Xenoglossophobia and our English learners

Perhaps most of the English teachers in the state have somehow experienced the poor condition of the English language among the students who are influenced by their mother tongue. It is a matter of great concern that, though labelled as a “second language”, English is yet far from achieving this position, literally or practically. Those students who are taught in Assamese, especially, are the victims of the English language. It is very unfortunate and surprising that a large number of students from Assamese-medium backgrounds, whether studying in class IX or in a BA course, do not have the minimum knowledge of making a sentence in English without any error. Neither do they know sentence formation nor have the interest to know the language.

Every year, on April 23, the birthday and date of death of William Shakespeare, the UN observes English Language Day. There is no need to say anything regarding the contribution of Shakespeare to modern-day English. According to a report in 2022, throughout the globe, 1.5 billion people speak English either natively or as a second language, which is every one in four people in the world. Even in this time of forming much emotion and consciousness in support of using our mother tongue more and more, we cannot ignore the need and importance of English, whether it is a second language or a foreign language.

Until and unless we can change the perspectives of our students about the English language, it will always remain a mere subject or something boring and unattractive, just to be passed in the examinations. It is not uncommon that many students or even adults cannot easily cope with a second language without much difficulty. The availability of the term “xenoglossophobia” is a perfect example of this.

Xenoglossophobia means the anxiety or nervousness that one experiences while learning or using a second or foreign language. It is a specific anxiety experienced by the students in the classroom or in some other situation. In such a condition, students face language learning as a challenge where there is a fear of being judged, being self-conscious, or losing their identity. Continuous negative experiences are also responsible for arousing such feelings in the minds of the learners. According to an article, ‘A study of high school students’ English learning anxiety, by Na Z, published in the “Asian EFL Journal”, foreign language learning anxiety can “make learners get discouraged, lose faith in their abilities, escape from participating in classroom activities, and even give up the effort to learn a language well.”

Our language learners too experience such feelings, either in the skills of speaking and writing (productive skills) or in the skills of reading and listening (receptive skills). According to the linguists Elaine Horwitz and Michael Joann, as they write in an article titled ‘Foreign Language Classroom Anxiety’ in “The Modern Language Journal”, foreign language anxiety is a significant problem in language classrooms throughout the world, especially in terms of its strong relationship to the skill of speaking in a foreign or second language. Psychologists describe this anxiety as a specific anxiety reaction. Researchers have found that the reasons behind this anxiety problem are communication apprehension, test anxiety, and fear of negative evaluation. Without a proper strategy, neither the teaching community nor the students are able to get rid of this problem.

Most of our students never find the English language learning situation interesting. We cannot ignore the situation by simply blaming them. It is the duty of the teaching fraternity to create a very favourable environment before teaching a foreign language in the classrooms. Are the classrooms of our schools and colleges well equipped for this purpose? Are there special classrooms for English language learning? Simply ‘no’, because, for us, English is still a subject to be taught to get good marks in the examinations. Our curriculum is prepared with syllabuses that are to be completed in a fixed time period. But if we see the language syllabus, we will be disappointed. Simply answering the texts with some grammar practise alone cannot prepare a student for learning a foreign language. We have to think about all the students, including both the bright and the slow learners. It requires much time and extra activities to teach slow learners. There is no scope in the syllabus for this.

At the same time, it is the duty of the language teacher to prepare himself or herself properly before approaching the students. Students are clever enough to feel whether they are learning with the right teacher. So, the teacher must be very careful when dealing with the students. The English language teacher must possess good communication skills, proper confidence in order to deliver a good and effective lesson plan, the audacity to face the challenges, patience, and sympathy. The language teacher should inspire the students to cooperate in the language learning activity. He or she should properly understand verbal and non-verbal communication. It is required from the side of the teacher to make the students feel free enough to express themselves and to realise their limitations and possibilities. Teaching language can be both entertaining and fun if the teacher and the students cooperate positively. Methods should not be rigid enough and should be handled and modified according to the needs of the classroom.

Our students use Assamese, Bodo, or other such mother tongues in their homes and in the neighbouring society. There is hardly any situation where they are compelled to speak English. So, it is only in the classroom that they interact in English. Within a brief period, neither a teacher nor an average learner can excel at the proficiency of learning a foreign language if no extra initiative is taken. Therefore, good cooperation and a willingness to experiment are always necessary.