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CHAPTER - 1
INTRODUCTION
Language is the indispensable mean by which we
express and record our thoughts. Language is our role means of
conveying abstract concepts, keeping record, writing laws,
making contractual agreement and engaging in many other acts
wherein we state or record ideas. Language therefore is the
basis upon which society functions. Without language, we
would have no modern civilization characterized by such
complex developments as science and technology, legal
procedure and literature- because we would have no precise
way to express and record of ideas involved. Neither would we
have any effective means of pooling our knowledge for future
generations. Owens (1996) defines language as ―a socially
shared code or conditional system for repressing concepts
through the use of arbitrary symbols and rule governed
combinations of those symbols‖. Language is constructed by a
society to serve its purposes. Language is a vehicle for
transmitting cultural heritage which embraces everything
created by man, all inventions and modifications of nature
made by man, all behavioral characteristics, intuitions
established to serves human beings, and non material elements
like human knowledge, desire, expectations, ambitions,
aspirations and visions. Phonological, morphological,
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syntactical, semantic and pragmatic knowledge are the major
components of knowledge of language.
The Well- known function of language is that of checking
tools with which to think. The Man considering the purchase of
a home, for instance, uses language as symbols for the ideas
upon which he bases his deliberation. Thus, language is used
more often than anything else to delimit cultural boundaries.
Language is not a given trait rather it is acquired. In this sense
human beings are not considered civilized until and unless they
know the language and therefore the enormity and intensity of
language growth occupy a dominant place in the realm of
human relations and social discourse. Language is also an
abstract system of word meaning and symbols for all aspects of
culture. It includes speech, written character numerals,
symbols and gesture of non- verbal communication.
Another way to understand this influence is to think of
language as a series of groove formed by one‘s linguistic habits.
As one reflects on a situation, his thought move through the
groove created by his language. Thus his language helps to
guide his thoughts.
Language supplies many of the tools with which we
remember. As man cogitates, he recalls many facts through
language. He remembers times in terms of linguistic
descriptions (for example Sunday, December 7, 1941) He
remembers money in terms of memorial significance (as $ 2500)
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He remembers his scholastic success in terms of his standing
in his class (fourth in a class of 125).
The well known functions of language are─
1. The role of language in arousing and releasing
emotions.
2. The role of language as unifying social force, and
3. The role of language in achieving social status.
The most important single influence on a language is the
linguistic needs of the society it serves. This statement rests on
a simple truism: a language must supply a name for every
object, every action, and every other phase of the life known to
the people it serves and it must possess structure, inflection,
and other characteristics necessary to express thoughts
adequately.
The role of linguistic needs as an influence on language is
likely to continue. Unless society is to become
incomprehensibly static, needs will continue to arise daily, and
every need will occasion a change in language, as words are
added, established words are given new meaning other means
(like structural changes) are involved to cover the new
situation. Also as needs disappear from society words and
expression will become obsolete, there by affecting changes in
languages.
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NATURE OF LANGUAGE:
The word language has its origin in the Latin word
―lingua‖ meaning ‗which is produced with the tongue‘. Human
language is transmitted from one individual to another not by
physical inheritance but by learned. The term language has
been defined in various ways. According to Sapir (1921), ―The
language is a purely human and non-instructive method of
communicating ideas, emotions, and desires by means of a
system of voluntarily produced symbols‖.
In another view, the language is a system of arbitrary
vocal symbols by which thought is conveyed from one human
being to another. (Hughes, John.P1962).
Those who are seriously interested in the health and
vitality of the intellectual and cultural life of the nation regards
language as the soul of the nation. Language is not merely the
medium of instruction at all levels of education; it is the
medium of growth. It provides capacity for preservation and
communication of intellectual life. At higher level, language
provides the medium of free and fresh thinking and research.
As such language plays a very important role in directing and
controlling fresh thinking in all walks of life. Some people would
like to define language as speech symbols being used in
communication of ideas.
Language is such expression and communication to or from
human beings by means of speech and hearing, the sounds
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uttered or heard, being so combined in systems involved,
conventionalized and recognized by common usage in a given
community that they are mutually intelligible to all,
approximately normal members thereof.
The process is mainly imitative and wholly conscious
under normal condition. The act of imitating the elder, when
frequently repeated, takes the form of habit. But child imitative
and habitual acts are not wholly reproductive. He constructs
his own structure and sentence though grammatically wrong,
and coins his own word and phrases to explain new situations.
Yet before long, without the knowledge of grammar he learns to
speak correct sentences and without the use of dictionary he
acquires right meaning of words. He may learn to speak
incorrectly because of the defective models of speech in family,
but the meaning of words he acquires is as a rule correct.
Under special demands it becomes a conscious process.
The history of the development of language of the race
is the history of the growth of intelligence. Man‘s superiority
over other animals is mainly due to language. Speech is
essentially a human faculty. It is extremely complicated mental
phenomenon, involving not merely the functioning of neuro-
motor apparatus for uttering meaningful sounds (-i.e., vocal
symbols for thing and actions; the auditory recognition of the
spoken words of speech symbols; the interpretation of visual
impressions including sign, pictorial or graphical symbols,
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gestures etc.) but also an elaborate mental mechanism of
associations, which make human language.
Language is to the intellect what body is the soul.
Growth is the characteristic of life. Growth takes place by
means of habit formation. So the intellectual growth is shaped
by the language habit from the very beginning when the child
depends upon the mother, father, teacher and society for the
formation of such habits.
Language is the essential requirement of all human co-
operative work. Speech is the instrument of society. It is used
not only for giving and receiving information but also for joining
man to man by way of greetings, conversation and discussion.
As Pattanayak (1981) said, ―If participatory democracy has to
survive, we need to give a voice to the language of every child.‘‘
The aim of language teacher is to seek action which
gives rise to speech. The purpose of language teacher is to train
in speech. Social action fertilizes the ground in which abilities
and skill connected with speech is developed. The language
teacher not only makes his pupils think and feel but he teaches
them to act as well. He teaches the four art, the four skills-
speaking, reading, writing and comprehension.
Language is a structured system of arbitrary vocal
sounds and sequences of sounds which is used, or can be
used, in interpersonal communication by an aggregation of
human beings, and which rather exhaustively catalogs the
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things, events and processes in the human environments.
(John, B. Carole, 1961)
The nature of language can be categorized more clearly in
the following six points:
LANGUAGE IS LEARNED
The child knows no language and he learns it over a long
period of time. He begins learning of language by making
various isolated sound like ma-ma- pa-pa etc. Finally he
acquires the speech sounds of his group by imitation. He also
learns grammatical construction of the language by limitation.
