An Important Role In Education

Published Date: 02 Nov 2017

INTRODUCTION

The word "linguistics" is derived from the Latin word for tongue. Linguistics is the systematic study of human language. It can be largely broken into three categories: language form, language meaning and language in context. The first field of linguistics is the study of language structure or grammar. These emphases’ on the system of rules which is followed by the users of a language and it includes the study of morphology. Morphology means the formation and composition of words. Syntax consists of the formation and composition of phrases and sentences from these words. Phonology is the sound systems. Phonetics is a linked branch of linguistics. It is concerned with the actual properties of speech sounds and no speech sounds and how they are produced and perceived in India.

India is a multi-cultural, multi-religious and multi-linguistic country. Language has always played an important role in education in effect with school and college education. Linguistic communication is a system of sounds, gestures, posture and written symbols. Linguistic communication bears specific meaning and significance within a particular social group or society. These understanding differ significantly between different people, based upon region, development age and cultural practices. The study of these bodies of common knowledge is called languages and is known as linguistics.

Linguistics communication is easily accomplished. It focusing on structure properties of language has tended to view communicative phenomena. Whether verbal or non-verbal, sender and receiver play important role in communication and its process. Success depends on the both types of communication. English as one of the subject in curriculum as a first or second language is given great prominence by all schools and colleges in different countries as a compulsory studies. Its study is compulsory for everyone either as first or second language.

Indian higher education system has become fully aware of the need for quality. Therefore, institution will have to adapt to modern methods of teaching and learning-friendly materials by changing their evaluation methods and striving for excellence to sustain them in this competitive world. Quality and excellence do not happen by accident. They are organized and focused efforts that are needed to achieve global standards. Universities are also expected to have a strategy to ensure that the positive outcome of these innovation in teaching procedure to the underground level.

During the IX Plan period, (Newsletters, UGC and H. M. Patel Institute of English Training & Research) the University Grants Commission (UGC) had introduced a Scheme called "University with Potential for Excellence" (UPE) to inspire selected Universities to reach world-class standards and serve as a benchmark for others in their chosen domains by providing additional funds to them under this Scheme. This has helped a few Universities to improve their achievements during the IX and X Plan periods. This initiative is being continued during the XI Plan period to identify a few more universities which have the potential to achieve excellence in teaching and research.

There are many colleges in the country where teaching and research are of high quality apart from universities. These colleges have achieved better standards of teaching and research by harnessing human and physical resources in innovative ways. Many of these colleges have potential for academic excellence. The UGC introduced a Scheme to recognize the need to pay special attention to such colleges, corresponding to the one of the Universities, during the X Plan called "College with Potential for Excellence" (CPE). This Scheme is to identify colleges which have attained high standards in teaching, research and extension activities and hold promise of excellence. A college selected under the CPE Scheme is provided substantial funds to improve and strengthen its infrastructure that would help it in attaining further academic standards.

Digital English Language and Learning (DELL) is an innovative and aspiring project of Gujarat Government. During the times when the common man of India recognizes English as "a determinant of access to and opportunities for a better life" (NKC, 2007). It is a potential project which could be instrumental in fulfilling English language needs of the state and the country and can enhance employability skills of aspiring young generations. However, the project in its present status requires support and guidance since most of the language laboratory coordinators are with literature background and first generation computer users.

H M Patel Institute of English Training & Research is awarded CPE. As a part of it, the institute has initiated several extension projects. DELL is one of them. Therefore, it is proposed to form a group of motivated language laboratory coordinators and teachers of English as well as of other subjects who are interested in using the DELL infrastructure for curriculum transaction.

The Researcher takes advantage of the knowledge which has accumulated in the past as a result of constant human endeavour. It can never be undertaken in isolation of the work that has already been done on the problems which are directly or indirectly related to study proposed by a researcher. Communicative language teaching is based on the theory of language as a medium of communication. The researcher wishes to investigate the linguistics difficulties in the academic discipline. Academic discipline is the form of knowledge given to or received by student (disciple). It is an important branch or sphere of knowledge, or field of study, that an individual has to choose to specialize in.

BRIEF REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE

The researcher has been working as an author since 2 years and has written many books and research papers. The author has keen interest in doing research in linguistics for the publication has been done under Creative Publication on linguistics, Phonology and phonetics. Many research papers have been presented in the seminars on linguistics like sociolinguistic, cultural linguistic and linguistic competency. The aim at providing a bird’s eye view of the work related to the study in hand. An attempt has been made to review the linguistic aspect of the same.

Lori M Edmonds (2009, March) explores some of the difficulties which English Language Learners (ELL) generally has with science content. The researcher identifies five primary challenges that could be associated with cultural perceptions of science as well as language and writing skills.

