D.LITT.

RESEARCH PROPOSAL

Death of English in the Age of the Internet:

Quality Issues in English Language Teaching from
Academia - Industry Perspective

Dr K M Baharul Islam
Professor and Chairperson,
Communications Area,
Indian Institute of Management Kashipur
&
Fellow, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, Shimla
AGENDA

Introduction
Research Objective
Methodology
Broad Outline of Work
INTRODUCTION
“India likes gods. And Englishmen
like posing as gods.” The English
languages was part of the pose
and power Indians accepted it,
too.

Prof Braj Kachru

The Alchemy of English:
The Spread, Functions, and Models of Non-native Englishes
Champaign: University of Illinois Press
1990
Daniel M. Short: History of English (2003)
A Language is said to be dead when
no one speaks it any more. It may
continue to have existence in a
recoded form...but unless it has
fluent speakers one would not talk of
it as a 'living language'.

David Crystal, in Language Death (2002)

Genesis
 India’s economic liberalization in 1990s, the approach to
English language undergone a paradigm shift
 Industry / Popular demand for ‘English medium” schools
 Industry prioritized attainment of a basic proficiency over the
use of language for expressing abstract thought and
knowledge.
 English language skill shortage remain one of the major
challenges for the industry
 Even after the phenomenal increase in the English medium
schools, the quality of English language skill has
deteriorated over the years.
 Quantity Vs Quality
 IIM Kashipur Study (2014)
Research Questions
 How do the 10+2 Schools and College English learners view English
as tool to achieve success in globalization era?
 How do English teachers perceive the present trend on
‘communicative’ English gaining priority over basic skills like writing
in acceptable standard English?
 Do the English medium schools and their growth impacted the
overall English language skills of the new generation of college
graduates?
 What are the language skills requirements of the industry and are
the professional graduates like MBAs produced by top business
schools meet those requirements?
 What are the dominant social, cultural and attitudinal trends among
English language learners in the context of globalization and future
job prospects?
METHODOLOGY
Ethnography

 Ethnography is the study of social interactions, behaviours, and perceptions

that occur within groups, teams, organisations, and communities.
 Bronislaw Malinowski and Alfred Radcliffe-Brown (1900s)
 Chicago School of Sociology (Everett Hughes, Robert Park, Louis Wirth)
 To provide rich, holistic insights into people’s views and actions, as well as the
nature of the location they inhabit, through the collection of detailed
observations and interviews.
 To document the culture, the perspectives and practices, of the people in these
settings. (Hammersley)
 To ‘get inside’ the way each group of people sees the world.”
Multiple methods of Data

 Written documents;
 Researcher’s own field notes
(observational notes,
communications, chance
conversations, overheard
remarks);
 Audiotapes and videotapes;
 Quantitative data may also be
included, e.g. surveys or
experimental findings.
OUTLINE OF WORK
Broad Outline of Work
 A Brief History of ELE in India
 Significance & Research Methodology
 Globalization and English Language
Education in India in post-liberalization
era
 Cultural Implications
 English Language in Higher Education
 Reshaping of English Language by the
Internet
 Findings and Conclusions
Work in Progress

 IIM Kashipur: during 2014- 2015

during the campus recruitment season
(Dec – Mar, 2015) reported a strong
dissatisfaction with the outgoing batch
of graduates (2015)
 Stated research project in June 2015
 The idea was extended to a larger
study for this D.Lit. proposal.
 Enrolled in KU: 12 July 2016
 Applied on 12 July 2016
THNAK YOU !!