16 June 2008
Port Louis — While some Mauritians are proud to master the two languages of knowledge and culture, the country's official language keeps giving nightmares to a majority and is the object of a tug-of -war.
Over the past few weeks, English language has been in the forefront with several events ranging from the Prince Maurice Prize to a short story competition for secondary students. On the other hand, it is constantly pointed out that only 1.1% of students have been able to achieve an outstanding result at SC level.
English language is the nightmare of a lot of students even if they know that it is the key that opens most of, if not all, the doors to academic success. "Please not English, I hate this subject!" says Arshad Oozeer. This student doing a BSc in Biology at the University of Mauritius, reminisces: "During exams, I was very afraid of doing the English papers because, if you fail in English, you fail overall."
Former director of Curriculum at the ministry of Education, Santosh Kumar Mahadeo, is adamant that the situation can be remedied. This experienced teacher and lover of English language and literature thinks that "teachers at primary level have a lack of pedagogical strategies to make learning possible. All development in a child and all liking for any subject should be instilled as from primary school itself. But, if teachers themselves instil a fear in students for private tuition sake, then there will always be this apprehension of facing English language".
Arshad Oozeer's statement is very disturbing as all subjects, except French, ranging from Mathematics to Fashion and Design, are taught in English. Still, statistics shows that only 26% of Mauritian students obtain a credit in English Language at School Certificate level at their first sitting. A recent report published by the ministry of Education and Scientific research states that one of the factors identified as the cause of low achievement is the fact that students are not taught in their mother tongue.
Marjorie Desveaux, an English language teacher and member of the Bureau d'éducation catholique (BEC) gives her opinion. "English is not considered as a language but as a subject. One needs to play with English language but this can be achieved only when the child understands it." According to her, the most problematic issue is that students need a ready made answer and unfortunately in English, then rote learning is impossible. This is why the BEC has introduced a pilot project to use Creole as a medium of teaching. Teachers will be able to explain to students in Creole as one cannot teach the unknown by the unknown.
However, not every one agrees on this. "Many primary school teachers explain in Creole instead of English thinking that they can then teach the particular subject better. It is not totally wrong but only as long as Creole remains a facilitating language. If Creole becomes a medium of teaching, then teachers need to know how to make the transition from Creole to English as it does not come automatically from the first language being Creole to the second language being English", explains Santosh Mahadeo.
Shared enthusiam and excitement
The way of teaching might be questioned here. Daniel Carroll, an English teacher who works for the British Council and writes the feature The British Council Language Clinic in every Thursday's issue of l'express, says that teaching English is "all about sharing an enthusiasm and excitement in the process of learning". For him, language "is all about opening a discussion over something that you find mutually interesting and stimulating".
Nevertheless, not everyone find English language and its components such as grammar and essay writing "interesting and stimulating". "I always dreaded grammar and the essay writing paper", confesses Farah Bholla, a BA Honours English student at the University in Mauritius. This fear for grammar and essay writing can be explained. "At the level of the classroom, it is too textbook-oriented. Students should be able to develop an interest, a liking for the subject. It is only then that they will be able to understand and master grammar well", retorts Santosh Mahadeo.
The only way to get rid of this fear, according to him, "is to develop independent thinking and learning. It is only then that students will be able to master a construction of meaning by understanding the basic foundation of English language. If there is a fear of English, then it means that students cannot construct meaning and this leads eventually for a weakness in grammar and essay writing".
The biology student, Arshad Oozeer, explains: "I'm not at ease with writing. Ever since I joined college, I have disliked English." One of the factors that could explain his attitude is that he did not know how to handle English as a language.
According to Santosh Mahadeo, this fear factor comes from the lack of exposure of young Mauritians to English language. He suggests that youngsters read, listen or watch more English-based programs or even try in the first place to converse in English.
The British Council, on the other hand offers an array of courses and activities for all ages. What is lacking could be the motivation or the understanding of the importance of English language in daily life.
A M.
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