Nathan Edward P. (2009, July) justifies corporate investment in online English as a Second Language (ESL) the case study is based on a multilingual research based on Biopharmaceutical Company.

Barbara N. Allison and Marsha L. Rehm (2007) increased multicultural adolescent students often experience cultural conflict in the home and school. This article gives example of Middle School’s teachers in Florida how they can be adapted by others in similar circumstances by implementing instructional strategies.

Piller Bonnie and Skillings Jo Mary (2005) studied in this article which has revealed some evidence for the future researcher to give support and the idea that effective instruction for English learners develop and provide ample opportunity for learning and understanding the languages.

Carrigan Richard P.(2009) studied the need to communicate across language barriers has become critical which has also affected the second language classrooms operation and the way students Learn new languages. Carrign examines how this research area has altered our understanding of language and how a leaner acquires a second language.

O’Shea Doris J. et al. (2009) studied that teachers come across a special challenge in developing the learner’s language ability and the language skills of Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CLD) adolescents. The authors explore the process of fluency development and offer several suggestions for improving the linguistic skills of CLD students.

Barfield Susan C. and Uzarski Joelle (2009) discuss the preservation of indigenous cultures through English language teaching. They provide practical teaching ideas in which English as Foreign Language (EFL) teachers can integrate indigenous artefacts’ and cultural components into their classes. These ideas are aimed at exposing the learners or students to international cultures and geography and can be adapted to best suit the local indigenous culture.

Smagorinsky Peter (2009) explores the exclusive "silver bullet"-the teaching method that always works efficiently. The researcher discusses various approaches including structured process approach and individualized teaching approaches including structures process approach and individualized approaches.

Olivia Halicet et.al. This analytical study is an in-depth survey of the experiences of non-native English speaking international graduate students. The study revealed that irrespective languages of the particular country of origin and their native language, the participants shared more similar perceptions than differences regarding languages.

Dessof Alan (2009) the globalization of education and increasing academic exposure of students beyond national borders, U.S. based institutions that educate their teachers are internationalizing their programs to prepare their teachers to instruct students in a global classroom. Teachers must have deep update knowledge and techniques to robust skills which needed to bring the world into their classrooms.

Mohammad Rahimi, (2008) has studied dictation as a good learning technique to improve learners’ language proficiency. The results showed that both groups showed improvement in their performance on the whole proficiency test and vocabulary.

Brooks and Lindsay (2009) studied socio-cultural theory and examined the interaction of adult ESL test-takers in two tests namely of oral proficiency. They found that the overall test-takers performed in language proficiency better in the paired format. They concluded that their scores were average but higher than when they interacted with an examiner.

Pinto Arthur Charles (2010) constructed the proficiency test in English. The researcher has found that the female students have greater proficiency of English than the male students in the observation. The English proficiency of students belonging to the urban area is higher the English proficiency of the students of rural area.

Hou Leijuan and Lu Zhihong (2011) give importance to teaching cultural knowledge of the targeted language in English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teaching in China. More attention has been given to enhancement of their cross cultural competence. The authors present the specific teaching modal form five aspects namely the teaching material, the teaching context, the teaching principles and approach students speaking activities and the method to evaluate students’ achievements.

Huang Yanping (2011) presents three aspects: why to increase the contents of culture in English teaching? Which contents of culture should be added? How to increase culture contents to English teaching? The researchers has put forward the three respects to defence his pints and discussed which those who are interested in this field.

Smiles T. (2012) The importance of teaching language to learner is to master the four most important skills namely listening, speaking, reading, and writing is obviously challenging. This paper gives details and tips about the regular weekly English language learning columns like "Know your English" appears on Tuesday in. "The Hindu and English Blues" appears on Monday’s in. "The New Indian Express". It has been discussed about the topic in this article.

Shanthi and Arunachalam (2012) viewed teaching and learning English as a second language has been a challenging task. It sometimes based on needs as English is quite often being used for communication in all works of life. Depending upon the needs curriculum or course designs to teach English as second language. This article discusses need for assessing the language capability of teachers to take informed decisions on adapting the course content with regards to capabilities and capacities of the teachers to realize the course objectives.

Bhandari N. and Rajgopal R. (2013) there are several cognitive and linguistic barriers interrelated or connected with anxiety through strict class room, fear of making mistakes, variations in self-perception, linguistic difficulties, pronunciations and grammar and vocabulary which have impact on their effectiveness in communication. This paper discusses some such psychological and linguistic factors that may cause language anxiety and become great barrier in developing communicative skill among EFL/ESL learners.

