Assignment Paper 12

Name : Dharma J. Gohel

Roll No : 09

Class : M.A. Sem-3

Paper – 12:  ELT-1

Batch : 2017-19

Enrollment No : 2069108420180014

Email ID : dharmagohel71@gmail.com

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU

Topic: Teaching Vocabulary

Words:1545

Topic: - Teaching Vocabulary by Jeanne McCarten

      As a teacher of English Language or second language, it is necessary to expand the vocabulary of learners. Vocabulary includes variety of words from different fields. For example, if the learner is from the field of medical, the vocabulary of this student is different from the student of commerce and literature.

There are two parts of vocabulary teaching,

1) Lesson from the corpus

2) Lesson from the classroom

These two methods include different activities and tasks for students.

1)    Lessons from the Corpus:

         While learning from corpus of the language, the tutor and learner should have enough information regarding the basic structure of language and its use.  Many researchers have worked upon the use of words in language and its context, so the basic question is, 

®    How many words are there and how many we need to teach?

      

          The answer needs large amount of research and the languages of students who belong to the different study backgrounds. As per university of Cambridge, Cambridge Dictionary of American English contains more than 40,000 words and University Graduate should know about 20,000 word families but students and learners of English language, there should be 2,000 to 5,000 words in vocabulary.

Activities 

         There are many activities available which can expand the knowledge of words in students, a teacher could do this activities as a part of teaching.

   

    1.    One word with different context:

     In this activity a teacher have to give words, and instruct learners to give different meaning of that word in different sentence. 

For example, 

-         I am running.

-         I am running a company.

-         Sachin has made 100 runs

    Here the word is ‘run’ but there are three different contexts in which the word can be explained. This kind of activity makes students aware with the use of word and its appropriate meaning.

    2.    One word related with various words:

  

    This is very important activity, in which teacher have to give one word to student and student have to give 10 words related it. by this activity students come to know about the different familiar words related with that one word.

For example,

 Novel – author, book, literature, novella, plot, themes, narration, writer, publication, library etc.

    3.    Different paragraphs:

    This activity is quite difficult but interesting, in this activity teacher have to give one paragraph with difficult words and ask students to find the meaning of words and explain the paragraph, for paragraphs teachers can take newspaper cuttings, part of political speech and interview of any literary writer.

    

       ®   What kind of corpus do we need to use?

     There are six ways to focus and choose the corpus. The corpus is related with the study area of students. Here are six ways to know about corpus.

     1.   Frequency:

       Frequency is connected with the vocabulary of students, this frequency list gives an idea of expressions that which are rare and which are frequent. It helps teacher that what to teach and in which order, a teacher have to give one phrase and ask students to give answers related the phrase

For example,

-           A pair of – shoes, jeans, tickets, chair, earrings

-         You want to go- America, Tajmahel, Waterpark, Temple

By this task teacher could get an idea about the corpus of student’s language corpus.

    2.   Difference in speaking and writing:

   While learning words, students used to find difficulties in pronunciation and spellings. There are many words which has different spelling and different pronunciation, 

For example, 

-         Honest, honour, humour, write etc.

   Another difference in writing and reading is the use of appropriate words, because when students are giving answer orally, they uses different language and when they write in answer sheets the pattern is quite different. For better understanding of words and its appropriate use students should be aware with how frequent a word is in different corpora. 

For example, 

-         Vocabulary of Newspaper, academic texts and conversation.

“Probably” - conversation- newspapers - academic texts

     “However” - academic texts - newspapers – conversation

    The word ‘probably’ is used most in conversation and less in academic texts and “however” is mostly used in academic texts and less in conversation.

    3.   Contexts of use:

     This term is very important as far as the situation is concern. Vocabulary should be appropriate along with the situation and place. It gives Information about speakers and situations in which conversations take place so learner can use words according to that. 

For example, formal and informal words in conversation, 

-         Hey what’s up/ hello, how do you do?

-         Tata- bye bye/ good bye, have a nice day

This kind of difference in formal and informal vocabulary is very important for learners to know.

    4.    Collocation:

    This term makes learner aware with the connection of one word with another word. There are some words which are different in meaning but mostly used together to create one word with totally different meaning.

