I am typing this column on the eve of a UGC-sponsored international conference on Teaching English for Employability, organised by Annammal College of Education for Women, Thoothukudi, in which I am the moderator for a panel discussion on The ESL Classroom: Empowering Learners for the Workplace. The theme of the conference prompts me to raise these questions: Isn’t English taught as a core skill in India? Do teachers of English teach the language only for examinations and not for employability? What ails English Language Teaching (ELT) in India?
A few days ago I had a chat with a carpenter, who proudly said that he sent his children to a private English medium school and spent about `4,000 per month on their education. When I asked him, out of curiosity, why he had decided to do this he became very emotional and bombarded me with questions: “Does English belong only to the elite? Shouldn’t children from poor families learn English?” I could sense his anger and fathom his expectations and aspirations. I also had an opportunity to interact with his children. After more than eight years of education in the English medium school they were not able to converse in English. Who should be blamed for their lack of proficiency in English? The students? Their teachers? The education system?
I am reminded of an interaction I had with a candidate, a teacher of English, during a face-to-face interview about three years ago. I asked the candidate whether she was a popular or a good teacher. She gave a diplomatic reply, “I’m a popular as well as good teacher.” To my second question, “What makes you say that you are a good teacher?”, she replied, “I’ve achieved a hundred per cent results in English for the past four semesters.” My next question was, “Do your students communicate well in English?” Pat came the answer, “I don’t teach them communication skills and we don’t test their communication ability.” Isn’t there a gap between what learners want and what teachers of English teach?
Recently I asked a former student of mine working in an IT firm to comment on whether proficiency in English helped employees climb their career ladder. Here is an extract from his email, “Communication skill is what matters more than technical skill in any MNC. All other skills come second. Having proficiency in English, the corporate language, shows how much a candidate has prepared him/herself for the job and that would impress the HR experts who always look for people with good communication skills, as technical skills can be taught and learned at any time.”
A week ago I had a memorable encounter with a neighbour, an economics graduate who had recently been recruited by a leading IT company. When many engineering and science graduates struggle to get placed in IT companies, how was it possible for an economics graduate to get a job there? He attended an off-campus interview and cleared the first two rounds: the written test and the group discussion. During the HR interview when he revealed that he was an economics graduate the HR expert expressed reservations about selecting him. With his excellent communication skills the candidate convinced the HR person and got the job he wanted and is now awaiting an assignment abroad.