LANGUAGE IS A SYSTEM
Just as various system of our body (e.g. heart, lungs, hands,
eyes etc) though different yet work in co-ordination, similarly
system of language function through sounds, words and
structures.
ARBITRARINESS OF LANGUAGE
It is not essential to have any relationship between the word
and the object for which it is spoken. We use different words for
the same object in different language e.g. book in English,
‗Pustak‘ or ‗Kitab‘ in Hindi etc.
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LANGUAGE SYMBOLS ARE VOCAL
All the words are produced with the help of tongue.
LANGUAGE IS BASED ON COMMON CULTURE EXPERIENCE
Human language transmitted from one individual to another
not by physical inheritance, but by learning.
LANGUAGE CHANGES
Every language is a living language. The language is
constantly changing and developing according to the need of
the speaker.
Language has important role in the human life. Its
scientific study is necessary. The scientific study of language is
described as linguistics. Several psychologists have discussed
the development of linguistics. Language is a range of
possibilities, an open ended set of options in behaviour that are
available to the individual in his existence as social man. The
context of culture is the environment of any particular selection
that is made from within them.
LINUGISTICS AS A SCIENCE
Linguistics is a science. It deals with a specific body of material,
namely spoken and written language, and that it process by
operations that can be publicly communicated and described
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and justified by reference to stable principles and to a theory
capable of formulation. Its purpose is the analysis of the
material and the making of general statement that summarize,
and as far as possible relate to rules and regularities, the
infinite variety of phenomena (Utterance in speech and writing)
that fall within its scope. It is an empirical science in that its
subject matter is observable with the senses, speech as heard,
the movements of the vocal organs to seen directly or with the
aid of instruments, the sensations of speaking as perceived by
speaker and writing as seen and read.
Linguistics includes studies which are descriptions of one
particular language or even of a one particular part of a
language. Linguistics is a science and adopts scientific methods
of procedure. It can hardly be called a physical science because
language, the object of its study, is not purely physical, various
aspects of language cannot be measured with the same
precision that purely physical phenomena can. As language is
an element of human behavior, linguistic can be regarded as
one of the social or behavioral sciences.
Indeed among all branches of knowledge linguistics is in a
special position. Linguistics differs from other studies in that it
both uses language and has language as its subject matter.
Since every branch of knowledge makes use of language,
linguistics may, in some respect, be said to lie at the centre of
them all, of being the study of the tool that they must use.
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Language is a system of systems. These systems are –
phonology, morphology, semantics and syntax. The part of
linguistics that deals with the material of speech itself is called
phonetics it is immediately concerned with the organ of speech
and the movements of articulation and more widely with the
physics of sound transmission and the physiology of hearing,
and ultimately with the neurological process involved both in
speaking and hearing.
In order to fulfill their symbolizing and communicative
functions, languages must organize the available noises that
can be produced by the vocal organs into recurrent bits and
arranged in recurrent patterns. This formal patterning and an
arrangement in languages is studied at the levels of phonology
and grammar. Phonology is concerned with the patterns and
organization of languages in terms of the phonetic features and
categories involved and grammar is concerned with the
patterns and arrangements of units established and organized
on criteria other than those referable to phonetic features
alone.
Meaning is an attribute not only of language but of all sign
and symbol systems, and the study of meaning is called
semantics which, therefore, embraces a wider range than
language alone.
In linguistics, morphology is the identification, analysis
and description of the structure of morphemes and other units
of meaning in a language like words, affixes, and parts of
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speech and intonation/stress, implied context (words in
a lexicon are the subject matter of lexicology). In this way,
morphology is the branch of linguistics that studies patterns of
word formation within and across languages, and attempts to
formulate rules that model the knowledge of the speakers of
those languages.
Semantic can be recognized as a level of linguistic
description and as a component of linguistic but it is much less
tidily circumscribed field of study than are phonics, phonology
and grammar sentences consist of words. Nevertheless
semantics can be considered from the point of view of word
meaning and from that of sentence meaning. Sentences have
meanings, and a child learns the meaning of many words by
hearing them in other people‘s uttered sentences and practicing
such utterances himself subject to the correction of others and
the test of being understood by those to whom he is talking.
These processes go on all our lives. The syntax in language is
very important.
The branch of grammar that deals with the inner
structure and general characteristics of sentences is called
syntax. The founder of syntax is generally considered to be the
Greek grammarian. Over the course of the development of
linguistic theory, the content and relative significance of syntax
in the description of language have varied. In the early period of
the study of linguistics, syntax was the study of the sentence
and its parts, which were analyzed according to the general
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concepts of logic (the study of the parts of a sentence). Thus,
syntax dealt with the meaning of a sentence, or the semantic
aspect of speech. In contrast, phonetics and morphology
studied the expressive aspect. This approach later led to the
view that syntax was a branch of grammar that examined
linguistic phenomena in terms of their evolution from meaning
(function) to form (Jespersen, J.O. 1954). Since the content of
a sentence was regarded as the subject of syntax, syntax was
sometimes equated with the method of synchronize analysis
and contrasted to the diachronic approach to language
(Potebnia, A.A.1958). Syntax came to be treated as ―the study
of the word in the sentence and of the sentence as a whole‖
(Meshchaninov, I.I. 1945). The syntax of sentences deals with
the types of predicative relations joining the main parts of the
sentence—the subject and predicate. The syntax of sentences is
also concerned with the general characteristics of the sentence:
modality, syntactic tense, and the communicative goal of the
sentence. This area of syntax also includes the study of the
sentences parts.
There are three major parts of general linguistics ─
(i) Descriptive Linguistics
(ii) Historical Linguistics
(iii) Comparative Linguistics
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(I) DESCRIPTIVE LINGUISTICS
Descriptive linguistics as its title suggests, is concerned
with the description and analysis of the ways in which a
languages aspirates and is used by a given set of speakers at a
given time. The many variant forms of pronunciation, grammar
and lexical content that the descriptive linguist records and
describes in a language at a given time may mark the sources
of subsequent historical changes ultimately having far reaching
effect descriptive linguistics is often regarded as major part of
general linguistics. Be that as it may, it is certainly the
fundamental aspect the study of language, as it underlines as
is presupposed by the other two subdivisions, historical
linguistics and comparative linguistics.
(II) HISTORICAL LINGUISTICS
Historical linguistics is the study of the development in
language in the course of time of the ways in which language
change from period to period, and of the causes and results of
such changes, both outside the languages and within them.
(III) COMPARATIVE LINGUISTICS
In comparative linguistics one is concerned with
comparing from one or more points of view two or more
different languages and more generally, with the theory and
techniques applicable to such comparisons. In historical
linguistics the comparison is limited to languages which may be
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regarded as successive stages of the speech of a continuing
speech community differing from one period to another as the
result of the cumulative effect of gradual changes, for the most
part imperceptible within a single generation.
