated from Shakespeare’s
plays. The stories of Shakespeare are fantastic and his words are influential. His stories are
not only exciting but also relevant today. The language and the literary forms can be taught
by the songs in the plays. Rhyme scheme and the alliteration and certain forms such as
sonnet can be clearly understood by showing the songs which pleases the ears of the
students and creates more effective atmosphere of teaching learning process.
When the teacher use video clip to the class, even the average slow learners will be
interested to learn the subject. The language of the clip should be in such a way, it will make
the student to learn new vocabulary. When teaching Shakespeare the overall story should
be given to the students, along with text book and e-book. Then the students may ask to
watch the clip by scene. Conversation practice should given by selecting powerful dialogue
from Hamlet or any other plays. The songs can be shown to students in order to learn the
rhythm and intonation. The teacher can assign students to play the role of Hamlet or lady
Hamlet by enacting the same by imitating the clip. It may increase the use of non verbal
cues such as body language, eye contact, gestures and facial expressions.
Songs in the classroom: a useful tool
Songs are part of daily life for most people. Everyone enjoy music at home, while
travelling and studying or even at work. Language teachers can use songs to open or close
their lessons, to illustrate themes and topics, to add variety or a change of pace, present
new vocabulary or recycle known language. There is practical evidence supporting the use
of music in the English language classroom; there is also a growing body of research
confirming that songs are a useful tool in language acquisition. In fact musical and language
processing occur in the same area of the brain. (Medina, 1993)
Types of songs:
There are many types of songs which can be used in classroom, ranging from nursery
rhymes to contemporary pop music. There is also a lot of music written specifically for
English language teaching. Real music that the children hear and play everyday can be
extremely motivating in the classroom. Research has found that pop songs have
characteristics that help learning a second language; they often contain common, short
words; they are written about 5th grade level; the language is conventional, time and place
are usually imprecise; the lyrics are often sung at a slower rate than spoken words and there
is repetition of words and grammar. Furthermore songs are also known to the lower the
“affective filter” or, in other words motivate learners to learn.
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Cultural literacy:
Music is accessible to anyone, anywhere through radio, CDs, DVDs and downloads
from the internet; learners can enjoy songs from all corners of globe. Songs used in English
classroom can light on interesting music traditions in countries, but can also teach teens,
young adults to appreciate the other cultures. For adult learners they can be “a rich mine of
information about human relations, ethics, customs, history, humor, and reginal and
cultural differences’ (Lems, 2001)
Language learning:
In a world where non-native speakers of English are likely to produce the majority of
songs in English, learners have the opportunity to listen to pronunciation in a wide range of
varieties of the language. Songs will help learners become familiar with word stress and
intonation, and the rhythm with which words are spoken or sung also helps memorization.
Again this will enable learners to remember chunks of language which they can then use in
conversations or in writing. As language teachers we can use songs to practice listening,
speaking, reading and writing.
Teaching with songs:
The teacher can start with focus activity. Find a picture related to the subject of the
song and have the students to make guesses about it. Select the important words from the
song and write it on the board. Ask the meaning of the words and make the student to
narrate a story based on the words on the board. If there is any new word in the song stop
the song and ask the student to identify the new word. The teacher may ask the student to
memorize a part of the song and ask them to arrange it in order. For more advanced
students the teacher may select two songs of the same theme and ask them to differentiate
the theme. For writing activity ask the students to write a letter to the singer by praising the
qualities of the song. Ask the student to change the adjectives, adverbs, nouns, names and
places and invent new lyrics for the melody which should be used only in the classroom. Ask
them to draw the scenery in their paper. Music and pop are fun and most people enjoy
them make your students to enjoy and learn English in a fun filled way.
Conclusion:
With the increase in educational technology, video is no longer imprisoned in the
traditional classroom; it can easily be extended into computer aided learning lab (Canning
1998). Interactive language learning using video, CD ROM and computers allow learners
ability to view and actively participate in lessons at their desired pace. The songs from
various cultures can create a new environment and sometimes it can create a new poet, a
novelist, an essayist with technical knowledge. Let the English teachers create a “Technology
New World”.
References :
Arthur, P. “Why use video? A Teacher’s Perspective, VSELT2:4 (1999):4
Canning , C., “Visual support and language teaching”, TESOL Arabia news, Volume 5:4,
(1998):3-4
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Lems, Kirsten, Using Music in the Adult ESL Classroom, ERIC Digest, 2001.
Murphy, T(1992), The discourse of pop songs, TESOL Quarterly 26”(4), 770-774
http://learningenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/
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The Potential of Blog-centric Classrooms in Teaching English as a
Second/Foreign Language
Abdul Latheef Vennakkadan
Introduction
The waves of digital revolution have triggered paradigm shifts in the principles,
perceptions, material, methods and assessment strategies of educational practices across
the globe and throughout the ELT sphere in particular. The traditional way of looking at
teachers as a repertoire of knowledge and learners as a tabula rasa on which to inscribe
information has undergone radical change with the advent of massive research in applied
linguistics, educational psychology, instructional technology, and self-access ‘webucation’
tools.
Weblogs, though of a recent origin, have recorded an amazingly escalating
popularity and widespread use in higher education sector due to their substantial potential
for interaction, knowledge sharing, round the clock access and free cyber publishing. The
studies (Richardson, 2009) on the instructional possibilities of weblogs in English as a
Foreign Language (EFL) or English as a Second Language (ESL) classrooms underpin that they
can function as a pivot on which the classroom can revolve across time, space and other
physical limits and limitations. They create opportunities for learners to extend learning
beyond the formal teaching /learning hours by means of asynchronous communication,
constructive interaction and threaded discussion forums. The EFL /ESL learners get chances
to share their creative expressions not only with their classmates but also with a global
community of readers whose feedbacks can act as a strong motivational factor. Thus, blog
can function as e-platforms for creative as well as critical reflections concurrently
.Incorporation of blogging to teaching and learning ,especially for ELT practices , adds much
life and blood to the quality of learning experience, mode of instruction
,communicative/critical/creative competence of learners and variety to teaching materials.
Deep and meaningful learning experiences are best supported by actively engaged
learners (Garrison & Vaughan, 2008).The multifarious resources and incessantly updated
tools of the cyber world offer boundless chances for publishing and communication, diverse
levels of interaction, engaging and fulfilling academic experience, greater learner creativity
,critical understanding, and the efficacious achievement of learning outcomes and course
objectives. It is essential for the present educational scenario to understand the potential of
the internet and multimedia teaching /learning and how to use them to create a learning
environment in which learners are challenged to construct a sense of what they are doing or
being made to do. In this regard, Ur (2002) argues that interactive and collaborative
learning experiences are especially congruent with achieving higher order learning
outcomes.
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The paper examines the educational potentials of blogs in an EFL classroom like
enhancing the writing skill of learners, their creative outpouring, critical thinking,
communicative competence and round the clock asynchronous interaction. It also examines
the prospective viabilities of blogs as an alternative for print portfolios which are often used
in an ELT classrooms for fostering students’ writing skills/creative talents .Thus the thrust of
the paper revolves around an depth analysis of the advantages of a blog centric EFL
classroom and how incorporating e-learning possibilities and powerful web tools like blogs
can add quality to learning and teaching English as a foreign language. The prospects of how
blogs can function as a classroom beyond the special and temporal boundaries of a physical
classroom to extend learning and interaction beyond limited formal hours of foreign
language teaching/learning will also be dealt with. The escalating uses/ presence of weblogs
in educational contexts have necessitated reliable benchmarks to assess this mode of
learning experience/participation. Therefore, the paper also proposes rubrics for assessing
EFL blogger learners’ and the learning outcomes attained through this a-temporal learning
space which, Williams and Jacobs (2004) rightly term as a transformational e-space for
teaching and learning.
Pedagogic Potential of Blogs
Commenting on the wide impact of technology on educational practice, Cullingan
(2003) observes that the challenge that present educators and trainers face is to identify
those learning strategies that are appropriate for the digitally informed generation,
recognizing the different ways they process information and developing learning tools that
maximize the potential of their cognitive approach, learning experience and learning
outcomes.
The mode of instruction has been so much transformed into digital formats in the
recent past that the possibilities of technology like highlighting, font colouring, case
changing, background imaging, hyper texting, interactivity and animation effects are vastly
used in classroom presentations as well as in e-contents. The learners, subsequent to
digitised learning materials and wider technological literacy, have productively changed to
look for learning experiences that are of multiple channels/senses and lead to result
oriented interaction, atemporal access, learner customised pace and individualised
instruction. A viable solution to bridge the gap between what the digitally native learners
need and what the traditional mode of chalk and talk instruction provides seems to be
revamping traditional instructional mode by dexterously integrating the potentials of
emergent high-tech learning/teaching tools.
A few hard nuts to crack, especially in the context of English as a foreign/second
language, are to create an atmosphere for the learners’ realistic communicative interaction
in the target language, to ensure active involvement of learners in all the four skills, to
provide chances for extensive exposure to the target language and its culture. Providing
opportunities for synchronous communication with native speakers and to keep the
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learner’s motivation level revived are also risky targets to achieve. All these key issues,
invariably confronted by EFL/ESL teachers across different learner levels and backgrounds,
can be efficiently addressed, to a remarkable measure, by well planned incorporation of
web tools like blogs .This is why weblogs enjoy escalating popularity and wider momentum
in second/foreign language education.
Darabi (2006) writes , “The core principles of learning communities focus on
integration
of curriculum, active learning, student
engagement,
and student
responsibility...” (p. 53). Blogging activities realize these principles. Pinkman (2005) writes
that blogging becomes communicative and interactive when participants assume multiple
roles in the writing process, as writers who write and post, as readers/reviewers who
respond to other writers’ posts, and as writer-readers who, returning to their own posts,
react to criticism of their own posts. Dieu (2004) reaffirms this by stating that blogging gives
a learner the chance to “maximize focused exposure to language in new situations, peer
collaboration, and contact with experts” (p. 26). within the scope of classroom-based blog
activities, assignments can require the student blogger to communicate closely with a
particular group of student bloggers. Moreover, the exchange can be almost instantaneous
(during class time) or at the leisure of the student bloggers. This combination of planned
and spontaneous communicative exchanges inside and out of the classroom makes blogging
a meaningful and engaging social exercise. It is within this context that Williams and Jacobs
(2004) contend that blogging has “the potential to be a transformational technology for
teaching and learning” (p. 247).
According to Williams & Jacobs (2004), Blogs’ have evolved along similar lines to
other forms of human communication in that they are a product of convenience rather
than design” (p. 232). Lamshed, Berry, & Armstrong (2002) connect blogging with journal
writing, stating “like a journal, a blog can be a continually updated resource that grows over
time with the accumulation of writing and other content. This archived information is
accessed using a simple calendar that highlights the dates on which entries were made” (p.
9). These and various other researchers (Williams & Jacobs, 2004; Thorne & Payne, 2005)
have also recognized blogging as a live e-platform having the capacity to engage people in
collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection and debate across time and space.
Blogs as E-portfolios
Weblogs, often shortened to blogs, offer a digital platform for articulating,
publishing and sharing one’s professional, personal, creative and innovative thoughts with a
global community of readers. They can be better termed e-zines/e-journals as they are
frequently updated and are accessible to anybody with the Internet connection. The
simplicity of its settings is such that anyone with an active email account can create a blog
within seconds. Some blogger space can be created using an existing account of social
networks like Facebook/Twitter/Orkut etc. The simplicity of its user interface, ease of
creating an account, , wide level of customization options and free cyber publishing have
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made blogging an edutaining activity for the technophilic generation. The ability to
accommodate all formats like text, audio, video and images has further accelerated its
becoming a hotspot for online publishing. The escalating popularity and expanding numbers
of academic bloggers have added much to the information disseminating function of the
Internet because anybody with a blog is able to share his/her thinking with the rest of the
world in a matter of clicks, thus promoting the notion of sharing knowledge as an act of
expanding and enriching ideas.
When a language teacher introduces blogging activities within the language
classroom, the opportunities for student interaction and the horizons of that “learning
space”, (Williams & Jacobs, 2004, p. 232) are expanded exponentially, providing student
writers with a far greater audience both within and outside the classroom. Stanley (2006)
notes that Blogs are a means of keeping doors of the classroom open and showing the wider
world what is happening .It thus creates a small language learning community with
abundant scope for interaction. Similarly, Nardi, Schiano, Gumbrecht, & Swartz (2004)
observe that for many students “blogging create a sense of community that would be less
likely to emerge in a conventional classroom setting” and the key feature of a “blog
community” is the fact that all buddies have easy access, through hyper- links to each
other’s blogs (p. 41).
An EFL/ESL class can typically have two blogs – a teacher blog and a class blog. The
teacher blog may act like an academic e-guide to supplement the students’ curricular needs
and learning objectives/outcomes in order to enhance their literary taste, channel their
research, and focus their scholarly aptitude. It can also showcase inspiring arrays of teacher
experiences, creative reflections, and any matters of relevant academic interest, like course
details, homework, and assignments etc (Campbell, 2003).
The class blog, on the other hand, may function as a platform for threaded/forum
discussions on academic and non-academic topics, like literary texts for study, their
characters, and themes; also on courses and modes of instruction. In these discussions, each
student takes an active role in enriching the blog with his/her imaginative deliberations,
critical discourses, insightful feedback and productive reviews and regular posts, all of which
extend the classroom and enliven learning beyond the four walls on the wings of
technology.
Replacing the traditional print portfolio with a blog in an ELT classroom has many
cutting edges as it provides opportunity for peer correction, enhanced motivation and
immediate feedback. The blogger learners, while writing/responding to the post(s) on the espace, assume multiple roles ranging from a writer to critic/ editor/ commentator/
appreciator and it, in turn, leaves positive impacts on their critical/creative /cognitive
potential, which ,a traditional print portfolio, fails to offer. Blogs , when used as e-portfolios,
further accelerate can trigger live discussions within the class and extend the class beyond
the limited hours of formal teaching/learning through asynchronous
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communication/reaction to the posts at bloggers convenience. Unlike the print portfolio ,
the blog centric e-portfolio makes learner feel that they are writing for a vast circle of
readers and this realisation encourages them to fine tune their writings to meet certain
standards It also enhances their of sense of responsibility and self esteem. Creating a
blog(s), either for the class or individual learner, can enrich all the skills of English along with
making the whole learning/teaching experiences creatively novel. The chief educational
potential of blogs, especially to teach/learn English as a foreign/second language can be
summarised, skill-wise, as follows.
Listening skill
Provide chances for learners to listen to audios in TL/watch videos of TL/TC
posted/hypertexted on the blog.
Create opportunity for peer audio recording and publishing for others to listen.
Gives enormous chances for extensive exposure to native speakers audios/videos.
Helps learners improve their accent/pronunciation/intonation through links to
specific sites/e-resources.
Helps learners individualise their listening skill acquisition without time and space
constraints
Helps teachers assign listening tasks/homework with much ease and efficacy by
posting audios on line.
Speaking skills
Provides chances for learners to speak about his/her posts to the class.
Acts as strong trigger for live interaction among classmates on different posts on the
blog.
Provides opportunity for integrating/reinforcing all the four skills.
Sets stage for live discussions/suggestions/remarks on creative writings of peers
posted on the class weblog.
Provides opportunity for immediate feedback from teachers/peers orally/in writing.
Reading skill
Helps teachers in guiding learners to wider/selective reading
Helps learners access specific texts, audio/print in a matter of clicks.
Making reading process motivating/interactive.
Provides learners to suggest/relate their learning experience to peers.
Promotes reading habits as learners look at posts on the blog as extension of
classroom activities across time and space.
Writing skill
Provides chances for free publication and wider readership
Helps learners get immediate feed backs both from teachers and peers.
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Motivates leaners to write as it reaches a global audience.
Reduces teachers’ workload of correction through peer editing/correction.
Promotes writing and publishing at individual pace and convenience.
Fosters creative writing impulse on the part of students.
Helps integrate other skills with the discussion of posts in the class.
Thus, the blog can act as a hub around which the class revolves across time and space
constraints and is accessible to the rest of the world for reading, reviewing and posting
comments. Researches on educational implications of emergent cyber tools (Campell, 2003)
show that introverted students have an active blogging presence and that it is the best
platform for giving equal chances to all, especially in crowded classes where the teacher
traditionally has been confined to the pages of a book. An ideal way to make a class blog
terrifically active and alive is to include it as one of the tools for leaner assessment and final
grades and also to invite guest visitors to review and comment on students’ creative posts.
The feeling that they are writing for a vast chunk of real audience, like teachers, peers,
parents and any potential netizen, gives students a sense of responsibility and contentment.
Enabling RSS feeds to many other websites/blogs of academic interest provides students
with chances for wider reading, online resource tapping, and extensive exposure to the
maze of cybrary. According to Campell (2003), blogs can mainly be used to serve the
following purposes:
Publishing creative writings/messages, images, and links related to classroom
discussion
Giving daily reading practice to the learners
Promoting exploration of English websites
Encouraging asynchronous communication
Providing information of academic interest
Serving as a resource of links for self-study
There are various free blog hosting platforms on the internet and a few significant
providers are: www.bloggerspot.com, www.wordpress.com, www.blogspot.com,
www.weebly.com , www.blog.com , www.jux.com etc.
Assessing Blogger Learners
Assessment in language education is a must process because it is looked upon as
sources of information for making informed decisions within the context of educational
programs and as indicators of abilities of attributes that are of interest in research on
language, language acquisition and language teaching (Heaton, 1975).
