E-C- 304: English Language Teaching-1

Zindagi V.Rathod

Roll no. 13

Sem. I

Paper no. E-C- 304: English Language Teaching-1

Year -2011

Topic:

Socio- cultural Dimensions of English as a Second Language

By: - Rekha Aslam

Submitted to:- Devrshi Mehta

Department of English

Bhavnagar University.

                         The study of the teaching and learning of any language has to be made keeping in view the fact that language is a social phenomenon. Language is not only an abstract system of formal, lexical and grammatical features but also fulfils social function and has to be viewed against the social context of its use. Sociolinguistic or the study of language in its social setting, began to develop in sixties. The development of sociolinguistics shifted the emphasis from an abstract study of the rules of language to concrete acts of language use.

                     Sociolinguistic studies have highlighted aspects of learning  a language in an alien environment. A language can be learned in an environment where there is no native speaker present. When a language is learned thus, there must be an underlying purpose for which it is learned.

                    The language must have some internal, social function in the community. In multilingual states, people who do not share a common mother tongue may use another language for communication. This orientation places the second language in a specified social context or situation. The social context subsumes in it, sociohistorical factors responsible for the adoption of a foreign language for internal communication in a country. This leads to a consideration of the historical development of a second language in an alien environment. Against this backdrop, let us consider the role that English plays in the status that it enjoys in official, educational and social settings.

                    Sociohistorical Background

           English in India belongs to no region or group. In a country with hundreds of mother tongues, it is , as Dasgupta (1993) calls it, the ‘ auntie tongue ‘ of all, and welcomed everywhere, though possessed by none.

    English has been accepted as the unofficial national language of India. The Radhakrishnan  Commission (1950-51:316) noted in its report that such controversies exist at the official level. For the common people, as we see, the question of the status of English is no longer a matter of dispute. However, some idea about its growth can be had from reports on educational reforms and missionary activities.

          English in India has acquired the status of the most preferred language, though it began its life  as a mere tool in the hands of some traders and their agents. The English ruled India for less than two hundred years, but their language has ruled here for much longer and it appears as if it is here to stay. Bengali- English, Urdu – English and other glossaries first appeared in the seventeenth century itself. What is known English for Specific Purposes (ESP) today, could be said to have appeared as early as the eighteenth century as special purpose glossaries.

        To a significant extent , English in India now the language  of business, commerce, education, government, industry, justice, law, mass media, politics, sciences, technology, trade, etc. In 1857, rebel soldiers had captured the telegraph system, but could not use it.

      English has also been in part the language of India’s freedom struggle. Tilak’s Maharatta, Gandhi’s Young India, and Nehru’s Indian Herald were published in English. Without English, our freedom fighters from various corners of the country would not have been able to communicate with another. The story of English in India is a fascinating one of the nativisation of a foreign language. There have been some attempts at recounting of a foreign language.

         The coastal regions of India between the sixteenth and nineteenth centuries presented a baffing extent of multilingualism.  The Introduction of English in India was slow and difficult. So long as the Portuguese stayed, English was used only in the trade centers. For the transaction of daily business, interpreters, or ‘dobashas’, were much in demand.

      The spread of English in India was also contributed to by missionaries and other non-official British and Europeans. The initial effort of the missionaries started in 1614 and became more prominent after 1659. This was the time missionaries were permitted to use the ships of the East India Company. But in 1765, the policy changed and the encouragement of missionary activities was abandoned. The missionaries were the pioneers of English education in India. The standard they set for English was sufficiently high even then.  The Hindu College, later renamed the Presidency Collage, became an important centre of English education. Profit from learning English, increased the demand for English schools and English became the most important subject in the curriculum.

          Officially, the East India Company was not very enthusiastic about the education of Indians. There was a fear that this would result in losing India. English education was preferred to Sanskrit and Persian even by Indians. English was made a compulsory for five classes. The Indian attitude to English changed so much that it became a preferred language for communication even with  family members.

Conclusion:-

         This became a crucial question during the freedom struggle. Though Mahatma Gandhi wrote in English, regarded English as a window on western thought and acknowledged its importance for India, he was not happy with India’s dependence upon English. Gandhi hoped that with political independence, our infatuation with the English language would go, but English has become the preferred public language.