Why make so much fuss about English Language? Recently, the method of teaching English and the results produced by our Mauritian students have been questioned. We should go about finding the cause of this poor performance. Instead of coming up with new theories to solve this problem, we must try to investigate what is wrong with our method of teaching. Applying theories taught at the MIE is not called teaching. Each classroom situation is different. We should not generalize. Some of our students do not find comprehension passages easy to attempt. Vocabulary can be a problem for others. Essay writing is another component, which students find most difficult to tackle as they are on their own.

So, each component of the English paper should be treated very carefully by teachers. This should be done as from primary level. Form I pupils are at a complete loss when they go to secondary schools. Much work should be done at primary level as it is believed that, at such an age, students learn better. It is also important that teachers develop in those students a liking for the subject. This is considered to be a very important factor in teaching.

Grammar is very important. Without proper grammar, writing is impossible. The problem in essay writing is the wrong usage of grammar. Verb tenses are incorrect, proper relative pronouns, articles and conjunctions are not used properly. As well as that, we have faulty sentence construction and incomplete sentences. Much practice is needed in essay writing. Teachers should also try to teach grammar in Form V, if they feel that their students are not good at it. By identifying their students’ problems, teachers should come up with solutions.

On the same lines, another problem, which students encounter at Form V level, is that they are not able to choose a proper essay topic. Sometimes, it is unbelievable to find that a brilliant student has failed in English at SC level. Choice of topics is very important. Here also students have preferences. Some students like argumentative essays, some narrative and others descriptive. Teachers should take this into consideration and should encourage pupils to do maximum practice in each type of essay. Doing an essay each week will benefit our candidates. We can see that there is a lack of essay writing in most secondary schools. Teachers find it tiring to correct summaries and essays each week but this should change.

Summary writing is that scoring part where our students lose marks. They do not understand the summary question and they just copy whatever they want from the passage. Summary writing carries more marks that comprehension questions. There are some cases where students do not attempt the question. Here also, there is a lack of practice. Students should be encouraged to write summaries from an early stage – as early as in Form I. In many schools summary writing is introduced only in Form IV. Consequently, our students do not have much time to learn the concepts of summary writing and to practise.

Oral English has been integrated into the English paper. Earlier this was not given much importance and we could find many students who had good credits in English but speaking the language was a big problem for them. But, now it is different; students and teachers are making great efforts to overcome problems, which students have in Oral English. Again, Oral English too should be introduced in Form I. There are schools where this has been done for a long time. Oral examinations are being held as if they were Cambridge examinations. This is a very good practice and it has also been helping many students to overcome their fears at Cambridge O-Level exams, compared to other schools where oral work is introduced in Form IV or even in Form V.

Exposure to the language is another important factor but what is the use of such exposure where students are just listening to but not understanding the language. We should understand that English is a foreign language; students do not use the language at home and not even with friends. So, there should be meaningful exposure to the language. Teachers can use computers as teaching aids or even television to make the teaching environment different. As far as possible, teachers should not use their mother tongue in the classroom. Situational dialogues can be created in class where all students will make use of the language. Learning the language should also be fun. Eventually this would create interest on the part of the students.

There are many strategies, which the school management or teachers themselves can apply in their classrooms. Of course, each school and each classroom has its own constraints but we should work for the benefit of our students. The future of our students lies in our hands. If we are having poor results in English, we can say that teachers are to be blamed to some extent. The government should provide incentives to schools. The MIE should come up with methods where students can be motivated to use English language. If our mother tongue becomes the teaching language in our schools, we can predict the English results of our students. We really have a very hard task ahead. Good luck to our students and teachers!

<B>Shavila DHORBUL</B>