THEORIES RELATED TO LINGUISTICS
There are some theories which contribute to the making
and development of linguistics-
(A) SKINNER’S VERBAL BEHAVIOUR THEORY
Skinner (1957) attempted to explain language without taking
into account any centralistic events such as ideas, meanings
and grammatical rules. The idea is that the first sounds a child
happens to emit can be shaped up by reinforcement to blossom
out into the full range of verbal sounds exhibited by an adult.
Skinner gave a few examples of how verbal responses might
come to be conditioned, responses which he claimed to classify
not because of what they mean, but solely as a function of the
S-R Contingencies involved.
(B) CHOMSKY’S TRANSFORMATIONAL GRAMMAR
LINGUISTIC THEORY
Chomsky’s (1966) view the most important task of linguistic is
to discover the nature of the language learning mechanism that
we are supposed to be born with, if linguistic could tell us
about that, it would undoubtedly give a great boost to efforts to
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teach a foreign language. When he used a term such as
linguistic ―insights‖ he means this kind of plantation, on the
borders of Psychology. This is to say that for all we know
children are born with a kind of linguistic endowment out of
which develops whatever it is that reprints the particular
system of their native language. Sometimes this inborn capacity
seems to be viewed as a capacity for acquiring a language, then
it is referred to as ―language learning device‖.
(C) SEMANTIC MEMORY
Kiss (1969) has devised a model on word associations, that is
the words which people are most likely to produce in response
to other words, kiss has extended this technique to build up a
computerized associative network by taking people‘s word
responses and using them as stimuli to elicit further
associations. For example the original stimulus bull, to which
cow is a common associate, cow in turn elicits herd, which say,
elicits both bull and cow, thus building up an interlocking
network between these words. It would involve a fantastically
uneconomic use of our mental resources to have two separate
semantic systems, one purely for linguistic use and other to
represent our knowledge of the real world.
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(D) MEDIATION THEORY OF MEANING
Osgood‘s theory of meaning will be taken as representative
of conditioning school of thought. The basic idea is to apply the
example of Pavlov and conditioning. The first S-R connection
equivalent to the do‘s original salivation response to food- is a
person‘s overt response. If the sound of the word spider is
repeatedly parried with object spider, the original response to
the object becomes conditioned to the sound of spider. Osgood‘s
account as ‗mediational‘ in that it takes account of the obvious
fact that we don‘t transfer the whole of the original overt
response to the word, we don‘t go around eating the paper on
which the word food is written nor stamping on books which
contain the word spider. (Osgood, C.E., 1971).
(E) INFORMATION THEORY
One of the first attempts to look at the structure of
language was first inspired by information theory. A theory
originally proposed in the field of telecommunications by
Shannon (1949). The basic idea here is that information has
nothing to do with the content of a message but is defined
solely in terms of the amount of uncertainty that introduced. If
an outcome is already fully predictable, there is no uncertainty
about it, therefore, the message send conveys no information,
but if there is some doubt or unpredictability about what the
message will be, then when received it will convey sense
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information. Shannon proposed the following simple model of
how information is transmitted from transmitter to receiver.
CHANNEL
NOISE
(F) GENERATIVE SEMANTICS
Semantic concepts are stored in our memories. But we
would still have the problem of how these concepts are
combined together in sentences to arrive at new meanings. For
example one may know the dictionary meaning of the words in
a foreign language but without knowing how to put them
together to form sentences. This is what the theory known as
generative semantics sets out to do i.e. to generate meaningful
sentences. Generative semantics has concentrated on
describing the meanings which underlie sentences.
The earlier approaches to the study of language
including structuralism and transformational Generative
linguistics were primarily kept out of theirs study the social
TRANSMITTER
RECEIVER
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aspect of language. They were mainly interested in investigation
the formal nature and behaviour of languages. Their main
objective was to study the phonological, morphological and
syntactical aspect of language. While structuralism kept out of
its domain the semantic aspect of language, Noam Chomsky
realized the importance of meaning and regarded it as powerful
tool in a linguistic analysis. Whatever be the approaches, some
skills are basic in language learning.
NATURE OF LINGUISTIC SKILL
Linguistics have unavoidable role in language learning.
There are some basic linguistic skills- reading, writing, listening
and speaking- necessary in all languages. Every individual
attempts to learn and master these skills.
(A) READING SKILL
Reading is a vast subject. The process of reading includes
many psychological as well as physical aspects. When we think
of reading, a question may arise. What is reading ? It is many
things to many people. For many countries since the invention
of movable type, reading has been the major instrument of
mass communication.‖ Boer J.J. and Dallman, M. (1964).
The art of reading can appear to be a more decoding of
the printed signs. Reading is a sensory process. Reading
requires the use of senses, especially vision. The reader must
react visually to the graphic symbols. The symbols must be
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legible, light must be adequate and eyesight must be clear.
Reading is a perceptual process perception means the
interpretation of everything that we sense. Reading occurs
when meaning is brought to the graphic stimuli. Reading is a
response made to the graphic stimuli we give meaning to the
print in the book. The responses include our muscular or vocal
responses made at the sight of the word. Sometimes we
evaluate a book or criticize it; we shower appreciation on the
author. All these are the result of our response to the graphic
stimuli.
(A-1) THE PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT OF READING
In reading, the eyes do not proceed along the line of print
at an even rote, but stop from time to time. The stops are called
fixations we read only during the ‗fixations‘. A good reader does
not look at every letter, nor does he look at every word in turn.
The number of words that a reader can see during our fixation
is called his recognition span. If the reader goes back to the
same reading area of second time, it is called regression when
the recognition span is longer and the regression few the
greater will be the speed of reading. Indeed, good reading habit
promotes self education which helps in the modification of
personality. A good reader is one-
1. Who can read with accuracy.
2. Who can read easily smoothly and fluently.
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3. Who can read intelligently and expressively that is, who can
understand what he has read and who can express what he has
read. This involves reading with proper intonation, rhythm and
stress.
4. Who takes pleasure in reading, He, who takes pleasure, in
reading, develops and un-satiating appetite for reading. The
more he read the hungrier- he grows and qualities for his
entrance to the unbounded field of knowledge.
5. Reading aloud is a helpful exercise for the development of
speech. Silent reading promotes understanding and expression.
In reading we have three stages-
1. The first stage is learning to read.
2. The second stage- at this stage, the pupils ought to know
their readers and how to deal with them.
3. The Third stage- The reading material is used for private
and independent enjoyment and as source of information.
