dimensions of applied linguistics

There has been a phenomenal expansion and proliferation of higher education in India since she won political independence from the British in August, 1947. An idea of the magnitude of this quantitative expansion can be gathered from the statistical figures given below for the number of universities and colleges and the enrolment of students. In 1947 there were only 17 universities, 650 colleges and about 2.4 hundred thousand students, whereas now we have 131 universities, over 5000 colleges, an enrolment of about 27 hundred thousand students and about 2 hundred thousand full-time teachers. Undoubtedly, the system of higher education has grown at a fantastic rate and yet "it has bypassed the majority of people in India" (Pattanayak, 1981 : 131). For over three decades now we have been trying to make higher education subserve national goals and aspirations but our universities and other institutions of higher learning have not proved to be the "open seasame" which everyone imagined them to be (Sah, 1981 ; 8). It is now being increasingly felt that the means and methods hitherto adopted have not helped the system of higher education to develop in a way that could assist the society in the attainment of national objectives and in the realization of its expectations and aspirations.

There are several factors related to both methodology and curricula that have precluded is not however, within the scope of this paper to analyse these factors. What we are concerned with in this paper is the vexed question of lanquage(s) of education which includes both teaching of languages and teaching through languages in the universities and other institutions of highr learning. The main thrust of this paper is going to be languages as media of instruction in higher education. In order to arrive at a proper perspective of the present state of media of instruction in higher education with all its merits and shortcomings) it would be appropriate to discuss briefly the multilingual Indian setting, the national language policy, languages' of education at the school level and certain recommendations and policy statements regarding language(s) of instruction in higher education.

Organizing language education in the multilingual and pluricultural contexts of the developing nations of Africa and Asia is a complex undertaking. However, two main trends seem to identify the post-colonial phase of these countries, viz., (a) promotion of unity of the polity by selection and development of a national language, and (b) re-discovery of the importance of indigenous languages for equal access to education. The need for a national language was considered vital not only because it serves as a symbol of national identity and pride but also because it serves as a medium of inter-ethnic communication for a polity which in reality comprises a large number of heterogeneous ethnolinguistic groups. The importance of indigenous languages was emphasized particularly in connection with the promotion of mother tongues in education within the framework of the overall developmental policy of the nation. During the post-colonial phase these countries have tried to achieve unity of the polity and, at the same time, maintain their rich linguistic diversity in evolving a national policy for language education. India is no exception to this. In the last four decades or so the perspectives, principles and methodology of language education in India have undergone drastic changes. This development is symptomatic of shifts in perspective, changes and adjustments in objectives and innovations in methodology for language education. The placing of emphasis on local communicative needs and economic resources has led the policy-makers to redefine the objectives of language education and has provided motivation to the national institutions to reorient their programmes.

While decisions regarding language which includes both teaching of languages and teaching through languages, and their implementation apparently seem to be a simple affair, and the realization of the two objectives - selection of a national language and the promotion of mother tongue in education curriculum - appears to be in itself unexceptionable, in the multilingual and pluricultural contexts of countries like India both policy decisions (fixing of goals and objectives) and policy implementation (execution of plans) in this regard present almost insurmountable problems. An idea of the complex multilingual picture of India can be had from the following:

There is not a single state in the country that is completely unilingual, not a single major Indian language whose speakers do not employ at least three contact languages and not a single speech community which has less than three distinct codes in its verbal repertoire. We find all major languages of India existing beyond their home territory; almost all regions like cosmopolitan cities show a culturally mixed population. With 550 million population, 1652 mother tongues and 67 educational languages. India is obviously a multilingual giant (Srivastava, 1977 : 1).

However, it is not so much the multiplicity of languages that makes for the magnitude and complexity of the planning problem. The problem becomes acute when the question of national language policy gets politicized.

Linguistic diversity has existed in India from the beginning of her recorded history. What is new a significant for political study is the mobilization of language groups for social and political objectives. These processes of mobilization invariably result in the political restructuring of forces in the Indian society (Das Gupta, 1970 : 70).

