Functional English Education: A Platform for Career Development at U.G. Level

Abstract

Globalisation has brought us a host of opportunities for the developing countries like India, where an entire young population has been learning English in schools, right upto their college. The skill of speaking, reading, writing and understanding the nuances of English language has given our youth an edge over other non-English speaking countries, in the professional sphere too. However, the language scenario is not entirely smooth and bump-free. There are numerous problems associated with the teaching and learning of English; in fact nowhere is English education as complex and controversial as in a multicultural and linguistically-diverse country like India. This bears out the necessity of a professionally viable teaching of English language skills, especially to the students at the undergraduate level, who would be the prospective employees in the global market. This paper analyses how a Functional English teaching programme in colleges can help utilize those avenues and make our students competition- ready. The paper puts across in detail the structure that such a course may follow for desirable results and the outcomes, especially in terms of oral proficiency of the students might be. It is an attempt to highlight the dire need to regurgitate the norms that define English teaching in colleges for undergraduate students.