THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN ELT CLASSES AND THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

Mr.LakhyajitChiring

THE INFLUENCE OF MOTHER TONGUE IN ELT CLASSES AND THE ADVANTAGES AND DISADVANTAGES

ABSTRACT

This paper is aimed to show the influence of mother tongue in ELT classes and the advantages and disadvantages. English deserves to be regarded as the world languageingeneralandisacompulsorylanguageintheeducationalsystemofourcountryinparticular Itistaughtasasecondlanguageinourschools,collegesand universities.Theresearcherhasconductedasurveyin22schoolsand2degree-collegeswhereinhehadinteractedwith3hundredstudents.Thestudyisdividedinto three chapters. The first chapter deals with the systematic cooperative and constructive analysis of usage in bothAssamese and English languages with concrete examples.ThesecondchapterdealswiththehistoryoftheEnglishlanguageinIndia.ThethirdorfinalchapterdealswiththepositiveandnegativeinfluencesoftheL1 inthelearningofL2

KEYWORDS:Influence,mothertongue,L,L,advantages,disadvantages,comparisonetc. 1 2

1.INTRODUCTION:

Inthisnoblepaperorresearch,theresearcherhastracedtheinfluenceofmother tongueinEnglishlanguageteaching.Hehasalsoputforththeopinionsheldby variouslinguists,educationalistsandspecialistsonlanguageteaching.Whereas, accordingtosome,theuseofmothertongueplaysavitalroleinteachingasecondoraforeignlanguage.Somebelievethatthereremainsagravitationalpullof mothertongueinthenativespeakersorlearners,whichgenerallycausesconsiderableinterferenceinELTclasses.Accordingtotheviewsofcertainwritersthe importanceofmothertongueisinfiniteindevelopingthementalpower,intelligenceandpersonalityofchildren.For,itisthroughtheuseoftheirmothertongue thattheyexpresstheirfeelings,emotion,thoughtandimagination.Thesufficient knowledgeofone'sownmothertonguehelpsinlearningasecondlanguagelike English.Afteracquiringtheskillsoflanguagethroughone'smothertongueone can learn the skills of learning the English language more easily According to educationistRyburn,“Themothertongueisatonceatool,asourceofjoy,happi1 nessandknowledge,adirectoroftasteandfeelings.” In1953,UNESCOhad declaredthatthemothertongueisthebestmediumofachild'seducation.Hence thethree(3)languageformulaeevolvedin1961.Thiswaslatermodifiedbythe KothariCommission(1964-66).Thisformulasoughttoaccommodatetheinterestsofgroupidentity(mothertongueandregionallanguages),nationalprideand unity (Hindi) as well as administrative efficiency and technological progress (English). The life of a child is moulded through his/her mother tongue. This influence,whichisseenintheentirelifefrombirthtodeathofanindividual,cannotberefuted.Inthiscontext,GeorgeSampson’sopiniononthemothertongue isnotable,“Itisnotmerelyoneoccasionfortheinculcationofknowledge,itisa 2 partofachild'sinitionintothelifeofman.” Thus,thequestionthatwearefaced withishowtheteacherrelatesthehomelanguagetotheschoollanguageorthe mothertonguetothesecondlanguage.

Today, this language has an indispensable status among the languages in the world.KeepingthispointofviewinmindMaulanaAbdulKalamAzadsays,“So far as general studies are concerned, it was never my intention to suggest that thereshouldbeanyfallinginthestandardofEnglish.Hundredandfiftyyearsof intimatecontacthasmadeEnglishanintegralpartofoureducationalsystemand thiscannotbechangedwithoutinjurytothecauseofeducationinIndia.Inaddition,EnglishhastodaybecomeoneofthemajorlanguagesoftheworldandIndianscanneglectitsstudyonlyattheriskoflosstothemselves.Iamconvincedthat infutureaswellthatstandardofteachingEnglishshouldbemaintainedatashigh 3 a level as possible.” English is a world language. It is spoken as the mother tonguebythenativespeakersinGreatBritain.Moreover,AmericansandAustraliansalsoarethenativespeakersofEnglish.Ithasnowbeenglobalized.Thislanguageoccupiesthewholeworldineverysphereofcommunication.InthisconnectionGokaksays,“ItwouldberashtocutoutourselvesfromtheEnglishlanguagewhichkeepsusincontinuouscontactwiththelatestthoughtsinEuropein 4 everyfieldoflifeandculture.” EnglishhastheplaceoflinguafrancainIndia. This language has been made compulsory in the schools and colleges of India. TheconceptofL impliesanon-nativelanguage.Whereby,thereisreferenceto 2 theprioravailabilityofL Asecondlanguageisnon-nativetothespeakerwho 1 generally learns it within the country It is intended to explore and discuss the influenceofmothertongueinELTclassesandtheadvantagesanddisadvantages ofthisresearchpaper

Anylanguagelearningleadstoamasteryofthebasicskillsoflistening,speak-

ing, reading and writing. In this case, the skills earned by the students in their mothertongueareassumedtohelptheminacquiringsomebasicandfundamentalskillsandknowledgeofthestructureoftheEnglishlanguageatthelowerand highersecondarystages.

