English Next India: Policy Implications for English Teaching and Learning: British Council India

Session

Title:	English Next India: Policy Implications for English Teaching and Learning
Date and Time:	Thursday 19 November 2009 09.15-11.00 IST (GMT + 5.5 hours)

Recordings

Recording:

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Abstract

English Next India, written by David Graddol and being published by the British Council, highlights the evolution of English in India considering key local, national and global transitions (demographic, economic, social and educational). The study draws conclusions and raises questions for policy makers, educationalists and corporate leaders on the status and role of English in emerging India. David observes that ‘as part of the up-skilling programme India now aspires to make English universal, after a couple of centuries of it being the preserve of an elite. But that must remain no more than an aspiration for longer than most people imagine. It will take another two or three generations to come near realising it. And is it necessary? Is it desirable?’

In this interactive opening session, six panellists will be asked to share their views on these questions and to initiate a debate on the findings presented in English Next India. Some of the key issues discussed will be:

English and the Indian economy

Teacher shortages

English medium education

Problems and solutions: A diversity of approaches

The future of Higher Education

Delegates will also be invited to comment and raise any questions they have on these issues or on English Next India.

Speakers

Martin Davidson	Martin Davidson took up the role as Chief Executive in April 2007, having been Deputy Director-General since September 2005. Martin’s commitment to international relationships has been a constant feature of his career, since as a young English graduate he went to Hong Kong as Administrative Officer, taking the high-level decisions on the running of a town of a million people. When he joined the British Council as Assistant Representative in Beijing in 1984, British Council China was an operation of 6 people working in a converted bicycle shed at the British Embassy. In those days it was illegal for a Chinese national to speak to a foreigner. Martin played a pivotal part in building this fledgling presence up to its present strength of more than 230 people in four state-of-the-art offices. Martin himself was responsible for opening the South China office in Guangzhou and returned to Beijing in 1995 as Director of an operation fast establishing a reputation in an environment where understanding the Chinese way of working is fundamental. He speaks both Cantonese and Mandarin. He has also held various posts in the British Council’s Geographical Directorate with responsibilities that have included South East Europe, in a particularly troubled time in the region’s history, the Middle East, East Asia and the Americas. Martin was born in Lowestoft in 1955. He graduated with an honours MA in English Language and Literature from St Andrew's University. He is married with 3 children. He is a Governor of Good enough College and Board Member of the Great Britain China Council.
Som Mittal	Som Mittal is President of NASSCOM, the premier trade body and the “Chamber of Commerce” for the IT – BPO industry in India. In this role, he is responsible for representing the Indian IT – BPO software and services industry to multiple stakeholders. His key responsibility areas include enhancing India's leadership position in the global offshore IT-BPO and work towards further growing the market by enabling industry to tap into emerging opportunity areas and to strengthen the domestic market in India. Over the years, NASSCOM has earned the reputation of being a strategic advisor to the various stakeholders of the industry. NASSCOM’s varied strengths include creating and influencing government and public policy, international trade development, research and market intelligence services, and access to an international network through 17 MoU’s and linkages with 40 industry associations. Initiatives on education, strengthening cybersecurity, fostering innovation and entrepreneurship are also focus areas. NASSCOM also endeavours to narrow the digital divide in India through NASSCOM Foundation (NF). Mittal assumed office of the President, NASSCOM in January 2008. He has a rich and wide ranging work experience of over 30 years in corporate India, he has been a part of the Indian IT industry for the past 18 years. Before joining NASSCOM, he was heading the Services business for Hewlett Packard in Asia Pacific and Japan. In addition to chairing NASSCOM in 2003-04, and being part of the NASSCOM Executive Council for several years, Mittal has been closely associated with other industry bodies like MAIT and CII. He has played an active role in the formulation and implementation of Karnataka’s IT policy. He has been on the CII National Council for several years and part of the Chief Ministers IT Task Force in Karnataka. He is also the Founding member of the IIIT, Bangalore and the Board if IT Education Standards. Mittal holds a BTech from IIT, Kanpur and an MBA from Indian Institute of Management (IIM), Ahmedabad. Additionally, he has attended executive programmes at Harvard and IMD.
David Graddol	David is a British applied linguist, well-known as a writer, broadcaster, researcher and consultant on issues relating to global English. He is the Managing Director of The English Company (UK) Limited and Managing Editor of linguistic books and journals for Equinox Publishing. David is a joint editor of the journal English Today, and is a member of the editorial boards of several academic journals, including Language Problems and Language Planning and Visual Communication. David Graddol researched and wrote ‘The Future of English?’ for the British Council in 1997. The book was a combination of research on the roles and importance of English in the world and reasoned extrapolations as to its future developments. It took stock of the apparently unassailable position of English in the world and asked whether we could expect its status to remain unaltered during the following decades of unprecedented social and economic global change. English Next draws attention to the extraordinary speed of that change. It argues that we are already in a very new kind of environment and a distinctly new phase in the global development of English. What are the new rules and who will be the winners and who will be the losers? In this new study, David Graddol suggests some of the answers by analysing the demographic an economic trends which affect Global English and the language policies worldwide which influence its future.
Rod Bolitho	Rod Bolitho is Academic Director of Norwich Institute for Language Education (NILE). He started out teaching English in Germany and has been active in teacher education and trainer training for over 30 years. He has been consultant to a number of British Council projects since 1989, including the CBSE Curriculum Reform Project in India, and is currently involved in Teacher Education and Materials Development initiatives in Uzbekistan, Austria and Croatia. He has authored many articles and a number of books, including (with Brian Tomlinson) 'Discover English' , (with Richard Rossner) ‘Currents of Change in ELT’, and (recently, with Tony Wright) 'Trainer Development'.
Dinali Fernando	Dinali Fernando is a freelance trainer, lecturer and an ELT consultant. She graduated from the University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka with an honours degree in English, and has a master’s degree in ELT from the University of Reading. She is the current president of the Sri Lanka Federation of University Women, and is a committee member of the Sri Lanka English Language Teachers' Association. She is currently engaged in several teacher development projects through the SLFUW and the National Institute of Education of Sri Lanka.
Madhav Chavan	Dr. Madhav Chavan has a PhD in Chemistry from the Ohio State University. He returned to India to take up teaching and research after a post doc at the University of Houston. In 1989, he began adult literacy work in the slums of Mumbai. He built Pratham as a founding member since 1995 and is now President and CEO of Pratham Education Foundation, the central body of Pratham. Madhav was a member of the now dissolved National Advisory Council appointed by the Prime Minister and chaired by Smt. Sonia Gandhi to help the implementation and monitoring of the National Common Minimum Program of the UPA Government (2004-2008).