Business English and Rubrics Testing in ELT, Dr. R. Ramesh [popular ebook readers TXT] 📗

serves as a pivotal force in barriers in communication which can make or break international relations and state affairs. For business transactions around the world English dominates the front lines. For an example, a senior manager from Canada instructs business partners in Korea. An office manager from the United Kingdom drops a phone call to his contact in Japan. In both examples, English primarily acts as a common language, in the formation of global awareness and progress. According to Lesikar, “Learning how to speak English can allow the learners to travel to western country … opened up a large number of doors, doors that would normally be closed” (23).
With this in mind, many countries should also take steps to improve the linguistic skills of their students, primarily in English language. Penrose, an efficient professor of Business Communication state:
Today, we are living in a global community. People correspond with others from around the globe on regular basis … The English language has inarguably achieved a major role in this globalization and it has become the prime language of choice for communication by many different nationalities. (137)
English language is the primary language of business. In India, there was a survey recently conducted on more than 25,000 employers of global corporations. A notable percentage of respondents have said that English was neither critical nor important to be successful on their current positions. Huge majority reported that English language proficiency was insufficient to be successful in their current jobs. In sum, only 9 percent said their proficiency was sufficient to do their current job. Therefore, sufficient English skills are considered to be important for business. People who are unable to understand and process the information accurately and quickly can adversely failed on business.
English is the ideal language for the administrators around the world and it’s also prominent in business education, world news and communication. If proficiency level in English increases, the opportunities are also increases for business people. When business person learn how to speak English, the opportunities are limitless to them. At any cost, to whom one who wishes to be a successful in business world, learning English is incredibly important.
Area of the study:
The researcher has conducted the study in Francis Xavier College of Engineering, at vannarpettai in Tirunelveli District. It is an engineering college afflicted to Anna University. It is situated in a heart of the city. The post-graduate department of Management studies was instituted in the profile of college during the year 2005-2006. This department strives towards the vision of the college in developing the future managers of the global buzzy from this urban area.
Scope of the Topic:
The specific course of Business English is orientated towards learning subject matter as well as language. Business students are in need to standardize their language skills before their academic study. The English course for MBA students has been designed to meet the following needs of the students, such as:
• To improve the listening, reading, writing and critical thinking skills needed for academic success.
• To help perform-discipline-appropriate exercise and activities to develop the interpersonal, academic and language skills necessary to succeed in a University / business environment.
• To provide a basic information on economics and business to prepare for further business studies.
• To help them understand the vocabulary and structure of the English language as it is used in business writing.
• To give practice in learning strategies that will enable them to become an independent, confidence and successful learner of business studies and business writings.
• To provide with the skills to deal with large quantities of academic reading and writing.
• To develop critical skills of self evaluation.
Among these needs, the general scope for introducing specific course for business students to work successfully and effectively in a cross – cultural environment. The most important scope of developing such a Specific English Course for MBA students is to improve the overall performance of the Business students.

Methodology of Research:
Observation, interaction with the students and with their teachers of Management Department can be used as methodological research. For this research, the researcher met learners thrice in a week and conducted classes for two hours per day. Students were actively engaged in communication activities that can be easily transferred to their real work situations. For instance brainstorming, discussion and role-play are to be quite conductive to the class room settings.
Methodological Tools:
In order to conduct this study the researcher applied the following tools such as Black board, projector, slide projector, video clippings, powerpoint presentations and visual aids, etc. In this study, demonstration of language was used in context through prescribed text books.
Brief History of English Language Teaching in India:
In India, the Indian languages have a rich cultural heritage. The country was invaded and ruled by different colonizers’ and British rule lasted for nearly 300 years. So, when India became independent in 1947, it had become the home of various religious and linguistic groups. There are 18 official languages and 350 other languages that are recognized as major languages. English is not classified as one of the 18 national languages in India. Although Hindi is the official language of the union; English enjoys the status of associate official language in India. The central and state recruitment boards conduct examinations in Indian languages as well as in English.
Indian history shows that English was subjected to many pressures. It had its roots in bitterness stemming from the long period of domination by European countries by means of establishing East India Companies. Thus Vascoda Gama, the sea voyager who first visited India in 1498, stated India is a land of spices and of marvels to European people. During 1818, English trade became more profitable, the British Empire became the British Empire of India, instead of British Empire in India.
Unofficial Britain was already teaching English in India. William Carey, a Yorkshire shoe maker turned Evangelist, had established his college in the Danish Colony of Seranpore in the last quarter of 18th century. David Hare, a Watch maker, provided his big mansion and land in Calcutta in 1801 for a college, which was called the Hindu College. In the introductory period of English in India consists three important phases. The first missionary phase was initiated around 1614 by Christian Missionaries.