2.RESEARCHMETHODOLOGY:

ThisstudyhasaimedtoshowtheinfluenceofmothertongueinELTclassesand theadvantagesanddisadvantages.Theresearcherhadconductedasurveyin22 (twenty-two) schools and 2 (two) degree colleges wherein the researcher had interacted with 300 students along with some teachers. During the interactions with and the tests the researcher, under the guidance of the supervisor, had offeredsomequestionnairestothestudentsrangingfromhighschoollevelupto degree level. The questionnaires contain some essential questions related to styles/methodsofteachingEnglish,maneuvering,useofmothertongue,innovative formulae applied in classrooms etc. The questionnaires were distributed amongboththestudentsandteachersandprofessorsrandomly Theschoolswere underSEBAandCBSE.Thestudyutilizedthequalitativeapproachandthedata collectionconsistedmainlyoffocusgroupdiscussions,intensiveinterviewsand students’observation.

3.OBJECTIVES:

Theobjectivesofrunningtheresearchareasfollows:

(i) ToshowtherealpictureofinfluenceofM.T inELTclasses.

(ii) Todiscusstheissuesandchallengesfacedbythestudents.

(iii) To show the advantages and disadvantages of the influence of mother tongue.

(iv) To chalk out the strategy of inculcating the learners in the maximum standardway

4.DISCUSSION:

Thefirstchapterattemptsasystematic,comparativeandcontrastiveanalysisof usesinbothAssameseandEnglishlanguageswithconcreteexamples.Thereare alargenumberofAssamesewordsthatarederivedfromSanskritdirectly Sanskrit was the standard spoken language of India.Assamese developed her own Prakrit,whichisdifferentfromMagadhanandotherIndianPrakritinsomevital points.Itistheeasternmostmemberofthatfamilyofspeecheswhicharosefrom thecommonsourcessuchasAryan,Indo-GermanorIndo-European.Sanskritis therootlanguageoftheAssameselanguage.ThepresentAssameselanguageis madeupofthefollowingprimeelements:

(i) TheprimaryPrakritsoftheNon-VedicAryans.

(ii) TheSanskritoftheVedicAryans.

(iii) TheIndianPrakritsofthemiddleage.

(iv) The contribution made by the modern languages of Northern India whichconsistsgenerallyofnew‘tatsamas’andwordsofArabicorigin.

Assistant Professor, Department of English, Sadiya College,Affiliated to Dibrugarh University, Chapakhowa, Tinsukia,Assam, India.

(v) SomewordsfromsurroundingNon-AryanraceswhoalsogaveananalyticalcharactermoretothisthantootherIndianlanguages.

The major portions of words of theAssamese language are of Sanskrit origin. These words enriched the vocabulary of theAssamese language. The Sanskrit wordsthatcometotheAssameselanguagecanbedividedintothreeclasses:

(I) Tatsama

(ii) Ardhatatsamaand

(iii) Tatbhabawords.

i. TatsamameansequaltothemeaningofSanskrit.Thesewordsremainsame intheformofwritingbutdifferinpronunciation.Forexample:

Ifrontcloseunroundedlongvowel:ঈinAssamese,ঈগল[i:gal]'eagle'.

Acentralunroundedshortvowel:ago,অinAssamese,অসম[asom]'Assam'.

Mvoicedbilabialnasal:mind,মinAssamese,মানহ[manuh]'man'.

Nvoicedalveolarnasal:not,নinAssamese,নদী[nadi]'river'etc.

The mother tongue has an influence in the articulation of the English sounds. Through a comparative study between the articulation system of theAssamese languageandthearticulationsystemoftheEnglishlanguage,theplaceofarticulation,themannerofarticulationandnatureofthevocalcords,wecananalyze thesimilaritiesanddissimilaritiesinthetwolanguages.Thefollowingtableswill furtherclarifythesystemofarticulationsofboththelanguages.

TheclassificationofAssamesevowels

Placeofarticulation,mannerof articulation

ii. Ardhatatsamameanshavingpartialdifferenceinpronunciationandwritten form.Forexample:

iii. Tatbhaba means the words taking theAssamese form after coming though changes.Forexample:

TheAssameselanguagealsoconsistsofwordsofothersourcessuchasforeign words, Non-Aryan words,Austro-Asiatic words, Tai-Ahom language, TibetoBurmanlanguageetc.AstheAssameselanguagehasevolvedfromtheSanskrit languagethroughMagadhiPrakrit,thegrammarofthelanguageisalsomodeled onthegrammarofSanskrit.SanskritistheancestoroftheformerstudiedEuropeanandAsiaticlanguageswithitsremarkablyfullinflexions.Itmayexplainthe use of the term 'Aryan' for what we now call Indo-European.The English language,spokenorreadbythelargestnumberofpeopleintheworld,belongstothe Indo-EuropeanfamilyoflanguageswhichwasformerlycalledIndo-European. Hence,weseethatboththelanguages,AssameseaswellasEnglishcanbetraced backtothecommonmotherlanguageSanskrit.Thus,theyshareacommonroot language.ThisisthereasonwhybothEnglishandAssameseshareanumberof commonsoundsfromtheInternationalPhoneticAlphabet(IPA).Theyclaimthat there are symbols to represent all the sounds that exist in the languages of the world,soitcanbeusedtotranscribewordsofanylanguage.