For example,

-         Soft + corner = soft corner

-         Heavy + rain = heavy rain

-         Home + work = homework

-         Creativity + art = creative art

This kind of collocation is very important for students for effective use of their vocabulary.

   5.   Grammatical Patterns:

There are two terms in these patterns,

  

    1)    The Grammar of vocabulary:

    When the students use a word from vocabulary, the use of grammar should be according to the conversation, for example,

“Mind” = request – permission – instruction

-         Do you mind?

-         Would you mind?

-         Mind it.

    2)    The vocabulary of Grammar:

    When there are words from grammar and students want to use it in vocabulary, they have to select it in relation with context. For example,

-         The past continuous structure “was . . . ing”

-          Top ten words are - going, thinking, talking, doing, saying, trying, telling, wondering, looking, and working

These words can be used in the vocabulary as most frequent words.

    6.   Strategic use of Vocabulary:

     When students have lesser words and want to use it effectively, they can use it strategically. There can be two distinctions vocabulary in conversation and vocabulary of conversation with effective phrase and words. There are six ways of finding vocabulary of conversation.

    1)    Discourse markers – There are words like “well” and “anyway” which guides listeners to get the meaning of conversation.

    2)    Responses –  There are some words which expresses the response of learner to the speakers for example: Exactly, Absolutely, That’s too bad

    3)    Monitoring expressions – the words which works as monitor in conversation, and drags the listener in the conversation, for example: let me tell you, let me explain, the main point is..

    4)    Vague expressions -  these expressions are related with hanging sentence and the remaining part of conversation/sentence is in the side of listeners, for example: or whatever, like anything

    5)    Hedging expressions – when there is any difficult question or tricky question and student is not able to answer, this expression helps the learner, it is a kind of a diplomatic answer in which student do not reject any point of view and also do not accept it. it is kind of an avoiding the answer.

    6)    Expressions of stance – this term is related with personal perspective of speaker, while answering and questioning speaker or listener presents their views towards the topic. For example: my point of view is, Personally, I think...

2)  Lesson for the classroom:

     ®  How can we help learners to learn vocabulary?

1       Focus on vocabulary – vocabulary and grammar both are important tools in language learning, the learner shoud be aware with difficult words as well as its grammatical use of it. 

2       Offer variety – the learning should not be boring and monotones and for that teacher should offer variety by using different teaching tools like  Audio-visuals,stories, conversations, web pages, questionnaires, news reports and more effectiveteaching strategies to make learning more interesting.

3       Repeat and recycle - practice leads towards perfection and students should generally observe the use of different words and in different context and they should practicing writing of newly learned words.

4        Provide opportunities to organize vocabulary – students can practice and observe their vocabulary in different groups like, 

 - Real-world groups – Parts of body, food type, General words

 - Language-based groups - linguistic criteria, parts of speech,

                                                          prefix or suffix

 - Personalized groups - personal habits or personal history,

                                                            likes – dislikes

     5.    Make vocabulary learning personal – when student is in personalized group and practices the vocabulary meaningfully or to express itself, it is good sign to learn vocabulary variously.

      6.     Don’t overdo it - A teacher should not overload students with so many words; it can make learning burdensome, there are limits to how much vocabulary anyone can absorbespecially learners. (McCarten)

Conclusion:

                 

        In this chapter Jeanne McCarten has expressed the use of vocabulary and its teaching as well as learning. The strategies of learning and teaching vocabulary with various activities are useful and interesting. Teaching of vocabulary is very difficult but McCarten has given so many methods.

Assignment Paper 11

Name : Dharma J. Gohel

Roll No : 09

Class : M.A. Sem-3

Paper – 11:  Literature

Batch : 2017-19

Enrollment No : 2069108420180014

Email ID : dharmagohel71@gmail.com

Submitted to : Smt. S. B. Gardi Department of English, MKBU

Topic : Post Colonial Reading of Selected Movies

Words: 1849

# Post-colonialism in Literature and post-colonial reading of Two movies :

In many works of literature, specifically those coming out of Africa, the Middle East, and the Indian subcontinent, we meet characters who are struggling with their identities in the wake of colonization, or the establishment of colonies in another nation. For example, the British had a colonial presence in India from the 1700s until India gained its independence in 1947. As you can imagine, the people of India, as well as the characters in Indian novels, must deal with the economic, political, and emotional effects that the British brought and left behind. This is true for literature that comes out of any colonized nation. In many cases, the literature stemming from these events is both emotional and political. 

