An analysis of discourse-based teaching methods of English as a foreign language in India
Date: 26.12.2021
Introduction
India has often been regarded as a museum of teaching methodology with education being regarded as the foundation of society. However, in an Indian context, it can be said that education is elitist (Cheney, Ruzzi, & Muralidharan, 2005) and was meant for Brahmin boys (Cheney, Ruzzi, & Muralidharan, 2005). Unfortunately, the British Raj also served as a ‘gatekeeper’ (Cheney, Ruzzi, & Muralidharan, 2005) and ended up yielding 287 million illiterates in India (Oxfam, 2015). The educational system that is being discussed here is the direct approach which has been banned in countries like Germany (Ohse, 2015). Though there are quite a few merits of using the direct approach method, some demerits of the technique make it less suitable. One of the major demerits is the lack of skilled teachers and the pace with which these skills are being taught. As an alternative, a discourse-based teaching method was developed which would concentrate on the creation of knowledge through interactions, social practice, power, and relations between the interacting parties (Weedon, 1997). Such relations not only define the nature of the body but also describe the conscious and the unconscious aspects of human life. But before we move into the details of the technique, we wish to do a brief background analysis of the advent of English and the structural differences between the ways it is implemented in society.
English arrived in India as a measure of solution between the Orientalists and the Anglicists- the two important factions of the British Government who were at loggerheads with each other because till then the Government was following a halfway measure of education, which on one hand patronized the Orientalists as established by Warren Hastings and Lord Minto. On the other hand, this system patronized the English language proponents. This resulted in an impasse which was solved by Macaulay’s Minute which is viewed by many as a strategy to retain the power using a special class of the natives. In the words of Macaulay, the main objective of introducing English into Indian society was a measure of creating a class of Indians who would be ‘interpreters’ between the English rulers and a million Indians. According to the British designs, such Indians will represent India in blood and culture, while being English in their taste and opinions. Hence, it can be deduced that the introduction of English in India had a vested interest (Krishnaswamy & Krishnaswamy, 2006).
English as a foreign language
Before spelling out the objectives for the study, it becomes imperative to describe what is exactly meant by ‘English as a foreign language’. When English is treated as a foreign language, it implies that it is taught in schools often elaborately (Broughton, 1980). In countries like India, this is regarded as an essential factor for national and social life whereas countries like Spain, Brazil, or Japan do not need English for social or professional advancement. In these countries, Spanish, Portuguese, and Japanese are the mediums of instruction. In this regard, we would like to state that the learners of English as a foreign language have a larger choice of variety as compared to the second language learners because there is a scope for the learners to learn both American and British English, though the line of demarcation between English as a second language and English as a foreign language is not clear (Broughton, 1980).
The way English is taught in India is no different from the foreign language which is a remarkably different situation from the established norms of a second language and the importance of English in both India and Sri Lanka is decreasing (Broughton, 1980). We here is reminiscent of Michael West who observed that a foreigner is learning English mostly to express ideas rather than emotions which is a major problem arising from the lack of expert teachers in the concerned nations.
Hence, under such conditions, discourse is one of the most effective methods of teaching (Marianne Celce-Murcia & Yoo Isaiah Wonho, 2014) because they provide the main frame of reference for decision-making in teaching. Further the use of suitable contexts for interaction and providing the learners with a variety of situations are necessary for developing discourse-based learning.
Motivations
In current teaching trends, discourse is absent from classroom practices. We to the best of our search found that discourse remains absent from the Indian classrooms because there has been an increasing trend of the Indian schools to implement smart systems in the class, which however does not mean that discourse cannot be implemented. This problem occurs because many teachers in today’s circumstances do not have the knowhow about how to implement discourse in their lessons (Cots, 1996; Olshtain, 2019). Hence, the importance of discourse in classroom teaching is yet to be analyzed and discussed at greater lengths, especially in connection to teaching English as a foreign language. In this regard, Kemp et al.(1996) remarks that discourse is the only way to achieve success what a large number of teachers are attempting to do while researches concerning the success of discourse in teaching English as a foreign language are abound (Erton, n.d.; HUGHES & MCCARTHY, 1998; Kurovskaya, 2016). We regard that using a discourse-based teaching students will be able to understand the implications of a foreign language in a country like India, where the trend of English is gradually declining (Broughton, 1980). Such teaching will enable the students to understand how English is used in a real-life situation and will help the students to understand the functional aspects of the language. This methodology being implemented will help the students to understand the cultural aspects while developing a greater understanding of the language barriers. We hopes that such teaching will help the students to manage an effective communication (Girault & Alberto, 2019). Hence, a detailed analysis of the discourse methods is required for the implementation of better methods of teaching english as foreign language (TEFL).