It should be noted however, that the political expressions of language loyalties in the form of language movements generated by eh assertive role of certain political organizations have not necessarily been anti-national (Srivastava, 1979). Some of the language movements have been expressions of self-identity and common ethnicity. Language movements have always had effect on the formulation of language polkicy and its implementation because "all attempts at language maintenance or group boundary maintenance through language have been attempts at controlling langue use through schooling which were initiated by the group itself and served as voluntary maintenance" (Paulston, 1978 : 321). As a matter of fact, the renewal of language identity in the post-independence phase in India is clearly reflected in its educational policy and language planning as expressed in various legislative measures and administrative procedures. The truth that emerges from the multilingual Indian setting is that for an average Indian language identity is also multi-modal in nature. This has come to the surface in the post-independence period in the form of language loyalty and language conflict.

India has been multilingual for several millennia and its basic characteristic has been the allocation of social roles to different languages. The non- competing nature of these roles has sustained our non-conflicting type of societal bilingualism (Srivastava, 1976). But with the formation of regional linguistic states a few of the languages were raised to the status of regional official languages, thus blocking the social mobility of the members of other speech-communities. This obviously brought about a change in the situation. Centrifugal tendencies that foster separation and seek an identity different from that of the dominant group in one respect or another, brought to the surface pluralistic values at different levels of social organization. In a traditional and stratified society like that of India one has a network of regional and social identities. Conseguently, in the manner of socio-politically organized systems, language identities are also layered hierarchically, i.e., international, national, regional (state), local (district), etc. It is obvious then that language conflicts may manifest a clash of interest between any two levels of loyalties and identities. For example, Hindi as the official language of India as a nation comes in conflict with English (as a language for international communication), with Tamil, Bengali, etc. (as developed regional languages at the state level); with Maithili, Bhojpuri, etc. (as regional dialects threatening to establish their own local identities) and with Santal, Khasi, etc. (as ethnic vernaculars of tribes that are in search of their own 'great tradition') (Srivastava, 1979). This multifaceted configuration of language identity has a direct bearing on the educational and language policies of India.

Acceptance of social and linguistic diversity rather than unity is norm of present-day educational policy. The social management of diversity is in no sense considered an abnormal situation even in relatively developed societies of the West. The "new ethnicity" movements in the United States of America have made it amply clear to scholars that
the unity of mankind must be built upon a recognition and acceptance of mankind's diversity and not merely upon the diversity of one social group or another; upon the diversity that exists internally in each group itself. It is this diversity of both kinds that creates and recreates societal multilingualism and that makes it part and parcel not merely of society but of humanity per se (Fishman, 1978 : ix).

India's educational policy strives, at least in its theoretical approach, to maintain unity of the polity through its acceptance of linguistic diversity.

With the acceptance of the principle of 'unity within diversity', along with an effort to egualize educational opportunity, educational planners in India were forced to review many of their basic assumptions and methods as regards educational development. For example, it was soon realized that a substantial amount of wastage and failure prevalent in our multilingual and pluricultural environment is due to the imparting of education through languages other than the mother tongue, especially during the early phases of schooling (Goel and Saini, 1972). It is now being recognized that it is imperative to promote the use of mother tongue as the medium of instruction for a better utilization of the available educational facilities, and also for the maintenance of the learners' ethnic identity. At the same time the learners can be encouraged to acquire competence in languages of wider communication in order to enable them to participate in the institutions of national importance, i.e., the sociocultural heritage of the national mainstream. Acculturation of the languages of wider communication can be facilitated through their use at stages other than that of primary education.

An important change in education planning now seems to move in the direction of a realization that language and its choice in education plays a crucial role in the attainment of a vital objective, i.e., socialization. Education has been viewed as an effective instrument of socialization of the individual towards his surroundings, with the ultimate aim of retaining his place in and identity with his immediate social group and/or a functional efficiency in maintaining relationships with all outside groups.

