Innovation in Language Learning

English is said to be the world’s most important language having communicative, educative value and as the language of opportunity. Now Indians are using and learning English not out of any imposition but because of the realization that it has certain advantages, so also with the people all over the world. The focus of my paper is on the kind of challenges I faced in the classroom while teaching English to the learners who are pursuing engineering. The learners’ linguistic, economic, cultural, social status and their upbringing are different. But most of them have a common goal of finishing their four year engineering course and come out of the college with a job in hand. They secure a job only when they are proficient in English. Paper also explains the need for a teacher to be resourceful and knowledgeable to meet the grave situation and promote better standards of achievement.

Learning English comes naturally to natives, which is not the case with the people of different mother tongues. A deliberate persistent effort is required for learning a foreign language. But Students coming from semi urban areas have problems learning English because they were taught English not as a language but as a subject. Language being confined to the classroom atmosphere and students are trained to learn it for the sake of clearing their exams. The students are never really made to realize the importance of learning English as a language. It was a challenge for me to equip this set of students with language skills which could make them confident, help them get employed and also for growth in their career.

To my initial observation, the learners were not motivated; they had shyness, inhibitions and fear. Language can be picked up easily only when a learner is continuously exposed to the language and is using it often. I successfully implemented Cooperative learning method which proved very helpful. Cooperative learning is a teaching strategy in which small teams, each with students of different levels of ability, use a variety of learning activities to improve their understanding of a subject.

Cooperative Learning is a structured and systematic instructional design in which small groups work together to reach a common goal. Each member of a team is responsible not only for learning what is being taught, but also for helping teammates learn, thus creating an atmosphere of achievement. Students work through the assignment until all group members successfully understand and complete it. Each student has a different background and ability in English which he or she can bring to the group. So, group members can complement each other’s strengths and weaknesses in English. They have more opportunities to talk and share ideas so they can see how their peers think and create new ideas. The results revealed that the students’ learning anxiety got reduced and their language proficiency improved significantly.