Forexample:

Pvoicelessbilabialplosive:pin,পinAssamese,পানী[pni]'water'.

Phvoicelessaspiratedbilabialplosive:paper,ফinAssamese,ফল[phal]'fruit'.

Fvoicelesslabio-dentalfricative:fit,ফinAssamese,ফণী[fani:]'comb'.

Tvoicelessalveolarplosive:stain,today,তinAssamese,তিম[tumi]'you'.

Tvoicelessdentalplosive:time.

Tvoicelessretroflex:টinAssamese,টপী[tupi]'hat'.

Gvoicedvelarplosive:get,গinAssamese,গালাপ[gulap]'rose'.

Cvoicelesspalatalplosive:চinAssamese,চািৰ[chari]'four'.

Dvoicelessalveolarplosive:দinAssamese,দৰৱ'medicine'.

Lvoicedalveolarlateral:লinAssamese,লৰা'boy'.

Chvoicelessaspiratedpalatalplosive:ছinAssamese,ছািত[chhati]'umbrella'.

Thvoicelessaspirateddentalplosive:থinAssamese,থাপনা[thapana]'chapel'.

Thvoicelessaspiratedretroflexplosive:ঠinAssamese,ঠাই[thai]'place'.

Wvoicedlabio-velarsemi-vowel:west.

Vvoicedlabio-dentalfrictionlesscontinuant: ৱ inAssamese, বৱধান [byavadhan] 'difference'.

Bvoicedbilabialplosive:book,বinAssamese,বগা[baga]'white'.

Ifrontcloseunroundedshortvowel:ইinAssamese,ইা[ichha]'will'.

Front Centralormiddle Back

Close ই (i) উ (u)

HalfClose এʼ(e) ও (o) HalfOpen এ () অʼ() Open আ (a:) অ ()

ClassificationofEnglishvowels

Placeofarticulation,manner ofarticulation

Front Central ormiddle Back

Close i,i: U,U: HalfClose e ℨ: a: HalfOpen æ a ð Open ^ a:

Hence, where the articulation of the above sounds is concerned, the mother tongueinfluencecertainlyhelps.Aknowledgeofthesesoundswouldhastenthe processoflearningthesecondlanguage.Whatisevidentfromthetwotablesis the fact that whereas many of the vowel sounds are common to the two languages, each language possesses sounds that are not present in the other For example–the'a'soundinAssamesewhichisarticulatedinthemiddleandthe'a' inEnglishwhichisarticulatedinthebackofthetongue.Further,theAssamese language does not contain the 'æ' sound. Therefore, the researcher found that majorityofstudentswouldpronouncewordscontainingthatparticularsoundas 'a:'. Thus, they pronounce 'mæn' as 'ma:n' in the same manner 'bΛs' was pronouncedas'ba:s'.

Similarly, the consonants are also illustrated with the help of the tables as follows:

Table1:TheclassificationofAssameseconsonants

Table2:TheclassificationofEnglishconsonants

What the researcher finds from the two tables is that many of the consonant sounds are also common to the two languages like the vowel sounds, e.g., the nasalsounds,semi-vowels,lateral,frictionlesscontinuationplosivesetc.areclassifiedinasimilarway Likewise,thefricativesalveolarsoundsarealsoclassified inthesameway Thissamemannerandplaceofarticulationofthesesoundsin boththelanguagesgreatlyhelptheAssameselearnersoftheEnglishlanguage. ButtherearenosoundsinAssamesethatreplicatethefollowingsoundsofEnglish:Forexample:

t⎰,dz,⎰, ℨ,⍬andðinEnglish.t⎰anddzarearticulatedasaffricatepalatoalveolar ⎰and ℨ arearticulatedasfricativepalatoalveolar ⍬andðarearticulatedasfricative dental. Thus, f and v are also articulated as fricative labio-dental. On the otherhand,theAssamesesounds ফ (ph)and ভ (bh)arearticulatedasplosiveaspiratedbilabial, থ (th)and ধ (dh)asplosiveaspiratedalveolarand খ (kh)and ঘ (gh) as plosive aspirated velar Thus, it is found that in the articulation of common

soundsthemothertongueinfluencehelpsbutintheutteranceofsoundsthatare not common the pull of mother tongue becomes interference. Similarly, the influenceinterferesintheirEnglishpronunciationsleadingtoincorrectpronunciationsastheysubstitutetheL soundsfromtheirmothertongue.Forexample, 2 itmaybementionedthatthesounds‘t’,‘th’and‘d’thelearnersoftensubstitute‘t’ and‘d’forthe‘th’sound.Thefollowingtableorboxillustratesthecase.

Theseareasfollows:

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Invernacularmediumschools,thestudentsarenottaughttheproperknowledge ofintonationandstressinEnglishlanguage.Lessemphasisislaidonpronunciation. In the course of the survey, the researcher interacted with almost 300 studentsofvariousclassesandfoundanumberofcommoninterferencesduetothe influenceofmothertongue.Thesemaybementionedasfollows:

(i) Studentspronounceprefixesandsuffixesas/e/,whicharespelledwith ‘e’e.g.,wanted,perfect,raidedetc.insteadofpronouncinginR.P Englishaswanted/wa:nted/perfect/pℨ:fIkt/lifted/liftId/etc.

