Teaching of English in India Summary Questions and Answers
Question 1.
Write down a Summary of teaching of English in India.
Answer:
Prof. Amamath Jha, the celebrated teacher of English, was a great educationist whose services were accordingly used by the government of India. He served as teacher in and Vice-Chancellor of Allahabad University and also as chair man of Bihar Public Service Commission. The cause of English was dear to his and in his own way created institutions and teachers devoted to the proper teaching of English language and literature in India.
In the present essay he touches upon some fundamental draw backs which the teaching of English suffers in Indian Schools and Colleges. Saddy, the circumstances have not completely altered. It is high time the message of the essay in understood by those who are in charge of die teaching of English in different states of India.
First of all, Prof. Jha speaks of the unqualified teachers being appointed in Primary Schools to teach English. The result is that the teaching is unsatisfactory and slipshod. During his most impressionable years the child receives bad nutrition.
He learns incorrect pronunciation which leads to defective spelling — loin or lion, claver for clever — defects which become so much a part of his equipment that they are never eradicated. Prof Jha suggests therefore that only properly trained teachers should be appointed.
Secondly at high school stage there is hardly a normal boy for whom there is a proper selection of textbooks. The books should be selected as good literature, as passports into the realises of gold, and not, as frequently they are, as forcing normal down young throats, or as teaching natural science.
At the university stage the student should familiarise himself with the best books, not necessarily the most famous one. He should familiarise himself so that the works could become parts of his daily and hourly throught.
Prof. Jha’s analysis and suggestions are relevant. Since English is becoming more and more important, it is essential that proper attention be paid to its proper teaching at school and college level.
Question 2.
What is Babu English ? Find out the reasons that give birth to Babu English.
Answer:
Babu English generally refers to the formal and pedantic English written by Indian clerks in different offices. Though the language is grammatically correct it lacks clarity and vitality which is the life of language. Babu English is virtually a dull copy of what the clerks have leamt at their school.
The faults of Babu English are due to bad nutrition that children receive at the hands of underqualified teachers at the primary school stage. They learn incorrect pronunciation that leads to bad spelling loin for lion, claver for clever etc.
Question 3.
What should be the role of a teacher of English at the university stage ?
Answer:
The duty of a teacher at the university stage is to educate, to develop die young man’s tastes and correct them, to guide him to never aliveness of delight and inspiration, and to teach him the higher qualities of style, the intellectual and emotional analysis, the thoughtful explanation 6f what had hitherto been only a vague like or dislike.
Prof. Jha gives the example of Sir Walter Raleigh who read aloud to his classes his favourite prose and poetical passages from the various periods of literature.
Bihar Board Class 12th English Important Questions