The recent deliberations in language testing literature advocate more weight to
formative assessment than to the summative assessment because the authenticity of
evaluating learners’ communicative competence in traditional pen paper tests lacks
credibility and validity as test performances rely upon a variety of learners’ emotional,
social, psychological and cognitive factors. In this respect, Le Roux (2011) observes ‘varied
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continuous assessment mechanisms offer a broad spectrum of ways in which students can
account for their day-to-day learning, drawing on varied skills sets in authentic settings
without the pressure traditionally associated with written tests’ (p.84). It gives chances for
students to get incessant updates on the strength and weaknesses of their skills in the
language in an authentic setting. These feedbacks, in turn, take the shape of both intrinsic
and extrinsic motivation in the processes language acquisition. It is an easy task to set up
blog(s) for the classroom and even to put up a sound educational design behind them but
judiciously assessing students’ blogging efforts and participation in digital learning activities
needs hard homework. What constitutes a good blog entry? How to measure students’
learning via blogs? etc are some of the questions difficult to answer in a blog centric EFL
classroom.
Though blogs are largely being integrated into EFL classroom practices and
assessment mechanism, there still needs to evolve comprehensive rubrics for evaluating
learner’s active/passive anticipation/presence in this emergent mode of digital learning.
Rubric, as a document that articulates the expectations for an assignment/product by listing
the criteria to determine its quality from excellent to poor, has become popular with
teachers. www.rubistar.4teachers.org is a well-designed website dedicated to
generate/adopt various types of rubrics. The following assessment rubric for EFL bloggers
has been drafted with relative weight to three areas of bogging namely contents,
presentation and administration, as they are central to make it a comprehensive learning
space, be it a class/individual blog.
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Assessment Rubric for EFL/ESL Learners’ Blogging Presence.
Components
Points
5/4

Contents (50%)





Highly relevant to the
topic
Remarkably legible and
concise
Excellent diction and apt
phrasing
Shows high level of
critical/creative/analytic
al insight
Exhibits signs of
extensive
reading/comprehension
Contains clear
reflections of the writer's
position?
points
Presentation (25%)






2.5






Logical layout/fonts
Back ground and text
match quite well
Excellent exploitation of
graphic properties
Rich use of colours
/animation/hypertext
Catches attention of
visitors
Good enhancements like
widgets.
points
Administration
(25%)
Criteria
4/3




Links work quite well
Keen on updating
data/posts
Quick feedback to posts
Highly user friendly
interface
Multimedia resources
work well
Excellent number of
visits/visitors/comments
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



Not relevant to the topic
Very little legible and concise
Poor diction and apt phrasing
Shows little critical
/creative/analytical insight
 Exhibits signs of poor
reading/comprehension
 Contains no reflections of the
writer's position?
1.5






2.5


Medium relevant to the
topic
Shows average legibility
and conciseness
Agreeable diction and
apt phrasing
Shows low level of
critical/creative/analytic
al insight
Exhibits signs of average
reading /comprehension
Contains vague
reflections of the writer's
position?
1/0
Medium use of
layout/fonts
Back ground and text
don’t match well
Moderate exploitation of
graphic properties
Medium use of colours
/animation/ hypertext
Somewhat draws
attention of visitors.
Average enhancements
like widgets
.5






1.5






Links don’t work well
Irregular in updating
data/posts
Slow feedback to posts
average user friendly
interface
Multimedia resources
work somewhat well
Moderate number of
visits/visitors/comments
Poor use of layout/fonts
No match between background and
text
Poor exploitation of graphic
properties
Weak use of colours
/animation/hypertext
Fails to catch attention of visitors
Poor enhancements like widgets.
.5






Links fail to work
Seldom updates data/posts
Rarely give feedback to posts
Poor user friendly interface
Multimedia resources fail to work
well
Poor number of visits/
visitors/comments
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Conclusion
The present challenge in the higher education sector is how to bridge the divide
between students who are digital natives and teachers who are digital immigrants (Prensky,
2001). The type and quality of learning experiences that these students expect are not those
associated with the traditional lecture-oriented knowledge dissemination, because they
have numerous sources for getting knowledge with amazing ease and timeless access. Thus
the cyber invasion of the teaching/learning scenario has deconstructed all the old ‘sublime
notions’ about teacher and pedagogic principles. The most sensible way ahead now is to
realize these ground realities and to strive to cope with them optimally by integrating the
incalculable potentials of web tools like blogs into instructional practices. The fact about
digital literacy is that it looks painfully hard to cope with/surmount before attempting and
surprisingly painless and painlessly manageable once used a short while. Therefore, the best
course of action needed by the hour and the generation appears to start using them in all
possible measure.
References
Campbell A.P (2003). Weblogs for use with ESL classes. The Internet TESL Journal, Vol. IX,
No. 2, February 2003. (Retrieved on November 16 ,20121 from
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html)
Culligan, M. (2003). Digital natives in the classroom in B. Hoffman (Ed.), Encyclopedia of
Educational Technology .( retrieved on November 12, 2012 from
http://edweb.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/digitalnatives/index.htm )
Darabi, R. (2006). Basic writing and learning communities. Journal of Basic Writing, 25(1),
53-72.
Dieu, B. (2004). Blogs for Language Learning. Essential Teacher. Fall, 1: 4 p.26-30.
Heaton, J. B., (1995). Writing English Language Tests. London: Longman Group
Limited.
Lamshed, R., Berry, M., & Armstrong, L. (2002). Blogs: Personal e-learning spaces. Binary
Blue.(retrieved on November 18, 2012, from http://binaryblue.com.au/docs/blogs.pdf)
Le Roux. C Marie-Therese (2011). Product versus Process? Continuous Assessment in
the Oman General Foundation Programs.ELC Journal of Salalah College of
Technology, Volume 1, p79-93.
Nardi, B., Schiano, D., Gumbrecht, M., & Swartz, L. (2004). Why we blog. Communications
of the ACM, 47(12), 41-46. (Retrieved on November 12, 2012, from
http://psych.stanford.edu/~mgumbrec/Why_We_Blog.pdf
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Pinkman, K. (2005). Using blogs in the foreign language classroom. The JALT CALL Journal,
1(1),12-24.(retrieved on November 12,2012 from
http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/1_1_Pinkman.pdf
Prensky, Marc (2001).Digital Natives, Digital Immigrants. On the Horizon .MCB University
Press, Vol. 9 No. 5, October 2001. (Retrieved on 20 November 2012 from
www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf
Randy Garrisonm D., Vaughan Norman D. (2008) Blended Learning in Higher Education:
Framework, Principles, and Guidelines. Sanfrancisco: Jossey-Bass.
Richardson, W.(2009). Blogs, wikis, podcasts and other powerful web tools for
classrooms. California: Corwin Press.
Stanley, G. (2006). Blog-EFL: Observations and comments on the use of weblogs, emerging
technologies & e-learning tools for English language teaching.p. ( Retrieved on November
12,2012 from http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/2010/09/6-tips-for-effective-ict-use-eltperu.html)
Thorne, S., & Payne, J. (2005). Evolutionary trajectories, Internet-mediated expressions, and
language education. CALICO Journal, 22(3), 371-397.
Ur, P. (2002). The English Teacher as Professional. Methodology in Language Teaching:
An anthropology of Current Practices. Cambridge University Press. (p:389-391).
Williams, J., & Jacobs, J. (2004). Exploring the use of blogs as learning spaces in the higher
education sector. Australian Journal of Educational Technology, 20(2), 232-247. Retrieved
on November 16 2012 from http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13066/1/13066.pdf
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Research and Innovation in the English Teaching- learning Process
Neetu Baghel & Dr. Sheela Tiwari
Introduction
Language is the most powerful medium of oral and written communication. So, it
must be learned and taught well. A language teacher has a great responsibility of teaching
his students in such a way that they can make the best use of language. Therefore, a
language teacher must equip himself with teaching of English as a foreign or a second
language. This paper is humble effort to help the teachers of English to teach English
language well to their students.
The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the traditional methods of teaching as well
as multimedia teaching and to suggest other useful teaching methods that can be
attempted in imparting knowledge to the students. Basically teaching must include two
major components sending and receiving information. Ultimately teacher tries his best to
impart knowledge as the way he understood it. So, any communication method that serves
this purpose without destroying the objective could be considered as innovative methods of
teaching. The use of innovative methods in educational institutions has the potential not
only to improve education but also to empower people, strengthen governance and
galvanize the effort to achieve the human development goal for the country.
Due to tremendous progress in information and communication technology, the
scenario of contemporary teaching techniques is entirely changed. The teacher of 21st
century should shed traditional concepts and techniques of classroom teaching and should
adopt the recent and innovation techniques.
Teaching English depends on the potential excellence, skills and update knowledge
of English teachers. The role of English teacher in present context has remarkably changed
because of various factors such as social, cultural, economic and technological
developments across the globe. The subject of teaching English at this level is very wide and
the difficulties teacher faces are at large. Due to globalisation the world is changing rapidly,
hence a teacher has to improve and update knowledge of innovative techniques to meet
the demand of changing era.
Teaching and learning of English which aims to develop language teacher’s
knowledge and understanding of intercultural language teaching and learning. English is the
principal language, including the USA and UK both of which continue to produce reviews
and reports lamenting the lack of recognition for the benefits of language learning, the low
language status of language study, the poor uptake amongst business leaders. These studies
include the Nuffield Language Inquiry (1998-2000) in the UK (The Nuffield Foundation 2000)
and Looking Beyond Borders: the importance of foreign area and language studies 2005 in
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the USA (National Associate of State Boards of Education 2005). Writing in this context
about languages in the elementary (primary) school.
“Every skill and outcome that is important to society is introduced through the
elementary school curriculum. The lists of curriculum requirements in almost every state at
least to the importance of reading, math, social studies, science, music, art and physical
education. The introduction of computers into nearly every elementary school program
clearly reflects the values of our electronic information age. Not until world languages
become a secure part of the elementary school curriculum will language learning begin to
meet the needs and challenges of the twenty first century. ”(1)
Not only in India but in Europe, however languages have long been a fundamental
and accepted part of educational programs. With the continued expansion of the European
Union, European language policies are moving towards the teaching of at least two foreign
languages from a very early age: a component of the curriculum considered basic skills
(Euridyce 2005) in Finaland all students in year12 study English and Swedish in addition to
Finish, with more than 40 percent also talking German; in the Netherlands 99 percent of
students take English in addition to Duch at year 12 level, and 41 percent also take German
and 21 percent French (Clyne2005 p 24). Amongst the countries where English is the
majority language, there appears to be “pervasive complacency that ‘English is enough’
combined with a lack or real awareness of and appreciation for the insights and
understandings accruing from language learning. According to Clyne (2005pxi) these are
manifestations of what can be regarded as ‘monolingual mindset’ which views English
monolingualism as the norm, despite the fact that there are many more bilinguals and
multilingual particularly English monolinguals as according to report by the National Centre
for languages in the UK, only six percent of the world’s population are native English
speakers and 75 percent speak no English at all. (CILT 2005 p4)
As we all know language is the tool of communication. Generally communication
based on language whether it is Hindi, English, Marathi, Pujabi, Tamil, Telgu and so on.
Languages instead ‘useful support’ for other communication areas for the improved
cognitive flexibility and other academic benefits, for supporting and enhancing literacy on
English and for supporting trade and industry.
“We in the English- speaking world seem to have lost sight of languages as
educationally important. We have replaced this idea with view that languages are
educationally useful and we have seen this view increasingly undermined by the argument
that everyone speaks English (2000,p30)” (3)
Much of the research on cognitive aspects of second language learning has focused
on creative and divergent thinking and many studies indicate a bilingual advantage in these
areas. Bilingual children appear to develop a more analytical orientation then two language
system and keeping them separate while they perform particular tasks. This experience
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appears to give them an advantage over monolinguals when performing tasks involving
control of passing.
The traditional focus of language teaching has been on the four micro-skills of
Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing in the target language. From the proceeding
overview it is clear that language learning has been shown to enrich student’s cognitive
development of literacy skills in a number of important ways. In traditional approaches,
however the tendency has overwhelmingly been to separate language from its cultural
context. It is this separation which is now being questioned and subjected to fundamental
revision and the potential for language learning to develop knowledge and understandings
culture and other ways of being represents a major paradigm shift for language teaching
learning.
Recently however understanding about the role of culture in language and therefore
in language teaching have undergone a fundamental shift in direction and emphasis
involving significant reconceptulisation. At the core of this reconceptulisation is the notion
that language cannot be separated from its social and cultural context of use and that every
attempt to communicate with the speaker of another language is a cultural act. The basis of
what has come to be called intercultural language teaching and learning involves
recognition of the importance and certainly of culture. Culture shapes what we say, when
we say it, from the simplest language we use to the most complex. It is fundamental way to
speak, write, listen and read. In contrast to the static view which treats culture as facts or
artefacts to be learned, intercultural language teaching involves a dynamic view of culture.
“In learning language, students develop communication skills and knowledge and
come to understand social, historical, familiar relationships and other aspects of the specific
language and culture of the speakers of the language they are studying. Learners are also
provided with the tools, through comparison and reflection, to understand language,
culture and humanity in a board sense. In this way, language learning contributes to the
development of interculturally aware citizens, of increasing importance at a time of rapid
and deep globalisation. (Victorian curriculum and Assessment Authority 2007) ”(4)
The phenomenon of globalisation has led to the dramatic use of English as ‘the
global language’. It is well known that many millions of people in countries all over the
world are learning the language. Many of the developing economies are also embracing the
learning of other languages, as English more and more comes to be seen as a ‘universal
basic skill’. English is not the only “big” language is now in the care of multilingual speakers.
Learning a second language can be facilitated through using the language for
communication purposes.:1. Learners learn a language through using it to communication.
2. Authentic and meaningful communication should be the goal of classroom activities.
3. Fluency is an important dimension of communication.
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4.
5.
6.
7.
Communication involves the integration of different language skills.
Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and even.
Communication of this kind should be both authentic and meaningful.
A greater emphasis should be played on language use rather than language
knowledge.
8. Learn autonomy in language use and learner risk-taking should be encouraged.
9. Fluency and appropriacy in the use of the second language should take precedence
over structural correctness.
10. Knowledge of the language and the ability to use it in communication with other
people.
11. Understanding of the culture of another group.
12. Understanding one’s own language and culture through comparison with another
language and culture.
13. Knowing how to communicate across cultural boundaries(Liddicoat 2002 p30
14. Enriches our learners intellectually, educationally and culturally.
15. Contributes to social cohesiveness through better communication and
understanding.
16. Further develops the existing linguistic and cultural resources in our community.
17. Contributes to our strategic, economic and international development.
18. Enhances employment and career prospects for the individual.
The common image of a teacher standing in front of a class, providing information
to students sitting passively at their desk is simply archaic, according to contemporary
scientific views of the learning process. But what exactly do we know? While traditional
education has emphasised memorisation and the mastery of text, research on learning has
shown that people construct new knowledge and understanding based on what they
already know and believe..
While there is no universal best teaching and learning that can enhance our
unquestionably exist. The goal of the analytical strand of the project is to provide evidence
on the cognitive, objective, social, motivational and developmental factors that constitute
the learning process.
The traditional or innovative methods of teaching are critically examined, evaluated
and some modifications in the delivery of knowledge are suggested. As such, the strengths
and weaknesses of each teaching methodology are identified and probable modifications
that can be included in traditional methods are suggested.
In the pre-technology education context, the teacher is the sender or the source, the
educational material is the information or message, and the student is the receiver of the
information. In terms of the delivery medium, the educator can deliver the message via the
“chalk-and- talk” method and overhead projector (OHP) transparencies.
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This directed instruction model has its foundations embedded in the behavioural
learning perspective (Skinner, 1938) and it is a popular technique, which has been used for
decades as an educational strategy in all institutions of learning. Basically, the teacher
controls the instructional process, the content is delivered to the entire class and the
teacher tends to emphasize factual knowledge. In other words, the teacher delivers the
lecture content and the students listen to the lecture. Thus, the learning mode tends to be
passive and the learners play little part in their learning process (Orlich et al.,1998). It has
been found in most universities by many teachers and students that the conventional
lecture approach in classroom is of limited effectiveness in both teaching and learning. In
such a lecture students assume a purely passive role and their concentration fades off after
15-20 minutes. Some limitations which may prevail in traditional teaching methods are:-
(a) Teaching in classroom using chalk and talk is “one way flow” of information.
(b) Teachers often continuously talk for an hour without knowing students
response and feedback.
(c) The material presented is only based on lecturer notes and textbooks.
(d) Teaching and learning are concentrated on “plug and play” method rather than
practical aspects.
(d) The handwriting of the lecturer decides the fate of the subject.
(e)There is insufficient interaction with students in classroom.
(f) More emphasis has been given on theory without any practical and real life
time situations.
(g) Learning from memorization but not understanding.
(h) Marks rather than result oriented.
Innovative Tools
Everyone loves a teacher with an infectious sense of humour. Looking at the lighter
side of life not only fosters cordial relations between professors and students, but also
provides welcome relief while trying to follow a difficult lecture on a complicated subject.
When there is a willingness to change, there is hope for progress in any field. Teaching is a
challenge. Learning is a challenge. Combining both effectively is a challenge. Being
humorous is a challenge. However, laughing is easy.
We are convinced both by experience and research that using humour in teaching is
a very effective tool for both the teacher and student. Humour strengthens the relationship
between student and teacher, reduces stress, makes a course more interesting and if
relevant to the subject, may even enhance recall of the material. Humour has the ability to
relax people, reduce tension, and thereby create an atmosphere conducive for learning and
communication. Numerous studies in the field of advertising have noted that humour is the
most effective tool for enhancing recall of advertisements. It is easy to create a humour in
the classroom by reading books of jokes and to listen to professional comics. The students
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should be encouraged to take notes, especially to learn about the professionals’ use of such
techniques as exaggeration, pauses, and timing. Observe reality and exaggerate it - much
humour lies in observations about real life and truthful situations. In conclusion, humour not
only plays an important role in the healing process but is also very important in education.