In educational process reading is not enough. To
comprehend and to give meaning to the words is more essential
and desirable. So, the term reading comprehension is
frequently used in researches.
Dewey, John (1938) once maintained that eight years of
age was the best age and was less significant than mental age
in determining reading ability. The age at which a child will
wish to learn to read will depend on his intelligence, his home
and his teachers. The intelligent child from a good home where
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there is a good reading tradition will learn to read quickly. The
intelligent child from a good home which is poor will learn to
read as soon as he realizes the value of being able to do so. The
dull child from a good home will learn to read because he will
come to understand sooner or later that to read will be a
necessity to him.
Many readers are teachers and have found an effective
technique with longer reading passages. It is known as the
SQ3R formula. This formula is an attempt to summarize what a
reader does when reading in his own language. The formula
stands for S-Survey, Q= Question, 3R= Read, Revise and Recite.
Many factors, physical and psychological, affect reading.
Some of the conditions needed by children to make maximum
progress in learning are physical and mental health, abilities of
visual and auditory recognition, intelligence, background of
experience, knowledge of the language, desire to read, purpose
for reading, interest in reading etc. A reasonable measure of
physical health in essentials to all kind of learning.
(B) WRITING SKILL
Writing makes a man exact. It fixes our vocabulary and
sentence patterns. It is the practical side of language learning.
All through our school days we are asked to write exercise and
compositions and notes we answer questions in examination;
as teachers use the blackboard to explain difficulties and pass
on information; we write down things we might otherwise
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forget; we write letters to our friends and relations; We write
business letters and official letters and letters to employers
asking them for jobs. In fact writing is a tool used to enable use
to express what is in our mind and for some people is almost as
important aspects. Sometimes we find some persons whose
faculty of writing surpasses that of speaking. Writing trains
our ears and eyes. We write what we speak or hear; so by
writing, our ears and eyes are trained. It also develops our
memory writing develops individual activity.
One has to pay much attention to writing work as devoted
to speaking and reading. The four linguistic activities may be
compared to the four pillars supporting the magnificent
structure of language. The readiness factors needed for writing
is the integrity of number sensory motor systems. Letter
formation requires the integration of visual motor sensory and
perceptual motor skill that is depended upon the maturation
and integration of a number of cognitive, perceptual and motor
kill which is develop through instruction. It is an academic skill
that allows individuals to express their thought and feelings
and communicate with others. It is a complex process of
handling language by pencil grip, letter formation and body
posture. Writing efficiency requires mastery of multiple skills,
including vision, coordinating the eyes, arms, hands, memory,
posture and body control as well as the task of holding a pencil
and farming letters.
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The question is what are the signs and symptoms the
children with hand writing present?
1. Children may exhibit strong verbal but particularly poor
writing.
2. Random (for non- existent) punctuation.
3. Spelling errors (Sometimes same word spelled differently)
reverse phonic approximations; syllable omissions; errors in
common suffix.
4. Clumsiness and disordering of syntax, an impression of
illiteracy.
5. Disordered numbering and written numbers reversals.
6. Generally illegible writing (despite appropriate time and
attention given the task)
7. Inconsistencies mixtures of print and cursive, upper and
irregular sizes, shapes as slant of letters.
8. Slow or labored copying as writing even if it is neat and
legible.
The skill of hand writing is also referred to as a
‗Graphomotor‘ Skill and includes, visual perceptual,
orthographic coding, Motor planning and execution kinesthetic
feedback and visual motor co-ordination. Good hand writing
has some qualities- easy to read, quickly to write, attractive and
uniformity.
Writing serves learning uniquely because writing as
process and product possesses a cluster of attributes that
correspond uniquely to certain powerful learning strategies,
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higher cognitive function such as analysis and synthesis, seem
to develop must fully only with the support system of virtual
language- particularly it seems of written language. (Emig,
Janet 1977). It is not hard to think of reason why writing may
have unattractive associations for children who are resistant in
either of these two ways.
1. As compared with speech, writing deprives the child of
immediate feedback, seems an artificial rather than a natural
activity, demands greater explicitness and precision and
involves the physical difficulty of manipulating pen and paper.
Writing is slow and hard, compared with talking. Indeed,
learning to avoid writing may often seem less trouble than
actually doing it.
2. School writing is linked with discipline in the punitive sense.
Student teachers with difficult classes are advised to give them
plenty of writing to keep them in order.
3. Writing embodies an enduring record of mistakes,
misunderstanding and embarrassing failures. The exercise
book, with its trail of red ink, is a coherent reminder of lack of
success. The pen cannot be wiped out in the way that spoken
error can be forgotten, writing difficulties can be linked to the
individuals‘ self-image. Tony can talk freely but avoids writing
because it makes him seen intellectually inferior; [Paquette,
J.J. 1981.]
Most students rarely see adults writing, and almost never
see them doing it for pleasure. They will see their teachers
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enjoying talking and reading and this modeling is an important
influence on this own practice. Fair and legible hand writing
makes a man perfect in all walks of life.
Writing has an instrumental value in schools. It is a
means of preserving the knowledge which the pupil had gained
or the judgment he has formed. It serves as a check on his
forgetting useful items of knowledge and ideas. The habit of
making notes of what is read and of summarizing helps the
recollection of what has been studied. So it is essential skill to
learn.
(C) LISTENING SKILL
Listening as a receptive skill has a parallel relationship to
reading and its aural aspect is closely related to speech.
Listening is the first basic skill, and yet researches in this are
very meager. According to Webster‘s Dictionary, to listen means
to gives ear, ‗to give head‘, to hear with attention, to hear
means- to have sense or faculty of perceiving sound. Listening
depends upon hearing and two terms are no synonymous.
Hence cannot be used interchangeably. Again it is also implied
that hearing is a physical phenomenon. Listening is a physical
as well a mental phenomenon, which does not mean that a
person giving full attention will understand the speech or oral
discourse.
Listening is technically known as auding. Listening is
mostly described as the process of nearing recognizing and
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interpreting or comprehending the spoken language. The
listening skill begins to develop from infancy; the child acquires
vocabulary and understanding of the immediate environment in
which he is brought up. As a result of these experiences he is
able to hear, recognize and interpret what he hears in his
immediate environment in fact; all human beings are
dependent upon their ability to listen and observe to derive
direction, information and knowledge till the acquisition of
reading skill. They do continue the avenue of learning
throughout their lives. Thus, listening is a significant medium
of receiving information from the infancy, to grave. Therefore,
listening means the hearing, recognizing and interpreting or
comprehending spoken language. It cannot be replaced by
books.
Duker in ‗Encyclopedia of Educational Research‘
differentiates these two terms in somewhat different way,
―Hearing involves the conversation of pressure of sound waves
into neutral impulses which move into the brain for
interpretation. Listening is the process of interpretation‖.