Scholars have visualized three kinds of socialization: primary, secondary and tertiary. Primary socialization is considered to be of the intimate type wherein children learn to adapt themselves to family and community roles occurring in familial and primary group contexts. Secondary socialization consists of the process through which children participate in and learn to be members of their larger community; this can also be described as the development of roles, attitudes and behaviours Identified with peer-groups and social organizations. Tertiary socialization is characterized by the development of operational and professional skills related to vocational and other socio-economic roles (Singleton, 1973).

Language seems to play a very effective role in the process of socialization undergone by the child. Research evidence suggests that this role operates at all the three stages of socialization. Three facts deserve to be mentioned in this connection.

(a) In a monolingual setting the same language may be called upon to perform the functions of the three distinct socialization processes, while in a multilingual context it is natural that the three socialization processes require three distinct linguistic codes for their realization.

(b) The broad framework of the educational system, in its emphasis and orientation, shows a matching tripartite hierarchical division. For example, the report of the Education Commission (1963-66) proposes three levels of education in the following manner:

First level includes pre-school (pre-primary, Kindergarten stage and primary education, i.e., Classes I to VIII).

Second level includes lower secondary (Classes IX and X) and higher secondary
education (Classes XI and XII).

Third level includes undergraduate and post-graduate education, professional
degrees and research.

One can obviously draw a parallel between the three stages of socialization and the above mentioned three levels of education. Ideally speaking, the language promoted at the first level of education (mother tongue) is the language required for primary socialization. Similarly, the shift in emphasis for the second level of education is in favour of a language required for secondary socialization. The language for the third level of education should be highly developed as a vehicle of learning. It should have the potentiality to express concepts and technical know-how commensurate with professional and vocational requirements.

(c) Though the principle of language equality is laudable, it is often neither desirable nor feasible to translate it into practice because (i) at a given time two or more languages may or may not be structurally developed in the same manner and to the same extent; and (ii) no two languages have identical roles and functions in a multilingual setting.

The three processes of socialization, the three levels of education as envisaged in the structure of the educational system in India and the relative focus on language(s) as subject of study and media of instruction can be schematically
depiced as in Table-1.

Educational level	Socializationprocess	Relative focus on language(s)
Level I	Primary	Mother tongues1 (Ethnic languages)
Level II	Secondary	Mainstream languages (Inter languages for languages of 'little tradition')2
Level III	Tertiary	National official languages3

A recognition of the right of ethnic minorities to get educational instruction through their mother tongue at the primary stage of schooling, promotion of the major languages for bringing the ethnic groups into the socio-cultural mainstream and the integration of India as a polity - these three considerations have led our policy-makers to evolve the Three-Language-Formula. The formula was first devised by the Central Advisory Board of Education in 1956 and subsequently modified and simplified by the Conference of Chief Ministers in 1961. The formula provides that the following
languages be taught at the school stage:
(a) The regional language and the mother tongue when the latter is different from the regional language;
(b) Hindi or, in Hindi-speaking areas, another Indian language; and
(c) English or any other modern European language.

The Education Commission (1964-66), after having examined the implementation of this formula in the different states, recommended a modified and graduated Three-Language-Formula specifying the levels at which different languages are taught (See, Table-2).

While this decision to promote and cultivate mother tongues is a welcome move towards the equalization of educational opportunity, we find that several mother tongues in India are neither languages of wider communication nor are they employed in the ecological setting to which writing is contextually appropriate. As there are some mother tongues which do not have a writing system of their own and some others which, though written, have relatively lower status and restricted functions, we find in our educational programmes education and literacy being initiated through a language which is not the learners' mother tongue. This practice of initiating education in the second language, first of all, violates the operational efficiency condition that education is most effectively attained in its initial phase through the mother tongue and secondly, leaves certain negatively marked effects on the language and social organization. It also leaves many learners at the level of semi-lingualism and downgrades the learners' mother tongue.

The implementation of the formula till now indicates that it has neither encouraged the maintenance of cultural identities of different speech- groups, nor has it effected their integration with superordinate groups serving as the mainstream. The two main factors responsible for the failure of the Three-Language-Formula are: (a) ignorance regarding the nature and function of grassroot societal bilingualism of our country, and (b) neglect of both the structure and functional allocation of linguistic codes within the framework of our educational policy.