Computer assisted language learning
Language learning software was first created in 1960, concordance started in 1969, and the
artificial intelligence programme specifically designed for language learning appeared in 1976.
Computer games for language learning emerged in 1988, e-mail project were used by 1988. The
internet knowledge resources were first reported in 1974.
Computer assisted language learning plays a vital role in teaching English at tertiary level. While
computer has grown more powerful and multimedia has become more integrated, CALL. The major
focus of CALL is on receptive skills. The internet is mainly a reading and listening to audio and video
files. Though the limited access of CALL, it reached its full potential.
Blogs
“Classroom outside the classroom”
Blog is derived from weblog. It is a diary or regular opinion columns posted on the internet. In
blog, the writer posts diary entry which others can read and comments on it.
Webbloging is for learners’ autonomy. The blogs used in two main ways in English language
teaching. The first, learners’ can be encouraged to write and post their blogs. If learners are learning
to write journals or engaged in other form of extensive writing in the classroom, is the right place to
check their ability of writing. The learners’ are asked to post their blogs to create wider and more
meaningful audience for their writing. The experience of creating publicly available blogs may be
motivating their learners and encourage to develop the new set of writing strategies.
The second, the most common in the language learning, the teacher can write the main blog
entries, which learners can then comment on them. Even teacher can send assignments or projects
to students on the taught topics, by which students can complete the work and send back to
teachers. It is very easy for the teacher to access the work through the blog and students can rectify
their mistakes. So the blog can encourage teachers to control teaching outside the classroom.
Massively Multi- Player Online Games
Game based learning has many faceted benefits: motivation, critical thinking, and
engagement in learning. Games can be either designed especially for language learning objectives
from existing well-known games like the Sims (Purushotam 20050) within the latter paradigm; one of
the most promising approaches involves web 2.0 games, called massively multi player online games
or MMGOG.
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The first gives a platform for an online game for millions, and second is a particularly user
created virtual world where user can interact in much the same way in the real world. It is very
difficult task to engage the learner in extensive communication in English outside the classroom, but
the games provide large scale opportunities for interaction.
Computer assisted language learning
Language learning software was first created in 1960, concordance started in 1969, and the
artificial intelligence programme specifically designed for language learning appeared in 1976.
Computer games for language learning emerged in 1988, e-mail project were used by 1988. The
internet knowledge resources were first reported in 1974.
Computer assisted language learning plays a vital role in teaching English at tertiary level. While
computer has grown more powerful and multimedia has become more integrated, CALL. The major
focus of CALL is on receptive skills. The internet is mainly a reading and listening to audio and video
files. Though the limited access of CALL, it reached its full potential.
Mobile Phone Assisted language learning
Mobile phones are considered as miniature computers because of its additional facilities like
texting, gaming, email and recording. Mobile Phone Assisted language learning covers PDAs, iPods
and wireless computing. MPALL applications consists of mini lessons of grammar points, closed
ended quizzes or games testing discrete language points available through SMS, the web or
downloads, the vocabulary lessons, short definitions of words with examples of use, recording
lectures for better understanding, dictionary, and a communicative language learning games using
actions. The most important features of Mobile Phone Assisted language learning are, social
interactivity, context portability, Sensitivity, connectivity, individuality and immediacy. Due to
greater opportunities of Computer Assisted Language learning, more and more language learning is
likely taking place outside classroom setting.
Digital age language learning
The powerful information and communication technologies available have opened up
new social and educational opportunities, creating new needs and requiring the development new
skills. ‘The development of literacy and communication skills in new online media is critical to
success in almost all walks of life.’ (Shetzer and Warschauer 1999:171) Digital age language learning,
this new concept focuses on the need of adopting new technologies to incorporate digital literacy
skills to language curricula.
Digital age language teachers have four important responsibilities
1. To know the availability of the online resources and to make language learning effective.
2. Context based selections of the resources according to students group and develops suitable
activities that will create opportunities for enhancing both language and digital skills.
3. Need to teach the skills necessary to function in the digital age, including reading and writing
digital text and communicating and publishing online.
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4. Digital literacy skills are done seamlessly and in an integrated manner so that the language
course is a coherent whole rather than a collection of loose components.
The multimedia language lab
Multimedia language lab is developed to respond to students different learning styles.
The basic purpose of language lab is to focus on sound, text images, videos, animation and
interesting context that can be created and accessed from electronic devices such as computer, mp3
players, cell phones, and iPods. By using multimedia in the classroom, the students can better
understand the lessons by cultivating self thinking ability with integration of four skills. Even this is
use full for the learner to learn and stimulate retention by recorded classes and presentation.
This tool can develop all four skills of language. Silverman and Hins (2009) found that
both English language learners and native speakers who used videos clip to illustrate vocabulary
items showed greater improvements in vocabulary knowledge then those who did not receive the
multimedia instructions. Even students can improve their vocabulary by playing games and puzzles
on computer.
1. Writing: on internet, there are many websites where one can get exposure to write article, short
stories and poems. Students can write and get responses from peer group on experts for further
developments.
2. Listening: by listening recorded talks of experts and native speakers, lectures of eminent persons
and English sound track movies such as ‘pride and prejudice’ ‘water lilies’ ‘ghost and plays of
Shakespeare can enhance listening ability and improve their interest in learning. And listen native
speaker records and make self correction by listening to the correct responses and learn proper
pronunciation, stress and intonation by self control.
3. Speaking: speaking skills are improved by getting instructions of soft skills and involving oneself
in the talk show chart and many more group activities.
Language laboratory has following facilities to enhance learners skills: online tutorials,
teaching materials-audio recording, video recording, computer, LCD, soft skills teaching software,
external web location, games and quizzes, tests, interactive teaching tips for common errors and
pronunciation, functional grammar, building vocabulary power, group discussion. In this milieu it is
time to shed away our post colonial indignation and get into the right track of learning effective
language skills.
Audio-visual aids in teaching English
Audio visual aids are effective tool to impart good education. These aids are divided as
video, audio and audio-visual aids-video refers as seeing, audio refers as hearing and audio-visual
refers to combination of both. These aids are CD, DVD, tape recorder, e-book, graphics, pictures,
charts and are used to create the requisite interest and motivate the students to learn the language.
The main purpose of audio-visual aids is to enable the teachers to make his teaching effective and
interesting. Good models are presented before the students to teach effectively. In this way it can be
said that audio-visual aids direct sensory experience to the students.
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Context Based Approach
Context Based Approach is a substitute to conventional way of teaching grammar in
classroom. It is a bridge between knowledge of English grammar and the use of English language in
real life communication. Instead of memorizing the rules and contextualize them. They can easily
differentiate the structure and meaning. By doing so learners would gradually recognize the right
structure for the right context. An elementary exposure to English language and its basic
components aims to help the undergraduate students, who are already exposed to the language.
Context Based Approach is usage base one, which could be effectively used in CLT. The core
objectives of the approach is and useful in real life communication. The ultimate purpose of the
approach is to raise grammatical consciousness, an awareness of the communicative function of
grammar, and ability to distinguish between different grammatical systems. This broad umbrella
definition fuses certain techniques of grammar translation method, structural approach to language
and communication approach. Like in grammar translation method students are asked to compare
and contrast the meaning of the sentences, like in structural approach, students are asked to
identify the right solution for the particular context by group work.
The advantage of using context based approach for teaching grammar is that students
would comphrend why a particular rule is applied in a given structure and when best to use that
structure in real life context. This would make the students confident of their communication as they
would know exactly what they mean by using a particular grammar structure. The purposed
approach would give a boost of communicative approach and help to have command of the
language in undergraduate college.
Due to globalization, English has got the states of global language, world language, and
international language. English is a powerful market language and transaction of modernization. The
changing scenario of English is impacted on English curricula and teaching methodologies to cater
the need of present era.
In the last to ease the problem what should teacher do; that from the day one
itself an English teacher has to encourage students to talk in English only. This act makes them
confident. But talking extra care, the English teacher import the nuisance spoken aspects of
language once/twice in a week as a remedial measure. Such type of learner centric environment will
certainly prevail, as more and more students will participate in the session. Teacher should motivate
students. Teaching- learning is not one way process; but it is a multi-way process. As soon as the
teaching is over students should raise their doubts, clarification etc. By doing so students’
communication skills in English will be grow day by day. To develop this sufficient practice must be
given to the students in their preliminary stage. While maintain classroom management
concurrently learner – friendly atmosphere should be created. Above all a teacher is not a teacher
but also a friend, guide and a philosopher to students. He/she guides students not only to pass in
exam but also to phase challenges and take right decisions during the right time of crisis in life. This
is of course real and tough task for a good teacher.
So this is the right time that a concerned authorities and teachers should adopt new
and innovative culture of teaching English. Let us hope our kids’ English will be cashed in the way to
come.
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O’Grady, William, Michael Dabrovolsky, and Mark Aronoff. 1993. Contemporary linguistics: An
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Vyas A. Manish and Patel L. yogesh “Teaching English as a secong language- Anew Pedagogy for a
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Watts Eleanor.2004. Cocking a Snook at the Communicative Approach, IATEFL Issues, January
200412. Zorko, V., “ A rationale for introducing A wiki and a blog in a blended-learning context,”
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Digital Resources and English Empowerment
Kaushik Trivedi & Pushpendra Sinora
Introduction
Digital Resources appear in increasing numbers in classrooms of academic
institutions, questions arise continuously to be asked about the effectiveness of these
resources in supporting teaching and learning. Several questions arose in our mind like;
what is the importance of digital resources? Why are they important for teachers as well as
students? How teachers can use Digital Resources to improve knowledge of English
language among the students of rural area? What is the difference between education that
is given without digital resources and with the digital resources? We investigated and found
the answers of our questions. The research aims to investigate the necessity of digital
resources in the class-rooms and their use as a weapon for English empowerment of the
target learners.
Digital Resources for Academic purpose
Digital resources include digital language lab, computer lab, audio-visual aids,
internet, multimedia etc. All these have the potential to transform education system and
teaching-learning methods. These digital resources provide teachers with new ways to
deliver teaching; to work in a new, interesting and exciting ways; to make classroom
interactive and innovative; to open new window for the students to access knowledge of
entire world. Such an innovative teaching has opened new horizons of teaching and learning
for teachers and learners respectively.
Teacher can use digital resources to introduce new subjects and teaching materials
in a new and effective manner, ultimately developing learners’ level of understanding and
achieving desired outcome more easily and successfully in comparison to adopting
traditional modes of delivering and offering teaching material. Rather than relying upon
reading textbooks, teacher can find latest information and resources on a specific topic and
introduce them in their classroom through a variety of mediums. Students access internet to
understand the meanings of critical terms and concepts, examining new definitions and
theories and discovering new knowledge and information.
The digital world gives everyone an opportunity to find his or her own expert, not
necessarily in the classroom. The Internet and other digital resources provide students and
teachers with the means to reach out to the world and extract the information that they
find most interesting, whatever it may be. In the classroom there are many things that the
students know more about their teachers, simply because the students can do research that
was once tedious and required many trips to the library, yet now only needs a few clicks of
the mouse. (A.Tripathi.(2002). Digital resources in Education. Retrieved from
ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm? id+ 763759)
If we look back in the history then also Digital Resources have played important role to
develop the education system. Thomas Edison and many others thought that motion
pictures would change forever the role of the teacher. Radio was heralded in the late 1920s
and 1930s as the savior of our education system. During World War II Disney Studios
developed animated learning systems designed to teach very specific tasks. After World War
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II overhead projectors and audio filmstrips were to become the meat and potatoes of
learning resources. Television allowed one good teacher could reach the world. As a matter
of fact, these innovations not only provided interesting lessons, but people actually learned
from them. They have all proven to be effective in the teaching process. (A.Tripathi.(2002).
Digital resources in Education. Retrieved from ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm? id+ 763759)
English Empowerment
The concept of empowerment is complex and easily leads to ambiguities. For
example, it is noteworthy that the French language has no synonym for the word
‘empowerment’ in English. The word ‘pouvoir’ meaning authority held by somebody is
equivalent to power in English, but reference to the process whereby somebody is given or
handed over power only exists in the very restricted domain of the law with the meaning of
mandate. Thus, in a transaction, a consortium could give a mandate to a third party to sign a
contract on their behalf and this would be actualized physically by a piece of paper called
‘un pouvoir’ (A. Sen. (1998) The quote is from Les Prix Nobel. (The Nobel Prizes) 1998, editor
Tore Frangsmyr; (Nobel Foundation), Stockholm, 1999)
The learning of English needs to be related to the distribution of resources in society,
to the role of English as a tool for educational development. The use of English provides
access to learning opportunities. English language is an instrument which influences one’s
position as well as status in the world. Through English empowerment we can bridge the
Digital Divide between two individual of any corner of the globe. English empowerment can
play a vital role to build up the economic or social structure of any country.
English Empowerment in India
English itself is empowerment. Knowledge of or competency over English language
is itself a power in this current age of globalization. We can certainly empower our people
by giving them knowledge of English language. English language education is the only
solution that can help even the underprivileged to grab opportunities that globalization is
throwing up. English as an international language can play very crucial role in grass-root
development of the people of India. A working knowledge of English language will enable
every single adult individual in the country to communicate effectively in the day to day life.
(nitajain.blogspot.in/2009/01/English-for-empowerment-of-uttar.html)
English is taught as a second language in most of the government-run schools and
colleges in rural and semi-urban areas, with less than desirable enthusiasm among the
students to learn and appreciate English literature. The desire to learn and master English
for a better career in these days of globalization is manifest in urban schools and colleges.
But students’ attitude towards learning of English in rural and semi-urban areas has not
changed much. They experience a fear psychosis and feel being alienated in their English
classes.
Digital Resources and English Empowerment
Digital resources and language teaching have been walking hand in hand for a long
time. Digital resources and English language are still a source of fear and insecurity for many
teachers as well as students despite the latest advances applicable to language teaching
such as specialized websites, weblogs, wikis, language teaching methodology, audio-video
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aids, e-library and so on. Although many countries including India have done institutional
efforts to modernize their classroom by spending large amount in the technology to teach
English language, a wide range of changes have been found in teaching English language
using Digital Resources and without Digital Resources. However in majority of the cases the
output is positive and inspirational. We have found out certain resources which can be used
by the teachers of English to teach English in the classroom. They are listed out in the as
followed.
1)
2)
3)
4)
5)
6)
7)
8)
Using Emails
Using websites for English language teaching
CD – ROMs
Using Audio- Video aids
Language learning software
Digital English Language Laboratory
Internet based project works
Blogs, wikis and podcasts
We learned about above resources and their importance in English
Empowerment. We found that a lot has been written on use or digital resources in the
classroom to teach English language. Normally, we use such resources in our language lab to
teach communication skills and could find out that these resources make classroom very
interesting and derive innovative responses. We decided to prepare research project to find
out effectiveness of digital resources in teaching English language to the students of primary
school. Our research topic is entitled as “Digital Resources and English Empowerment”. In
order to implement this research project, we chose “Ravipura Primary School of Anand
district, wherein recently before a year new Digital Computer Laboratory has been
established to improve and enhance language learning and teaching process.
The research project is organized in three major sections:
I. A brief literature review that highlights what teacher of English thinks about using
technology to teach English; how contemporary students view teaching-learning
imparted using the language developing tools based on technology; and challenges
for teachers in making use of technology to teach English language.
II. The methods and findings sections which describes the use of questionnaire and
interviews for data collections and the resultant outcome.
III. Recommendations.
Literature Review:
English Teacher Perspective:
A teacher of English uses technology for variety of ways, for example, to prepare
lessons, to prepare materials, to teach lessons using audio-visual aids to teach poetry and so
on. The teacher uses technology to teach English language, apart from other subjects, to the
students of primary School i.e. students of 6th, 7th and 8th standards.
The prime aim of the research conducted is to examine the effectiveness of
technology and has generally found that the impact of technology to teach English language
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to the students is dependent on how it is used in the classroom. Teacher found the use of
technology interesting to teach English language to the students.
Students’ Perspectives:
The school belongs to rural area of Anand district which is affected by digital divide
badly. The knowledge of English or good command over English and awareness regarding
using technology are next too difficult for the students to teach. However their reactions
towards English language teaching using Digital Resources are motivating. Their interest to
learn more about English language and its usages make us feel proud.
Data Collections and Findings:
We selected four methods to study the role of Digital resources in empowering
English language of the students of upper primary in rural area of Gujarat. The methods are:
Surveys, focus groups, questionnaires and interviews. We chose these methods to find out
differentiation in following points:
1. Study of English without English teacher at school
2. Study of English in the presence of English teacher (but without using Digital
resources)
3. Study of English under the direction and guidance of English Teacher and using Digital
resources.
We followed several methods to find out the impact of Digital resources in enhancing
English language teaching and learning of the students of upper primary in rural regions like;
By taking interviews of teachers, doing survey, interacting with the principal and computer
teacher, checking progress reports of the students (last two years), observing classroom
teaching and at last taking Post-test the data have been collected for the present research.
The data are displayed in the tables below which show difference in performance of the
students in different situations. In following table we have given progress of 24 students in
learning of English language. In the first table, these 24 students were in the 6 th standard
and have studied English without English teacher as well as Digital Resources. In the second
table, these 24 students were in the 7th standard and have studies English in presence of
English teacher but there was no facility of Digital Resources. In the third table, these
students have entered in the 8th standard and teacher used Digital Resources to teach
English and tremendous growth and outcome were found out among the students.