[Duker Sam, 1969]
Brown D. (1950) suggested the term ‗auding‘ for
listening. Analogous to the definition of reading, he defined
‗Auding‘ as the gross process of hearing, listening to recognizing
and interpreting spoken language. Thus, ‗hearing‘ means
reception of sound waves through ears which is nearly a
physical phenomena while, listening means hearing with
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attention and ‗auding‘ includes hearing, listening processes and
interpretative process.
According to Harrworth, G.L. (1966) it can be presented
as -
Auding = Hearing + Listening + Cognizing
From the view point of the commission on English
curriculum of the National council of Teachers of English
Listening does not include critical examination of spoken
words, while in the practical situation it seem as that the term
listening is not used with a wide connotation. Instead of
Listening the term listening comprehension is widely accepted.
According to Spearitt, D. (1962), there seems little
need to look beyond the term ‗listening comprehension for the
accurate description of the talk involved. He writes, ―Proposed
distinction between listening and auding may be a useful
semantic, distinction, but these appear to be no practical
advantage to be gained by employing the term auding.‖ Thus
‗listening and ‗auding‘ are two distinct terms. While ‗listening
comprehension‘, ‗aural comprehension‘ and ‗auding‘ are
interchangeable.
(C-1) LISTENING COMPREHENSION
Wilkinson (1970) preferred the term listening comprehension.
Comprehension carries the understanding of word or phrase
beyond recognition to the understanding of a word the meaning
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intended by the author. This involves determining the meaning
of the words in their language setting and at the same time
linking the meaning into larger language pattern and fusing
them into a chain of related ideas. Listening involves many
skills which could be summarized as follows.
1. Listen to find the main idea or thought.
2. Listen to select the significant details.
3. Listen to summarize and organize ideas.
4. Listen to arrive at generalization on conclusion.
5. Listen to predict out comes or to draw inferences.
6. Listen to follow direction.
7. Listen to find out the sequence of ideas or points presented.
8. Listen critically to react to what is listened.
A pupil who fail to acquire these skills cannot
comprehend well from what the immediate goal of all listening
is comprehension. Comprehension is thus a complex of skills.
Some consider these skills as the behavioral changes or the
specification of comprehension which are generally expected to
be developed as a result of teaching listening comprehension
the aspect which is most neglected in our primary and as
secondary schools.
An effective listener is one who has developed the ability
to attend thoughtfully to spoken discourse, to grasp the
meaning intend by the speaker and to respond critically to the
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total impact of this talk or address. Therefore listening
comprehension was considered in the present study.
(D) SPEAKING SKILL
The ability to speak a foreign language is without doubt
the most highly prized language skill, and rightly so, because
he who can speak a language well can also understand it and
can learn it with relative case unless it happens to be a
language like Chinese or Japanese, whose writing systems
constitute major learning problems of their own. Speaking
ability is described as the ability to express oneself in life
situations as the ability to report acts or situations in precise
words, or the ability to converse, or to express a sequence of
ideas fluently. Writing is an event of yesterday, but this does
not mean that it has no significance. It has and it ought to
receive its due share. But the question what do we write, is
replied as we write to spoken word. Or that the written or the
printed word is but a symbol of the spoken word. Writing is not
language, but merely way of recording language by means of
visible marks (Bloomfield,1935).
―Speech is the ground work; all the rest are built up from
it. Through speech, the pupil learns to make the direct
connection between the English word as phrase and the object,
action or idea it bears. He learns the habit of using word in the
correct sentence pattern and phrase patterns and he can learn
this in no other ways‖. (French, F.G.1948). The fact is that in
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actual life, man is concerned more with the spoken form of his
language than with its written form.
There has been a great thinking on this point as to what
should be the standard of speech in English. It is as worthy of
acceptance as any other brand of English and the time has
come for its establishment as a regional standard. There is an
educated Indian pronunciation of English. The best speakers of
English in each of our states use it. We have to tape record and
study the sounds and speech habits of educated Indians in
every walk of life, of the best lawyer‘s judges, businessman
political leaders and professors in order to define the feature of
educated Indian pronunciation. This can be our working
standard. English-speaking people who live in such states as
countries where English is widely use, will soon pick up and
accept a variety of near pronunciations. It will show that this
pronunciation contains a large number of vowels, diphthongs
and consonants than the average Indian pronunciation of
English that it has a stress system and a system of intonation;
and that it is completely intelligible to speakers of other
educated dialects of English in India. Teachers aim therefore,
should be to teach educated Indian pronunciation, the near
pronunciations to our pupils.
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(D-1) RETARDATION IN SPEECH
Every language has its own set of sound habits. Speaking
a muscular matter. In speaking of own language, says Hindi,
we learn certain specific muscle- habits. ‘n’ sound is never
represented by ‗d‘ in English. Had it been so ‘Data Ram’ should
have written as ‗Thatha Ram’. Languages are particular in oral
construction. Words like ‗bit‘, ‗bite‘, ‗beat‘, ‗heed‘, ‗hide‘ are
similar in all respects difference in the quality of the vowel. This
quality vowel is not well understood and hence we hear ‗head‘
instead of ‗hid‘ or ‗sheep‘ in place of ‗ship‘.
In our Indian schools, less and less attention is paid to
speech training. If may be that teachers in general do not
realize its significance. They rely too much on the translation
and grammar method. The result is that there is no speech
training in the class rooms. Our teachers are not well equipped
in phonetics. There is no provision for teachers to receive
training in phonetics and phonemics at a large scale. Secondly,
the useful devices, such as take records and gramophone
records, which can be helpful in learning pronunciation, are
neither available at the training centers nor at the institutions
where the teachers serve.
Language is related to human behaviour which varies
according to race, creed, caste and society. Mastery of reading,
writing, listening and speaking is highly desirable in every
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society. Though it is likely to be affected by so many variables
particularly English language.
FACTORS AFFECTING LINGUISTIC SKILLS
Human behavior is always is always affected by tradition
norms of the society. Linguistic skills are also no exception to
this phenomenon. Various research studies are being
conducted in this area. Linguistic skills have been found to go
affected by so many variables such as;
1. Inadequate stimulation (talking and playing with the
child).
2. Delayed general development ('global developmental
delay'), physical development ('motor skills'),
cognitive development
3. Specific difficulty with language learning. Not very
interested in language, prefers other modalities e.g.
physical activities.
4. Poor control and/or co-ordination of the speech
muscles: lips tongue etc
5. Medical problems.
6. Inadequate awareness of communication lacks
"communication intent".
7. Reduced hearing e.g. ear infection, fluid in ear,
impacted earwax etc.
