PEDAGOGY OF ENGLISH AT PRIMARY LEVEL

Preface

Language, a unique possession of man. It discriminates human beings from other living beings. It helps to win the hearts of others at the same time creates problems when it is misused. The speakers who have a good command over a language can attract a great number of audience, It is the basic medium of interaction without which human social life could not have emerged. NCF 2005 propagates that “Language education must aim at encouraging independent thinking, free and effective expression of opinions and logical interpretation of present and past events. It must motivate learners to say things their way, nurture their natural creativity and imagination and thus make them realize their identity. There are reasons why learning of language ought to find a central place in the total educational process.”

Every child has an innate cognitive ability to acquire his mother tongue, which is some people believe a biologically determined system. Chomsky claims that children are biologically programmed for language learning and that language develops in the child in the same way as other biological functions like walking playing etc. It is a communicative medium for expressing ideas and concepts as well as moods, feelings and attitudes. English plays an important role next to the mother tongue of the child because it is used as a second language by more than 70 % of the people across the globe. Many people in India and in other Asian countries use English as a second language. It enjoys a great position in the educational, economic and socio-cultural life of the people. The concept of teaching has taken sea change from teacher centered to learner centered. The teacher has to encourage and engage the student in the acuities rather than setting goals. Learning should be emerged not as an intake of inputs by the teacher but as an outcome of the student’s understanding. Language construction should be the priority in the teaching and learning process rather than language reproduction in the classrooms.

The present book “Pedagogy of English at Primary Level” tries to throw some light on issues of Learning English in a Multi-lingual/ Multi-cultural Society. It also discusses about the issues Related to Teacher Proficiency and the politics related to teaching English in India.