Earlier this year, I had the honor of giving the closing plenary at a conference titled English Language Teaching in the Context of a Globalized World. The conference was held at the Madras Christian College in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, South India, on January 31 and February 1. Chennai was formerly known as Madras and is the capital city of the state of Tamil Nadu, which is one of 28 Indian states. Tamil is the official language, spoken as a first language by approximately 90% of the state’s population of more than 60 million.

I have always been especially interested in the languages and cultures of India, partly as my great-grandparents appear to have come from the state of Bihar, in Northern India, taken against their will and enslaved by the British Empire. That has made the tracing of our family’s history extremely difficult, but it also instilled in me a lifelong interest in English language education in India. I have summarized below some of the main points I presented in my closing plenary.

Language and Languages in India

David Graddol writes, in his 130-page British Council report English Next, India: The Future of English in India (2010), “the place of English in India cannot be understood without simultaneously understanding both the local detail and the bigger national picture” (p. 10). But with a population of more than 1.2 billion people, living in a country of more than three million square kilometers (1.2 million square miles) the sheer scale and tremendous diversity of India can be somewhat overwhelming. Therefore, summing up such a vast place and space can be extremely difficult, if not impossible.

Nonetheless, the UCLA professor Stanley Wolpert, who has been visiting India for more than 50 years, captured the essence of India with a poetic clarity and conciseness. In the 1992 first edition of his book India, Wolpert wrote that “in many ways India is more truly a state of mind than a national body, even as Indic Civilization has endured for more than 4,000 years as an empire of ideas rather than as territorial boundaries” (p. 2). In relation to languages and linguistics, Wolpert writes that “India is a learning laboratory for linguists,” and in relation to culture, “Indians have demonstrated greater cultural stamina than any other people on earth, with the exception of the Chinese” (p. 2).

One of the things that make India “a learning laboratory for linguists” is the fact that there are so many languages and dialects spoken there. The censuses carried out in 1961 and 1991 recognized more than 1,500 languages and dialects. The numbers appear to fluctuate, in part depending on how “language” and “dialect” are defined. But according to the most recent census for which results are available, which was carried out in 2001, approximately 30 languages are spoken by more than one million native speakers, 60 languages are spoken by more than 100,000 native speakers, and more than 120 languages are spoken by at least 10,000 native speakers. Other estimates, such as those calculated by the Anthropological Survey of India, count between 300 and 400 distinct languages.

The Impact of English on the Construction of “Culture” in India

In a brief but important early article in TESOL Journal titled “Paying Attention to Inter- in Intercultural Communication,” Kumaravadivelu (2002), who was born in Tamil Nadu, stated that, “clearly, intercultural communication involves interaction between languages, between cultures, between people. It is the true meaning of inter that is the most crucial aspect of intercultural communication” (p. 3). Kumaravadivelu also commented on what he referred to as the “one-sided” construction of culture: “Any cultural construct that is based on interpretations of only one side of the cultural spectrum will remain unprincipled and uninformed for the simple reason that one-sided interpretations can lead only to narrow versions of cultural reality” (p. 3).

Kumaravadivelu was critical of accounts of a culture being written mainly or only by writers who are outside the culture they are writing about:

Consequently, the mainstream literature on culture and its impact on learning, teaching, and communication can be considered useful and usable only if it is augmented with literature written from nonmainstream perspectives as well. Until that happens, the field of intercultural communication is likely to remain a field of miscommunication, at worst, and partial communication, at best. (p. 3)

Fortunately, in terms of addressing that particular concern of Kumaravadivelu, the proceedings for the conference in Tamil Nadu were published immediately before the conference and copies distributed at a closing ceremony. Consequently, I was able to refer to the most recent writings of local, “nonmainstream” presenters in my closing plenary, including Nussaratunnisa Begum’s (2013) paper, titled “The Rise of English and Its Effects on the Diverse Cultures of India” (pp. 210–215). Begum argues that the complexity of the cultural and linguistic situation in India is beyond the dualistic and dichotomous confines of right or wrong and good or bad, saying that “the invasion of the British has, on the whole, impacted the Indian culture to a huge extent. The arguable impact has been both positive and negative” (p. 215).

In her paper on culture and identity in the north east of India, Ruth Hauzel (2013) also picked up on this theme of the complex and contradictory relationships between British and Indian cultures and languages, specifically in relation to the impact of English on what she refers to as “tribal languages.” For example, she notes that “after the introduction of modern education, the significance of English as a language of development and growth was felt very strongly among the hill tribes. Education to a certain extent became synonymous with speaking English” (p. 100).

English as a Form of Resistance in India

For me, one of the most important things I learned about English in India was, in fact, the opposite of some of the concerns expressed above, about the potentially negative impact of English on Indian languages and cultures. For example, “An ‘English Goddess’ for India’s Downtrodden” is the title of the BBC online news report by Geeta Pandey, reporting from Banka Village, in Uttar Pradesh, a state in northern India, in February 2011. According to Pandey,

A new goddess has recently been born in India. She's the Dalit Goddess of English. The Dalit (formerly untouchable) community is building a temple in Banka Village in the northern Indian state of Uttar Pradesh to worship the Goddess of the English language, which they believe will help them climb up the social and economic ladder. (Para. 1–2)

The word Dalit can be literally translated as “broken” or “oppressed,” and it is used to refer to people who are outside the traditional four-part Hindu caste system, which assigns individuals positions within a hierarchy according to Hindu beliefs. There are approximately 200 million Dalits in India, which is more than 16% of the population. However, Dalits have always been on the lowest rung of the hierarchical ladder—‘the unclean’—and as a result they have faced widespread and open discrimination. There are many subcastes within the Dalit community, the lowest of the low being a group who are traditionally responsible for digging graves, disposing of dead animals, and clearing away human excrement.