Table: 1 Study of English without English teacher at school
English language competency level of the students (in %)
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Good
Average
Poor
95
Poor
5
Average
0
Speaking Skills
Good
No
Listening Skills
Poor
No
Reading Skills
Average
24
Writing
Skills
Good
Availability of
Digital
Resources
(Yes/No)
Poor
Availability
of English
Teacher
(Yes/No)
Average
th
6
No. of
Student
s
Good
Std.
10
13
77
10
10
80
00
00
100
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Table: 2 Study of English in the presence of English teacher (but without using Digital
resources)
English language competency level of the students (in %)
Average
Poor
50
Good
35
Poor
No
Average
Yes
Speaking Skills
Good
24
Listening Skills
Poor
th
7
Reading Skills
Average
Writing
Skills
Good
Availability of
Digital
Resources
(Yes/No)
Poor
Availability
of English
Teacher
(Yes/N)
Average
No. of
Studen
ts
Good
Std.
15
40
50
10
80
15
05
30
47
23
Table: 3 Study of English under the direction and guidance of English Teacher and using
Digital resources.
English language competency level of the students (in %)
90
10
00
90
10
00
Poor
05
Average
30
Good
65
Speaking Skills
Poor
Yes
Average
Yes
Good
24
Listening Skills
Poor
th
8
Reading Skills
Average
Writing
Skills
Good
Availability
of
Digital
Resources
(Yes/No)
Poor
Availability
of English
Teacher
(Yes/N)
Average
No. of
Studen
ts
Good
Std.
55
35
10
We went in the class of 1st standard where students have just enrolled and did not
any alphabet of English. We decided to teach them ABCD by using black-board with
traditional methods of teaching. Within half an hour, we got little bit success to teach them
some alphabets. Later on we took them computer laboratory and use video clip of ABCD
song and the result of an amazing as the students started to sing the song of ABCD with the
clip. These small kids were happy and excited with this method of teaching. So with the help
of this example we can understand the importance of Digital Resources to teach English.
Interview of English Teacher:
1. How long have you been teaching English at upper primary level?
A. “Since two years I am working as an English Teacher in a primary school.”
2.
A.
How is your experience with students of rural area while teaching English language to
them?
“In the beginning my experience was not good as the students of rural area did not
know even the basics of English (alphabets). However later on slowly and gradually I
found it interesting to teach them and see them learning English.”
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3.
What was the level of students in English before you joined the school as a special
language teacher of English?
A. “Before I joined I was in illusion that my students will be like this and that but what I saw
there was shocking because their level of knowing of English was merely zero!”
4. How is the response of these students towards English language?
A. “Students or children always like to learn new things! They all were eager to learn English
and their attitudes were positive.”
5. When did you think that you need Digital Resources to teach English? Why?
A. “I recognized that students were not able to connect the things, I was teaching them, as
English was very difficult for them to learn. At that time, I thought there is a need of a
connector - A digital resource which can connect their ideas to vision.”
6. How do you use digital resources to teach English?
A. “At the initial level I started showing stories (animated or with pictorial descriptions too)
on LCD. Later on I made them to play spelling games (Basic) so they could make rapport
with alphabets and new spellings started blowing in their minds. Slowly and gradually
today they all are able to write on their own about their ideas!”
7. What kinds of difficulties do you face in using digital resources to teach English?
A. “While using digital resources, the students were afraid in the beginning, but later on
they developed interest in using them.”
8. What was the effect of using digital resources to teach English in the classroom?
A. “Teaching through digital resources creates interest among students. They visualize what
they think. So using digital resources is always helpful.”
9. Which sources do you use normally to teach contents of the syllabus of English language
of that particular standard?
A. “To teach the content, I normally prefer computer presentation or projector.”
10. Which digital resources do you find the most successful to teach English?
A. “In teaching English, I found computer games very useful. Different language games
boosted up students’ confidence level.”
11. Which sources do you use to develop speaking skills of the students?
A. “To develop the speaking skill, I like to make them practice tongue twisters. So their
tongues start to twist as per the accent of English language. So I prefer the CDs of
tongue twister. Then I start from Respond Activity. They give responses as per
computer’s command.”
12. What are your ideas about using digital resources for English language teaching
effectively?
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“The use of Digital Resources is a modern way to teaching. It makes students to be
aware about recent trends and technology. It can make the study or learning process
interesting. So it is all time favorite for students and teachers both.”
13. What do your colleagues think about use of digital resources in the English class?
A. “They also give equal importance to teaching through Digital resources. They are also
using digital resources to teach different subjects.”
14. How have Digital Resources changed the way you plan to teach English lessons in the
class-room?
A. “As I told earlier, it was difficult to teach English to rural students especially when their
pre-knowledge of English was almost zero. At that time Digital resources made my way
easy. Students developed interest in learning process.”
Findings:
1.
Teachers see benefits from digital resources. They are positive about using Digital
Resources to teach English both for their students and for themselves as educators.
2.
After investigating Table 1, Table 2, Table 3 and Post-test containing language activities,
there is no doubt that teaching-learning process of English language becomes more
effective result oriented and successful if it is implemented using Digital resources.
3.
It there are sufficient digital resources in the school and if they are used effectively by
the efficient teacher, it can generate positive impact on English language teaching and
learning in the classroom of even rural region.
4.
Content teaching through using Digital resources increases students’ level of interest,
motivation and concentration.
5.
Digital resources help students to develop their personality and way of living life more
efficiently than the traditional mode of teaching i.e. oral narration method.
For example, if the teacher is teaching the lesson “Gandhi Bapu” of standard 6 th English
Text book through traditional oral teaching method, the students may or may not visualize
the image or content regarding Bapu and his actions described in the chapter. Even if the
students visualize the content that will be as per his perceptions and level of imagination.
But now if the teacher shows students the video clips or images related with the content, it
will be easier for students to relate his/her imagination with the video-clips and this
comparison will definitely create effective learning which will have long-lasting impact on
his memory.
Recommendations:
The research shows the role of Digital Resources in empowering English at upper
primary level in the school of rural area. It is identified that there is a unique need of Digital
resources to improve English language competency of the students because ultimately
these students are the future of India and if the roots of this future is solid, then we will see
Strong India in the years to come.
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It is necessary to provide and use Digital Resources in teaching- learning process in
developing country like India and to develop a framework for future development of Digital
Resources to empower English language in society so as to keep pace with the developed
country in future.
The result of the study also aligns with much of the current literature and with our
own experience in developing Digital Resources for English teachers. Based on this, it is
obvious that it is very much important for Indian Education Department and educators to
more and more intervening Digital Resources in English language teaching Curricula at all
the levels all across the county.
Conclusion
A good command over English language is all time high demand skills in the present
scenario of 21st century developing India. It is also considered a global language and an
inevitable, pre-requisite condition for development in this cut throat competitions of the
economies and professional world of developing countries. It is the only means to
communicate and transact worldwide. The role of technology in making English language
teaching and learning possible is the most crucial one. Using Digital resources in schools,
colleges, at home and in societies in general, has resulted in positive impact and ease in
teaching learning process being very effective and powerful tool in causing paradigm shift in
pedagogy. Digital resources not just make teaching and learning interesting and easy but
also help in developing critical thinking, inquiry based learning and team-work in the case of
both teachers and students while engaging in teaching and learning tasks. The dream of
Global India can only be fulfilled by making immense and effective use of technology so as
to empower English language of its citizens especially young learners.
References
A. Sen. (1998). Les Prix Nobel. (The Nobel Prizes) 1998, editor Tore Frangsmyr; (Nobel
Foundation), Stockholm.
A.Tripathi.(2002). Digital resources in Education. Retrieved from
ubiquity.acm.org/article.cfm?id+ 763759
Edith Esch. (2009). English and Empowerment: Potential, Issues, way forward. Retrieved
from www.c-s-p.org/flyers/978-1-4438-0144-sample.pdf
Katherine Hanson, Bethany Carlson. (2009). Effective Access Teachers’ use of digital
resources in STEM teaching. Retrived from
www.edc.org/gdi/publications_sr/effectivenessreport.pdf
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Material production for enhancing the oral fluency of tertiary level learners
P. Sathya
Introduction
English has acquired the position of the world’s leading language (Crystal: 2003:1).
Everybody has an idea about a language but only a few knows the language. A child learns its mother
tongue by listening, speaking, reading and writing, whereas English is learnt in the reverse order.
This is the reason why most of the learners do not master the language. It is the duty of the teachers
to enable the learners to master the language.
Material development
Material development refers to the production of new materials or modifying the existing
ones. Most of the teachers prefer to stick on to the existing materials due to the lack of time. But the
existing materials may not suit the needs of the learners. Learners needs keep changing as time goes
by. It is advisable if the teachers develop their own materials since they know the needs and wants
of their students. Otherwise they can adapt the existing materials to suit the needs of the learners.
Good language learning according to Rubin, “depends on at least three variables: aptitude,
motivation and opportunity”. The teacher must be aware of how to utilize, exploit, adapt, enrich and
interpret the materials. Teaching and learning should be enjoyable. Whatever the material may be
for it must suit the learners. It must be of interest to them. It is also the part of the teacher making
learning interesting. Even though materials are prescribed, teachers must be allowed to modify and
adapt them in order to suit the needs of the learners. It is widely reported that many teachers stifle
the learners with long, boring lectures. The learners’ creativity is totally neglected sometimes. The
learners remain passive listeners in the classroom. This study aims at providing ample opportunities
to speak in the class and the materials are framed with these objectives.
Integrated Skill
Any skill cannot be learned in isolation. Language skills must be taught in integration.
According to Richards, Platt and Weber (1985), “ The teaching of the language skills of reading,
writing, listening and speaking in conjunction with each other as when a lesson involves activities
that relate listening and speaking to reading and writing” (Mc Donough and Shah, 173). All the four
skills must be practiced in classroom.
Making speaking a part of life
Speaking is an essential part of life as mentioned earlier. Speaking is the natural way to start
learning a language. But learners are trained to listen and write and not allowed to read and speak.
Speaking should be taught to the learners by speaking.
Activities can be given to the learners and teachers give their feedback. “Personal feedback
on their speaking will help students to improve their future performances” (Carralero, 2010). By
giving personalized feedback, the learners are aware of their limitations and try to overcome them.
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Krashen (1987) states that the learner acquires a language one step ahead of his/her current
knowledge. For eg, the learner’s current level is “i”, his/her progress would be “i+1” (Peter, 45).
Swain argues that “comprehensible input” is not sufficient to but “comprehensible output” is
necessary. Comprehension with production helps in language acquisition. The learners in the study
were provided with opportunities to produce the language.
A research was conducted in Holy Cross College, Trichy for the first year Under graduate
students for a period of 35 hours. The learners were motivated at the beginning of the session. They
were hesitant in the beginning but later they were on track.
This study has three main purposes:
To increase the mean length of utterance (MLU) of the learners.
To lengthen the noun phrase and verb phrase
To reduce the disfluency markers like gap fillers, back tracking and pauses, etc.
The following activities were given to the learners during the intervention programme.
a) Newspaper Activities:
News paper is an easily available and perennial source to enhance the language. Apart from
improving one’s general knowledge, it serves in developing critical faculty. Teachers can teach
effortlessly using newspapers. Learning takes place when it is interesting. “Variety is the spice of
life”, learners feel interested if they find something unique and different from the usual material.
Several activities have been planned and executed in order to suit the level of the learners.
b) One – page lesson
The lessons are of varied themes like humour, horror, etc. The lessons are referred to as
“One – page lesson” so that it would be completed within a day.
The learners read the lesson and were asked to retell the same in their own words. Their
description skills were improved. If they search for any word, the researcher helped them by asking
“wh” questions which enabled them to move on with story – telling. The aim of this activity is to
introduce the learners the art of story – telling.
c) Grammar Consciousness Raising (GCR)
Grammar Consciousness Raising (GCR) is a term coined by Rutherford. He coined the term
‘Consciousness Raising’ (1971). He sees consciousness raising as “… a facilitator of language learning
or as a means rather than an end ....” Grammar must be taught unconsciously. Grammar
Consciousness Raising is combined with newspaper activities.
d) Songs
Songs helps learning in a relaxed way. It is taught using humanistic approach. Apart from
that they are used to enhance the pronunciation of the learners. Songs were sung by the learners
along with actions.
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Krashen (1983) explains that for optimal learning to occur, the affective filter must be weak.
A weak affective filter means that a positive attitude towards learning is present. Teaching speaking
through songs is a method to overcome affective filter that promotes language learning. Saricoban
and Metin (2000) have found that songs can develop four language skills with the weak affective
filter.
e) Video clips
Learning will be interesting if the materials are presented in Audio – Visual mode.
Video clips were screened and the learners were allowed to enjoy those clips. Then they
were asked to give a running commentary of those clips.
f)
Public Performances
Public performances were done in order to encourage the learners to overcome stage fear.
Public performances include role play, debate, and oral presentations.
Some activities like tight corner, moral dilemma, Hullabullo, spin a yarn and pyramid
sentences were given to the learners in order to make them think and speak in the class.
The session began with the introduction of the learners. Ice breakers were conducted since
the learners are from various disciplines. Questionnaire was administered to the learners. Pre – test
was conducted to know the level of the learners before the intervention programme. Post – test was
done after the intervention programme to know their level of improvement.
Materials are designed in such a way so that there are activities and tasks framed to improve
the speaking skills of the learners. The tasks and the activities were graded. Learners can be given
some words or sentences as a model like scaffolding. Guided exercise can be given to start with
which can be replaced by free exercises and tasks at a later stage.
Teaching Methodology
No single method can be used in teaching a language. Eclectic method was followed in the
classroom. It is believed that fluency must come first rather than accuracy as it is in CLT. Learning
happens when all the senses (AVK) are used. Therefore, the lessons and activities are presented in
AV mode. 3 H’s (Head, Heart and Hand) were used in the classroom. Information gap activities,
problem solving activities are given to the learners to think and use the language. More than form,
meaning was given importance.
Findings
 The learners participated well in the class though they were hesitant in the
beginning. The learners tried to come out of their shell and participated in the
sessions. The reason for their hesitation was found to be fear of ridicule.
 When they were given immediate feedback like rephrasing and repeating the right
responses, their participation level was high.
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 They enjoyed singing songs and watching videos.
 It was found that learning takes place if the materials are of interest to the learners
and the classroom climate has to be friendly.
 Learning takes place in a non threatening atmosphere.
Conclusion
The study had tried to fulfill the needs of the learners by producing an interactive course
material which provided opportunities for the learners to speak. Classrooms are the only place
where most of the learners use the language but the present materials did not provide opportunities
to use the language. It is identified that learning should be of fun to the learners. Hence it is the
teacher who must create a conducive atmosphere for learning. Teachers must employ variety in
teaching methodology. Speaking should be integrated with the other skills. Feedback should be
given immediately. Errors should not be laughed at instead it should be viewed as a sign of learning.
The intervention programme had enabled the learners to stretch their interlanguage.
References
Cameron, Lynne. (2001). Teaching languages to young learners. UK. Cambridge University Press
Print.
Candlin, Chris and Ted Rodgers. (1985). Talking shop: Curriculum and syllabus design. ELT Journal Vol
39/2 Apr. (101 – 108). Print.
Carralero, Elvira. (2010). Keep them talking. English Teaching Professional. Brighton. Issue 66, Jan.
Pavilion Publishing Ltd. Print.
Clarke, David.F. (1989). Material adaption: why leave it all to the teacher? ELT Journal Vol 43/2 Apr.
133 – 141. Print.
Homsi, Riyad Al. (2011) Spoken English Course: A success story. Modern English Teacher. Volume 20
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Kirubhakaran. S. (2003). Effectiveness of self – access materials: A study. The English Classroom. Vol
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Action Research - A Device to solve language issues in English Classroom
B. Sreekanth Reddy
The teacher uses many concepts in planning and Organizing effective teaching and
realizing the objectives of teaching. A teacher may come across several types of challenges
in presenting and achieving the learning objects .Therefore, it is essential for a teacher to
solve those problems scientifically. The appropriate teaching strategies may not be effective
unless and until the problem are solved . The classroom problems can be solved by
employing the action research process .It is a method for solving the problems of teaching
objectively and systematically. This is useful for improving and modifying the teaching
process.
Meaning of Research
Research is a process to study the basic problems which contribute in the edifice of
human knowledge. The research process establishes new truth, finds out new facts,
formulates new theory and suggests new applications. It is a purposeful activity which
contributes to the edifice of knowledge.
'' Research is a systematized effort to gain new knowledge'' - Morey
Educational research
The principle focus of education is the development of a child .It's aim is to bring the
desirable change among learners. The basic problems of teaching and education are studied
in educational research.
'' Educational research is that activity which is directed towards the development of
science of behaviour in educational situation.'' WM. Traverse
Educational research aims to make contribution towards the solution problem in the field of
education by the use of the scientific method, which focuses on critical reflective thinking.
Types of Educational Research
The objectives of educational research is to contribute to the existing knowledge in
the form of new theory and facts in a particular field studied. It may not always contribute to
knowledge development but suggests new application for practical problems .Thus, the
educational researches are classified broadly into two categories.
1) Fundamental or Basic Research.
2) Action research or Applied Research.
Meaning and definition of Action Research
Stephen M Corey applied this concept of Action research for the first time in field of
education. It is a process by which practitioners attempt to study the problems scientifically
in order to guide, comment and evaluate their decision and action.
''Action research is a process for studying problems by practitioners scientifically to
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take decision for improving their current practices.''
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Stephen M Corey.
The concept of action research is being used in education since 1926. Buckingham
has mentioned this concept for the first time in his book ‘Research for Teachers,’ but
Stephen M Corey has used this concept for solving the problems of education.
Objectives of action research
The following objectives can be achieved by adopting the action research projects:To enhance the performance and aspirational levels of students.
To develop scientific attitude among administrators, principal, and teachers and
solve their educational problems.
To improve the working conditions of the Educational institutes.
