Subratya Bhowmik
Senior assistant Teacher
Looking
back to my student life, I can visualize days that were spent in swallowing
popular Bangla novels. The thrill of reading books sometimes soared as high as
to deny the heat og humid afternoons of my rural childhood days. Whatever
proficiency I have attained in Bangla, I always owe it to my habit of reading
Bangla literature. We did not have that much scope or skill to manage and
comprehend English novels in those days. Our orientation with English
literature was basically confined to the school syllabus. Yet, I consider
myself fortunate to have been acquainted with some world classics despite
residing in a remote village
of Bangladesh, thanks to
the committee that formulated syllabus and prescribed methods in our times.
Honestly speaking, I have never felt that language could ever be learnt
properly unless the essence of literature is there. Contrary to my belief, over
the last couple of decades, a group of language experts-alarmingly the number
is quite handsome-have emerged with a new outlook; they opine that literature
is not necessary to learn a language and they have come up with different
theories, methods and strategies for English language Teaching and learning
most of which hardly incorporate or admit
the necessity of literary items. However, I still believe that literature is
the primary req2uirement to attain proficiency in a language. I am saddened at
heart to notice that there is hardly any piece of literature up to HSC level in
the current education system of Bangladesh.
I feel pity for the students of our country and at the time I am rather worried
about the prospect of the desired proficiency of our learners.
We
are not supposed to forget that we are living in a capitalist world where
everything-education is also a commodity-is considered as a product. The idea
of globalization in the post-modern world has widened commercial scope for the
West and they have advertised English language to be learnt to maintain trade
and commerce a new colonial approach, however, old wine in new bottle. They had
inspired us to read English literature when they thought that we could be good
learner of English that way, today they think that English should be learnt as
a skill, the idea of moral lesson, conscience, virtues-which could be learnt
through literate are no longer required. They are expecting people to use
English basically in the business world the season why we see the inclusion of
course like, ‘business English’ in different departments of the universities.
The west has been successful in their approach as the if lattes linguistic
theories are rather popular in the third world countries or states that were
once the colony of England.
I am not against the application of English language;
rather I am in favour of it; if the outcome does not bring any result then
what’s the use of learning it? But, I believe that literature and language
could go together. The content of the language could be enriched through the knowledge
in literature. It is not surprising that our country has quickly adapted with
this new trend of language learning and our syllabuses have been prepared in
that way, and literary items have been naturally
ignored.
However, It is very interesting to note that schools in USA and UK as well as
the O level schools in Bangladesh
keep on including literary texts ever today. It has been observed that the
students learn different literary texts even today. It has been observed that
the students learn different literary texts from class 5 to 8 in the o level
schools.
The
common texts, which have been taught in the pre-O level classes over the last
couple of decades, include Tales from Shakespeare, and abridged version of
different novels suitable for the teenagers. It has also been observed that the
original text of some plays by William Shakespeare like Midsummur’s Night
Dream, The Merchant of Venice, As you Like It, Hamlet, Macbeth are also
included in the syllabus of the O lever schools. Those schools teach poetry
also; they have either compiled the poems of different poets in the form of a
books or they select poems from an anthology, and include them in the school
syllabus. Moreover, the O level schools teach English novels in original texts;
mainly novels of The Victorian Age are selected for the students of class 7 and
8. Again in the syllabus of EDEXCEL GCE O Level, Literary pieces have been
suggested as the possible source for practicing ‘reading comprehension’.
It
has to be remembered that there are some pomes in the 1st paper
textbook of SSC and HSC level. But they lack luster for not having the
tradition of being selected in the examination, which leads to form a kind of
indifference among the student and teachers towards it. In the syllabus of 1st
paper English language, the instruction goes, “Poems should be dealt with
mainly for enjoyment, understanding and practice of rhythm and stress. This is
also an area where memorizing ca be both useful and valid. It should be borne
in mind, however, that since poems do not involve communication in the sense of
responsive interchange, their employment in the language classroom should be
limited.” There is Rapid Readers (A collection of abridged version stories of
novels and biographies of great personalities) from class 6 to 8 in the
secondary classes, but it is merged with Paper
I, and hardly any question is selected from here other than rearranging
sentences to form a story. Neither the students nor the teachers take it
seriously. Unlike us, O level puts due emphasis on literature, albeit the
students are doing tasks that are largely focused on developing skills.
It
sounds funny when we see that the school in UK are still teaching English
literature and the tradition is in vogue in the O level school of Bangladesh
as well but we have deleted it from our mainstream education. I think that the
inclusion of some literary texts in 6, 7 and 8 at the SSC level should be given
series consideration. Some books of English literature should be included in
the secondary and Higher secondary level classes in order that the students
learn how English is written in creative writing. Reading literature will
enhance their reading and writing skill proficiency. Some abridged version
texts of famous literary works, selected English poems and short stories may be
included in the classes leading to SSC and HSC. This practice is likely to stir
the creative faculty of learners and mould them as human beings instead of
machines of the post-modern capitalist society.