(ii) Studentsdon’tfollowtheEnglishsoundsofsion,ssion,tion,son,shion etc. separately.They pronounce these syllables or sounds as ‘chan’or ‘son’which comes from theAssamese letter ‘চ’(cha), e.g., instead of expression /lk’spre⎰n/, commission /k’mi⎰n/, grandson /grændsan/ etc.

(iii) Similarly,theyoftenpronouncethesesoundssuchass,ch,c,sh,ishetc. asthesamesoundsliketheAssameseletter‘চ’(ch)or(s)and‘ছ’(chh). E.g.,torch,books,serviceetc.

(iv) Itwasnoticedthatmajorportionofthestudentsincludingteacherspronouncethearticle‘the’as‘dΛ’or‘di’insteadof/ða/or/dI:/

(v) Again, in certain words, students pronounce /ei/ as /e:/ for instance: phrase,gate,dateetc.

(vi) Theyalsomispronouncecertaincommonwords.Forinstance,buryas ‘bΛri’notas/beri/,‘breath’as‘breath’notas/bri:ð/etc.

Thus,studentswhostudyintheirregionallanguagemediumschoolpronounce theEnglishwordsastheydothewordsoftheirregionallanguage.Inthiscontext, V.K.Gokaksays,“OurpupilsindeedmanyoftheirteachersspeakEnglishasifit were Hindi, Bengali, Marathi or Tamil. Our regional speech habits have 10 absorbedspokenEnglishandregionalizedit.”

(i) Likewise,theinfluenceofthemothertonguecanalsobeseeninthespellings ofthelearners.Poorpronunciationleadstothepoorspelling.Forexample:

Theywrote- toinsteadoftwo knowinsteadofno theirinsteadofthere hearinsteadofhere maninsteadofmenetc.

(ii) TherearesomewordsinEnglishwhicharepronouncedincorrectlybysome illiterateorunconsciouspersonsandhearingthesewordsthestudentsmake suchmistakesinspellingalso.Forexample:

Theywrite-reininginsteadofraining conectioninsteadofconnection eliphantinsteadofelephant thrughinsteadofthroughetc.

At the same time, there are also some co-relationships between English GrammarandAssameseGrammarinpartsofspeech,tense,conjugation,gendernumber,sentence,voicechange,speech,prefixesandsuffixes,punctuation,proverbs etc.IfthelearnersofEnglishhaveasoundknowledgeofthebasicandfundamentalconceptsinthegrammaroftheirmothertonguethenbytheconstanthelpof encouragingandenterprisingteachers,theymayfinditeasytograsptheideaof formationandstructureinEnglishlanguagetoo.Thisisbecause,thereismuch that is similar in the parts of speech of both Assamese and English parts of speech. For example, anAssamese learner of English language learns parts of speech in his/her mother tongue as 'bishesya' (noun), 'sarbanam' (pronoun), 'bisheshan'(adjective),'kriya'(verb),'kriyabisheshan'(adverb),'abyaya'(preposition), 'bhaavbudhak abyaya' (interjection), 'sanjujak abyaya' (conjunction). Regarding tense, there are three main tenses in both the languages such as 'bartaman kal' (present tense), 'atit kal' (past tense) and 'bhabishyat kal' (future tense).Themaincharacteristicsandfeaturesofthesetensesinbothlanguagesare samefromthepointoftheirmeaning.

Structureoftensemaybeshownthisway:

Proficiency in above points of his/her mother tongue would greatly benefit him/herinEnglishgrammartoo.Hence,themothertongueinfluenceprovesbeneficialtohim/herherein.

Incaseofgenderalsobasicsimilarityisthere.

Examplesofsentences:

Numberisalsofocusedbytheresearcher

Bycomparingtheitemsofgrammarinboththelanguagesitisseenthatthepre knowledgeacquiredinthemothertonguehelpsthelearnersofEnglishlanguage. InthisregardW.M.Ryburnsays,“Ifsufficientattentionispaidtotheteachingof themothertongue,andifitiswelltaught,habitsmaybeformedinthatclassroom 11 whichwillbeofgreatestvalueinconnectionwithlearningofEnglish.”

Again,voicechangeisalsopracticedbystudentsinboththelanguages.Forexample:

Speechisalsodiscussedasfollows.Forexample:

AlthoughtheuseofthemothertongueishelpfulinteachingandlearningEnglish languageinsomebasicandsimilartopicsormattersitisalsoabsolutelytruethat theprinciplesofgrammarofthemothertonguedifferfromEnglishbasicallyin structure, word-order, vocabulary etc. According to Dr Jean Forrester, “The mothertongueshouldneverbeusedwhereitispossibletoconveyideasthrough

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English,throughpictures,objectsoractions.” Therearevariousinwhichthe languagesdiffer Forinstance,structure:Theplacementofwordsintosentences isdifferentbetweenAssameseandEnglishwhichisshownbelow:

(a) The form of an English sentence is that S+V+O but of an Assamese formisthatS+O+V

(b) ThehelpingverbprecedestheprincipalverbinEnglishwhereasitfollowsthemainverborprincipalverbinAssamese.

