When students from regional schools move to college, the face one more adjustment compared to the others- that of coping with the English as the first language. Youth Inc digs deeper!
About two decades ago Amitabh Bachchan won accolades for his famous “I can walk English, I can talk English, because English is a very funny language,” from the film Namak Halal. In fact, even today, the dialogue wins a laugh or too from GenX. But there’s a part of GenX that hardly finds the situation funny, since they haven’t been educated in English throughout their school life, and college opens news doors to life in more ways than one.
Taking from the Bachchan comment, be it funny or not, English is definitely very essential language, with it emerging a medium of global communication. So while the political powers still have to recognise its significance over regional languages, it’s definitely the medium of instruction at most institutions of higher learning. This makes it imperative for a student to know the language, and know it well.
It’s hardly surprising that students, who clear their board exams from vernacular mediums, and who have not studied English as a first language during their schooling, often find it difficult to cope within the four walls of a college classroom. “What is even more surprising is that they don’t take adequate steps to equip themselves with the necessary skills,” says English teacher B Geeta. The comment is reinforced by the example of Kusum Kothari, who did very well at her SSC exams a few years ago, albeit from the Gujarati medium. “I got admitted to Jai Hind College in the science stream alright, but once college began, I could not understand head or tail of what was going on in class. After a fortnight of attending seriously but getting nowhere, I asked my neighbour to help. He showed me the topics and then I’d just cram the lessons, but not understanding them. It was only two months later that I worked on the root cause: my lack of knowledge of English. Once I worked on that, I’ve never faced a problem,” she narrates.
The Problem
These students are exposed to English as a language only during their English classes. Though these students’ marks in the class 10 state board exams are good and they are as intelligent as their classmates from English-medium schools, outside of class, they are not used to communicating in English. “Though they are able to comprehend lectures in English, they have difficulty in understanding technical phrases. They also find it difficult to understand when the lectures seem fast, or when they come across words that they are not familiar with in terms of pronunciation and usage. As regards reading, they are able to understand texts in simple English, but when they come across jargon, very long sentences, and complex passages, they have difficulty,” says Geeta.
As a result of being unacquainted with the language students from these schools are uncomfortable in using English as a medium of communication in their day-to-day life situations. This leads to a further dip in confidence, leading to loss of motivation to learn as well. They hardly socialise with classmates from English-medium schools. If one were to observe a new class in a college, there is a distinct demarcation between students. And mind you, it works for both groups. Those with English as their first language are happy with their own set of friends, and those from vernacular mediums are also not interested in hanging out with the others. “In such a situation, it is essential for the English teacher or the communication teacher (or for that matter any concerned teacher) to adopt the role of a motivator. If necessary, let him or her double up as a counsellor, taking to a timid kid is not rocket science,” says Geeta. Thus, the teacher should make some time for these students and help them shed their inhibitions. The unfortunate part is that most of them shy away from trying also, due to the fear of making mistakes and facing humiliation.
This is the story of many city students, who need to realise this, and work on it to improve their performance. “People are confused between English language and literature. At the class 12 board exams, especially in the science papers, the language of the students is not given any importance over the content that is they don’t lose marks over grammar and syntax. Even then, they have to know English to understand their subjects, and the questions that are asked,” says Physics professor Dheer Singh.
This however is not just the question of knowing English. “Students from the vernacular mediums are eaten up more by the lack of confidence rather than the lack of knowledge of English,” says consulting psychologist Dr Chhaya Sheth, adding, “they need to work on over all personality, rather than just language skills.”
There are many ways to get over the problem, but they have to stem from within. There has to be a strong internal motivation to make the change for yourself, and that’ll be the kick start one wants.
Volume 1 Issue 10
