English immersion and Bangla floatation? Rendering a collective choice private

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 (253) ◽  
pp. 79-102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Manabi Majumdar ◽  
Rahul Mukhopadhyay
Keyword(s):  
Language Ideology ◽  
English Language ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Language Training ◽  
School Life ◽  
Great Opportunity ◽  
Reciprocal Relationships ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Disproportionate Burden

Abstract This article aims to revisit the importance of nurturing reciprocal relationships of equality and enrichment between Bangla and English in the school life of children residing in the Indian state of West Bengal. We couple the descriptor “immersion” with English and “floatation” with Bangla to serve as metaphors for language ideology. After a brief review of the language in education policy in the country and in Bengal in both colonial and post-Independence periods, we draw on conversations with schoolteachers about the preference for English and the relative disregard for Bangla to present three basic arguments. First, there is no reason to be forced to choose between English and Bangla in Bengali education. There is even less reason – indeed, there are greater costs – to follow the policy of immersion in English and mere floatation in Bangla. Second, the equity-enhancing potential of “empowering people with English” may get neutralized if a disproportionate burden falls on the poor of purchasing minimal proficiency in English in schools providing “have-little” English. Third, unless English language training happens in the company of Bangla, children in schools of Bengal will lose a great opportunity to cultivate their freedom of self-expression.

scholarly journals LAND REFORMS IN AN INDIAN STATE: LESSONS FROM THE EXPERIENCES OF IMPLEMENTATION

2018 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Prabhat Kumar Datta ◽  
Panchali Sen
Keyword(s):  
Land Reform ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Empirical Studies ◽  
Social Situation ◽  
Successful Implementation ◽  
Land Reforms ◽  
The Poor ◽  
National Economic ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Left Front

Until the shift of developmental policy in India in 1990s the state used to play an instrumental role India’s development. By the time India attained independence it was widely regarded that semi feudal landlordism was the main obstacle in the way of national economic regeneration. In this paper an attempt has been to capture the processes of land reforms in India’s West Bengal under the Left Front rule and to critically review impact of this programme on village society. This paper also seeks to identify reasons with the help of empirical studies why it has not been possible for the Left Front Government to achieve the declared objectives of the programme. Major transformations in economic, social and political fields during the first two decades of the Left Front rule characterized by the successful implementation of land reform programmes but failed to produce sustained benefits to the poor beneficiaries of land reforms. The panchayat institutions were unsuccessful in making the poor realize that the existing social situation was not conducive for meeting their basic needs. The concluding part of the paper tries to bring together the lessons that the other countries or states in a federal system can learn from the experiences of implementation of land reforms programme in West Bengal. 

Health status and lifestyle of the Oraon tea garden labourers of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Subrata K. Roy ◽  
Tanaya Kundu Chowdhury
Keyword(s):  
Health Status ◽  
Work Environment ◽  
West Bengal ◽  
Health Condition ◽  
Physical Health Status ◽  
Health Lifestyles ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Medical Facilities ◽  
Tea Garden ◽  
Sufficient Food

This chapter looks at the health and lifestyle factors among tea garden labourers in West Bengal. Tea garden labourers enjoy access to some free facilities like education for children, medical facilities, piped drinking water, housing, and subsidised food. Yet they still suffer from several health problems. This might be due to insufficient or inadequately maintained facilities, poor lifestyles, or a mixture thereof. The chapter then focuses on the work environment, lifestyles, and physical health status of Oraon tea garden labourers of Jalpaiguri district, West Bengal. The results reveal that around 60 per cent of the labourers are underweight, despite reporting that they were getting sufficient food to eat. Poor hygienic practices may explain these results. Anaemia was also high for both sexes. Ultimately, the overall health condition of the labourers may be explained by the poor health lifestyles that they have adopted in response to their work environment.

scholarly journals BORDER GUARDS’ COMPETENCE IN ENGLISH PROFESSIONAL TERMINOLOGY: CHALLENGES AND POSSIBLE SOLUTIONS

2020 ◽  
Vol 3 (8) ◽  
pp. 15-26
Author(s):  
Marina Žukova
Keyword(s):  
Present Article ◽  
English Language ◽  
The State ◽  
Coast Guard ◽  
Language Training ◽  
National State ◽  
Professional Performance ◽  
Immigration Control ◽  
Joint Operations ◽  
The Eu