To create a healthy environment for teaching – learning process.
To improve and modify the classroom teaching – learning strategies.
To develop interests, attitudes and values in students.
Steps of action research
1. Identification of the problem:- The teacher should be able to identify the problem and must
realize the seriousness of the problem.
2. Defining the problem:-After identifying the problem, it should be defined so that the
scope ,boundaries, the action and the goal may be fixed .The scope helps to localize the
problem in terms of class, subject in which a teacher encounters a problem.
3. Analyzing the causes of the problem:- Analysing the factors responsible for the cause of
problems helps us to formulate the hypothesis. It also tells us whether the factors are under
the control or beyond the control of an investigator .
4. Formulating the action hypothesis:- An action hypothesis is formulated after identifying
and analyzing the factors which causes the problem .The statement of action hypothesis has
two aspects: Action and Goal. It indicates what action has to be taken for achieving the
desired goal.
5. Design for testing the action hypothesis:- In action research one hypothesis is tested at
a time. The design of action research is flexible and can be redesigned at any time according
to the convenience of the research. The design is developed for testing the feasibility of the
proposed hypothesis. If the hypothesis is not accepted second design is developed for
testing another hypothesis.
6. Conclusion of Action research project:-After testing the hypothesis, the results are
collected and studied in depth and analyzed .After analyzing data some inferences are
drawn. The conclusion statement indicates the prescription for the assumed practical
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problem of the class room. The conclusions are useful in modifying the current practices of
the school or class room.
Experimental project of Action research
An experimental project is designed for solving the problems of English teaching.
1. Topic of the project: “A study for improving the spelling errors in English language.”
2. Investigator: An experienced teacher of English language.
3. Background for the project work: An English teacher has observed and experienced that
students commit more errors in spellings. He came across several types of spelling errors in
student’s assignments, composition, translations and in their written work.
4. Objectives of the project: An action research is planned to achieve the following
objectives To make students know about the importance of correct spellings in English
language.
To make them sensitive towards spelling errors in English language.
To improve the English spellings of the students.
To improve the level of achievement in English.
5. Importance of the project: English is an International/global language. It is very important
for communication in our country as well as abroad. To have good hold on language is a
professional requirement now-a-days. Therefore students must learn language correctly.
6. Field of the problem: The field of the study is the ‘Spelling Errors’ in English language.
7. Specification: The problem is located in the 11th grade students of A9 section in RGUIIIT,
R.K. Valley. The students of this class commit several spelling errors in English.
Analyzing the causes of the problem:- The causes of the problem are identified so that
tentative solutions may be designed. The causes are analyzed as given below –
Causes
Evidence
Control
1. The students doesn’t complete their
written assignments.
The assignments are always incomplete
Under the control of the teacher.
By conducting dictation,enquiring the
students / supervising the written work.
Under the control of the teacher.
2.Teacher doesn’t give due attention /
importance to spellings during the class
hours.
3.The students donot have clear
understanding of English grammar or
have a strong foundation in grammar.
Students poor oral response to the
questions based on grammar
May or maynot be under the control of
teacher
The analysis of the causes of the problem provides the basis for the formulation of action
hypothesis.
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Formulation of Action hypothesis:- The following two action hypothesis have been
developed by considering the causes.
1st hypothesis:- The modification or improvement may be done in English spelling errors by
proper correction of English written work/ assignments. It refers to the action part.
2nd hypothesis:- The spelling of words and their meanings should be emphasized by the
teacher to improve the spelling errors in the English teaching. This part concentrates on
goal.
The action hypothesis is tested by using the design of the project Design for testing action hypothesis: - The first action hypothesis is tested by employing the
following design –
S.No
Activity
Source
Time
1
The teacher designs a list of written
work assignment in English
Language.
Text books & prescribed syllabus for the
weekend
5 days
2.
3.
4.
A blue print of the tests to be
administered is made for the
complete lesson/module
The teacher will assign daily based
written work to test the different
aspects of language.
The teacher evaluates the written
assignments and assigns grades /
marks.
3 days
Prescribed syllabus for the week.
Various model papers, previous exam
papers.
Teacher evaluates the assignments
1 week
2 days
The data is collected during the project work and the marks/grades are analyzed. If
the project result indicates significant improvement in reducing spelling errors in English,
there is no need to test the second hypothesis.
Conclusion
The project work done is evaluated in terms of statistical representation. The results are
studied and analyzed and then the hypothesis is accepted or rejected. The percentage of
errors is also calculated and conclusion or suggestions may be proposed in the form of
remedial measures for the problem.
References
Research Methodology: Methods and Techniques - C R Kothari, 2nd edition, New Age
International Publications.
2Research Methodology and Statistical Tools – P. Narayana Reddy and GVRK Achayalu, 1st
Edition, Excell Books New Delhi, 2008.
Statistical Methods – S.P.Gupta S Chand & Sons, New Delhi, 2005
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An Input and Information Processing Method for Engineering Undergraduate
Learners of ESL in Haryana
Dr Varalakshmi Chaudhry
Introduction
In the course of my language teaching career spanning over a period of almost two
decades (ten years in South India and ten - and continuing - in North India), I have noticed
something in the teaching-learning classroom situation which has intrigued me. As a
language teacher-researcher, I have noticed that the learners seem to easily "manage"
getting pass marks in English and clear the paper whereas their proficiency doesn’t improve
as expected despite a plethora of methods, materials and evaluative techniques that I have
been experimenting with to understand the paradox of "pass" the exam with low or no
proficiency at all. Another point is how the learners, on an average, perform very well in the
classroom tasks but focus only on clearing/scoring maximum marks in the final written exam
or vice-versa.
Why is it that language acquisition which is such a complex phenomenon and has been
experimented with since the age of Vedas or ever since human race has begun its existence,
gets so trivialized when it comes to the classroom where it is just a subject to be studied for
answering a full length paper at the end of the academic semester /year? Why is it that
students do not realize the importance of attaining proficiency in English and acquisition of
study skills for their own professional growth? This has been troubling me for many years
now. The existing theories of SLA (mostly western) do not seen to acknowledge the gravity
of the situation. Caught up in the whirlpool of Syntax, Morphology, Semantics and
Phonology and Pragmatics- the "attitude" problem of the learners and their "sheer nonserious" approach to English language acquisition and communication in general somehow
seem to have lost importance. As a result, whether it be Chomsky's view on language
acquisition or Krashen's comprehensible input and monitoring theories, Swain's output
hypothesis or the only Indian researcher who is pertinent to the Indian context of the study
- Prabhu's communicational task approach to promote SLA, - all seem inadequate to
understand the "attitude" problem of Indian learners who seem to look at English as a
subject wherein some topics have to be mastered to enable them to pass the exams. The
reluctance to express themselves without the compulsions of exams has to be, somehow,
tackled by teacher-researchers of SLA.
There is a need on the teacher’s part to actively participate in the dynamics of
language learning in the classroom situation – in terms of session plan; selection of topics;
materials; handling the syllabus; evaluative techniques; attempts to understand the
cognitive processes of the students; and the psychology of the students.
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Theoretical Background for the Study
i. Theories of SLA
A. Krashen (1985) Input Hypothesis: The only way to acquire a language is by internalizing
comprehensible input. Comprehensible input is at a level just above the current level of the
competence of the learner. This input is comprehended with the help of the non-verbal cues
in the environment
B. Swain (1985) refers to the role of comprehensible output in language acquisition.
According to Swain, output has three functions in language acquisition (related to accuracy):
(i) The Noticing/ Triggering function or what might be referred to as its consciousnessraising role; (ii) The Hypothesis-testing function; (iii) The Metalinguistic function, or what
might be referred to as its reflective role. Swain and Lapkin (1995) discuss the role of
writing in SLA. It includes: a. Generating input; b. Enhancing fluency by furthering
development of automaticity through practice. It helps learners notice gaps in their own
knowledge as they are forced to visibly encode concepts in L2 forms, which may lead them
to give more attention to relevant information; c. Allow learners to test hypotheses they
have formulated as part of their developing linguistic systems, with opportunity for
monitoring and revision; d. Providing opportunities for others to comment on problems and
give corrective feedback.
C. Jayaseelan (1996) gives a convincing argument for a new notion of what is acquired.
“Actually there is no need to learn structures: the so called structures fall out from the
meanings of words following completely universal principles embodied in the LAD”.
Extending it further, “the most significant simplification achieved by the new theory is the
elimination of phrase-structure rules. This development is the result of the Projection
Principle, which says (essentially) that all phrase structure configuration (in D – structures)
are projected from the semantic selectional frames of lexical items. To put it very simply,
the claim is that if we are given the meaning of the head of a phrase, general principles will
enable us to determine uniquely the structure of the phrase that this head will project.
Given this, phrase structure rules are unnecessary and (as such) are eliminated from the
theory. So then, the language learner does not have to learn phrase-structure rules.” (ibid:
47-49)
D. Van Patten’s Input processing theory: “Further developments of Van Patten's principles
of Input Processing Theory (VanPatten, 2003:420 in Gragera, 2005: 2) seek to offer new
insights into the relationship between grammar and meaning--or between grammar and
cognition.” (Gragera: 2). The learner processes lexical items before grammatical items only
“when they encode the same semantic information” (Gragera: 2). Further, “Van Patten's
Language Acquisition scheme distinguishes three sets of cognitive processes: Processing,
Accommodating/ Restructuring, and Monitoring/ Accessing; and three distinctive
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informational systems: the Input System, the Developing System, and the Output System.
He also includes a vaguely defined interim, the Intake System.‘’ (Gragera: 2). Processing
includes: “L2 acquisition learners move from the Input System to the Intake System by
virtue of the set of cognitive faculties involved in processing; then, from the Intake System
to the Developing System by Accommodating/Restructuring; and finally, from the
Developing System to the Output System by Monitoring/Accessing”(ibid:3).
(ii) Learner Language:
Ellis (2005) provides a comprehensive review of the various aspects of learner
language in detail. Learner language and the significance of its study have been introduced
first by Pit Corder (1967) in his seminal paper on the "Significance of Learners’ Errors’, and
then Selinker’s (1972) `Inter language’. Faerch et al (1984) express their views on learner
language and language learning. "Learner English ….is often primarily learnt inside a
classroom, rather than in more normal communicative situations" (ibid: 7).
(iii) Various methods studied from the Input-Processing Perspective
We look at the various approaches that have been taken to language teaching over
the years and the role of input-processing in these approaches. The attempt made is only to
suggest that this is one way of looking at the efficacy of the methods of teaching
second/foreign language. We are not giving any value judgment on the methods or
methodologies. The purpose is to highlight the importance of the degree of input processing
promoted in the various methods till date (cf Varalakshmi Chaudhry, 2010: 64-69 for a
detailed discussion).
a. The Grammar-Translation Approach: The processing of input (which contains only
sentences) was limited to searching for L2 equivalents of L1 words and grammatical items.
Changing the structure from one language to the other was all that was done. There was no
scope for creative use of language.
b. The Direct Method: There is surprisingly no need to process the input at all. All the
learner has to do is rote learn the sentences and do mechanical pattern practice. Though
there are answers to be given for questions, the answers are prefabricated and highly
predictable.
c. The Grammar Approach: This method doesn’t involve the students in any king of inputprocessing at all. All they need to do is listen carefully and keep moving the eye along the
written text and fill in the blanks stopping at particular words. This also makes the students
not pay attention to listening comprehension as well at some points.
d. The Audio-lingual Approach: This method involves a limited amount of processing in the
sense that there is a bit of division of the parts of the sentence structure and an attempt to
change or replace the crucial words while answering. For eg.: What’s he reading? Has to be
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divided into what+’s+he+reading and then answer: He+ ‘s + reading+ a+ book. Here ‘s is
added to `he’ instead of to `what’ of the question and then `a book’ instead of `what’.
However, the processing is strictly limited to the structures which are presented to the
learner. There is no scope for creativity as there is no contextualization.
e. The Discrete Item Approach: The processing is limited to discrete items like past tense
endings etc.
f. The Communicative Approach: There is reasonable amount of input processing of various
types: 1. A lot of spoken and written input has to be processed to form questions and
answers of the dialogue; 2. A lot of processing for selective listening has to be done as there
is information gap; 3. There is a choice of what to say and how to respond to what has been
said and thus, the learner has to process information while framing questions and answers;
appropriate feedback has to be given. So, cognitive processing has to be done.
g. The Task-based Approach: A lot of processing is involved in the entire activity of task
performance.
h. The Learner Strategy Approach: There are activities which involve input-processing- 1.
Listening for specific information; 2.Note-making; 3.Argumentative thinking/writing;
decision making
i. The Integrated Approach: There is a lot of processing done at various levels. The approach
involves multi-tasking and hence a lot of processing has to be done by the learner.
(iv) Concepts - Input Processing and Information Processing
In this study, a distinction between Information-processing and Input-processing is
made. Information-processing refers to the chunking of ideas/concepts present in the
written/spoken text, in order to comprehend the message / gist of the text. The priority
here is meaning-embedded units/chunks rather than the language structure of the text. We
argue, therefore, that “reading a text” and “listening to a speech” involve Informationprocessing and that the reading involves the processes or activities for comprehension of
the essence of the written text source and listening involves the processes for absorbing the
main ideas put forward in the spoken text. Hence, the focus is on the extraction of meaningembodied text chunks.
Input-processing refers to the focus on the linguistic structure of the
written/spoken text. This is revealed when a learner prepares a Script from the written text
source (selected by him/her) s/he has read (note-making); when s/he takes down notes
while listening to a Speech (Note-taking); and finally, when s/he answers questions (in a
written test) based on the contents of the text and the notes-made or taken.
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The Experimental Study
The subjects (thirty in number) are from an autonomous engineering college permanently
affiliated to Kurukshetra University, Kurukshetra and located at Israna, Panipat (Haryana).
The Experimental Task (cf to Appendix: 14-15 for the complete task) had seven literary
extracts of which any two had to be analyzed from two perspectives: (i) Linguistic structure
of the literary extracts (Input Processing); and (ii) Meaning and the modern interpretations
of the words and expressions used in the extracts (Information Processing). The hypothesis
is that: Successful learners process the given texts more systematically and logically for
task performance.
Data was analyzed both quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitative Analysis: The
responses of the 30 subjects (S1 to S30) were analyzed along the following criteria: (with
the only change with C2 where the total no. of words were counted rather than MLU – as
it was appropriate for the argument of this paper).
The Ten Criteria for Evaluation (from Varalakshmi Chaudhry 2010: 88-91) are: 1.
Number of Idea Units (C1) - group of words which would express/embody an idea of the
speaker. Examples: The novels written by Robin Cook; with the development of
Biotechnology; Chromosome 6 from the human body; Medical crimes could also include 2.
Mean Length of Utterance (C2) - Total number of words divided by the Total number of
sentences. 3. Errors (C3) - a. Errors in Vocabulary (Erroneous words/Total number of words);
b. Errors in Syntax (Erroneous sentences/Total number of sentences). 4. Self-Corrections
(C4) - The number of instances of self-correction in the responses Examples: teaches detechnical destruction; their productive-reproductive; then they turn-change their lifestyle;
was-has been; it is a – that part.5. Clarity (C5) - The idea units that expressed the definition
of a concept or illustrated a concept were identified as instances of clarity. Examples:[In
Biotechnology] which is the manipulation of the genes with the help of different techniques;
[There are many themes of short stories] such as folklores, fables, fairy tales; [There are]
Sherlock Holmes, Ruskin Bond, Saki, Oliver Smith, O’Henry, Charles Dickens, Robert Frost;
Folk tales are what our culture and past has given us. 6. Creativity (C6) - The idea units that
did not depend on the script verbatim but were expressed by the subject in his or her own
words were considered as instances of creativity. Examples: has laid a pivot; Hostel life,
wow! ; Roughly all his novel 7. Script Dependence (C7) - The idea units that repeated
verbatim parts of the script were considered as instances of script dependence. 8. Criticism
(C8) - The idea units that have a critical content in them – either considering negative and
positive aspects of something or arguing for or against something - are considered as
instances of criticism. Examples: He wonderfully threads (suspense and superstition); He
writes in a very classy manner; The common feature of Dan Brown’s novels. 9. Discourse
Structure (C9) -The coherence and relevance of the response with respect to the question
was considered while giving scores to the discourse structure of a response. 10. New
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Vocabulary (C10) - new expressions. Examples: Ethical bomb; Mysterious medical;
Compromised successful (woman);Share study (for combined study).
For the present study, the Criteria for Evaluation have been reordered in the
following way:
Input Processing
C1 – No. of Words
C2 – Creativity
C3 - Self-Corrections
C4 – Errors
C5 – New Vocabulary
Information Processing
C6 – Clarity
C7 – No. of Idea Units
C8 – Discourse Structure
C9 – Criticism
C10 – Text Dependence
The quantitative analysis of the responses of the 30 subjects was done by giving individual
scores criteria-wise and then ranking them relatively. In the Table given below, the
consolidated ranks of the subjects are given as follows: H=High; M= Medium; L=Low.