Forexample:English–Leelaisreadingabook.

Assamese–taiekhankitappahiase Sheabookreadingis

(c) Mentioning a verb in the English language is a must, whereas in Assamese,itisnot.

Forexample:English–WeareIndian. S+V+Adjective Assamese–amibharatiya(haon) S+Adjective+V

The influence of the structure and word-order of the mother tongue emerges as an obstacle to learning correct English.As mentioned earlier,mostofthestudentswritethesentencesorphrasesaccordingtothe structure or word-order of their mother tongue. For example: They write–thetable'stopinsteadofwriting–onthetopofthetable.

Similarly,thestudentsofvernacularmediumschoolsarealsofoundto confusethepossessives.Theywrite“Thisbookismy”,insteadof“This book is mine”.This is your instead of this is yours. The pronouns are alsousedincorrectly Theywrite:

(d) ThisisRamwhichisagoodboyinsteadofRamwhoisagoodboyetc.

Incaseofprepositionalsothestudentsmakemistakesduetotheinfluence of mother tongue. For example: He was absent in the meeting. Theyuse'in'inplaceof'from'.ThisisanexacttranslationofAssamese. Theyagainwrite–heissecond,Ihavepetdogetc.inplaceofheisthe second,Ihaveapetdog.Inthesesentencesthearticles'the'and'a'are omitted.Asaresult,thesentencesdon'tqualifythecompletemeanings. Thiscasecanbeattributedtotheirmothertongueinfluence.

Likewise,informingquestionsinEnglishthequestionwordorthehelping verbs are used in the beginning of a sentence but inAssamese an interrogativesentenceiswrittenbyusingaquestionwordinanassertivesentencewithoutchangingthequestionpattern.

Forinstance:English–Whatisyourname? Assamese–tumarnamki? yournamewhat

Again, in English in information seeking question the Wh-word is alwaysintheinitialposition.

Forinstance:Whereisyourbook? Wheredoyoucomefrom?

InAssamese,theruleisdifferent.Thequestionwordisnormallyatthe endofthesentence.

Forinstance:tumarpenkot? yourpenwhere kalamturdamkiman? pencostshowmuch

Thus,onexaminingthestudentsoralaswellaswrittenworktheresearcherfound themothertongueinfluencehadactedasahindranceintheirlearningEnglish. Thoughasmentionedearlier,certainsoundsaswellasprinciplesofgrammarare commoninEnglishandAssameseandthoseinfluencesmayhelptheEnglishlanguagelearnerstosomeextent,nevertheless,thedifferencestooarelargeandthe pool of the mother tongue results in interference. The next chapter deals with howtheEnglishlanguageteacherdealswiththesituation.

IfweturntothehistoryoftheEnglishlanguageinIndia,wefindthatthemissionaries and other non-official British and Europeans contributed much to the spreadofEnglishinIndia.Afterall,theywerethepioneersofEnglishEducation in our country Many British merchants, radical Indians and other also encouragedEnglishinIndiawiththeirstrongsupports.Englisheducationbecamevery popularamongtheIndians.However,eventhoughmuchemphasishasbeenlaid ontheimportanceofEnglishasatoolofcommunicationintoday'sfastemerging globalscenarioandtheimperativeneedtomakeallstudentsproficientinEnglish hasbeenstressed,whenweturntothepracticalaspectofELTtheresultsbefore us are discouraging. It is found that thousands of students fail at examinations everyyear Theyfailtoacquiretherequiredstandardinspiteofyearspassedin

learning English. By the end of the eighteenth century, there appeared more detailedbooksongrammar,pronunciationandotherareasofEnglish.Englishliterature became a part of the curriculum. In about 1960, one could not pass the schoollearningexaminationinIndiaifhedidnotpassinEnglish.

Asaresult,theresearcherfindsEnglishlanguageteachersandstudentsinrural basedvernacularmediumschoolsstrugglingtocometotermswithalanguage, which, to many of them can almost be considered as a foreign language. Language cannot be considered in isolation from culture; for, any language is a repository of cultural traditions and knowledge system of a particular people. Hence, the students belonging to various communities, possessing various mother tongues acquire language in specific socio-cultural contexts. These social,culturalanddemographicvariablesgreatlyinfluencethelearningofthe secondlanguage.

Next,theresearchergoestoanalyzevariousmethodsandapproachesappliedby ELTteachers.Onthesurveyof20vernacularmediumschoolstheresearcherdiscoveredthatmostoftheteachersusedtheoldmethods,whichwerelargelybased onthebehavioristparadigms.

(a) Translationcumgrammarmethod:Around20%oftheteachersstillpersistedwiththetranslation-cum-grammarmethod.Throughthismethodthe meaning of English sentences, phrases, words and paragraphs is taught by meansofword-for-wordtranslationintothemothertongue.Theteacheralso interpretsthegrammaticalrulesandregulations.Thismethodhasmoredisadvantages than advantages.Advantages are that it saves time, it helps in enhancing the students' vocabulary But no emphasis is put on speaking, readingandwriting.Thisleavesthestudentsinadequatelyequippedtoface thechallengesofthelanguage.Italsofailstoteachcorrectarticulation,intonationandpronunciation.

