The article is written and published in a journal by Dr.Sandhya Tiwari

A Pragmatic Approach To The Study of Engineering ‘English Language Acquisition’

by Dr.Sandhya Tiwari

Associate Professor, English

Sreenidhi Institute of Science and Technology (SNIST)

Yamnampet, Ghatkesar.

“How a thing is done is technique.

A technique is implementational- that which actually takes place in a classroom. It is a particular trick, stratagem or contrivance used to accomplish an immediate objective”.

- Anthony 1972.

Techniques are closely related to methods and approaches:

Different theories about the nature of language and how languages are learned (the approach) imply different ways of teaching language (the method), and different methods make use of different kinds of classroom activity (techniques).

- Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics 1985

In this paper, I will be concerned with certain key aspects of the techniques of learning English to engineer the language i.e. of treating English as an object of engineering by using various techniques and acquiring competent communication skills. The objective in any language classroom is to get the learners to learn the target language and use it. This is done best when they are actively involved in the learning process. This in turn means that their interest must be sustained by using different techniques and activities in the language classroom. A teacher who has a repertoire of techniques to teach different skills/ sub-skills is more likely to succeed in aiding you to realize your objective of being a good communicator than one who has a limited number of techniques at command.

As observed by Allright:

If the language teacher’s management activities are directed exclusively at invoking the learners in solving communication problems in the target language then language will take care of itself…(Allright-14)

This is part of the more general point that we will only succeed in engineering English if we attempt this task with a clear, theoretically and empirically informed, understanding of what kind of phenomenon English actually consists of. English or any other language, is a resource for making meaning, language is the key source of creating and transmitting knowledge. However in departments of linguistics and in language departments, language itself is treated as the object of study, thus language engineering concept comes into foreplay. Throughout the world, businessmen haggle over their transactions, contractors negotiate their deals, scientists and industrialists transmit their findings and technology, administrators put across their orders and responses, religious preachers exhort their followers, lawyers argue their cases, politicians consolidate their parties and deliver pre-election speeches to solicit votes, professors lecture to their students, unemployed appear for interviews and lovers articulate or reciprocate their tender feelings. All this is successful only through communication and effective communication.

Another significant point to be remembered is that having an inventory of techniques is by itself no guarantee of success; one must know when to use which technique. In others should be fine tuned to the needs of that particular situation. For instance grilling is a technique which can be used effectively at the practice or familiarization stage of a lesson; but not for a communicative activity which demands deployment of the learners own language.

Now before moving on to the techniques lets look the sub skills of a language. Language has been divided into four main skills, namely Listening, Speaking, Reading and Writing (LSWR). Each skill has been further divided into sub skills.

Listening—gist listening, selective listening, attentive listening, etc….

Speaking---pronunciation, conversation, presentation, intonation, etc….

Reading --- skimming, scanning, etc…..

Writing---vocabulary, paragraphs, grammar, mechanics, etc….

These skills and sub skills are not used in isolation when language engineering is the ultimate aim. From among these four skills two are like in puts two out put. Listening and reading are inputs and speaking and writing outputs. Without the in put, and more so if a language is acquired as L2, out put can hardly be achieved. In other words listening and speaking are two sides of the same coin. For instance identifying sounds while listening, helps in producing sounds while speaking. Of course we all have grounding and ability in these skills, and so it is more a matter of sharpening and honing them in the context of daily working life. If one aspires to lead or manage others one has to be really competent in these four skills, because communication is life-blood of an organization and relationship is built, gap is bridged and bond is fortified only through communication.

Communication embraces a wide range of meanings circling around the idea of sharing, sharing which takes place because of the involvement of various elements like social contact, need, survival, understanding, love etc…Thus one of the outward signs of a person who is truly convinced that communication is dialogue and sharing of thoughts, ideas etc. is that he will be much interested in knowing about the person. Both sender and receiver contribute to the process of communication by which meanings are exchanged between them by a common system of symbols.

David Nunan defining task highlights the crux of communication as:

A piece of classroom work which involves learners in comprehending, manipulating, producing or interacting in the target language while their attention is principally focused on meaning rather than form. (Nunan: 10)

Clarity is the cardinal principle of effective communication. Clarity in speech comes when we have clarity in thought. Therefore good communication begins in the mind. The reasoning should be sharp and clear cut, without the blurred edges which have to be glossed over through confusing repetitions.

Let’s look at the verse of Rudyard Kipling from “The Elephant Child” in the Just So Stories (1902):

I keep six honest serving men

(They taught me all I knew);

Their names are What and Why and When

And How and Where and Who.