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8. Changes in child's environment e.g. moving.
9. Exposure to too many languages for the child.
10. Inadequate opportunity for speech e.g. the child
everyone talks for, the "babied" child has a more
dominant sibling etc.
11. Emotional factors e.g. behavioural problems, anxiety,
pressure to perform etc.
12. Short attention span.
13. Family history of speech and language delays or
difficulties.
14. School environment.
15. Economic status of the parents.
16. Influence of peer group in school.
17. Media and mass communication.
18. Environmental, psychological, socio-economic,
cultural deprivation.
This list includes one or other kind of deprivation in any
area which affect the linguistic skill. Thus, deprivation may be
an important factor of having its role in language learning.
CONCEPT OF DEPRIVATION
Psychologists use ‗deprivation‘ as a hypothetical construct
as well as an empirical variable to characterize procedures and
conditions in laboratory studies as well studies done in natural
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settings. In the context of socio- economic and cultural
variations in societies, it has been frequently employed
interchangeably with other expressions such as ‗cultural
deprivation‘, ‗environmental deprivation‘, ‗social deprivation‘, ‗
economic deprivation‘, ‗parental deprivation‘, ‗psychological
deprivation‘ and social disadvantage. Most of these terms points
to the deficient environmental conditions and impoverished
experience characteristic of the socially disadvantaged people
(e.g. SC, ST, and OBC). Literally ‗deprivation stands for the
dispossession or loss of opportunities, privileges etc. However
researchers have a virtually used as synonymous with
‗privation,‘ that is, lack or insufficiency of the basic necessities
for the survival of the individual. Thus the empirical studies of
deprivation include both lack as well as loss of factors
considered necessary for the growth and adaptation of the
individual.
Some efforts have been made to go beyond the mere
categorical or nominal level treatment of deprivation, by
considering it in terms of proximal experiential variables.
Tripathi, L.B. and Misra, G. (1975) proposal of prolonged
deprivation is such an attempt. It refers to a broader spectrum
of variables constituting the basic sources of experiences of the
individual. It is considered as a prolonged process relative to a
defined socio- cultural setting. Socio- cultural life in any
community can be conceived of as continuum, at one end of
which lie those who have all their physical, social and economic
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needs gratified, leading to varied experiences of life, while at the
other end lie those who are physically, socially and
psychologically most handicapped in fulfilling their need, was
modified by Biswas, Nanda and Pandey (1996).
These authors ( Tripathi, L.B. and Misra, G. 1978)
constructed a Prolonged Deprivation Scale (PDS) to access the
life conditions and experiences across 15 areas i.e. housing
condition, home environmental, economic sufficiency, food,
clothing, formal education experiences, childhood experiences
rearing experiences, parental characteristics, interaction with
parents, motivational experiences, emotional experiences,
religious experiences, travel and recreation and miscellaneous
socio- cultural experiences. A factor analysis revealed two
factors i.e., psycho- economic deprivation and experiential
deprivation. Its variations have been developed by Misra,
Shukla (1986) and Pushpa (1990). Recently, Mukherjee,
Chaterjee and Gupta (1991) found three factors i.e., of
prolonged deprivation, viz. psycho- economic, cultural and
emotional.
Chambers, R. (1991) has identified five dimensions of
deprivations: poverty proper (lack of income and assets);
physical weaken (under-nutrition, sickness, disability, lack of
strength); isolation (ignorance, illiteracy, lack of peripheral
location); vulnerability (to contingencies, to becoming poorer);
and powerlessness.
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Caste, gender, ethnicity become linked with deprivation
because of the features of social structure. As noted by Edward
R. (1979) ―membership in a social group is the source of
problem and makes disadvantages a phenomenon of socio-
cultural origin‖ (p. 27). Disadvantage involves aspirations of the
girl child also differ. In a nation- wide study Anandlakshmy, S.
(1994) has noted that the birth of the girl child tends to be
greeted with anemic joy, if not grief, and that she continued to
be treated within the family and outside as a second class
citizen, (p. 43).
R.C.Tripathi (1982) has identified three criteria to
classify the status of deprivation –
1. ORGANISMIC VS. ENVIORNMENTAL
2. OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE
3. ABSOLUTE VS. RELATIVE
1. ORGANISMIC VS. ENVIORNMENTAL
Deprivation is said to be the property of the organism or
the environment. If the deprivation is organismic, one refers to
the conditions which are responsible for lack of fulfillment of
need. Deprivation in this case is that of the organic inputs and
it leads to tissue deficits. Under this category would fall food /
nutrition, water, sex, and sleep deprivation. Tissue deficit is
assumed to be a noxious state and drives the organism to take
appropriate steps to reduce it. Secondly, the locus of
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deprivation may be environmental. Here the dimension of
categorization employed is generally the richness versus
poorness of environment e.g. the case of rural- urban or slums
and non- slum areas. One generally operationalizes
environmental deficit in terms of level of living (housing,
employment, education, etc.) or in terms of the absence of
objects and persons (e.g., parents) which should be present in
the normal treated a belonging to mutually exclusive sets and
no effort is made to relate appropriate variables in thee realms
or even to see how they influence psychological processes in
interaction with each other.
2. OBJECTIVE VS. SUBJECTIVE
Deprivation is also sought to be distinguished in terms of
objective and subjective criteria. The distinction is actually
based on how far the measurement of deprivation is
independent of the individual‘s subjective states. The emphasis
on objective deprivation is intimately linked with the concept of
minimum basic requirement for psychological functioning. One
looks for a line which could serve as a ‗cut off‘ line to demarcate
deprived from the non-deprived. The assumption is that one
know what is require and in what amount. In case of subjective
deprivation it is presumed that only an individual knows what
he want and in what amount. If the ‗desired‘ falls below his
subjective standard, he feels deprived. He may have arrived at
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the reference after comparison with relevant others or even
independently. The concept sometime implies that comparison
with others is a necessary condition for subjective deprivation.
However, one can also conceive of standards of which are
arrived at by individuals themselves. This may happen when
one takes into consideration the subjective states resulting
from the acceptance of organic inputs. Consider, for example,
prescribing the amount of the food a beggar must eat to feel
satisfied. The distinction between objective and subjective is
tenuous for example; it is generally assumed that objective
deprivation leads to a drive state of an organism.
3. ABSOLUTE VS. RELATIVE
The distinction comes closer to the objective versus
subjective distinction with the only possible exception that
absolute deprivation seems more possible in case of primary
needs and less in case of secondary needs, in which case
relative- deprivation appears to be more appropriate.
While there is nothing wrong with a classification and
assigning of labels, what seems to have happened in case of the
above classifications is that they have been redefined as
descriptors of deprivation as it is obtained in the real world?
