INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH: LITERATURE, … · Indira Gandhi, a great woman she was. Mrs. Obama, Beyonce, Kiran Bedi, Jaya Bachchan.... Miss liberty with her torch, she is a

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENGLISH:

LITERATURE, LANGUAGE & SKILLS

IJELLS, 2278-0742

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4, JANUARY 2013

VOLUME 1 ISSUE 4 JANUARY 2013

2 www.ijells.com 2278-0742

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”.



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.



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



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



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



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,



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.



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 Drama-

3). 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 19th 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.



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.

WORK ARCHETYPAL IMAGES

& SIGNIFICANCE

MYTHICAL ASPECT AESTHETIC QUALITY

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,

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.

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.

Mythical Tale from Kannada

and Sanskrit epic respectively.

Spiritual and aesthetic intensity

with which the priest has

devoted himself to the task of

worshiping and beautifying

lingam.

Broken Images Image – Ones own self. The

shadow Archetype.

….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

The issues that the playwright

satirises through the dramatic

TV monologue of a celebrity.

The Dreams of

Tipu Sulthan

Battle Field – A psychological

image and political moves

compared to the Chess

board.

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.

Colonial ambivalence and inventive play.

Dream allegory –it is an allegorical tale presented in the

narrative framework of a dream.



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.



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."



- 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



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



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



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.

http://www.essortment.com/what%20is%20patriarc-rhsf.htm



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



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



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 self-

expression”.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



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-of-

consciousness 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.



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”.



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.



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 self-

consciousness 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



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



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 self-

enclosed 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



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.



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.



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.



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



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 widowhood-

2 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=False_complaint&action=edit&redlink=1



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,



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 so-

called 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?



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.



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, Afro-American. 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, Long-term 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.



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 Afro-American 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



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



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



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.



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 great-

cheat. 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.



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.



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.



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.



‘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



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”.



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



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



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



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.



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 1st

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 socio-

culturally 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



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 of-

a. 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



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



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



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 Kannada-

speaking 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 cross-

cultural 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’.



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. Non-

human 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



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.



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.



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 cross-

cultural 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.



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., July-

Aug., 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.



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.



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



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)



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.



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

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Porter_(poet)





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 rethink 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:



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



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:



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 self-

realization 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 self-

portrait 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



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 Sylvia Plath.Ed. Charles

Newman.136-152.

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:



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 Sylvia Plath.Ed. Ted Hughes. London:Faber

andFaber,141.



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



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



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.



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.



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.



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



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/

http://learningenglishkids.britishcouncil.org/



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.



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



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



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 e-

space, 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



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.



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



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.

http://www.rubistar.4teachers.org/



Assessment Rubric for EFL/ESL Learners’ Blogging Presence.

Components Criteria

Points 5/4 4/3 1/0

Co

nte

nts

(5

0%

)

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?

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?

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?

points 2.5 1.5 .5

Pre

sen

tati

on

(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.

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

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.

points 2.5 1.5 .5

A

dm

inis

trat

ion

(25

%)

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

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

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



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

http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Campbell-Weblogs.html

http://edweb.sdsu.edu/eet/articles/digitalnatives/index.htm

http://binaryblue.com.au/docs/blogs.pdf

http://psych.stanford.edu/~mgumbrec/Why_We_Blog.pdf



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-elt-

peru.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

http://www.jaltcall.org/journal/articles/1_1_Pinkman.pdf

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

http://www.marcprensky.com/writing/prensky%20-%20digital%20natives,%20digital%20immigrants%20-%20part1.pdf

http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/2010/09/6-tips-for-effective-ict-use-elt-peru.html

http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/2010/09/6-tips-for-effective-ict-use-elt-peru.html

http://eprints.qut.edu.au/13066/1/13066.pdf



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



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



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.



4. Communication involves the integration of different language skills.

5. Learning is a process of creative construction and involves trial and even.

6. Communication of this kind should be both authentic and meaningful.

7. 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.



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



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.



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.



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.



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.



References

Bax, S.(2003). The end of CLT: A context approach to language teaching. ELT journal, 57, 278-287.

Gefter, A., “Living online: This is your space,” New Scientist 2569 (2006): 46-48.

Godwin-Jones, r., “Messaging, gaming , peer-to-peer sharing: Language learning strategies and tools

for the millennial generation,” Language learning and technology 9.1 (2005): 17-22.

Gupta Deepti, 2005. ELT in India: A Brief and Current overview, Asian EFL Journal Volume 7. Issue 1,

Article 12.

Nunan David (1991) Communicative tasks and the language curriculum. TESOL, Quarterly 25(2), 279-

295.

O’Grady, William, Michael Dabrovolsky, and Mark Aronoff. 1993. Contemporary linguistics: An

Introduction. New York: St.Martin’s Press.

Pahuja N.P. Teaching of English, Anmol Publications Pvt.Ltd, New Delhi 1995.

Prensky, M., “ Digital nayives, digital immigrants,” On the Horizon 9.5 (2001).

Available: http://digbig.com/4wxqw[2008,July].

Purushotma, R., “You’re not studying, you’re just…..,” Language Learning and Technology 9.1 (2005):

80-96.

Thelwall, M., “MySpace, Facebook, Bebo: Social networking students,” Association of Learning

Technology Online Newsletter 11 (2008).

Vyas A. Manish and Patel L. yogesh “Teaching English as a secong language- Anew Pedagogy for a

New Century.” PHI Learning Pvt Ltd. New Delhi (2009).

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,”

http://digbig.com/4wxqw%5b2008,July



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



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



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) Using Emails 2) Using websites for English language teaching 3) CD – ROMs 4) Using Audio- Video aids 5) Language learning software 6) Digital English Language Laboratory 7) Internet based project works 8) 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



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 6th 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

Std.

