International Conference on English Language and Literature: Retrospect and Prospects February 2016

International Conference on English Language and Literature: Retrospect and Prospects 

SELLTA and Bishop Heber College (Autonomous), Tiruchirappalli

 4 & 5 February 2016

Literature is endowed with the potential to transform and intensify language. Literature, therefore, is the product of language. Literature and language cannot be separated, since it is only through language that we create our perceptions and realities of the world.  The English language continues to occupy a pivotal place in world literatures, as the language of prestige, and scholarship.  Although the teaching of English Literature in India has been in vogue for more than a century now, teachers and students of English have always been beset by a range of difficulties in their elucidation and appreciation of English Literature. Hence, it is a paradox that, although India is making rapid strides in the field of English Education, the standards of teaching English Language and Literature have undergone a sharp decline, which needs an effective redressal mechanism in place. 

 
Professor Edgar W. Schneider, with the University of Regensburg, Germany, classifies world Englishes based on a distinction of: 

 

 ‘‘ENL’’ (English as a Native Language) countries

 ‘‘ESL’’ (English as a Second Language) countries and

  ‘‘EFL’’ (English as a Foreign Language) countries.

 

In ENL countries, even if multilingualism may play an important role in the society at large, English is the vernacular language of almost all or at least a significant majority of the population (like Britain, the USA, or Australia).  

In ESL countries, English exists side by side with strong indigenous languages, is widely spoken, and assumes prominent intranational, sometimes official functions, as the language of politics, the media, jurisdiction, higher education, and other such domains (as in Ghana, Nigeria, India, Singapore, Papua New Guinea, etc.).

In EFL countries, English, acquired almost exclusively by formal education, performs no official internal function but is still strongly rooted and widely used in some domains (like the press or tertiary education) because of its special international usefulness in business, the sciences, technology, etc. (as in Israel, Egypt, or Taiwan). Of course, the status of English in any given country may change in the course of time.  
In India we are categorised under the ESL countries, where English occupies a phenomenal role as the language of politics, the media, jurisdiction, higher education, and other such domains. Significantly, one third of all the published books in India and one fifth of periodicals in India are in English. According to the 1981 census, the literacy rate in India is 32.23 per cent, and the English literary rate may be about 6.5 per cent; this will roughly make about 25 to 30 million users of English in the country. According to some other estimates, there are more speakers of English in India than in Britain. The users of English in India outnumber the speakers of some Indian languages like Assamese (12.6 million), Gujarati (36 million), Kannada (30 million), Kashmiri (3.4 million), Malayalam (30.5 million), Punjabi (23.4 million), Sindhi (2.2 million), Urdu (37 million), etc.

In such a situation, exploring the various facets of ESL in the context of English Language Teaching, and in Literatures in English, and to set right the declining standards in the teaching and learning of English, occupies a challenging and interesting scope for research.  
 As such, this Conference intends to provide a platform for Teachers, Professors, PG Students & PhD Scholars to present their original ideas and approaches to Language and Literature through meaningful responses, in a wide range of important rubrics which comprise but not limited to, the following sub-themes:  
 Language, Literature and Ideology  
 Asian Language Learning – Emerging Trends & Prospects  
 Language and Literature  
 ESL and Cultural Communication 
 Classroom Pedagogy  
 English Teaching in the Digital Age  
 Methods for teaching General English  
 Challenges in teaching English for Specific Purposes  
 Effective Teaching Methodologies in the Literature/Language Classroom  
 Assessment Practices in Language/Literature teaching  
 Comparative Literature – Challenges & Prospects 
 Modern Literature  
 The Place of Language in Postcolonial Studies  
 Postmodernism in Literature  
 Indian English Writing  
 World Literatures in English  
 Translation Studies in the ESL Context
 New Varieties of English  
 Role of South East Asian Languages in the Global Context
 Diasporic Writing  
 Immigrant Writing 
 Language of Contemporary Literature  
 Deconstruction and Language

Contact:
Lt. Dr. K. Premkumar
(+91)9843752304        
sellta.conference@gmail.com
http://mathurameducationaltrust.com/sellta.htm

International Conference on English Language and Literature