The second phase was the demand from local, as some scholars were of the opinion, that the spread of English was the result of the demand and willingness of local people to learn language. The two prominent reformers who used to speak in English were Raja Ram Mohan Roy and Navakaur. They both strived to develop English since they supposed it would open a way for the people to find developments of the West. In his letter to Lord Aurherst (1773 – 1857) Roy embraced that English was provided Indian with “the key to all knowledge … all the really useful knowledge which the world contains as an evidence of local demand English” (Krishnaswamy and Sriraman 23). With the third phase, the government policy began in 1765 and English was established as the medium of Instruction and administration.
In the early 19th century, during the period of Governor Lord William Benetick, English became the language of record of government and high courts and other official works. English education came here not because of the British but in spite of them through cooperation between non-official British and liberal Indians. In 1776, English became the language of Supreme Court at Calcutta and finally as the medium of instruction and administration by the British raj. Krishnaswamy and Sriraman states that:
Macaulay’s proposal was a success and Lord Benetick declared that administered on public instruction should be henceforth employed in the imparting to the native population knowledge of English literature and science, through the medium of English language. This resolution formed the corner stone of the implementation of the language policy in India and ultimately resulted in the diffusion of bilingualism. (48)
In Indian education, English language rooted in the alien linguistic, cultured administrative and educational settings. The most important land mark of the establishment of English Education in colonial India was the report of Sir Charles Woods – Woods dispatch in 1854. This report emphasized the need for using both vernaculars the diffusion of European knowledge and promotion of the general education of people of India. Kapoor comments on English in Indian education as a “road to the light” and “a tool of civilization” (75).
English in Independent India:
India, after becoming independent in 1947, Hindi was designed by the constitution as the language of National and English as the language of administration. It acted as a language of India’s freedom struggle. For an example, Mahatma Gandhi published his ‘Young India’ in English. Nehru also published a daily, ‘Indian Herald’ in English.
Realizing the importance of English in the development of the modern India, both the Radhakrishnan Commission of Education (1952) and Kothari Commission (1964) observed that English plays a vital role in higher education and that no student should be allowed to take a degree unless he gains a reasonable proficiency in English. The National Policy on Education (1986) too emphasized the facilities for the study of English language. In reality, in India, English is still the language that examines the students in the Universities, conducts foreign affairs and transacts business with the world. English gradually acquired, socially and administratively, the most dominant roles in Indian Multilingual setting. According to Allam, “English serves two purposes namely, it provides a linguistic tool for the administrative cohesiveness of a country and secondly it serves as a language of wider communication” (112). English plays a dominant role in the media and initiated serious journalism in the Indian press. It has been used as the medium for inter-state communication that the pan-Indian press and broadcasting are both before and since India’s Independence.
Indian English Language Teaching has a history and also been the testing ground for ELT innovations. During 1915 and 1955, several methods were designed first and then used in India. The bi-lingual and the grammar translation method of non-native language teaching and learning became popular in India. Alexander Duff’s ‘Direct method’ and Michael West’s ‘Reading Method’ were also used in India first in the mid 19th century.
In 1966, Kothari Commission submitted its reports which contain two major recommendations with regard to the study of English. they are (a) English should be the medium of Instruction in all major universities, and (b) special units should be set up for teaching English as a language skill distinct from teaching it as literature .With the collaboration of the British council, the first English Language Teaching Institute (ELTI) was established in Allahabad in 1954. By the initiative move of Nehru, The Central Institute of English and Foreign Language was also established (CIEFL) in Hyderabad in 1958. Krishnaswamy and Sriraman in his work English Teaching in India ranges the three specific goals of teaching English in contemporary India are,
1. Mobility (i.e.) the utilitarian function of English as the language of opportunity.
2. Modernization (i.e.) the interactive function of English as the window of the world.
3. The projection principle (i.e.) the interpretive function of English as an international language.(63)
These are some significant goals of teaching English in post-colonial India. But now-a-days, in India there are a mad rush for English medium schools. Chaudhary states,
Nearly 99% respondents said in a ford foundation funded services in India in 1983 that English was their best for a good career. If their children had to learn only are languages, all respondents said, then they would like them to learn English. English has replaced everything. (Varghese 54)
English has become an international commodity like oil and electronic things and more than a quarter of the people in the world use it as the same. It is the language of India’s national and international business, and the opening up of the economy to multinational companies in the 1990’s has increased