Mother tongue in enhancing English language skill

Role of Mother Tongue in Enhancing English Language skill

India is a multi-lingual society.  People from different regions have different mother tongues: Hindi, Punjabi, and Urdu are spoken in the North and Central India while Bengali, Assamese, Oriya are customary in the east; various South Indian languages are spoken in the south of the country, and so on.  We use either our mother tongue or any other regional language in our daily life, in house, in market, and for all general communication purpose. Generally, we speak, think and dream in our mother tongue only.

India, on the other hand, is fast becoming an important player in global economy. Thanks to the knowledge and expertise of its specialists and entrepreneurs, India has emerged as a leading outsourcing hub for IT, Pharmaceutical and Automotive industry. At the same time, the vast Indian market is luring huge foreign capital along with many foreign experts and business personnel. India is also becoming an important centre in the healthcare industry, attracting people from Africa and Middle East and Central Asian countries for cheap and effective medical treatment; medical tourism has become a money-spinner. Thanks to its vast educated manpower, India has attained the status of a major player in the global service sector.

It is obvious that in this global market scenario English is the only linking language as it is one of the most popular international languages for all legal, diplomatic, political conferences, treaties, and scientific discourses. If India has to find its due place, and also to keep pace with the developed nations in the present ecosystem of globalisation and liberalisation, we must make our workforce effective and competitive in communication skills by giving due importance to the learning of English language.

Unfortunately, in the tier-II cities and small towns, and in most of the government schools, teaching of English language is not effective enough. As a result, the young students lack required confidence and fluency to speak and write in English even though he/she possesses good knowledge in his/her respective field of specialisation.

So, is mother tongue in any way useful in enhancing our foreign language skill?

The role of mother tongue in learning of second language has been the topic of debate and controversy and has been discussed much in the literature world-wide. The official guidelines in many countries state that language lessons should be planned to be as monolingual as possible and, as far as possible, eliminate the role of mother tongue.

However, evidences that are now available question the monolingual approach and open up new paths in teaching methodology and material production. 

Sometime back, I had an opportunity to train a few groups of subordinate staff of a 5-star hotel in conversational English. As such the staff were educated, either under-graduates or graduates and some of them even having engineering degrees. But they were unable to speak fluently in English and were having difficulty in communicating with the hotel guests. Incidentally, all these aspiring people were from tier II cities and mufassil towns, mostly passed from government schools and local colleges. 

Initially I decided that I would explain to them the basic rules of English grammar only in English, following the general assumption that English should be learned through English.  

While interacting with the first batch, midway through the course, I realised that the trainees were not applying the rules of English grammar that were being explained to them. Disappointed, when asked the reason, I was told that they were unable to understand me totally as I was speaking all the time in English.  I realised that their English comprehension was so poor that they were having difficulty in fully following the instruction that was explained to them in English.

Changing the strategy, I switched over to partial use of the mother tongue.  First, I explained a rule in Hindi, interspersed with English, and then asked them to apply that rule in forming English sentences. It worked satisfactorily, and I followed the same tactics successfully for rest of the batches.

This strategy reinforced the views of many that any clarification of English grammatical nuances in the mother tongue could be a starting point for comprehension and can help the pupil in foreign (English) language expression.

So, I surmise that the use of mother tongue, or a regional language, in boosting English language skill may be necessary in some situations, particularly when we are dealing with people from tier II cities and mufassil towns. In such areas people generally use either mother tongue or any other regional language in their daily life, in house, in market, and for all day-to-day communication purpose, so just teaching English language for one hour a day may not be very effective.

Unfortunately, in non-English medium schools and in mufassil towns, English is treated as another subject like geography, history, or chemistry! Though it is difficult to master a language unless we speak, think and dream in that language only, the judicious use of mother tongue in carefully crafted techniques can be of great help in achieving that goal.

With this understanding, in a series of blogs (https://boostenglishinhindi.blogspot.in,  https://englishskillinbengali.blogspot.in,) I shall explain the nuances of English grammar in different Indian regional languages for the benefit of aspiring people, particularly from tier II cities and mufassil towns.

At the same, various aspects of English grammar will be discussed in English in this blog for those aspiring young of people who want to master English language as a part of their profession, as a vehicle to greener pasture, or as means to do well in their examinations like GMAT CAT, TOFEL, SAT, and other competitive examinations.

Also, please visit:

https://boostenglishinhindi.blogspot.in,  https://englishskillinbengali.blogspot.in,