Most. Ivana Sarkar :
Education policy is framed according to the needs and demands of learners to attain definite goals in a planned and systematic way with a view to stimulating intellectual and practical qualities viz- moral, human, cultural, scientific and social values of learners at personal and national levels. To implement this policy successfully a curriculum (an outline of what to teach, why to teach, how to teach, whom to teach, how to assess students learning at a particular level) is set. English curriculum is different from the curriculum of other subjects. It is a psychomotor domain based curriculum. It focuses on the four skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing.
English is not a knowledge-based subject. It is a skill-based subject. So the slogan of the modern English curriculum is the improvement of learner’s competence in communication developing their all the four skills. It aims at producing life-long learners. It is creating conductive environment for the learners to foster their creative and thinking faculties. It has planned to create a real life situation in the classroom to help the learners to be competent in communicating locally and globally. It has introduced an English book for class XI-XII that is full of with lots of activities to engage the savvy learners. Though the passages are too long but the contents of this book are consistent with the age level of the learners. It has included literary pieces to make the learning enjoyable to the learners. It also has such a resourceful vocabulary, which will prepare the learners for higher education. It has introduced some teaching aids, which are very much up-to-date for the updated learners.
In this English curriculum there is a specific direction of mark allocation viz. Total mark 100, Listening- 10, Speaking- 10, Reading 40 (Text materials: 30, supplementary materials: 10), Writing 40 to assess all the four skills. It is mentioned there that the listening and speaking skill of learners will be assessed through continuous assessment and these (10 + 10) = 20 marks will be added to determine the learners’ final grade in the summative assessment. Learners’ reading and writing skills will be assessed in the public examination through paper and pencil test on the remaining 80 marks (40 for reading and 40 for writing). The purpose of all these activities is that by the end of the academic session the student will have skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in all aspects of communication. The question items (MCQ, gap filling with clues and without clues, matching, open and close ended questions, substitution table, information transfer etc.) are also very much appropriate for the learners.
But still our students are attaining only two skills, reading and writing among the four skills. They can partially attain the skill of speaking. But the skill of listening remains totally untouched. What are the reasons behind this massive failure?
Then the answer may come in this way that is, there are three barriers — teachers, large classes and examination system. As a teacher of Class XI-XII, I would like to shoulder the blame confessing the guilty. Teachers’ mentality is most important to implement this curriculum. They need to change their mentality and teaching approaches. This is not very tough for the teachers to do. Then why don’t they change their traditional techniques? Why aren’t they being eclectic teachers? Why don’t they go with the pedagogy?
Most of the teachers teaching at HSC level are not appropriately trained. Among the few trained teachers some do not want to change them. But now most of the young generation teachers are eclectic teachers. They want to sing the same song in chorus with the curriculum. But they cannot come out of their cocoons because of some backbiting. There exists a common view in our society that if a student gets a good grade in the examination, then it is said that he/she was really an intelligent, meritorious, attentive and active student. But if a student performs badly in the examination, then it is said that the teacher was not good enough, he/she doesn’t teach the students in the right way, he/she cannot make the students understand. But never one tries to see the reality. Large class sometimes becomes a barrier, but it can be managed by participatory method of CLT.
There is also another thing that those teachers who want to do this in the classroom lose their popularity with their students and guardians. This is not that they cannot teach but the thing is that the students and guardians are exam-oriented. They want a good result. Actually, the curriculum has invited this problem itself by providing on a sample question for Class XI-XII of 100 marks totally based on reading and writing skills for the summative examination. There is no mark kept for listening and speaking. So the students and guardians think, “What is the use of spending time for these two skills (listening and writing) while these cannot add any mark with final result?”
So, to implement this curriculum in the classroom the first and foremost condition is to allot mark for listening and speaking skills. This is the pre-requisite. Also, training should be provided for the teachers. There should be system for supervision of the teachers. More English teachers can be appointed. If these actions are taken, the classroom scenario will change. The students will be interested to acquire these two skills. The guardians will be interested to send their children to institution to have these skills. Instead of running after coaching centers and private tuitions, the student will come in the class. The guardians will get mental satisfaction. The teacher will be popular with the students and whether it is large or small class, it will be fruitful and effective.