No. of Students

Availability of English Teacher (Yes/No)

Availability of Digital Resources (Yes/No)

English language competency level of the students (in %)

Writing Skills

Reading Skills Listening Skills Speaking Skills

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

6th

24 No No 0 5 95 10 13 77 10 10 80 00 00 100



Table: 2 Study of English in the presence of English teacher (but without using Digital resources)

Std.

No. of Students

Availability of English Teacher (Yes/N)



Writing Skills


Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

7th

24 Yes No 35 50 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.

Std.

No. of Students

Availability of English Teacher (Yes/N)



Writing Skills


Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

Go

od

Ave

rage

Po

or

8th

24 Yes Yes 65 30 05 90 10 00 90 10 00 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. How is your experience with students of rural area while teaching English language to

them? A. “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.”



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?



A. “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 6th 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.



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



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.



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.



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.



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

Number 1. OUP. January. Print.

Kanimozhi. K. (2009). Creating activity based materials to improve language skills for slow learners at

secondary level Matriculation school students. Loyola College, Aug. Print.

Kirubhakaran. S. (2003). Effectiveness of self – access materials: A study. The English Classroom. Vol

5 June / Dec. 186 – 192. Print.

Kuhn, M.R. and Stahl. (2000) Fluency in the classroom. New York: Guilford Press. Print.

Nagaraj. I.S. (1997). Teacher as materials producer. The English Classroom. Vol 1 Number 1 June. (55

– 58). Print.

Nunan, David. (1989/2000) Designing tasks for the Communication Classroom. Beijing: People

Education Press, Foreign Language Teaching and Research and Cambridge: CUP.

Prabhu, N.S. (1987) Second Language Pedagogy. New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press. Print.



Peter, Francis M. (2008). A Glossary of ELT terms and Key Concepts. Chennai. RACE. Print.

Prabhu. K.N. (2003) The Role of self- directing materials in learners empowerment. The English

Classroom. Vol 5 June / Dec. (78 – 86). Print.

Richards, Jack. C. (2001). Curriculum Development in Language Teaching. New York. Cambridge

University Press. Print.

Rosenberg , Rick. (2009). Tools for activating materials and tasks in the English Language classroom.

English teaching Forum. Vol 27 Number 4. 2 – 11. Print.

Sridhar . S. N. (1998) Towards an integrated approach to materials preparation at the advanced

level: an Indian perspective. The English classroom, Vol 2 Number 1 June 1998. 34 – 48. Print.

Thornbury, Scott. (2005) How to teach speaking. UK. Pearson Education Limited. Print.



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



take decision for improving their current practices.'' 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



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.

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.

The assignments are always incomplete

By conducting dictation,enquiring the

students / supervising the written work.

Students poor oral response to the

questions based on grammar

Under the control of the teacher.

Under the control of the teacher.

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.



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

2.

3.

4.

The teacher designs a list of written

work assignment in English

Language.

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.

Text books & prescribed syllabus for the

weekend

Prescribed syllabus for the week.

Various model papers, previous exam

papers.

Teacher evaluates the assignments

5 days

3 days

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



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 non-

serious" 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.



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 consciousness-

raising 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



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) Ìnter 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 input-

processing 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



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 à 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 Information-

processing 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 meaning-

embodied 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.



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 de-

technical 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



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 Information Processing

C1 – No. of Words C6 – Clarity

C2 – Creativity C7 – No. of Idea Units

C3 - Self-Corrections C8 – Discourse Structure

C4 – Errors C9 – Criticism

C5 – New Vocabulary 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.

Ranks →

Subject↓

Input

Processing

Information

Processing

Consolidated

Rank

S1 L L L

S2 H M M

S3 H M M

S4 M H M

S5 M H M

S6 H M M

S7 M H M

S8 L L L

S9 L L L

S10 L L L

S11 M M M

S12 M H M

S13 L M M

S14 L M M

S15 M L M

S16 M H M

S17 L M M

S18 H H H

S19 L M M

S20 M L M

S21 H H H

S22 H M M

S23 M H M

S24 M M M

S25 H H H

S26 H H H

S27 M H M

S28 H H H

S29 M H M

S30 M H M



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 C3 C4 C5 C6 C7 C8 C9 C10

Maximal Processors

S18 H H H H L H H H - M

S21 H H H H L M H H - H

S25 H H H M L H H M M H

S26 H H H L - M H H M H

S28 H H L H L H H H H H

Minimal Processors

S1 L L L L - L L H - L

S8 L L L L - L L L - L

S9 L L - L - L L M - L

S10 L L - 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



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.



Response: Its means poet has 2 choices in his life1 but he choose the one which was less

opted by the people2.


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



sentence at the end (1f). The sentences in between (1c, 1d, & 1e) are three ways of

interpreting the Extract.


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.


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



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, `Àll

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 life1c. 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.

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.



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.



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: 2*5=10

marks

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!



References

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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 Revisited. Free Online Library: <http//www.freelibrary.com>.

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), `Ìnterlanguage’’ International Review of Applied Linguistics, 10: 209-231

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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.

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Van Patten, B. (2003), From Input to Output: A Teachers’ Guide to SLA. New York: Mc Graw Hill.

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Theory, Research and Commentary. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum.



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



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



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



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.



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



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.



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



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



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.



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.



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



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



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



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



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 extra-

ordinary 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 of

thought

Vocabulary Audibility Pronunciation Body language Total

BA A AA E BA A AA E BA A AA E BA A AA E BA A AA E

XYZ √ √ √ √ √ 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



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



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/new-

teacher/48445.html#ixzz1zix8dVS4



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.



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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