INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY MAURITIUS

1. INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON CONTEMPORARY MAURITIUS MAHATMA GANDHI INSTITUTE 14-16 SEPTEMBER 2011

2. THE PROBLEMS AND PROSPECTS OF TEACHING/LEARNING ASIAN LANGUAGES IN MAURITIUS: THE CASE OF TAMIL By Dr Jeevendiren Chemen, Senior Lecturer, MGI

3. The Research Paper • Background • Methodology • Problems • Prospects • Conclusion

4. 1. BACKGROUND Slide 5 shows the different languages as listed as spoken languages in Population census 2000. Slide 6 shows the the various Asian languages taught and learned in the curriculum. Slides 7 and 8 give an inidcation of the number teachers involved at the primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Inspite of the high ration of teacher and studebts at all levels, not only the performance of the learners at almost all level is low but the number of drop outs at different levels also is very low( slides

5. Arabic Bhojpuri Cantonese Chinese Creole English French Gujrathi Hakka Mandarin Marathi Tamil Telugu Urdu ‘SPOKEN’ LANGUAGES IN MAURITIUS(Population Census, 2000)

6. Arabic Hindi Marathi Modern Chinese Tamil Telugu Urdu Asian Languages in Mauritius Curriculum

7. No of Learners/teachers

8. Learners/teachers Ratio

9. Number of Students at various levels Source: Mauritius Examinations Syndicate, 2010.

10. DROP OUTS CPE ( 2005) TO SC (2010)

11. % Very Low Performance(Grade wise) Source: Mauritius Examinations Syndicate, 2006)

12. Appraisal of 11 students (2006) • Post HSc students Essay(E1) : Describe the primary and secondary schools where you studied. Essay(E2) : The impact of science on our daily life Trainees’ Linguistic Performance compared with CPE,SC,HSC Results

13. Linguistic Performance and Results

15. Appraisal of 11 students (2010) Post HSC students Essay(E1) : The importance of rain Essay ( E2): The primary and secondary schools where you studied Tamil. Trainees’ Linguistic Performance compared with CPE,SC,HSC Results

16. Learners performance in 2011

18. Performance of learners in 2006 and 2010

19. The problem

21. The problems • The main problem with the teaching/learning of asian languages in mauritius are a poor perfornmance on the part of the learners and the a high brate of drop outs inspite of the high input in terms of time, talents and energy and money. The problems could be perceived from three main levelsn( slide 23), inter alia. 1. linguistic level 2. Pedagogical level 3. Infrastructural level At the linguistic level, the problems have to be addressed mainly taking into consideration the systemic performance, sociolinguitic and strategic levels, all prerequisites for a good written and spoken communication. (Slide 24).

22. Pronunciation, spelling, addition and omission of letters, homonyms and methathesis, juast to mention a few, are some of the probblems encountered by the learners. Morphological and syntactic constructions are really a headache for most of the learners of a second and foreign languages when due to intra and inter llingusitic influences. Some of the asian languages are very agglutinative in nature and good command of morphophonetic rules are essential to avoid errors at this level. Inappropriate vocabulary oftens make the learners to deviate fro the correct expression at the semantic level. Learners of languages such as Tamil often have to master the diglossic issues that present in the language between the written and spoken forms.

23. The Problem • Low performance of the learners • High rate of drop outs

24. Problems • Linguistic level • Pedagogical level • Infrastructural level

25. Linguistic level • Systemic performance level • Sociolinguisitic level • Strategic level

26. PROBLEMS AT LINGUISTIC LEVEL SYSTEMIC COMPETENCE AQUISITION • PHONETICS AND PHONOLOGICAL LEVELS • GRAMMAR LEVEL • SEMANTIC LEVEL

27. Phonetics and phonological levels • Pronunciation • Spellingl , l , l ( retroflex); n , n , n (dental,alveolar, refroflex); t , t(dental, retroflex); r, r (alvoelar) • Addition, omission of letters • Homonyms • Methathesis ( letters in wrong place)

28. Grammatical level • Cases • Syntax- SVO – SOV • Infinitives- participles • Indirect speech

29. Reasons for problems at Systemic competence levels Inter lingual interference Intra lingual interference Teacher competence Teaching approaches Lack of teachinhg/learning materials

30. The following slides summarise the major shortcomings at the level of pedagogy. Not only there are no textbooks and workbooks at some levels of the teaching /learning of the some of the languages, but also, the contents and approach of the books are inappropriate taking into consideration the status of the language, the exposure of the languafge and the formal and informal enviroment in which the learners are.appropriate and accurate and effective supervison, mentoring and acvvices are also very important to further improve the teaching/llearning of the language.

31. Pedagogical problems • Inappropriate teaching methods ( L1, L2, F.L) • Inappropriate textbook • Lack of textbook/ work book • Inappropriate supervision/ no supervision • Lack of ICT materials • Inappropriate teaching aids

32. Infrastructural level There are lots of pitfalls at the level of infrastrure in the teaching/learning of the languages in Mauritius. Most of the languages are not tatught in the most conducive environment. In a few cases more than one languages are being taught in the same clasrrom at the same time witth a light separation of the spaces and in some of the cases all of them are done in the same classroms . Very often the class turns into a ccaphoinc situation.

33. Prospects • Teaching as a profession • Translation as a profession • Research as a profession • Desire to understand ( Speeches, films, songs, prayers) • Desire to speak • India emerging economy • Journalists • Language for business purposes • Language for tourist purposes • Language for the cultural and religipous purposes

34. THANK YOU