However, things appear to be slowly changing for the Dalit, and learning English is becoming a key factor in these changes, according to Chandra Bhan Prasad, a Dalit writer who created the idea of the “Goddess of English.” In Prasad’s interview with Pandey, Prasad described the Goddess of English as “the symbol of Dalit renaissance.” As Pandey explained, “although the caste system was abolished when India gained independence in 1947, prejudices still remain, keeping the Dalits marginalised” (Pandey, 2011, para. 8).

In relation to education, Pandey (2011) goes on to explain that

Even today in many rural schools, campaigners say Dalit children are not welcome—they are often made to sit and eat separately. And this is reflected in the literacy rate for the community, which at below 55% is almost 10% lower than average Indian literacy rates. (Para. 10–11)

Both David Graddol and Chandra Prasad point out that learning English is seen as important in cities in India and somewhat important in some of the smaller towns learning English, but in the villages, learning English is not seen as important. So, Prasad came up with the idea of building a temple to the “Goddess of India” as a way of encouraging Dalit people in Banka Village, in Uttar Pradesh, and elsewhere across India, to learn English.

In this way, Prasad and others believe, members of the Dalit community, especially younger members, will be able to greatly improve their educational and employment prospects. As Pandey put it, “For the Dalits of Banka Village, English is the only means their children have for escaping grinding poverty” (2011, para. 25). Pandey also reported that “the English goddess has generated a lot of excitement—women here can be heard singing Jai Angrezi Devi Maiyaa Ki (Long Live the Mother Goddess of English)” (para 17).

Pandey concludes her report with a paraphrase of some of the words from Prasad:

He says with the blessings of Goddess English, Dalit children will not grow to serve landlords or skin dead animals or clean drains or raise pigs and buffaloes. They will grow into adjudicators and become employers and benefactors. Then the roar of the Dalits, he says, will be heard by one and all. (2011, para. 31–33)

Conclusions

In the British Council report on The Future of English in India (2010), Graddol lists twelve “Main Conclusions,” some of which I concur with based on my (albeit limited) time in India and the research I carried out for my closing plenary at the conference. One of the manifestations and ongoing influences of the caste system in India is that societal status is determined by fate and cannot be changed. Related to that system, I proposed that those kinds of concerns with status in India are one of the reasons that English is still so highly prized as a high-status marker today, more than 65 years after the British government reluctantly relinquished control of India in 1947. That relates to Graddol’s first main conclusion: “A major shift in the status of English in India is now under way in India. English will be used by more people, for more purposes than ever before” (2010, p. 14). Graddol notes that there are three sets of reasons driving the growth and development of English in India: education, employment, and social mobility. Graddol also concludes that “English is a casualty of a wider problem in Indian education,” in relation to “very low levels of academic achievement” in both government and private schools (p. 14).

That is partly the result of what Graddol refers to as “a huge shortage of English teachers who can implement English programs” (p. 14). Graddol also identifies English medium education as one of the causes of educational failure in India because teaching children in a target language, in this case English, does not necessarily result in the acquisition of that language. Graddol therefore warns that “a hasty shift to English medium without appropriate teaching of the language causes educational failure. Sustained education in, and development of, the mother tongue remains important” (p. 14).

Assuming that Graddol’s (2010) point about the importance of L1 education is correct, the question remains of how to implement English language education policies on such a large geographic, cultural, and linguistic scale, with such great diversity. To do that, the development of “mother tongue” languages could play an important—and even essential—role. Furthermore, although great diversity leads to great challenges, I agree with Graddol’s point that “India’s language diversity is an important future resource” and that “schools need to focus on language development in all languages, including lesser used languages and minority languages” (p. 15). Given the postcolonial positioning of English in the world today, it is perhaps somewhat ironic that the future of English in India may to a large extent depend on the growth and development of the first languages and dialects of India.

I would like to conclude with a note of thanks to Dr K. Ganesh, the conference coordinator at Madras Christian College, and Dr. Stephen Jebanesan, the head of the Department of English at Madras Christian College. I am grateful to them for inviting me to give the closing plenary, and for the opportunity to reconnect with my linguistic and cultural roots, after far too long away. I am also very grateful to Dr. Dwight Atkinson, at Indiana University, for his invitation to join him at Madras Christian College. Dr. Atkinson, who gave the opening plenary at the conference, has been working with the Dalit community in India for many years and researching how learning English can help them.

References

ANSI. (2013). Anthropological Survey Department of the Government of India. http://www.ansi.gov.in/

Begum, N. (2013). The rise of English and its effects on the diverse cultures of India. In S.S. Jebanesan (Ed.), Global dimensions of English: English language teaching in the context of a globalised world (pp. 210–215). Chennai, India: Madras Christian College.

CensusIndia (2013). Census Department of the Government of India. http://censusindia.gov.in/

Graddol, D (2010). English Next, India: The future of English in India. London, England: British Council. Retrieved from http://www.britishcouncil.org/learning-english-next-india-2010-book.pdf

Hauzel, R. Z. (2013). Culture and identity in the north east: Its implications for a language classroom. In S.S. Jebanesan (Ed.), Global dimensions of English: English language teaching in the context of a globalised world (pp. 96–104). Chennai, India: Madras Christian College.

Kumaravadivelu, B. (2002). Paying attention to “inter-” in intercultural communication. TESOL Journal, 11(1), 3–4.

Pandey, G. (2011, February 14). An “English goddess” for India’s down-trodden. BBC World News. Retrieved from http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-12355740

Wolpert, S. (1992). India. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.

Andy Curtis received his MA in applied linguistics and his PhD in international education, both from the University of York in England. He served on the TESOL Board of Directors from 2007 to 2010, and he writes a biweekly TESOL blog about teaching and learning online.