Who: Who are you going to communicate to? Visualize them, their interest, presuppositions and values? How are they different from one another? What: What do you wish to communicate? How: How best can you convey your message? Language plays a pivotal role here. Care should be taken in the selection of words keeping the audience in mind. Proper beginning, middle and end are very important for successful presentation. Consider this: tell them what you are going to tell, tell them what you want to tell and tell them what you told. Next comes when: timing is all important in communication. Speak when you heard, there is a time to be silent and time to speak; one has to cautious regarding that. Where: what is the physical context of the communication in mind? Why: in order to convert the hearers into listeners you need to know why they should listen to you. That implies that you yourself should know why you are seeking to communicate – the value or relevance of your talk keeping the audience in mind.

Apart from this a crucial characteristic of communication is that the communicator has the choice both in terms of what he says and how he says. The choice which is open requires workouts and expertise in language handling. Besides content and arrangement the principle of being simple has to be applied. Firth and Halliday developed powerful views of language in which meaning and situation were given a prominent place:

The emphasis now is on the description of language activity

As part of the whole complex of events which together with the participants and relevant objects make up actual situations. (Halliday: 38)

Let’s now look at the relevance of non verbal communication in dynamics of communication. Although we have evolved language as our principal medium for communication with one another, we do have to be careful regarding our non-verbal communication which acts just as a sailing yacht to an auxiliary motor. “A picture is worth a thousand words”, as the Chinese proverb says, more than 50% of the information is sought through the gateway of our eyes. Words carry only 7% of the weightage in communication. The basic system for communication is the human body; not just the organs of speech and hearing, but eyes and facial muscles, hands and arms, brain and in many respects the entire body. Caressing, embracing and holding hands are as much ways of communicating as human speech. Body language as it is now familiarly called is something we both use and observe throughout our waking hours. Everyone for example can interpret a smile or a threatening gesture. And the voice conveys more through its tone or volume than simply the words spoken.

We can discover a number of facets involved in this undercover language, Meta language, paralanguage and non verbal communication. They are: facial expressions, eye contact, posture, appearance, gestures, proximity, tone of voice, head position etc. Sigmund Freud’s observation concerning the relevance of body language may appear to be an exaggeration but it is an exaggeration of a vital truth:

He that has eyes to see and ears to hear may convince himself that no mortal can keep a secret. If his lips are silent he chats with his fingertips; betrayal oozes out of him at every pore. (Knapp – 12)

Usually people form an impression about you within the first five minutes of meeting face-to-face. Your body language has a lot to do, people described as ‘charismatic’ are those who are liked for no apparent reason. These people tend to be noticed as they enter a room. E.M. Joad, who wrote the biography of Dr. S. Radhakrishnan, mentions an instance of Dr.Radhakrishnan remaining silent in a party when others were waxing eloquent. Joad said that there was greater eloquence in the studied silence of Dr. Radhakrishnan than in the glib talk of the other distinguished personages! Of course, Dr. Radhakrishnan had world-wide recognition for being a great orator. Body language reflecting confidence, truthfulness and trustworthy personality with a good sense of humor helps one to emerge successful in life. In fact efficiency in the use of it can to some extent make up for the deficiency in verbal communication. We all can recall situations in which the speaker’s command over the language was deficient and yet he was able to drive the message home because of the proper use of his body language. Mehrabian in the year 1971 in his book Silent Messages has analyzed the impact of a message as follows: 7% verbal, 38% vocal and 55% non verbal.

If clarity, simplicity and vividness describe the quality of what you say, and truth, beauty and goodness determine the value of what you say. Achieving clarity about your aim, content and plan – be it for a formal presentation or an informal speech -- is the key to effective communication.

Towards the end summing up the relevance of communication skills in the words of I.V.Chalapati Rao:

Thriving societies today are neither governed nor administered. They are not even externally controlled or ruled. They are ‘managed’. Communication is the key to management. ….. (Chalapati rao-1)

For further reading:

1. Richards, Jack C. and Theodore S. Rodgers. Approaches and methods in language teaching: A description and analysis. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1986:167
2. Longman Dictionary of Applied Linguistics 1985.

3. Allright, R.L. Language Learning Through Communication Practice in ELT Documents 76, 3:2-14.
4. Nunan, David. Designing Task fot the Communication Classroom. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 1989: 10
5. Short-story collection of Rudyyard Kipling. http://whitewolf.newcastle.edu.au/words/authors/K/KiplingRudyard/prose/JustSoStories/index.html
6. Halliday, M.A.K., K.MacIntosh and P. Strevens. The Linguistic Science and Language teaching. London: Longman, 1964-38.
7. Cited in Knapp, Mark. Non Verbal Communication in Human Interaction. New York: Holt Rinehart Winston, 1972-12.
8. Rao, I.V.Chalapati. Communication and Leadership: Skills and Strategies. Hyderabad: Booklinks Corporation. 1999-1.