Battling `English' apprehensions

Published: Monday, Oct 17, 2005

In job interviews, fluency in the language counts. APSCHE has woken up to reality. So, its English syllabus is no longer about nouns, verbs and pronouns. Phonetics and pronunciation too figure prominently.

For Srinivas, a final year B.Tech. student, and class topper, conversing in English during the campus interview by software giant Satyam was a nightmare. Same was the case with Rakesh, a graduate, at the call centre interview conducted by Mafoi.

Srinivas, with a Telugu medium background, excelled in all subjects but failed to polish his communication skills. Rakesh had his schooling in English medium, but could not get over his MTI (mother-tongue influence

Ignored for long

"For years, even good schools ignored the aspect of communicating in English. The focus was more on writing and bettering grammar. But today things are different. The demand in the service sector, especially software and ITES, has made us realise its importance," says Sailakshmi, English lecturer in Government Polytechnic College and master mentor for the Andhra Pradesh State Council for Higher Education (APSCHE).

From this year, APSCHE has implemented an English subject directed to improve communication skills from the degree level. The subject will be part of the course for three years and will have a 50-mark pape

Course content

According to Prasad of CTC Communication and consultant for the teacher training programme, the course is designed to prepare the students to face the reality. "The idea is to prepare them for everyday conversation and enhance job opportunities. It is designed to build their confidence level, neutralise the MTI, better their pitch modulation and pronunciation. There is an equal emphasis on both practical and theory.''

Giving details on the efficacy of the course, Ms. Sailakshmi says, "It's like going back to the kindergarten days. It starts from the basics with sounds and phonetics. Voicing out the words the right way plays a vital role, especially in the ITES sector." The focus is on developing communication skills and learning English for a specific purpose.

The book is divided into three parts. The first part deals with sounds and introduces the students to word stress and intonation, aimed at neutralising the accent. In the second part the focus is more on day-to-day communication and the third focuses on telephonic conversation. The goal is to improve communication skills by the end of the third year.

Teachers feel so

According to Ms. Sailakshmi, there is a mixed feeling among the teachers. "They are excited about the course, but are apprehensive about how and where to start. All life they had been dealing with nouns, verbs and pronouns and suddenly they are told to teach how to communicate in English with a practical purpose. It is good that the APSCHE has started training camps for teachers,'' she adds.

SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE

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