The proposed English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI), a State-level organisation for coordinating research and training activities in English Language Teaching (ELT), is likely to be located in Thrissur, Director of Public Instruction A.P.M. Mohammed Hanish has said.
He was addressing a three-day seminar on ‘Technology enhanced language learning: the way forward’ organised by the District Centre for English (DCE), which began here on Wednesday.
“Talks are on with the English and Foreign Languages University, Hyderabad, and the Union Ministry for Human Resource Development for setting up the ELTI, which would improve ELT in Kerala and help students build successful careers. The State government has extended support to the proposal. The ELTI could work in tandem with the DCE, which has branches in Neyyattinkara, Kollam, Thrissur and Kozhikode,” he added.
Inaugurating the seminar, Therambil Ramakrishnan, MLA, said that poor English communication skills were affecting the prospects of students from Kerala in tests at the national and global levels.
Basic philosophy
Delivering the keynote address, Kapil Kapoor, former Professor of English with the Centre for Linguistics and English, and Concurrent Professor with the Centre for Sanskrit Studies in the Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, said that technology should not be allowed to change the basic philosophy of education even as it altered relations in classrooms.
“Education is more than mere collection of information. It is meant to give the student much more than a grasp of the subject.” He observed that the implications of technology-aided teaching involved a shift from the collective to the individual and from the object to the subject, and rejection of authority.
