The fault In Our Classrooms

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Language is often taught to children in an unimaginative and inadequate ways throughout the classrooms in India and I believe that it one of the most striking issues that Indian Education System is facing today. From my practical experience in various private schools, govt. schools, tribal schools, I have observed that most of the children are not able to internalize and apply the basic concepts of Math and science.

The focus of early language and literacy in these classrooms is only limited to the mechanical transfer of script knowledge to children- the endless presentation of aksharas, their combination to form words, phrases, sentences and finally passages. I have usually observed teachers practicing typically two kinds of strategies in the classroom:-
> Asking children to copy write the words or aksharas or “answers” from the board
> Or the teacher sometimes dictate the answers to the students.
In such a scenario there’s hardly any room for meaningful discussions and conversations. Reading and writing are taught and learned without a sense of relevance or connect between the word and the world of the child. (Friere & Macedo, 1987).  

What does it mean to be a literate individual? If the goal of the education system is to teach children sign their names or teach them to read and write basic texts with accuracy then perhaps we can continue to do so by teaching children mainly aksharas, word, sentence and passage reading as described earlier. And stop there. But it is possible for some of us to have an expanded vision where we would not want people to learn the script in minimalistic ways, but we’d like them to understand what they’re reading and writing, and make them realize its relevance in their lives. We’d like them to use, critique and navigate written words effectively. This is my idea of what it means to educate a literate individual for our society. Hence, keeping this vision in mind the use of children’s literature books in the classroom doesn’t become optional but central to the curriculum. Higher-order thinking skills, comprehension, writing for a purpose, nuanced understandings of the vocabulary and syntax are all related to rich exposure, wide reading and deep engagement with the literate discourses.

Currently, I have seen and observed that most of the classrooms are dominated by textbooks and worksheets. Many of these materials carry an implicit assumption that children aren’t capable enough to think about complex issues and therefore they must just be limited to mastering the script, learning small rhymes and reading small passages which they rarely identify to or find them relevant to their daily lives. If children’s literature is brought into the classroom, teacher and children alike can have meaningful discussions around the topics which children can resonate with e.g. Friendship, family, life, loss, human-animal relationship etc.) The educators will also get the opportunity to introduce topics of societal and cultural relevance to the children which they can connect with or which they might not have thought on their own. This will also acquaint the children with some aesthetic sensibilities of language use, metaphors, art in the picture books, language play etc. It also gives enough space to consider, which kind of narration they find more effective? How does the style of writing changes across genres? And so on. These kind of opportunities help develop skills, attitudes and knowledge bases in children that act as a fulcrum in expanding the vision of literacy that aims to develop individuals who are capable enough to critique, navigate and use the written words effectively.

 

Learning to read? Or reading to learn? these two questions have been bothering me since many years and are still revolving around the dark point of stillness. After reflecting on it for days and months, I figured that there cannot be any distinction between these two because “Learning to read” will always result in “reading to learn”. There is no separation between the two. When a child enters school for the first time especially the first generation school-goer, he/she has to learn not just the mechanics but also values, literate attitudes, knowledge and skills. Why should the small child invest so many hours of his life in mastering the written word? What relevance does it hold to his/her life? All this a part of “learning to read” is a part of “learning to become a reader” and developing a literate identity. I feel that well-chosen and well used literature can help children establish connect between the written word and the written world. This will help children extensively in figuring out the various styles and types of narratives. This will also help them understand how the language can be used in a variety of ways for a variety of purposes. This will help the children to develop “Concepts of Print”, How to hold a book, where to begin reading, which direction the print moves in etc. all of this is constituent of “learning to read”, which is extensively supported by the literature. And similarly it’ll also include “Reading to learn”, about societies, cultures, people, places etc. What will it Not include is- learning to decode the script. Mastering the script is very important part of a language and literacy curriculum. 

I read about the “Block” approach in one of my pedagogy classes where the teachers can follow to plan their language class. The teachers here can dedicate some amount of time teaching children to master the script. To give students practice with reading connected texts for which they can use small, easy readers. However the teacher must not try to use literature to teach script level knowledge as it will obstruct the process of mastering the script and the literatures quality will also go down.

Lastly, I’d just like to suggest few simple solutions which I think are suitable to the problem being discussed in this write up-

Reading Aloud – Talking is often discouraged in the Indian classrooms. As against this, research suggests that classroom is a great place for sharing ideas and productive TALK around books and several other topics that in turn create conditions for children to develop their oral language. Through read aloud the teacher also demonstrates how a good reader reads texts, with expressions and voice modulations, re-reading when confused, looking ahead or trying to predict what is going to happen next etc.

Literature Discussions- It is very important to set aside some time for the literary discussion to happen. This activity will help develop appreciation for literature. The teacher may try to relate the text and form a connect to child’s life. Also she/he may also help him analyse, critique or ask the child to respond to the text in a number of ways. Children can respond to the text through art, drama or early invented writing attempts.

Writing – Currently educators only teach children to copy-write, form and spell aksharas perfectly.  I think we would need to incorporate “Guided writing” where the teacher can expose them to good writing models and they must also try to free them from the burden of making spelling mistakes etc.