Rapid Acquisition of Competence in English : The kerala experience

Dr.Bose N.Vasudevan

Institute of Language Teaching,Jamnagar.

Rapid  Acquisition of Competence in English(RACE) :The Kerala Experience.

Is Communicative Approach a sophisticated extension of the behavioural model of teaching? CLT has its critics. For example, an early critic of the approach, Michael  Swan (1985), pooh-poohed the approach brilliantly in a pair of academic essays . His critique seems to be aimed at early dogmatic, almost evangelical writings on CLT. One of Swan’s  criticisms  is that “language learners already know, in general, how to negotiate meaning. They have been doing it all their lives. What they do not know is what words are used to do it in a foreign language. They need lexical items, not skills”. CLT has problems both at conceptual level and the operational level. The problem at the conceptual level is that it does not seem to account for the concept of language. It tends to explain the form of language by attributing a functional role to it namely, communication and fails to account for the phenomenon of language (Anandan,2006).  Chomsky (1979) believes that language can be used to transmit information, but it also serves many other purposes: clarify, for play, for creative mental activity, to gain understanding, and so on…language serves essentially for the expression of thought”.                       
Ted power (2003) argues that the principles of Communicative Approach are only superficially and trivially true. They are as true as statements like “When people speak, they use words”. Dr Anandan (2006) believes that the course books and source books that are presented by the proponents of CLT characteristically tend to ignore the insights that are available from the various research programmes that are being carried out in the fields of modern theoretical linguistics, cognitive psychology and neurology. With these reviews and criticisms of Communicative Approach Dr.K.N.Anandan proposes a Cognitive Interactionist Approach to language teaching which is heavily depending on the principles of Chomsky’s Universal Grammar.

Second Language Acquisition Porogramme (SLAP)

A number of UG (Universal Grammar) based teaching methods for second language teaching was developed by Dr.K.N.Anandan for Kerala schools; the first one was Second Language Acquisition Programme (SLAP) which was as Dr.Anandan claims an improvement on the traditional CLT programmes. The theoretical framework of SLAP is based on Chomsky’s theory of innateness, Vygotsky’s notion of knowledge construction,  Humanistic perspective on Education and the norms of Experimental Pedagogy(Anandan 2006).The salient features of SLAP are Concept Mapping, My own rhymes, Channelizing thoughts, Discourse-Theme Spiraling and Recurrence, Need based Expansion of vocabulary, The Evolving Textbook(ETB), Thematic linking of ETB pages, processing a poem, processing a narrative, Organic reading and writing and student assessment.

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This programme was initially launched in sixty select schools for a year and it was found that children brought under SLAP were able to perform all the language skills better than those students in the main stream. A study conducted by Anita Rampal for UNICEF observed that “the results have been very heartening, that the programme, even in a short period, has been able to reorient teachers sufficiently well and has visibly helped children acquire basic skills in English”.

Rapid Acquisition of Competence in English (RACE)

This programme is an improvement on SLAP which has made use of discourse-oriented pedagogy. RACE is an interactive multimedia programme conducted by Dr.K.N.Anandan for the teenagers to help them produce a variety of discourses such as conversation, poem, diary, report, and narrative.

RACE is built upon a story which will have a tremendous effect on Adolescent learners. It has two complementary parts:

1.       Visual-CD

·         Certain parts of the story are given as a serial.

·         The Screen Facilitator narrates a few other events.

2.       Printed Material (one for each participant)

Events which are not included in the CD, are given as narratives for reading. Some pages of this material are incomplete. The story evolves through the contribution of the participants. Amalgamation of the above components depends on the strategic intervention of the Classroom Facilitator.

For the effective implementation of RACE, the Facilitator’s companion will have a pivotal role. Classroom Facilitator’s role is unlike that of a teacher’s role in the existing system of education. Unlike the teacher, the CF does not elicit certain pre-conceived set of answers and reinforce them by various means, mainly through repetition.

RACE assures the acquisition of language through:

·         Interaction of the participants with the multimedia material and the printed material.

·         Interaction of CF with the participants.

·         Interaction of SF with the pupils on the screen.

·         Interaction of participants through their pair work, group work, etc.

As a result of classroom facilitation certain products will be evolved. They are:

Portfolio-  a collection of tasks taken by each participant individually.

Our creations (discourses completed or refined in groups).They are exhibited at (ORC) Our Reading Corner.

Other features of RACE:

·         Ensures the transaction of English through meticulous spiraling of discourses.

·         Ensures the spontaneous construction of a variety of oral and written discourses such as conversation, description, poem, letter, diary, narrative, report, debate, and speech without explicit teaching.

·         Incorporates several strategies for the expansion of the zone of proximal development (ZPD) of students.

·         Makes use of a number of activities meant for the development of multiple intelligences.

·         Integrates the various skills of language in a most natural way.

·         Ensures the paradigm shift from the skill-based communicative approach to the knowledge-based cognitive approach.

·         Makes use of continuous and comprehensive evaluation scheme.

·         Promotes creative and meaningful use of language rather than mechanical reproduction of language texts.

·         Bridges the gap between the so-called “good” and “bad” performers of language.

·         Ensures a collaborative learning atmosphere in the classroom.

RACE was successfully tried out in several schools in Kerala and Trichi in Tamil Nadu. It has been found that learners brought under the programme can construct various linguistic discourses (   conversations, narratives, reports, essays, letters, poems, descriptions, speeches…..)

effortlessly and spontaneously. Moreover, unlike in conventional English classrooms, even the weak performers are not excluded from the classroom processes by virtue of the discourse-theme spiraling strategy that has been evolved. Activities have been designed incorporating the notion of Multiple Intelligence in order to take care of individual needs and differences. Since the Acquisition Model aims at processes that will equip the learner to make use of “finite means infinitively”, every learner is able to perform language at his or her level with confidence.

References.

1.       Anandan ,K.N. (2002) RACE (Rapid Acquisition of Competence in English), Universal Asset,

Ernakulam, Kerala.

2. Anandan,K.N. (2006) Tuition to Intuition, Transcent, Calicut, Kerala.

3. Chomsky,N.(2000) New Horizons in the study of Language and Mind, Cambridge University Press.

4. Power,T.(2003) The appeal and poverty of CLT, TEFL.

5. Swan,M.(1985a) ‘A critical look at the Communicative Approach’(1),ELT Journal Vol.39.No.1 January 1985,pp.3-13.

6. Swan,M.(1985b) ‘A critical look at the Communicative Approach’(2),ELT Journal Vol.39.No.2,April 1985,pp.17-28.