English Language Teaching in its Social Context

214 A. SURESH CANAGARAJAHconducted in a strictly goal-oriented manner (see Unit 2d), whereasTamil discourse valuesthe “digression” and indirection typical of oral communities.The values that emerge throughthe situations arc not hard to decipher, such as upward social mobility and consumerism(4d).The work ethic (1 2a) and routine of factory life (1 3a) are prcscnted positively, whereasstrikes and demonstrations (Sa) and the lifestyle of blacks (in the story of Jane and herboyfriends) are not. The potential of the textbook to influence students with certaindominant values of U.S. society is subtly effective because AKZ disarms its users bypresenting language learning as a value-free, instrumental activity.The classThe class consisted of 13 female and 9 male nativeTamil students, of whom 3 were RomanCatholics and the rest Hindus. These students had failed the initial placement test in Englishand fared among the worst among the new entrants for that academic year. They wcrcenrolled in a range of subjects related to the humanities and social sciences besides themandatory ESOL. A majority of these students were from rural communities and from thepoorest economic groups. Except for 4 students whose parents were in clerical or teachingprofessions (thus earning the relatively decent sum of 1000 rupees, or USS2S a month!),the other parents did not have steady jobs or salaries. In the latter group, some were tenantfarmers, and others wcrc seasonal casual laborcrs.The families of the students had also hadlimited education. Only one student’s parents had proceeded beyond Grade 1 O.The parentsof 5 others had not completed an elementary school education.Furthermore, the students came from backgrounds in which English held limitedcurrency. Only 8 students said their parents had managcd to study some elementary Englishin school. Of these, 3 reported that their parents might listen to English programs on themultilingual television or radio. Five reported that their parents could be expected to uttersome English words if they encountered foreigners or if need arose in their workplace. Noneof them could read or write English. Considering the students themselves, although 18 hadsat for the Grade 10 English language test, only 10 had managed to score a simple pass (i.e.,a grade of 40%). Three students reported that they had read English newspapershooks orseen English films ~ although they could not remember the titles of any. Fourteen reportedthat they might occasionally switch on some English programs on radio or television. Thesame number said they might code-mix English with friends or when they needed a linklanguage.Contextualizing classroom lifePrecourse determinationWhen the university reopened belatedly for the academic year, it was after much doubt asto whether it would continue to function at all because renewed hostilities between theSinhala govcrnmcnt andTamil nationalists had brought life to a standstill in theTamil region.Yet students trickled in from jungles where they had taken refuge from the fighting ~ insome cases, trckking hundreds of miles by foot. In a country where only a small percentageof all those who annually qualify for tertiary education do get admission, the students valuedtheir university degrees sufficiently to turn up for classes. As a grim reminder of the violenceand tension that would continue to loom behind thcir studies, government fighter jetsscreamed overhead and bombed the vicinity ofthc university while the students were takingthe English placement test during the opening week of classes.