Pedagogy of English

Book excerpt: The present book 'Pedagogy of English' is designed to cater to the needs of the B.Ed students studying English as a pedagogical subject across various Universities in the world, especially in India. Teaching of English effectively goes with an intense passion for teaching where professional competence and professional ethics are of vital importance. English is taught as a foreign language in some countries of the world and as a second language in the countries like India. People have easily adapted the western style in dress, food habits and some of the cultural attributes of the English people. But with regard to using the language English for communication purposes both in personal and professional life; the Indians feel it very difficult. Many a time the people are able to understand the English spoken by other people, but find it very difficult to respond in English. The reason for this handicap is that no Indian school teaches English in a formal manner, but functional English alone is taught. Furthermore the Indian students have less exposure to English communication environment. School is the only place where the students have the opportunity to get exposed to learn English. Even at schools only one period of 45 minutes is allocated for teaching of English, which is not sufficient to learn a rich foreign language like English. Added to this, the major number of parents especially in rural areas do not know English and not in a position to help their kids in learning English at their respective homes. Even at school final examinations, writing skill of students are alone evaluated. Importance to other language skills namely listening, speaking and reading is completely ignored. Hence the students even after acquiring so many degrees and diplomas are not able to find a suitable employment because of their lack of sufficient skill in communicative English. The English teachers have to explore new innovative techniques, strategies, approaches and methods using electronic gadgets in their day to day class room teaching. The present book come to the rescue of the teachers to become a great master in teaching of English as it has exhaustively covered all areas to become a perfect and efficient English teacher. The book covers in its content aims and objectives of English, planning for teaching of English, various pedagogical skills for teaching of English, methods and approaches that can be used to make teaching of English more effective, methods to teach Prose, Poem, Grammar and Composition, Testing and evaluation in an English classrooms and different kinds of teaching learning materials to make English learning more interesting. Through a long persistent practical experience, it has been ascertained that the young English prospective teachers experience difficulties while learning English as a Pedagogy Subject. This book is a sincere attempt to provide the primary rules of teaching English to all teacher trainees in a very lucid form irrespective of their socio-economic background. Besides teacher trainees, practicing teachers and others who use English Language for day to day communications may also use this book as a quick reference and getting their doubts cleared.English is taught in Indian schools as a second language and acquiring teaching skills in teaching the language requires meticulous planning, hard work and perseverance, beside an intense passion for teaching of English. English is a skill subject and regular practice in various skills of the language namely, listening, speaking, reading and writing and everyday exposure to the language can be the most effective strategy to master the language in its various skills. As such, the present book is written in such a way that any English language lover can easily become more attracted to learning of English and become masters by applying the concepts stated in the book in a systematic way.