South Asian Languages Rethinking Curriculum Rakesh M Bhatt

South Asian Languages: Rethinking Curriculum Rakesh M. Bhatt University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign

Curriculum Development Goals and Methods

Goal of Language Teaching n Communicative Competence n Focus on meaning (making) n n n Meaning as bound to a cultural context Meaning as negotiated through discourse Meaning as negotiated through communicative strategies

Communicative Competence n …[some] occasions call for being appropriately ungrammatical … child acquires knowledge of sentences, not only as grammatical, but also as appropriate, … [child] acquires competence as to when to speak, when not, and as to what to talk about with whom, when, where, in what manner … [s/he] becomes able to accomplish a repertoire of speech acts, to take part in speech events, an to evaluate their accomplishments by others.

Appropriately Ungrammatical: An Examplar n Hindi n aap caay piye. Nge vs. n n *aap caay piyoge What is the function of the two variants?

Communicative Competence n Knowledge of how, when, and why to say what to whom. n Focus: language functions linguistic items perform. n Ex: achaa, calu. N? Discussion point: What is the form-function correlation here?

Why Communicative Competence n Kashmiri: “Would you like to have a cup of tea? ” n n n n caay caay cakh-aa cakh-ay cakh-ba cakh-bi cakh-sa cayiv-mahraa cayiv-haz

Components of “CC” n n Grammatical competence: knowledge of the vocabulary, word structure, and sentence structure of a language; Sociolinguistic competence: the ability to use language in a contextually appropriate way, taking into account the roles of the participants, the setting, and the purpose of the interaction;

Components of “CC” n n Discourse competence: the ability to connect utterances to an overall theme or topic (discourse coherence), and the ability to infer the meaning of larger units (pragmatics); Strategic competence: ability to compensate for imperfect knowledge of linguistic, sociolinguistic and discourse rules.

Discussion break: Reflection points n Language classes should focus on n n A. intuition B. analysis A class should give special attention to n n B. grammar Students learn best by using plenty of n n A. meaning A. fluency B. accuracy Teacher’s feedback to students be n A. frequent B. infrequent

Focus of FL teaching n Theoretical focus n n n How do learners learn? What do they learn? Methodological focus n What are learners’ “needs”? n First step: Needs analysis

Communicative Language Teaching n n Meaningful, goal oriented use of target language—focus on the “active” learner; Language input is vital, grammar explanations help; Some errors are creations of productive engagement with input; Teacher’s role: selection of material and tasks, facilitator.

CLT: Methodology n n n Mainly TL use in class Optimal use of L 1; code-switching Authentic texts Focus on “functions” (in addition to grammar and vocabulary) Group and paired activity n Meaningful and realistic interactions

Competing Methodologies n Input processing: Input => Intake n PPP model: n n Presentation-practice-production OHE model: n Observe-hypothesize-experiment

Lets take a 10 min break

CHOOSING TEXTS n Authentic, but what are they? n n *Making travel arrangements, going to bars, eating out, booking into hotels, buying gas Focus on the culture(s) of the TL n An essay on cricket? n n Compare with baseball! Whose culture?

Diglossic Variation n n Bengali: Calit bhasha vs. Sadhu bhasha Tamil: Colloquial vs. Literary Also Kannada, Malayalam, Telugu What about Hindi?

Hindi Language Variation n Eastern vs. Western Hindi vs. Urdu vs. Hindustani Polyglossic variation n paati, ci. Thii, <khat>, patr, <letter>

Hindi: Use and Identity n maine janaa hai <> mujhko janaa hai n aap caay piye. Ngee <> aap caay piyoge n kyaa ek gilaas shiital jal uplabdh hogaa

APPROPRIATE CONTEXTS n Learning SALs as: n n n Foreign Languages Less Commonly Taught Languages Heritage Languages

SAL as Foreign Language n n Affective Variables: Needs “Needs Analysis” Motivation? n n Integrative and/or Instrumental Attitude? n Positive or negative

SAL as Heritage Language n Heritage and cognate-heritage n Motivation? n n n Ethno-linguistic identity Maintenance of cultural practices Pop culture

HL and FL: the vital difference n Input processing n n Strategies and mechanisms that promote formmeaning connections during comprehension Cross-language (and skills) transfer effects n n n Sociolinguistic competence Discourse competence Linguistic competence

Less Commonly Taught Languages n Motivation? n n Cultural awareness Diversity

Socio-political context of LCTLs n n n n Lack of resources Lack of classroom research on LCTLs Lack of institutional support Lack of formal training in language pedagogy Abundance of heritage students Variable class size and offerings Lack of professional development and networking

Contexts of texts n n Are they teen-appropriate? Are they HL-appropriate?

Skills in contexts n Foreign language n n n Literacy Accuracy Fluency n Heritage language n n n Fluency Literacy Accuracy

L 2 Literacy n Issues n Transfer of skills: Supports or interferes n Language Threshold Hypothesis n Onset of L 2 literacy vs. L 2 learning n Limited language knowledge of L 2 reader/writer n For a LCTL, the problem is worse n Role of strategies: mental translation, cognates n Scripts: The embarrassment of choices n Script choice and identity politics

L 2 Reading n Abilities and skills n n Purposes: n n Rapid, interactive, strategic, linguistic, and purposeful To find information: scan, skim To learn: basic comprehension of main ideas To critique/evaluate: reflections, connections and integration with prior knowledge What works: Texts must be grounded in learnercontexts

L 2 Writing n Writing is n n Text Composing (process) Social construction (context) What about L 2 writing?

L 2 Writing contd. n What is good L 2 writing? n Cultures affects texts n n Different cultures produce culturally influenced and rhetorically distinguishable types of text. Some useful pointers n n Focus on the process of writing Group writing tasks, peer correction Drafting and re-drafting Teacher as advisor and editor

L 2 Listening Comprehension n How does comprehension work? n n n Intelligibility Comprehensibility Interpretability

L 2 speaking n n Talk across cultures In U. S. , but not in South Asia, we n n n n Talk around Talk up Talk down Talk it out Talk it through/over Have talk radio and tv stations Have talk show hosts Take turns talking

Conclusions n n n Language learning must proceed within the socio-cultural contexts of its use Learning language, learning culture Goal: Communicative language teaching, tailored to appropriate goals and needs of learners and learning.