As regards the use of languages as media of instruction, we have generally accepted the UNESCO Expert Committee's recommendation (1933) that schooling should begin through the mother tongue as the medium of instruction and that its use should be extended to as late a stage as possible.

It is axiomatic that the best medium for teaching a child is his mother tongue. Psychologically, it is the system of meaningful signs that in his mind works automatically for expression and understanding. Sociologically, it is the means of identification among the members of the community to which he belongs. Educationally, he learns more quickly through it than through an unfamiliar linguistic medium (UNESCO. 1953 : 11).

The above mentioned factors become all the more evident when we look at language use in higher education in India. Ever since 1947 various committees, conferences and commissions have grappled with the question of media of education and examination in higher education, and have made recommendations and suggestions. Some of the important ones among these have been, Committee on the Medium of Instruction at the University Stage (1948), University Education Commission (1948-49), University Education Commission (1931), Language Commission (1957), Kunzru Committee appointed by the University Grants Commission (1955), Chief Ministers' Conference (1961), National Integration Conference (1961), National Integration Council (1962), Vice-Chancellors' Conference (1962), Education Commission (1964-66), Conference of Vice-Chancellors (1967), Vice-Chancellors' Conference (1975) and University Grants Commission's Working Group on Regional Languages as Media of Instruction (1978). Some of the important findings and recommendations made by these bodies are given below:

1) Concerning the role of English and the need to switch-over to Indian languages, Education Commission (1948) has this to say:
... English has become so much a part of our national habit that a plunge into an altogether different system seems attended with unusual risks. It appears to us, however, that the plunge is inevitable. English cannot continue to occupy the place of state languages as in the past. Use of English as such divides the people into two nations, the few who govern and the many who are governed, the one unable to talk the language of the other, and mutually uncomprehending.
2) The Kunzru Committee (1955) appointed by the University Grants Commission made the following important recommendations:
(a) That the change from English to an Indian language as the medium of instruction at the university stage should not be hastened;
(b) That even when a change in the medium of instruction is rnadR. Fnniish shniild rnntinup to be studied by all university students;
(c) That it is in our educational interest that English should be retained as a properly studied second language in our universities even when an Indian language is used as the ordinary medium of teaching.
3) The Education Commission (1964-1966) made the following recommendations regarding media of instruction and the teaching of English in the universities:
(a) There should be a concerted move to adopt Hindi and regional languages as the media of instruction;
(b) The medium of examination should be the same as the medium of instruction;
(c) English should be studied and taught as a library language.
(d) No student should be allowed to graduate unless he is proficient in English;
(e) The universities should offer special courses in remedial English and English for Special Purposes.
4) Recommending the use of regional languages as media of instruction in higher education, the National Integration Council (1962) observed that:
India's university men will be unable to make their maximum possible contribution to the advancement of learning generally, and science and technology in particular, unless there is a continuous means of communication in the shape of the regional languages between its masses, its artisans, its technicians and its university men. The development of talent in the country will also, in the opinion of the council, be retarded unless regional languages are employed as media of instruction at the university stage.

5) The Working Group set up by the University Grants Commission (1978) made a detailed study of the use of regional languages as media of instruction at the different universities and observed that:
Firstly, the publication of books and reference materials in the regional languages can hardly keep pace with the reading materials in English. Even, if there is a permanent machinery for the translation of books and other materials, the translated works, particularly in the field of science often become obsolete by the time they are brought out. Secondly, for a variety of reasons, the employment prospects of students who have done their courses through the English medium are better or are felt to be better as compared to those who come through the stream of regional languages. Thirdly, in universities where regional languages are used as media of instruction at the undergraduate level but English is the medium at the post-graduate level or in professional courses, the switch-over creates several problems, especially in the absence of orientation courses in English. Lastly, English still continues to be a status symbol in our society and commands prestige in different walks of life, apart from its basic utility.