Education policy is framed according to the needs and demands of learners to attain definite goals in a planned and systematic way with a view to stimulating intellectual and practical qualities viz- moral, human, cultural, scientific and social values of learners at personal and national levels. To implement this policy successfully a curriculum (an outline of what to teach, why to teach, how to teach, whom to teach, how to assess students learning at a particular level) is set. English curriculum is different from the curriculum of other subjects. It is a psychomotor domain based curriculum. It focuses on the four skills- listening, speaking, reading and writing.
English is not a knowledge-based subject. It is a skill-based subject. So the slogan of the modern English curriculum is the improvement of learner’s competence in communication developing their all the four skills. It aims at producing life-long learners. It is creating conductive environment for the learners to foster their creative and thinking faculties. It has planned to create a real life situation in the classroom to help the learners to be competent in communicating locally and globally. It has introduced an English book for class XI-XII that is full of with lots of activities to engage the savvy learners. Though the passages are too long but the contents of this book are consistent with the age level of the learners. It has included literary pieces to make the learning enjoyable to the learners. It also has such a resourceful vocabulary, which will prepare the learners for higher education. It has introduced some teaching aids, which are very much up-to-date for the updated learners.
In this English curriculum there is a specific direction of mark allocation viz. Total mark 100, Listening- 10, Speaking- 10, Reading 40 (Text materials: 30, supplementary materials: 10), Writing 40 to assess all the four skills. It is mentioned there that the listening and speaking skill of learners will be assessed through continuous assessment and these (10 + 10) = 20 marks will be added to determine the learners’ final grade in the summative assessment. Learners’ reading and writing skills will be assessed in the public examination through paper and pencil test on the remaining 80 marks (40 for reading and 40 for writing). The purpose of all these activities is that by the end of the academic session the student will have skills (listening, speaking, reading and writing) in all aspects of communication. The question items (MCQ, gap filling with clues and without clues, matching, open and close ended questions, substitution table, information transfer etc.) are also very much appropriate for the learners.
But still our students are attaining only two skills, reading and writing among the four skills. They can partially attain the skill of speaking. But the skill of listening remains totally untouched. What are the reasons behind this massive failure?
Then the answer may come in this way that is, there are three barriers — teachers, large classes and examination system. As a teacher of Class XI-XII, I would like to shoulder the blame confessing the guilty. Teachers’ mentality is most important to implement this curriculum. They need to change their mentality and teaching approaches. This is not very tough for the teachers to do. Then why don’t they change their traditional techniques? Why aren’t they being eclectic teachers? Why don’t they go with the pedagogy?
Most of the teachers teaching at HSC level are not appropriately trained. Among the few trained teachers some do not want to change them. But now most of the young generation teachers are eclectic teachers. They want to sing the same song in chorus with the curriculum. But they cannot come out of their cocoons because of some backbiting. There exists a common view in our society that if a student gets a good grade in the examination, then it is said that he/she was really an intelligent, meritorious, attentive and active student. But if a student performs badly in the examination, then it is said that the teacher was not good enough, he/she doesn’t teach the students in the right way, he/she cannot make the students understand. But never one tries to see the reality. Large class sometimes becomes a barrier, but it can be managed by participatory method of CLT.
There is also another thing that those teachers who want to do this in the classroom lose their popularity with their students and guardians. This is not that they cannot teach but the thing is that the students and guardians are exam-oriented. They want a good result. Actually, the curriculum has invited this problem itself by providing on a sample question for Class XI-XII of 100 marks totally based on reading and writing skills for the summative examination. There is no mark kept for listening and speaking. So the students and guardians think, “What is the use of spending time for these two skills (listening and writing) while these cannot add any mark with final result?”
So, to implement this curriculum in the classroom the first and foremost condition is to allot mark for listening and speaking skills. This is the pre-requisite. Also, training should be provided for the teachers. There should be system for supervision of the teachers. More English teachers can be appointed. If these actions are taken, the classroom scenario will change. The students will be interested to acquire these two skills. The guardians will be interested to send their children to institution to have these skills. Instead of running after coaching centers and private tuitions, the student will come in the class. The guardians will get mental satisfaction. The teacher will be popular with the students and whether it is large or small class, it will be fruitful and effective.
(The writer is a lecturer in English of Rajapur Begum Anowara Girls’ College, Dhamrai, Dhaka).