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Ranks →
Subject↓
S1
Input
Processing
L
Information
Processing
L
Consolidated
Rank
L
S2
S3
S4
S5
S6
S7
S8
S9
S10
S11
S12
S13
S14
S15
S16
S17
S18
S19
S20
S21
S22
S23
S24
S25
S26
S27
S28
S29
S30
H
H
M
M
H
M
L
L
L
M
M
L
L
M
M
L
H
L
M
H
H
M
M
H
H
M
H
M
M
M
M
H
H
M
H
L
L
L
M
H
M
M
L
H
M
H
M
L
H
M
H
M
H
H
H
H
H
H
M
M
M
M
M
M
L
L
L
M
M
M
M
M
M
M
H
M
M
H
M
M
M
H
H
M
H
M
M
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As per the results of the Quantitative Analysis, the subjects have been categorized as
follows: I. Input Processors: Maximal: 9 - S2, S3, S6, S18, S21, S22, S25, S26, S28; Optimal: 13
- S4, S5, S7, S11, S12, S15, S16, S20, S23, S24, S27, S29, S30; Minimal: 8 - S1, S8, S9, S10, S13,
S14, S17, S19. II. Information Processors: Maximal: 14 - S4, S5, S7, S12, S16, S18, S21, S23,
S25, S26, S27, S28, S29, S30; Optimal: 10 -S2, S3, S6, S11, S13, S14, S17, S19, S22, S24;
Minimal: 6 - S1, S8, S9, S10, S15, S20
Based on the Consolidated Ranks (Input Processing + Information Processing), the
subjects have been finally categorized as follows: Maximal Processors: 5 – S18, S21, S25,
S26, S28; Optimal Processors: 21 – S2, S3, S4, S5, S6, S7, S11, S12, S13, S14, S15, S16, S17,
S19, S20, S22, S23, S24, S27, S29, S30; Minimal Processors: 4 – S1, S8, S9, S10
C1
C2
S18
S21
S25
S26
S28
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
H
S1
S8
S9
S10
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
C3 C4 C5 C6 C7
Maximal Processors
H
H
L
H
H
H
H
L
M H
H M
L
H
H
H
L
M H
L
H
L
H
H
Minimal Processors
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
L
C8
C9
C10
H
H
M
H
H
M
M
H
M
H
H
H
H
H
L
M
L
-
L
L
L
-
The Quantitative Analysis has supported our hypothesis that successful learners
process the given texts more systematically and logically for task performance. The very
fact that there are only 4 Minimal Processors supports our argument that the best method
for teaching English is to give tasks that make the students process the text with focus on
form as well as meaning.
Qualitative Analysis: What makes the Maximal Processors successful and the Minimal
Processors unsuccessful? A qualitative analysis of the data looks into the reasons behind
successful and unsuccessful performance.
Minimal Processors
S1 does minimum processing. She had only 9 words to write on Extract 1 and 19 words for
Extract 2. The only processing she did was to insert different words for those in the Extract
1. For Extract 2, she also repeats some words from the text.
Extract 1: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth1 to have2 a thankless3 child
Response: It is especially painful1 to raise2 an ungrateful3 child
Extract 2: Mind in its own place1 Makes a2 heaven of hell3 or4 hell of heaven5
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Response: It depends upon us and on our mind1 that we can make2 heaven as hell3 where
as4 hell as heaven5.
S8 has 23 words for Extract 1; and 40 words for Extract 2. The only processing she does is
rephrasing the words in Extract 1. For Extract 2, she also repeats some words from the text.
She divides both the extracts into two major chunks while writing the response.
Extract 1: Mind in its own place1 Makes a heaven or hell of heaven2
Response: Every mind has its own way of thinking1. Some take +ve thing into –ve and some
take –ve thing in a +ve way2.
Extract 2: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep1, But I have promises to keep, And miles
to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep2
Response: In this extract poet wants to say that woods are lovely, dark and deep i. e they
are very helpful for us1 so the poet promises to keep them alive and he will spread it in large
area before his death2.
S9 has 55 words for Extract 1 where she repeats the same idea at least twice, after
chunking the entire Extract 1 into two major chunks. She then gives 2 types of paraphrasing
each for both the chunks. For Extract 2, she has 26 words to briefly summarize the main
idea of the text in her own words – in two ways. She treats the entire Extract 2 as one
chunk.
Extract 1: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by1, And that
has made all the difference.2
Response: This conveys that poet has two choices in his life but he choosed the one which
was less opted by the people1a. He wants to reveal that out of those two choices, he
choosed the one which was less common1b & this affected his entire life2a. His this choice
made remarkable difference in his life2b.
Extract 2: Mind in its own place Makes a heaven or hell of heaven1
Response: Its upto us; to take anything as a boon or bane1a. Man is the master of this earth
& using things around it, depends on us1b.
S10 has 21 words for Extract 1 and treats the entire Extract as two major chunks. She
ignores the last line of the Extract. For Extract 2 she has 6 words. She summarizes the entire
Extract in 6 words.
Extract 1: Two roads diverged in a wood1, and I – I took the one less travelled by2, And
that has made all the difference.
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Response: Its means poet has 2 choices in his life1 but he choose the one which was less
opted by the people2.
Extract 2: Mind in its own place Makes a heaven or hell of heaven1
Response: Its upto us to take anything1
As a conclusion, we can say that the unsuccessful subjects were not those who didn’t know
how to analyze or process the text but it was just that they didn’t want to do it.
Maximal Processors
S18 has 127 words for Extract1 and 106 words for Extract 2. She divides the response
for Extract 1 into two parts: Language & Meaning. The first part has three comments on the
Extract – language wise. The second part gives the three interpretations or meanings of the
Extract. For Extract 2, the response format is exactly on the same lines.
Extract 1: A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for1?
Response: The line was describing clever combination of words, motivating human to touch
the sky1a. It captures the imagination as constantly each human seek for some reason for
what they are doing or what they want to do & so on1b. … & It lift the human imagination to
heights and builds confidence1c.
Meaning – It means one should try for more than one had, more than one had seen, more
than one can achieve ie exceed the limits, break your own standards & set new1a….One
should get their hand or on grasp or touch, if he gives up in every phase of life but if one
tries & work hard than – what’s heaven for1b ? It’s for us for us only. Who breaks and builds
now….``sky is the limit’’1c !!
Extract 2: How sharper than a serpent’s tooth to have a thankless child1
Response: Meaning of serpents – evil, bad1a Good comparision is poeted in the phrase on
one side comparing the good to bad1b & on other tell that if one door closes, other opens by
itself1c…
Meaning:- It means, It’s better to have no good i.e bad or sneaky than to have a thankless
child, with whom your life is not bad its worst1a… people tends to look it as a single door
which is the only available option, But its not the only one, its only the selected one1b…
Lastly As destiny, we tend not to notice the front door, which was hidden for the best, which
was unveiled1c….
S21 has 109 words for Extract 1 and 127 words for Extract 2. For Extract1, she
has paraphrases it in four different ways after treating the entire Extract as one chunk. For
Extract 2, she has 2 summary sentences (1a & 1b) at the beginning and 1 concluding
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sentence at the end (1f). The sentences in between (1c, 1d, & 1e) are three ways of
interpreting the Extract.
Extract 1: Mind in its own place Makes a heaven or hell of heaven1
Response: This extract describes that it’s a mentality & optimisticness of human being to
make the things loost or better1a. It depends on the thinking of human how he/she thinks
about a particular situation and also depends on the ability of human how he/she handles
the situation1b. It depends on the positive thinking of human to make heaven of hell or hell
of heaven by negative thinking1c. Its all about the state of mind to tackle the situation1d.
These lines describes people who gets success after efforts and makes a heaven of
hell and who don’t try to remove failure and makes a hell of heaven1d.
Extract 2: Two roads diverged in a wood, and I – I took the one less travelled by, And that
has made all the difference1.
Response: In this extract it is described that which way is taken by the winner1a. They make
their own way of success1b. They choose the way from many ways to create or make a
future bright carrer1c. On this way, there always be two roads or two ways to achieve their
criteria but he have to choose different or better way which makes them different from
all1d.
The another describes that there were two way, one on which there were number
of foot steps and other which is covered by dry leaves and begs number of foot steps and
they chosen that way to achieve their target1e. The winners make their own way which
makes them different from all1f.
S25 has 77 words for Extract 1 and 96 words for Extract 2. In Extract 1, the entire Extract is
treated as one chunk and there are 3 sentences (1a, 1d & 1e) on its essence. There are 2
sentences (1b & 1c) that interpret the meaning in two ways. In Extract 2, there is one
comment (1a) on the use of words. There are 6 meanings (1b, 1c, 1d, 1e, 1f, 1g) of the
Extract in the rest of the response. In 1g, the subject gives a consolidated meaning of the
Extract.
Extract 1: Mind in its own place Makes a heaven or hell of heaven1
Response: Its poetic, not without some truth, but its also not entirely true1a. The poet said,
no man can be happy on the rack by which he meant that while we create our own
happiness, we can do so only to some extent1b. A person on the rack could not be happy no
matter how hard he tried1c. The poet uses the impressive words & have good imagination
power1d. There is a good corelatibiliy b/w heaven & hell1e.
Extract 2: A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?1
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Response: The words used in the .. are simple and one can easily understand them1a. It
shows do not try to move beyond your limits.1b
Meaning: It means one should reach for more than they can see or get their hands
on or grasp or touch1c People should try for the best that they can achieve, not what they
can easily have1d. All that we can grasp is also within reach1e. However, all that is within
reach need not to be within grasp1f. Therefore the reach should exceed grasp, so that we
can grasp as much as practically possible.1g
S26 has 70 words in Extract 1 and 105 words in Extract 2. She divides the responses into 2
parts – language part and meaning part. For Extract 1 she treats it as one chunk and gives
two comments (1a & 1b). The rest of the response is a quotation (1c, 1d & 1e) from Buddha
which aptly supports the essence of the Extract. There is no literal reference to the text. For
Extract 2, he divides the text into 2 major chunks and gives 4 meanings (1a, 1b, 1c, & 1d) to
the first part; and 2 meanings (2a & 2b) to the second part. In Extract 2, however, he sticks
to the text sincerely.
Extract1: Mind in its own place Makes a heaven or hell of heaven1
Response: Words used are simple yet with a great and deep meaning1a.
Meaning: I like this quote, it brings peace to my mind1b. Just like Buddha said, ``All
that we are is the result of what we have thought1c. If a man speaks or acts with an evil
thought, pain follows him1d. If a man speaks or acts with a pure thought, happiness follows
him, like a shadow that never leaves him1e.’’
Extract 2: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep1, But I have promises to keep, And miles
to go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep2
Response: Words are good with hidden meaning in them1a. In comparison with real life they
have a different view/meaning1b.
Meaning: Woods here are symbolizing the problems or ups and down he has faced in
his life . And he is saying that problems which he faced were easy, moderate as well as very
difficult which are framed as woods are lovely, dark and deep1d. But he has never gave up
from his life and is determined that will fulfil/accomplish all his dreams (promises) before he
goes to sleep (means death here)2a. He is saying that there are miles to go means lots of
work to do2b.
1c
S28 has 166 words for Extract 1 and 93 words for Extract 2. For Extract 1, she divides into 2
major chunks. She gives 4 comments on the effect of the words and phrases used in the
Extract on the reader. Then she gives one meaning of the first part; and 2 meanings of the
second part. For Extract 2, he gives one comment on the use of words and phrases used in
the entire text. Then she proceeds to give 2 meanings (1a & 1b) of the entire Extract treated
as one chunk.
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Extract 1: Mind in its own place1 Makes a heaven or hell of heaven2
Response: These extracts describes the lines of the poem. The words used by the poet are
simple to understand but having a deep sea levels to reach the goals which a poet wants to
convey us. The trait of these lines of the poem arrises more with the use of the phrases
included under this poem. These phrases enhance the beauty of the poem.
Mind in its own place- In this sentence the poet want to convey us that it all depends
on mind or in other word on our thinking, in what way we percept the things coming
towards us1.
Makes a heaven of hell or hell of heaven – so if we can control our mind we have
commands on our thinking and perception we can be able to make the worst situation as
the flowers smiling in the garden2a. Or in other words it is on us, on our own mind either we
want to live happily or with a gloominess in life2b.
Extract 2: The woods are lovely, dark, and deep, But I have promises to keep, And miles to
go before I sleep, And miles to go before I sleep1
Response: The words, phrases and sentences used in these lines are little complicated to
achieve at first reading but have a very deep hidden meanings.
The poet want to convey us that lifes have many difficult challenges1a. Some of them
may be easy also, some of them may be lovable also, but the poet have some promises to
fulfill, some responsibility to accomplish and hence can’t stop his journey while knowing
that the difficulties are hard to bear and he has to move on chasing the difficulties and
accomplishing the task till his death1b.
Concluding Remarks
The Quantitative and Qualitative Analyses reveal the importance of the tasks which force
the ESL learners to process the text both for language form as well as meaning. This is done
by focusing on both Input Processing and Information Processing. The successful learners
have used all the strategies which have made them do maximum processing of the texts at
all levels – Discourse; Language; Meaning; Extension of Meaning; Background Knowledge;
and finally, Contemporary Meanings/interpretations of the words and expressions used. The
unsuccessful ones did not take the task seriously and processed very little.
The Input and Information Processing Method for teaching ESL to engineering
undergraduates definitely works well to facilitate the process of second language acquisition
in a more holistic way than the other methods. The form-meaning distinctions get blurred
while performing the tasks used in this method. The learner is the best judge to decide
regarding the focus on form versus focus of meaning conflict in the mind - in task
performance.
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The method has been successfully tried at: NC College of Engineering, Israna
(Panipat) for B. Tech students; IIT, Delhi for B. Tech students; and also at JNU, Delhi for
improving the students’ (of MCA, M. Tech, M.A, M. Phil & Ph. D) proficiency in English. For
the tasks, a variety of texts have been used: Advertisements; Definitions; Description of New
Appliances; Headlines and news items from Newspapers and Magazines; and, of course,
literary texts.
Appendix
Orators’ Club
Name:
Course:
Branch:
Year:
Roll No:
Analyze any TWO of the extracts from the two perspectives given below:
marks
2*5=10
1. Linguistic structure of the literary extracts (comment on the words; phrases; sentence
structures used)
2. Meaning and the modern interpretations of the words and expressions used in the
extracts
a. Was this the face that launched a thousand ships?
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss
b. How sharper than a serpent’s tooth to have a thankless child
c. Mind in its own place
Makes a heaven of hell or hell of heaven
d. A man’s reach should exceed his grasp or what’s a heaven for?
e. Two roads diverged in a wood, and I –
I took the one less travelled by,
And that has made all the difference.
f. The woods are lovely, dark, and deep,
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.
g. How happy is he born or taught
That serveth not another’s will;
Whose armour is his honest thought,
And silly truth his highest kills!
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References
Chaudhry, Varalakshmi (2010) Role of Input – Processing in SLA: A Study of Engineering
Undergraduates Learning English as a Second Language Unpublished Ph. D thesis at Centre
for Linguistics, School of Language, Literature and Culture Studies – JNU, New Delhi
Corder, S.P. (1967), "The Significance of Learner’s Errors” International Review of Applied
Linguistics, 5 (2-3):161-169.
Ellis, R. (2005) Analyzing Learner Language London: OUP.
Faerch, C. et al (1984), Learner Language and Language Learning. England: Multilingual
Matters
Gragera,
A.
(2005),
Input-processing
<http//www.freelibrary.com>.
Revisited.
Free
Online
Library:
Jayaseelan, K. A. (1996), "Should the Language Acquisition Device be a `Black Box’ to the
Language Teacher?" Indian Journal of Applied Linguistics, 22(2): 41-56.
Krashen, S.D. (1985), The Input Hypothesis: Issues and Applications. London: Longman
Selinker, L. (1972), ``Interlanguage’’ International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10: 209-231
Skehan, P. (1989), Individual Differences in Second Language Learning. London: Edward
Arnold.
Swain, M. (1985), "Communicative Competence: Some Roles of Comprehensible Input and
Comprehensible Output in its Development" In S. Gass and C. Madden (eds) Input in SLA.
Rowley, M. A: Newbury House.
Swain, M. and S. Lapkin (1995), `Problems in Output and the Cognitive Processes they
Generate: A Step towards Second Language Learning’, Applied Linguistics 16(3): 371-391.
Van Patten, B. (2003), From Input to Output: A Teachers’ Guide to SLA. New York: Mc Graw
Hill.
Van Patten, B. (2004), Form-Meaning Connections in SLA. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
Van Patten, B. (2004), Input Processing in SLA. In B. Van Patten (ed), Processing Instruction:
Theory, Research and Commentary. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.
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ENGLISH & COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Creative Use of Technology for Enhancement of English Language Skills
Dr. S. A. Khader
Introduction
In the post-globalization scenario English Language Teaching, has, witnessed of late,
tremendous changes in the process with new tools, techniques and methodalogies at its
disposal. Among all, the most important being the Information and Communication
Technology as its latest tool, English Language Teaching has crossed the traditional
boundaries to welcome the technological trends into its realm. English language and
Information and Communication Technology (hereafter ICT) have become complimentary to
each other in all fields of work. While ICT has brought great changes in work places, English
has gained a premier position in all transactions. The art of teaching has witnessed new
trends and tools with the increased use and application of ICT. It is most pertinent and
necessary to devise ways for appropriate and optimum use of ICT in English Language
Teaching in the backdrop of the changed scenario. Technology has impacted modern way of
life to a great extent. It has changed the way we communicate and work including the
modes of entertainment. In fact, greater space has been acquired by technological
developments in all fields of work. English Language Teaching is no exception to this
development. English teachers need to take advantage of the multi-sensory instruction
facilitated by ICT to motivate and help enhance the language ability of the students. The
present Paper focuses on how best ICT tools can be brought into use in English classes to
make learning of the language more innovative, interesting and entertaining.
Impact of Technology and the Changing Role
With the advent of Information and Communication Technology new trends and tools
are emerging continuously in the field of education which need to be carefully studied and
adapted to the individual requirements to keep abreast. The changed scenario has also been
the cause of concern among the teachers as to their role. There are certain misconceptions
and misgivings with regard to use of technological tools which tend to curtail their power
and prominence as teachers. Fears such as their becoming an endangered species and being
replaced by computers are prevalent in teaching community. These misapprehensions and
fears can be allayed giving them necessary training and support in use of ICT tools which
help them in making their teaching more effective. In the changed context their traditional
role of dispensers of knowledge is no more relevant as they have become proactive
facilitators in knowledge-building and sharing in collaboration with the stakeholders. The
rapid progress of Information and Communication Technology and the application of its
tools have transformed traditional classrooms into interactive learning centres. As a result
various technological tools such as digital aids are used in teaching and learning process in
present day classrooms which is a positive sign of progress. This association of technology
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with text instruction enables learners to have a more in-depth understanding of the topic.