A Brief History
In an Indian context discourse has probably been described as one of the effective methods of teaching done through ‘talk and texts’ (Doley, 2019). In such conditions, it becomes important to describe discourse in a formal language. Discourse-based techniques can be described as a way of investigating language and teaching with the help of social contexts. These types of pedagogy offer routes into the study of roots and meanings and engages the students in a backward and forward modes of communication leading to far fetching social actions that aims to synthesize knowledge and helps in the propagation of culture.
Because of such properties, discourse has been the focus of the language teachers especially in a classroom teaching. Doley (2019) in this regard consider discourse to be an important element of teaching because there is an ongoing oral interaction in the classroom. The discourse in the english language classroom, both between the teacher and the language learners themselves will enable the co-creation of cultural construct and a relationship with the instructor along with other elements of discourse and text in the classroom. According to Simpson et al., (2011) discourse defines the success of a language learning since it heavily relies on the communication within the classroom and such interaction within the learners in a classroom is another key to successful learning element of EFL.
Discourse is a method which finds its application in varied disciplines and has the potential to attract new researchers while the number of actual researches is going down. This claim will be quantitatively tested in the next section. However, Alsoraihi (2019) finds that discourse has the capacity to unfurl new knowledge where the learners are expected to share their knowledge by using classroom techniques like turn-taking, selecting next participant, negotiation, initiation and speech errors (Osoba & Sobola, 2014).
Fundamental types of discourse
In a normal classroom setting for EFL, there are two basic types of discourse that the teachers and the instructors will engage in. One of the most commonly used discourse techniques is the reciprocal method of discourse. Cook (1989) gives the best definition of a reciprocal method where the teacher can monitor the reception of the message and adjust the message according to the context. In this type of discourse, the student not only tries to understand the message but also tries to influence the development of the message. On the other hand, a non-reciprocal method is one in which there is little interaction between the teacher and the student. This is the least effective method of discourse(Thapan, 1986). Defined in this manner, these two forms of discourse are opposed to each other. Cook (1989) views the relationship in this way.
Reciprocal non-reciprocal
In this regard, we finds that in a normal process of discourse, there can be many intermediary discourses. Non- reciprocal discourse in light of this discussion, becomes a non-existent type of discourse. Even, if there exists a discourse, at least theoretically, then there is a tendency of such discourse to attain the structure of a monologic discourse, which is least seen in a classroom setting. Tilbury et al.(2021) considers that even in a monologic discourse the sender of the message assesses a receiver and designs the message according to the simulated sender.
Thapan (1986) finds that in an Indian setting, ideological discourse is one of the most suitable ones in which ideology of the Indian society becomes the medium of discourse and provides a positive alternative to the existing society and culture. The objective of such discourse is to transform the world from its current state to a better state. The foundation of such discourse is therefore ideas, values, and cultures.
The other type of discourse as seen in Indian schools is the educational discourse. This type of discourse in a classroom is defined by the influences outside the school. Educational discourse emanates from the demand of society not as a good individual but as a student who scores good marks in the examination system. This type of discourse is advocated by the parental expectations and success defined in terms of the learner’s grades and progress. The two basic types of ideas reflected by this type of discourse are - ‘fulfill parent’s expectations’ (reflected by girls) and ‘face the world’ (reflected by boys) (Thapan, 1986). In this way, educational discourse bifurcates the learners, and the collective motto of the discourse in creating knowledge is defeated. Learning has a single meaning in such cases – a means to earn a livelihood.
