CUDDALORE:
Language skills are deplorably low from the primary to the higher education levels. This is owing to an over importance to English and neglect of mother-tongue, said Pon. Kothandaraman-Portko, former Vice-Chancellor of University of Madras and advisory committee member of the World Classical Tamil Conference.
He was delivering the keynote address at the national seminar on “Language education — A critical evaluation of development of language skills” organised by the Centre of Advanced Study in Linguistics of Annamalai University, Chidambaram, in collaboration with the Central Institute of Indian Languages (CIIL), Mysore. Students were good in subject knowledge but their expression was vague and faulty. Those who flaunted their scholarship used to commit avoidable mistakes in language usage but when pointed out they would not own up the mistakes. Such a trend was noticed among newscasters on radio and television, in the print media and also advertisements. Mr. Portko said that the earlier distinction of learning Tamil as first and second language had now disappeared, and, writing essays and compositions that were to be evaluated by tutors had become a thing of the past.
It called for re-evaluation of syllabi, curriculum design and textbook pattern. But this could not happen despite the recommendations of the Agasthialingam Committee and Dr. Malcolm Adishesiah Committee which went into the issue of syllabi change. Linguistic skills were a prerequisite for acquiring language proficiency, Mr. Portko said. Vice-Chancellor of Annamalai University M. Ramanathan said that earlier, language was thoroughly learnt because other subjects had not developed to the extent as they are today. But now, a mechanism ought to be put in place to impart communication skills. In a multilingual melee, development of language skills was a must and it should be tailor-made to suit different sections. Therefore, linguists had the onus of devising ways and means to achieve this, Mr. Ramanathan added. Pl.Muthuveeerappan, dean, A.G.Natarajan, director, Faculty of Indian Languages, Annamalai University, K. Rangan, former dean, Language Faculty, Tamil University, Thanjavur, N. Nadaraja Pillai, former Controller of Examinations of the CIIL, M. Ganesan, coordinator, and V.Thiruvalluvan, organising secretary, spoke.