(b) Direct orNatural Method: This method was followed by the teachers in English medium school. In this method English is taught through direct explanationinEnglish.Advantagesofthismethodarethatadirectbondis establishedbetweenwordandidea,worldandexperience.Thishelpstoclarifythemeaningoftheword;theunitofteachingis'sentence'andnotword. Similarly,audio-visualmaterialisusedextensivelytoexplainthemeaning, andmuchstressislaidonspeechbecausedirectassociationcanbemadeby oralteachingonly.ButthismethodcanbeusedonlyiftheL2studentsare already familiar with the language. This is not possible in the vernacular mediumschoolsintheprimarylevel.

Duetosomedrawbacksinoldmethods,therehavebeenadoptedafewnew methodssuchasDr Wests'NewMethod,SubstitutionMethodandBilingual Method.

(a) Dr Wests'NewMethod:Thismethodgivesmoreemphasisonthedevelopment of reading abilities and improvement of vocabulary This is because readingfacilitatesspeakingandwriting.Theycanhaveanideaofstructure ofEnglishlanguagebyreading.IntheopinionofDr Westsreadingability canbedevelopedbyreadingbooksinsolitudewithease,interestandpleasure.Advantagesofthismethodareofthefouraspectsoflanguagelearning ithelpstodeveloponeaspecti.e.,reading.Itinitiatespupilsforself-activity becauseoralreadingandsilentreadingbothamounttoself-activity Thedisadvantages are that it ignores three aspects (viz. understanding, speaking andwriting)oflanguagelearning.Intheabsenceofotheractivities,reading becomesmonotonous.

(b) Substitution Method or Substitution Table Method: This method was adopted by H.S. Palmer In this method, words of one sentence are substitutedbyotherwords.Theteacherhastorepeatthemodelsentencetwo-three timesinanaturalvoicethatisaudibletoallstudents.Hecorrectstheerrors ofpronunciation,articulation,accentandinformationinthestudents.Inthe eyesoftheresearcher,thismethodwasfollowedby30%oftheteachersin Sadiya sub-division.The advantages of this system are that in substitution tablesthelinguisticmaterialisarrangedinasystematicwayandthelearner learns a large number of sentences without memorizing the grammatical rules.Likewise,itisanaturalwayoflearningalanguageanditensurescorrect pronunciation, articulation, information and fluency by oral drill etc. However, there are disadvantages such as it is not possible to explain the rulesofgrammar,anditlaysmoreemphasisonwrittenworks.Itcannotbe usedtoteachprose,poetryandcompositionetc.

(c) BilingualMethod:ProfessorC.D.DodsonofWalesinventedthismethod. In this method, English is taught with the help of the mother tongue. The mother tongue is not used exactly as in translation method but is used to explain the meaning of new word, phrase, idioms, sentences, grammatical pointsandrules.Likeothermethods,thismethodhasalsosomeadvantages anddisadvantagesthatmaybestatedasfollows.Theteachermakesconversationeasierbymakinguseofthemothertongueanditdoesn'trequirespeciallytrainedteachers.ItsuitsbothruralandurbanschoolsanditformslinguistichabitsofL2whilemothertongue.ThedisadvantagesarethatacontrastbetweenthefeaturesofEnglishandmothertongueislikelytoconfuse students. It was found in the survey that 70% of the teachers used this

method.However,onecaution,theteacherneedstotake,istobewareofthe over use of the L1. The researcher had conducted an experiment in a few M.E.schoolsinSadiyatodeterminethepercentageofL1usedintheEnglish classbytapingtheentireclassof45minutestakenbytheEnglishteacher It was found that 70% of the class was conducted in the mother tongue, Assamese.

On categorizing the L used the researcher found that 20% was used as social 1 interaction,30%forlearningstrategiessuchascheckinghomeworkandcomprehension,20%fordirectionforactivities.

Theresearchersuggestedthefollowingstepstotheteachers:

(a) EveryteachershouldgiveaglossaryofclassroominstructionsinL toassist 2 thestudentsinfollowinghim.

(b) HeshouldcontinuetointeractwiththembutinEnglish,givingtranslations ofwords,wherenecessary

(c) StudentsshouldbegivenverbalusesinL –suchas'thankyou','sorry','par- 2 don'.

Theteachersfollowedtheaboveandgavetheresearcherafeedbacktwomonths later Theteacherspositivelysaidthatthesuggestionshadreducedtheamountof L spokeninclassby30%.Further,thereductionhadalsoarousedthestudents' 1 interestinspeakingEnglishwhichwasagoodsymptomofthestudentsofavernacularmediumschool.