The Working Group also emphasized that:
In order to bridge the growing gulf between students educated in English medium schools and those educated in schools that have Hindi or regional languages as their medium of instruction, efforts should be made to turn out a student who is effectively bilingual, i.e., proficient in the regional language and the link languages: Enalish/ Hindi'.

All the committees, conferences and commissions listed above, were persistently confronted with the following problems:
(a) The place of English, Hindi and the regional languages in higher education in India;
(b) The mode and manner of the switch-over from English to Hindi/regional languages as media of instruction; and
(c) Reorientation of the role and function of higher education in the national life.

Before we take up a critical appraisal of the manner in which these three problems have been tackled, let us take stock of the present situation in the universities and other institutions of higher learning in India in respect of media of instruction and examination. According to the information available with the office of the University Grants Commission, as incorporated in the report of the Working Group on Regional Languages as Media of Instruction (1978) we discern a definite movement in the direction of the adoption of Hindi and regional languages as media of instruction. This trend is amply evident from Table-3.

In the light of the information provided in Table-3, the following observation may be made at this juncture:

(a) In the field of higher education English continues to be functionally a very potent language.
(b) Out of a total of 67 educational languages, 52 are used as media of instruction at the earliest school stage, and this progressively decreases as we move towards higher education where only 12 languages are used as media of instruction at the undergraduate level.

(c) The number of regional languages as media of instruction further decreases to 5 and 3 for postgraduate and professional courses respectively.
(d) The general pattern is that where a regional language is used as the medium of instruction it is also offered as the medium of examination.

The decision to use Hindi and regional languages as media of higher education has put a tremendous responsibility on the government and educational planners for the production of standard textbooks and, teaching and reference materials in the Indian languages. This process has two distinct dimensions: (i) cultivation and development of Hindi and regional languages so that they may become efficient media of learning, and (ii) the coining of scientific terminology in the Indian languages for the various disciplines. In pursuance of the Presidential Order of 1960 the Ministry of Education set up in 1961 a Standing Commission for Scientific and Technical Terminology, entrusting it with the following functions:
(a) Review of the work done so far in the field of scientific and technical terminology in the light of the principles laid down in the Presidential Order.
(b) Formulation of principles relating to coordination and evolution of scientific and technical terminology in Hindi and other languages.
(c) Coordination of the work done by different agencies in the states in the field of scientific and technical terminology with the consent or at the instance of the State Government concerned and approval of glossaries for use in Hindi and other Indian languages as may be submitted to it by the concerned agencies.
(d) Preparation of standard scientific textbooks using the new terminology evolved or approved by it, preparation of scientific and technical dictionaries and translation into Indian languages of scientific books in foreign languages (Humanities Glossary, 1969 : vii).

In this connection it was felt that while Indian languages need to be enriched by the production of standard books on scientific and technical subjects, any rigid stand that rejects pan-Indian and inter-regional considerations would recoil on the growth prospects of the languages concerned. Rejection of internationally accepted scientific terminology may also cause a communication gap. It was in this light that the Committee for the Promotion of Urdu (1975) headed by 1. K. Gujral, recommended that:
A line of demarcation may, however, be drawn between the humanities and the scientific subjects. Subjects like philosophy, logic, sociology and economics can be studied even with independent terminology developed in Urdu, but not the scientific and technical subjects (Gujral Committee Report, 1975:159).

The above recommendation notwithstanding, separate independent terminologies are being developed in all subjects in different Indian languages.

The progress made in respect of production of textbooks in different regional languages can be seen from Table-4 which shows the availability of university level textbooks produced under a centrally sponsored programme.

(The above figures correspond to the ones given in Annexure-VIII of the Report of the University Grams Commission's Working Group on Regional Languages as Media of Instruction, 1978).

From the foregoing, two things become absolutely clear. Firstly, the problem of the media of instruction and examination which has always beset Indian education ever since the first university was established in this country in 1837, has become all the more acute in the post-independence phase because of our efforts to reorient the role of higher education in our national life. The decision that higher education is neither to be allied with Government Service nor is it to be tied down to the Western ways of life, has raised afresh the question of media of instruction. Even before the Constitution of India was framed., M. P. Desai wrote in January, 1949:

Training of the three sections within society - the elite, the specialists and the residual mass. And the three cannot be exclusive into one homogeneous entity, the Indian Nation. And if this three-fold training is to be democratic, it cannot be done without the use, in the case of all sections, of the language of the common man. Then only can the university grow to be and function as the people's and as the custodian and transmitter of their culture (Desai, 1964 : 33-34).

