Eighteen months Road Map to Promote Spoken/Communicative English in Sri Lanka :

English as a Life Skill

According to the Mahinda Chinthana, Government will launch an 18 month Road Map to Promote Spoken/Communicative English in Sri Lanka on June 22, 2009.

The Road Map has been designed by the Presidential Task Force on English and IT.

Shift of paradigms in English Teaching

The Cabinet has taken a decision to change the English School Syllabi with special emphasis on improving students' Spoken and Communicative skills in English. One of the salient features of the changes envisaged in the Road Map is the shift of focus of Teaching English in schools. The focus is on improving the Spoken and Communication Skills instead of the grammar and structured based courses presently in the syllabi.

The note on the Road Map prepared by Dr. Sunimal Fernando, Adviser to the President and Coordinator (English) Presidential Task Force on English and IT, states,

"The old, conservative, outdated, elitist Sri Lankan ideology of English that still enjoys an unwarranted amount of social legitimacy and power sees 'English as a language', an instrument of social oppression, the prized possession of a privileged class and an exclusive emblem of upper class status to be therefore spoken as an English person would speak - with unblemished diction, perfect grammar and technically perfect pronunciation.

This anti-national ideology of English was crafted by our Anglo-centric urban elites as one that provided the gateway to the West and a repudiation of our own values and heritage.

The new Sri Lankan ideology of English that reflects the spirit of `Mahinda Chinthana' and defines the position of the Presidential Initiative sees English for its utility value and not for its social worth, English as a skill for employment and a vehicle for reaching out to the external world of knowledge and learning,

English as a straight and simple tool of communication stripped of its historical baggage, English as a common property resource to be owned by all, - ' English as a Life Skill' similar to other natural life skills such as the skills to ride a motor-cycle or drive a car or use a computer. "

In another section of the note titled " Dismantling the Social and Psychological Barriers to English Learning - Empowering our Students to Speak English', the note states "Teachers should encourage their students to speak Sri Lankan English the Sri Lankan Way and encourage a neutral accent as is in the case of India: And in order to do so, we must purge our system of the Anglo-Centric elocution culture which perpetuates an approach to English speaking that is socio-psychologically and culturally very damaging for a Sinhala and Tamil speaking Country.

The sacred cow of Anglo-Centric pronunciation and diction has been the scourge of the English teaching enterprise of our country, rooted in the narrow self-interest of the old urban English speaking elites and the greed of the elocution industry."

In a section titled "From an Anglo-Centric Past to an Asian-Centric Future-English will soon be a South Asian Language" the note outlines the vision of the Road Map and it states further, "We South Asians must speak English the South Asian Way. 20 years from now, South Asian English will be the dominant form of English in the world.

A neutral South Asian accent with which increasing number of us speak English even today will be the dominant English accent in the world.

Thirty 30 years from now the majority of English speakers will be having fun at the expense of the British accent and the British pronunciation of English words still the hallmark of Sri Lankans, unpardonable from a South Asian perspective." Although some of the elements of the Road Map have already been implemented, major elements of the Road Map make up an accelerated programme to train 21,984 Teachers of English scattered in the country, in imparting Spoken/ Communicative English Skills to students within 18 months, Preparation of Teacher Guide/Training Manual, increase the Spoken/Communicative English Master Trainer Cadre from 40 to 200, designing Teaching Material on Spoken/Communicative English for students from grade 6-13 (Cabinet Decision), training of additional 40 teachers as Master Trainers, Changing School Syllabi of grade 6-13 and System of Examination, Developing Syllabi and Curricula for the conducting of a Public Examination for the Certificate English Learners at Elementary,

Intermediate and Advanced Level with special Emphasis on Spoken/Communication Skills.

Some of the salient elements of the Road Map are commencing Teaching of Spoken/Communicative English in Schools, production and telecasting of a 200 module (25 minutes for module) TV Programme for Distance Teaching of Spoken English and training of public servants in use of English as a Life Skill.

(IT)