Approaches to discourse
There are two classic approaches to discourse in teaching – the top-down approach and the bottom-up approach. In the bottom-up approach, we move from the minute details of the language up to the most critical relations that define the society. On the other hand, the top-down approach breaks down the intricate relationships into the elements of language teaching. Compared to the bottom-up approach which might be difficult for the students to understand, we propose that the top-down approach of the discourse be implemented in TEFL format which will give rise to new pedagogical approaches.
Methods of teaching English Language
Direct Method (DM)
DM is one of the ways of teaching language in which the focus of the teaching shifts from literary language to everyday language. Also referred to as a natural method, this process refers to a way of teaching in a language that is used in an everyday oral-aural method. In a country like India, language is mostly taught in a way in which the target language and the medium of instruction are the same. This creates a problem where an effective discourse is hindered because the students from rural backgrounds are not able to grasp the language and hence constructing a discourse-based teaching becomes difficult in this case (VIVEK & PRAKAT, 2018)
Communicative Language Teaching (CLT)
CLT is a method of teaching language where the learners communicate through the experiences of life. In all such cases, the communication of the learner is encouraged over their proficiency of English language. Meaningful experiences of life are given importance and not the grammatical expertise of the student. The advantage of this technique lies in the fact that the students learn the language through the trial and error method and can be regarded as one of the best mediums of discourse-based teaching.
Bilingual Method (BM)
According to Alexander (1978), the most effective way of teaching language in India is the BM. In such a method the preferred language of the learner is regarded as the medium of the foreign language learning. It enables a back-and-forth mechanism between the two languages and is used in many of the south India states like Bangalore where Kannada and English are simultaneously used as a part of instruction. According to Baker (2006), this method works best when the teacher/instructor is capable of shifting between the two.
Where is the Problem:
The discourse-based teaching methods of English as a Foreign Language in India have not been explored to the fullest and need detailed research to explore their potential as effective teaching mediums.
English in South Asian countries especially in today’s context has been regarded as a key to the doors of the upper strata of the society as well as a sophisticated language that yields economic mobility. In this regard, Holliday (1994) considered English as a form of empowerment and a way to attain globalization. However, the way English is taught in the UK and the USA is significantly different from how and why English is taught in South Asian countries, especially India. According to JOHNSON, (2006) traditional theories of ELT have ‘failed’ in their attempts to address the realities that happen in the classroom as well as outside the classroom and hence there is a need for new teaching techniques. We propose that the alternative teaching method should be based on discourse methods which take into consideration the knowledge creation out of discussion and also take into account the specificities and the diversities of cultural and native aspects of language teaching (Rajagopalan, 2005). Such methodology is extremely useful in the transformation of knowledge (Simpson et al., 2011).
In an Indian context, it can be said that the states of Himachal and Tamil Nadu are two states that are lagging in the area of literacy skills (Kumar & Wiseman, 2021) and as per OECD reports in 2010 Indian students under PISA scored substantially low according to Rao (2013), the quality of Indian teachers is directly related to the cause of this performance. We propose that ELT is strongly dependent on discourse-based methods which is extremely helpful in a country like India having multi-lingual, multi-ethnic, and multi-cultural backgrounds.
Conclusion:
To address the challenges and potential of discourse-based teaching methods in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in India, a comprehensive, culturally responsive approach is essential. Recognizing the unique socio-cultural and linguistic landscape of India, these methods should not merely replicate Western models but instead adapt to the local context. This involves integrating discussions that reflect students' diverse backgrounds, promoting active engagement and critical thinking. By prioritizing discourse-based techniques, educators can create an inclusive learning environment that fosters not only language proficiency but also cultural understanding and cognitive development.
To implement this, teacher training programs must focus on equipping educators with the skills necessary to facilitate discourse-based learning. Additionally, curriculum designers should incorporate culturally relevant materials and real-world scenarios that resonate with students' experiences. This approach can bridge the gap between traditional ELT methods and the practical needs of Indian students, ultimately enhancing literacy skills and academic performance across the country.
In conclusion, the integration of discourse-based methods in ELT can transform the learning experience for Indian students, making it more relevant, engaging, and effective. By embracing this innovative approach, India can improve literacy rates and prepare students to participate more fully in a globalized world.
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