Secondly, every committee and every commission appointed by the Government of India has voiced the ideal that university education is meant to subserve national goals and that higher education should evolve programmes for their actualization, but the pathways we have adopted so far have not helped us to achieve our expectations from the system (Swaminathan, 1981). As a matter of fact, the system of higher education is plagued with many internal contradictions. For example:
(a) On the one hand, it is said to be invested with the raising of the academic ethos to a level which brings higher education to the door-step of the common man with values true to the Indian identity, while on the other hand is dogged by a value- system which makes India still "intellectually a province of he British metropolis".
(b) On the one hand, it has produced a number of elites and specialists (scientists and technologists) "who came to constitute the third biggest pool of the kind in the world and on the other hand, it flooded the country with unwanted graduates who were short on technique but long on expectations" (Sah, 1981).
(c) On the one hand, it holds the view that the change- over in the medium of instruction from English to Indian languages would be a major step towards improvement of education, and on the other hand, it produces scholars and specialists who widen the gap in communication between educated elite and common man, as well as, it inculcates in its subject- participants an intellectual allegiance for English.

Undoubtedly there is a general movement in the direction of the adoption of Hindi and regional languages as media of instruction and examination in our universities, whereas there still continue to exist and flourish schools and institutions of higher learning where English holds complete sway. The reason for this state of affairs is that English is used in many extensive domains in spite of the limited number of its users. Some other reasons advanced for the retention of English in higher education are as follows: (1) English is a highly developed language best suited for our industrial and scientific progress; (2) English is less divisive because of its neutral character, i.e., it is a language which all can learn on equal terms; (3) English enables the educated Indian to move about inside and outside the country; (4) English brightens the students' prospects of getting prestigious jobs; and (5) English is still the language of administration. In fact, these are the views held by the managers and planners of higher education.

It is reasonable to expect that bilinguals who use English would consider Indian languages unfit as media of instruction for higher or technical education. A recent survey conducted to investigate the language attitudes of educated Indian bilainguals shows that English bilingualism in India has become more widespread in the post-independence era, and that for educated Indians English and regional Indian languages have well defined functions (Parasher, 1979). The responses to the question about languages best suited as media of instruction for primary, secondary, undergraduate and postgraduate classes, as well as, for technical/professional training are given in Table-5.

These attitudes are the outcome of our education system that directs that the higher we move in education and the more we aspire to professional excellence the fewer should be the number of languages employed as media of instruction, so much so that for higher university education and technical training the only medium left for use in English. This exclusive use of English in higher education makes the educated elite a class by themselves, and when we look at the people who can afford to get higher education, we have no alternative but to conclude that the system makes English the privileged preserve of the affluent section of our society. Elitism thus gets perpetuated in and through the English language. The present system makes English a symbol for status and rank. Admittedly, English once was a unifying force for India during the pre-independence phase because of administrative reasons, but since independence it has also been the cause of the gulf that divides the classes from the masses and the rulers from the ruled.

According to the findings of the Gujral Committe (1975) there have been three factors responsible for the steady neglect of Indian languages in the education system of the country, viz., (a) the dominance of universities teaching through the medium of English, (b) the encouragement of English by the Government, and (c) the emergence of a new middle class favouring the English language. The cumulative effect of these factors has been that the prestige of English education has got greatly promoted at the expense of regional Indian languages. However, in post-independent India there has
been a certain increase in the prestige accorded to the regional Indian languages. At the undergraduate level an increasing number of universities now encourage students to study all subjects through the medium of regional languages. There are universities that offer facilities for instruction through both regional languages and English, as well
as permit students to use either as the medium of examinations. This is the trend as far as the humanities and social science are concerned. In some universities a limited number of courses in science subjects are taught through the medium of both English and regional languages, with the same option available to the students for choosing the medium of examinations. In some cases the situation is rather anamolous since students are taught through the medium of English only, while for examination purpose they have the option to use English or the regional language. These facts are apparent from the classified statements prepared by the University Grants Commission on (a) media of instruction actually in use in the universities, and (b) media of examinations actually in use in the universities (position as on July 1, 1980).