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DEPRIVATION AND LINGUISTIC SKILLS
Bernstein (1971) made distinction between ―elaborated‖
and ―restricted‖ code made language the main pillar of the
deprivation position attributing educational failure of the
disadvantaged children to the poverty of their languages.
Mohanthy (1990) studies motivated by such a position
unfortunately promoted a linguistic deficit view which
characterized the speech of lower class, the poor, the minority
and the disadvantaged as deficient and inadequate for fostering
educational and cognitive development. One can seem up with
Edwards (1979) that the very idea of linguistic deficit in
conceived and ―Saturated with middle class bias‖ (p. 48). Du
Toit, L. (1994) confirms that underachievers are often
unemployed, or end up in ―dead – end jobs‖, which offer little or
no hope for the earn lower salaries. He concludes that a child‘s
future is radically influenced by underachievement.‖
There may be some specific factors that affect the
linguistic skills of the deprived students in secondary schools -
The first important factor is learning environment. A
learning environment consists of all those physical elements
e.g. lighting, sound, space, and furniture. (Husen & Neville,
1985). Learning climate however has so to do with the
prevailing conditions of a learning area – a class room in
particular and school in general. It involves the atmosphere and
general environment in the class room or school that may help
or hinder the learning process of linguistic skills. This includes
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physical and material resources, emotional tone, and attitude of
the teacher, social attitude of the peers, rules and regulations.
(Hawes & Hawes 1982).
The second important factor is inhibitive learning
climate. It is a climate where deprived students do not feel
secure or motivated to their task. This includes Inadequacies in
teacher training and skills, lack of interest in linguistic skills,
negative attitudes towards the deprived students. Student-
teacher ratio is so high that teacher has no time for individual
attention, thus students have little contact with teacher.
The third important factor is related to home and family.
In has been proven that family relationships and family
environment influence a child‘s success at school (Kapp,
1994). The home environment is the important influence both
positively and negatively on child‘s performance in school.
Insecurity, family disharmony, and inability of parents to offer
the child emotional, socio-economic security- are all the factors
that affect the learning-linguistic skills of a child. A child who
grows in poor conditions, does not succeed in rising above
these circumstances and there is a danger that he will leave
school early and become part of that vicious cycle of poor
unstable employment, poverty, participation in negative social
practices and crime. Most of the deprived students manifest
poor linguistic skills and poor self concept.
The fourth factor is related to environment and society.
There is strong link between school performance and socio-
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economic status of a community. Those students who belong
to the deprived class face so many problems like lack of
housing, lack of food and clothing which are the basic
necessities of life. So they are not interested in learning. The
working parents have little or no time to talk or to check their
children‘s school work. Hence the children are not good in
linguistic skills. Some parents are illiterate or have very little
school training, so they are unable encourage them to improve
the linguistic skills. Present researcher‘s experience is that in
agricultural areas school attendance is irregular especially
during planting and harvesting seasons, as children are given
various tasks to help and even take care of the younger
siblings, while their parents are busy in their fields.
The fifth factor is related to the school .Within the school
system, there are a number of factors that can cause
underachievement. Van Wyk in du Toit (1994 ) has listed
some of the causes as follows:
(i) Teacher‘s inadequate instruction
(ii) Pupil‘s inadequate participation in learning process
(iii) Uninteresting syllabus
(iv) Lack of facilities in schools
(v) Lack of proper guidance
The sixth factor is related to the child. Children differ
from each other in the way in which they cope with their
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problems, and therefore manifest various personality
characteristics, some of which may result in deprivation.
Topping this list is the issue of self image. Deprived students
usually reveal a negative self concept. Self image is shaped by
all positive and negative reflections received from meaningful
individuals in the child‘s environment. Hence children who
internalize mostly negative responses from parents, teachers
and peers may form a low self image and develop a negative
attitude to school which can result in deprivation. The next
issue is over anxiety or fear of failure may also inhabit
academic achievement by bringing about negative effects, which
may inhibit thinking. The next issue is truancy in school which
has contributed to poor linguistic skills.
Van der Aardweg (1989), stated that a number of studies
had reported a positive correlation between family size and
delinquency. Larger families were usually found in the lower
socio-economic status where other additional causes of truancy
like overcrowding, poverty, illiteracy exist. So it indicated that
deprivation may be closely related to linguistic skills.
PROBLEM OF THE STUDY
The characteristic learning difficulties of Indian students
of English are those which arise out of one or the other of the
following; lack of proper motivation, interest and attitude,
teacher competence, mother tongue, interference, family
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background, school atmosphere, lack of audio visual aids or
other facilities, orientation towards second language and
parental attitudes etc.
Since the deprived and poor students lack parental
competence and support, the schools need to function as a
substitute for parents and families. The linguistic skills most
essential for success in school. The most damaging deficiency of
deprived children may lay in the lack of basic verbal and
language skills. These children tend to be less verbal and
deficient in language as defined by school. There may be a gap
between the language they hear in their homes and they use in
school. Their vocabulary are limited as they hear far less variety
in language, receive much less verbal stimulation and deficient
in specific communication skills.
Research survey and experience clearly indicates that the
families of deprived students are merely interested to earn
money alone and they have nothing to do with intellectual or
academic discourses. As a result they may score below their
mental capacity, show low academic achievement in
comparison to non – deprived students who may be having
remarkable command on vocabulary and consequently on
language used in their school. As far as India is concern few
attempts were made to investigate the relationship between
deprivation and linguistic skills. There are very few attempts
that construct and standardize tool or technique for the
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measurement of linguistic skills in English namely as reading,
writing, listening and speaking.
English is now regarded as a service language or a tool,
which enables learners to acquire mastery in other subjects.
Hence there is an urgent need to relate the teaching of English
to teaching of other subjects. Instead of regarding the time
spent on developing linguistic skill as waste of time, it is
necessary to regard it as a wise investment.
Due to deprivation many young students never realize
their full potential and they are not able to use their talent and
contribute to their country. It is important that the school and
society as a whole take adequate steps to solve the problem of
deprived students especially related to linguistic skill which
they require in their daily life. Today language is viewed as
‗skill‘ rather than knowledge. A linguistic skill helps the learner
to ‗communicate‘.
All children learn not only the basic systems and sub-
systems of their language but also how to use them
appropriately (i.e. they acquire not only linguistic but also
communicative competence). Languages are inherently variable,
and different styles tend to be used in different contexts by
different age group.
