The Central Institute of Indian Languages was set up on the 17th July, 1969 with a view to assisting and co-ordinating the development of Indian Languages. The Institute was charged with the responsibility of serving as a nucleus to bring together all the research and literary output from the various linguistic streams to a common head and narrowing the gap between research basic and developmental research in the field of languages and linguistics in India.

The Institute and its four Regional Language Centres are thus engaged in research and teaching which lends to the publication of a wide-ranging variety of materials. Materials designed for teaching/learning at different levels and suited to specific needs is one of the major areas of interest in its series of publications. Basic research relating to the acquisition of language and study of language in its manifold psycho-socio relations constitute another broad range of its interest. These materials will include materials produced by the members of the staff of the Central Institute of Indian Languages and its Regional Language Centres and associated scholars from Universities and Institutions, both Indian and foreign.

A psycholinguistic experiment initiated by the Central Institute of Indian Languages to test (a) whether there is a gap between the language achievement at the end of the school stage and the language requirement at the beginning of the college entrance stage, particularly when the mother-tongue is the media of instruction at both the stages; (b) whether the gap can be mapped in terms of language skills; (c) whether the skills can be hierarchically related and (d) whether proper input and scientifically controlled process can enhance learning with economy and efficiency has yielded a 100-hour bridge course and empirical evidence which provokes and challenges both educational psychologists and linguists.

Very early in the experiment it was clear that the lack of objective and direction in teaching mother-tongue, the emphasis on teaching of literature, particularly ancient and medieval literature, total negligence of conceptual prose results in a situation at the end of the school stage which leaves a distinct gap to be bridged if the student is to use his mother-tongue as medium at the college stage. Once clear-cut measurable language skill objectives were specified and a course-cut measurable language skill objectives were specified and a course administered, it very soon became clear that the skills can be hierarchically organized and that given systematic materials and methods of instruction to match specific objectives the learning process can be accelerated and the lacunae mended. It became clear that creativity is intimately related to the development of basic language skills, thus lending support to the Benskinian assertion that all educational failures are essentially linguistic failures.

If this report focuses attention on the importance of the teaching of the mother-tongue and generates further research for proving or disproving the hypotheses put forward in this report, then our efforts would have been amply rewarded. All concerned with the course deserve our gratitude, but special thanks are due to Dr. P.N. Dave, who is solely responsible for this report.

 

Central Institute of Indian Languages, Manasagangotri, Mysore - 570 006

Director