Impact of English Language Education in Contemporary India: A study from Educational, Social and Cultural Perspectives

(A proposal for D.Ltt)

Dr K M Baharul Islam The emergence of English as a global language come in tandem with our recent economic growth and the by sheer size of its users India is itself a huge subcontinent with more than a billion people, competing with the rest of the world. It is the biggest democracy in the world and has established itself as a nuclear power. There are a number of eminent Indian writers expressing themselves in the English language: novels by authors such as Rushdie or Vikram Seth have acquired world tame. When we see the phenomenal spread of 'English medium schools' in contemporary milieu some fundamental issues must be raised and some dimensions of this growth must be discussed from some specific perspectives. Which social, cultural and educational stereotypes have emerged from this growth? Which 'aspects of Indian society and its attitudinal responses should we take into account? Does teaching English language to our children in India has led to change their perception about Indian traditions and cultures? Postindependent India presents a case in tradition and transition. It presents a number of challenges in terms of changes in traditional values. The social and cultural problems within Indian society in way made more complicated by the spur of unstructured multi-media beaming of English in our homes creating a mindset that places the traditional educational values in an outer circle. Never before has English language education become so widespread and penetrating in the Indian society as since India's adoption of the opendoor and reform policy after the 1990s. Indeed, the nation has since witnessed a surge of learning English, making English Language Teaching one of the most developed industries in the country. Since the 1990s to the present time, the Reform and Opening Policy has made it absolutely necessary for the average Indian to learn English and more and more educational, occupational and economic advantages became attached to learning English. The industry of English education is booming and is expected to continue its expanding momentum in the years to come. All in all, English education in India closely associated with social, cultural and educational needs of the time, has been playing a gatekeeping role for individuals and an economypromoting role for the nation in the new era. Against this backdrop, the present study probes into the impact of English language education in contemporary India through a representative study of a cross section of stakeholders. This study will limit itself to a sample of multi religious, multi-cultural setups in the eight sister' states of the Northeastern region of India and will try to describe the changes, issues and challenges facing the English language education scenario today. Through its analytical discussions on the findings it will try to reach some broad conclusions as viewed from educational, social and cultural perspectives as witnessed from its western cultural intrusion. It will try to guide future language policies that will affect English language education greatly. However, critical perceptions towards English teaching in relation to the Indian society and culture will also be given due consideration in the approach and sifting of the research findings. Globalizing processes have led the Indian middles classes to see English proficiency as a tool for facilitating business with Western transnational corporations in the increasingly unregulated Indian economy.