Apart from the methods used in teaching English there are also various approachestotheteachingoftheEnglishlanguage.Someofthemarethestructural approach, the situational approach, constructivist teaching, differentiated instruction,inclusiveeducation,developmentallearning,co-operativelearning, multipleintelligenceslearningstyles,integratedcurriculum,actionlearningand thinkingskills.Thestructuralapproachandsituationalapproachesareexplained indetailinthispaperastheconcernedresearcherfoundtheteachersusingboth theseapproachesduringthesurvey

StructuralApproach:Inthisapproach,thearrangementofwordsismadeinsuch awaysoastoformsuitablepatternofsentences.Inthecaseofthisapproach,masteryofstructureismoreimportantthantheacquisitionofvocabulary.Itisalso knownas“NewApproach”or“Aural-OralApproach”.Therearefourkindsof structures such as sentence pattern, phrase pattern, formulas and idioms. The approachisappliedforteachingthefourfundamentalskillsnamelyunderstanding,speaking,readingandwriting.Whiletheresearcherapproachedtoschools (Assamese medium and English medium) in the survey and noticed that 70% teachersfollowedthisapproach.Ithassomemeritsoradvantages;itputsmore emphasisonspeechororalaspectoflearning.Itcanbeadoptedforallstagesof education.Thestudentsareprovidedwithenoughopportunitiestothestudentsto express their ideas and feelings. Disadvantages are that it is the most suitable onlyforlowerclasses.Itdoesnothelptoteachtheprescribedtextbooksetc.

SituationalApproach:Thisapproachisrelatedtotheteachers'creationofareal situationintheclassroom.Englishisbasicallytaughttothestudentsinthissituationalapproachalmostinthesamewayinwhichachildlearnshisownmother tongue. Stress is laid on constant repetition in this approach. The teacher uses appropriate materials to create proper situations. He revises again and again as wellasputsquestionsandanswershimself.Inthesurvey,theresearchernoticed thatthisapproachwaspracticedbytheteachersinEnglishmediumschools.Meritsarethatitlaysstressonlearningthroughhearinganditlaysemphasisonlearningbyplay Further,itfollowstheprincipleofvarietyandsimplicity Similarly, disadvantagesarethatitcanbeusedtoteachonlywellselectedwordsandsentencepatternsaswellasitsuitsteachingonlylowerclasses.Again,duetoover drilltheclassbecomesmonotonous.ItisimportantfortheteacherofL2torealize thatmethodswillhavetobeadoptedtothespecificneedsoftheclassroom.The teacherhastomakelearningeffective,apprehendingthevaryinglearningstyles of the students. While it is true that the teaching of a language like English appearsinsuchvarieddesignthatisverydifficulttogeneralizepractices.Aprospectiveteachershouldbasicallyknowalltheprevailingprinciplesandpractices aswellasbeequippedwithlatestinformationandtechniques.Ontheotherhand, heorsheshouldknowtheproblemsintheEnglishclassroomtoprovideeffective Englishteachingtothelearners.

5.CONCLUSION:

At the end of this paper, it should be cited that the role of the teacher is very importantinthefieldofeducation.Heisregardedasthebackboneoftheeducation system.The main duty of a teacher is to extend his help to the students in everyaspectoftheirlifeandmotivatethemtolearn.Thus,anELTteachershould beabreastwiththelatesttechniquesofteaching.Thestudentsshouldbetaught withaproperknowledgeoftheteachingaidstobeusedintheclassroom.Allthe learners should be attracted by his seriousness, good temperament, sympathy andsenseofhumor Themothertongueshouldbeusedonlyasatooloraguideto thelearners.TheyshouldbeencouragedbytheteachertospeakinEnglish.The teachershouldteachEnglishinsuchawaythatthestudentsmakeitapartoftheir life.

Theteachershouldmakeuseofinnovativeteachingaids.Theteachershouldtry newpracticesinplaceofage-oldmethods.Forexample:storytellingcanbean effectivemethodinteachingchildrenanewlanguageasitalsocapturestheattentionofthestudents.Further,incaseofthestudentsofhigherclassesaswellasthe students of degree classes communicative activities like discussions, projects, quizzes and games can be run to make the classes interesting. Plays and playwrighting can also make a class engaging to the learner. But in the higher stages,thestudyoflanguagebecomesmorecriticalasfarasitsstructureandthe meaningsaswellastheusewordsareconcerned.Theplan,formandstructure mustbecheckedandguidedbytheteacherintheirwrittenwork.

Asmentionedearlier,therearemanyeducationistsandscholarswholaystresson theuseofmothertongueinELTclasses.Itisalsotruethattheuseofthemother tonguecannotbeavoided;ontheotherhand,theexcessiveuseofitcreatesbarriers in learning the English language. In exploring the influence of the mother tongue in ELT classes, the researcher found that the mother tongue helps the learners of English language in some common aspects such as the basic skills. ThelearnersofEnglishfindagreathelpindevelopingareadinghabitinEnglish, if they are proficient in their mother tongues.AsW.M. Ryburn observes, “StudentsarewithdifficultypersuadedtoreadanyEnglishbookthattheveryoften booksprovidedforextrareadingaretoodifficulttobereadeasily.Butanother reason is that a test for reading is not created in connection with the mother tongue.Oncethereadinghabitisformedinthemothertongue,willsoonmanifestitselfinEnglishalso.Thisiswheremanyofourschoolsarefailingandhere, perhaps more than anywhere else, the teacher of the mother tongue can aid his 13 EnglishcolleaguesandmothertonguecanhaveahelpfulinfluenceonEnglish.”