To take an example, Bombay university has introduced from 1975 Marathi, Gujarati and Hindi as the alternative media of instruction and examinations, in addition to English as the medium for Bachelor's degree courses in arts, science and commerce. Further, candidates offering Marathi, Gujarati or Hindi as their principal language at the Master of Arts examination, are allowed to answer question-papers in their subordinate language/subject in the language offered by them as their principal subject, i.e., in Marathi, Gujarati or Hindi, as the case may be. It may be mentioned that those candidates for the B.A. degree who wish to answer their question-papers in subjects like Sanskrit, Ardhamagadhi, etc., may at their option do so, notwithstanding the fact that they might have received instruction through the medium of English for these subjects.

There is a great deal of diversity in the types of educational media available. Although different universities are oriented differently as far as the promotion of regional languages as educational media is concerned, one fact is quite obvious, namely that many students experience a shift in language medium at some stage of their educational careers. The bilingual programme envisaged by the Education Commission (1964-66) has not yet been standardized. What we find in the choice of language use as media of instruction is a distinctive feature which states that the ratio of bilingual media in India -is inversely proportional to the functional value of that language as a means of wider communication. This is in tune with the nature of Indian bilingualism which proposes the hypothesis that the percentage of bilingualism is lower for speakers of that language which has a higher functional value for inter-regional speech interaction. Apte (1971) has shown the means percentage of bilingualism for the four categories as follows: Hindi (5.105%), Major- state language
(9.569%), Major non-state languages (18.842%) and minor ethnic languages (42.144%). Consequently, the mother tongue speakers of Hindi can initiate literacy in Hindi and have the option to continue even through higher education with Hindi as the medium. The potentiality for this monomodal medium decreases as we move from pan-Indian Hindi to major state languages, thence to major non-state languages and finally, to localized minor ethnic languages. The only exception to this is English which is functionally a more pertinent language as far as the educated elite are concerned; it attests in India 47.6% of bilingual population. If literacy is initiated through English, it gathers greater potentiality and strength as educational medium as one moves up the educational ladder, so much so that for professional and advanced scientific training English remains the sole medium of instruction. Depending upon media choice we get the following -types of bilingual education in India:

(a) Transfer Bilingual Education, i.e., the use of the learner's mother tongue only during the first few years of primary education, and subsequent transfer to the use of another language. In this sequence L1 always has a lower potential as lingua franca than the subsequently introduced L2.
(b) Support Bilingual Education, i.e., the learner's mother tongue is used in extremely limited ways. It is made to assist the learner understand the curriculum content which is basically in L1. It involves a combination of formal teaching through L1 and the employment of L1 for informal explication only.
(c) Bilingual Biliterate Education, i.e., literacy is developed simultaneously in L1 (e.g" Hindi or a state language) and L2 (i.e" English). However, cases of bilingual monoliteracy are also attested in programmes where L1 is used only orally, while literacy is introduced through L2 exclusively.
(d) Partial Bilingual Education, i.e., the learner listens to lectures in one language (L1) and is supposed to write answers in another. This makes the language employed as oral medium subordinate to the use and development of skills in the more prestigeous L2. Cases have also been seen where the reverse is true, i.e., the teaching is done through L2 while the learner has the option to write answers in L1.

It is clear from the foregoing that we do not have any true bilingual education programmes in India. A true bilingual education programme refers to the strategy in which consequent upon adequate acquisition of L2, parity is given to L1 and L2. Such a programme also gives due attention to the learner's native culture as well as to the regional / national culture.