Aurorin V. (1977) said, ―Language cannot exist and
develop outside society. Development of language as the most
important, most perfect and universal means of
communication, formation of thought and accumulation
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Transmission of expression.‖It is equally important to realize
that languages are not discrete objects out there, almost frozen
in time and space, both physical and mental. They are actually
constantly changing, fluid systems of behaviour which human
being acquire and change to define themselves and the world
around them.
Bossio (1965) reported poor language and speech
development of deprived children. He attempted to identify the
language development and reading attainment of deprived
children. It was found that deprived children were backward in
their language development. It was therefore thought desirable
to study the linguistic skills of the deprived students in
comparison to non-deprived students. It could help in
understanding the problem of linguistic skills of the non-
deprived and deprived students. Therefore, the researcher drew
the analogy and took the project to study the linguistic skills of
deprived and non deprived students and compare them.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM
The problem of the study identified in this manner may be
stated in the following terms: ―A Comparative Study of
Linguistic Skills of Non-Deprived and Deprived Students”
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DEFINITION OF THE TERM USED
Reading has been defined as the conversion of printed or
written alphabet, letters or words into sounds.
READING COMPREHENSION SKILL
Reading has been defined as the conversion of printed or
written alphabet, letters or words into sounds. The reading
comprehension has been defined as to making response to
graphic stimuli, printed or written words and to give meaning to
the words. Operationally, It refers to the knowledge of
vocabulary, visual perception and discrimination in English
language and as is measured by reading comprehension test
developed by investigator.
WRITING SKILL
Writing refers to putting thoughts in visible and readable
prints. Operationally it refers to the copying written matter from
the page or expressing thoughts in readable form and as is
measured by writing test developed by investigator.
LISTENING COMPREHENSION SKILL
Listening is the process through which an individual picks
up the language. Listening comprehension skill has been
defined as ability to attend thoughtfully to spoken discourse, to
grasp the meaning intend by the speaker and to respond
critically to the total impact of the talk. Operationally it refers to
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comprehend spoken words, statements and passages in English
language and as is measured listening comprehension test
developed by investigator.
SPEAKING SKILL
Speaking has been defined as ability to express oneself in
life situations in precise words. Operationally it refers to read
sentences and describes pictures orally. It is measured by
speaking tool developed by investigator.
DEPRIVATION
It refers to social isolation that leads to disturbances in
development and behaviour. It is measured by PDS scale
developed by Girishawar Misra and L.B.Tripathi. Deprivation
has been defined as the lack or insufficiency of the basic
necessities for the survival of the individual. Operationally it
refers to the lack as well as loss of factors considered necessary
for the growth and adaptation of the individual.
OBJECTIVES
The following were the objectives of the study-
(a) To know if there is any difference in reading comprehension
skill in English language among deprived and non-deprived
students.
(b) To know if there is any difference in writing skill in English
language among deprived and non-deprived students.
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(c) To know if there is any difference in the listening
comprehension skill in English language among deprived and
non-deprived students.
(d) To know if there is any difference in speaking skill in
English language among deprived and non-deprived students.
RATIONALE
Children are not born deprived, rather deprivation is an
acquired from of behaviour which result from a combination of
factors relating to home, family, school and child. Deprivation
has many faces: the child who grows up in a home which is
culturally and educationally un-stimulating is handicapped by
environmental deprivation; the child who is unloved and
rejected by his parents suffers emotional deprivation; and the
child who lives in residential care, for long periods or
permanently, is deprived of normal family life. Maturation plays
an essential part but it is of little avail without environmental
opportunity.
Neither opportunity for learning nor maturational
readiness is, however, sufficient by itself. To these two
ingredients a third must be added: motivation or a willingness
to learn. This desire to learn is the essential driving force which
has its spring in the quality of relationships available to the
child.
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Children who come into residential care have rarely been
so fortunate. Recent evidence shows that even those who
experience short-term care have got off to a poor start from the
very beginning of their life; and throughout at least their first
seven years, they continue to be a disadvantaged group
(Mapstone, 1969). As one would predict, this then affects their
educational progress and adjustment at school. This close link
between deprivation and education was similarly shown in a
series of studies relating to eleven- and fifteen-year-olds
(Pringle, 1971).
Evidence has been accumulating on the damaging effects
of a culturally impoverished or deprived environment on
intellectual growth. This is a home-be it with a small or capital
H-which fails to provide the necessary 'intellectual food' to
develop the child's potential to the fullest extent (Dinnage and
Pringle, 1967). Without the necessary diet of rich opportunities
for play and for language development, the ability to learn
remains stunted. The consequence is most severe and all-
pervasive during the earliest years of childhood. It is then the
basis laid for speech development for learning how to learn; and
perhaps most important of years that parental expectation and
stimulation provide the child with the motivation to want to
learn.
The exact difference which an enriching or depriving home
background respectively can make, needs a great deal more
research. 'However, a conservative estimate of the effect of
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extreme environments on intelligence is about 20 I.Q. points.
This could mean the difference between a life in an institution
for the subnormal and a productive life in society. It could
mean the difference between a professional career and an
occupation which is at the semi-skilled or unskilled level.'
(Bloom, 1964). The deprivation produces the ill-effects on every
aspect of life.
In the light of these recently recognized needs, priorities
may have to be reconsidered. The maximum possible time
should be devoted to talking to children, reading and telling
them stories, encouraging them to make up and act simple
plays about everyday occurrences, inviting them to relate
anything that has happened during the day-all aimed at
helping them to express their feelings, ideas and thoughts.
Deprived children need this help far beyond the stage when it is
normally required because so many of them have missed these
experiences at the right time.
Quick results cannot be expected. If there is a slow growth
in the child's capacity to use and enjoy language, then gradual
improvement in intelligence, adjustment and educational
progress is likely to follow. Mixed age groups in residential
units may also help: younger children learn from and imitate
older ones, while the latter can be encouraged to play with, talk
and read to the little ones, ostensibly to help houseparent but
at the same time improving their own power and desire for self-
expression. Thus the children try to overcome to deprivation.
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But, it is the non- deprived which may contribute
significantly to development of linguistic skill of the students.
Thus the study may be helpful in exploring the linguistic skills
of deprived students.
LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:
The problem was very widespread and varied from primary
level to higher level of education. There were numerous
variables affecting the linguistic related attitudes. So the
present study was delimited in the following manner-
(a) Students of class VIII were studied only.
(b) Student of Almora district was included only.
(c) Age group of students was kept within a narrow range of
above 12 to 14 years.
(d) Linguistic skills were studied only with reference to
deprivation. Other variable were not included.
(e) There are about three hundred languages in the world but
keeping in view the worldwide important of English language.
Linguistic skills in English language were taken up to study in
this research work.
(f) The study was limited in its area, method and techniques.
A brief description of review of related literature has been
provided in the following chapter.
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Estelar