Fromtheinterviewswiththeteacherstakeninthearea,theresearchergathered thataccordingtothemofalltheapproachesandmethodstheypreferredthebilingualmethod.However,theresearcherbelievesthatexcessiveuseofthemother tongueintheclassroomtellontheatmosphereofanEnglishclass.Asaresultof this, the students do not develop their verbal skills in English.The learners are accustomedtothepronunciationoftheEnglishwords,influencedbythemother tongue.Similarly,thepoolofthemothertongueinterferesintheirlearningofthe Englishgrammarinmanyaspectssuchasstructure,word-orderetc.Althoughit hastobeagreedthattherearesomesimilaraspectsinboththelanguages.Atthe same time, one cannot do away with the mother tongue completely The researcher himself has taught hundreds of students of middle and high schools forfivetosixyears.Duringtheperiodhefeltthattheoccasionaluseofthemother tongueisusefulandnecessaryforabettercomprehensionofthelearners.Moreover,itisaquickmethodtotestwhetheralearnerknowsthemeaningofawordor notbyaskinghimtogivehismothertongueequivalent.Duringthesurvey,10stuth dentsof7 standardinanM.E.schoolwereaskedtowriteanessayonphysical exercise within 200 words inAssamese and English. It was marked that those pupilswhohadasoundknowledgeofgrammarandpossessedgoodwritingskill inAssamesecouldwritewellinEnglishtoo.Fromhisobservation,theresearcher came to the conclusion that if the students have knowledge of how to write in their mother tongue this is reflected in other languages like English too. In anothersurvey,theconcernedpersoninteractedwithsomebeginnersofEnglish learning,hefeltthatintheearlystages,thelearnersgreatlyfeelthenecessityto usethemothertongue.TheteachersarealsoboundtocreateanartificialenvironmenttoteachthemEnglish.

WithanintentiontotakeintoanaccounttheopinionsandviewsofdifferentstudentsandteachersastohowthemothertonguehelpsthestudentsinlearningEnglish; the researcher distributed some questionnaires to them.Almost each and everybody wrote about the necessity of the mother tongue in ELT classes. Accordingtothem,themothertonguegreatlyhelpsintheirunderstandingofparticularaspectsoftheEnglishlanguage.Theteacherstooacknowledgetheinevitabilityoftheuseofthemothertongueforaclearerunderstanding.Further,the researchertoo,asateacher,hasexperienceformhispracticalfieldthatifhedoes notusethemothertongueintheclass,thestudentsdonotcomprehendthelesson completely This had led him to conclude that as judicious use of the mother tongueishighlynecessaryintheEnglishclasstomakeitinterestingandcomprehensibletothestudents.AsC.D.Dodsonsays,“Themothertongueisusedtopre14 parethepupilinsuchamannerthatthestudentscanachievetruebilingualism.” Also, the researcher must add that the excessive use of the mother tongue will have a contrary effect on ELT classes. If the teacher constantly converses in Assamese, the students will not be exposed to English at all. Teachers need to guidestudentsintotheL orEnglishthroughtheuseofAssamese.Theirultimate 2 aim should be to make the students confident enough to be free of the dependencyofthemothertongue.ThestudentsshouldbeinculcatedtospeakinEnglish onlyintheclassroom.Onthecontrary,theteacherhastousemothertongueif necessary

Bythisanalyticalstudyorobservationoftheinfluenceofthemothertonguein ELTclassesandtheadvantagesanddisadvantagestheresearcherconcludesthat constantuseofthemothertonguemaycreatesomedisadvantagesintheactual atmosphere of teaching English in the classroom in the vernacular medium schools.TheAssameselanguageormothertongueshouldbeconsideredasatool to invite the learners of English just like a crutch it should merely assist the learnertotakehisfirststepsinlearninganewlanguage.Ultimately,hemustlearn towalkfreelyinthesamemanner,theultimategoalofthelearnershouldbeto speakandwritecorrectEnglish.

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Notes:

I. Haliram Das,Asomiya Matribhasha Shikhyon Paddhati (Calcutta: Sri Bhumi PublishingCompany,1993),P.3.

II. Ibid,P 4.

III. Prof B.C. Roy, Method, The Teaching of English (Lucknow: Prakashan Kendra, 2003),P 1-2.

IV N.P Pahuja,TeachingofEnglish(NewDelhi:AnmolPublicationPvt.Ltd.,2006),P 2.

V Madan Vharma,Asomiya Bhasha Paddhati (Guwahati: Student’s Stores, 1995), P 27.

VI. R.K. Bansal, J.B. Harrison, Spoken English (Mumbai: Orient Longman Limited, 1998),P 11.

VII. MadanSharma,OPCit,P 26.

VIII. R.K.Bansal,J.B.Harrison,OPCit,P 53.

IX. Dr Ram Nath Sharma, Contemporary English Teaching (Delhi: S.S. Chhabra for Sarjeetpublication,2005),P 239.

X. Ibid,P 210.

XI. Dr RamNathSharma,OPCit,P 155.

XII. ProfB.C.Roy,OPCit,P 87.

XIII. ProfB.C.Roy,Ibid,P 27.

XIV Prof. U.G. Bhagat, English for NETand SETExamination Pare (ii) (Pune: Barsha Prakarhan,1998),P 229.