Raghavan Preena (2012) attempts to record on going experiments in bringing alive the English language learning components of the curriculum for science students. Students teach through a variety of projects from various sources like multimedia, internet library. The reason behind this effort is to get students involved in exploring language.

Priyadharshini Rani V. (2012) educated people use proverbs liberally in their speech and writing in order to add feathers to their speech and writing in order to add feathers to their skills. English proverbs consist of folk literature. Students are encouraged by teachers and even by parents to acquire a good knowledge of English proverbs. This article explores the pedegological aspects of the English proverbs.

Ms. Ravi Sudha (2012) evaluation is seen as a life-long journey. An individual starts when she or he is a child and comes to admiration when he or she enters the grave. This paper throws light on continuous comprehensive evaluation by keeping the concept that "Education is a life-long process and learning is constant".

Ram R. V. (2012) ‘L’ in ELT is used for both language and literature. There is an imperative need to bridge the gap between the two domains especially in India. This article suggests the possibility of using inspiration as a holistic remedy to some of the ELT problems afflicting the third world countries. It initiates a discussion on the possibility of inspiring learners or participants in the domain of ELT.

Latha R. (2012) the English language has become an important medium for communication process. A deficiency in this area may result barriers for graduates in personal and professional development. Therefore, this article plays a significant role in introducing the elements of fun in the task-based activities to stimulate the leaners’ imagination.

Kang Shivinder (2012) vocabulary plays an important role in all the four skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing. The researcher devised a three-prolonged strategy that helps with the learning process as well as with the retention of the given set of words.

Kumar Rajesh (2013) made an attempt to investigate the question of choice of language in education. The researcher’s article shows that the choice of multilinguality will work in many ways and will solve multiple questions in education.

Despy Merling(2013) made an attempt to focus on the theory of Andragogy. It is an adult learning theory. With the help of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational objectives, the researcher gives the idea of art of framing objectives which will prove to be a great strategy for improving effectiveness in teaching.

Dr. G.A. Ghanshyam (2012) conveys that the text should match the level of the learner’s language skill. It must be relevant to their lives, age and interest. It should have emotion, racial and cultural options that will stimulate the students’ curiosity and interest.

Tiwari Chetna (2011) had tried listening and reading activities to teach English to regional medium students. Students now attend the English classes with great confidence and enthusiasm.

Mohanty Seemita (2013) gave assignments to engineering students. The outcome of these assignments suggest that multimedia activities encourage students to work in groups, express their ideas in multiple ways, solve problems, revise their own work and construct knowledge.

Bruthiaux Paul (et al, 2011) "Direction in Applied Linguistic" is a collection of essays and research papers which explores current issues. This book will save an excellent text for introductory courses in applied linguistics or as an additional text in courses in educational linguistics, language policy and planning. But it has one negative point that is there are different authors for each chapters and each parts.

Canagarajah Suresh A. (2010) "Resisting Linguistic Impression in English Teaching" In this book, the importance is given to the theme of resisting inguistic in English teaching including classrooms, teaching, students and curriculum. The book and the contents are well written with practical application but the language may be little tough for vernacular students and teachers therefore meaning should be given little attention as e-notes.

Sheory Ravi (2006) In "Learning and Teaching English in India, Research, in Applied Linguistic (Vol. 7)" There are total ten research papers had been published as a chapter and given a shape of the books. The book is really very good for language teachers, learners and researchers.

Dr. Sharma Yashwant (2008) "Innovative Techniques for communicative English" has made an attempt to explain the concept of Functional English the author has conducted doctoral research in innovative techniques for communicative English and came out with this useful book.

Baker Colin (2006) "Foundations of Bilingual Education and Bilingualism (4th Edition)" tried to attempt in locating issues of international generalizability. This book is designed to introduce students to modern and ever-increasing world of bilingualism, multilingualism and bilingual education.

Cook Vivan (1995) "Linguistics and Second Language Acquisition" is a welcome addition to the recent flood of second language acquisition. It is exclusive in its focus on linguistics and SLA. It covers much of the ground of SLA research but it is not a complete SLA text so it would not be ideal for all purposes.

Bachman Lyle (2010) "Fundamental Consideration in Language Testing" is a discussion of fundamental issues that must be addressed at the start of any language testing efforts. Each chapter presents a set of related issues. It is followed by the discussion of these issues is a summary, notes, suggestion for

further reading and discussion questions.

Anuradha (2012) "English for Employability" touches upon the use of English as the binding language across the world in various areas of functioning. It also identifies the various employment opportunities that have opened up in the third world countries, with the opening up of economy and the entry of brand names into the economy. The role of English in the employability of the people is also stressed upon.