The post-colonial theorist enters these texts through a specific critical lens, or a specific way of reading a text. That critical lens, post-colonial theory or post-colonialism, asks the reader to analyze and explain the effects that colonization and imperialism, or the extension of power into other nations, have on people and nations. post-colonialism asks the reader to enter a text through the post-colonial lens.

 Postcolonial literature emerged at the same time that many colonies were fighting their way to independence. It really began picking up as a coherent literary movement in the mid-twentieth century. Many classic postcolonial texts were published between the 1950s and 1990s. And while drama and poetry are important in postcolonial literature, it's really the novel that defines this movement.

 What the postcolonial writers did was as important as what the anti-colonial freedom fighters and activists did. That's because postcolonial writers challenged some of the basic assumptions (like "white people are better") that had justified colonialism in the first place. In other words, the writers' battlefield was the mind, while the freedom fighters' battlefield was… well, the battlefield. 

Postcolonial writers emerging from Africa, South Asia, the Caribbean, South America and other places"wrote back" to the empire. They decided that the big guys—like Britain and Francehad been hogging the microphone for too long. Now it was time for postcolonial writers to tell their own stories, from their own perspectives. We all love justice. Isn't it nice when everyone's treated fairly, when we each have the freedom to do what we want and pursue our own happiness? That's the world we all want to live in. If you dig justice, equality and freedom, you'll dig postcolonial literature. Because it's a literature born out of the struggle of colonized peoples for justice, equality and freedom. Postcolonial literature is the literature of the underdog. All those people who were brutalized and exploited for decades by European colonizers, finding their voices and standing up for themselves—that's what postcolonial literature is all about  Postcolonial writers tell history from their perspective and show how the history written by colonizers is—you guessed it—totally biased against the colonized and toward the colonizers. When postcolonial writers take colonial languages like English and French and use them to talk back to the colonizers in a way they can't help but understand, that's a fancy little thing we call appropriation of colonial languages. (shmoop)

 Literary texts do not simply reflect dominant ideologies, but encode the tensions, complexities and nuances within colonial culture. Literature is a place where ‘Transculturation’ takes place in all it’s complexities. The colonial contact is not just reflected  in the language or imagery  of literary texts, it is not just a backdrop of ‘context’ against which human dramas are enacted, but a central aspect of what these texts have to say about identity, relationships and culture.

Language and literature are together implicated in constructing the binary of a European self and N0n-European others. Which as Said’s Orientalism  suggested, is a part of the creation of colonial authority. Literature in such reading, both reflects and creates way of seeing and modes of articulation that are central to the colonial process. It is especially crucial to the formation of  colonial discourses because it influences people as individual. But literary texts can also militate against dominant ideologies or contain elements which can not be reconciled to them. Plays such as Othello and The Tempest evoke contemporary ideas about incivility of non-European. Both plays have been interpreted and taught in ways that endorse colonialist ways of seeing, but both have also inspired anti-colonial and anti-racist movements and literatures as texts that expose the workings of colonialism.

# Post-colonial reading of movies:

(1)      “ Midnight’s Children”  

'Midnight's children' is a novel by the famous writer 'Salman Rushdie'. Midnight's children won both the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in 1981. It was awarded the "Booker of Bookers" Prize and the best all-time prize winners in 1993 and 2008 to celebrate the Booker Prize 25th and 40th anniversary. it is a postcolonial novel in which writer gives account of events happened during British India and Independent India. He adds the beauty to these events by using the tool 'Magic Realism' which makes novel imaginative piece of literature instead of boring historical novel.

The protagonist of novel Saleem sinai was born on the exact movement when India gained it's freedom from British rule, 15th august,1947. He is the narrator of story and starts telling from the life of his grandfather. His grandfather named Adam Aziz was doctor begins treating Naseem his grandmother. Here one can read postcolonial feminism that Adam was not allowed to treat Naseem directly. Even Doctor can not check woman, she remained in 'parda'. Novel begins in Kashmir, the place is already problematic for India and Pakistan. Novel speaks about some minority muslim people who didn't want partition. But 'Islamophobia' spreads in such a way nowadays that we always blame them for everything.

