Communicative English
He is right in saying it is amazing what high grades in English tests and examinations can be gained by those who go out into the world tongue-tied when it comes to speaking the language - but then I have come across English MA's of whom the same can be said! However, how hard it would be to find an incorruptible way of testing speaking ability, considering what has happened to writing ability! In many schools, corrupt systems have evolved via memorised questions and answers and even whole essays learnt by heart - never name copying - all enabled by 'helpful' big brothers, sisters, parents and Private Tutors - and the notorious grammar books and their ilk. Such books, and people, enable some students to achieve what they consider their prime aim - how to get a good mark in the next English test, usually by finding a way in which words can flow from the pen to the paper without, at any point, needing to go through the brain. I have even known parents who, in accusing tones, call 'UNSEEN!' any questions in tests that are not identical to the ones that can be memorised from the student's exercise book or, as it is universally, and inaccurately, called here, their 'copy' - an unfortunate reflection on how it is often used. Teachers, sadly, are often fully aware of the cheating 'games' that are being played but permit them as if they stand in the way of the short-term aims of such pupils and their parents, complaints may be made to Management and they could lose their jobs. Thus the failure of firm and fair discipline to purify the system and the attitudes and practices in it perpetuate the mess that schools can get into. Giggling and saying, “This is how we do things in Bangladesh and we can't do anything about it,” may be factual but it is still an insult. You see, the main problem with English in Bangladesh is surely not the lack of people who can speak English but the shortage of people who can write it! Many are those who can confidently (but usually inaccurately) chatter away but ask them to write anything down and see them disappear…!
In how many businesses is the memo pad never used? In how many businesses are there no pigeonholes for certain employees into which memos can be placed? In how many businesses these days do those who answer the phone never have a letter pad and pen beside them and refuse to take responsibility for taking a message and passing it on but just demand that the caller rings back - when the caller may be a customer who is much busier than they are? In how many businesses, of all kinds, are meetings held with no agendas and no minutes (nor any concept of what these are) and so every meeting is the repeat of what you discussed last time and you never get anywhere? Who could fail to profit by reading the minutes of a meeting and noting who has said they will do what - and who said something that made a lot of sense? Furthermore, they are the record of the meeting if anyone tries to deny what happened. How many bosses train their secretaries to be Minutes Secretaries?
When even senior managers dare not write a letter in English - or even a memo - for fear of showing up their bad English, then the impact on employees - and on competency - must surely be considerable. How many people are getting degrees in Management, Business Studies, etc. when they have never been tested on their ability to express themselves in English - to draw up a document or write a letter on any difficult or complicated issue? The advent of the mobile, rather than the written word, as the prime tool of management, is surely part of the problem and not part of the solution for good business practice. The issue of how a few people read English for enjoyment and profit is also desperately sad but the really worrying thing for digital Bangladesh is surely how a few people are being made to write it. More people should surely have the courage to say, both to those 'above' them and those 'below' - smiling sweetly, of course - “May I have that in writing?”
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel.
Comments