Dr. Siddiqui Mujibul (2010) "Teaching of Foreign Languages" is a handbook for teachers. It will be helpful for those who have concern with foreign language teaching in lower level as well as higher level of learning. It also constitutes phonemic problems and different techniques of correction and learning process.

Zare Pezhman (2012) makes an attempt to present a synthesis of research results on language learning strategies for EFL/ESL learners and highlights the importance of the strategies in English Foreign/Second Language learning and Teaching.

Tang Eunice (2011) explores the Lexical Variation ratio of non-native teachers’ talk and the percentage of word teachers used at different vocabulary levels to determine the lexical richness in a foreign language classroom.

RESEARCH QUESTIONS

What do commerce students’ believe about learning English as a first or second language?

To what extent are their beliefs similar to or different form first or second languages?

Are there any statistically significant differences in the belief systems of commerce students male vs. female English proficiency (English vs. non-English/regional medium schooling prior to college entrance)

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The following objectives are formulated to enhance the linguistic communicative competence of the learners:

To investigate the difficulty for the first language and the second language of Commerce College with respect to male and female students of Ahmedabad city.

To investigate the difficulty for the first language and the second language of Commerce College with respect to granted and non-granted colleges of Ahmedabad city.

To investigate the difficulty for the first language and the second language of Commerce College with respect to their medium of instruction (English vs. non-English/regional medium) of Ahmedabad city.

To investigate the difficulty for the first language and the second language of Commerce College with respect to their parents educational background (students urban and rural areas) of Ahmedabad city.

To investigate the difficulty for the first language and the second language of Commerce College with respect to first and third semester of Ahmedabad city.

HYPOTHESIS OF THE STUDY

The following hypotheses are formulated to empirically validate the above objectives:

There will be a significant difference between the mean score of Commerce College with respect to male and female students of Ahmedabad city.

There will be a significant difference between the mean score of Commerce College with respect to granted and non-granted schools of Ahmedabad city.

There will be a significant difference between the mean score of Commerce College with respect to their medium of instruction (English vs. non English/regional medium) of Ahmedabad city.

There will be a significant difference between the mean score of Commerce College with respect to their environmental background (parents; educational and students’ urban and rural areas) of Ahmedabad city.

There will be a significant difference between the mean score of Commerce College with respect to first and third semester of Ahmedabad city.

METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

The methodology of the study comprises research method sample, tool, procedure of data collection and procedure of data analysis.

RESEARCH METHOD

Survey and experimental method will be adopted for the present study.

POPULATION

Students enrolled in the commerce college during academic session 2013-14 will constitute the population of the study.

SAMPLE OF THE STUDY

The sample consists of 400 learners covering 4 colleges from Ahmedabad city of Gujarat. Systematic sampling method will be followed to draw the sample from the target population. A sample of 200 students (100 boys and 100 girls) of Commerce College those who are learning English has selected for the study. There will be more students so from each college only 200 students will be selected randomly for the sample selection and teachers’ feedback is also taken for consideration.

TOOLS AND TECHNIQUES OF DATA COLLECTION

A questionnaire will be developed to collect students’ and teachers’ feedback on the difficulty for the first and second language learning of commerce students of Ahmedabad city. The questions will be close-ended.

A questionnaire will be developed will be developed to collect parents’ feedback on the difficulty for the first and second language learning of commerce students of urban and rural areas of Ahmedabad city. The questions will be close-ended.

PROCEDURE OF DATA COLLECTION

Data pertaining to students and teachers feedback on English subject courses will be collected through questionnaires. The researcher will visit the four selected Commerce Colleges of Ahmedabad city and will receive feedback accordingly through questionnaires.

DATA ANALYSIS

The data will be analysed with the help of both quantitative and qualitative techniques. The data will be analysed with the help of mean, standard deviation (S.D.) and "t" test value.

CONCLUSION

Language has primary two roles in education. It is studied as a subject and is used as a medium of instruction. The choice of language as a subject and also the choice of language as a medium of instruction have a direct influence on the Language in education policy of the country. Its study is compulsory for everyone either as first or second language. Every human being is free to study any language.

English is an international language and it is also known as library language. Its richness, its flexibility, its elegance, its dignity seem to have made it universally popular. Prof. V. K. Gokak has rightly observed that "It is no exaggeration to say that it was in the English classroom that literary renaissance was born." English should be taught as living language in our country. The theories about language in teaching learning process clearly constitute individual differences. An individual different variable notably differ from the other individual difference factors such as language aptitude or motivation which influence both the process and product of learning. Though there are many tests to check the quality in teaching English, each region, city and country may differ in teaching in this process. Therefore it is good to have individual test to check the quality and suggest the ways to improve the quality.