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English language syndrome
English language, the only ethnically neutral language in Mauritius, is used as a medium for classroom education though scaffolded by French and Creole as and when the need arises. Through it students get access to a wide variety of technical, vocational and professional knowledge. In a pluri-linguistic milieu like Mauritius, the choice of a neutral language though a linguistic alien, has been a wise government decision seen the dominant role English plays in world affairs and the InfoTech world. It is used both for nation building and pedagogical efficiency as ours is a Cambridge-London based examination from form V to form VI. Classroom education be it maths, business, economics, chemistry and so on, depend on in and that involves pretty good understanding of the language. Consequently we must take note of the falling standards in English.
This downscale trend is usually ascribed to the mismatch of its role and objectives. It has been British colonial policy to promote academic use of English in all colonies. Today English is the password to the elite of all leading capitals of the world. Research work and publicity at global level are invariably in English. The USA by her massive research work in a variety of fields in English, has given value added boost to the language.
By a bilingual capitulation treaty in 1810, the inhabitants of Mauritius were allowed to retain their language, religion, customs and ethos. But in July 1847, the Supreme Court decreed the English language as compulsory. However, the French plantocrats stood against it. And as a result, it means English never become a medium of communication.
Severe language infirmity</B>
In colonized areas Britain imposed English for administration, class structure, elite culture and management of its scattered coal based harbour centred empire. As a pedagogical instrument English acted and acts as a filter to higher education, status, employment and economic prosperity. Our students who are labouring under a severe language infirmity to express their views in a foreign language, practically absent in their social, economic, cultural and political life, have to secure a good credit at SC level. Worse still, English is tested as a first language by comparison with standard British English.
In Mauritius English is used in parliament, the judiciary and administration. It has consequently an institutional role rather than a social one. The students have access to English within the classrooms with all its distortions, omissions and inconsistencies. In this way English as a tool of pedagogy is halting. Logically as English is the medium of teaching, to succeed a beginner, as a precondition, should have a working knowledge of the language. Unfortunately only a limited few and that too within our social elite inherits such linguistic and social capital. The teacher should have the correct skill, correct accent and a mastery of the language itself.
In Mauritius the learner is exposed to various languages and dialects. Since the individual learns several languages simultaneously he/she picks up faulty constructions due to interferences of other languages. The role of the English language must be clarified. Recourse to Creole could help students less exposed to English at a certain level but translation itself poses further problems in the minds of young children. Inevitably the elites will be ahead as a result of the natural linguistic apartheid.
<B>Yoonoos PEERBOCUS</B>
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