Saleem born on the midnight of India's independence with giant nose therefore possesses telepathic power to gather children who born on the same midnight. other children also possess the enormous power. 'Magic realism' is the aesthetic aspect of the novel. so readers can not question or accept surreal things as telepathic power of Saleem, Even the mother Naseem can go into the dreams of daughters, Parvati's power of doing magic 'Abra ka dabra'.

Novel raises the ontological question of Saleem's life. We can find several gray areas about Saleem's identity. When we ask question epistemologicaly at that time we find several information about his existence and identity. Perhaps he is child of William Mathwold and slave lady so the problem of hybridity takes place.  But then exchanged by nurse and got rich family. 'Let the rich be poor and poor be rich'. it suggests that we are thrown in this careless universe, we don't have control over birth. The identity which is given to us or label with which we live as Hindu, Muslim or christian is fake. Because we don't know the fact about someone's birth. Saleem lives with given identity but all of a sudden he come across the truth that 'he is not what he is'. And suddenly lost his fortune and becomes poor person. so at the end he speaks that 'I had many family and no family'.

Political crisis is one of the major events of the novel. Which portrayed the India during 'Indira Gandhi's' rule. Emergency is world-known political crisis for India.Novel evokes the pathetic condition of poor people. India got the democracy, freedom and progress at the cost of poor people. Salman Rushdie makes fun of India's progress by suggesting that India and Saleem grew together.

One can find a postcolonial aspect in novel and film. Because salman Rushdie was abandoned writer for India and 'Deepa Mehta' the director of the film is Canadian. So they portrayed India as a country of 'snake charmers' and the people who believe in superstitions. So they narrate 'Orient' people as inferior and badly poor.

In a way this novel has the postcolonial characteristics. which gives picture of India during British rule and after the independence.  

(2)       “ The Reluctant Fundamentalist”

 "The Reluctant Fundamentalist" is a 2007 novel written by the Pakistan-born writer Mohsin Hamid and film is directed by Mira Nair. This is post 9/11 story about the impact of Al Qaeda on one Pakistani person and his treatment by Americans in reaction to them.

 One ambitious Pakistani man, Changez khan goes to America to have bright future. He belongs to the gentle and educated family. His father is a poet, well known person and respected by all. Changez khan has the great literary heritage.He belongs to great literary canon but distracted from that path. instead of following family tradition he went to America.He easily mix up with the environment and people of America. He is Intellectual man so proves himself better than other colleague and also got the promotion by owner of company. This may be the reason for jealousy of American people and they consider other people as 'outsider'. He falls in love with Erica, American artist. Everything was well going but his life changed after the attack of 9/11 on America.

Suddenly American people start doubting him because he comes with label of 'Pakistani'. Even her girlfriend Erica suspects him. She ask him that 'do you know anything about the attack?' Very furiously he replies that 'how can i know about attack?'. His moustache  becomes the symbol of terror for American people. Even his love abuse him by portraying him as Pakistani and not as 'Human being' in her photographs.He recognizes himself as American and tells that 'I love America' but no one believes him and try to make him 'Terrorist' just because he is Pakistani. He faces many adversity adversity and finally he commit professional suicide and came back to Pakistan.

 In 2011 Anse Rainier, an American professor at Lahore university is kidnapped. An American journalist arranges the interview a colleague of Rainier, Changez khan. Whom he suspects just because he was doubted for the American attack. Changez  khan tells entire story to Robert Lincoln in flashback  It's no wonder that the words 'Islam' and 'Fundamentalism' are tightly coupled in the mind of every person. everyone suffers from 'Islamophobia' which is only the oriental narration of power country that is America. It has spread Islamophobia in such a way that we always blame Muslims for terrorism. As Edward said rightly put that Americans narrate Muslims as 'Orient' and them as 'Occident'.   

# Conclusion:

“ Literature is the mirror of society. “ One can find a direct reflection of society into literature. Society provides the theme and subjects of literature. Literature is the expression of joy, happiness, suffering, pain  of writer himself. Most of the country colonized for longer period of time. And still suffering from the effect of colonialism. Which gets reflected into wide range of literature. 

Works Cited

shmoop. 22 october 2017 <https://www.shmoop.com/postcolonial-literature/>.