English Language Teaching in India

The topic "English Language Teaching" is a complex one, dealing with a number of aspects such as communication, duality in oral and written modes, four different skills namely listening, speaking, reading and writing (LSRW), several elements such as sounds, vocabulary, and grammar. Along with these aspects, we also consider the relevant related disciplines such as Linguistics, Psychology, Sociolinguistics, Psycholinguistics, etc. The approaches, methods and techniques are very important aspects for enabling us as competent and effective teachers. When English becomes the second/third/foreign language in a country like India, then it becomes the most difficult subject to learn, practice and use in daily life. However, it has already completed three centuries after its arrival in India in the early eighteenth century. It is no more the language of the colonial masters but one of the national languages used for all official purposes in this country.

Thousands of English teachers earn their daily bread and butter from this subject, taking it as their main profession throughout the entire life. A lot many professionals like doctors, lawyers, engineers, industrialists, scientists, and corporate executives use this language for all sorts of official communication. The ESP courses and ICT has been the demand of the day. The English teachers of India have to update themselves in all these aspects keeping the demands of the modern times in mind. The market-driven society, the globalized economy, the demand for immigration from one country to another for better prospects are the need of the future learners and English plays a crucial role in this affair as the "link language" and the "library language". We have to focus on these two roles at least, even we forget other roles of English, the only global language of the future times. Indian teachers and learners are aware of this importance of English and should respond to the challenges too.