The visual inputs complement teacher’s instruction and make the class more interactive and
lively besides enhancing the students’ grasp of the subject.
Use of ICT in the Classroom
As nations become closer through business avenues and with the sharing of resources
the world is becoming more of a shared society. Through the use of ICT, teachers are able
to connect their students with the world outside their classrooms. Students are more likely
to learn when information is introduced in a comfortable, natural way through Television,
Computer, Internet, Websites, movies, DVDs and other latest tools of Information
Technology. Use of ICT in the classroom provides teachers and students lots of creative and
practical ideas for extensive language practice. Though availability of some of these
technological facilities can not be guaranteed in most of the educational institutions, their
usefulness in the classrooms is seldom doubted since they not only engage the interest of
the students but also allow them to learn in untraditional ways. Their use makes learning
more fun and interesting and education becomes more relevant.
Television as an Effective Tool
Now-a-days viewing of different programmes on various channels on Television by
young people has increased and this interest of the youth can be positively adapted for
classroom purpose for teaching and learning in a planned way. Selective TV programs can be
used as warm-up activities, pre-teaching activities as also supplementary material to update
the information in the prescribed course books. As it is not always possible every time to get
information on TV in the classroom, such material or information can be video graphed for
appropriate application and use later. A careful and judicious use of TV programs definitely
has its own advantage in enhancing the English language skills of students. News channels
along with channels such as BBC, Discovery, National Geographic etc., are of a great help for
improving particularly the listening and speaking skills of students with proper guidance
from teachers.
Creative Use of Internet
Most of the students who join colleges, now-a-days, have some basic computer skills,
though they do not own a computer. With on-line submission of scholarship applications
most of the college students have acquired knowledge of computer operation and internet
skills. Hence they can be guided to use Internet for improving their English language skills.
There are many sites sponsored by grammar handbook companies where students are
allowed to take tests, do grammar drills and to improve their learning in areas where they
find themselves weak. Internet is the most useful tool of ICT which can be integrated in
teaching and learning of English with proper planning and careful selection. English is the
common language used for internet services and this is certainly advantageous to use
Internet as a tool for English language teaching. The Internet offers as a vast virtual library a
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wide spectrum of topics to choose from, all in one handy location. There is a growing
volume of material specifically designed for English language teaching. Material on English
language teaching such as lesson plans, quizzes and other related activities can be searched
on gateway sites such as Dave’s ESL Café, JALT, TESL-L etc., which provide an array of
different activities in English Language Teaching and learning. While using material
downloaded from Internet, utmost care should be taken to ascertain what actually suits to
one’s situation, for sometimes one might get into difficult, or even unsuitable material to
use in the classroom.
The World Wide Web: The Reference Library
The World Wide Web has become the largest reference library in the world today
encompassing almost every topic on all subjects of human interest. Not only one can obtain
information from it but also can contribute to it in the form of research articles with latest
research findings or any new, useful information and ideas. There are quite a number of
Websites on English Language Teaching and Learning which can be used in the classroom as
per the requirement and need of the stakeholders. Many Websites offering wide ranging
activities that help improve English language skills are just a click away. Whether it is looking
for grammar-based or for topical material one can find something that meets the
requirements. Besides innumerable journals, newsletters, access to academic databases
related to English Language is available at the touch of a button on the system. These
Websites provide wide variety of helpful material both for teachers to use in their teaching
and for students a vast store of practice material to improve their English language skills.
PPTs/CDs/LCD Projectors/DVDs
Variety and presentation in teaching not only sustain the interest but also influence the
way students learn. Preparing Power Point with relevant visuals on prescribed course
material and presentation of the same in the classroom will stimulate the interest of the
students thus drawing their participation in teaching and learning process. The authentic
presentation through visual media helps put the text into a context which appeals to the
students and motivates them in their understanding and learning. Use of LCD Projector with
relevant and creatively prepared slides, logging in to a suitable site on Internet or use of a
carefully selected DVD in an English language classroom are only a means to help enhance
the English language skills of the students. The responsibility of selection, design and
application of the means chosen and its success largely depends on the teachers.
Conclusion
The aspect of English language teaching assisted by ICT tools requires an open approach
due to its novelty, need and potentiality in language pedagogy. Lack of systematic approach
as to practices, methods and challenges may inadvertently affect the entire gamut of
teaching and learning process. The advantages of integrating ICT tools in English language
teaching can be reaped only when the higher educational institutions transform themselves
fully to the new information technologies with supporting laboratories, systems, equipment
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etc., required for the purpose. Relevant, careful and judicious integration of Information
and Communication Technology tools makes the whole exercise of English Language
Teaching and Learning productive, fun-filled and creative. Stimulating sessions centering on
the four skills involved in language teaching – Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing add a
refreshing perspective to English Language Teaching.
References:
Peacock, M. The Effect of Authentic Materials on the Motivation of EFL Learners, ELT Journal
51, 1997.
Ehrmann, S. : Beyond Computer Literacy: Implications of Technology for the content of a
college education, Liberal Education, 90(4) : 6-13.2004.
Richards, J.C. Curriculum Development in Language Teaching, Cambridge University Press,
2000.
Jack C.Richards & Theodore S.Rodgers. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching,
Cambridge University Press, 2001.
Alessi Stephen, Trollip Stanley. Multimedia for Learning: Methods and Development, Allyn &
Bacon, Boston MA, 2001.
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Using L1 for the Enhancement of Speaking Skill In A Multilingual Setting
Manali Karmakar
Background to the Research Issue
The ever growing need for good communication skill in English has created a huge
demand for English Language Teaching around the world. Millions of people today want to
improve their command of English. The worldwide demand for English has created an
enormous demand for quality language teaching, language teaching materials and
resources. Keeping in mind the importance of English a humble attempt has been made by
the government of India to give English a firm foundation in the school curriculum. The use
of English is no longer restricted to the elites. In school, English is currently taught as
compulsory second language in fifteen out of twenty-five states. It is taught from six years in
seven states, five years in five states, four years in four states and three years in two states.
In private schools English is taught from the nursery level. In spite of the best effort made by
both the government and private associations English language teaching appears to be a
colossal waste in most of the states in India. In this paper the researcher in concerned with
the North-Eastern state of India, Assam.
The early introduction of English which is thought to be essential part of child’s
education failed to serve the purpose. This is because there is always a gap between the
way English is taught and the way it should be taught. Teachers want to create English only
environment, which we never discredit but there are certain situations when it is needed to
encourage child’s mother tongue for language learning to take place. The utility of L1 in
classroom is being recognized by all those who are associated with language learning.
Prodromou (2000) metaphorically compares learner’s mother tongue with a skeleton in
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cupboard. It is always there in the classroom but no one bother to use it for the benefit of
the language learners. It is increasingly felt that young learners can learn only when they can
relate it to what they already know. Modern English teachers have increasingly felt that
though they need to use English as much as possible, there are times when English in the
exclusion of mother tongue is counterproductive. Evidence from both research and practice
suggests that the rationale used to justify English only in the classroom is not pedagogically
sound. Many immersion programmes used to justify monolingual ESL instruction are in fat
bilingual to the extent that students are initially allowed to use their L1 to communicate
with the peer and also with the teacher.
Acquiring second language is to some extent contingent on the societally determined
value attributed to the L1, which can neither be reinforced nor challenged inside the
classroom. As Phillipson (1992) says, “The ethos of monolingual implies the rejection of the
experiences of the other languages, meaning the exclusion of the child’s most intense
existential experiences”. English only policy has come into existence because of the blind
acceptance of certain theories, which serve the interest of the native speaking teachers.
These theories cannot be applied in a multilingual context of India. English does not stand
alone; it has to find its place along with other Indian languages. Language teaching
strategies have to be reconsider in a country like India.ELT in India uses a number of
techniques and approaches imported from other monolingual country without modification.
These methods and approaches do not justify the needs of the learners. For this reason
awareness should be raised and new strategies should be developed in order to tap the
enormous resources hidden in multilingual learners and teachers. Cummins (2000) says
“The level of development of the children’s mother tongue is a strong predictor of their
second language development…”
Approaches to the teaching of speaking in ELT have been more strongly influenced
by fads and fashion. Speaking in the traditional methodologies usually meant repeating after
the teacher, memorizing dialogue or responding to drills. With the advent of Communicative
Language Teaching, the view of the language teaching methodologies, have changed.
Speaking is a skill and it needs attention in both L1 and L2. As Cummins said learners ability
in L1 can be transferred in L2, so teachers have to rethink about the role of L1 for the
enhancement of the speaking skills of learners.
Objectives of the Research
1) To bring learner’s L1 in the English classrooms.
2) To create a tension free environment, where learners will get back their individual
identity in a multilingual classroom.
3) To use learner’s L1 as a scaffolding to develop their speaking skills.
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Hypothesis
The use of L1 in multilingual English classrooms will help learners to make associations
between what they know and what is being taught. When learners will realize that English
language is not a threat to their identity rather it can walk hand in hand with their own
language this will create a sense of motivation in them.
In regional medium schools learners have a strong foundation in their L1. So if we can
develop materials with the contents which are in their English textbook and make them to
read the text first in their language and then introduce the English text, it will help learners
to learn better. Helping learners to build schemata related to the contents in English
textbooks by developing materials in their language will help teachers to teach English texts
in a better way.
Encouraging learners to contribute in the classroom discussion in their mother tongue will
help learners to develop their speaking fluency which later can be transferred to the target
language.
Tools Used In Research
An informal interview was conducted with the English teachers from different schools in
order to understand their notion about the utility of L1 in English language classrooms.
L1 teaching materials were developed to be used in the classrooms during the period of
study.
A set of familiar topics in which students will be willing to speak.
Think aloud protocol.
Voice recorder was used in order to record learner’s speech to study the progress the
learners made in speaking.
Sample for the Research
The researcher had taken a group of 137 students from different regional medium
schools as subjects for her study. The research was undertaken in Kokrajhar, a remote
district in Assam. The study was done for four months. 36 students were from the Boro
medium, 40 students were from Assamese medium, 21 of them were from the Bengali
Medium, 22 of them were from the Hindi medium and 17 of the students were from an
English medium school. All the students were studying in Class X.
Methodology
The researcher developed a few teaching materials keeping in mind the students coming
from different linguistic background. She developed the materials keeping in mind the day
to day issues for which students can use their English. For this she also consulted the English
textbooks that were used in those schools. Especially the emphasis was given on the
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speaking sections that were included in the texts. Taking this as the base she developed text
on Boro language (one dominant tribal language of that state), Assamese, Hindi and Bengali.
At the beginning she asked the teacher about the English speaking competency level of the
students. The researcher found that the speaking proficiency level is not up to the level of
the expectation of teachers. Students were not willing to speak. The researcher walked into
the classroom with her prepared materials and the set of topics she had.
At first she requested the students to relax as this is not a test for them rather it is her test
where she had to pass. She wrote the few topics like food, travel, family, friends on the
board and asked the students to speak on those topics in their mother tongue. She allotted
five minutes time for that. Each student was given five minutes. After they spoke on any of
the topics written on the board in their mother tongue, they were asked to speak on the
topics in English for minutes.
In the second phase of the study, the researcher gave the students the L1 scripts depending
on the language background of the students. She asked the students to read the
conversation on the script after that she asked the students to repeat the conversation in
English. She recorded the speech of each of the student for analysis.
Findings
The researcher found that the assumption she made about developing speaking skills
of the learners proved to be valid. In most of the cases it was found that learners are able to
frame sentences in the target language in better way when they are given scaffolding in
their mother tongue. When the learners are able to form the concept in their mother
tongue then they are able to understand the English speaking context in a better way.
They realize that there L1 is a resource for their language learning. Students tried to
contribute in their mother tongue in the classroom discussion when their target language
failed to communicate. A sense of contribution in the classroom helped them to reduce
their fear to speak and this confidence level is later transferred to their target language.
Motivation is another crucial factor in language learning. Krashen sees learner’s emotional
state or attitude as an adjustable filter that freely passes, impedes, or block input necessary
to acquisition. When learner’s motivation is high, affective filter will be low and this will help
learners to learn in a better way. The teacher should help the learners to boost their
motivation. After the intervention made by the researcher, she found that the silence that
prevailed in the classroom reduced to a great extent. Students tried to interact in the class
and the biggest benefit was that they can comprehend the text without the guidance of the
teacher. They can understand the situation where the conversation can take place. From the
study it can be assumed that if L1 can be properly used in the language classroom as a
resource it can help the learners to improve their proficiency in the target language.
Limitations of the Research
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The researcher had confined herself to only the speaking skills. L1 can be used for the
development of all the four skills. Due to the shortage of time researcher was not being able
to use ICT (Information and Communication Technology) in the classroom. The use of ICT
can help to make the language classroom more interesting and lively. Language transfer and
pauses also have a significant role in second language acquisition but an in depth study was
not possible because of the lack of time and resources.
References
Cummins,J. (2000). Language, power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the crossfire:
Clevedon, England; Multilingual matters.
Cook,V. (2001). Using the first language in the classroom, in the Canadian Modern Language
Review,57/3: (Pp-402-423)
GOI (2007). Report of the National Knowledge Commission, New Delhi. India
Phillipson, R. (1992). Linguistic Imperialism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Prodromou,L. (2000). ‘From Mother Tongue to Other Tongue’. TESOL. Greece Newsletter
67.
Richards,C,J and Theodore S. Rodgers (2001) Approaches and Methods in Language
Learning. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
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The Art of Saying ‘NO’
K. Chandra Sekhar
Introduction
We, Indians don’t say ‘no’ immediately when some asks help. Our people often don’t say no
openly. Most of the time, we hesitate to say no because we do not want to be seen as being
negative. We tend to take the line of least resistance and say yes when, in fact, the response
should ideally be a no. We find ourselves stretched to fulfill something asked by others that
we either do not wish to or are incapable of fulfilling. This naturally results in unhappiness
all around — this applies whether we are talking about a personal relationship or a
professional one. There is a natural belief that saying ‘no’ would lead to a bad feeling in the
mouth of other party and will endanger the relations in the long run. There is a tendency
with some people that they don’t say ‘yes’ or ‘no’ but simply postpone their decision or
opinion. They have a hunch that by postponing, the situation will take care of itself and that
the ‘no’ will no be longer required.
How to say ‘No’
“You have to decide what your highest priorities are and have the courage – pleasantly,
smilingly, non-apologetically – to say ‘no’…” – Stephen Covey.
Saying no is an art of communication and need to be learned with wisdom and knowledge.
Saying no’ in a courteous, acceptable way is an art. It had been emphasized in our Indian
text ages ago as:
“Noppinchaka thanovvaka thappinchuku thirugu vadu dhanyudu sumathi”
- sumathi sathakam.
One who should not offend others and not face the music would be treated as accomplished
person. It means that one should be tactful in saying no to others and escaping from a task.
Here are some useful guidelines to say no in all acceptable way and the reasons for why
should you say ‘no’.
Think well before you say ‘No’ or ‘Yes’
You understand the situation and the degree of the importance of the task or help asked by
others. Based on the analysis you have to decide whether to say ’yes’ or ‘no’. Think that you
are not the only person to help the persons in need. They may find alternatives as per their
requirements. You have to know that do others really need of your help or not.
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Let others know your schedule of activities
It is far better to inform your schedule of activities to your peer group. It is also advisable to
display your plan of action for the day, month, and year if possible at your workplace. This
helps in managing your time effectively. Every day tasks have to be noted on a piece of
paper with their urgency and importance. Explain to others what will be the consequences if
you don’t complete the assigned task in time.
Know your competencies
You should know your strengths and weakness before saying ‘yes’ to others. You should
introspect that are you competent enough in helping out the others job. If you accept
simply with a hunch ‘let’s do trial’ you will be blamed by others and that may lead to delay
in completing the task. It is always good and safe to express your incompetency on the area,
where you are really not good. This leaves a positive mark on your character and proves
your open mindedness, legitimacy, modesty. Don’t go for false prestige and try to show off
that you are mastered in every area.
Don’t be over loaded:
Some times your boss may ask you to do a task immediately or may assign many tasks at a
time or may assign a work with knowing the previous task. Often it happens with your boss
– may be consciously or unconsciously. But you should be very clear on your tasks and in
prioritizing your assigned job. Explain to your boss the consequences if you postpone the
given job. If think that you are over burdened, say simply ‘no’ that makes good and quick
decisions and makes you that you are clear on your stance. That proves your character and
commitment towards your assigned work. If you are overloaded with your works you will be
in stress and frustration and that leads to imperfection of your work. It is difficult to say no
to the boss on his face brusquely. But you can certainly explain that you're involved in other
projects and if you took up this one, they would be delayed. If you are a sincere worker, the
boss is bound to understand. However, if the boss thinks you'll complete it even if you are
loaded with work, you have a genuine problem. Do not allow anyone to take advantage of
you.
You can't say, "I'll do it" and struggle to squeeze it in. Shouldn't you be honest with yourself?
Accept you have a problem. Work on it. Kids say no easily, do you stop loving them? If you
can't grow out of it, seek therapy. Remember, the fallout of saying no is not as serious as
you think.
Don’t be over enthusiastic
This is a common and general tendency with many young professionals. Being young and
new to their job, they accept many responsibilities with over enthusiasm. This is happens
not only with over enthusiasm, but also to get applause, recognition, personal identity from
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the superiors. Their over enthusiasm leads to too many problems to them and also the
people associated with the job. For example in academics some people take new and tough
subjects, without knowing the pros and cons, this arises problems in understanding the
subject from students, finding alternative faculty at eleventh hour to the management.