The languages used as media of instruction also show intralingual stylistic differentiations. Each standard literary language has at least two distinct styles: a High style based on the style accretions of literary achievement, and a Low style based on vernacular-use confined to oral communication. This is not a diglossic situation, except in the case of Tamil, as the H-style of language is never employed orally in the formal prestigious congexts of language use. It is, as a matter of fact, only a bookish variant restricted to learned written discourse. This makes for a big gap between the two styles in terms of communicability and comprehensibility. The H-style is confined to textbooks, being far removed from the formal, spoken variant that the learners actually experience. This textbook style is often highly classicized (Sanskritized) in contrast with the formal spoken variety. The gap in terms of communicability and comprehensibility between the two styles can sometimes be almost as wide as the gap between two languages. However, there is a certain correlational link between the preference for a particular style and the socio-educational background of the language user. It has been shown by Agnihotri (1977) that the two groups - mother tongue speakers of Hindi who teach Hindi language and literature (H-group) and those who teach other subjects through Hindi medium (O-group) - show a difference in their linguistic perception of language standardization and modernization. The majority in the H-group believes in classical orientation for language and, hence, makes an attempt to replace English terms by their Sanskrit equivalents. On the contrary, the majority in the O-group tends to modernize the language by nativistic or Anglicized variants of linguistic expressions. Attitude analysis further shows that most of the members of the H-group did not approve of the language-style of creative prose-writers like Prernchand who wrote in a style close to the language-style of the common man, as a model for Hindi to be used in education. Opposite to this is the case with the O-group whose members considered even the Hindi used in films as the easiest and the best way of learning Hindi.

To conclude, it needs to be stressed that the regional languages of India are part of an emormously complex situation in all dimensions - linguistic, socio-cultural and educational. Structurally, the complexities are caused by the superimposed functional varieties, socially conditioned diatypic varieties and switching of codes among bi- and multi-lingual speakers of different speech communities (Gupta, 1973). Socio-politically, the complexities are caused by the functional reallocation of roles for different linguistic codes and their legitimization. Legitimization of the regional languages simultaneously calls for their standardization and modernization (Srivastava, 1980). Standardization prescribes authentic variants of a language from within its regional and contextual variations, while modernization makes it capable of better expression of emerging domains of social and educational activities. These two processes are directly responsible for the shaping of a language as the medium of instruction. Language-engineers in India have either tried to maintain the unilateral imposition of English as the dominant language, or on the pattern of English, tried to raise the regional Indian languages to the status of dominant languages. They forget the true nature of non- conflicting type of our societal bilingualism and try to replace English - a dominant language of the colonial days - by an indigenous language dominant in terms of status and power. Secondly, in the field of higher education, contrary to the
realities of the situation, they try to impose a mono-medial structure. No attempt has been made to exploit the Three-Language-Formula devised for school education to build up a case for bi-medial or tri-medial education. As a result we have a system of higher education that is tri-modal in expectation but mono-modal in operation and instruction.

1. These are primarily language of little tradition. However these can be divided into two categories; educational languages and non-educational languages. Non-educational languages are those that are, at present, not being used at all as subjects of study or as media of instruction at any stage of education. Educational languages are those that serve as media of instruction at some stage of education. These educational languages differ in status, place and importance in respect of their functionality, A survey conducted by the National Council of Educational Research and Training (Chaturvedi and Mohale, 1976) reveals that these may be sub-categorized as follows:

a. Languages which are media upto class II;
b. Languages which are media upto the end of the primary stage:
c. Languages which are media upto the end of the middle stage; and
d. Languages which are media throughout the school.

2. All the major languages having a 'great tradition' serve as languages of wider communication. They are, as a matter of fact, interlanguages for languages of little tradition. All languages under sub-category above belong to this class. They are mentioned in the VIII Schedule of the Indian Constitution, and are assigned the role of bringing the speakers of mother tongues into the mainstream.

3. At the level of national polity two pan-Indian languages, Hindi and English have been constitutionally recognized. Hindi in the Devanagari script has been given the status of the primary national official language while English has been accorded the status of associate official language. These two serve as interlanguages for the users of the regional languages (languages of great tradition).