Knowledge of English professional terminology is one of the predominant factors for border guards’ successful professional performance during both border and immigration control carried out at their national state border and inside the country and also joint operations organised and implemented by the European Border and Coast Guard at the EU external borders.  The present article suggests an overview of the results of the measures taken by the State Border Guard of Latvia in 2017-2020 to facilitate the improvement of Latvian border guards’ competence in English professional terminology. Based on the results of the survey the author puts forward suggestions for possible improvements in English language training and testing for border guards.

scholarly journals Determinants In The Choice Of Comprehensible Input Strategies In Science Classes

2011 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
Crisanta Comia Buri
Keyword(s):  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
English Language ◽  
Poor Performance ◽  
Medium Of Instruction ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Comprehensible Input ◽  
Filipino Students ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
Science Classes ◽  
Bilingual Education Policy

The Bilingual Education Policy, which was launched in 1974 and revised in 1987, has resulted in the limited exposure of Filipino learners to the English language. This is because the policy reversed previous policies and stipulates that in only two content area subjects, namely, Science and Mathematics is English to be used as medium of instruction. The limited exposure to English has been cited as one of the reasons for the declining proficiency in English of Filipino students since the promulgation of the policy (Gonzales, 1986). On the other hand, the use of English as medium of instruction in cognitively demanding subjects such as science and mathematics has also been given as the reason for the poor showing of students and even teachers themselves in nationwide tests in Science (Maminta, 1985). The overall downtrend in student achievement as evidenced by the poor performance on all of the tests has given rise to two issues concerning the policy. First, is the language for initial literacy and the second is the medium of instruction in science and mathematics. These language issues are crucial in as much as language is the primary vehicle of expression and thought exchange in the classroom. Teaching and learning are in fact language tasks carried out largely by means of verbal interaction between teacher and students (Bellack, et al 1966). The exchange of ideas between students and teachers is largely done through language as they talk about concepts in science, mathematics and other content areas.

scholarly journals THE ISSUE OF EDUCATION AT A HIGHER ESTABLISHMENT AND SIMULTANEOUS LEARNING A FOREIGN LANGUAGE

2021 ◽  
pp. 54-63
Author(s):  
Veronika Dmytruk ◽  
Halyna Shevchyk
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Foreign Language ◽  
Information Management ◽  
English Language ◽  
Educational Process ◽  
Foreign Languages ◽  
Language Training ◽  
Management Information ◽  
Factors Influencing

The article is devoted to the psychological and pedagogical substantiation of the expediency of learning foreign languages while studying in the institution of higher education. The authors analyse the current educational process in Ukrainian and identify the most important factors influencing the formation of qualified professionals and establish the role of foreign language in each of these factors. It was found that studying can be extremely intensified due to learning a foreign language. It is established that learning foreign languages increases a person’s ability to develop intellectually. Keywords: pedagogical psychology; institution of higher education; foreign language; English language; training intensification; motivation; information management; information gathering; information processing.

English-language training for the workplace

1987 ◽  
Vol 1987 (33) ◽  
pp. 17-25
Author(s):  
Elizabeth F. Skinner ◽  
Nancy A. Siefer ◽  
Barbara A. Shovers
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Language Training

Military cosmopolitanism and romantic indigeneity: Crafting claims to statehood in Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss and Easterine Kire’s Bitter Wormwood

2020 ◽  
pp. 002198941989730
Author(s):  
Sushmita Sircar
Keyword(s):  
West Bengal ◽  
Political Identity ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Way Of Life ◽  
Indigenous Identity ◽  
The World ◽  
Indian State ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The Many

The world wars definitively changed the relations with the state of the peoples of India’s northeastern frontier. The wars were both fought on their terrain (with the invasion of the Japanese army) and led to the recruitment of people from the region to serve in the British Army. The contemporary Anglophone Indian novel documents the lingering effects of this militarization in the many insurgencies that have fragmented the region in the postcolonial era. Kiran Desai’s The Inheritance of Loss (2006) depicts the Gorkhaland uprising of the 1980s in the Kalimpong district of West Bengal, which demanded a separate state, while Easterine Kire’s Bitter Wormwood (2011) describes the Naga peoples’ traditional way of life against the backdrop of attempts to declare independence from the Indian state. In this article I argue that these novels capture how these secessionist movements use the experience of the world wars to craft a political identity based on military brotherhood to claim independence from the Indian state. These movements thus undertake a complex reworking of the valences of the figure of the “soldier”, central to so many accounts of national integrity. At the same time, reproducing the nationalist logic of the Indian state, these novels more readily recognize an “indigenous” identity based on a claim to the land as the political basis of nationhood. Hence, these novels about secessionist struggles reveal how certain narratives of nation formation become the only legitimate means for making claims for political rights and independent statehood over the course of the twentieth century.

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