Know your limits
One should know their limits in all aspects. Sometimes you may be free, knowledgeable on
the area of help seeking by others and competent to complete the task skillfully. But don’t
volunteer yourself to complete the task, without asked by others. If you volunteer, you
should be ready to face any sort of consequences. It is advisable to know our limits
especially when dealing with women. Of course, you can't say no to every plea. Nor would
you want to. But do you want to be that ever-accommodating person at the cost of your
space, health and happiness? The most important thing to do is to draw the boundaries
clearly and say no when they are breached. This applies equally when defining the scope of
work to be done; setting limits in interpersonal relationships; setting expectations of
rewards; and many more situations. This Lakshman rekha has to be drawn firmly and
penalties for transgressions also need to be set out unambiguously. Most important, if
breaches do occur, the penalties must be imposed without fear or favour. California in the
US has a law that states: "Three strikes and you are out." In essence, the third time
someone commits a serious crime, he or she will be locked up for good. Perhaps we need to
practice a milder version of this principle to be taken seriously.
People may flatter you to get their things done
Once you decide to say ‘no’, stick on to your stance. Don’t bound to the persuasions or
flatters of people, who try to make you to say ‘yes’ by asking many times repeatedly. You
should understand that people want to get their things done at any cost and by any way and
they do anything for that. So you should be cautious when dealing with this type of
personalities. This needs strong mindset and right attitude. You should listen to your heart’s
voice not the flatters of others.
Do a task whole heartedly
You have to perform a job whole heartedly, in a peace of mind and with strong
determination. If you don’t perform in a full pledged way that gives bad results, which
affects your work nature, character, and damages your image. If you are not content with
the job be bold to say no. This needs an affirmative ‘yes’ or no’.
Be assertive
There is a famous saying that ‘Dual Mind Dies’ as in Sanskrit ‘Samsayatma vinasyathi’. An
assertive and polite `no' sends out a clear message that works well in a professional setting.
It is not necessary to sound harsh or rude when saying the `n' word; it perhaps has the most
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effect when uttered politely but firmly. Reaffirmation of the word adds to its power. Once
the people we interact with understand that we mean it seriously, slowly but steadily they
will respond suitably. It is well worth practising saying no as and when it is really needed.
Don’t be guilty
This is a syndrome of many people. They say no to others and repeatedly say ‘sorry’ and
explain many reasons for their rejection in a long narrative way showing sympathy on us.
This is a sort of smartness and one of the features of feeble mind personalities. There is a
saying that’ if you want to do – do it, but don’t be guilty. If you are guilty, don’t do it. You
feel obliged to help, you don't have the courage to say no even to an unreasonable demand
and your guilt meter shoots up if you choose to cry off. As a child, you probably did your
sibling's homework; in college, finished a paper for a friend. Now, the boss, co-workers and
family know which door to knock to get the boring work done. You may not nod at once. But
it takes only a few clever words to turn your no into yes.
Summary
Here it is not declared that you have to say no to every proposal or help. It is an attempt to
explain – how to say no, why you should say no to others in a right way, to right people, in
right situation in a polite, acceptable, pleasant way which will help you to lead a peaceful
and happy life. It is necessary to cultivate the habit of saying no in the global competitive,
multi faceted corporate world. `No strategy' is a powerful weapon that can be used
effectively in professional scenarios as well. By starting off with a no, you can create a win win situation: If you really don't wish to do something you can stick to the no and feel good
about being consistent. We set up wrong expectations and then spend an enormous
amount of time extricating ourselves from the consequences of our inability to be forthright
and frank. Saying no when needed may mean short-term pain, but it saves a lot of long-term
grief. Unfortunately, in our society, most people will not take no for an answer and they will
insist on doing the very opposite of what we desire. If we just think back, we will all
remember the countless times when we have been force fed too much good food at a
wedding even as we protest. If you are unable to do, decide that you can't at all at any
reason. If your mind does not accept more work “say "no" politely but firmly.
References
Gopalaswamy Ramesh & Mahadevan Ramesh (2012)”The Ace of Soft Skills- Attitude,
communication and etiquette for success. New Delhi. Dorling Kindersley (India) Pvt. Ltd. Licensees of
Pearson Education in South Asia.
http://www.thehindubusinessline.in/manager/2007/06/04/stories/2007060400491100.htm
http://www.hindu.com/mp/2006/02/04/stories/2006020400100300.htm
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Assessing LSRW Skills in the English Classrooms
Dr. N. S. Vishnu Priya
Language is the window of a person to open up himself /herself to the outer world.
One’s success depends upon one’s command over the language. In the present globalized
world, English has become the basic language for communication. Hence it is high time that
the students learn English right from their childhood and master the language. In such a
scenario, English teachers are compelled to impart LSRW skills in a proper and assess the
percentage of skills acquired by the students. This paper deals with the different methods
that can be followed to assess the LSRW skills of the students and the importance of
Bloom’s taxonomy in the assessment process.
Listening Skills
According to a survey 45% of our communication takes place through listening.
Many people have a false notion that listening skills are not important to have mastery over
a language. As a result students are not properly trained to acquire listening skills. The fact is
that one cannot become a communicator unless one has good listening skills. At present
due to the establishment of language labs at the college level, the students are given a
chance to enhance their listening skills. Different methods to assess the listening skills of the
students are:
Recorded speeches by great personalities like Socrates, King Charles, Queen Elizabeth,
or Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru or songs from the private albums of Michael Jackson
or recorded scripts on any topics can be played in the classroom and the students be asked
to listen to them carefully. It can be followed by a questionnaire which the students must
answer. Assessment can be made based on their performance in the test.
1. Even weather or railway announcements can be made use of for the same purpose.
2. In case of classrooms that lack audio facility teachers can even make use of a high
quality mobile connected to a speaker.
3. Teachers can also read out the above said speeches or announcements in the
classroom. In such cases the pronunciation of the teacher should be clear and
audible.
4. While training the students on a day-to-day basis, instead of wasting money on
printing and xeroxing the handouts, teachers can dictate the questions and ask the
students to write the answers on a white paper.
Speaking Skills
Though only 30% of our conversation takes place through speaking, they are equally
important as listening skills. According to Penny Ur, “Of all the four language skills, speaking
is the most important in learning a second or foreign language… It is only through speaking
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skills that one exhibits linguistic, strategic and communicative competence.” But
unfortunately even these skills were neglected for a long period of time like the listening
skills. Assessment of speaking skills was done occasionally during school day or college day
functions. Even then only students who are interested in participating in those competitions
can participate. It was not mandatory. Assessment of speaking skills has gained momentum
only in the recent past due to the establishment of language labs and the changes in the
curriculum. Speaking skills can be continuously assessed by conducting extempore, just a
minute sessions, debates, group discussions and role plays. Extempore and JAMS are
possible with a small group of students. With a large crowd of 60 students, debates, role
plays and group discussions are manageable. Assessment can be made on a four point scale
as below average, average, above average and extra-ordinary. Assessment can be made on
different criteria like clarity of thought, vocabulary, audibility, pronunciation, body language,
etc. In one criterion for example in vocabulary if the student falls under below average he
will get 1 mark. Similarly if he falls under average he gets 2, above average 3 and for extraordinary 4. Based on these he gets a total mark out of 20. A sample assessment sheet can be
as follows:
Name of
the
candidate
Clarity
thought
BA
XYZ
A
of
AA
√
E
Vocabulary
BA
A
AA
√
Audibility
E
BA
A
AA
Pronunciation
E
√
BA
A
AA
√
Body language
E
BA
A
√
AA
Total
E
15
This method of assessment is easy for the teacher and the teacher need not feel
guilty if he had given less or more marks to any candidate. While conducting group
discussion or debate, the teacher should take down the names of the students in their
seating order. In order to make teaching more interesting for the students, documentary
videos on different topics can be shown to the students followed by a questionnaire. Then
the students can be asked to talk on the same issue based on the video for a minute. With
the help of this we can assess both the listening and speaking skills at the same time and
also make the students feel the class interesting. But this needs some homework on the part
of the teacher. The teacher has to the watch the video carefully before and understand the
essence of the video and prepare questions. Otherwise the teacher will cut a sorry figure in
front of the students. Apart from these there are some activities like ‘Lost at Sea’ and ‘Ship
Wreck’ which can assess the speaking skills of the students without making them feel
nervous of the test.
In ‘Lost at sea’ game the students can be divided into groups. A paper with a list of
different items that can be available on the ship can be given. The students can be told that
they should imagine that they are on a ship wreck and that they should pick up only 5 items
from the list which they feel are necessary. Each one of them should explain about 1 item
which they feel important. The number of important items depends on the number of
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persons present in the group. The assessment sheet given above can be used for
assessment of students in this game.
Reading Skills
Newspapers, old magazines can be made use of develop the reading skills of the
students. But we need nearly 6 to 7 copies of the same newspaper or magazine depending
on the size of the class. If they are not available photostat copies of one particular article
can be used. Students should be asked to sit in groups and read a given magazine or an
article for some time. Then they should be asked to take a piece of paper and write down
the answers for the questions asked based on the article. The teacher can either project the
questions on a LCD projector or read out the questions. But the answers to these questions
should be one word answers. By this method the teacher can save wastage of paper and
money. If magazines are not available even articles from the internet can be projected and
the students can be asked to read them.
In Language labs where the students have access to computer systems, the same test can be
conducted as a quiz. A comprehension passage can be sent as a file and students can open
the file and read it. Then they can take the quiz.
Writing
Teachers are fond of giving assignments to students to test how much knowledge
they have acquired. But the problem with the present education system is that instead of
assessing the real quality of knowledge, the students are made to memorize the answers
and exhibit their memory power in the answer sheets. This does not help the students
either to understand the subject or to enhance their communication skills. This results in
their failure to secure jobs and show competence in their jobs. According to “Teacher
Vision” a website on assessment of students,
“The goal of classroom questioning is not to determine whether students have
learned something (as would be the case in tests, quizzes, and exams), but rather to guide
students to help them learn necessary information and material. Questions should
be used to teach students rather than to just test students!”
In this context Bloom’s taxonomy developed by Benjamin Bloom for categorizing
different levels of competence to be acquired in learning a subject also helps the teachers to
categorize their questions as ‘Lower Order Thinking’ questions and ‘Higher Order Thinking
Questions’ With the help of ‘Lower Order Thinking’ questions the teachers can test the
competency of students in their knowledge level and their comprehension aptitude. The
questions which try to test their knowledge level helps them to remember, recognize,
memorize and recall information. These questions begin with the words such as “list, show,
quote, define, label, name, tell, collect, who, describe, where, when, identify and tabulate”.
Similarly the questions which try to test the comprehensive ability of the students help
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them to interpret and organize the ideas. These questions begin with words such as
“summarize, predict, differentiate, distinguish, contrast and interpret”. Unfortunately most
of our question papers have these kinds of questions which will not help the students to
develop their creativity and communication skills.
The next level of questions is “Higher Order Thinking” questions which really help
the students to learn a subject and develop their creativity. These questions test their
competency levels such as application, analysis, synthesis and evaluation. The questions
which test the application knowledge of the students help them in problem solving, applying
information in practical life and use the rules and principles in their daily life. These
questions begin with the words, “demonstrate, relate, apply, calculate, examine, illustrate,
show and solve”. The questions which test the analysis level of the students help them to
find the underlying structure of communication and identify the motive of the examiner.
These questions begin with the words such as “analyze, classify, compare, infer and
explain”. The questions which test the synthesis knowledge of the students help them to
create a unique product or combine ideas to form a new idea. These questions begin with
the words, “combine, substitute, rewrite, modify, integrate and formulate”. The questions
which test evaluation knowledge of the students aid them to resolve controversies and
develop opinions, judgements or decisions. These questions start with
the words like, “recommend, discriminate, support, summarize, convince and conclude”.
Instead of testing the level of students with conventional low order thinking
questions which do not allow the students to really learn the subject and which do not
initiate creativity and communication skills of the students, if the teachers try to frame
higher order thinking questions, it will enable the students to really learn the subject.
These are the different ways of assessing the LSRW skills of the students without making
them feel nervous of the assessment process. They will surely make the class interactive and
help the teacher to become a facilitator in the real sense of the word.
References
Bloom, B.S. (Ed) Taxonomy of educational objectives: The classification of educational goals:
Handbook I, cognitive domain. Newyork; Toronto: Longmans, Green, 1956.
Penny Ur. A Course in Language Teaching Practice & Theory. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 1996.
http://www.teachervision.fen.com/teaching-methods/newteacher/48445.html#ixzz1zix8dVS4
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AUTHOR PROFILES
C. Arun, has 9 years experience in teaching ELT and Literature in Various schools and
colleges. Now he is pursuing PhD, in Comparative Literature at Bharathiar University,
Coimbatore. He has presented several papers and authored the book Teaching of English.
Dr Varalakshmi Chaudhry has been teaching English as a second Language for the
past 16 years. She has published about 10 research articles and 4 books in the area of
Applied Linguistics and SLA. She is Guest Faculty at JNU and IIT Delhi.
Mr. K. Chandra Sekhar, is rendering his services in Vignan Institute of Technology
and Science, as an Asst. Prof. of English. He is pursuing his Research programme (Ph.D) from
Sri Venkateswara University, Tirupati.
Manali Karmakar is an M. Phil research scholar in The English and Foreign
Languages University. She is working in the area of Vocabulary Instruction and Material
production. She has completed her diploma in the teaching of English.
Saudamini Ashish Patki is 14 years old, and a student of the 9th standard at Gurukul ,
Pune. Saudamini is an avid reader of English stories and literature. She often writes short poems on
current events, and is also very fond of drawing and painting.
Dr. B.V.Rama Prasad is Ph.D. in English from EFLU, Hyderabad. He has presented
papers in many international seminars. He is now associate professor in the department of
English Kuvempu University.
Dr. S. A. Khader, with 22 years of experience as Lecturer in English, has guided 6
M.Phil and 2 Ph.D. scholars. Presented over 35 research articles in International and
National Seminars.
Dr. K. R. Sujatha has a post graduate degree in English and Translation Studies. She
has published a book "Feminine Aesthetics of Indian Women Writers" She has been
teaching English for the past 17 years.
Dr. G. Hampamma is Professor of English at Madanapalle Institute of Technology &
Science. She received her doctorate from Sri Krishnadevaraya University in 2008. She has 20
years of teaching experience.
Dr. C. Kavitha, Associate Professor and Head, GITAM University has more than 16
years of service. She completed her Ph.D from Andhra University. She has published
research articles in National and International journals.
Ms. S. Sushma Raj, Assistant Professor, Department of English, GITAM University,
has more than 7 years of service with an M.Phil on Afro-American Literature. She is pursuing
her Ph.D from Andhra University. She has published research articles in National and
International journals.
S. Ramanathan, working as a teacher of English in a government
school pursuing PhD in English Literature in Bharathiar University. I have done M. A. in
English and a second M. A. in Linguistics and presently pursuing M. A. in Philosophy through
IGNOU, New Delhi.
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Abdul Latheef Vennakkadan, a PhD Scholar in ELT has been teaching for more than
11 years. He has co-authored books on English and has international/national presentations.
His research interests include instructional technology, e-resource management and
TESL/TEFL testing.
Dr. Sheela Tiwari is a Retd. Principal, Govt. P.G. College, M.P./C.G. and a Director of
Dr. C. V. Raman University, Kota, (C.G.) & Justice Hidayatullah National Law University,
Raipur, Chhattisgarh. She is presently working in Chouksey Engineering College, Bilaspur,
Chhattisgarh.
Neetu Baghel is working as Assistant Professor in Chouksey Engineering College,
Bilaspur, Chhattisgarh.
B. Sreekanth Reddy is working as a Lecturer in Rajiv Gandhi University of Knowledge
Technologies IIIT , R. K. Valley, Kadapa for the past four years. Areas of interest are
Diasporic studies, Soft Skills training, Indian English Literaturs and ELT. Published and
Presented research articles in various International and National Conferences .
P. Sunita Rao, Assistant Professor in English at Gayatri Vidya Parishad College of
Engineering, Vizianagaram. Her areas of Interest are Common Wealth Literature, Linguistics
& Feminist Writings. She attended and Presented Papers in 6 National and 2 international
Conferences.
Kaushik Trivedi and Pushpendra Sinora are working as lecturers in Charotar
University of Science and Technology, Gujarat. They teach Communication Skills and
Professional Communication at UG as well as PG level students of the university.
Rohith L.S Research Scholar in Department of English and Working as a Project
Assistant at Women's Resource Centre, Kuvempu University, Shankaraghtta,
Shimoga(Karnataka) currently pursuing Ph.D in 'Gender Representation: Aparna Sen and
Deepa Mehta. A Study of Indian Women Directors'.
K. Charles Godwin is an Assistant Professor in Department Of English, M.G.R Arts
And Science College, Hosur. I am very much interested in drama and its impact on literature.
Drama plays a key role and Girish Karnad one of the significant task player with varied
trends.
Dr. N.S. Vishnu Priya is currently working as Assistant Professor (Senior) in VIT
University, Vellore. She has 18 years of teaching experience and has published research
articles in national journals.
P. Hiltrud Dave Eve, has been an active practitioner in English Language Teaching for
more than 9 years and has interacted with more than 4,000 adult learners of English in the
Indian higher education. At present she is working in Sacred Heart College (Autonomous),
Tirupattur (635601) in South India.
Ms. P. Sathya, currently working as an Assistant Professor in Hindustan University,
Chennai. Her major area of interest is English Language Teaching.
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JANUARY 2013
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VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4
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JANUARY 2013